PARIS (Reuters) – France should retain its cherished AAA credit rating even if it shoulders billions of euros in liabilities for troubled Franco-Belgian bank Dexia and injects capital into other banks, analysts say, although the fine print of any move will be key.

Limited loan guarantees, that would count as off-balance sheet items for public finances, and one-off investments in bank stock that should increase in value over time, would not translate into risks for sovereign debt, they say.

PARIS (Reuters) – France should retain its cherished AAA credit rating even if it shoulders billions of euros in liabilities for troubled Franco-Belgian bank Dexia and injects capital into other banks, analysts say, although the fine print of any move will be key.

Limited loan guarantees, that would count as off-balance sheet items for public finances, and one-off investments in bank stock that should increase in value over time, would not translate into risks for sovereign debt, they say.

PARIS (Reuters) – The spiralling euro zone crisis is testing French President Nicolas Sarkozy to the limit seven months before a presidential election, forcing him to rescue a bank he bailed out in 2008, and to consider recapitalising others.

The flare-up in the bloc’s debt crisis, and fears euro zone leaders cannot stop it spreading to core members, is the single biggest issue hanging over France as it counts down to what promises to be a close-fought election next April.

PARIS (Reuters) – The spiraling euro zone crisis is testing French President Nicolas Sarkozy to the limit seven months before a presidential election, forcing him to rescue a bank he bailed out in 2008, and to consider recapitalizing others.

The flare-up in the bloc’s debt crisis, and fears euro zone leaders cannot stop it spreading to core members, is the single biggest issue hanging over France as it counts down to what promises to be a close-fought election next April.

PARIS, Oct 3 (Reuters) – Stella McCartney wove a playful
pyjama party feel into her spring-summer 2012 collection on
Monday with a breezy array of silk tunic dresses and
loose-fitting print pant suits that could be effortlessly
slipped into for a lazy country picnic.

Demure, pretty and overwhelmingly understated, body-skimming
mid-thigh day dresses in crepe de chine silk used retro wave
motifs or mixed different Paisley prints, some scaled up in
size, in Wedgewood blue or burgundy on white that harked back to
1940s night wear.

PARIS (Reuters) – France’s battered banks are becoming a burning issue for the country’s 2012 election race, with President Nicolas Sarkozy forced to weigh the possibility of state intervention and opposition Socialists trumpeting the need for big reforms.

The euro zone crisis is already center-right Sarkozy’s single biggest headache as he grapples to safeguard France’s triple-A rating in the face of anaemic growth and scant room for spending cuts seven months from a battle for reelection.

PARIS (Reuters) – The French left’s sweeping victory in Senate elections at the weekend does not mean the presidency is in the bag for the opposition Socialists, but it weakens President Nicolas Sarkozy seven months before the 2012 election.

The swing left in Sunday’s vote by local councillors, handing the Socialist Party 177 seats out of 348 and its first upper house majority in half a century, is the result of an anti-Sarkozy backlash in successive local elections in past months.

PARIS (Reuters) – Dominique Strauss-Kahn apologized to France on Sunday for a sexual encounter with a hotel maid he said was a “moral error” he would regret all his life, and vowed to stay out of the Socialist Party’s 2012 election campaign.

In his first interview since a New York sex assault case ended his IMF career and wrecked his chances of running for president, Strauss-Kahn said he was angry with himself for what he called an ill-judged but consensual liaison that had let down his country and hurt his family.

MARSEILLE, France (Reuters) – Group of Eight finance chiefs pledged $38 billion on Saturday in financing to Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco and Jordan over 2011-13, widening a deal agreed in May and offering Libya the chance to partake too.

The IMF promised a further $35 billion in funding to countries affected by Arab Spring uprisings and formally recognised Libya’s ruling interim council as a legitimate power, opening up access to a myriad of international lenders as the country looks to rebuild after a six-month war.

MARSEILLE, France (Reuters) – Group of Seven finance chiefs pledged on Friday to make a coordinated response to a slowdown in the global economy but offered few specifics and differed in emphasis on Europe’s debt crisis.

The United States pressed Europe’s strongest economies to give “unequivocal” financial support to weaker euro zone states to overcome a debt crisis threatening world economic recovery, but Germany stressed the top priority of cutting deficits.