Democrats name Obama first black major US party nominee

DENVER, Colorado - Democrat Barack Obama Wednesday made history as Democrats formally nominated him by acclamation as the first black presidential nominee of a major political party.

Obama's defeated rival Hillary Clinton dramatically halted a roll-call vote at the Democratic National Convention and proposed the Illinois senator be nominated by acclamation in a gesture of unity after a bruising primary race.

"I move Senator Obama of Illinois be selected by this convention by acclamation as the nominee of the Democratic Party for president of the United States," Clinton said from the convention floor, surrounded by her New York delegation.

Several Clinton supporters wiped tears from their eyes, as she made the announcement, and some African-American supporters of Obama also appeared to be crying, witnessing a moment many of them thought they would never see.

Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the US House of Representatives made the formal announcement of the historic nomination.

"It is with great pride that I announce Barack Obama is the Democratic nominee for president of the United States by acclamation," House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi told the convention.

"I have been asked to inform you that Senator Obama accepts the nomination," she said, adding he will deliver his acceptance address Thursday.

Clinton's move was the latest step in a carefully choreographed show of unity and reconciliation following their primary dust-up after she had earlier released her delegates to support Obama.

"I am here today to release you," Clinton said, drawing cries of "No" in a meeting of her delegates in downtown Denver, a day after she ordered her millions of primary voters to unite behind the party White House hopeful.

"You want to vote according to what is in your heart. I am not going to tell you what to do. You have come from different places and made a long journey," she said, adding she had already pledged her vote to Obama.

The state-by-state roll-call vote, based on the delegate hauls apportioned during the marathon coast-to-coast Democratic primary contest got underway Wednesday with Alabama casting 48 votes for Obama, and five for Clinton.

The run-down is a time-honoured feature of the convention, which in days gone by was often fraught with tension and horse-trading, but is now merely a ceremonial affair.

Intense negotiations between the Clinton and Obama camps took place to ensure that the former first lady won her due, and had her 18 million primary votes honored, while stressing an image of unity.

Clinton's primary voters are vital to Obama, as his White House race with Republican John McCain has tightened to a dead heat.

Later, former president Bill Clinton will grab the spotlight, under pressure to cast aside months of hard feelings to back Obama.Obama's vice presidential nominee Joseph Biden meanwhile is set to deliver his keynote speech, likely to hammer the convention's Wednesday theme of national security, and to highlight his tragedy-scarred life story.

Act two of the Clinton melodrama at the convention comes a day after Hillary Clinton stirred a rapturous reception and ordered her army of supporters to back the party ticket.

Bill Clinton has been waging an ill-tempered feud with the Obama campaign for months, and has yet to offer a robust endorsement of the new party standard bearer.

Clinton, who accused the Obama camp of playing the "race card" on him, seems to have taken his wife's loss hard, and appears to believe his legacy as the only Democrat to win two terms since World War II is getting insufficient respect.

"President Clinton will lay out the choices that we face on foreign policy," said Obama foreign policy advisor Susan Rice.

"He will talk about how Barack Obama has what it takes to be a strong commander-in-chief."

Reports quoting unnamed Clinton aides have said the former president will not attend Obama's acceptance speech, due to be delivered before more than 70,000 supporters in an open-air football stadium here on Thursday night.

Obama in surprise convention appearance with Biden

DENVER, Colorado - Newly crowned White House nominee Barack Obama took to the stage Wednesday in a surprise appearance at the Democratic convention here with his running mate Joseph Biden.

Obama, who was not due to address delegates until Thursday, received tumultuous cheers as he embraced Biden and Biden's wife Jill following an impassioned speech by his vice presidential nominee.

Obama declared his pride in having the whole Biden family "with me on this journey to take America back."

Russia slams West, looks to China for support

DUSHANBE - Russia on Wednesday lashed out against Western criticism of its actions in Georgia as President Dmitry Medvedev discussed the situation in the Caucasus with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao.

"The Russian president informed his Chinese colleague about the situation in South Ossetia and Abkhazia," Kremlin spokeswoman Natalya Timakova said after the talks, referring to two Georgian rebel regions at the centre of the crisis.

Chinese officials declined to comment after the meeting.

The meeting in Tajikistan came on Medvedev's first foreign trip since fighting broke out earlier this month between Russian and Georgian forces over two regions that Medvedev recognised as independent on Tuesday.

US President George W. Bush called on Medvedev to reverse his decision, saying that it would exacerbate tensions in a volatile region. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner warned that it could lead to war.

On Wednesday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang was quoted by the official Xinhua news agency as saying that China was "concerned" about Medvedev's move but otherwise refrained from criticism.

He added that China hoped for "dialogue and consultation" on the issue.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov meanwhile rejected Western criticism on the sidelines of Medvedev's visit to the Tajik capital Dushanbe in scathing comments against British Foreign Secretary David Miliband and NATO. Lavrov said Miliband's criticism of Russia during a trip to Ukraine on Wednesday was "inappropriate" and "hypocritical."

He then drew a parallel between Russian military action in Georgia and Britain's war with Argentina over the Falkland Islands.

"It's strange that our actions to defend our citizens right on our borders should be criticised by Britain, considering its actions in the Falkland Islands, which are the other side of the world," Lavrov told reporters.

