French News Online Newsroom

Exit Merkozy But Will it Really be Merd*?

www.French-News-Online.com — Wed, 16 May 2012 13:16:35 +0000

Powered by Max Banner Ads With Merkozy divorced, pundits are seeking a portmanteau for the new EU couple. France Inter tentatively tried ‘Homerk’ but the Financial Times rudely trumped that with ‘Merd*’ reflecting the euro turmoil seriously rumpling the marital bed. As Hollande flew to meet Merkel hours after taking office on May 15, his plane was struck by lightening [...] Related posts:

The Sun King First Lit the City of Light

www.French-News-Online.com — Mon, 14 May 2012 17:25:11 +0000

Is Paris the City of Light because of earlier academic brilliance or the foresight of the Sun King? Toronto writer Philippa Campsie of the Parisian Fields blog takes a tour of lamps of all standards and remembers occasional revolutionary moments. Republished by kind permission of the writer. Lighting the City of Light Posted on May 13, 2012 Opinion is [...] No related posts.

Oh la Vache – Cows get QR branded

www.French-News-Online.com — Mon, 14 May 2012 15:06:15 +0000

Where once cowboys branded steers with red hot irons, farmers today do it with edible-painted QR codes … at least that’s the story in Morbihan and they’re sticking with it. (Read more French News here) While cows from the south of the country are sometimes regarded as crazy Catalan marauders those from the north-east would appear to [...] No related posts.

Rising Olympics Star Driven by Candlepower

www.French-News-Online.com — Sun, 13 May 2012 20:49:59 +0000

Gaël Prévost, one of France’s most promising juniors and a 2012 Olympic Archery hopeful, is an unusual 18-year-old prodigy proudly raised in an isolated Clermontois hamlet lighted only by candle power. The youngest member of France’s Archery Team selected for the London 2012 Olympics – which starts July 27 — says, with a reserved nonchalance but [...] No related posts.

Mr Normal Takes Power, All Change ?

www.French-News-Online.com — Fri, 11 May 2012 21:59:55 +0000

Mr ‘Normal’ — François Hollande, the recently-elected Socialist president –has promised to “change France”. For now “change” seems focused on rowing back from the widely-detested, hyperactive style of the defeated centre-right president. French election: what does normal stand for? In the article below, republished with kind permission of the author and OpenDemocracy Nilüfer [...] No related posts.

‘Hacktivist’ Poses Dilemma for Strasbourg

www.French-News-Online.com — Mon, 07 May 2012 13:26:29 +0000

The man who brought portable pedestrian crossings to France has created a delicate moment for Strasbourg council by publishing a map on how to pee in public in the city without being caught. Florian Rivière who calls himself an “urban hacktivist” first hit the headlines with a range of ideas for adapting everyday items of [...] No related posts.

US gain as Toulouse Loses People Power

www.French-News-Online.com — Mon, 07 May 2012 11:19:46 +0000

Prolific pavement pounders – joggers and flaneurs — anticipating helping Toulouse harvest pedestrian energy to light street lamps via kinetic pavement slabs are now destined for disappointment. Two years after one of the most innovative new ideas in a panoply of advanced projects introduced by a council team under dynamic deputy mayor Alexandre Marciel, the [...] Related posts:

EuroCrisis: ‘You Can’t Make Up How Bad It Is’

www.French-News-Online.com — Wed, 02 May 2012 21:05:43 +0000

France goes to the polls on Sunday with a good chance of victory for a Socialist President — first since the end of two-term François Mitterand’s reign in 1995 — and a result that will likely shake Franco-German control of the Eurozone crisis as never before. Here ZeroHedge’s Tyler Durden relays the gist of a [...] No related posts.

Zarkface and Zollandman in Limited Editions

www.French-News-Online.com — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:52:06 +0000

Bastien Rochard, a 25-year-old entrepreneur from Lille, is marketing collectible figurines of France’s two main presidential contenders ahead of the May 5 runoff. The drawcard — and a possibly unintended comment on politics in general — is that they are limited editions. If it catches on, this limited-edition-politician idea – numbered, rare and destined for [...] No related posts.

