Le Journal reports on the birth of first male heir in the Japanese royal family in over forty years. Spoiler alert: His name is Hisahito, and he’s doing quite well these days.

Birds aren’t the only ones who might feel their lifestyle’s been a bit restricted lately. France’s rural cats enjoy a good hunt. But the avian flu has put the lid on sporting felines living in affected areas.

Five of the nine districts of Lyon, the second largest French city, are being monitored for the H5N1 virus, better known as “Bird Flu”.

The largest Arabic TV network, Al Jazeera has been making its own headlines since 2001, for the depth and breadth of its coverage. This report from 2006 details the network’s evolution. Since then, Al Jazeera’s voice in international broadcasting has only become stronger.

In the wake of a deadly terrorist attack on a Coptic church in Alexandria, Egypt on New Year’s Day, many Coptic Christians are worried about celebrating Christmas (observed on January 6) as openly as they would like. Here is how a gorgeous Coptic church in Marseille is handling the situation.

Talk about service: a hospital in Nantes has devoted an entire department to making sure deaf patients receive the same medical attention as everyone else. Of course, all of its medical workers are fully proficient in French Sign Language. Did you know that most languages of the world also have their own sign language?

The French lumber market sees a long-awaited recovery, after “the storm of the century.” Time to heat up that new log cabin with a crackling fire in the fireplace.

A blade fell off a wind turbine, causing a bit of alarm amongst nearby residents. Perhaps it’s time for an upgrade?

Héla Fattoumi, originally from Tunis, has taken her feelings on the full-body veil to the stage, in her dance performance piece “Manta.”

A group has designed a new tool to bring sex education into the digital age. It’s “Neutros”: an informative and fun online video game designed to teach young people about sexuality, contraception, and other adolescent issues.

Do you know where Santa Claus lives? According to the post office, he lives on North Pole Street in the land of snow. And rest assured, if you send him a letter, it’ll get to where it needs to go.

How should a restaurant owner go about finding the right recipe for passing on the increasing cost of basic ingredients to the customer? By math or by witchcraft?

The young and the old are always the most severely affected by crises – a fact illustrated by this demonstration, in which the elderly clamor for emergency measures so they can make ends meet.

Buddhist monks and other Tibetans protest against Chinese rule while their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, continues his exile in India. The topic of Tibet was a sore point for China as it prepared to host the Summer Olympics.

Brr! It’s hard to believe that anything could survive in waters as cold as minus two degrees. But recent research expeditions in the Antarctic Ocean have found life forms, like the icefish, that manage to thrive despite the chilly temperatures.

Those of us who live in the United States are used to being able to buy some medications right off the shelves. But in France, until very recently, you weren’t able to purchase painkillers without first speaking to a pharmacist. Now certain painkillers are available on a self-serve basis, but are pharmacists ready for this change?

Twenty-eight years ago, Frenchman Michel Garcia fell in love with Easter Island, home of clear blue water and the breathtaking moai. Since then he’s kept busy as a diving instructor and doting father, and he even found time to discover a new species of shellfish!

Ten months of training go into learning to fly a helicopter, but less time is being spent aloft. More and more flight hours are logged in a hyper-realistic simulator that allows young pilots to hone their skills without ever leaving the earth.

This news report documents a trek by UNIFIL into Hezbollah territory in Lebanon for a mission of observation.

Take a walk with Dominique de Villepin, during the latter part of his term as France’s Prime Minister, through Marseilles in the south of France.