Sarkozy takes his turn to shine on world stage

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After their successful visit to Britain, Barack Obama and wife Michelle were mobbed by the French public as they arrived in Strasbourg to mark Nato's 60th anniversary.

In a speech to a packed hall, Mr Obama then declared "in this young century, this is our generation, this is our time".

He admitted that there had been times when American had "shown arrogance" in the past, but warned that Europeans had also showed an "insidious" anti-Americanism.

President Nicolas Sarkozy heaped praise on the American leader for his "new" approach to listening to and working with other countries, rather than acting as the world's policeman.

In an attempt to rival Gordon and Sarah Brown's photo-calls with the Obamas, Mr Sarkozy paraded his wife Carla Bruni.

Ms Bruni had pointedly not attended any of the wives' events at the London summit this week.

Mr Obama, who shrugged off a heavy cold and tiredness to greet wellwishers, also underlined the message that yesterday's G20 summit deal on tackling the recession would have to be followed up with practical action.

President Sarkozy added that there was "a hell of a lot of work to do because there's a hell of a lot of problems" in the global economy.

It emerged today that Mr Obama used his muscle as the world's most powerful man at the G20.

Officials said it was his personal intervention that "knocked heads together" to ensure France and China agreed a deal to police tax havens.