French president Chirac marks 70th birthday

PARIS -- As French President Jacques Chirac marked his 70th birthday on Friday, Britain's Tony Blair tried to smooth over a recent quarrel by offering congratulations.

The British prime minister joked about their harsh exchange of words in a column published Thursday in Paris Match magazine, writing, "As I have good reason to believe, Jacques Chirac is not the type to become a calm 70-year-old."

The two fought over EU farm subsidies at a summit last month. Newspaper reports have said Chirac told Blair: "You have been very rude, and I have never been spoken to like this before." At the meeting, Blair had sought to water down a French-German accord maintaining generous farm subsidies.