Free Republic

Egypt's antiquities chief says Egypt is suspending ties with the Louvre, saying the French museum has not returned what he says are stolen artifacts. Zahi Hawass on Wednesday said the Louvre has repeatedly ignored requests to return steles, or large reliefs, that date back to the time of the Pharaohs. Hawass said the Louvre purchased the four archeological reliefs that were stolen from a tomb in Luxor in the 1980s. French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand said Wednesday that France is willing to return the relics if they were indeed stolen from the tomb site. He says he has asked a...

CANAL DU MIDI, France--It's high summer in France: bikinis blossom on the beach at St. Tropez and lovers stroll in lingering twilight beneath the Eiffel Tower. The only things missing from these postcard-perfect scenes are Americans. Still fuming over French President Jacques Chirac's active opposition to the war in Iraq, Americans are taking out their ire by staying home or vacationing elsewhere. "I doubt I'll ever set foot in France again," a hawkish friend from Kansas e-mailed me. Other friends who are veterans echoed the same sentiment. "France?" You couldn't pay me to go there!" snorted one. Well, somebody did...