Merkozy Legacy: an EU on Edge of Implosion

www.French-News-Online.com — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 13:58:29 +0000

It will be decades before the deepening financial and social crisis affecting EU democracies is over and along the way the very EU itself may implode. The popular shorthand answer for all the angst caused to largely innocent voters and taxpayers has been “string up the bankers” but the realities are hugely more complex than [...] Related posts:

Say Hello to the Merkozy Austerity Union

Try Nancy When Seeking Macaron Mecca

www.French-News-Online.com — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 19:40:04 +0000

Is Nancy. Paris or Vancouver the true Mecca of the Macaron? Thanks to Marguerite Gaillot and Marie-Elisabeth Morlot, two sweet-toothed Bénédictine nuns from the Dames du Saint-Sacrement order, Nancy can claim that crown. But Paris has since upstaged its Lorraine rival with a silky smooth ganache upgrade coupled with classy, gourmet-tailored touches, while Vancouver has [...] Related posts:

Desperately Seeking the Next Prix Goncourt

McBaguette’s Tasting Notes – ‘Pas Terrible’

www.French-News-Online.com — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 09:47:05 +0000

Le McBaguette just landed in the favourite fast food outlet of Euro MEP José Bové (!), to garner but lukewarm approval from critical French gastronomes. At least that was the majority view of a 12-strong panel of editorial epicureans at the online French newspaper 20Minutes (pictured here) Gathered round the editorial conference table for a McBag tasting (ouf wine connoisseurs look away [...] No related posts.

Mont-St-Michel Saved from Wind-Farms

www.French-News-Online.com — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 14:38:52 +0000

The threat of wind farm blight to Mont-St-Michel the tidal island and Unesco World Heritage site, appears to have been averted, but proposals for subsidy-hungry turbines off the Normandy coast and notably the D-Day landing site at Arromanches are going ahead. Following a major campaign by anti-wind groups and conservationists and concerns voiced by UNESCO, French authorities April 4 [...] Related posts:

Eurozone Crisis – Breaking Up is Hard to Do

www.French-News-Online.com — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 19:55:30 +0000

There are fresh concerns about the sovereign debt crisis with fears that Spain could follow Greece, Ireland and Portugal to be the fourth Eurozone (EZ) state begging for a bailout. Voices in election-fevered France and elsewhere again question the survival of the single currency union. Should the eurozone fail, warns Professor Richard Baldwin of the [...] Related posts:

Ali Baba and the 41 (000) Bottles of Wine

www.French-News-Online.com — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 16:57:43 +0000

France will soon have a second Louvre – the one known and loved by all in Paris will, if a former boilermaker gets his way, be complemented by the Louvre du Vin, an extraordinary collection of 41,000 grands crus now looking for a home in the south-West. (Read more French News here) For Michel-Jack Chasseuil, a [...] No related posts.

EU’s Sovereign Debt Crisis – Just Cancel It?

www.French-News-Online.com — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 15:31:46 +0000

Economists, politicians and protesters have at various times since the global economic meltdown hit, questioned French membership of Euroland as well they should given what could lie in store with the European Stability Mechanism. As the republished analysis that follows shows the Manifeste des economistes atterrés drew a huge response in France for its denunciation of financial excess and its proposals [...] Related posts:

Desperately Seeking the Next Prix Goncourt

www.French-News-Online.com — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 19:42:51 +0000

French publishers — flourishing despite electronic challenges — are so determined not to miss the next prix Goncourt banker that editors heroically wade through 22,000 unsolicited MSS a year looking for gems buried in bulky envelopes that drop in daily. Even so, as Denis Gombert of the Robert Laffont publishing house recently told the [...] No related posts.

Vegetarian you Said? In La France!

www.French-News-Online.com — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 15:04:12 +0000

“And I ‘ope you will zoon be better”. This politely disdainful comment by the maitre d’ of a top Paris restaurant as he served up an omelette with sweeping aplomb but little enthusiasm, typified and still does, the fate of those asking for vegetarian in the hallowed halls of haute cuisine. (Read more French News here) Indeed [...] No related posts.

Millionth Sole Trader draws Left-led Attack

www.French-News-Online.com — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 16:24:10 +0000

As the millionth sole trader enterprise – a home service mobile beauty parlour — tricycles its way around Bordeaux, vested interests led by the Left strongly attack the innovative scheme, urging it be curtailed or abolished. Their call comes despite the fact that more than half France’s new firms — dubbed “autoentreprise” – are today established [...] Related posts:

Let’s make Bankers Permanently Redundant

www.French-News-Online.com — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 14:48:24 +0000

Five years of public anger over the 2007/8 global financial meltdown shows few signs of abating. Here a South African writer offers a view on how to make bankers permanently redundant. Alternative finance radicals Infusing rebellion with entrepreneurial creativity by Brett Scott, 16 March 2012 Republished with acknowledgement and thanks, under an openDemocracy.net Creative Commons licence. Several weeks ago I [...] Related posts:

Official Unhappiness Over Holiday Home Lets