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Rich world leaders are meeting in Japan (and making promises they can’t keep), and demonstrators are having a ball. Little Sarko is bottom left in the first pic, and third from left in the second.

Far-right politician Jean-Marie Le Pen (inset) is selling his company car on EBay. It’s a level-2 bulletproof ‘92 Peugeot 605, with airco, central locking, leather upholstery and tinted windows. It doesn’t have a gas chamber, but that’s merely a detail.
Update: the sale has been suspended after jokers went wild and bids had reached 10 […]

After the town where nobody is allowed to die, French communes are now telling people not to have babies.

Every once in a while the French still show their revolutionary spirit.
Around 100 communes in central France are boycotting this weekend’s municipal elections. They’re angry with the state’s decision to close the maternity ward in a […]

The doctor without borders who became a statesman without borders.
The New York Times dedicates a slideshow and an article to him.

Now you see him. Now you don’t.
After last year’s presidential elections, some towns refused to hang Sarkozy’s official portrait (left) on the wall in their mairie. Now they have an even more offensive way to show their disgust and mistrust. I found the image on the right on Sarkostique. The text refers to Sarko’s (in)famous […]

They hug lambs, cuddle goats and stroke cows.

Cheer up, guys — it’s part of the job.
Anything a French prez can do, Sarkozy can do faster. It took François Mitterand and Jacques Chirac years to see their popularity slump to 36%, Nicolas Sarkozy did it in just nine months!
Good job, Nick — try a bit harder, and you’ll even beat Bush’s 26% […]

In the run-up to the French presidential elections no blogger covered the events better than Joshua Boswell, aka Boz. Now he’s back with a new blog: Sarkozy the American. In his own words:
As it’s become impossible to resist commenting on the recent political happenings in France and the US, I’ve decided to start this new […]

Beautiful candidates: spending 85,000 euros together on make-up.
Scientific proof: spending less on make-up gives you a better chance to become president.
Election campaigns in France are closely monitored by official accountants. The commission nationale des comptes de campagne has just published the figures for last year’s presidential campaign.
As it turns out, Ségolène Royal spent 51,659 […]

PPDA and his less flattering alter-ego in a televised puppet show.
You know you’ve made it in France if people remember you by your initials. Just ask MAM, BHL, DSK, BB and PPDA (shown above).
Patrick Poivre d’Arvor is France’s most popular newsreader. But, according to a new book, he’s not a very nice man. Times blogger […]

Joseph E. Stiglitz and Amartya Sen
Sarkozy: “We must change the way we measure economic growth.“
France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy is seeking the help of two Nobel prize winners to develop a new definition of French economic growth.
Ex-World Bank chief economist Joseph Stiglitz (wiki) is to lead a taskforce along with Indian economist Armatya Sen (wiki) […]

The populist popular leader has a large following.
As announced before Christmas, green activist José Bové will start his hunger strike tomorrow, together with fifteen other fighters against GM (genetically modified) crops. They want an immediate GM moratorium. Three things can happen:
1) the government gives in
2) Bové gives up
3) Bové dies
I bet on 1)
Source (in French) […]

Advertisement for Russian magazine Novynar. A bit outdated, but still representative for the thinking of many French. Click the image to see why.
(There are also a similar posters with the world according to Bush and Kim Jong-Il.
Via Ads of the World

Husband savers: Bernadette and Hillary
The First Ladies’ Club: Bernadette Chirac backs Hillary Clinton
Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign has won a glowing endorsement from an unexpected source – Bernadette Chirac, the former first lady of France. The women, who have been friends since they were first ladies together in the late 1990s, have at least one thing […]

Interesting weeks ahead: Chirac formally probed over scam
Former French President Jacques Chirac is facing formal investigation for alleged embezzlement of public funds when mayor of Paris. The case relates to a scheme whereby up to 40 rightist sympathisers were allegedly given jobs by Paris city hall.
Chirac has consistently denied any wrongdoing while he was mayor […]