[MadIvan]

Ping!

[Victoria Delsoul]

President Jacques Chirac of France triggered sharp questions in Washington by declining to fly the short distance to the capital from Sea Island, Georgia, where he was attending the G8 summit.

French officials said Mr Chirac had pressing business in Paris and felt it was more appropriate for his predecessor, Valerie Giscard d'Estaing, to attend, with the serving French foreign minister, Michel Barnier. However, other leaders at the summit rearranged their schedules, including Tony Blair; Gerhard Schroder, the German chancellor; Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister; and Thabo Mbeki, the South African president.

Didn't you say the French were America's best ally? The French have demonstrated their dislike for America in many different ways, this is just one of them.