Socialism's Slow Death In Europe.

NYTIMES/
"Even in the midst of one of the greatest challenges to capitalism in 75 years, involving a breakdown of the financial system due to “irrational exuberance,” greed and the weakness of regulatory systems, European Socialist parties and their left-wing cousins have not found a compelling response, let alone taken advantage of the right’s failures.
German voters clobbered the Social Democratic Party on Sunday, giving it only 23 percent of the vote, its worst performance since World War II.
Voters also punished left-leaning candidates in the summer’s European Parliament elections and trounced French Socialists in 2007. Where the left holds power, as in Spain and Britain, it is under attack. Where it is out, as in France, Italy and now Germany, it is divided and listless."

Brasil And France Sign $9 Billion Arms Deal.

LAHT.
The presidents of Brasil and France agreed to a naval and aeronautic alliance that will provide technology for Brasilian industry. The defense agreements stipulate for the construction of five submarines, one of them nuclear-powered, and 50 EC-725 helicopters by the firm Eurocopter.
The operation will be completed in stages that will conclude in 2021 and cost Brasil about $12.3 billion,with $9 billion for the purchase of military equipment.

Mistaken Tourist Imprisoned In French Town Hall.

THE INDEPENDENT.UK

"A young British woman was locked in the town hall of a small French town overnight after mistaking the "hôtel de ville" for a "hotel".

The tourist, in her early 30s, posted a rescue message on the inside of the glass door of the hotel de ville (town hall) but no one spotted it until the next morning. The woman, who has not been named, spent the night in the building's entrance hall. The mayor of Dannemarie in lower Alsace, Paul Rumbach, said the woman had assumed the hotel de ville was a hotel."

Frogs Legs. The French Still Eat them...As They Approach Extinction.

The Guardian, UK.

In France, Vittel's 37th annual Foire aux Grenouilles was held recently...but none of the frogs eaten were from France.

South Korea Woos Poland For Nuke And Gas Projects.

From AFP.

Poland is in talks with France and South Korea to build its first nuclear power plant.

Two Employees Accuse Paraguay's French Ambassador of Slavery

Many broken promises and virtual slavery are alleged by two Paraguayan employees of that country's ambassador in Paris, France.

"A dog lives better in France than I did," says one of the complainants.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/france/090621/paraguay-embassy