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More bank branches in France are closing
Some 3% of branches are shutting every year, reports banking union
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French passport beats US and UK for global access
Rankings measure visa-free access to foreign countries
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Ranking shows which cities in France are suffering the most, and least, from traffic jams
Most congested French city is not Paris
One-track plan for French rail
Little-used rail lines could be made single-track in proposals put to local authorities by SNCF in a bid to cut running costs.
Moving to a single line would reduce maintenance while having one train doing shuttle runs would need no signals.
This is one of about 50 measures put to councillors that include using bitumen-gravel instead of ballast for the track base.
It comes after parliament rejected plans to close 9,000km of small lines, most in a bad state, which make up 2% of traffic but a third of the track.
