Word: french
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...majority of French men and women who voted for the National Front always thought as they do today, but they used to vote for Premier Chirac's party. Put simply, there has been a restructuring of the right because the Premier, given his obligations, could not go as far as Mr. Le Pen in responding to the aspirations and the needs of those people...
...Beirut the ordeal of the three French hostages ended as abruptly as it had begun. Last Wednesday evening a Mercedes roared up to the Summerland Hotel, carrying Diplomats Marcel Carton and Marcel Fontaine and Journalist Jean-Paul Kauffmann, who had been held captive since 1985. Syrian security forces hustled the men to Beirut International Airport, and by the next morning they arrived in Paris for a joyous reunion with their families...
Almost simultaneously with the release in the Middle East, the quiet of a South Pacific dawn in Ouvea, New Caledonia, was broken by the dull thud of smoke bombs and the crackle of small-arms fire. Some 300 elite French troops and gendarmes had launched an operation to rescue 23 Frenchmen from a cave where they had been held by Melanesian separatists. In the 7 1/2-hour gun battle that ensued, two gendarmes and 19 militants died...
...much had France paid for its citizens' freedom, both to Iran, which brokered the release, and to Islamic Jihad? Interior Minister Charles Pasqua insisted that "not a franc, not a dollar, not a deutsche mark" was rendered. But another French official said the Iranians were interested in re- establishing diplomatic relations, which were broken last summer. They also wanted repayment of a $1 billion loan made to France in 1974, which they argue has appreciated considerably because of accrued interest. France has so far paid back $660 million...
Outside France, feelings were less euphoric. There are now 16 foreign hostages in Lebanon, including nine Americans and three Britons. The French deal raised fears that freeing those still held would be more difficult and that the release might even encourage more kidnapings. Pounding her hand in the House of Commons, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher declared, "We will not pay ransom!" In Washington, State Department Spokesman Charles Redman expressed the same view...