EX-PRESIDENT GETS NEW BEST FRIEND

FORMER president George H.W. Bush is welcoming a new member of the family: a yellow labrador who’ll be his first service dog.

The 94-year-old and his new companion named Sully got acquainted on Monday at the Bush family compound on the coast of Maine. The two hit it off. A photo sent via Twitter shows Sully lounging at the feet of Mr Bush and former president Bill Clinton, who had been visiting.

Sully can open doors, pick up items and summon help but “more than anything else the dog will be a wonderful companion”, said an aide.

The nation’s 41st president uses a wheelchair and an electric scooter for mobility since developing a form of Parkinson’s disease, and is without his wife of 73 years, Barbara Bush, who died in April.