2007

Les marchés de Noël

In December, the towns and villages of Alsace become transformed. The streets, the windows, the balconies, are lit up. Little wooden houses occupy the squares, it is the famous Christmas markets. In these little decorated huts, shopkeepers sell works of art, culinary specialities and craft objects such as Christmas decorations, candles or wooden toys.

Cousteau, écologiste avant l'heure

The protection of the environment is today part of our daily lives, but it's a very recent preoccupation for most of us. Among the famous people who awoke our consciences was Commander Jacques-Yves Cousteau, who revealed in 1951 the extent to which the seas were sullied by human activity. The name of the Commander has entered into legend, linked with that of his boat. Originally this boat was a J-826 minesweeper, built for the Royal Navy in 1942 in Seattle. After the Second World War, it became the Calypso, the oceanographic ship of Commander Cousteau. Damage suffered one year before Cousteau's death in 1997 put an end to the saga. Ever since it has been an eyesore in La Rochelle port, to the great displeasure of the inhabitants. Luckily everything has an end, including this nightmare. A look back on this adventure with with Florence Maître.

Lire : Ionesco

If you want to be with it, you've already been left behind.
Ionesco

Jour de grève

A large number of high speed trains, regional trains, underground trains and buses stopped running for several days recently: the transport unions had called for a strike. And it might happen again. France is often struck by social conflicts of this type. Cécile Mathy tries to understand why.

Accueil, villes françaises

Lots of French people are obliged to leave the region of their origins to go and work in another county (department), sometimes several hundred kilometres away. And it's not always easy to integrate. Katia Bitsch reports.

Olivier Adam

Olivier Adam was born in 1974. He is the author of several books, including Cliff in 2004 which was a success and also the author of books for young people. His latest book Sheltered from nothing has been short-listed for the 2007 Goncourt Prize.

La Coupe du monde du rugby

At the moment France is hosting the 6th rugby world cup. 20 teams are taking part, 10 French stadia and 2 Welsh stadia are hosting the games. It's an opportunity to discover the unique position of rugby in France. A sport not like any other. Florence Maître reports.

Lyon : promenade au bord de l'eau

French communities are trying improve the integration of nature into the heart of towns by creating new areas for walking. An example is Lyon, France's second city with more than a million inhabitants, recognised as a world heritage site by UNESCO. The capital of the Gauls now has a new look, thanks to the redevelopment of the banks of the Rhone. Cécile Mathy reports.

Lire : Romain Gary (1914-1980)

Romain Kacew was born in Moscow, emigrated to France and studied in Nice. He played an active role during the war, joining the Free French air force in England in 1940 and choosing a combat name : Gary, which means to burn in Russian.

La rentrée!

It's la rentrée! In the schools, in the magazines, on the television. It's impossible to miss. When 15 million pupils wend their way back to school, the whole of French bubbles. Florence Maître reports.

La Communauté des Chartreux

In the French Alps, between Grenoble and Chambéry, 30 monks live cut off from the world. They are part of the Chartreux community, founded in 1084. A guided tour in a world of prayer and solitude.

Lire : Yasmina Réza

Yasmina Réza was born in Paris in 1959. A writer, playwright and actress, she enjoyed her first success in 1987 with Conversations after a burial. Then came The Passage of Winter and The Unexpected Man. Her play Art, which had its premier in Paris in 1994, has toured the world.

Que faire de nos petits bouts de chou?

With more than 800 000 births in 2006, France is the European champion for natality. It's a delightful record, but this demographic surge has created a problem when it comes to care for the nought to threes. 15 000 places in crèches were created between 2002 and 2004, and the government has announced another 20 000 additional cribs by 2008. But that figure still isn't enough.

Brouage - Port Fantôme

There are in France the famous tourist spots and then there are the places that are less well known and nevertheless full of history. It's the case for example of Brouage, which in the XVIIth century was a port famous for both its battleships and its merchant navy. The founder of Quebec, Samuel Champlain, was born here. It was here that Louis XIV and Marie Mancini's doomed childhood romance came to an end. The spirit of Cardinal Richelieu and Vauban also live on in a town which, because of the sea's retreat, is now situated in marshland fifty kilometres from La Rochelle. It's worth a visit because the history of Brouage gives us an echo of History with a capital H. Florence Maître takes us there.