Miliband warned Russia not to start a new Cold War and said the West should use "hard-headed engagement" with Moscow.

Lavrov said Russia would cooperate with the West in international organisations "only to the extent to which its Western colleagues are interested."

The stand-off threatens to have far wider repercussions for already fraught relations between Russia and the West. Russia has frozen military ties with the NATO alliance and has accused the United States of rearming Georgia.

Abkhazia and South Ossetia are internationally recognised as part of Georgia and no country has followed Russia's lead to declare them independent countries.

The regions broke away from Georgian control after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Medvedev met with China's Hu ahead of a Thursday meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a regional security grouping dominated by China and Russia that includes four ex-Soviet Central Asian countries.

The Russian and Chinese leaders talked about boosting the SCO, which was set up in 2001 as a counterweight to NATO influence in the strategic Central Asian region.

"The two sides talked about Central Asia and the need to strengthen the SCO in order to bolster security in the region," Kremlin spokeswoman Timakova said.

They also discussed trade and economic and energy ties, she said.

During his trip to Dushanbe, Medvedev was also due to hold bilateral talks with the leaders of Afghanistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Central Asian leaders have kept a low-profile during Russia's confrontation with Georgia.

The region has its own separatist issues and siding with Russia could harm vital economic and security ties with the West.

Medvedev on Friday was also due to visit a Russian military base in Dushanbe. Moscow has troops based in three military installations in this mountainous former Soviet republic, which borders Afghanistan and China.

13 dead as Gustav lashes Haiti, Dominican Republic

PORT-AU-PRINCE - Tropical Storm Gustav stalled over Haiti on Wednesday, lashing the impoverished country with heavy rain after striking it with hurricane force and killing 13 people.

The US National Hurricane Centre warned that Gustav could regain hurricane strength on Thursday as it passes between Jamaica and the southeastern coast of Cuba, and oil prices rose on fears that the storm could strike installations in the Gulf of Mexico.

The US southern coastal state of Louisiana's governor Bobby Jindal activated a storm crisis team and vowed to lead advance preparation efforts, after the city of New Orleans was devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

"As long as there is a chance that we'll be in this storm, I'll be here in Louisiana," said Jindal, warning he may miss next week's Republican National Convention to nominate John McCain as the party's candidate for the White House.

"I'm going to make sure I'm here personally to lead the preparation efforts and if necessary, any recovery efforts necessary after the fact," he told CNN.

The storm was blowing winds of 95 kilometres per hour as it stalled over Haiti about 150 kilometres west of Port-au-Prince, the centre said in its latest report.

Gustav made landfall in Haiti on Tuesday as a Category One hurricane - the lowest on the five-level Saffir-Simpson scale.

At least five people died and seven were injured in southeast Haiti as roofs flew off houses and electricity pylons were ripped away by violent winds, authorities said late Tuesday.

In the Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, eight people were killed in a mudslide caused by the storm.

All the victims were members of the same family, and had just returned to their home after evacuating two weeks ago, believing it safe after Tropical Storm Fay earlier this month, officials said.

Fay pummelled the Caribbean and left at least 47 people dead or missing, most of them in Haiti. The storm killed 11 more people in Florida.

Gustav was expected to drop six to 12 inches of rain over the Dominican Republic and Haiti, the NHC said, warning that the rains were likely to "produce life threatening flash floods and mud slides."

World oil prices rallied as Gustav remained a threat to US energy installations in the Gulf of Mexico despite being downgraded from hurricane status, analysts said.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in October, gained 91 cents to 117.18 dollars per barrel in electronic deals.

London's Brent North Sea crude for October won 68 cents to 115.31.

"Oil markets are keeping a nervous eye on ... Gustav, with forecasts showing it may move into the Gulf of Mexico," said David Moore, a Sydney-based commodity analyst with Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

Looking ahead to the possibility of a hurricane striking the Gulf of Mexico this weekend, Shell said in a statement that it had begun "evacuating personnel not essential to producing and drilling operations in the Gulf."

Around 300 people were to be brought ashore Wednesday, with no impact on production, it said.

Sudanese plane hijackers surrender in Libya

TRIPOLI - Two hijackers of a Sudanese plane surrendered to Libyan authorities at a remote desert airport on Wednesday after freeing all passengers on board, almost 24 hours after the drama began.

"They have now surrendered," a Libya official said from the airport in Kufra, an oasis in southeastern Libya.

The two attackers, who claimed to be from Sudan's conflict-ridden region of Darfur, hijacked the plane on Tuesday shortly after take-off from Darfur's main city of Nyala on a flight to the Sudanese capital Khartoum.

But they gave themselves up, several hours after releasing all 87 passengers from the Sun Air Boeing 737 which was forced to land on Tuesday evening after it ran short of fuel.

Libyan state television showed visibly tired but relieved passengers surrounded by Libyan soldiers following their liberation.

"The night was terrifying and difficult. I thank the Libyan authorities for their efforts which allowed us to be freed," a Sudanese passenger told the station.

Another passenger said the hijackers were armed with small calibre pistols.

The passengers had reportedly been given water but no food and some fainted when the air conditioning failed in the searing desert heat.

