https://feeds.thelocal.com/ Read the latest news and views from France in English en-us news@thelocal.com (TheLocal) webmaster@thelocal.com (TheLocal) TheLocal RSS Feed A new book titled "A President Should Not Say That..." has revealed that François Hollande calls Nicolas Sarkozy "a Duracell bunny", how his ex-partner was obsessed by another ex-partner, and how he believes a Muslim woman could one day be the symbol of France (if she feels free enough to ditch her hijab). https://www.thelocal.fr/20161012/hollande-muslim-women-could-be-symbol-of-france Wed, 12 Oct 2016 14:24:42 +0200 hollande-muslim-women-could-be-symbol-of-france Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has suggested he is in favour of banning the wearing of the Muslim headscarf in public. But his own campaign team tell a different story. https://www.thelocal.fr/20161005/france-hijab-ban-the-headscarf-in-public-is-sarkozy-serious Wed, 05 Oct 2016 16:01:24 +0200 france-hijab-ban-the-headscarf-in-public-is-sarkozy-serious A Toulouse woman says she was told to pay a fine or leave a Cannes beach for wearing a headscarf, French media reported. The city's mayor has defended the decision of police. https://www.thelocal.fr/20160823/woman-fined-for-wearing-headscarf-on-cannes-beach Tue, 23 Aug 2016 16:00:12 +0200 woman-fined-for-wearing-headscarf-on-cannes-beach A teenage Muslim girl was barred from entering her school grounds for wearing a long black skirt seen as too openly religious. https://www.thelocal.fr/20160506/french-muslim-sent-home-from-school-over-long-skirt Fri, 06 May 2016 10:13:12 +0200 french-muslim-sent-home-from-school-over-long-skirt The Sciences Po University in Paris hosted a "Hijab Day" on Wednesday, as student organizers attempted to end the stigma around women who wear the veil. But not everyone is playing along. https://www.thelocal.fr/20160420/paris-uni-students-invited-to-wear-veils-for-hijab-day Wed, 20 Apr 2016 12:07:57 +0200 paris-uni-students-invited-to-wear-veils-for-hijab-day Air France has moved to defuse a growing dispute by agreeing to make an exception for those hostesses and female pilots who refuse to fly from Paris to Tehran because they don't want to wear the veil. https://www.thelocal.fr/20160404/air-france-comprises-on-forcing-female-staff-to-wear-veil Mon, 04 Apr 2016 17:36:52 +0200 air-france-comprises-on-forcing-female-staff-to-wear-veil A number of female Air France cabin crew are resisting an airline ruling that they should wear a headscarf while in Tehran, when flights to the Iranian capital resume on April 17th, a union representative has told AFP. https://www.thelocal.fr/20160404/air-france-cabin-crew-told-to-wear-veil-on-tehran-flights Mon, 04 Apr 2016 09:31:41 +0200 air-france-cabin-crew-told-to-wear-veil-on-tehran-flights France's women's rights minister faced growing criticism on Thursday, including calls on social media to resign, after comparing women who wear the Muslim headscarf and veil to "negroes who supported slavery". https://www.thelocal.fr/20160331/calls-for-french-womens-minister-to-quit-over-veil-slavery-row Thu, 31 Mar 2016 15:33:25 +0200 calls-for-french-womens-minister-to-quit-over-veil-slavery-row Police in the French Alps have been forced to hand out notices to tourists wearing the full face veil, many of whom have come for a day trip from Switzerland, to remind them that France has a total burka ban in public. https://www.thelocal.fr/20150723/tourists-in-alps-warned-of-french-veil-ban Thu, 23 Jul 2015 11:52:54 +0200 tourists-in-alps-warned-of-french-veil-ban UPDATED: Muslim store owners have been forced to scrap the "gender ban" at their grocery store in Bordeaux, after it caused outraged across France. https://www.thelocal.fr/20150622/france-muslim-store-bars-women-on-weekdays Mon, 22 Jun 2015 18:59:35 +0200 france-muslim-store-bars-women-on-weekdays France's education minister on Monday warned against "militant secularity" in a country where a long-standing ban on veils, Jewish kippahs and other religious signs in schools continues to cause controversy. https://www.thelocal.fr/20150601/french-minister-warns-against-militant-secularity Mon, 01 Jun 2015 19:34:02 +0200 french-minister-warns-against-militant-secularity French MPs on Wednesday will put the spotlight on religion in France's nurseries, seven years after a woman was fired from a Paris crèche for refusing to remove her veil. https://www.thelocal.fr/20150513/should-religion-be-allowed-in-french-nurseries Wed, 13 May 2015 13:29:21 +0200 should-religion-be-allowed-in-french-nurseries A headscarf-wearing Muslim woman in her final month of pregnancy was violently assaulted in southern France this week, in what has been labelled an Islamophobic attack. https://www.thelocal.fr/20150327/pregnant-muslim-woman-assaulted-in-france Fri, 27 Mar 2015 11:30:37 +0100 pregnant-muslim-woman-assaulted-in-france The management at Paris Opera have issued a memo to staff not to allow entry to anyone whose face is covered. It comes after a Muslim woman was asked to leave a performance of La Traviata earlier this month after she was spotted wearing a niqab face veil. https://www.thelocal.fr/20141022/paris-opera-remind-staff-of-rules-over-muslim-veil Wed, 22 Oct 2014 12:29:00 +0200 paris-opera-remind-staff-of-rules-over-muslim-veil France will urgently update its law around the wearing of full face veils in public after it emerged a female spectator was told to leave the Paris Opera during a performance La Traviata after singers spotted her wearing a niqab. https://www.thelocal.fr/20141020/paris-opera-veil-la-traviata Mon, 20 Oct 2014 10:29:00 +0200 paris-opera-veil-la-traviata France's contentious law on the wearing of the Muslim veil may be known worldwide, but not everyone in France clearly understands it or thinks it is strict enough, it seems. The confusion led to an embarrassing incident at Paris's famous Sorbonne university this week. https://www.thelocal.fr/20140926/paris-uni-sorry-for-muslim-veil-gaffe Fri, 26 Sep 2014 17:26:00 +0200 paris-uni-sorry-for-muslim-veil-gaffe A conservative French politician has provoked anger - and some support - after penning an outraged opinion piece about a Muslim woman she witnessed wearing a headscarf on a beach in France. https://www.thelocal.fr/20140818/headscarf-veil-muslim-beach-woman Mon, 18 Aug 2014 20:00:00 +0200 headscarf-veil-muslim-beach-woman The head of Amnesty International France tells The Local why the European Court of Human Right’s decision to uphold a French law banning full-face veils is a danger to everyone’s rights and sets a "tragic precedent" for Europe. https://www.thelocal.fr/20140702/veil-ban-muslim-france-europe-rights Wed, 02 Jul 2014 18:53:00 +0200 veil-ban-muslim-france-europe-rights The European Court of Human Rights ruled on Tuesday France's ban on the wearing of the full-face veil in public does not violate the human rights of Muslim women. Judges said the law was justified on the grounds of social cohesion. https://www.thelocal.fr/20140701/face-veil-ban-france-court Tue, 01 Jul 2014 12:00:00 +0200 face-veil-ban-france-court France's law banning Muslim head and face veils stood strong on Wednesday against another challenge. A young woman arrested for wearing a veil had sought its dismissal. https://www.thelocal.fr/20140108/french-court-upholds-controversial-muslim-veil-ban Wed, 08 Jan 2014 15:02:00 +0100 french-court-upholds-controversial-muslim-veil-ban