François Hollande renames Kobane, "Konabe"

Even if you're not especially interested in what's making the news, the chances are that you've heard of Kobane.

The town on the border of Syria and Turkey has been the scene of fighting between Islamic State militants and Kurdish defenders for the past month and has received extensive coverage internationally.


So you would think that leaders from around the world would not only be familiar with what's happening there but would also be able to say the town's name properly.

All right, there might be differences in spelling, accents and stress between different languages (and those helpful people at Wikipedia provide a few alternatives) but there's surely consensus as to the order in which both the letters and the three syllables come.

Right?

Wrong.

Not, apparently, if you happen to be the French president, François Hollande.

François Hollande at the Institut du monde arabe (screenshot from Le Petit Journal on Canal +)

Proving once again that he is a verbal law unto himself, Hollande managed to mangle the town's name not once, but twice, during and after a speech he gave at the Institut du monde arabe (Arab World Institute) on Tuesday.

Kobane in Hollande-speak became Konabe.

And both he and his advisors seemed oblivious to the fact that he couldn't pronounce the town's name correctly.

You can hear Hollande's gaffe from 12 minutes 45 seconds until 13 minutes 45 seconds - the  "L'instant président" segment of the "Le Petit Journal" on Canal + with host Yann Barthès broadcast on Tuesday evening.

Classic Flanby...unless, as Barthès pointed out, Hollande really was referring to the village of Konabe in Japan (yes, it exists).

Now that brings back memories.

Wasn't it in Japan back in June 2013 that Hollande, while wanting to pay tribute to the 10 Japanese nationals who had died in the Algerian hostage crisis in January of the same year actually expressed his condolences to the Chinese?

Valls en déplacement pour un parking - Le Petit Journal du 14/10

Olivier Falorni - well and truly "April Fooled"

Remember Olivier Falorni?

He's the man who, after having received the support of that infamous Tweet from the former first lady Valérie Trierweiler, went on to beat Ségolène Royal, the Socialist party's official candidate for La Rochelle, in the 2012 parliamentary elections.

(screenshot Le Grand Journal, Canal + January 2014)

It was a defeat which stymied Royal's chances of being chosen to be the president of the national assembly and left many wondering whether she would ever make a return to frontline politics.

Meanwhile Falorni took his seat in parliament, joining the group of the Parti Radical de Gauche, (Radical Party of the Left, PRG) rather than that of the ruling Socialist party.

And little or nothing was heard of him in the national media...until last week that is.

Because the 42-year-old was the "victim" of an April Fool: one played on him by the comedian and impersonator, Gérald Dahan.

April 1 was the day the newly-appointed prime minister, Manuel Valls, was busy putting together "his" new government - and an ideal opportunity for Dahan to continue his practice of playing pranks on well-known people (and especially politicians) by ringing them under the guise of being someone else.

He has done it before to the likes of, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, Nicolas Sarkozy and, yes, even Royal.

It might not always be particularly clever or amusing, but it invariably reveals more than the butt of the joke might wish to be made public.

And that's exactly what happened on April 1.

Dahan rang Falorni, pretending to be Valls and wanting to know whether the 42-year-old would be interested in a job in the new government.

During the course of the conversation, Falorni disclosed what he (and many others) thought of Royal: how she was "uncontrollable and unpredictable" and how working with her (or under her as a junior minister) would be unthinkable.

But as you can hear from the clip which Yann Barthés and his team at Le Petit Journal on Canal + (inevitably) played on Friday evening's edition, Falorni eventually agreed to accept a position in the government with Royal as his immediate boss.

There are also some delicious behind-the-scenes disclosures from Falorni as to how many of those public alliances between "leading" members of the Socialist party are...well "surprising" to say the least.

Le Petit Journal du 04/04 - Gérald Dahan imite Manuel Valls et piège Olivier Falorni

French TV's "double take" interview on Opération Pièces Jaunes

It can be hard reporting on an event that happens annually and, at the same time, finding something new to say.

That clearly though didn't seem to be a thought running through the mind of TF1's prime time news anchor Gilles Bouleau recently as he interviewed France's former, former first lady Bernadette Chirac.

Gilles Bouleau (screenshot from Le Petit Journal report)

The woman with the impossible "hair don't" was invited into the studio in her capacity as president of la Fondation Hôpitaux de Paris – Hôpitaux de France which, every year, organises Opération Pieces Jaunes to collect that unwanted small change we all have in our wallets, purses or pockets, to help children in French hospitals.

