Portal:France

From Freepedia

France Wikiportaledit

Image:France flag large.png
Image:LocationFrance.png

The French Republic or France (French: République française or France) is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in Western Europe, and which is further made up of a collection of overseas islands and territories located in other continents.^[1]

France is a democracy organised as a unitary semi-presidential republic. It is a developed country with the fifth-largest economy in the world in 2004.^[2] Its main values are expressed in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.

France is one of the founding members of the European Union, and has the largest land area of all members. France is also a founding member of the United Nations. It is one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council wielding veto power, and it is also one of only eight acknowledged nuclear powers in existence.

More about France ...

Featured picture

Image:Photo cartierbresson europe.jpg

Place de l'Europe by the French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908–2004), commonly considered the undisputed master of candid photography using the small-format 35mm rangefinder camera and the father of photojournalism.

Featured article (Archive)

Image:Fusillade.jpg The Communards’ Wall (F.: Mur des Fédérés) at the Père Lachaise cemetery is where, on May 28 1871, one-hundred forty-seven fédérés, combatants of the Paris Commune, were shot and thrown in an open trench at the foot of the wall. To the French left, especially socialists and communists, the wall became the symbol of the people’s struggle for their liberty and ideals. Many leaders of the French Communist Party, especially those involved in the French resistance, are buried nearby.

During the spring of 1871 the last of the combatants of the Commune entrenched themselves in the cemetery. The Armée versaillaise, which was summoned to suppress the Commune, had control over the area towards the end of the afternoon of May 28, and shot all of the prisoners against the wall.

The massacre of the Communards did not put an end to the repression. During the fighting between 20,000 and 35,000 deaths, and more than 43,000 prisoners were taken; afterwards, a military court pronounced about a hundred death sentences, more than 13,000 prison sentences, and close to 4,000 deportations to New Caledonia.

Read more...

Current events in France

September 6, 2005 - French President Chirac remains hospitalized French President Jacques Chirac continued his hospital stay Tuesday in what a government spokesperson describes as favorable conditions. Chirac was admitted to a military hosiptal (the Val-de-Grâce hospital in Paris) on Friday September 2, where doctors called his condition a "small vascular incident" that hindered his vision. Full story

France pledges support and aid to America after Hurricane Katrina France has pledged support and aid to the United States after Hurricane Katrina and is sending a civil defense unit, a frigate, helicopters and C-135 and Transall transports to the disaster area.

September 5, 2005 - Second Paris fire kills 16 in 18-story building The death toll has risen to 16 confirmed dead and an unconfirmed number of people are injured in another fire south of Paris, France. Investigators say the fire was caused by arson. 4 people have arrested, 3 are teenage girls (18 to 16 years old). The fire occurred early Sunday morning in an apartment building in the southern suburb of l'Haÿ-les-Roses. Full story

More French news from Wikinews

Did you know...

...that Jean-Marie Perrot was assassinated during WW2 and since then has been remembered in parts of Brittany on Easter Monday
...that "Vulcania" was founded by Valéry Giscard d'Estaing as an incentive to bring tourism to Auvergne?
...that the famous Wallace fountains in Paris were provided by English philanthropist Richard Wallace as a source of free water for the poor?
...that Roger Lemerre has won the Football World Cup, European Football Championship, Confederations Cup and the African Nations Cup?

People

Image:BleriotDI11G1.jpg Louis Blériot (July 1 1872 – August 2 1936) was a French inventor and engineer, who performed the first flight over a large body of water in a heavier-than-air craft.

As lightweight engines became available, he developed planes with various configurations ranging from box-kite biplanes to a canard (tail-first) monoplane. The Blériot V was the world's first successful monoplane. This aeroplane got off the ground in 1907 but soon crashed and was abandoned.

A £1000 prize being offered by the London Daily Mail for the first successful flight across the English Channel interested Blériot and encouraged him to develop his fourth monoplane and first truly successful aircraft, the Blériot XI. After setting a European endurance record of 36 minutes 55 seconds and winning a cross-country prize, Blériot felt confident about embarking on his cross-Channel trip. On July 25, 1909 he made the trip from Calais to Dover in 37 minutes, delighting the French and worrying the British, who felt that they had suddenly become vulnerable to air attack.

Read more...