Word: french
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...farmers' market, where local babushkas with woolly hats and dodgy teeth sell homegrown carrots and potatoes for 10¢ a kilo. But look closer and it's clear that even Lyudinovo isn't frozen in time. An emporium that opened a year ago sells South Korean refrigerators, French yogurt and fake Italian pumps. Several houses are being built on the outskirts--the first new residential construction in more than a decade. And until recently, there was plenty of work for everyone at the five factories that employ the bulk of the townsfolk...
...beige furnishings, swirling red-and-gold patterns on the walls and easy credit. Here, 450 people--mainly women in their 20s--sit side by side in booths and field calls from Russians asking to borrow money. Most of the time, the answer is a resounding yes. Owned by the French bank Société Générale, Rusfinance is aiming to build a massive presence in Russia. Back in Paris, SocGen's chief executive, Frédéric Oudéa, even talks about Russia becoming the bank's second biggest market, after France...
Having watched the mommy wars rage last fall around Sarah Palin's approach to work-family balance, I've been intrigued by the French premiere of this movie, starring the country's glamorous, embattled Justice Minister, Rachida Dati. Five days after giving birth by C-section to her daughter Zohra, Dati left the hospital and headed to the Elysée Palace for a Cabinet meeting. Cue the controversy, let fly the judgments: What about bonding and breast-feeding and savoring the glory of a social system that allows women 16 weeks of paid maternity leave? (See pictures of Sarah Palin...
Like Palin, Dati is a special case; but the harder the times, the heavier the symbolism. And since Dati raced back to her desk amid a global economic meltdown, her decision took on a public as well as a personal dimension. A French feminist compared her to women in the 1920s who gave birth on the factory floor and kept working for fear of losing their job. Another called her choice "scandalous" since employers could use it to "put intolerable pressure on women" to take less time off. What a pernicious example at a moment when workers are already anxious...
...French Socialist Ségolène Royal scored high enough marks as a presidential candidate in 2007 to finish second in the race, with 17 million votes. These days, her grades - and her ability to get on with her political colleagues - have slipped. In a new book set for publication Feb. 5, Royal not only belittles her victorious rival, President Nicolas Sarkozy, as a greedy, vain, amoral "little boy happy to be surrounded by his toys," she also takes swipes with similar venom at fellow Socialist Party heavyweights. Oddly enough, Royal appears to hope that the book's belligerent...