Word: frenchmen
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...largely by promising to bring a measure of consensus to a confrontational style of politics. Last week, though, as a desultory legislative campaign suddenly turned into the traditionally bitter left-right duel, Mitterrand decided it was time to intervene on behalf of the embattled left. "I ask Frenchwomen and Frenchmen to confirm the vote they delivered in the second round of the presidential election last May 8," he declared at his weekly Cabinet meeting. "To carry out my mission, I need a stable majority...
...simultaneously with the release in the Middle East, the quiet of a South Pacific dawn in Ouvea, New Caledonia, was broken by the dull thud of smoke bombs and the crackle of small-arms fire. Some 300 elite French troops and gendarmes had launched an operation to rescue 23 Frenchmen from a cave where they had been held by Melanesian separatists. In the 7 1/2-hour gun battle that ensued, two gendarmes and 19 militants died...
Chirac faced relatively mild criticism from the opposition Socialists, who were reluctant to argue with what looked like success. If he manages to win the release of the three remaining Frenchmen held in Lebanon, he will be a hero to many of his countrymen and will thus improve his chances in next spring's presidential elections. But the Premier's high-risk dealings with Tehran could backfire if there is an Iranian double cross. As for France's allies, they were nervously wondering last week just what kind of deal, if any, Chirac had cut with Iran...
...been enriched by English expressions (not to mention such charming Anglo-French jumbles as le smoking for a tuxedo), just as English has absorbed such words as bouquet and carrousel. Others believe that the invasion of English is inevitable, especially in technical and business fields, and urge that more Frenchmen give in and learn to speak it. Says French Foreign Trade Minister Michel Noir: "We would certainly be taken more seriously if we became Angliciste...
...Iran-contra hearings showed, Reagan's arms sales to Iran were designed primarily to pry Americans from Hizballah's grasp. The deals apparently did secure the release of three Americans -- though four more were subsequently kidnaped -- just as French contacts with Iran appeared to win freedom for five Frenchmen last year...