THE diplomatic crisis between Russia and Nato-member Turkey cast a shadow over talks between France and the US in Washington yesterday.

French President Francois Hollande met his US counterpart Barack Obama at the White House to discuss the response to the Paris terrorist attacks by Islamic State (Isis) that killed 130 people.

Cracks in the US-led Middle East coalition have appeared since then, with the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle beginning anti-Isis operations on Monday in co-ordination with the Russian missile cruiser Moskva and the British destroyer HMS Defender.