France

Amid ongoing fighting in Ukraine and stepped-up U.S. and EU sanctions on Russia, the deal has met with little criticism in the shipbuilding town of St. Nazaire, where it has created 2,500 jobs.

A proposed law in France prevents online booksellers like Amazon from pricing books at deep discounts. It's the French government's latest effort to protect the country's many independent bookshops.

Zodiac produces most of the inflatable rafts used by the U.S. military. But a California company challenged that contract, saying it violates a requirement that the Defense Department use products made with American material and by U.S. workers. In response, Zodiac set up a factory in Maryland.

Police enforcement of a ban on women wearing full-face veils in public places sparked unrest in a Paris suburb over the weekend. The law was approved two years ago, but remains a sensitive issue.

The Web newspaper Mediapart is turning conventional wisdom about the Internet and journalism on its head. It offers in-depth reporting without fluff or advertising. The publication is turning a profit, and creating an uproar in a country where the media has often been too cozy with power.

City officials in Paris are experimenting with an unconventional way to keep urban lawns trimmed. They are using sheep as a "green" alternative to gas-powered lawn mowers.

Pants-wearing Parisian women are finally fashionably legal: the law restricting women to dresses and skirts has been lifted. While the principle is exciting, Parisian women have been wearing pants for decades.