Canadian Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier continues to be hot copy. After his diplomatic faux pas in Afghanistan and questions over his former girlfriend's links with biker gang members, there is now a question over his excessive airfare.

According to the Toronto Star, Bernier charged to federal funds $22,573 to cover his airfare to Laos, where he attended a two-day conference in November. The trip included a stopover in Paris. Bernier's travel details were in the Foreign Affair Department's website.

Air France is investigating a pilot who narrowly avoided a near miss at 33,000 feet after allegedly "showing off" his control of the aircraft to a boy in the cockpit.

"The pilot made a sharp turn to the left, without warning, and then back again, obviously showing the French boy how he flew his plane," passenger Shaun Robinson told the Times of London. "I could see the boy. He shook hands with the pilot. He had a big smile on his face when he came out. Moments later the pilot threw his plane into a steep climb."

Pierre-Louis Colin, a speechwriter for the French foreign minister has written a new tourist guide on where best to ogle 'les parisiennes' or Frenchwomen.

The 190-page book Guide des jolies femmes de Paris, which was released last month, lists the best places to ogle gorgeous women in the city. Colin has singled out bars, parks, metro trains and times of day to observe women in Paris.

The latest look at shopping comes from Shermans Travel, which has put together its list of the top spots for "shopaholics." The Thai capital Bangkok topped the list for its reputation as one of the best shopping destinations in Asia. Good finds in the city are high-quality silk, jewelry, and traditional crafts for a reasonable amount of money.

Buenos Aires in Argentina is cited for its low cost leather products. Denmark's Copenhagen is among the top five for its wide-range of merchandise especially home accessories and glassware such as Holmegaard and Royal Copenhagen Porcelain.

Rogue trading is all in a day's work, says Nick Leeson who toppled Barings Bank in 1995 with illicit trading worth $1.6 billion, but the $7.2 billion fraud that cost France's banking giant Societe Generale is frightening.

"Rogue trading is probably a daily occurrence within the financial markets," Leeson told the BBC. "What shocked me was the size. I never for one moment believed it would get to this degree of magnitude, this degree of loss."