BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS:

Bush hosts dinner to end bitter feud between key allies in war on terror (Francis Harris in Washington and Harry Mount in New York, 27/09/2006, Daily Telegraph)

President George W Bush was struggling last night to calm fierce and increasingly personal exchanges between the leaders of Pakistan and Afghanistan, key allies in America's war on terror.

With tensions rising between President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan and President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, Mr Bush asked both to dinner at the White House this evening in an attempt to help defuse a damaging row.

"You know, it will be interesting for me to watch the body language of these two leaders to determine how tense things are," Mr Bush said with a smile, after a meeting with Mr Karzai.