Eurozone growth picks up as France outperforms

Growth in the eurozone strengthened to 0.4 percent in the first quarter, EU data showed Wednesday, helped by a surprisingly strong performance in France which outpaced powerhouse Germany. The news was far bleaker for debt-hit Greece where the economy fell back into recession, punished by months of deadlock in bailout talks between the radical Syriza-led government and its EU-IMF creditors. Across all the 28 countries of the European Union, growth also hit 0.4 percent in the three months to March