The hijackers, who had refused to talk directly with Libyan officials, said they belong to the Sudanese Liberation Army, whose exiled leader Abdel Wahid Mohammed Nur lives in Paris, according to airport director Khaled Saseya.

An official at the World War II-era military airport had said earlier that the hijackers were continuing to hold the crew and were demanding a flight plan to Paris and fuel.

"All of the passengers have left the plane," a Libyan official had said earlier. "The two hijackers and the seven crew are still inside. We are continuing to negotiate with them."

Libya's civil aviation director Mohammed Shlibaq said that two Egyptian members of the UN-led Darfur peacekeeping force, two Ethiopians and a Ugandan were among the passengers, the official JANA news agency reported.

JANA also reported that several Sudanese officials were among the passengers released by the hijackers, including the tribal affairs adviser at the Provisional Authority in Darfur Yaqub al-Malik Mohamed Yaqub.

No Darfur movement has claimed public responsibility, but the director of Kufra airport said the hijackers belong to a faction of the Sudanese Liberation Army, whose exiled leader Abdel Wahid Mohammed Nur lives in Paris.

The pilot said "the hijackers claim to have coordinated with him (Nur) to join him in Paris," Kufra airport director Khaled Saseya told JANA, adding that they had demanded a flight plan to Paris and fuel.

Nur, whose group was one of two Darfur movements that first rose up against the Arab-dominated government in 2003, denied any involvement while SLA commander Ibrahim al-Hillo suggested the hijackers could be Nur sympathisers.

"We don't have any relation with that hijacking. Civilians, they're angry, they'll behave like that. They may agree with Abdul Wahid but in our structure we have no decision like this to hijack a civilian airplane," Hillo told AFP.

The SLA has fractured into multiple groups headed by different field commanders over the more than five years of war in Sudan's western Darfur region.

The United Nations says up to 300,000 people have died and more than 2.2 million fled their homes since war in Darfur erupted in February 2003. Sudan says 10,000 have been killed.

Ethnic minority rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated Khartoum regime and state-backed Arab militias, fighting for resources and power.

All eyes on Bill Clinton at Democratic convention

DENVER, Colorado - All eyes at the Democratic convention will be on Bill Clinton on Wednesday, as the former president and one-time darling of the party seeks to put aside months of hard feelings to back Barack Obama.

Delegates will also create a piece of history, by going through a formal roll-call to enshrine the Illinois senator, 47, as the party's White House candidate, making him the first ever black presidential nominee.

Obama's vice presidential nominee Joseph Biden, meanwhile, is set to deliver his keynote speech, likely to hammer the convention's Wednesday theme of national security, and to highlight his tragedy-scarred life story.

Act two of the Clinton melodrama at the convention will come a day after Obama's former primary rival Hillary Clinton stirred a rapturous reception and ordered her army of millions of supporters to back the party ticket.

Bill Clinton has been waging a ill-tempered feud with the Obama campaign for months, and has yet to offer a full-throated endorsement of the new party standard bearer.

Clinton, who accused the Obama camp of playing the "race card" on him, seems to have taken his wife's loss hard, and appears to believe his legacy as the only Democrat to win two terms since World War II is getting insufficient respect.

Reports quoting unnamed Clinton aides have said that the former president will not attend Obama's acceptance speech, due to be delivered before more than 70,000 supporters in an open-air football stadium on Thursday night.

The former first lady's speech was an emotional final act to a presidential campaign, which took audacious aim at history, but fell just short.

"Whether you voted for me, or voted for Barack, the time is now to unite as a single party with a single purpose," said Clinton, who got a euphoric welcome for her prime-time speech on Tuesday at the Democratic National Convention.

"We are on the same team, and none of us can sit on the sidelines," she said, vowing to work to elect the man who thwarted her presidential dreams, and who will make his own history by becoming the first black presidential nominee.

Clinton also laid into the Republicans, and their candidate John McCain.

"No way, no how, no McCain," she said.

Republicans however noted that the New York senator, however, did not say that Obama was ready to serve as commander-in-chief and sought a political, rather than personal connection with the new party champion.

The roll-call vote of the states in the hall is a time-honoured feature of the convention, which in days gone by was often fraught with tension but is now merely a ceremonial affair.

Intense negotiations between the Clinton and Obama camps took place to ensure that the former first lady gets her due, and has her 18 million primary votes honoured, while stressing an image of unity.

But Republicans made a fresh attempt on Wednesday to pick at the scars of the divisive primary campaign, arguing that Clinton's endorsement of Obama was hardly comprehensive.

"She never really answered the key question, is he prepared to be President which is the issue she put out there rather dramatically during the primaries," said former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani on Fox News.

Clinton's primary voters are vital to Obama, as his White House race with McCain has tightened to a dead heat.

In an effort to forge party unity, Clinton was expected to release her delegates on Wednesday, freeing them to vote for Obama in Wednesday's roll call vote.

After her speech, Clinton sent an email to supporters urging them to help Obama win the election.

"Standing on that stage tonight in front of 20,000 Democrats unified behind Senator Obama, I saw a bright future for America," she wrote.

"I saw millions of people across the country working as one to elect the next Democratic president."

Moses Ross, a delegate from Portland, Oregon, said he would support Obama because "Hillary Clinton has asked me to."

"I'm sad that we're not standing here talking about her running for president, but we have to abide by her wishes."

