Americans France

Travel tests stereotypes we hold about other people. This is especially true when Americans go to France, with its proud history, culture and traditions. Some lap it up, but others return home horrified and hurt by what they perceive as the rudeness, deviousness and hypocrisy of the French. At the same time, exposure to tourists from the U.S. often confirms the French assessment of Americans as self-indulgent, tactless and simple-minded.

BEIJING -- In a match pitting the "Bleus" against the "Red, White and Blue," France beat the United States on Sunday in an improbable gold medal match in men's team sabre. Improbable not because the French, considered the favorites coming into these Games, took home the gold in their second straight Olympics by defeating the Americans, 45-37. Improbable because the U.S. men's sabre team was not expected to make a blip in Beijing but found its way to the gold medal match Sunday evening after a stunning afternoon of upset wins.

Samson DeBrier, a self-styled "celebrity warlock" who attracted many of Hollywood's past and future stars to the soirees he regularly held in the modest bungalow where he lived surrounded by the treasures of his world travels, is dead. Recognized as a singular Hollywood character, one who was famous in the entertainment world simply for being himself, DeBrier was 86 when he died April 1.

Middle East, South Asia A renewed terrorist threat has prompted the State Department to warn Americans to be especially careful when traveling in the Middle East or South Asia through August. In a May 26 press conference in Afghanistan, exiled Saudi dissident Osama Bin Ladin urged all Muslims to wage a holy war against all Americans, military and civilian. The U.S. government considers Bin Ladin a prime suspect in two terrorist bombings in Saudi Arabia that killed 24 Americans in 1995 and 1996.

America's friends and foes alike on Thursday condemned the devastating car-bomb attack in Oklahoma City, with even Islamic fundamentalists who have spearheaded similar attacks against Israel expressing disapproval. Common threads in the international reaction to the tragedy were compassion for the victims' families and disgust at the callousness of the attack, as world leaders wrote to President Clinton and released statements to convey their sympathy to the American people.

Officials professed optimism Wednesday about the future of the European manned space program, but there was little doubt that the American Challenger catastrophe would revive old doubts and reservations about the wisdom of spending enormous sums in Europe to put a man in space before the end of the century. "We will take into consideration the conclusions of the Americans," France's minister of research and technology, Hubert Curien, said, "but we will continue.

Enough with the images of baguettes, berets and perfume, s'il vous plait! The French have brought far more to Los Angeles than those cliched products, ranging from a wool industry that thrived 150 years ago to the software that helped architect Frank Gehry design Walt Disney Concert Hall. That was the message French officials delivered this week, as Pierre Vimont, France's ambassador to the United States, inaugurated an exhibit at the downtown Pico House on French immigrants in Los Angeles.

U.S. Ambassador Joe M. Rodgers tried to soothe French worries over a mounting mood of anti-French resentment in the United States with a statement Monday proclaiming that "the bonds of common values which unite us with France are too important to be put into question" by the French refusal to cooperate with the American bombing of Libya.

John Cook, heeding his wife's advice to just relax and enjoy the week, shot an eight-under-par 63 Thursday for a two-stroke lead in the first round of the $300,000 Pensacola Open golf tournament at Pensacola, Fla. Under sunny skies with temperatures in the mid 80s, Ed Fiori, Greg Powers, Ronnie Black, Gil Morgan and Tim Simpson each shot a 65 to share second place. David Thore, Andy Bean, Don Pooley and defending Pensacola champion Bill Kratzert were another stroke back.

Today's unconventional wisdom . . . The Final Four: The right teams are in, give or take Bobby Knight's Indiana Hoosiers. (Me? You can take them.