Category: Current Affairs

AROUND 5,000 people attended an anti-shale gas protest in Cahors over the weekend, joining others across France in opposition to the plans.

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A MEMORIAL has been unveiled at la Pointe de Grave (map), at the mouth of the Gironde estuary, marking a World War Two mission by British Royal Marines.

Operation Frankton involved a 105 mile journey in December 1942 undertaken by a team of ten soldiers, with two men to a canoe, to attach limpet mines to ships in the port at Bordeaux.

The France 3 television channel reports on the unveiling of a memorial plaque marking the mission which was described as suicidal, but which Winston Churchill said shortened the war by six months.

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OPPOSITION is growing against plans to begin exploratory operations for shale gas (gaz de schiste) in the Lot region of south west France.

Websites Say No to Shale Gas and Schiste Happens are warning that if drilling begins then the environmental damage from the activity could poison water courses, see drills dotted across the countryside and ruin the lives of many.

The exploratory plans are titled the Permis de Cahors and covers a region that extends from north of Montauban, past Cahors and towards Brive la Gaillarde.

The permit is held by a company called 3 Legs Oil and Gas, which is a subsidiary of 3Legs Resources, who have offices in the Isle of Man and Poland, where they have undertaken shale gas extraction.

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THE distressing news from Japan about the dangerous levels of radiation from its stricken nuclear reactors has seen questions asked of France’s own nuclear industry.

The domestic electricity industry in France is dominated by nuclear power with the country obtaining around 80% of its needs from nuclear reactors.

France turned to nuclear power in the 1950s and its first plant came online in 1973.

And the pace of building power plants across France has continued unabated, with 19 complexes dotted across the country that are host to 58 nuclear reactors.

The EDF website features a map showing the location of each one that stretch from Gravelines in the north, just 20km from Calais, to Golfech in the south west between Agen and Toulouse.

Both the official nuclear authority website Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire has information on the incidents in Japan, while the independent monitoring group CRIIRAD is also keeping readers up to date.

IF you have need of an ultra lightweight calendar that is displayed on one sheet of A4 paper with plenty of room for notes, then head over to designer David Seah’s website and read up on his compact calendar for 2011.

For the past couple of years I’ve had a French version of the calendars up on the kitchen wall and it can prove very useful for noting official holidays and more importantly when it is likely businesses will faire le pont.

There are now calendars from many different countries, just slide down the page on David’s site and you will see the French version.

It is produced as a .pdf document you can print off as well as a spreadsheet in Excel, but also features official holidays and the school holiday periods for the different zones in France.

USING the cool tools offered up by Animoto take a stroll around the countryside of Loubejac, here in south west France.

THE Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen & Families Association (SSAFA) – Forces Help has been providing vital support to our servicemen and women and their families for 125 years, writes Lesley Blake.

In 2009 SSAFA France, based in Castillonnès, assisted 81 families and 2010, which is SSAFA’s 125th Anniversary, is proving to be another busy year.

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THE last of 250 British and Australian World War I troops recovered from mass graves has been reburied with full military honours in northern France.

Prince Charles and the relatives of identified soldiers attended a commemorative ceremony at the new Fromelles Military Cemetery.

It comes 94 years after the soldiers were killed in the Battle of Fromelles.

Website: Fromelles Military Cemetery

News reports:
Prince Charles attends last Fromelles soldier reburial
Fromelles war cemetery dedicated 94 years after disastrous battle

Updated 29/10/2016

TODAY saw President Sarkozy and British PM, David Cameron, mark the 70th anniversary of Charles de Gaulle’s wartime broadcast urging France to fight back against the Nazi occupation.

And a short extract of de Gaulle’s speech appears on a plaque outside the Musée de la Résistance, in Cahors, while inside you learn how that fight back took place and the stories of those who didn’t live to enjoy victory in 1945.

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ALONG the side of the river near St Livrade, there’s one road through a typical residential suburb with a small sign on the right that reads ‘CAFI’.

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