After last week’s foiled Thalys train attack, citizens must get used to playing their part in the fight against the jihadist threat, a former French intelligence agent warns.
Tag: france
PARIS — The suspected terror attack thwarted by American and British passengers aboard a high-speed European train has brought railway security sharply into focus. The alleged gunman, believed to be a 25-year-old Moroccan named Ayob El Khazzani, boarded the Amsterdam-to-Paris train equipped with an assault rifle, automatic pistol, nine cartridge clips and a box-cutter. More […]
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Stairway Song
“The stairways up to la Butte / Can make the wretched sigh / While windmill wings of the Moulin / Shelter you and I,” so goes the song. But if you ask me, going up the stairs to Montmartre can make anyone sigh.
Paris-based big data whiz Rand Hindi wants to put his technology savvy to work to free us from our growing enslavement to the digital masters.
Prosopagnosia, or facial blindness, seriously complicates the lives of people it affects. Sufferers often feel guilty. They also learn to develop coping strategies.
Libération, Aug. 21, 2015 “Facing the exodus,” writes French daily Libération on the front page of its Friday edition, which includes a 16-page feature on migrants. As an unprecedented number of refugees risk their lives to reach Europe’s shores, the newspaper analyzes the human and financial cost of policies implemented in France, Germany and the […]
Nicolas Ngwabije fled his native Congo in 1966, a political refugee. He ended up working for decades at a French migrant center, a reference point for generations of refugees. And they keep coming.
-OpEd- 

How important is intellectual property in the digital age? Not very, if the business strategies of industry luminaries like PayPal’s Elon Musk and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg are any indication. Musk, the multi-talented entrepreneur behind PayPal, and more recently Tesla cars and SpaceX, has made it clear he considers Tesla’s impressive lead in battery and […]
We can now have sexual relations without making contact with other humans. But do the 3D helmets, connected devices and animated dolls represent a real sexual revolution, or are they just sophisticated toys?
Throughout France — not just Provence — wine producers want consumers to know that rosé can be just as sophisticated as better respected reds and whites.
HIROSHIMA ANNIVERSARY As the world marks today the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan’s Prime Minister called for the abolition of nuclear weapons worldwide, during a ceremony in the city where more than 140,000 were killed in the last moments of World War II. Asked about the significance of the anniversary before […]
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Dressed To Learn
Seven pairs of polished shoes, four cravats and two plus-fours trousers … In the 68 years since, the dress code for French 16-year-olds has changed just a bit. Here I was, right in the middle of this shot, with six friends from my Greek-Latin Première class.
-OpEd- PARIS — As Europe barely recovers from an unprecedented crisis, the African continent is experiencing a vigorous period of growth. This long-awaited shift is slowly but steadily making investors more confident, even if they remain aware of the risks. According to a recent study conducted by Havas Horizon, investors are showing broad optimism concerning […]
AIX-EN-PROVENCE — For a moment, Alain Orsoni was his old legendary self, the charismatic nationalist and dashing adventurer who struggled for independence at home, roamed for years through South America, and is still muscular enough to fill out his plain white t-shirt. He was talking about himself because he was asked to, but also because […]
Le Quotidien de la Réunion, July 31, 2015 “The probe zeroes in,” reads Friday’s front-page of the French newspaper Le Quotidien de la Réunion after a piece of plane debris was found on the French island in the Indian Ocean that may be from the missing MH370 flight that disappeared 16 months ago. France’s air […]
The treaty signed with Iran won’t eliminate the risk of global proliferation. Russia, China and North Korea in particular are building arsenals and see destabilization as strategy.
Photo: Velar Grant/Zuma POSSIBLE MH370 DEBRIS FOUND A two-meter wing section of an aircraft has washed up on the French Island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean, local authorities announced today. Malaysia’s Transport Minister Abdul Aziz Kaprawi said the debris is “almost certainly” from a Boeing 777, meaning it could be a piece of the […]
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How Italian Spritz Craze Conquered France
The Italian aperitif Aperol, served with sparkling wine, has now charmed France, a country with no shortage of its own spirits.
