Bastille Day march-past to close Trump's Paris visit

PARIS - President Donald Trump will watch American and French soldiers march together through Paris on Friday in a double celebration marking 100 years since the United States entered World War One and France's annual Bastille Day holiday.

The occasion, also featuring a bi-national fly-past of fighter jets symbolising present day military cooperation in the Middle East and elsewhere, follows a day of talks with French President Emmanuel Macron, a first ladies' tour of Paris, and dinner for the foursome at a restaurant in the Eiffel Tower.

It brings to an end a visit Macron needs as a boost to France's standing on the world stage - one which could also help a US leader left short of international friends by his stances on free trade and climate change.

Trump, also dogged at home by an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US election, appeared on Thursday to leave open the door for more talks on the Paris accord which he pulled the United States out of earlier this year.

For France, this year's Bastille Day has an additional poignancy as the first anniversary of one of the deadliest Islamist militant attacks of the past few years.

After the parade, his first as President, Macron will head for the Mediterranean city of Nice, where he will join a commemoration for the 86 people who died when a Tunisian man drove a truck at a crowd on the waterfront a year ago. -Reuters