Hillary Clinton throws her weight behind Obama at Denver convention

DENVER - Senator Hillary Clinton has thrown her weight behind Senator Barack Obama's quest for the US presidency, at the Democratic Party's convention in Denver.

In a widely-anticipated speech to delegates late Tuesday, she said it is time for Democrats to "unite as a single party with a single purpose".

Senator Clinton has been under enormous pressure to unite the Democratic Party behind Mr Obama's candidacy.

The woman who tried - but failed - in the primaries to win the party's nomination for the presidency was deeply emotional about having to address delegates after her recent defeat.

She thanked her supporters for standing by her throughout the bruising primary process that pitted her against Mr Obama. Bowing to the political needs of the moment, she urged them now to stand behind the man hoping to become America's first African-American president.

She said: "My friends, it is time to take back the country we love. And whether you voted for me, or you voted for Barack, the time is now to unite as a single party with a single purpose."

Her speech was a far cry from the attacks she unleashed on Mr Obama when they were both on the campaign trail. Then she argued he was too inexperienced, too green and too untested to be trusted with the presidency.

Underscoring what she used to say about Mr Obama, the McCain campaign is now even using one of her old advertisements in a new television advertisement launched from the Republicans' war room in Denver. The advertisement states : "Hillary was right. Vote John McCain".

But the Democratic Party's leadership believes that Americans will be inspired by the key message of this convention, that the country is craving the type of change that Mr Obama can deliver, and that the party is uniting around him.

Nancy Pelosi, speaker, US House of Representatives, said: "We've got to be thinking of what's going on in the homes of the American people and across America, because we don't have the luxury of leaving here not organised, focused, disciplined, unified, and inspired by this beautiful western convention that we have."

Delegates left the convention hall with Senator Clinton's speech echoing in their ears. Her own political future is now uncertain, but the Democrats hope she has helped to ensure Mr Obama's victory.

On Wednesday night, former president Bill Clinton will address the convention.

Former first lady Clinton tells Democrats to unite

DENVER, Colorado - Hillary Clinton Tuesday ordered her grieving supporters to unite behind Democratic nominee Barack Obama, in an emotional final act to a White House quest which fell just short of history.

"Whether you voted for me, or voted for Barack, the time is now to unite as a single party with a single purpose," said Clinton, who got a euphoric welcome for her prime-time speech at the Democratic National Convention.

"We are on the same team, and none of us can sit on the sidelines," she said, vowing to work to elect the man who thwarted her presidential dreams, and who will make his own history by becoming the first black presidential nominee.

The former first lady milked a deafening ovation as the crowd, blanketed with signs bearing a stylised version of her "Hillary" signature, feted her almost as though she had won the exhausting primary fight.

She told the thousands in the arena, and millions of her army of women, and blue-collar voters watching on television, that despite their fierce primary duel, "Barack Obama is my candidate. And he must be our president."

Wistfully, Clinton looked back on the thousands of miles, and thousands of speeches and meetings that made up her presidential campaign, which finally ended when Obama clinched the nomination in June.

"You taught me so much, you made me laugh and... you even made me cry. You allowed me to become part of your lives, and you became part of mine."

Senator Obama watched Clinton's speech from Montana, and hailed her oration as an "outstanding" appeal for Democratic unity.

"That was excellent, that was a strong speech. She made the case for why we're going to be unified in November and why we're going to win this election."

Clinton also lashed Republican White House hopeful John McCain as a "twin" of unpopular President George W. Bush, saying he stood for "more war, less diplomacy" "more economic stagnation, less healthcare."

The former first lady, introduced by daughter Chelsea, said she had not spent the past "35 years in the trenches" to suffer more "failed leadership" from Republicans.

"No way, no how, no McCain," she said.
The New York senator however, did not say that Obama was ready to serve as commander-in-chief and sought a political rather than personal connection with the new party champion.

She also traced her place in history, noting her mother was born before women could vote, yet saw her granddaughter vote for a woman as president.

"This is the story of America, of women and men who defy the odds and never give up."

Clinton's speech was closely scrutinised for her willingness to heal the wounds of a primary campaign which split the Democratic Party in two, and offered hopes to Republicans in a tough year for the demoralised party.

But she gave her blessing to Obama in the first lines of her speech, providing valuable television pictures of an arena of cheering Democrats united, after a compelling nominating battle.

The speech was the first of a one-two punch from the Clintons - former president Bill Clinton will address the convention on Wednesday - after fighting a barely disguised feud with the Obama campaign.

Hillary Clinton's 18 million primary voters are vital to Obama, as his White House race with McCain has tightened to a dead heat, and the rivals are slugging out a desperate battle for swing states like Ohio.

So the New York senator, watched from the crowd by her husband launched into a forensic critic of the candidacy of her "friend" McCain.

"He has served our country with honour and courage," Clinton said of the former Vietnam war prisoner.

"But we don't need four more years ... of the last eight years," she said, and tried to saddle the Republican candidate with the unpopular legacy of President George W. Bush ahead of the rival party's convention in Minneapolis.

"It makes sense that George Bush and John McCain will be together next week in the Twin Cities. Because these days, they are awfully hard to tell apart."

The McCain campaign hit back immediately.