Lire : Baudelaire

Free man, you will always cherish the sea!
The sea is your mirror; you contemplate your soul
In the infinite unrolling of its billows;
Your mind is an abyss that is no less bitter.
(Charles Baudelaire - Man and the sea )

L'année polaire

International Polar Years are organised to encourage a concentration of scientific research effort on the state of the poles. The first was organised in 1882, there were years organised in 1932 and 1957 and since March 2007 the 4th International Polar Year has begun. So it's a big event for the international scientific community.

Les fils de Georges

Every year in the little village of Soucieu en Jarrest, hundreds of people gather to pay homage to Georges Brassens.

Lire Balzac

Balzac (1799-1850)is one of the great writers of realist, philosophical and fantasy fiction. He was a contemporary of Victor Hugo, Alexander Dumas and Georges Sand, with whom notably he founded the Literary Society in 1838.

Nicolas Sarkozy est élu Président

- Go ahead!
- Voted! Nicolas Sarkozy has been elected the 6th President of the 5th French Republic. Reactions on a historic day - Richard Good reports

Tintin

This year celebrations are being held for the 100th anniversary of the birth of Hergé, creator of the famous Tintin. His adventures still fascinate people - Katia Bitsch reports.

Lire: Brigitte Giraud - L'Amour est très surestimé

The end of the story It's the end of the story and you don't know it. He's there, standing in front of the window, and you blame him for blocking the light. It's not him you see but the daylight that he's stopping from coming in. It begins like that. He's there and his presence annoys you. You no longer wait for him. You come home in the evening and you turn on the radio. An absent-minded kiss after taking off your shoes. Silence immediately afterwards. You don't know how it's happened. Since when. You'd thought it wouldn't be possible. Not him, not you.

Les présidentielles sur le web

Because everybody's got something to say
It's 2007. Now is the time to act
The recipe? There's no miracle:
Take you card and go and vote

La poésie française d'aujourd'hui

To mark The Poets' Spring, an event that takes place every March across the country, Florence Maître looks into the state of French poetry today.

Lire: Marguerite Duras

Extract : The Lover - Extract from the Foreword

La fin de l'ère Chirac

-My fellow countrymen and women, when the mandate that you gave me comes to an end, the time will have come for me to serve you in other ways. I will not seek your suffrage for a new term of office. With these words Jacques Chirac announced the turning of a page in French history. His decision not to stand for again makes it certain that France will elect someone new to the presidency of the nation.

Au salon immobilier

-What have we got that's interesting? Lots of things! So here's an apartment with a terrace in the 3rd District of Lyon, 650 000 euros. An apartment with a terrace, the 6th District of Lyon. Broadly speaking over the last two or three years prices have gone up by 10% per year. Here we've got the 4th District of Lyon, with a view over the Saône... Yes, property prices are still on the rise, and the estate agents are delighted at the Lyon property fair.

Marie NDiaye

The award-winning writer talks about her latest novel

Le Forum Social Mondial

More than 50 000 people gathered in Kenya, Nairobi, for the 2007 World Social Forum. For the seventh time - and the first in Africa - associations, non-governmental organisations, political parties, trade unions and ordinary alternative world activists gathered behind the slogan: Another world is possible. Among them, a thousand or so French people. Florence Maître reports.

La souplesse et le mordant du lion - la magnifique histoire de la marque Peugeot

With 3 390 000 vehicles sold in the world in 2005, PSA Peugeot Citroën has confirmed its position as a major player in the car manufacturing market. It's the number one constructor in France and the the number two in Europe. To understand how the industrial life of the brand began, we're going to Sochaux in the Doubs department in the East of France.

Patrick Modiano

You were right to say to me that in life it's not the future that is important, it is the past. Extract from Rue des Boutiques Obscures (Missing Person)

Nicolas Sarkozy

Nicolas Sarkozy will be the right's candidate in May's presidential election. Love him or hate him, his talent for sweeping his opponents aside is undeniable.

Au secours des sans-abri

What can be done to help the homeless? Their plight has been the focus of plenty of media attention this winter because of a campaign by the charity organisation Les Enfants de Don Quichotte, which set up camps in all the large cities to attract the public's attention. To investigate on the ground realities, Katia Bitsch went to the Maison du Pont in Mulhouse.

Vauban : bâtisseur du Roi Soleil

Three hundred years after his death, all through 2007 the work of Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban will be celebrated in France.