Host Ben McPartland is joined by The Local France's Emma Pearson and Genevieve Mansfield to look at all the latest news and talking points from France.
We start with the tremor that shook Nice and the Côte d'Azur this week, and the prediction that France is "due a big one", plus the latest on the French government's crisis survival pamphlet.
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From literal earthquakes to political quakes - why are French and US politicians locked in a war of words over the Statue of Liberty? And is it really true that the USA has France to thank for its independence from Britain?
Coming back to more practical matters, a southern French département is set for a world first with its plans for an 'air to water' factory, aimed at producing water in a notoriously drought-stricken area.
Some good news for foreigners as the French government says that the digital ID known as France Identité will be opened up to non-French citizens by the end of the year. We take a look a France's digital transformation, and what this means for people who either don't have internet access or aren't comfortable completing admin online.
And talking of online problems - the UK's new ETA visa waiver is open, but sadly the scammers are circling ready to pounce on unwary people using the wrong website to get their £10 visa.
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Useful websites
In this episode, we reference three websites that you may find useful.
- To look at the risk of earthquakes and other natural disasters near you, try going to the French government website Géorisques.
- To keep track of water restrictions in France, use the vigieau.gouv.fr website.
- And finally for the UK's ETA visa waiver, the genuine site can be found here - look out for the prefix www.gov.uk indicating a genuine UK government website
Further reading
- MAP: The parts of France most at risk from earthquakes
- Where to find France's 12 Statues of Liberty
- Eleven things the French have given America
- Drought-prone southern France to inaugurate first 'air-to-water' plant
- What is France Identité and can foreigners use it?
- How to avoid ETA scams for France-UK travel
- Do Franco-British dual nationals need an ETA to travel to UK?
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