Free Republic

There is little in the Place de la Bastille in Paris to betray that a party took place there after the French voted "No" in a referendum on the European constitution on Sunday. Thousands of left-wing "No" voters spent much of the night celebrating their victory here. Yet at 0900, the large, open space of the square is spotlessly clean. Even the anti-government graffiti scrawled on the Bastille monument after the results were announced has been scrubbed away. Only a few stacked metal barriers hint at the presence of crowds of singing and cheering voters congratulating each other on...

BANGKOK, Thailand -- France accused the United States of "blackmail" tactics to pressure poor countries into ceding rights to make cheap generic HIV drugs, while the AIDS Conference issued a stirring call Monday to get more medicine to millions of needy in the developing world. "A vicious terrorist is out there. It is not Osama bin Laden, it is AIDS," Hollywood actor Richard Gere told the conference. "The biggest threat to our livelihood, our happiness is AIDS." A U.S. official denied the French allegation as "nonsense," while conference delegates lamented World Health Organization figures that show only about 7 percent...