"Senator Clinton ran her presidential campaign making clear that Barack Obama is not prepared to lead as commander in chief," spokesman Tucker Bounds said.

"Nowhere tonight, did she alter that assessment, nowhere did she say that Barack Obama is ready to lead.

"Millions of Hillary Clinton supporters and millions of Americans remain concerned about whether Barack Obama is ready to be president."

More than 1,000 Clinton supporters marched through Denver to vent their anger at the former first lady's treatment prior to the Convention.

No evidence of plot to kill Obama, says justice official

DENVER, Colorado - US authorities said Tuesday they had found no evidence of a plot to assassinate Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama following the arrest of three men and seizure of a weapons cache.

US Attorney Troy Eid told a press conference that following an exhaustive investigation, officials were satisfied that the arrested men were all drug abusers who did not pose a credible threat to Obama.

"Let me be clear: we've conducted an intensive investigation, chased down numerous leads and carefully reviewed the evidence to date," Eid said.

"It is a very serious federal crime to threaten a presidential candidate. In this case, however, there is insufficient evidence at this time to indicate a true threat, plot or conspiracy against Senator Obama."

The three men were arrested after a traffic stop uncovered wigs, two hunting rifles, body armour and drug-making equipment on Sunday, the eve of the Democratic Party's four-day-long national convention here which is to end by officially naming Obama the party's presidential nominee.

Eid said there was no evidence any of the arrested men had ties to racist or white supremacist organisations but they had made racist comments about Obama, telling a drug user prior to arrest that no "nigger" should be president.

However, Eid said it was important to make a distinction between the "racist rantings" of habitual drug users and a credible attempt on Obama's life.

"Reported threats, hateful and bigoted though they were, involved a group of meth heads, methamphetamine abusers, all of whom were impaired at the time and they cannot independently (be) corroborated," Eid said.

"The evidence involving alleged threats does not warrant federal charges. But the investigation is ongoing and we are keeping an open mind."

"What matters at this moment, from a legal point of view the law recognises a difference between a true threat - one that can be carried out... and the racist rantings of drug users."

Eid said most of the racist remarks were allegedly made by convicted felon Shawn Robert Adolf, in conversation with another drug user.

Adolf is charged with illegal possession of a firearm and illegal possession of body armour as well as possession of methamphetamine.

Another man, Nathan Johnson, who attempted to escape from police by jumping from the sixth floor of a hotel, is charged with illegal possession of a firearm and possession of a small quantity of methamphetamine.

In a television interview earlier Tuesday, Johnson said his friends had intended to shoot Obama from a "high vantage point" on Thursday night at the 75,000-seat Invesco stadium.

"He don't belong in political office. Blacks don't belong in political office. He ought to be shot," Johnson said as he explained the motivations of his friends.

The probe was launched Sunday after a police officer spotted the third man, Tharin Gartrell, driving a truck erratically in a suburb of Denver. Gartrell has been charged with drug possession, authorities said Tuesday.

The incident was the latest sombre reminder of security risks faced by presidential hopefuls, and anxieties felt by many supporters for Obama, who was given Secret Service protection earlier in the presidential campaign than any other candidate.

The incident is also being probed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Secret Service and the joint terrorism task force.

Campaign communications director Robert Gibbs said no change was being made to Obama's schedule in light of the arrests.

The Illinois senator is due in Denver on Wednesday, ahead of his acceptance address the next day.

A tight security blanket has been draped across Denver to protect tens of thousands of supporters and protestors who descended on the city for the Democratic Party's political extravaganza.

An estimated 3,000 to 5,000 police and security personnel from 55 agencies, including the FBI and US military, are being deployed.

Darfur rebels hijack plane, seek to fly to France

TRIPOLI - The hijackers of a Sudanese plane with more than 100 passengers on board are apparently from a hardline Darfur rebel group and want to join the leader in Paris, Libyan officials said Wednesday.

The Sun Air Boeing 737 was hijacked shortly after took off from Nyala, the largest city in Darfur, on Tuesday afternoon bound for the capital Khartoum, and was granted permission to land by Libyan authorities at Kufra military airport in the southeast of the country after it ran short on fuel.

The hijackers, who have refused to talk directly with Libyan officials, have said they belong to the Sudanese Liberation Army of Abdel Wahid Mohammed Nur, who lives in Paris, said the director of the airport, Khaled Saseya.

"The plane's pilot has indicated that the hijackers, who number 10 or maybe more... have said they belong to the Sudanese Liberation Army of Abdel Wahid Mohammed Nur," he told the Libyan official news agency Jana.

The pilot said "the hijackers claim to have coordinated with him (Nur) to join him in Paris," he added.

Saseya said the hijackers have demanded a flight plan to Paris and fuel, but continue to refuse to talk to Libyan officials directly.

"The hijackers refuse to free any passengers or even open the doors which have remained closed since the plane landed," he said.

With the hijacking stretching past 12 hours, several passengers have fainted after the plane's air conditioning system failed, the pilot told airport officials early on Wednesday.

Sun Air executive manager Mortada Hassan has said there were 95 passengers and seven crew on board the plane. Two airline staff earlier told AFP that 87 passengers were on the flight.

Senior commanders from different Darfur rebel factions, which have been fighting against the Khartoum regime for five years, said they had no information on the hijacking when contacted by AFP on Tuesday.

