Special Report: President Hu attends outreach session of G8 Summit, visits Sweden

    HEILIGENDAMM, Germany, June 8 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President George W. Bush continued his presence at the Group of Eight (G8) summit and left for Poland after suffering from a stomach ailment, a White House official said Friday.

    "He feels well enough to continue with his full activities," White House counselor Dan Bartlett told reporters.

    Bush felt slightly unwell when he woke up Friday morning, which forced him to miss the two outreach sessions with African countries and major developing nations.

    "He feels terrible about any disruption he may have caused," Bartlett said.

    Bush returned to the talks in time for the closing luncheon, and rejoined his counterparts when leaders from the eight industrialized nations and major developing countries took their family photo.

    Bartlett said Bush's stomach ailment was likely to have been caused by a virus, but he downplayed the possibility that it might have been caused by something he had eaten.

    Earlier in the morning, Bush stuck to his set schedule and met with France's new president Nicolas Sarkozy in his private room. It was the first bilateral meeting between the two leaders after Sarkozy was elected French president last month.

    Bartlett said Bush stayed in bed for several hours, but did manage to tape his radio address and prepare for talks in Poland on the proposed missile defense system.

    Bush left for Poland in the afternoon as scheduled. During his three-hour stop there, Bush will discuss with Polish leaders the deployment of U.S. interceptor missiles in the Eastern European country.