Did you spot Poisson d'Avril jokes in French press?

Animal therapy

The therapeutic effects of swimming with dolphins are well documented - but one Côte-d'Or association, according to one slightly 'fishy' report wanted to take things a bit further by bringing whale sharks or basking sharks to a lake near Dijon so that people could swim with them. Work, the report said, was under way with a university in Costa Rica to solve the minor problem of salinating the lake so that the fish could survive.

Space pollution
Space debris is something of a problem - as the Monday's fiery destruction in the Earth's atmosphere of the Tiangong-1 space station proved. Sciences et Avenir reported that Tesla had unwittingly added to the problem when it launched its Tesla car into space. The article said that the vehicle was not entirely clean when it was launched - as an insect was stuck to the windscreen.

Eagle-eyed law enforcement
Gendarmed in the Rhône said they had a new weapon against motorists who flout the law - specially trained eagles. Cameras fitted to the birds would give officers extra eyes in the sky and would be used to track suspicious behaviour and identify offenders. Boffins at Rhône gendarmes HQ were also working to develop a prototype speed camera for the raptors, they said...

Liberté, égalité, on display
In future, equality rules will apply to artworks exhibited at the Louvre, according to a … ahem… statement from the "Tribune de l'art" to Culture Minister, Françoise Nyssen. To achieve equality the 'Tribune' says national museums must not acquire works of art created by men until 2022. The rule applies even to Egyptian antiquity departments, which must work to have as many mummy mummies as daddy mummies within five years.

Flying firefighters
Following the wildfires in the south of France in the summer of 2017, firefighters in Paris are experimenting with parachutes to allow them to get close to fires or disasters in hard-to-reach areas. They even made a film. While this story may not be true, it is not quite as far-fetched as mosquitos on the inter-stellar Tesla - firefighters in USA have been working on parachute operations on and off for several decades.

Nice's blue chairs...
Were stolen, according to Nice Matin, from the Promenade des Anglais, and replaced by simple yellow plastic ones. A total 200 disappeared overnight on Sunday, the newspaper reported.

The Frenchmen who went up a hill, but came down a mountain
Officials in Meribel have decided that Mont Vallon, at 2,952m, is too small, and are planning to add an extra 50m to take it above the symbolic 3,000m mark. According to reports, 150,000m3 of earth will be dug from the foot of the mountain and transported to the top. The hole left behind at the base will be filled with water to create a nice lake for tourists.

Planes with bay windows
Emirates announced it was launching planes that came with huge bay windows. The aim, the airline said, was to combine luxury with exceptional views.

Speedy electric tractors
High-end car manufacturer Porsche also got in on the act, by announcing it was about to launch a super-powered electric tractor - which it described as having "the fastest, quietest and cleanest acceleration in the world". Admittedly, Porshe has a tractor past, but it has not built agricultural equipment since the middle of the 20th century.

And then there was ours
Connexion also got in on the Poisson d'Avril act, with our story about self-driving cars needing to pass a driving test. But some of that article, at least, was true… Apart from the driving test bit. Did you spot it?