This French Life

Nicolas Sarkozy: how a once popular president became a toxic brand

France's election hangs on the record-breaking unpopularity of a politician who once set out to transform the country

via www.guardian.co.uk

Flamingos die in cold, fire at Marseille's Cité Radieuse and more

Le froid provoque une hécatombe chez les... par BFMTV
A LOOK at the headlines from France over the past couple of days.

Firemen control blaze at iconic Marseille building
Firemen in Marseille on Friday brought under control a fire that had broken out at the city's iconic ‘Cité Radieuse’ housing complex. The full extent of the damage is still not yet known.

France's National Front: 'The party of poor people'?
The French presidential election, beginning in April, promises to be a close run thing and the right-wing National Front party are looking to gain votes out of France's social and economic unrest.

Nicolas Sarkozy unveils series of right-wing social policies
France's President Nicolas Sarkozy unveiled a series of conservative social reforms on Thursday, including plans to force the jobless to accept offers of work, just days before he is due to officially launch his re-election campaign.

Sarkozy vows to keep Fessenheim nuclear plant running
French President Nicolas Sarkozy told cheering workers at France's oldest nuclear power plant at Fessenheim that he will keep it running and slammed his Socialist opponent François Hollande for promising to close it down.

French former government minister charged with corruption
Eric Woerth alleged to have taken cash from L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt to fund Sarkozy's 2007 election campaign.

Guerlain perfumer regrets 'imbecilic' remarks, racism trial hears
Jean-Paul Guerlain's comments on French TV in 2010 triggered street protests and legal action by anti-racism groups.

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Sanef Tolling is the UK based subsidiary of Sanef, the French motorway operator, who have now extended the Liber-t automated French tolls payment service to UK motorists.

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Possible July start for alcohol breathalysers in cars

IT looks as though the requirement to have an alcohol breathalyser in your car will be in place just before the summer holidays.

The French edition of The Local website says it has spoken to officials at Sécurité Routière who say 1 July, 2012 will see the introduction of the new rule.

No official notice has been published, and it was thought that April might be the month when the regulation started, but the start date has been put back to ensure shops are stocked up with breathalysers.

The rule will apply to all drivers in France, including holidaymakers, and it is expected that the first few months of the regulations will be used by the police to advise drivers of the new requirements.

Chill hits fruit and veg growers, parliament turmoil and more

Le froid risque d'entraîner la hausse des prix... par BFMTV
A QUICK catch up with some of the news headlines from France, inlcuding the risk of increased prices for fruit and vegetables as the cold weather hits producers.

French trade deficit reaches record high for 2011
France has posted a record 69.6 billion euro trade deficit for 2011 although the trade gap for December alone showed a slight improvement at 4.99 billion euros, compared with 5.35 billion euros in the same month a year earlier.

French government walks out of parliament after 'Nazi' taunt
French Prime Minister Francois Fillon and his ministers stormed out of parliament in protest on Tuesday after an opposition deputy accused the government of flirting with Nazi ideology.

France urged to clean up deadly waste from its nuclear tests in Polynesia
193 nuclear tests carried out on the Mururoa and Fangataufa atolls between 1966 and 1996 have left a dangerous legacy.

Cigarettes up 7.6% this year
The price of a pack of cigarettes will rise 7.6% on October 1.

Icy morning walk around Loubejac

IT has struggled to get above freezing across most of France this past week, here in the south of the Dordogne morning temperatures of -9C have almost become the norm.

But with the snow and ice meaning little traffic on the road, the school bus has not run for the past two days, there is a chill stillness to the countryside.

With wisps of smoke rising from chimneys and a small herd of cows huddled around a bale of straw, you feel a long way from the busy world of the 21st century.

Start of Rosslare to Cherbourg crossing brought forward

IRISH Ferries has brought forward the start of their direct summer services from Ireland to France.

Scheduled sailings from Rosslare to Cherbourg will start on Friday, 10 February – nine days ahead of their scheduled introduction.

This will provide an additional four return sailings from Ireland to France during the period with the normal late evening winter departure times leaving Rosslare applying in all cases.

Irish Ferries also operate from Rosslare to Roscoff.

DFDS/LD Lines ready to start new Calais-Dover route

The new Dover-Calais route will start operation as from the 17 February, 2012. Two ships flying the French flag will be added on the Dover Strait.

via www.dfdsseaways.co.uk

SE France electricity warning and more news headlines

Électricité : alerte rouge dans le Var et les... par BFMTV
CATCH up with some of the news headlines from France.

Merkel, Sarkozy to discuss fiscal coordination
French and German officials say their leaders will discuss economic coordination in the European Union and escalating violence in Syria when they meet for annual talks on Monday.

French railways hand over WWII dossiers to holocaust museums
France’s state-run railway, the SNCF, has handed over digital copies of its archives for the World War II period to three Holocaust museums. Nearly 100,000 Jews were deported by rail to Nazi death camps while France was under German occupation.

French bookshops have novel plan to fight VAT rise
Booksellers hint at a possible 'labelling strike' where they would simply refuse to stick new price tags on books.

French minister slammed for ‘unequal civilisations’ comment
France’s Interior Minister Claude Gueant has drawn angry criticism from opposition members after suggesting in a speech to a right-wing student group that all civilisations are “not of equal value”.

Brittany from the 1920s on the Travel Film Archive

LOSE yourself in yesteryear with the Travel Film Archive, which includes clips of life in France from decades ago.

The website offers a collection of films from around the world, but a search of those from France reveals, for example, one of life in Brittany from the 1920s, as well as other regions.

Some of the clips are also available on YouTube, but be warned you could end up browsing around the world from the comfort of your home if you are not careful.