Détente as friends and enemies meet, greet

PEACE and a whiff of controversy broke out yesterday as a remarkable collection of world leaders and royalty rubbed shoulders at John Paul’s funeral, with only an alphabetical seating plan to divide heads of state whose relations could be frosty or even non-existent.

Prince Charles shook hands with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. Charles, seated one place away from the president, was "caught by surprise" when Mugabe leaned over to greet him, Clarence House said.

President Mugabe side-stepped a European Union travel ban to attend the service in Rome.