Europe: Birth rate. Franco-German relationship, French strike

Europe tells its mothers, "Have more babies!" The BBC spends the week asking ladies what gives. One interview subject offers the following morsel:

"I lived with my parents until I was 29."

Insightful. But there are some interesting stats, such as that Europe needs 2.1 children per mother for population to stay level. National averages in European states range from 1.29 (Greece) to 1.99 (Ireland).

Meanwhile, the Business analyzes why France and Germany are "drifting apart:" basically, Germany is liberlizing and Merkel likes America. EU referendum, citing the article, wonders if France will look for "new alliances" when it realizes the Germans don't care as much about the EU.

Meanwhile in France, high school students refused to meet with Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin to discuss labor laws. The same thing happened with President Bush and Jessica Simpson, so Villepin shouldn't feel bad. Actually, the two situations had nothing to do with each other.

The Hindustan times tops their article on the French strike situation with "Things not working in France," and I wonder if by "things" they meant "workers." Either way, they're correct.