From the Yellow Vests and the Trump Foundation to Carey Mulligan and Rupert Everett, a look back at some of the FRANCE 24 stories, TV shows and interviews of the week.

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ARTICLES

‘Yellow Vests’ open a new front in the battle: Popular referendums

Many of the "Yellow Vests" who hit the streets again last Saturday wielded signs with the acronym RIC – for "Citizens' Initiative Referendum" – as demonstrators demanded popular votes be held to allow citizens to vet government policy proposals.

As EU stalls, France goes it alone with special tax on tech giants

France will introduce a tax aimed at companies such as Google, Apple, Amazon and Facebook, set to take effect on January 1. It will be the first European country to introduce a tax aimed specifically at tech giants accused of pursuing tax-avoidance schemes in the countries in which they operate.

Mission (almost) impossible: Uniting France’s fragmented left

The multitude of parties that make up France’s splintered political left might have more in common than they want to admit. But getting their bickering leaders to compromise is no mean feat.

TV SHOWS ONLINE

'ENCORE!'

Carey Mulligan: 'We allow so much from men on screen but women are not allowed to misbehave'

British actress Carey Mulligan speaks to FRANCE 24 about her new film "Wildlife", why she has had to defend her character and how refreshing it is to play a flawed female.

Rupert Everett: The importance of being Oscar Wilde

Rupert Everett speaks to FRANCE 24 about his directorial debut "The Happy Prince", his admiration for Oscar Wilde and why it was important for him to focus on the writer's final years – spent in exile in Paris after being released from prison following his conviction for "gross indecency" over a homosexual affair.

'PERSPECTIVE'

Just a French guy cooking

Alexis Gabriel Aïnouz – better known by his YouTube name, "A French Guy Cooking" – is publishing his self-taught tips and tricks in a new cookbook showing us how to make everything from a show-stopping supper to midnight munchies, just four years after launching his online tutorial channel.

Will the 'Yellow Vest' movement go global?

Has the Yellow Vest movement lifted the lid on bubbling discontent across Western societies, with ordinary people now convinced the system no longer works for them? Copycat protests have cropped up as far afield as Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands and the UK. In Egypt, authorities have restricted the sale of the neon safety vests themselves in a bid to prevent a similar movement.

'MEDIAWATCH'

Star journalist fired for writing fake stories in German news magazine

Award-winning investigative reporter Claas Relotius has admitted to fabricating details, people and conversations in more than a dozen articles for German news magazine Der Spiegel. Plus: Supporters of Donald Trump are trying to crowdfund $5 billion to build his wall on the US-Mexico border.

'THE DEBATE'

The row over France's plan to hike foreign student tuition

Students are protesting against a planned hike in tuition fees for foreign students, who currently pay little more than the nominal fee charged their French counterparts. Will the fee increase scare away foreigners and undermine France's ambition of attracting half a million foreign students a year within the next decade?

'YOU ARE HERE'

Christophe Felder: France's king of cakes

Christophe Felder is a celebrated pastry chef and an "ambassador" for French gastronomy. We caught up with him in his village of Mutzig in Alsace, where he has opened a cake shop featuring his mouth-watering creations.

'FRENCH CONNECTIONS'

For an insider's look at French life and culture, watch French Connections – a guide to understanding the quirks of France and the French, from the sublime to the ridiculous. Airs Thursdays at 1:45pm (GMT+1) and available online.

VIDEO REPORTS

Trump's charity to shut down over allegations of misusing funds

France to grant €300 bonus to police exhausted by Yellow Vest protests

'Follow Me': How one man became a social media influencer

INFOMIGRANTS

A car bomb crushed Mustafa's leg, but he has not given up

Mustafa lost his leg in a devastating car bomb attack in Homs. His disability has slowed him down – and so has life as a Syrian asylum-seeker in Spain – but he hasn't given up on his dreams.

For more on these and other international news stories, visit FRANCE24.com or watch the TV channel live by clicking here.

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