The best of the web and the international press. Happy reading!
Tourism miracle has turned water into profits. Lourdes ‘Disneyland of God’ expects record 8m visitors for 150th anniversary of first vision (Guardian).
Uncensored: France’s erotic art. For centuries, the French coyly seized licentious art and locked it away in a library they called Hell. Now this secret archive of erotica has been opened up to the public (Times).
Fed up with the boss? Take him hostage. Factory staff are hailed as heroes for taking their English boss hostage when they discovered he was trying to move the business to cheaper Slovakia without telling them (Guardian).
Transcript Reveals Details of French Trader’s Actions. A transcript of conversations between Jérôme Kerviel and a broker at one of the bank’s subsidiaries suggests that Kerviel was well aware of the gravity of his actions (NYT).
French GM ban infuriates farmers, delights environmentalists. France officially banned genetically modified corn from US agribusiness giant Monsanto, delighting environmentalists but sparking outrage from the company and French farmers (AFP).
Lost in translation. What’s the Oscar-winning French actress doing in a mainstream rom-com? Juliette Binoche talks about working in Hollywood (The Age).
French Women Don’t Get Fat and Do Get Lucky. Just 15 percent of Frenchwomen in their 50s and 27 percent in their 60s haven’t had any sex in the past year. And cohabiting Frenchwomen over 50 are having more sex now than they did in the early 1990s (Washington Post).
Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray: Dada in drag. Long before a man in a dress landed the Turner Prize, Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray adopted transvestite alter egos to push the art world’s boundaries (Times).
Court ruling sets stage for abortion row in France. A ruling by France’s supreme court on the right of parents to name a miscarried or stillborn foetus could stoke debate about the country’s abortion laws and embryo research (AFP).
At 60, a French Classic Stays of Age. The Citroën 2CV, whose role in France was like that of Ford’s Model T in America, started celebrating its 60th birthday at the 10-day Rétromobile show in Paris (NYT).
France feuds over May 1968. Everyone likes to celebrate memories, but in France old dates are often the stuff of bad blood. We are heading into one of those moments with the looming 40th anniversary of May 1968 (Times).
Montpellier: the perfect break. It is more than just a gateway to south-western France – Montpellier is a buzzing, vibrant holiday destination in its own right (Telegraph).
French doctors stand trial for CJD scandal. Seven senior French doctors and former health officials stand trial over the deaths of 111 people who were infected with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease when they were injected with growth hormones as children in the 1980s (Times).
And Nicolas Sarkozy keeps making the headlines:
Sarkozy sues French magazine over ex-wife text message claim (Expatica)
Sarkozy’s Honeymoon: Fini! (Time)
Nicolas Sarkozy caves in to cab drivers (Telegraph)
Sarkozy’s rescue plan for suburbs (BBC)
Sarkozy surrenders under Carla effect (Times)
Sarkozy, Model of Letdown (WSJ)
