Here we go again. I find myself once more living in a place that Al Qaeda is determined to hit. The Eiffel Tower has been closed down twice in recent weeks and there have been a lot of disruptions in public transportation in response to suspect packages. And there are more police around, particularly in [...]
“That’s enough!” (Ca suffit!) European Commissioner Viviane Reding’s threat to impose sanctions on France may have backfired. Instead of apologizing for expelling Roma who are illegally occupying sites, French officials are insisting on their right to enforce the law. And if reader reactions are any indication they appear to be supported by large swaths of the [...]
There was a big demonstration – and strike – in Paris yesterday. Still about the same issue: the legal age of retirement. The government wants to postpone it by two years (from 60 to 62), but the people and the unions are not too happy about that. As always, it is extremely difficult to know [...]
If you visited Paris, you probably noticed what we call the Roms (gypsies), that is an ethnic group who originates from India and who settled down mostly in Eastern Europe. They are very poor and not really welcome anywhere (including their home country) but with the opening of the EU borders a lot of them [...]
Two French journalists from the television network France 3 are being held hostages in Afghanistan. They have been in custody for 6 months now (since December 29, 2009), so Reporters without Borders decided to draw the attention of everyone by installing a huge paperboard on the Luxembourg Gardens and by inviting passers by to sign. This [...]
Paris’s Préfecture de la Police has forbidden an apéro géant (giant cocktail party) entitled “Saucisson Pinard” (Sausage and Wine) to take place tomorrow in La Goutte d’Or, a neighborhood in the 18th arrondissement, not far from the Basilica of Sacré Coeur. Why would the police department forbid such a fun, innocent event? Let’s start with [...]
French farmers from all over the country drove their tractors all the way to Paris (some left their farms on Sunday) to protest the rising production and administrative fees in a year when the prices of their goods have gone down, making the costs higher than the profits. Over a thousand of the tractors drove [...]
In France’s regional elections, Nicolas Sarkozy’s center right party UMP suffered major losses, in part because the President’s supporters abstained from voting at all.Why? The financial crisis and recession have hurt governing parties everywhere, but some of the blame clearly goes to President Sarkozy himself. Here are five of the biggest mistakes that have hurt his [...]
French people love Los Angeles. And often very famous French people go to live there and remain under the radar (Michel Polnareff has been known to wander around Palm Springs all but unnoticed). One of the most powerful French persons to move to LA lately is David Martinon. He is the former spokesperson to French [...]
Attention bargain shoppers! The average university student costs French taxpayers 9,132 euros per year, but tuition averages only 175 euros for a bachelors and 235 euros for a masters. As a result, the number of foreign students–in particular from China–has been rising. In 1999, 2,000 Chinese students enrolled in French universities; this year it’s 22,000! Jean-Pascal [...]
