Chavez makes up with King of Spain

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Spain's King Juan Carlos shook hands and made up yesterday in their first meeting since the monarch told the president to "shut up" at a summit in November.

A relaxed Mr Chavez joked "Why don't we go to the beach?" as he met the smiling King in sunshine outside the royals' summer residence on the island of Majorca.

But the outspoken Venezuelan leader, dressed in a dark suit and tie, failed to give the monarch a hug, after saying on his weekly television show last Sunday he would like to.

Relations deteriorated between the two countries last year after the King shouted at Mr Chavez: "Why don't you shut up?" when Mr Chavez interrupted a speech by Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero at the Ibero-American summit in Chile.

Footage of the outburst was beamed around the world, inspiring mobile phone ringtones, mugs and T-shirts.

At a later news conference in Madrid yesterday, Mr Chavez said the king had given him a T-shirt depicting the incident during their meeting. "We caused a furore with that event. It (the T-shirt) is a good souvenir, to laugh at for the rest of our lives every time we see it," he said.