Workers for the power company in the city of Lille aren’t happy and want management to know it. So they sabotaged the grid, cutting off power to thousands of businesses and residences. Despite the inconvenience, the mayor, and even many residents, support the workers.

As Laurent Voulzy is walking down the beach, he chances upon a fan, and sings a little duet with her. At his concert that night, she’ll be in the front row. Can that “change the face of the world”?

Though we reported that some of the residents of Lille support the power workers and their blackout strikes, it turns out that not all of them do. Office workers shout from balconies to give the strikers a piece of their minds, and the workers respond in kind.

It’s common to see photos of celebrities aged forty and up happily pregnant or pushing a pram. But according to most doctors, a woman’s chances of conceiving drop dramatically after age thirty-eight or so. Of course there are exceptions. Modern medical fertility treatments allowed a sixty-six-year-old Romanian woman to give birth to twins in 2005. But unless we’re willing and able to procure such treatments, which can be financially, emotionally, and physically draining, those who want to wait until their forties to have kids will have to take their chances.

Marion Cotillard was not a superstar when she landed the role of Edith Piaf in La Môme. But, already a formidable actress, she had an impressive set of roles under her belt, and the film’s director had no doubt she was “the one.” He was right: Marion took home the Oscar for best actress in 2008.

An interesting note: The USA release title for the film – in French, ironically enough – is La Vie en Rose, the name of a famous Piaf song, which basically means, “life through rose-colored glasses.” The French title comes from Piaf’s nickname: “La Môme Piaf,” which can be translated as “the little sparrow,” but also means “little kid Piaf.”

The town of Nîmes goes all out for Christmas, with thousands of lights and giant candy canes all along the streets. It might just be the most festive city in France!

You might already know that the euro looks slightly different from country to country. But France has also released a series of limited edition euro coins for each of its twenty-six regions. Remember when collecting state quarters was all the rage? Now you can move on to regional French euros!

Say you’re writing a poem in French, and you need to know how to compare your love to a beautiful sunny summer day. Unsure of the vocabulary? Listen to this weather report from local station Alsace 20 (covering the Alsace region of France) to pick up some useful weather lingo.

Young Tunisians take to the streets on May 1 to voice their discontent about Sarkozy's inflexible stance on refugee resettlement, which many see as racist.

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

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.

Did you know that France is the most nuclear-dependent country in the world? These protesters are trying to change that statistic in their demonstration against nuclear energy in Paris's Place de la Bastille.

The Marseille-based rap group IAM is back after a six-year hiatus with their new album, Arts Martiens (Martian Arts), which is already topping the charts in France. Check out a preview of their song "Notre Dame veille" (Our Lady Watches) in this video.

Alessandro Di Sarno takes us behind the scenes of the highly controversial French newspaper "Charlie Hebdo." After due consideration and in honor of the victims of the tragic attack on the magazine, Yabla made the decision to keep this video.

"Un Petit Noir" (or "A Small Black," a slang term for a small black coffee) is the bookstore café in Lyon specializing not only in gourmet coffees, but also in detective novels and thrillers. Besides crime fiction and caffeine, the store also serves some great jazz concerts to add to the "noir" ambiance.