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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
MP demands law banning accent discrimination
A day after far-left MP Jean-Luc Mélenchon mocked a journalist's Toulouse accent, an LREM MP proposes an anti-discrimination law
An MP has proposed a bill that would make it illegal in France to discriminate against anyone due to their accent.
La République En Marche's Laetitia Avia, who has tabled the bill against 'linguistic discrimination' on Thursday, October 18, argued that it was necessary because "a person's accent" can sometimes lead to "ridicule, humiliation and discrimination".
Parle-t-on moins français avec un accent ? Doit-on subir des humiliations si on a pas d'intonations standardisées ? Pcq nos accents sont notre identité, je dépose, avec des députés @LaREM_AN, une proposition de loi pour reconnaitre la glottophobie comme source de discrimination💪 pic.twitter.com/dcy3mKiVXj
— Laetitia Avia (@LaetitiaAvia) October 18, 2018
The bill was presented a day after under-fire far-left politician Jean-Luc Mélenchon mocked a journalist's Toulouse accent. "This discrimination (...) is now ignored in positive law and is not among the 24 criteria[for] discrimination listed in article 225-1 of the Criminal Code", write elected representatives who support the bill.
Ms Avia said that the term 'glottophobia' was first mentioned in 2016 by Professor Philippe Blanchet. She said: "The accent, whether Moselle, Ch'ti, southern, Parisian or suburban, whether it is particularly pronounced or whether it agrees on a few subtle intonations, is an intriguing part of the identity of many French people."
There are recent parallels with English politics. This week, Conservative MP Sir Paul Beresford twice asked the SNP's David Linden to repeat a question because he could not follow Mr Linden's Glasgow accent.
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Tory MP struggles to understand politician's Scottish accent in awkward House of Commons exchange https://t.co/uiFLDW2Co5 pic.twitter.com/6aINBG6BE8
— ITV News (@itvnews) October 18, 2018