Free Republic

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi toured Damascus on Tuesday, the highest-ranking American politician to visit Syria since relations began to deteriorate four years ago. President Bush criticized the trip, saying it sends mixed signals to President Bashar Assad. The United States accuses Syria of interfering in Iraq and Lebanon and sponsoring terrorists — charges Syria denies. The Bush administration has resisted calls to open direct talks with Damascus on resolving the countries' disputes. Pelosi, D-Calif., is scheduled to meet Assad and other Syrian officials on Wednesday. She made no comment on arrival and headed for the Old...

AS THE FINAL credits rolled for Sofia Coppola's new candy-colored teen-dream film fantasy about history's most notorious poor little rich girl, "Marie-Antoinette," the audience at the Palais du Festival began to hiss like a box of snakes. And then they booed. Booing at the Cannes film festival, at a screening before an audience of a thousand international movie critics and film writers, is never a pleasant way for a director to start the day. While no one in the mob was shouting "Off with her head," the European press couldn't resist the pun. "At Cannes, Marie-Antoinette Guillotined," declared a 24-hour...