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SERVICE SECTOR
Financial services
Market capitalization of shares listed on the Paris stock exchange totals 2,400 billion francs ($480 billion), 31.5% of French GDP, ranking Paris fifth in the world.
Four French banks are among the world’s top 25: Crédit Agricole (8th), Compagnie Financière Paribas (20th), Groupe Caisses d’Epargne (21st) and Banque Nationale de Paris (22nd).
Foreign Trade
France is the world’s second largest exporter of services and farm products and fourth largest exporter of goods (principally durables); it had a trade surplus of 104.5 billion francs ($20.9 billion) in 1995. French exports stood at 1,427 billion francs ($285.4 billion) in 1995, 22% of GDP. Imports amounted to 1,322 billion francs ($264.4 billion).
Prehistory
The first humans found in France, known as Homo Erectus, are believed to have lived around 950,000 B.C.
Poll shows anti-war French 'like US'
PARIS, Feb 23 (AFP) – Seventy percent of the French say they like Americans but oppose a potential war in Iraq, while 15 percent are opposed to both Americans and the war, according to a poll to in Sunday’s Le Journal newspaper.
Six percent of those questioned said they “like Americans and are in favour of military strikes on Iraq” and 2 percent “don’t like Americans” but would favour military action in the country.
The poll questionned 965 people between February 20-21.
©AFP
France Telecom cash call agreed
Shareholders in France Telecom have approved plans to raise up to 30bn euros to help the company deal with its crippling debt.
But chief executive Thierry Breton told the shareholders he would need only 15bn euros (£10.3bn; $16.2bn) to shore up the balance sheet.
At a meeting in Paris he said the company’s debt stood at nearly 70bn euros at the end of last year.
And he promised that profits would rise above 20bn euros by 2005 as the company tackled the debt mountain.
Death of Top Chef Shocks France
PARIS (AP)–Like many a great artist, Bernard Loiseau was a fragile and sometimes tortured soul, a perfectionist tending to one of France’s greatest passions: food.
Loiseau’s apparent suicide Monday shocked France, plunged the gastronomic world into mourning and raised a storm of condemnation from fellow culinary masters, who blamed all-powerful food critics for pushing the celebrated chef toward despair.
The death also served as a solemn reminder of France’s complex relationship with food.
France Likely to Exceed Budget Deficit Limits
France said for the first time its 2002 public deficit likely topped the three percent limit set by the European Union.
French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin also said Tuesday the deficit may remain above three percent this year.
He said the government’s goal of 2.5 percent growth in 2003 appears unattainable. France posted 1.2 percent growth in 2002.
Mr. Raffarin said he would not call for harsh measures to plug the growing budget deficit such as tax increases or budget cuts.
The prime minister made his remarks before the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Some information for this report provided by Reuters.
Antiquity
The Greeks first tried to settle in Celtic Gaul and managed to establish a small colony in Marseille in 600 BC. Then it was the turn of the Romans, lead by Julius Caesar, who entirely invaded Gaul during the Gallic Wars (58-51 BC). The Romans brought unity and peace for two centuries of Pax Romana during which agriculture, cattle-breeding and urban development were greatly improved.
Middle Ages
Charles Martel, the first leader of the Carolingian dynasty, initiated the expansion of the Franks’ kingdom and stopped the Muslim advance from Spain in 732. Charlemagne (742-814) continued this expansion and conquered most of Germany and Italy to reunite most of the former Roman Empire. Shortly after his death, however, his kingdom was divided under the pressure of invaders such as the Normans (Vikings) and the Magyars (Hungarians).