How to keep up to date with wildfire news, French words that creep into your daily life, what France’s toughening up of immigration laws mean for ‘expats’, cheques, and the delights (or otherwise) of Paris in August.
The massive wildfire in the Aude département of south-western France was finally declared under control on Thursday night – after it had burned 17,000 hectares of land, an area one-and-a-half times the size of Paris – but authorities say they expect it to continue to burn for several days.
With forest fires becoming more common and more extensive due to hot, dry summers, there are several apps, websites and alert systems that allow you to check the latest information in each part of France.
MAP: How to get the latest wildfire information and alerts in France
Certain French linguists use up a lot of angst on the many anglicisms that creep into modern French – but anglophones living in France may find more and more French words and phrases creeping into their conversational English.
There’s definitely a personal circumstances thing to the words that drop into your vocabulary. Parents of school-age children, for example, may litter conversations with French school material terms, such as trousse, cartable, and gomme (especially at this time of year), and find remembering the English words (pencil case, schoolbag, and eraser, for the record) increasingly difficult.
Here are some common examples…
13 French words that creep into your English
Unfortunately, France’s current stance on immigration and citizenship is careering rightwards at a rate of ministerial circulaires, as numerous older Britons have found to their dismay.
‘Expats’ living in France can easily fall into the trap of thinking the French government’s toughening of immigration laws doesn’t apply to them. The reality is that all foreigners are in the firing line, The Local France’s editor Emma Pearson warns.
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Yes, expats – France’s anti-immigrant drift affects you too
After a foreign national was caught on video lighting his cigarette from the flame on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Paris, France’s interior minister has told French media he ‘will revoke the man’s residency permit’ – but does the minister with presidential ambitions actually have the authority to do this, or it he merely brandishing his hardline immigration stance for the right?
Can France’s interior minister really confiscate your residency permit?
As French fiscal authorities weigh phasing out payment by cheque for taxes or fines in the coming years, The Local looks at the role cheques still play in French society.
In Numbers: How many people still use cheques in France?
In August the French capital traditionally sees a big population shift – locals head for the beach or the countryside while tourists arrive. So should you stay? Or should you go?
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
