Chirac back at work after week spent in hospital

French President Jacques Chirac is back at work and capable of carrying out his duties after an illness that kept him in a hospital for a week, the prime minister said Monday.

Chirac, 72, was to hold talks with India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh the first official meeting for the French leader since he was released Friday from a hospital.

"The president is applying himself to his job," Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin told RMC radio, adding that he had worked over the weekend with Chirac to prepare for this week's U.N. summit in New York.

Villepin will attend the summit in Chirac's place after doctors advised the French leader to limit his activities for this week and avoid air travel for six weeks.

Chirac was hospitalized Sept. 2 after suffering a "small vascular accident" that impaired vision in one eye, doctors said without ever fully elaborating, reports the AP.