Bush gets cool Chirac reception

PRESIDENTS George W Bush and Jacques Chirac smiled for the cameras yesterday at the start of a Group of Eight summit overshadowed by the US-French clash over the Iraq war and concern over Washington’s next moves.

Mr Bush got a short handshake and stiff smile from his loudest critic on arrival in Evian, the French spa on Lake Geneva hosting this year's summit of leading industrial democracies. Mr Chirac gave other leaders a much warmer welcome.

Both Mr Bush and Mr Chirac have said the Iraq dispute, in which France led Germany and Russia in opposing US invasion plans, was now history and both sides should look to the future.