Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
France
It’s common to see photos of celebrities aged forty and up happily pregnant or pushing a pram. But according to most doctors, a woman’s chances of conceiving drop dramatically after age thirty-eight or so. Of course there are exceptions. Modern medical fertility treatments allowed a sixty-six-year-old Romanian woman to give birth to twins in 2005. But unless we’re willing and able to procure such treatments, which can be financially, emotionally, and physically draining, those who want to wait until their forties to have kids will have to take their chances.
Difficulty: Intermediate
France
Tuberculosis remains a deadly disease—affecting 10.6 million people annually and killing one person every twenty seconds. The recent development of multidrug-resistant strains of the bacteria has made TB even more threatening. Especially affected are areas without the proper means of fighting the illness. Eight countries accounted for more than two thirds of the global total: India, Indonesia, China, the Philippines, Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. According to the WHO, 13 billion dollars would be required to effectively combat the disease.
Difficulty: Intermediate
France
Her stirring, tragic story has moved millions of people. As an eight-year-old Jewish girl during World War II, she was taken in by wild wolves and walked for thousands of kilometers in search of her family. Sound too implausible to be true? Turns out it is. Her story is fiction, and, in fact, she’s not even Jewish. Though she may be the James Frey of French World War II tales, her lawyer claims she’s done nothing wrong.
Difficulty: Beginner
France
Those of us who live in the United States are used to being able to buy some medications right off the shelves. But in France, until very recently, you weren’t able to purchase painkillers without first speaking to a pharmacist. Now certain painkillers are available on a self-serve basis, but are pharmacists ready for this change?
Difficulty: Intermediate
France
José Bové may be famous for having dismantled a McDonald’s, but it turns out he also knows a thing or two about building houses — all in line with his alterglobalist ideals!
Difficulty: Intermediate
France
On the final leg of French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s visit to South Africa, the leader meets with Nelson Mandela (after visiting the cell where Mandela was imprisoned for twenty-seven years), and speaks about the importance of being a uniter—not a divider.
Difficulty: Intermediate
France
A first look at French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s visit to South Africa. He proposes a new axis in the capital’s “Francafrican” politics and shores up relations with English-speaking Africa.
Difficulty: Intermediate
France
This newspaper, called “The Sapper’s Candle” (a “sapper” is traditionally a military man who disarms mines), only comes out on the leap year. But how can a periodical published only on February twenty-ninth be financially sound? Maybe it’s true: less is more.
Difficulty: Intermediate
France
Billions (oui, milliards!) of birds migrate from Africa every year, and with bird flu developing rapidly, their arrival to France is closely monitored at the Marquenterre National Park. Learn how French scientists and engineers there have taken innovative measures to make it difficult for the virus to settle in the mud where the birds like to feed.
Difficulty: Intermediate
France
Peaceful student demonstrations were marred by the intrusion of young rioters, non-students who joined in and caused mayhem and violence. Now the student organizers have accepted the aid of union members and are working together to keep the march safe.
Difficulty: Intermediate
France
Will French dentists soon have their patients grow new teeth, instead of filling in the old ones? New techniques using restorative molecules and even stem cells (which can be found in the baby teeth of children) will go a long way toward helping people smile filling-free.
Difficulty: Intermediate
France
French scientists study 740,000-year-old Antarctic ice samples and find clues that point to a relationship between greenhouse gases and global warming. It is feared that the record high carbon and methane levels of today will cause severe climatic change in coming years.
Difficulty: Intermediate
France
Hipsters all over the world are surely mourning the loss of their favorite instant-nostalgia art medium: the Polaroid. With the recent closing of the last two remaining Polaroid factories in the U.S., it looks like that familiar and much-loved “ch-click-whrrr” sound will soon become a thing of the past. Polaroid has plans to soon launch products suited to the digital era. But can anything ever compare to the one and only original? Only time will tell.
Difficulty: Intermediate
France
Even the Chinese agree with French astronaut Jean-François Clervoy: the great wall of China is NOT visible to the human eye from space, not even from a low orbit. Chinese astronaut Yan Liwei, who orbited the earth fourteen times in a Chinese spaceship, couldn’t see it either.
Difficulty: Intermediate
France
The magic of Nicolas Ghesquière? Innovating, without betraying the heritage of the venerable fashion house of Balenciaga.
Difficulty: Beginner
France
Twenty-eight years ago, Frenchman Michel Garcia fell in love with Easter Island, home of clear blue water and the breathtaking moai. Since then he’s kept busy as a diving instructor and doting father, and he even found time to discover a new species of shellfish!
Difficulty: Intermediate
France
Microcredit can make a big difference to people on welfare or those without good credit history. Case in point: this fifty-five-year-old man who succeeded in opening up his own pizzeria thanks to the help he received.
Difficulty: Intermediate
France
All over France, students are protesting the loi Fillon, which they feel does not best represent the interests of students and their schools.
Difficulty: Intermediate
France
Sure, everyone likes to laugh, even the French, but can it really be good for your heart? Scientists seem to believe mais oui!
Difficulty: Intermediate
France
Ten months of training go into learning to fly a helicopter, but less time is being spent aloft. More and more flight hours are logged in a hyper-realistic simulator that allows young pilots to hone their skills without ever leaving the earth.
Difficulty: Intermediate
France
In the US, many American truckers don’t want Mexican drivers on the road. A similar situation is brewing in France where drivers from other countries will do the same work for half as much pay.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
France
Though we reported that some of the residents of Lille support the power workers and their blackout strikes, it turns out that not all of them do. Office workers shout from balconies to give the strikers a piece of their minds, and the workers respond in kind.
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
France
As Laurent Voulzy is walking down the beach, he chances upon a fan, and sings a little duet with her. At his concert that night, she’ll be in the front row. Can that “change the face of the world”?
Difficulty: Adv-Intermediate
France
Workers for the power company in the city of Lille aren’t happy and want management to know it. So they sabotaged the grid, cutting off power to thousands of businesses and residences. Despite the inconvenience, the mayor, and even many residents, support the workers.
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