Carla Bruni shows off bump at G8 summit

Deuville, France - French first lady Carla Bruni has shown off a belly that leaves little doubt that pregnancy reports are true.

Posing for photographs with the wives of other leaders on the sidelines of a Group of Eight summit in the French resort of Deauville, she wore a loose-fitting white smock dress which at times stretched over an obvious bump around the midriff.

The former model has not confirmed rumours she is expecting, but she has made no great effort to dispel them; she has fended off direct questions with coy giggles and has taken to concealing a noticeably heavy midriff under baggy clothing.

On Wednesday, members of a British charity delivered a maternity basket to the 43-year-old Bruni containing a childbirth kit and hygiene supplies, as a way of publicising the issue of child mortality in the developing world.

Her husband, President Nicolas Sarkozy, has refused to comment on the reports the first couple are expecting their first child together, but last week a German newspaper quoted his father as saying the rumours were true.

A presidential baby could be a public relations boon for Sarkozy, who is grappling with some of the lowest popularity ratings of any French leader in decades and faces a tough battle for re-election next April.

Italian-born Bruni, who has a career as a pop singer, has a son from a former relationship and has often said she would like to have a child with Sarkozy. It would be Sarkozy's fourth child after the three sons he has from two former marriages.