But Ibrahim al-Hillo, a commander in Nur's Sudan Liberation Army, said the hijacking was the natural consequence of government repression of those displaced by the fighting in Darfur.

"This is the result of what the government is doing in the camps of displaced people in Nyala," he told AFP by telephone.

On Monday, Sudanese security forces pushed into one of the biggest and most volatile camps for displaced people in the country's western region of Darfur, at Kalma, just outside the hijacked plane's point of departure, Nyala.

UN-led peacekeepers said 33 people were buried on Tuesday following armed clashes between police and camp residents.

"I'm not sure if it's connected (to Kalma) but it's related to that. The government kills and the international community does not intervene. What can the Darfurian people do?" added Hillo.

Three high-ranking members of a former Darfur rebel movement that signed a peace treaty with the government in 2006 were on the hijacked flight, said an official in the Minni Minawi faction of the Sudan Liberation Movement.

Sudan has a history of hijacking incidents, having both received and been the country of origin of hijacked planes.

Darfur tensions have heightened in Sudan since the International Criminal Court prosecutor last month requested an arrest warrant for President Omar al-Beshir for alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

The United Nations says that up to 300,000 people have died and more than 2.2 million fled their homes since the conflict erupted in February 2003. Sudan says 10,000 have been killed.

The war began when ethnic minority rebels rose up against the Arab-dominated regime and state-backed Arab militias, fighting for resources and power.

In January last year, a gunman was arrested after hijacking a Sudanese passenger jet and diverting it to Chad, apparently seeking asylum in Britain.

Lebanon and Syria to demarcate border, normalise ties

DAMASCUS - Syria and Lebanon agreed on Thursday to take formal steps to demarcate their borders as part of a string of decisions to normalise their relations for the first time after decades of tension.

The announcement came as President Michel Sleiman wrapped up a landmark two-day visit to Damascus – the first by a Lebanese president since Syria ended almost 30 years of military domination over Lebanon in April 2005.

The two countries also pledged to examine the fate of hundreds of people missing since the 1975-1990 Lebanese civil war – amid claims by human rights groups that around 650 people who vanished during the war are being held in Syria.

Sleiman and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad also agreed to control their borders and curb "trafficking", it was announced at a news conference by Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem and Lebanese counterpart Fawzi Salukh.

But a joint statement read at the conference made no mention of weapons which Lebanon's anti-Syrian ruling majority says flow across the border and are intended for the Syria- and Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group.

Relations between Lebanon and Syria have been tense since Lebanese ex-premier Rafiq Hariri was killed in a massive Beirut bomb attack in February 2005. Damascus has denied any responsibility despite claims by Lebanese anti-Syrian groups.

Assad and Sleiman agreed "on setting up diplomatic relations between the two countries at the level of ambassadors," the statement said, reiterating an announcement made at the start of Sleiman's visit on Wednesday.

Salukh said the two countries will take steps next week to implement the decisions.

Syria and Lebanon have not had diplomatic ties since independence from French colonial power – Lebanon in 1943 and Syria in 1946 – but Assad and Sleiman agreed to establish relations during talks last month in Paris.

The United States has cautiously welcomed the establishment of diplomatic ties between Syria and Lebanon.

"One of the steps that has long been required is the establishment of a proper embassy for Syria in Lebanon and vice versa," US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Wednesday.

"Now, if the Syrians will go ahead and demarcate the border between Lebanon and Syria, and respect (Lebanon's) sovereignty in other ways, then this will have proved to be a very good step," she added.

Lebanon and Syria said they agreed "to reactivate the work of the joint committee to demarcate the Lebanese-Syrian borders within a mechanism and a set of priorities" and would take "administrative and technical steps."

The borders are poorly delimited in certain places, particularly the Shebaa Farms, a mountainous sliver of land rich in water resources located at the junction of southeast Lebanon, southwest Syria and northern Israel.

The 25-square-kilometre (10 square mile) tract of farming land was seized by Israel from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and is now claimed by Beirut, with the backing of Damascus.

Israel says they are part of Syria.

But Muallem insisted that Israel must end its occupation of the Shebaa Farms before the border can be marked.

"It is not possible to mark the borders in Shebaa Farms as long as there is still Israeli occupation. The occupation must end," Muallem said.

Syria and Lebanon also agreed "to activate and step up the work of the joint committee on people missing from both countries" since the Lebanese civil war, pledging to take steps capable of "reaching results as soon as possible."

In addition, they decided to review bilateral agreements between the two countries and take steps to bolster two-way trade.

Canada cancels exercise with Russia over Georgia conflict

OTTAWA - Canada is cancelling a joint military exercise with Russia because of its actions in Georgia, Defense Minister Peter MacKay said Thursday, after the United States also withdrew from the event.

"In light of the current situation in Georgia, and after consultation with our American allies, we agreed that it would be inappropriate to go ahead with Exercise Vigilant Eagle, a planned combined NORAD-Russia military exercise that was scheduled to begin August 20, 2008," MacKay said in a statement.

NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, groups the United States and Canada, and monitors air and space threats in the region.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said earlier that Washington had cancelled two joint exercises with Russia over its military action in Georgia, including the Vigilant Eagle NORAD event which was to begin on August 20.

