Loophole Makes Biometric IDs a Steal
Bio-metric passports are supposed to end identity theft, help fight terrorism and obviate other evils, but all the sophisticated electronic wizardry may be useless … because you can, allegedly, get one with an easily faked French birth certificate says Le Parisien. In France each year more than 210 000 people face the personal disaster of [...]
A King for Revolutionary France?
History they say, is written by the victors, and as the French-inspired EU project shows signs of coming off the rails, is anyone thinking about what might emerge from a non-EU Europe? One “proudly reactionary and counterrevolutionary” (albeit anonymous) blogger has issued a call for the restoration of the monarchy. A King for Revolutionary France, [...]
The Lost ‘A’ View of La France
Some may be working up a lather since La Fr-nce was threatened with the loss of an ‘A’ — just one of three critical ‘A’s in its (sovereign) rAting — but others see it as an opportunity for ‘relooking’ national icons, as a French Facebook ‘event’ shows. (Read more on line here) At the luxury end [...]
Christmas 2011 and European Morals
The British PM, David Cameron, who in February, joined his French and German counterparts in denouncing multiculturalism as a failure, is celebrating Christmas 2011 with some remarks on values and morals that possibly reflect a changing mood in crisis-ridden Europe. At an event to mark the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James version of the [...]
NB Sarko-Obama; Protect Net Call by OECD
In the US Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales has threatened to take the site off-line in protest at what he considers ’draconian’ anti-Internet freedom measures currently proposed by the Obama administration. In France there have been ongoing protests about Hadopi, the French effort to clamp down on music and intellectual property piracy — which in reality goes much further. [...]
Say Hello to the Merkozy Austerity Union
In France and across Europe commentators fear the outcome of the Merkozy-led summit to staunch the sovereign debt crisis, will bring rising tension, nationalism, populism, even violence and social disorder — and all to save a powerful lobby of casino bankers. (Read more online here) In the days immediately after Franco-German-led efforts to [...]
Treasure Trove Found in Louvre Biscuit Tin
The refined musical tastes of Alexander the Great (324 BC) have been uncovered in a biscuit tin stashed in the Paris Louvre. (Read more on line here) A fragment of a musical score from the 4th century BC has been decrypted, reconstructed and readied for recording on period instruments — listen to something rather similar [...]
A Hallelujah Christmas from Alaska
These Alaskan school children have a different take on the Hallelujah Chorus and share it here in the spirit of Christmas. Here is their YouTube rendition of the Handelian masterpiece: French News Online echoes the sentiments and wishes all its readers Seasonal Greetings and a Happy Christmas. Related articles Season of Goodwill and Christmas Cheer
Viva l’Opera- The Met in a Cinema Near You
Viva l’Opéra offers live famous opera performances on cinema screens around France in its 2011-2012 season which complements a direct satellite transmission of the Metropolitan Opera of New York matinee performance every Saturday by a rival chain. At a cinema near you in France throughout Winter and Spring, recordings of famous live opera [...]
“The Euro Zone’s Terrible Mistake”
If you want to know what the ‘Merkozy’ deal has up its sleeve to ‘resolve’ the euro crisis read Felix Salmon’ recent blog for Reuters news agency: “In order for markets to work, lenders need to suffer when they make bad lending decisions. If the Europeans didn’t learn from Ireland, couldn’t they at least learn [...]
Oradour: Raids on Former SS Soldiers
Some 67 years after a brutal massacre by SS troops in the French town of Oradour-sur-Glane, German officials have raided the homes of six elderly men suspected of taking part. But the investigation may not get far. Little evidence was found, and the suspects were either unfit for interrogation or denied the allegations. It was [...]
Modern Mme Defarge ‘knits’ News in Lille
A Lille Tricoteuse imitating her revolutionary predecessors, is producing a hand-knitted record of news and events, that she publishes on a blog fast becoming a talking point in France. Is this modern incarnation of Charles Dickens’ Madame Defarge as bloodthirsty as the tricoteuses who knitted while aristocratic heads rolled during the French revolution? Well not [...]
TouTou Rista Scoops the Poop
In Paris as we have reported before the capital’s 150,000 strong dog population indiscriminately drops 16 tonnes of poo a day, with a clean-up and disposal price tag of 300,000 euros a month. Now toymaker Toys R Us aims to cash in on this fouling past-time with an “educational toy” it hopes will make a [...]
Signs of (US) Justice against Misery Makers
A US district judge Jed Rakoff looks set to become an international hero if a case he is insisting be brought against Citigroup helps to bring to book banksters whose excesses have led to global meltdown and euro zone misery. The FTAlphaville blog has the full story here. In essence the judge is challenging the [...]
Are French Socialists Germanaphobes?
Echoes of the tensions that provoked two World Wars are ominously reappearing as a European Union — designed to prevent any future German aggression — comes under unprecedented strain thanks to a banker-manipulated financial disaster of epic proportions. The extraordinary lack of statesmanship that has marked months of horse-trading and indecision by EU leaders, with [...]