Bernadette Chirac (screenshot from Le Petit Journal report)

Anyway there was Chirac, in the studio with ageing French rocker Johnny Hallyday sitting beside her and Bouleau clearly determined to take a less than original approach to the questions he posed.

In fact his style and, more importantly, content bore a striking resemblance to the interview he conducted at around the same time last year.

Virtually word for word, Bouleau repeated the same questions, eliciting more or less the same sort of response.

Ah. That's real probing and exhaustive journalism at its best "copy and paste".

Take a listen to what those ever vigilant folk over at Le Petit Journal on Canal + put together (it's in French naturally but even if you don't understand a word you'll be able to hear that Bouleau asks more or less - maybe more "more" than "less" - the same questions 12 months apart).


20h de TF1: Gilles Bouleau se copie-colle par LeHuffPost

Perhaps the 51-year-old was taking too literally the words he uttered at one point that, "small change has been given a second life for almost 24/25 (2013/2014 interviews) years," in believing the same was true of his interview.

Bravo.

Valérie Trierweiler - the French president's "first bodyguard"

Valérie Trierweiler hasn't had an easy time with the media since François Hollande came to power.

And finding the right title for a woman filling a role which, although it doesn't officially exist, has in the past been one whereby the spouse would most likely devote herself to philanthropy and charity work all the while steadfastly supporting her husband, has been equally difficult.

The image - at least the one portrayed by her puppet in the popular satirical programme "Les Guignols" - is one of a dominating woman who doesn't suffer fools gladly and has her buffoon of a better-half firmly under her thumb.

It might be an exaggerated and not entirely accurate representation, but it's one that sticks.

Valérie Trierweiler (screenshot from "Les Guignols")

As does a term coined during campaigning for the presidential elections last year, when a member of the centre-right Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP), Lionnel Luci, dubbed her "Rottweiler".

Perhaps Trierweiler hasn't helped herself, either in terms of how she's perceived or what she is supposed to be called.

The weekly news magazine, L'Express, nicknamed her the "minister of jealousy" back in June 2012 when she made that infamous Tweet in support of Olivier Falorni, the rival to Ségolène Royal in the parliamentary elections.

CNN didn't know quite how to describe Trierweiler when she accompanied Hollande on his first official trip to the United States shortly after taking office. The couple aren't married and there's no sign from either of them that the knot is going to be tied any time soon (if at all).

In the end the channel plumped for "first girlfriend".

In October last year Trierweiler announced she would be involving herself more in that catch-all term "humanitarian affairs" - mainly with children - and that it would take precedence over her work as a journalist.

She continues to write for Paris Match - but only on culture rather than politics.

Everything seemed to be settling into a more-or-less familiar "first lady" pattern.

Except last weekend there was an "incident" which brought back memories of why Luca's "Rottweiler" insult still resonates.

Trierweiler accompanied Hollande to Tulle, the town in which he used to be mayor and member of parliament.

It was the chance for the French president to gather his thoughts - albeit briefly - from the previous week's revelations in the Cahuzac affair and recharge the batteries in a place where he's apparently still liked.

At one point Hollande, complete with security detail of course, decided to go walkabouts and meet and greet.

Trierweiler was there too - not so much to smile sweetly and press some flesh: more to show how heavy her hand could be when the cameras got a little to close (for her liking) to her other half.

Keep a close eye on what happens at 40 seconds on the accompanying video from Monday evening's "Le Petit Journal" on Canal +.

It's surely Trierweiler at her "bodyguard" best.

Sarkozy's May Day Paris rally attracts 200,000 - really?

A mighty 200,000 crowded on to Place du Trocadéro in Paris on Monday for the May Day rally organised by the current French president Nicolas Sarkozy.

You know the one - for "real workers" aimed as an alternative ones traditionally held in the French capital and throughout the country by the Unions.

You need proof?

Well, Sarkozy told the throng during the meeting and tweeted it to his followers afterwards.

There was even a photo on his Twitter account to accompany it.

You can count if you really, really want to.

Place du Trocadéro rally (screenshot Le Petit Journal)

But wait.

Surely those numbers are just a tad inflated.

After all, Place du Trocadéro can't possibly hold that many people can it?

It's simply not large enough.

Well it is thanks to the trusty Le Petit Journal on Canal + which, rather tongue-in-cheek, helpfully reproduced in the studio exactly how the figure could have been reached.

Because given the space available and the number of people claimed, it would have allowed just one square metre of space for every nine people.

Entirely feasible?

Well not quite given the demonstration on Le Petit Journal which showed just how impossible it would have been for that many people to have stood still in such cramped conditions let alone wave flags and applaud as could be seen on television footage of the event.

