News stories by Alecia D. McKenzie

Several people are gathered outside a window, staring wide-eyed at a scene within. They watch as a man brutally beats a woman, pounding her face with his fists, kicking her. No one says anything, until an onlooker screams agonisingly: 'stop'.

The stereotypical image of a French person is of someone wearing a beret and carrying a baguette under his arm. But can one wear a burqa and also be French? Can one prefer pitta bread to baguettes and still be French?

Designer rag dolls, the concept couldn’t sound more frivolous. But dolls made by top fashion designers such as Armani and Prada are helping to fund a vaccination programme in war-torn Darfur.

The possibility that a vaccine could soon be developed to fight the deadly HIV virus has the scientific community brimming with hope and excitement, but there is also disagreement about how effective it could be in the global war against AIDS.

Like everyone else, Barbara Hashimoto hated the junk mail coming in through the door. Until she decided one day that it could be transformed into art, and lessons about the environment.

Along with 'canal' and 'dyke', young people visiting this city will learn some other interesting words in a very short time - words such as 'cannabis', 'bong', and 'marijuana'. The words are hard to avoid, especially in the tourist area that boasts a museum devoted to 'hash'.

It could almost be the French Riviera: women basking in the sun on wooden deckchairs; toddlers rolling in the sand or building castles; young people in colourful kayaks and sailboats on the water; elderly men playing a game of pétanque on the beach.

As the international war of words over nuclear programmes heats up, with North Korea threatening to strengthen its 'nuclear deterrence' against the United States, countries such as France find themselves in a stance that some analysts describe as ambiguous and hypocritical.

Press freedom groups are calling on the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to drop its case against a French journalist accused of contempt over a book about the workings of the court.

Compost boxes on the balcony of small apartments. Queues at market stalls selling organic produce. Massive audiences for a film about the state of the earth. Unprecedented votes for environmental politicians in the European elections.