Clea CaulcuttJanuary 29, 2012 10:03

Paris — The Persian Gulf state’s generosity irks some. “It’s an attack on state sovereignty,” says a local official.

Michael GoldfarbJanuary 24, 2012 10:21

Oscars: The Artist a big score for a very French film

Oscars bring joy to French film industry and confirm Hollywood's love affair with France.

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Uggie the dog, the real star of "The Artist" was not nominated for an Oscar. Controversy! (ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)

The theme of this year's Oscars: France, Paris and France, Paris again. The Artist, the silent black and white film made by Frenchman Michel Hazanavicius, is the hot favorite for Best Picture and garnered 10 nominations. But Paris figures in a pair of American films nominated for Best Picture. Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris," and Martin Scorsese's "Hugo," which looks at one of the founding fathers of French cinema, Georges Melies. In fact, the Scorsese film has 11 nominations.

The French capital is even included among the nominees for Best Animated Feature Film where "A Cat in Paris" is among the nominees.

Michael GoldfarbJanuary 19, 2012 13:29

"Crisis of Capitalism?" Europe: daily economic round-up

Cameron speaks, Stock markets up, bonds sell

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The "crisis of capitalism" is a phrase more associated with Marxists than Conservative politicians like British Prime Minister David Cameron, but with the public still dismayed by what it sees as the excesses of the financial services industry - particularly bankers' pay and bonuses - and with bonus season about to get underway, Cameron needed to address the issue.

Strauss-Kahn's wife, Anne Sinclair, to edit French Huffington Post

Luke BrowneJanuary 18, 2012 11:10

A wealthy New York-born heiress, Sinclair gave up her job as a top TV and print journalist to avoid any conflicts of interest when her husband became French finance minister in 1997.

Moody's rating of France's credit to be issued in Q1 2012

News DeskJanuary 16, 2012 18:23

French President shrugs off his country's credit troubles at a press conference saying it "changes nothing."

Michael GoldfarbJanuary 16, 2012 10:35

Euro zone credit ratings downgrade ... reactions

Friday's Standard & Poor's downgrade of several euro zone countries' credit ratings have only made the faintest ripple across the continent

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French Prime Minister Francois Fillon shrugs off the Standard & Poor's downgrade of France's credit rating late Friday and visits the site of a big infrastructure project: the Cite du Cinema in suburban Paris (BERTRAND GUAY/AFP/Getty Images)

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Given the hysteria that greeted the announcement that Standard & Poor's was taking away France's AAA rating (along with that of Austria leaving Germany the only euro zone country with the top rating) - at least in the press - you might have thought the euro zone crisis was going to explode again. Not so.

That isn't to say some political leaders weren't angry. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy was, following Spain's downgrade to A from AA-, according to this headline in El Pais.

Rajoy to Standard & Poor's: we don't need economic lessons:

"My government knows perfectly well what it needs to do to improve Spain's reputation, stimulate growth and create jobs," PM fires back after rating downgrade.

Michael GoldfarbJanuary 16, 2012 05:54

Euro zone debt crisis: focus returns to Greece

Negotiators head to Athens to try and nail down agreement on bail-out

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The rioting has calmed down in Athens but negotiations on the Greek bail-out aren't going so well. This week is crunch time and depnding on what's decided the streets may catch fire again. (LOUISA GOULIAMAKI/AFP/Getty Images)

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You may have thought the Greek crisis was pretty much over. After all the headlines from last November were: Greek bondholders agree to take a haircut and the country's Prime Minister George Papandreou resigns to be replaced by a technocrat named Lucas Papademos, who is more congenial to the needs of the EU's leadership in Brussels, and more important, to German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

But as focus shifted to Italy and now to France, the Greek situation has remained bogged down in details. This week Greece's creditors in banks and hedge funds (not necessarily interested in the same outcome) plus representatives of the "Troika" (EU, IMF and European Central Bank) descend on Athens for an intensive round of negotiations with the Greek government.

Larry Elliott at The Guardian has the best line of the day on the event. "It is international finance's version of Sartre's Huis Clos, a vision of hell where three people who loathe each other are stuck in a room for eternity."

Michael GoldfarbJanuary 13, 2012 13:44

Europe: daily economic round-up

Downgrades coming?

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Going, going, gone. Rumor has it France is about to lose its AAA rating form Standard & Poor's. What will that mean for the euro zone debt crisis? (THOMAS COEX/AFP/Getty Images)

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UPDATE; THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT HAS ACKNOWLEDGED THAT STANDARD & POOR'S HAS DOWNGRADED THE COUNTRY'S CREDIT RATING ONE NOTCH FROM AAA TO AA+.

"It's not good news, but it's not a catastrophe," said French Finance Minister Francois Baroin. "It's not ratings agencies that decide French policy."

The day - and the week - ends with rumors swirling that Standard & Poor's is preparing to issue credit downgrades for a number of euro zone countries including France. How strong are the rumors? If S & P doesn't drop France a notch or two from AAA every newspaper and most of the financial community in Europe is going to feel real embarrassed.

The rumor has sent stock markets down. The euro has lost more than a cent against the dollar.

Michael GoldfarbJanuary 13, 2012 08:52

Euro zone crisis: has a corner been turned?

The atmosphere is calmer these days - politically and in the bond markets. Why?

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Was Silvio Berlusconi's departure the turning point for the euro zone debt crisis? (ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT/AFP/Getty Images)

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There is probably no riskier form of behavior for a blogging journalist than to claim that a corner has been turned in solving the euro zone's debt crisis but two weeks into the New Year it feels like something has changed - and changed for the better.

It may be a moment akin to something in an episode of ER where the patient is in the emergency room and the crash carts have been deployed and vital signs have stabilized and the family - you and me and everybody in the world who understands that a euro crash will mean Great Depression MkII - are taking a deep breath, sipping tepid coffee, and feeling tentatively hopeful that the patient will make it.

Michael GoldfarbJanuary 10, 2012 13:44

European economic news: today's round-up

Meetings, bank runs and some surprising good news for France

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AAA ratings of sovereign debt. France will keep hers, says rating agency Fitch (PHILIPPE HUGUEN/YouTube)

this story is part of globalpost's continuing coverage of world business. for more visit our new business page.

Let's start with the good news: Ratings agency Fitch announced France would keep its AAA rating for the rest of the year. A Fitch spokesperson in Paris said, "Fitch maintains its position from December. In the absence of important shocks that could be linked to a strong worsening of the situation in the eurozone, Fitch does not foresee modifying its negative outlook (on the ratings) before 2013."

Now, it's Europe, let's get to the bad news. In London, Fitch's managing director, David Riley, said Italy was the country that was most at risk of a downgrade. "The future of the euro will be decided at the gates of Rome," Riley told reporters.

The country's A+ rating could be lowered as soon as the end of January.