Found guilty of embezzlement of public funds, far-right politician Marine Le Pen has been barred from running for office for five years. Her trial and sentencing have sent shockwaves throughout Europe as her political career hangs in the balance.

This helpful news report explains what goes on during the United Nations General Assembly meetings. Can you guess which world leader held the floor the longest, for over four hours?

Nicolas Sarkozy made headlines with his recent conviction for accepting illicit funds from Muammar Gaddafi. He was sentenced to five years in prison with a deferred committal order. He intends to appeal and fight to the bitter end.

How do you ask how a person is doing in "real" French, the French we use in our daily lives? Watch this great video to find out.

In this video, Nelly will teach you all the different ways of saying "thank you" and "you're welcome" in French, among other common phrases.

If you want to sound like a real French person, practice the art of conversation by taking a few cues from Nelly. There are many polite ways to conclude a conversation. And, talking about the weather is always a good way to keep the conversation flowing.

Nelly explains the five most important grammar rules you'll need to know to learn French. In this first part, she focuses on sentence structure and gender.

Concluding her overview of the five fundamental grammar rules in French, Nelly introduces the concepts of singular and plural, as well as the conjugation of verbs.

Nelly will teach you some essential vocabulary for describing people's personality. In Part 1, she focuses on positive traits.

Enrich your vocabulary and impress your French-speaking friends next time you need to describe someone's personality. Just be careful with masculine and feminine endings!

Nelly concludes her lesson on personality vocabulary with some adjectives to describe negative traits.

Nelly will introduce you to some of the most common French faux amis (false cognates)—words that may look easy to understand because they resemble English, but mean something entirely different. Learning these might help you avoid some embarassing situations!

Nelly discusses some more faux amis (false cognates) in English and French. You'll need to be especially careful with some of these, such as "excited" and excité.

Nelly shares her selection of the top places to visit in France, from the Loire castles, to the medieval city of Carcassonne, to the Riviera. Happy travels!

Nelly concludes her list of the ten most beautiful places in France, including Annecy, often called the Venice of the Alps, and Toulouse, the Pink City. Happy traveling!