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Fréjus Tunnel that connects France and Italy to close this weekend
The tunnel will close for 12 hours and not the 56 hours originally announced
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TotalEnergies opens service station for electric vehicles in Paris
It is the first of its kind in the capital and has ultra-fast charging
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Conductors on French public transport will soon be able to check your address
Move is part of anti-fraud plans to prevent people from giving false information during fines including on SNCF trains
Copyright warning on internet photo sharing
Taking a photograph of a historic French building and posting it online may be illegal, web giant warns
Web encyclopedia Wikimedia has warned that taking photos of historic or modern buildings or contemporary works of art and posting them on most internet sites is illegal if you have not asked permission or paid copyright to do so.
While the European Union allows Freedom of Panorama so photos of buildings and public art are not copyrighted, France restricted this so it did not apply to photos used on sites with a commercial character.
France Wikimédia head Nathalie Martin said: “90% of the internet is regarded as commercial, including Facebook and Wikimedia, and we want total freedom of panorama.
“Many of the works concerned were built with public money yet we are not allowed to take photos and then use them on the internet.”
She added that last summer’s Loi Création also restricted people’s right to take photos of historic buildings such as Versailles and “effectively privatises what should be in the public domain. It is scandalous.”
Penalties reach three years’ jail and a €300,000 fine and it plans a website this month on the law.
The Culture Ministry did not reply when asked.