Sophie Pilgrim

New Bangladesh panel to raise garment workers' wages

bbc.co.uk — Bangladesh has set up a panel to raise the minimum wage for more than three million garment workers, the minister for textiles has said. The government is under pressure to improve conditions after last month's collapse of a Dhaka garment factory which left more than 1,000 people dead.

Topless Femen crash far-right rally in Paris

france24.com — The breast-flashing and fist-pumping Femen group struck again in Paris on Sunday, interrupting a rally organised by far-right groups to commemorate Saint Joan of Arc in central Paris. The four feminists appeared topless - a trademark of the Ukraine-based feminist movement - on a rooftop overlooking the equestrian statue of Joan of Arc in Place des Pyramides, where ultra-conservative Catholics, French royalists, skinhead youths, and other groups had gathered around noon.

France’s Republican Guard ‘too costly’, watchdog rules

france24.com — The Garde Républicaine has been standing guard outside the presidential palace ever since the founding of the French republic. But today, it provides more pomp and circumstance than protection to merit its outsized budget, France's spending watchdog has ruled.

‘Criminal’ French should be banned from Norway, MP argues

beyond.blogs.france24.com — The phone hasn't stopped ringing for Norway's noisiest xenophobe these past few days. According to far-right MP Per Sandberg (pictured), pesky foreign journalists haven't left him alone since he suggested on Thursday that French people should be barred from entering the country.

Grumpychon

grumpychon.tumblr.com — Grumpy Cat + Mélenchon = Grumpychon

President Hollande handed spectacles in anniversary prank

beyond.blogs.france24.com — One of France's most outspoken politicians promised to deliver François Hollande a pair of spectacles on Monday "in order for him to see the suffering of the French people," as the beleaguered president celebrated his first anniversary in power.

Hollande partner Trierweiler costs France three times less than Carla Bruni-Sarkozy

english.rfi.fr — When Guillaume Larrivé, an MP for Sarkozy's UMP party, tabled a question to Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault asking how much Trierweiler's staff at the Elysée presidential palace cost the taxpayer, he probably did not expect the answer he received.

Jobbik rally against World Jewish Congress in Budapest

bbc.co.uk — Hungary's far-right Jobbik party has staged a rally in central Budapest in protest at the capital's hosting of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) on Sunday. Several hundred supporters took part, despite attempts by the government to prevent it going ahead. Jobbik said the rally was a protest against what it said was a Jewish attempt to buy up Hungary.

President Hollande: what a difference a year makes

carolineclarkson.blogs.france24.com — I can hardly believe it is just one year since François Hollande's election. Remember the coded messages on Twitter to get around France's reporting restrictions? The victory party at Bastille square in Paris that night, with the different coloured flags? Well, all that is recent history.