Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.

There was pressure to shut Framatome’s main factory, but Ms Lauvergeon refused and it continued to operate “against the opinion of the world”, as she puts it.

U.S. stocks yesterday pared more than half of their losses in late afternoon trade, paced by a surge in Broadcom Corp. after the company posted better-than- estimated quarterly revenue.