"We will assess participation in future such exercises as the situation evolves," the Canadian defense minister said.

He said his government was "calling for Russia to fully respect the terms of the cease-fire and respect Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity."

Nigeria cedes Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon

CALABAR, Nigeria - Nigeria on Thursday handed over the Bakassi peninsula to Cameroon to end a 15-year dispute over a territory believed to be rich in oil and gas.

The legal paperwork, in line with a ruling of an international tribunal, was signed by Nigeria's Justice Minister Michael Aondoakaa and by his Cameroonian counterpart Maurice Kanto.

"(Cameroonian) President Paul Biya ... looks forward to new, reliable and mutually beneficial relationship between Cameroon and Nigeria," Kanto said just before the handover, which took place in the Nigerian border town of Calabar.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, in a message read out at the ceremony said: "It is a day of triumph for the rule of law, which lies at the very core of the values of the UN".

The UN Secretary General's Special Representative for West Africa, Said Djinnit, said the handover "should serve as a model in the many places in Africa where borders are under dispute".

"As painful as it is, we have a responsibility to keep our commitment to the international community to advance international peace and cooperation ... and advance the cause of African brotherhood and good neighbourliness," Nigeria's Aondoakaa declared.

The transfer, staggered over two years, has been dogged by political disagreements, a last-minute lawsuit and occasional gun battles.

Police seek motive in shooting of Arkansas Democratic leader

WASHINGTON - Police on Thursday sought to uncover what led a gunman to burst into the headquarters of the Arkansas Democratic Party and kill the chairman, a top ally of Bill and Hillary Clinton, US media said.

Bill Gwatney, 48, was shot multiple times in the upper body and died shortly afterward at the hospital, police said.

His assailant, 50-year-old Tim Johnson, was fatally shot after a police chase into a neighboring county.

He had no criminal record and had reportedly been fired earlier that morning from his job at a Target store, but it was unclear if or how he knew Gwatney, according to local news reports.

Police were called to a Target store in Conway, about 25 miles north of Little Rock, early Wednesday after co-workers complained about an agitated employee who had been fired for writing graffiti on a wall, the Arkansas News said.

The employee, Johnson, was "very agitated and shaking, and they feared for their safety," said Conway police spokeswoman Sharen Carter, who added that Johnson had departed by the time police arrived.

Several hours later, just before noon, Johnson walked in the state Democratic Party headquarters and asked for Gwatney.

A volunteer who was in the office at the time said Johnson had indicated he was "interested in volunteering, but that was obviously a lie."

Once Gwatney came out to meet him, "they introduced themselves, and at that time he (Johnson) pulled out a handgun and shot Chairman Gwatney several times. He then turned and left the business," said police lieutenant Terry Hastings.

The killing left fellow Democratic leaders in shock less than two weeks before the party's national convention in the midst of a fierce battle for the White House.

"We are deeply saddened by the news that Bill Gwatney has passed away," former president Clinton and his wife Hillary said in a joint statement. The couple lived for years in the Arkansas capital of Little Rock while Bill Clinton was governor and called Gwatney a close friend.

The Clintons said they were "stunned and shaken by today's shooting," describing Gwatney as their "cherished friend and confidante."

Gwatney was one of the party's nearly 800 so-called superdelegates, who are allowed to vote as they wish at the Democratic convention. During the nomination campaign Gwatney supported Clinton, who handily defeated Obama in the Arkansas primary.

Lieutenant Hastings said the motive for the shooting was unclear.

"That's something that we'll be looking into," he said, adding that the suspect was not a former Gwatney employee. Gwatney reportedly owned several car dealerships in the state.

The violent attack is the second in several months targeting the Democratic Party. In November, a man claiming to be armed with a bomb took over US presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton's campaign office in the state of New Hampshire and held five people hostage for more than five hours before surrendering.

Spate of Iraq bomb attacks kills 27

BAGHDAD - At least 19 Shiite pilgrims heading to the holy city of Karbala for a religious festival were among 27 people killed on Thursday as a spate of bomb blasts rocked Iraq, security officials said.

As many as 18 were killed in a double attack by two women suicide bombers who blew themselves up among a crowd of pilgrims heading to the city, police Lieutenant Kazem al-Khafaji in Babil province said.

The women detonated their explosives-packed vests 50 yards apart and at a five-minute interval in Iskandiriyah 60 kilometres (37 miles) south of the capital, Khafaji added.

The twin suicide attack left at least 75 more wounded, most of them young men, in the most lethal attack to hit the war-torn nation since last Friday when 21 people were killed in a market in Tal Afar by a car bomb.

Haider Kadhum, 20, a pilgrim from Baghdad who was being treated for wounds to his feet and back at Hilla hospital, said he had been drinking water among a group of pilgrims when he felt the blast.

"In front of us was a large group of pilgrims and suddenly we felt strong hot waves of fire with the bang of the explosion and people's bodies were ripped apart," he told AFP.

Earlier on Thursday another Shiite pilgrim was killed and seven others were wounded by a roadside bomb in Baghdad's commercial district of Karrada as they set off for Karbala, around 110 kilometres (68 miles) south of Baghdad, for Sunday's festival.

Another explosion killed a policeman and wounded five of his colleagues near a checkpoint in the Zafraniya district of southern Baghdad set up to search pilgrims heading south.

