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Doctors would be forced to address patients in French With limited exceptions, Bill 96 requires doctors to address their patients in French, even in situations where both doctor and patient would better understand each other in another language. Certain bilingual institutions, such as the Jewish General Hospital, are exempt. As are patients who can prove that they’ve attended an English-language school in Canada, or immigrants who have arrived in Quebec within the last six months. But for everyone else, everything from cancer diagnoses to Alzheimer’s treatment must be performed in French.

French police turn on Chirac as officer jailed By Kim Willsher in Paris and Henry Samuel in Bobigny (Filed: 13/11/2005) After 16 nights battling urban violence by rioters, Jacques Chirac's government is confronting angry new protests - from the police themselves. Firefighters extinguish a burning car in Strasbourg Officers at the forefront of attempts to control the wave of riots and arson attacks across France are furious at moves to prosecute policemen accused of assaulting a youth. As officers were deployed in force in Paris yesterday following a call on weblogs for a mass demonstration, the police union described the...

PARIS - In Woody Allen's America, Bordeaux or Burgundy wine and other things French are always in vogue. But he admits his European sensibility makes his films less popular back home. Even with trans-Atlantic ties at a low ebb, the French are still seen as standard-bearers of class, elegance and, well, romance among Americans, he said, and the U.S. filmgoing public knows it. "If you were doing a scene of seduction, and the man gets the woman in a candlelit restaurant, he would never order a California wine - because then everyone would laugh," Allen told reporters in Paris. "It...

LE GRAND BORNAND, France (Reuters) - A ruthless Lance Armstrong refused to allow his rivals a consolation stage victory as he came from behind to outsprint German Andreas Kloeden in the last few meters of the 127-mile 17th stage of the Tour de France Thursday. Armstrong's fourth win in the five mountain stages of this year's Tour -- he finished second in the other one -- underlined his dominance over his closest rivals as he seeks an unprecedented sixth successive Tour victory. Germany's Jan Ullrich finished the stage third while Italian Ivan Basso, who beat Armstrong on the 12th stage,...

Israeli media slams as ''Anti-Semitic'' Chirac refusal to join EU condemnation of Malaysian PM speech on Jews Israeli commentators have firmly blasted French President Jacques Chirac's refusal to sign the condemnation proposal drafted by the European Union in Brussels, which brought about the cancellation of the draft proposal. This came after Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's call last week for Islamic nations to unite against "a few million Jews," who control the world. Chirac, backed by Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis, stopped the European Union from ending a summit on Friday with a harshly worded statement deploring Mahathir's speech. A...

The Problem With the French ... ... is that they have no word for rapprochement By Gene Weingarten Sunday, September 7, 2003; Page W14 The French minister of agriculture politely awaited my question. We were seated in the study of his ministry in the heart of Paris, overlooking a garden with ancient statuary. At 43, Herve Gaymard is already a member of the national cabinet, custodian of nothing less formidable than the French wine industry. Sandy-haired, lithe, urbanely handsome like Paul Henreid in "Casablanca," the minister was in shirtsleeves, slacks and -- as became apparent when he crossed his legs...

Eleven thousand soldiers lay beneath the dirt and stone, all buried on a distant land so far away from home. For just a strip of dismal beach they paid a hero's price, to save a foreign nation they all made the sacrifice. And now the shores of Normandy are lined with blocks of white, Americans who didn't turn from someone else's plight. Eleven thousand reasons for the French to take our side, but in the moment of our need, they chose to run and hide. Chirac said every war means loss, perhaps for France that's true, for they've lost...

Toogood Reports [Weekender, April 27, 2003; 12:01 a.m. EST]URL: http://ToogoodReports.com/ Immediately after the onset of the war on Iraq, our French "allies" decided — yet again — to punish us. Foreseeing the inevitable coalition victory, Pres. Jacques Chirac announced to the world, that the American and British "belligerents" had no right to administer postwar Iraq, or to profit from contracts rebuilding the country. According to Chirac, the French, on the other hand, who had for years illegally armed Saddam Hussein, and who had not sacrificed any blood or treasure to remove him from power, were uniquely deserving of such contracts....

I just emailed the French Embassy in Washington, and you may reach them at this webpage: http://www.info-france-usa.org/contactus.asp I had to blow off steam at the annoying little foreigners. You may wish to as well. (Please be polite, no cursing or crude language.) I sent them the following, both in proper English and their own barbaric tongue, so that they would have no problem understanding it. You can translate your email for free at http://ets.freetranslation.com/?!&sequence=core&mode=html&template=TextResults2.htm&Language=English/French&SrcText=... I shan't use their vulgar grunting here, so here is the English version… Dear Sirs: In my country's short 225+ year history, we have saved the...

*********URGENT FROM THE AP*********** PARIS –– British Prime Minister Tony Blair fails to persuade France to join coalition ready to take quick action against Iraq.

<p>February 10, 2003 -- COLLEVILLE-SUR-MER, France - They stand only 3 feet high, but they're towering mountains of sacrifice. I'm standing in the American Cemetery. Gray clouds hang low as if in mourning for the nearly 10,000 young Americans buried beneath crosses and Stars of David that stretch as far as the eye can see.</p>

AL MUKALLA, Yemen (AP) - France said Friday it would not bow to terrorism and demanded that Yemen to catch and punish those responsible for an attack on the oil tanker Limburg. "France will not be intimidated," said Catherine Colonna, the spokeswoman for French President Jacques Chirac. Also Friday, the French defense minister said investigators found traces of TNT on the French-owned tanker that exploded and burned Sunday, leaking 90,000 barrels of oil into the Gulf of Aden. "What we have received overnight indicates that this was an attack, since parts of a small boat and traces of TNT were...

An unidentified woman wears an unconventional hat as she attends the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe horse race at Longchamp race track outside Paris, October 6, 2002. The entrance to the race is free for women wearing hats. Frankie Dettori of Italy on Mareinbard won the race.

PARIS (Reuters) - Was the hospital waiting list too long or did the patient just get lost? Questions are being asked at the Hotel Dieu hospital in Paris where a plumber working in the basement last week came across a decomposed corpse wearing hospital pajamas, Le Figaro newspaper reported on Thursday. Hospital administrators are asking whether the corpse could be that of a tramp who got into the hospital and donned pajamas for some creature comfort, or a patient who absconded and was never found. An autopsy is to be carried out to try to identify the macabre discovery. But...