G8 seeks to bridge Iraq tensions as Bush calls for unity against terror.

(From Agence France Presse)

Leaders from the world's most powerful nations meet in the heavily-fortified French resort of Evian seeking to heal lingering transatlantic rancour over the Iraq waq and find common ground on tackling global economic woes and the spectre of international terrorism.

Thousands of anti-globalisation activists were also gearing up for mass demonstrations straddling the French-Swiss border aimed at disrupting the annual summit of the Group of Eight, after clashes pitted riot police against protestors on Saturday.

US President George W. Bush, on a victorious six-country tour after the US-led war on Iraq, made it clear on the eve of the G8 summit that while he wanted Europe and the United States to bury the hatchet, it should be on his terms.

Bush met President Vladimir Putin in Saint Petersburg for the Russian city's 300th anniversary celebrations for the first time since their row over Iraq and also exchanged a few words with anti-war campaigner German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

But French President Jacques Chirac, host of the June 1-3 Evian summit and Bush's main opponent over Iraq, pointedly left Saint Petersburg just before the US leader's arrival.

Earlier In Poland, a key US ally in the war, Bush said Europe and world's only superpower should bury their differences to better fight against a "new enemy" -- terrorist groups and outlaw states seeking weapons of mass destruction.