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French President Jacques Chirac warned Thursday of a "catastrophe" for global diversity if the United States' cultural hegemony goes unchallenged. Speaking at a French cultural center in Hanoi ahead of Friday's opening of a summit of European and Asian leaders, Chirac said France was right to stand up for cultural and linguistic diversity. The outspoken French president warned that the world's different cultures could be "choked" by US values. This, he said, would lead to a "general world sub-culture" based around the English language, which would be "a real ecological catastrophe". Citing Hollywood's stranglehold over the film industry as an...

French President Jacques Chirac warned Thursday of a "catastrophe" for global diversity if the United States' cultural hegemony goes unchallenged. Speaking at a French cultural center in Hanoi ahead of Friday's opening of a summit of European and Asian leaders, Chirac said France was right to stand up for cultural and linguistic diversity. The outspoken French president warned that the world's different cultures could be "choked" by US values. This, he said, would lead to a "general world sub-culture" based around the English language, which would be "a real ecological catastrophe". Citing Hollywood's stranglehold over the film industry as an...

It's always amusing when someone who's particularly fussy or fastidious or snooty is suddenly plunged into chaos or dirt or commonness. We can't help but laugh when the wine-snob gets served a Bud Light at a family dinner or the deconstructionist semiotics professor's son grows up to be a junk bond trader. The happenings of life have a nice way of bringing back to earth those who have drifted into the airy, affected stratosphere. And those of us watching often get a real kick out of the display. Perhaps this is why I have been experiencing such a warm and...

<p>Several years ago, I was at a conference in London. I took an evening to do some exploring. Taking the underground to Piccadilly Circus, I tried to find a traditional English pub for fish and chips.</p> <p>I couldn't find one. There in the cultural heart of the former British empire, all one could see was McDonalds, Burger King, Pizza Hut and an occasional sushi establishment. The fashions worn by the thronging crowds were American, as was the music blaring from almost every club. The British invasion of the 1960s had been reversed.</p>

MILLAU, France (AP) - Back in 1999, a sheep farmer in an Asterix mustache led a small band of Gauls on a Big Mac attack heard 'round the world. A proud, feisty France, he exulted, humbled Imperial McDonald's. The symbols seemed perfect. Asterix, a French comic-book hero who drew super-strength from a magic potion, saved his corner of Gaul from Rome. But, this time, the Empire struck back. Today Jose Bove, the Farmers' Confederation firebrand, risks slipping away into history. "McDo" cash registers at 1,030 locations, meanwhile, ring up a million sales a day to French customers. McDonald's France reported...

<p>Predictably, the graffiti artist didn't wait long. The bright green Starbucks advertising poster was defiled by black spray paint -- or embellished, depending on one's point of view -- hours after the maiden coffee shop opened here.</p> <p>Over the past week, concerns about the arrival of the Seattle java giant filtered their way through the media. The usual French suspects talked about Simone and Jean-Paul and their smart set spinning in their graves at the sight of the latest American cultural invasion. And just how do we know Starbucks won't feed us American Frankenfood?</p>

Cultural creativity is big business in America. According to the most recent data from Economists Incorporated, U.S. "copyright industries" — including recording companies and Hollywood studios — export $88.97 billion worth of their wares each year. These industries represent about 5.2 percent of America's GDP. But not everybody sees this as a success story. Global cultural snobs take the popularity of American music and movies as a personal affront. They have quietly devised a scheme to cut back the world-wide flow of U.S. cultural exports. There is still time for the Bush Administration to stop this effort dead in its...

<p>LONDON — Stick-wielding Saudi religious police were raiding toy stores and gift shops in the desert kingdom to seize anything related to the Western holiday season, including flowers, candles, stuffed animals, Barbie dolls and other items considered evil.</p> <p>The squads of police from the "Authority for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice" are targeting the New Year period, which is considered a non-Muslim festival, in an attempt to eliminate Western corrupting influences.</p>

The Coca-Cola is served from a tap, the fries are neatly arranged in a box and hamburgers are served in cartons. But this is not McDonald's, it is the Iranian equivalent, MacMashallah. The existence of the fast-food restaurant is an extraordinary testament to the lure of the "Great Satan's" capitalist icons. So too is its popularity - the place is full of young customers chewing on their burgers and hoping to visit the land that they are taught to hate. "America has the best of everything," says Farhad, a 19-year-old customer. "I watch their films, I listen to their music....

It is a fair bet that the likes of Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Sartre and de Beauvoir would not have become the giants of world literature they are today had they been fuelled by Starbucks takeaway caffe lattes rather than shots of strong espresso in such celebrated Left Bank cafes as Flore and Les Deux Magots. But that did not stop the giant US coffee chain on Thursday announcing plans to open its first branch in France early next year, and even to insist that customers observe its no-smoking policy. The company, which has more than 7000 outlets around the world, did...