A note from our editor & co-founder
Stay informed on France with Worldcrunch. In-depth coverage of French politics, economic trends, societal changes, and cultural events with expert translations. Highlights include Paris, Lyon, Marseille, French cinema, gastronomy, modern literature, and cultural events.
A note from our editor & co-founder
NATO’s warning signals a shift in how Europe must confront Russian cyber attacks, sabotage, and pressure on critical infrastructure, as Moscow turns sub-threshold conflict into a strategic weapon.
Their brains are wired differently, and those living with a “High Intellectual Potential” individual can be a daily challenge. Sometimes, intellectual intensity is accompanied by a destabilizing emotional hypersensitivity.
Europe sends part of its textile surplus to unregulated hubs, sometimes returning it to the same country of origin, tripling emissions in the process.
Germany and France once saw FCAS as the future of European defense, but political rifts and industrial rivalry now threaten the project itself.
This 120-hectare islet with a notorious reputation, located between Bonifacio and Sardinia, is virtually off-limits to visitors by order of its private owners. While public authorities are seeking to regain control, the courts are now moving to put an end to the situation.
The Russian president’s visit to India is significant, indicative of the major moves aimed at redefining the world order — just like Emmanuel Macron’s trip to China.
Christophe Gleizes’s sentencing on appeal by an Algerian court has sent shockwaves just as all signs pointed to a thaw in relations between Paris and Algiers. The apparent, perhaps temporary, failure of diplomacy has put Paris in an awkward position and reignited the campaign to support the journalist.
French President Emmanuel Macron has multiple and perhaps conflicting priorities as he lands in China to meet President Xi Jinping.
What if reading could help us heal? That’s the wager some doctors are taking these days — prescribing books alongside medication. Here’s a look at stories that might just do you good.
Instead of bringing home knickknacks, some travelers choose to collect tattoos — etching their memories into skin rather than stowing them on a shelf. Whether carefully planned or struck by impulse, these journeys suggest that ink itself has become a kind of passport. And sometimes, the whole point of the trip.
The reality is that Hezbollah no longer poses a threat to Israel, but rather to the Lebanese state itself; whereas Israel represents an existential threat to the state, to Hezbollah, and to Lebanese society as a whole.
A controversial warning from France’s Army Chief of Staff coincides with sabotage in Poland and a divisive Russian-American plan for Ukraine, raising concerns about Europe’s security.
An investigation has been opened into Grok, Elon Musk’s generative AI, after it gave Holocaust-denying answers. The problem comes from the reference data it uses and from differences between Europe and the United States. This raises questions about digital regulation at a time when Europe wants to ease the few rules that currently exist.
They’re both named Juliette. One is American, the other French. Each lost her father to a terror attack — the first in 9/11 in New York, the other in Paris, ten years ago. Out of shared grief, a rare friendship was born between the two Juliettes across the Atlantic.
Political change in Paris and German mediation led to the release of writer Boualem Sansal in Algiers. A victory for diplomacy over confrontation.
Gaspard Koenig, a French philosopher, novelist, and modern-day gentleman farmer reflects on soil, freedom and the rhythms of life bridging Parisian salons and the fields of Normandy.
French President Emmanuel Macron received Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the State of Palestine, as recognized by France on September 22. The two leaders presented ideas for the future of Gaza that go beyond the Trump plan currently being implemented.
At the Paris Brain Institute, a team of scientists is exploring the mental processes that occur during the transition from wakefulness to sleep, with potential clinical applications.
The last two French citizens imprisoned in Iran, Cécile Kohler and Jacques Paris, were released in Tehran. They were considered “state hostages,” an increasingly common problem, not only in Iran.
As floods become increasingly frequent across France and the risk to the capital grows, Paris City Hall conducted a large-scale “real-life” simulation of a Seine River flood on Monday, October 13.
