Jacques Chirac, ex-French president who challenged US, dies at 86

Jacques Chirac, the French president who led his country into Europe’s common currency and spearheaded international opposition to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, died on Thursday. He was 86.
 
As president of France from 1995 to 2007, Chirac sought more clout for his country and for the European Union, advocating a “multipolar” world to balance US and “Anglo-Saxon” dominance. The president, who first entered government under Charles de Gaulle in the 1960s, forged, like his mentor, a reputation for defiance, first toward his own bosses and later toward the US. 
 
“His memory will stay in the history of