FRANCE HAS THE HIGHEST CONSUMPtion of tranquilizers in Europe, and these days it's easy to see why. For more than a week, striking transport workers, joined by postal and utilities employees, have brought the country to a virtual standstill to protest the government's new social-welfare reforms. University students are striking and marching to demand more teachers and resources. Algerian radicals have conducted a wave of terrorist bombings, and soldiers carrying machine guns patrol the Metro and train stations. The unemployment rate is 11.8%, one of the highest in the industrialized world. After only six months in office, conservative President Jacques Chirac...
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