Free Republic

French President Jacques Chirac has unleashed a torrent of criticism against the US-led war in Iraq, saying the conflict, which he fiercely opposed, had boosted the spread of terrorism. In a wide-ranging New Year's foreign policy speech Friday, Chirac fired a broadside at what he called Washington's "adventure" in the Middle Eastern country, torn by sectarian strife almost four years after the invasion. "As France had foreseen and feared, the war in Iraq has sparked upheavals that have yet to show their full effects," Chirac told the French diplomatic corps gathered in Paris. He said the conflict, which the United...

<p>Long the world's leader in wine sales, France is fast losing market share to upstarts such as Australia and California. Its best hope to stay on top may rest with a 6-foot-7 oenological heretic from Down Under.</p> <p>Ashley Huntington manages Domaine de la Baume, a wine estate here in the heart of France's biggest wine region, the Languedoc-Roussillon. Backed by a powerful corporate parent, Australia's BRL Hardy, the 35-year-old vintner has turned what was a crumbling, 300-year-old vineyard into a cutting-edge enterprise.</p>