Barbra blasts Bush

Barbra Streisand has opened her first US tour in 12 years with a show that ridiculed her political nemesis, US President George W. Bush.

Before a capacity crowd of some 16,000 people at South Philadelphia's Wachovia Centre, Streisand gave assured renditions of standards from her long career as a singer and actress, including Funny Girl, Come Rain or Come Shine and Love, Soft as an Easy Chair.