Stories about France
The decline of Occitan: A failure of cultural initiatives, or abandonment by the state?
A setback for Occitan, spoken by more than half a million people in France, due to failed cultural initiatives or to the policy of the French State?
The French government’s U-turn on regional languages
A new law passed in May 2021 has reignited the debate around France's regional languages
France, Turkey, Poland: The reality of the new COVID-19 spike crisis
“The figures serve to discount the Western implication that Indian democracy and civil society have failed in the last analysis to match the achievements of the richer nations.”
Alternative Indian movies: Is Netflix at last embracing cultural diversity?
Netflix, which has become the entertainment go-to for millions during the pandemic's prolonged lockdowns, is exploring new Indian productions that stray away from the typical plotlines and visuals.
Who can become a parent in France?
Many single women and LGBTQI+ people are forced to go abroad until the country decides to open assisted reproduction technologies (ART) to them.
Queer and single French women face uphill legal battle to have biological children
The French Senate voted against permitting fertility treatments for queer women and single women.
COVID Christmas: Was it truly like no other?
For our world and the faiths we have, hasn't this Christmas been like all others—painful, often sordid, sometimes deadly?
Why Macron’s tweet on the Serbian Patriarch's death angered so many people in the Balkans
Why would someone who claimed to defend secular, enlightened values invest France's institutional political capital with a figure who symbolized everything that is backward and racist about Serbian society?
Diary of a Nepali soldier in France
A diary written by a Gurkha sergeant in the British Army in 1914, during World War I, has revealed a whole new side to the Gurkha legend.
The power of ‘personal experience': An interview with Egyptian artist Youssef Nabil
Nabil's "technique mixes painting and photography, inspired by hand-painted movie posters of the 1940s and 1950s, and is reminiscent of the pre-digital world."
Can secularism be compatible with Islam?
"Islam has become an insecure identity that is always undermined by criticism from the Christian or godless, but always colonial, West."
French media ignores minority role models during COVID-19 coverage
Public health specialists who appear on French TV to discuss the coronavirus pandemic do not reflect the diversity of the French public.
Minister accused of rape gets appointed. What does this say about France?
The appointment to the ministry of the interior of a man under investigation for rape and sexual harassment raises questions on normalization of sexist remarks and actions in France.
Black Lives Matter forces an IBM U-turn on facial recognition
Under pressure from Black Lives Matter movement activists, the company IBM has announced its withdrawal from the facial recognition software market
Milan Kundera's first Czech biography: Another public dressing-down in his homeland?
"An optimist can still hope there will be a time when the debate around Milan Kundera will overcome its long-lasting neurotic phase."
Taking down statues: France confronts its colonial and slave trade past
Amid global action against racism, France has been divided for several weeks over what to do about statues of historical figures that are connected to slavery and colonialism.
French police arrest Félicien Kabuga, alleged financier of genocide in Rwanda
After 26 years on the run, Rwanda genocide suspect Félicien Kabuga was arrested in a Parisian suburb on May 16 and transferred to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda on...
8 West African countries rename currency in historic break from France — but colonial-era debts persist
Changing the CFA franc to "Eco" does not change the fact that many West African countries are still locked in a legacy of debt to France in its colonial-era deposit system.
Equatorial Guinea vice president's supercars seized to fund development programs
The vice president's seven Ferraris, five Bentleys, a Maserati and an Aston Martin were part of this auction on the 29 September in Geneva.
Albanians angry at EU's failure to open accession talks–but for PM sun ‘still shining’
"This is the biggest mistake that the EU has made over these years, Albania is a reforming country who more than ever needed this decision to be positive."
