Frogsmoke

How about this for cultural contrasts?

France may ban women from wearing burka in public
French Students Protest Dress Codes by Going to School in Skanky Skirts

..digging for leftovers in a supermarket bin
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Can unemployed people go on strike? Apparently:

Angry non-workers went on strike in Paris, demanding jobs, money and a better life. As usual in these situations the number of participants varied depending on who did the headcount. The organizers boasted 5,000 angry people, the police couldn't see more than 1,400. [Source]

What's wrong with society (and parents) when children under 13 are not allowed to be on the street between 23.00h and 5.00h three nights a week?

Article (in French): Couvre-feu pour les mineurs de moins de 13 ans à Nice

In Paris, Marseille, and other cities businesses don't want homeless people (aka SDF, sans domicile fixe) hanging around their shops and offices, so they try to make their lives as uncomfortable as possible. The Survival Group is compiling a catalog of SDF-unfriendly architecture. Here are a few examples.

Find many more here. [Via]

There are three types of handicapped people in France: the mentally disabled, the physically disabled and the police.

(Original photo source unknown)

Today, November 20, is Universal Children's Day.

Photo: Robert Doisneau
According to the French council for the rights of children, France deals generally well with its under-18 population of 15 million, but not all is rosy:
* One million kids are poor
* 19,000 are abused
* [...]

Now that nearly one in two marriages in France ends up in a divorce, there's an interesting niche market appearing.
A new book, La Cuisine du divorcé, aims at divorced husbands who have no idea how to feed themselves.
The book is not just a compilation of easy recipes, it's also a survival guide. It [...]

I didn't know this: Women banned from wearing trousers in Paris

A decree banning women from wearing trousers in Paris is still technically in force, making the laissez-faire French capital theoretically stricter than hardline Sudan in the fashion stakes.
The rule banning women from dressing like men – namely by wearing trousers – was first introduced [...]

It's official: France 'most unwelcoming country in Europe' according to British tourists

They are known for their Gallic froideur and now France's reputation as the most unwelcoming country in Europe has been confirmed.
A spokesman for OnePoll, which carried out the research, said: 'A surprising number of people have experienced rudeness from French people. But this could [...]

Forget the stories about those slim Frenchies: one in seven is now officially obese

Today, 14.5% of the French (6.5 million people) are obese and 31.9% overweight. In 1997, the obesity rate was only 8.5%. In those 12 years obesity increased by 70% and each age group grew an average of 3 kilos, according to a [...]

There's a blog for everything. MiliWoman collects pictures of Military Women. The French section holds over 100 pics of françaises in battle outfit, including these ones:

(Don't worry: the one at the bottom is not really dead — she's just un peu fatiguée)

The annual corruption report by Transparency International (PDF, in French) is out, and France has little to be proud of.
The lack of integrity among civil servants, politicians and businesspeople leaves France far behind its European neighbours. On a scale of 1 to 10, France scores 6.9, ex aequo with Chili and Uruguay. Within Western Europe, [...]

Just when Man Becomes 25th to Commit Suicide at France Telecom some people start posting videos that poke fun at the situation. Here are two of them. Feel free to comment!

I already featured her as the Hottest ticket in town. Now the crowd-puller who, in the past 12 years, has visited 46 countries, is hitting Britain. At least parts of her.

On this photo pilgrims pray before the remains of St. Therese of Lisieux in Westminster Cathedral. In the box are the saint's thigh bone [...]