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Extra! First Case Of Long-Term HIV Remission
Libération, July 21, 2015 What is being hailed as the world’s first known case of long-term remission from HIV, in an 18-year-old French woman born with the virus, is featured in today’s Paris-based newspaper Libération with the headline, “Curing HIV.” The girl, who was born in 1996, contracted the virus that causes AIDS from her […]
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Heart Of Stone
Many shapes hide in the pink ganite of the calanques de Piana, on the French island of Corsica. Given the right angle, you may see a monk, a lion, a devil’s head — or in this case, a heart.
PARIS — Some figures will make your head spin. Since the end of World War II, the number of inhabitants on the planet has increased nearly three-fold. And in that time, people used more resources than were consumed during the entire history of mankind prior to 1945. Even more alarming is how quickly consumption continues […]
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Le Corbusier, Measure Of A Modern Man
PARIS — It has been 50 years since the death of Le Corbusier, the Swiss-born architect, artist and writer considered by some to be the most influential force in the way modern cities are designed and built. To mark his life and work, the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris has dedicated an entire exhibition to […]
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Being Gay And Muslim In France
MARSEILLE — Saïd* carries the dishes to the living room table as guests arrive in dribs and drabs with more food in their arms. The atmosphere is cheerful as greetings, kisses and the latest family news are shared with smiles. Earlier in this just-concluded holy month of Ramadan, the members of the Homosexual Muslims of […]
Can bug by-products help satisfy the world’s growing appetite for animal proteins? The French founders of Ynsect think so.
PARIS — Lance Armstrong has shown again he doesn’t know how to say he’s sorry (in any language), and clearly doesn’t know when he’s not bienvenu. The “welcome” has indeed been overwhelmingly nasty and negative for a much-hyped ride just two years after reluctantly admitting to doping, and stripped of his record seven Tour de […]
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius had held one of the toughest lines against Tehran. He describes the quest for “efficient compromises for complex issues.”
Athens must make some painful changes to survive and preserve its Eurozone membership. But the monetary pact needs to be fundamentally changed.
A timeline of a standoff that long seemed destined to continue, or worse.
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In The Name
If, like me, you believe in the truth of Latin roots, we can agree that the beautiful Corsican town of Bonifacio was aptly named: It means “well-fated.”
A school founded in 2008 offers classes in literature, cuisine and the finer points of French culture and language to a new class of refugees from around the world every year to help them integrate to their new home.
Photo: Thierry Roge/Zuma LAST CHANCE FOR GREECE? Greeted by a mix of cheers and boos, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras addressed the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday as the fate of his country’s membership in the Eurozone — and perhaps the ultimate destiny of the single currency itself — hangs in the balance. TALIBAN […]
From Hungary to Switzerland, fortifications are rising in the heart of Europe, where the once-heralded borderless zone is being diminished by the day.
PARIS — France rolled out the proverbial red carpet this past week for Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang, offering what one diplomatic source described as “presidential treatment.” The welcome contrasts with the second-fiddle status Li is used to back in China, where he is more often than not overshadowed by President Xi Jinping, with whom […]
At one spot where France and Italy cross, we see a futuristic ascent to a majestic panorama of the Alps. Farther south, desperate migrants’ fate hangs in the balance.
Photo: Anup Kaphle/Twitter FRENCH FACTORY HIT BY TERRORIST ATTACK A gas factory in central France was the target Friday morning of what is being described by French media and law enforcement sources as an Islamist terrorist attack. DOZENS KILLED IN ISIS ATTACK ON KOBANI ISIS fighters have killed at least 146 civilians in their attack […]
The meditation-driven movement focusing on the present is spreading around the world. In France, mindfulness must battle national tendencies toward cynicism and overthinking everything.
French scientists have discovered how flags, made of the right material, can be an alternative to wind turbines.
“Save Europe, drown a Greek,” reads this week’s cover of satirical French weekly Charlie Hebdo, which depicts International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde drowning a Greek pensioner. Largarde and other creditors now want Greece to push its retirement age to 67 and to cancel benefits for its poorest pensioners. They’ve given Greece an ultimatum to […]
Few are shocked by revelations that U.S. intelligence spied on French presidents. But if Washington wants to be a good ally, it should start with a loud and clear apology to all its snooped-on friends.