There was an end of a television era here yesterday as Patrick Poivre d'Arvor, affectionately known in this country as PPDA, made his final broadcast as anchorman on TF1's prime time news slot Think of a news anchor in your own country, someone who has been around for donkeys years and at a certain time of the day when the small screen is flickering becomes almost part of the sitting room furniture PPDA has been something of a national institution in France for the past three decades and has quite simply been the face and voice of news, first on public television in 1976 and then from the mid 80s on the nation's main private channel, TF1...

This is a political piece that by its very definition can only be filed under "Strange" on any website It concerns last year's defeated candidate in the French presidential elections, Ségolène Royal, and her claims that she is paying the price for comments she made recently about the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy On June 27 there was a break-in at Royal's ground floor apartment in the Paris suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt - the third time in less than two years...

Since the dramatic rescue last week of 15 hostages held by Colombia's leftist rebel movement the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or Farc, much of this country's attention - if not the world's - has been focused on Ingrid Betancourt Finally though one of France's leading national daily newspapers, Le Figaro, has caught up with reports that have appeared elsewhere around the globe In today's issue it carries the story of the man without whom we would probably not have been able to share in Betancourt's joy as she stepped out of the 'plane on to the tarmac and into the lenses of countless cameras last week...

He was bored, the poor man You could see it in his eyes and his body language Miles away from home in a country he's not madly keen on, talking the talk and little else with a bunch of other G8 leaders...

The recent conference on global deforestation held in Sydney co hosted by the Australian Ministers for Environment and Foreign Affairs drew a crowd of ministers, officials from all over the world and international development agencies Preservation of natural forests was proven to be of particular interest, especially when it is largely believed that deforestation contributes about 20% of greenhouse gas emissions The Australian Government committed $200million to a global initiative on forests and climate and will be joined by the US and other countries...

So it's official The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, will be attending the opening of the Olympic games in Beijing, After a "productive" 30-minute meeting with the Chinese president, Hu Jintao, Sarkozy's office officially released the news on Wednesday that it had already leaked to the French media last Friday To many in France, the news will have come as much of a surprise as suddenly discovering that the Pope is Catholic...

Sometimes a politician can believe his or her own spin just a little too much that it leaves many onlookers gasping in disbelief and checking their ears to make sure they've heard correctly Such has been the case here in France since Saturday when the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, came up with what surely has to be the most unlikely interpretation of recent events in this country...

A clerk at the Tern Hill Hall Hotel told UK newspapers that the launch of Chinese lanterns for a wedding reception was behind the mass sighting of UFOs by soldiers and civilians on June 7, 2008 However, some experts disagree Even if the lanterns were released as claimed, they would have been too small to account for the objects that were witnessed, photographed and filmed...

UFO activist Jeff Peckman teamed up with UFO Experiencer Stan Romanek during a recent press conference to call for a ballot initiative to create an Extraterrestrial Affairs Commission in Denver Peckman believes that the commission will help to prepare the city for extraterrestrial visitations Romanek is a Colorado native who believes he has already been visited by aliens many times and presented what he claims is proof of those visitations in the form of a video of “a living, breathing alien...

Alexandra Holzer had anything but a normal childhood One of two sisters, she is the youngest born to Ghost Hunter Hans Holzer and Countess Catherine Buxhoeveden She explained some of the funny, offbeat and frightening moments of her youth in Growing Up Haunted: A Ghostly Memoir (Schiffer Publishing Ltd...

Did Howard Hughes ever get a chance to view a captured or crashed UFO and its occupants I have long pondered this question and there may now be an answer to it According to a former employee of Hughes Aircraft, he did...

According to Officials at the state run Vietnam News Agency, “An unidentified flying object exploded at about 10am on May 27 over the northern part of Phu Quoc Island" Colonel Nguyen Van Qui, a military commander on the island was the source of the report and no civilian, commercial or military aircraft are said to be missing in that area of southern Vietnam or nearby Cambodia The object that crashed was first seen in the skies over Cambodia where officials said it appeared as a “fire in the sky...

Last weekend here in France an 11-year-old boy, Joris, found himself effectively orphaned for the second time He was taken into care after his father, 34-year-old Aboubakar Coulibaly, was deported back to his native Côte d'Ivoire Coulibaly had been granted sole custody of Joris back in March 2006 after the child's mother committed suicide...

The mysterious if somewhat exhausting case of the hit-and-run scooter and the role of the French president's son, Jean Sarkozy, could be nearing its conclusion A Paris prosecutor has recommended dropping charges against him, but a final decision won't be handed down until September The incident dates back to October 2005, when Mohammed Bellouti claimed that a scooter ran into the back of his BMW in the centre of Paris, damaging his rear bumper and driving away without stopping...

The French government has launched a media blitz in an attempt to convince people that it really is winning the battle to increase purchasing power In the coming weeks the French will be treated to over 1,600 TV commercials as well as Internet advertising and full page spreads in the national and regional daily newspapers It’s all part of a drive by the government to get across three measures it has taken to increase purchasing power; the drop in the security deposit required for renting and buying properties, tax breaks for students and untaxed overtime for those who want it...

When you hear about the effects of global warming it is important to understand that the effects we are experiencing today are moderate compared to what the future will see if we do not take preventative action Over the next century researchers and environmental professionals are stating that the effects of global warming will continue on a constant inclined curve Temperatures heating up a little bit each decade until the earth’s temperatures reach the sweltering levels that we experienced in history...

Disasters can strike anytime, anywhere Recovering from disasters can be a major task, especially if not handled properly Chaos and confusion generally rule the day...

My book, RETURN TO THE MIDDLE KINGDOM: One Family, Three Revolutionaries, and the Birth of Modern China, is non-fiction, but in order to bring the history alive, I had to bring the characters and places alive I've given some idea of how I wrote three-dimensional characters previously, and now I want to say how important it is to know the places the protagonists had been to According to the family lore, Eugene undid what the Allied Powers, led by Woodrow Wilson, had done to China at the Versailles Peace Conference in 1919...

The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, begins a three-day visit to Israel on Sunday in what the press back home is reporting as further proof of an improvement in relations between the two countries It'll be only the third time a French president has visited Israel, and Sarkozy is likely to have a far more conciliatory tone than his predecessors That shouldn't be too difficult...

There is no question that alternative fuel sources must be found if we are going to reduce our dependence on oil, lower transportation costs, and stop damaging the environment Algae biodiesel is a fuel alternative that has many people hopeful for these changes as it creates fuel efficiently without displacing food crops, damaging the environment, and it reduces our dependence on oil Corn, soybeans, and waste oil are all known sources for fuel alternatives, but food crops used to produce fuel oil have proven to be counterproductive and waste oils are finite in supply...