Word: french
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...stopped growing. The U.K. is teetering on the edge of recession. And Germany, Europe's biggest economy, is finally showing signs of a marked deterioration. "It's hard to find a country that's keeping its head above water," says Véronique Riches-Flores, chief European economist at French bank Société Générale. Business leaders ranging from Sir Stuart Rose at British retailer Marks & Spencer to Renault's CEO Carlos Ghosn are sounding the alarm. At Burberry, the luxury-goods firm, CEO Angela Ahrendts frets about a combination of rising costs, falling demand...
Trichet's critics, including French President Nicolas Sarkozy, say it makes no sense for the ECB to raise interest rates to fight frothy commodity-market prices, and Trichet himself signaled that the bank isn't planning any more rate hikes in the near future. But surging inflation poses a huge threat to Europe's chances of beating the downturn, especially when combined with weak growth. Inflation is perhaps the trickiest economic indicator to forecast: for example, over the past year, the ECB's staff has based each of its inflation projections on an assumption that oil prices will stabilize...
...Brits might welcome Gazprom. Likewise, Gazprom may be more attuned to the benefits of having a foreign partner with deep pockets and a long-term outlook. To help develop a vast gas field in the Barents Sea, Gazprom teamed up with Norwegian oil firm StatoilHydro and French giant Total last year, indicating there's still an openness to such partnerships, even as Russia gains confidence in its ability to fly solo. Moreover, Moscow is under pressure to reverse a worrisome slowdown in the nation's oil production. While the rules of the game keep changing, foreign investors know there...
...Roux says external factors similarly account for why Americans wound up as the biggest-spending and best-tipping tourists, while Germans and the French were among the worst penny-pinchers. "Our findings show the average French employee will get 37 vacation days spread over seven trips in 2008, versus 14 for an American - who won't even take them all," de Roux says. "That means the French tourist will more tightly budget his or her spending over more trips, while the American spends freely on the one or two vacations taken all year." (See 50 authentic American travel experiences...
...contrast, the poll finds that the French and Americans are similar in being perceived as critical and rude when they travel - though for different reasons. The same attractions that make France the world's top destination for 92 million foreign visitors each year, says de Roux, also explain why more than 85% of French citizens vacation in-country - and wind up spoiled by it when they leave. "When they go abroad, French travelers demand the same quality they'd get at home," de Roux says. "Americans, by contrast, demand the same exceptional service they are used to at home, which...