Mubarak takes part in G-8 Summit in Evian

Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak participates in the G-8 summit of major industrialized states slated for June 1 in the French city of Evian, near the Swiss borders amidst unprecedented Swiss security measures.

Swiss President Pascal Couchepin was scheduled to meet with US President George W. Bush for talks upon the latter's arrival at Geneva Airport but was cancelled due to security reasons.

The Swiss leftist alliance had called for cancelling the meeting on the grounds that Bush "is a murderer who killed innocents in Iraq and did not respect international law and the UN and declared war without a UN Security Council resolution."

The alliance threatened to stage mass demonstrations if Couchepin met with Bush.