Oh well, what's the odd 100,000 plus between friends.

It was possibly only a slight exaggeration and an event, after all.

Something, which along with hyperbole, seems to have become a trademark of the 2012 French presidential election campaign.

And that's the most important thing isn't it?

Le Petit Journal 01/05/12 - Combien de militants au Trocadéro ?

Sarkozy's Villepinte campaign speech allows Bernadette Chirac forty winks

Le Petit Journal has been up to its usual tricks on Canal +, treating viewers to a different sort of look as to what happened at Nicolas Sarkozy's campaign rally last weekend at Villepinte, a town in the northeastern suburbs of Paris.

The programme is of course irreverent and certainly doesn't take either itself or the subjects it chooses to "investigate" too seriously.

But it certainly provides a refreshing, if somewhat cynical, look at political news stories and what's behind them.

Monday's edition, introduced as usual by host Yann Barthès, decided to take a look at THE political event of the weekend; Nicolas Sarkozy's campaign rally at Villepinte.

You know the rally: the one at which, among other things, he threatened to suspend France's participation in Schengen if re-elected.

Sarkozy spent over an hour addressing an adoring crowd of activists who, as Le Petit Journal showed viewers, had been put in the mood by the appropriate warming-up beforehand.

Yes it was a grand show.

While the event's cameras were trained on Sarkozy, Le Petit Journal decided to concentrate on the reactions of those Big Cheeses seated in the front row, some of whom would also be addressing the masses.

They included prime ministers, past and present, Édouard Balladur, Alain Juppé and François Fillon; not a facial muscle moving as they listened (and inwardly groaned).

Much larger than life actor Gérard Depardieu was there, looking decidedly flushed and first lady, Carla-Bruni-Sarkozy, and Jean-François Copé, leader of the governing Union pour un Mouvement Populaire, (Union for a Popular Movement, UMP) party seemed to be having quite a natter - perhaps they had already heard the speech too many times.

Bernadette Chirac (screenshot from Le Petit Journal)

And then there, true to her word, was Bernadette Chirac, the woman who had in a recent interview with RTL radio said that she would be a "fervent supporter of Nicolas Sarkozy" during his campaign.

But at 78, the effort was beginning to show as the former first lady bravely fought to shake off the descending eyelid syndrome which overcomes many of us when unable to concentrate or simply not that interested.

It was the most courageous of attempts but...not surprisingly, she lost.

Well until the applause stirred her, that is.

Now what's her husband, former president Jacques Chirac, up to?

Le Petit Journal du 12/03 - People attitude à Villepinte

Liliane Bettencourt and the "golden dildo"

The so-called "Bettencourt affair" has been taking up more than its fair share of column inches and airtime both in France and abroad over the summer.

It's a complicated case by any stretch of the imagination, involving an inheritance dispute between the daughter of France's richest woman and her mother, political intrigue, accusations of corruption, claims of tax evasion - in fact you name it, and it has probably appeared in the headlines at some point over the past couple of months.

Now though, if it were possible, there's a twist in the tale.

It might not have very much to do with any of the above, but it has certainly caught the imagination of many, has brought a somewhat "lighter" touch to the proceedings and has created that all-too-frequently seen Internet buzz.

At the heart of the so-called "affair" of course has been Liliane Bettencourt, France's richest woman and the principal shareholder of L'Oréal, the world's largest cosmetics and beauty company.

Recently the 87-year-old posed for a photograph to accompany an interview with her in an issue of the magazine Capital.



The shot was taken at one of her homes, in the swanky Parisian suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine.

The setting is all very "proper" and entirely appropriate it would appear, as Yann Barthes, the presenter of Le Petit Journal, told viewers on Tuesday.

It's a segment of the daily evening magazine Le Grand Journal on Canal + and takes a somewhat irreverent look at what's making the news.

As Barthes explained, at first glance everything appears to be 'normal' in the photograph.

Madame Bettencourt is to be seen standing in front of bookshelves - "a totally normal setting," said Barthes.

"A lamp on the table - normal," he continued.

"And next to the lamp, a mug with the inscription 'I love you' - once again normal."

But then as Barthes and many others have noticed, sitting there next to the mug and clearly visible in the picture is....what can surely only be described in polite terms as a giant golden dildo.

Photoshop or a work of art?

Cybernauts are divided but the Net is a-buzz and it's surely yet another "affair" to be followed.


La bite/gode en or de Mme Bettencourt
envoyé par sebyrollins. - Regardez plus de vidéos comiques.