Not all the news from France is "grave"

This week saw the rolling out of a website dedicated to "news" - both French and international. Inverted commas of course because "Les Graves Infos" doesn't exactly tell the stories as they happen.

Instead, it's full of totally fictitious stories, concocted by those who are contributing to the site.

"Les Graves Infos" is all the brainchild of Dominique Farrugia, who comes with a rather long pedigree in terms of comedy in France. He is, in the mould of many French celebrities, something of a multi-talent, having acted, produced and directed for both television and film.

And he was also behind the launch of the television channel, Comédie! - the French version of the US concept Comedy Central.

His latest venture then, would seem to fit perfectly with his general philosophy of setting out to make people laugh.

"The idea is to make (people) laugh and nothing else," he says. "If it's culture you're looking for then this is not the place you'll come to."

The site, take a look here (apologies, but it's obviously in French) mixes a daily news journal which follows the format familiar to most French, complete with "news" and a breaking line update running across the bottom of the screen, that is obviously completely untrue.

There's also a separate section, "gravepubs", devoted entirely to television commercials - once again, completely fabricated, and there's perhaps a less amusing section but one that could catch the eye of many male viewer, the weather, presented by a topless (female) forecaster.

Perhaps there'll be a rethink as to whether the weather presented in such a way, or really has its place on the site.

It's not especially amusing and if it's really looking for a role model in terms of making the weather appear funny, then it need perhaps look no further than the excellent Pauline Lefevre on Canal + Le Grand Journal.

Most importantly perhaps, Les Graves Infos is also an interactive site with "Internauts" of all levels being encouraged to participate in forming the "news" schedule by becoming "gravereporters" themselves.

Apart from maybe the weather, the whole concept is rather a welcome break from the seriousness or gravity of much of what is making the headlines in France and elsewhere.