Contemporary France. News, Politics, Films, Books
French prosecutors announced on Monday, May 11, 2020, that they have opened an investigation into former President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing on the charge of sexual assault (agression sexuelle), an action that had allegedly occurred on December 18, 2018. The complainant is reporter Ann-Kathrin Stracke of …
Trick question: With what country does France share its longest land border? Answer: Brazil; 800 kilometers. French Guiana (Guyane française) is one of the remnants of France’s first colonial empire (those territories acquired before the French Revolution), and it chose to remain with France after …
On May 14, 2011, Dominique Strauss-Kahn (known as DSK), powerful head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), was taken into custody at JFK just before his return to Paris. An experienced and popular leader of the Socialist Party in France, he had been about to …
Retirement reform is a third rail in French as it is in American politics. In both countries, the issue is the same: will old age be synonymous with poverty? And the generational aspect (Pay as You Go), that is to say the idea that current …
Everyone who watches The Office knows that Sandals in Jamaica is “all-inclusive.” Michael Scott bought a holiday couples vacation package, and the rest was history. But Sandals didn’t invent the concept. Before Sandals there was Club Med. And before that, there was Billy Butlin. Billy …
In 1964, two movies were among those in competition at the Cannes Film Festival: The Soft Skin, directed by François Truffaut; and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, directed by Jacques Demy, which took the prize. The first starred Françoise Dorléac. The second starred Catherine Deneuve. They …
On July 14, 2017, new President Emmanuel Macron hosted new President Donald Trump at the Bastille Day military parade, an annual showcase for French military forces. Trump was impressed enough to want to imitate (and no doubt surpass) this event, which has not generally been …
