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Mutual fears draw France, U.S. nearer

 Just a year after Washington and Paris were so at odds over Iraq that some Americans changed the name of French fries to ”freedom fries,” the turmoil in Haiti is bringing the two nations closer together.

The deployment of U.S. and French peacekeeping troops to Haiti is continuing in what French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin has called ”perfect coordination.” And President Bush called French President Jacques Chirac “to thank France for its action.”

At the root of the transatlantic reconciliation are several factors, from French concerns over a Haitian migration crisis to its frustrations with the three-year political crisis in Haiti, its former colony.

DISCORD, THEN REVOLT

U.S., France and Spain Mark Bicentennial

ST. LOUIS (AP) – Standing under the Gateway Arch, representatives from France, Spain and the United States marked the bicentennial of the Louisiana Purchase, which doubled the country’s size at a cost of about two cents an acre.

The ceremony on Sunday culminated the weeklong Three Flags Festival, which included symposiums, historical exhibits and performances. But the final word went to the Osage Indians, who ended the celebration by chanting and drumming the Osage Prayer Song.

“It’s a prayer for hope, for the future, for a better tomorrow,” said James Roan Gray, chief of the Osage Nation, which was not invited to participate in 1804.

U.S. women knock off France 5-1

Hamm, a two-time FIFA Player of the Year, set up Wambach for the Americans’ first goal in the 16th minute. Hamm added the second from the penalty spot in the 27th after Wambach was taken down.

”The difference today is that we finished the opportunities we created, [and] we got forward in numbers,” Hamm said.

Hucles scored her first goal of the match in the 31st, and notched her second two minutes later after precise passing from captain Julie Foudy and Hamm.

Lindsay Tarpley, who came on at halftime, netted the fifth goal in the 47th, and Sonia Bompastor answered moments later for France, which finished in fourth place in 2003.

Opinion: Old France finds it must adapt

Europeans are different from us. In Australia, economic and social policies have been turned upside down in the past 20 years as we have made ourselves a global leader in free market reforms. In western Europe, too, changes have come, everywhere. But the determination of policymakers and people to retain the great experiment of their welfare state is much stronger.

In Paris, traffic was thrown into chaos on Friday when thousands of research scientists came out on the streets to demonstrate against government cuts to research funding. Last week saw a spectacular mass resignation by the heads of more than 1000 state research institutions, in protest against inadequate funding.

So what makes the French so French?

From our old apartment in Paris, I used to walk our dog down the Boulevard Saint Germain past the once bohemian, now touristy, Café des Deux Magots. At around 7.30am, while Paris slept, lined up in the windows of the café, each at their own individual table, would be four or five American men peering over their coffee cups into the street. You could tell they were not French from their books, their baseball caps and the fact they were up that early.

France increases border checks after Spanish blasts

Police said they were checking all vehicles crossing into France and paying particular attention to heavy goods vehicles. The checks had led to queues on the A63 motorway at the border town of Biriatou, a police official said.

French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy also sent a telegram to his Spanish counterpart Angel Acebes with an offer of police help.

French and Spanish police have cooperated closely during a recent crackdown on ETA Basque separatist guerrillas who want a separate homeland and consider this includes part of southwestern France.