Week in Review: French diaspora braces for Brexit, Tunisia struggles with sex education and China battles coronavirus
by FRANCE 24ARTICLES
In London's 'Frog Valley', French diaspora braces for Brexit
French nationals living in the UK are greeting Britain’s January 31 exit from the EU with Gallic resignation and trepidation over administrative procedures to come.
‘Two different political cultures’: A divided Scotland braces for Brexit
Despite a majority of Scottish voters rejecting Brexit in the 2016 referendum, Scotland leaves the EU along with the rest of the UK on January 31. For some Scots, this shows that their nation is being ignored and bolsters the case for leaving the UK. On the other side of the independence debate, some rue that Brexit makes it more difficult to make the case for unionism, while others argue that Scottish grievances over Brexit are unjustified.
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Tunisia’s 'trailblazing' sex-ed programme struggles out of starting blocks
Tunisia’s announcement late last year that it would introduce sex education starting at the primary school level was welcomed as a trailblazer in the Arab world. But the implementation has faced challenges, from a watering down on subjects considered taboo to political turmoil.
Five Paris voters assess Anne Hidalgo's record as mayoral race heats up
After six years as Paris mayor, Anne Hidalgo’s re-election bid is in full swing. With Parisians heading to the ballot box in March, the Spanish-born Socialist leads a crowded field on 23 percent in the polls. What do Parisians make of her time at City Hall? FRANCE 24 hit the streets of the French capital to find out.
'They're killing Paris': Restaurants count the cost of 'catastrophic' strikes
After seven weeks of a record-breaking strike that shuttered the Paris rail network and brought chaos to the French capital, Paris’s restaurant owners are still counting the cost. FRANCE 24 reports.
VIDEO REPORT
Face masks, fear and boredom: Life in China under virus threat
The outbreak of a new and deadly virus has brought disruption to the daily lives of people across China. In Wuhan, the city where the previously unknown form of coronavirus first appeared, the streets are nearly deserted. Placed under lockdown by the central government since January 23, with citizens forbidden to leave without special permission, many are choosing to remain indoors to minimize risk of infection.
Outside the city, some villages have gone to even greater extremes in an attempt to keep the virus at bay: constructing road blocks and screening anyone attempting to enter.
TV SHOWS
Tens of thousands take to streets in Ethiopia over abducted students
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets across northern Ethiopia on Tuesday, demanding answers from the government over the kidnapping of 27 students more than 50 days ago. In DR Congo, the country has experimented with President Felix Tshisekedi's flagship reform for free primary schools. And a ban on dreadlocks in Malawian classrooms is reversed after a court ruling upholds Rastafarianism as a religion.
'We're not turning our back on Europe,' UK ambassador to France tells FRANCE 24
The British ambassador to France, Edward Llewellyn, spoke to FRANCE 24 at the embassy in Paris ahead of Brexit Day. He insisted that even if the UK is leaving the EU, it would remain "a member of the European family of nations" and "a European country". "We're not turning our back on Europe," he told FRANCE 24. The ambassador also outlined the administrative steps that British nationals in France will have to take, stressing that they will have plenty of time to do so.
Lost in translation? Exploring the peculiarities of French humour
France is known around the world for its food, culture and quality of life but not so much for its sense of humour, which can often leave foreigners nonplussed. How much of that is due to jokes being lost in translation and how much of it is simply cultural? In this episode of French Connections Plus, Genie Godula and Florence Villeminot explore French humour and hopefully get a laugh out of it!
An inside look at France's forced repatriation process
France is now receiving more asylum applications than any other EU country. Last year saw some 133,000 requests, up 7.3 percent on the previous year. Also on the rise are cases of forced repatriation: foreigners whose applications have failed and who are deported back to their home country. It's an expensive and time-consuming process fraught with legal, humanitarian and logistical concerns. Our colleagues Hakim Abdelkhalek, Philippe Maire and Delphine Chevalier from France 2 were given rare permission to film an example of forced repatriation.
The dark side of the cosmetics industry: Child labour used to mine mica in India
Some 60 percent of the world's production of mica - a mineral coveted for its sparkle, especially by the cosmetics industry - originates in two of India's most impoverished states: Bihar and Jharkhand. But before mica ends up in shiny lipsticks and other make-up products, it crosses many borders, through networks of middlemen and wholesalers. This lack of traceability helps conceal a harsh reality: those who mine mica are often children who never get to attend school. Our India correspondents report.
Comic book writer Joe Sacco on redefining war reporting
As the world's leading comics festival of Angouleme gets underway in the south of France, we meet Joe Sacco, one of the world's top cartoonists and the creator of war reportage comics. He speaks to Eve Jackson about his new work on indigenous North America, "Paying the Land"; his most famous award-winning books "Palestine" and "Safe Area Gorazde"; and why he thinks The New York Times are cowards for calling a day on political cartoons following a social media outcry about an anti-Semitic cartoon featuring Benjamin Netanyahu.
Film show: Roman Polanski's 'An Officer and a Spy' leads race for France's top honours
Film critic Lisa Nesselson speaks to Eve Jackson about the week's film news, starting with the nominations for the 45th César Awards. Roman Polanski's "An Officer and a Spy" leads the nominations with 12 nods and Ladj Ly's Oscar-nominated "Les Misérables" has 11. We also look at the winners of this week's Lumières Awards, the prizes awarded to French film by the foreign press living in France. And we discover the comic Nazi satire "Jojo Rabbit", from New Zealand-born screenwriter and director Taika Waititi, which is out in France this week.
UK snubs US with green light for Huawei's 5G technology
The British government will allow Huawei to play a limited role in developing a 5G mobile network - a snub to the Trump administration, which had been lobbying for the Chinese tech giant to be blocked. Also in the show - France's tourism industry worries about the impact of the coronavirus, and Renault's board of directors confirms a successor to Carlos Ghosn.