It’s well known that learning to play an instrument can offer benefits beyond just musical ability. Indeed, research shows it’s a great activity for the brain – it can enhance our fine motor skills,language acquisition, speech, and memory – and it can even help to keep our brains younger.
“Every French person should be able to find a McDonald’s within 20 minutes of their home.” This was the fast-food giant’s goal by early 2025. In Tessancourt-sur-Aubette, a town under 1,000 inhabitants northwest of Paris, the rural area is now under American influence. Most locals are happy.
Frustrated by rising prices and inconsistent quality, consumers are turning away from traditional restaurants. From fast food to delivery, delis, and meal kits, alternative dining options have become a staple in their daily lives.
A week of record highs flipped to panic with new China tariff talk, exposing fragile nerves as experts warn that a fast growing $2.2 trillion private credit market with light oversight, risky PIK structures, and bank and insurer exposure could turn the next shock into a chain reaction.
She’s an accused jihadist originally from Brittany who spent 10 years in Syria, including five as a prisoner. French prosecutors say König acted as a social media recruiter of sorts for ISIS.
Put yourself in Vladimir Putin’s shoes for a moment: how satisfying must it be to see France and the United Kingdom, co-leaders of the “coalition of the willing” formed in support of Ukraine, sinking into political crisis.
Paris Calling, Worldcrunch’s new podcast series, where each episode introduces you to a notable person, from somewhere in the world, in their own voice, in English. Today, we have Diariata N’Diaye, a French slam poet and activist who founded an association raising awareness among young people about sexual violence.
Created as the inverted image of natural pathogens, mirror bacteria could resist all their predators. If they spread, their impact on ecosystems could be uncontrollable. And yet, some researchers have not given up on creating them…
The return of war in Europe is not just a political or strategic challenge — it is changing how people live, relate to one another and imagine the future.
Has France’s chronic decline in Christianity reached a low point? That trend now coexists with another dynamic: a second wind of religion among disaffiliated young people.
For €50 a month, some people are buying into cryogenic preservation, hoping the future holds the key to immortality. With investors pouring millions into Tomorrow Biostasis, the once-fantastical idea is edging into the mainstream. But critics warn that what’s being sold isn’t science — it’s hope on ice.
With an 80% market share in the house-swap space, and explosive growth, HomeExchange, bought and reinvented by two Frenchmen, has become the undisputed champion of house swapping. Will it undercut the American giant’s hold on the market.
For some, it is not enough; for others, it is a gift to Hamas. But the recognition of Palestine by a growing number of Western countries is way of saying “no” to the eradication of Palestinians from their land.
A year has passed since the start of this historic Mazan rape trial. Far from the courtroom in Avignon, how has the woman who became a global icon emerged from her journey into the depths of darkness?
Paris Calling, Worldcrunch’s new podcast series, where each episode introduces you to a notable person, from somewhere in the world, in their own voice, in English. Today, we have Chantal Lamarre, a well-known Canadian comedian, actor, and TV presenter who walks us through her self-discovering journey from a shy kid to an outspoken performer, and plenty more material in between.
Jolie and Pitt’s idyllic vineyard life in Provence gave way to legal battles, renovations, and a bitter divorce.
In Ratatouille, the food critic Anton Ego declares innovative a dish that is actually quite traditional. Today, many great chefs offer reinterpretations of homemade dishes from childhood. But what happens when even avant-garde cuisine becomes nostalgic, asks Italian chef and writer Tommaso Melilli.
Paris Calling, Worldcrunch’s new podcast series, where each episode introduces you to a notable person, from somewhere in the world, in their own voice, in English. Today, we have Francesco Zizola, an Italian photojournalist with an award-winning career spanning more than 40 years, explains what’s behind the lens in the era of algorithm.
France may look like a paradise from the outside, with free education, early retirement, and working healthcare, yet its people protest as if trapped in hell. President Emmanuel Macron’s failed middle path and Europe’s fragile currency expose a deeper malaise shaking the continent.