When Tony met Jacques

When Tony met Jacques

Their eyes met across the tranquil courtyard, a fountain burbling gently between them.

The longed-for rapprochement, says The Independent, looked to have finally arrived.

After being apart for more than 10 long weeks, writes Paul Waugh, Tony Blair and Jacques Chirac finally had some time alone after peeling off from the EU summit in Athens.

Beneath the headline "Blair and Chirac try to make up" the Financial Times reports they sought to repair the frayed relationship between Britain and France.

The Guardian says Mr Blair used the occasion to mend fences with Mr Chirac and to discuss the next moves over Iraq with the UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan.

The prime minister's tête-à-tête with the French president might have been amicable enough

But The Independent believes he was rebuffed by Mr Annan when he tried to persuade him to appoint a special UN representative to Baghdad.

The newspaper says Mr Blair was left in no doubt that such a plan would need Security Council support - raising the prospect of another tortuous round of negotiations.

Soham pleas

The main news for The Sun, the Daily Mirror, the Daily Express and the Daily Mail concerns the appearance at the Old Bailey of Ian Huntley, who is alleged to have murdered Soham schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman.

The papers note it was the first time the girls' parents had come face to face with the accused since their daughters died last August.

Activists excluded

The Guardian says Huntingdon Life Sciences, the company that has been the target of animal rights activists, has won a ground-breaking injunction which creates 50-yard (45.5-metre) "exclusion zones" around the homes of its staff.

The paper recalls employees have been assaulted, subjected to abusive phone calls and had their cars set alight.

The injunction will also limit demonstrations outside the company's offices.

Government protection

According to the Mirror nine members of the Tesco board have been given special protection by the government because they are under the potential threat of violence or intimidation.

Trade secretary Patricia Hewitt has signed confidentiality orders allowing the directors to list an office address rather than their home addresses in public records filed at Companies House.

SARS tests

The Times reports children from China, Hong Kong and Singapore who study at independent schools in Britain will face regular tests for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), after the Easter holidays.

The paper says a number of schools, including Eton, will refuse to accept pupils back if they visited an infected area within ten days of the start of term.

Millionaire Lotto

The Mirror says the former Army major, Charles Ingram, who was convicted of cheating his way to the top prize in the TV quiz show, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, is trying to win a fortune legally.

It has a picture of him leaving a shop clutching a Lotto ticket.

Sizzling scorcher

The big news for the Daily Star is temperatures in Britain hit a "sizzling" 32C on Wednesday - making it hotter than Greece.

The Guardian notes most parts of the country basked in temperatures warmer than the Mediterranean.

But the paper adds we can now expect smog, cooler conditions, rail chaos and road congestion during Easter.