PARIS (Reuters) – All the world’s a stage for Carlos the Jackal, the veteran Marxist militant who since last month has reigned with imperious bluster over his trial in France on terrorism charges.

But while theatrical antics have been a daily feature of a trial now in its fourth week, Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, once the most wanted international criminal looks out at a steadily dwindling audience from his caged-in defendant’s box.

PARIS, Nov 24 (Reuters) – The French may scoff at
British cooking and fashion, but retailer Marks & Spencer
reckons France is yearning for its ready-made chicken
tikka masala, gourmet chutney and sensible knickers.

The veteran British store opened a flagship store on Paris’s
Champs-Elysees on Thursday after a decade’s absence from French
soil, bringing the taste and feel of the British Isles to a city
that sees itself as a world capital of food and fashion.

ROME/PARIS, Nov 18 (Reuters) – Italy’s new government
has announced far-reaching reforms in response to a European
debt crisis that on Thursday pushed borrowing costs for France
and Spain sharply higher, and brought tens of thousands of
Greeks onto the streets of Athens.

Italy’s new technocrat prime minister, Mario Monti, unveiled
sweeping reforms to dig the country out of crisis and said
Italians were confronting a “serious emergency”.

MADRID/PARIS, Nov 17 (Reuters) – Greek police clashed
with anti-austerity protesters and Italy announced sweeping
reforms in response to a European debt crisis that on Thursday
pushed borrowing costs for France and Spain sharply higher.

More than 30,000 Greeks took to the streets of Athens in a
protest rally that marked the first public test for a new
national unity government that must impose painful spending cuts
and tax rises if the country is to escape bankruptcy.

PARIS (Reuters) – France’s cost of borrowing over two and four years jumped by around half a percentage point at an auction on Thursday, reflecting growing concerns it may be dragged into the euro zone’s sovereign debt crisis.

The government sold 6.98 billion euros of medium-term BTAN notes at the auction on Thursday, at the top of its projected range, but borrowing costs rose for three out of four lines compared to previous sales.

MADRID/PARIS, Nov 17 (Reuters) – Spain and France
struggled with government bond auctions on Thursday, throwing
into sharp relief the threat of larger euro zone economies
succumbing to the debt crisis that began in Greece and is
already lapping at Italy’s shores.

Madrid was forced to pay the highest borrowing costs since
1997 at a sale of 10-year bonds, with yields a steepling 1.5
points above the average paid at similar tenders this year. The
euro fell on the foreign exchanges in response.

PARIS, Nov 17 (Reuters) – France’s cost of borrowing
over two and four years jumped by around half a percentage point
at an auction on Thursday, reflecting growing concerns it may be
dragged into the euro zone’s sovereign debt crisis.

The government sold 6.98 billion euros of medium-term BTAN
notes at the auction on Thursday, at the top of its projected
range, but borrowing costs rose for three out of four lines
compared to previous sales.

PARIS/MOSCOW (Reuters) – Western countries called on Wednesday for new sanctions against Iran over a U.N. report that it has worked to design atom bombs, but veto-wielder Russia indicated it would block new measures at the U.N. Security Council.

The report, obtained by Reuters on Tuesday, laid bare a trove of intelligence suggesting Iran is seeking nuclear weapons, including accusations of work on atom bomb triggers and computer-simulated detonations.

TALENCE, France (Reuters) – To understand why Mitt Romney persists in the face of rejection, opposition and indifference from his own party, look no further than the two and a half years he spent in France, getting up at 6:30 a.m. every day to venture forth and have doors slammed in his face for 10 hours.

The fresh-faced Latter-Day Saints who came to France in the late 1960s to preach the message of Jesus Christ — of whom Republican presidential candidate Romney is the best known — discovered a secular and sceptical populace, and few willing converts.

TALENCE, France (Reuters) – To understand why Mitt Romney persists in the face of rejection, opposition and indifference from his own party, look no further than the two and a half years he spent in France, getting up at 6:30 a.m. every day to venture forth and have doors slammed in his face for 10 hours.

The fresh-faced Latter-Day Saints who came to France in the late 1960s to preach the message of Jesus Christ — of whom Republican presidential candidate Romney is the best known — discovered a secular and skeptical populace, and few willing converts.