-
Residents ordered to stay home due to high risk of avalanche in French Alps
One person has been injured in an avalanche in Val Thorens, while thousands of homes are without power
-
People in France snubbing US travel, report travel agents
The political context, weak euro against the dollar, and border issues have all been blamed
-
Reaction to François Hollande's call for France to create refugee status for US researchers
Former president lends support to scheme for scientists reportedly 'forced into exile' by the Trump administration
French passport ties with UK as fourth-most useful
A French passport has been named as the fourth most-useful in the world in a new report, on a par with passports from United Kingdom and Spain; lagging behind those from Singapore and Germany.

The Singaporean passport knocked Germany’s off its usual top spot in the world rankings thanks to the 159 countries to which it now allows travel without a visa compared to Germany’s 158.
Sweden and South Korea took joint third place just behind, with 157 countries, reports FranceInfo today, following the publication of the 2017 Global Passport Power Rank report from the financial advice company, Arton Capital.
Denmark was joint fourth, along with the UK, France, Finland, Italy, Spain, Norway, and Japan, all of whom allow travel to 156 countries without a visa.
In contrast, the United States passport allows non-visa travel to just 154 countries, knocking it down to the sixth place overall, alongside Malaysia, Ireland, and Canada.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, an Afghanistan passport was deemed the least-useful, with just 22 countries accessible without a visa.
Syria was also near the bottom with just 29 accessible countries, just ahead of Iraq and Pakistan, which allow visa-free travel to just 26 countries in total.
Stay informed:
Sign up to our free weekly e-newsletter
Subscribe to access all our online articles and receive our printed monthly newspaper The Connexion at your home. News analysis, features and practical help for English-speakers in France