Although the incidence of bombings has dropped to four-year lows, the latest wave of violence highlighted the difficulty Iraqi forces face in maintaining an uncertain peace, especially during large public gatherings.

Bloodshed routinely marks Shiite pilgrimages, the last of which was on July 28, when three female suicide bombers killed 25 Shiites near a shrine in Baghdad.

Captain Charles Calio, a US military spokesman in Baghdad, said that Thursday's suicide strikes bore the "hallmark of Al-Qaeda," the mainly Sunni Arab insurgent group that has increasingly turned to women to carry out its attacks in Iraq.

This weekend tens of thousands of Shiites are expected to flock to Karbala to venerate Imam Mahdi, an eighth century imam who vanished as a boy and whom Shiites believe will return to bring justice to the world.

The Shiite community was once led by a series of infallible imams who were direct descendants of the Prophet Mohammed and his son-in-law Ali. When the Mahdi went into hiding, leadership of the community passed to the clergy.

In other violence on Thursday, a car bomb targeting a police patrol near the restive city of Baquba, about 60 kilometres (35 miles) north of Baghdad, killed two policemen and wounded six, security officials said.

The defence ministry said that on Tuesday the Iraqi army discovered dozens of houses that had been booby-trapped with explosives by Al-Qaeda jihadists in the same area – about 10 kilometres (six miles) southeast of Baquba.

Also near Baquba, a bomb hidden in a field killed a 10-year-old girl, a security official said.

Meanwhile, 370 kilometres north (230 miles) of Baghdad, in the Al-Qaeda bastion of Mosul, three Iraqi soldiers were killed, one by a roadside bomb and two by sniper fire, police sources said.

A suicide bomber also killed one policeman 60 kilometres (37 miles) north of Mosul in the ancient city of Nimrud.

US, Libya sign compensation deal

TRIPOLI - Libya and the United States on Thursday signed a compensation deal for American victims of Libyan attacks and US reprisals, paving the way for full normalisation of ties between the two countries.

The agreement was signed by visiting US assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs David Welch and Libyan deputy foreign minister Ahmad Fituri at the conclusion of a series of high level meetings.

Fituri told reporters that inking the deal was "the crowning of a long process of exhausting negotiations" and added that "there was a desire on both sides to find a conclusion to this issue".

The deal will see compensation paid for US victims of Libyan attacks in the 1980s and of the US reprisals that followed, Fituri said.

Welch, too, was upbeat.

"This is a very important agreement. This turns a new page in our relationship," he said after the signing ceremony.

"This agreement signed today is designed to resolve the last major historical issue that has stood in the way of a more normal relationship between our two countries," Welch said.

"Under this agreement each country's citizens can receive fair compensation for past incidents. When fulfilled, the agreement will permit Libya and the US to develop their relations."

In 2006, the United States announced a full normalisation of ties, dropping Libya from a State Department list of state sponsors of terrorism and raising diplomatic relations to the level of ambassadors.

However, the appointment of a US ambassador to Tripoli as well as approval of funds for a new embassy have been held up in the Senate.

Welch arrived in Tripoli on Wednesday to hold final discussions on the agreement that will see a fund set up to compensate US victims of Libyan-sponsored attacks.

Both US houses of Congress have passed a bill that grants Libya immunity from lawsuits once compensation has been paid through the fund.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said after the bill was passed on August 1 that she looked forward to further improvements in ties with the north African state.

The state news agency JANA, meanwhile, said on Thursday that US President George W. Bush had sent a message to Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in which he expressed his "satisfaction" at the improvement in relations between Washington and Tripoli.

Welch gave the message to Gaddafi on Wednesday, the report said.

Bush's message also stressed "the important role Libya is playing internationally and expressed his hope that cooperation between the two countries would continue," JANA said.

Libyan newspaper Oya said last month that Tripoli and Washington had resumed talks in Abu Dhabi on fully compensating the relatives of US victims of Libyan attacks as well as Libyan victims of US air raids.

Washington wants Tripoli to fully compensate families of the victims of the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am flight over Lockerbie, Scotland that killed 270 people, and a Berlin disco bombing that killed two Americans.

Libya, meanwhile, stressed the need for a mechanism to compensate victims of US reprisals.

Libya was subjected to several US airstrikes on Tripoli and the town of Benghazi on April 16, 1986, in which 41 people were killed, including an adopted daughter of Gaddafi.

US-Libyan relations were restored in early 2004 after more than two decades after Gaddafi announced that Tripoli was abandoning efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction.

Rice has also said after the compensation fund bill was passed that she wants to visit Tripoli, but has not yet done so.

Five killed in Iraq bomb attacks

BAGHDAD - A rash of bomb attacks in Iraq, two targeting pilgrims headed to the holy city of Karbala for a Shiite religious festival, killed five people and wounded 18 on Thursday, security officials said.

In one of the attacks, a Shiite pilgrim was killed and seven others wounded by a roadside bomb in Baghdad's commercial district of Karrada as they set off towards Karbala, 110 kilometres (70 miles) south of Baghdad, the officials said.

Another explosion killed a policeman and injured five of his colleagues near a checkpoint in the Zafraniya district of southern Baghdad set up to search pilgrims heading south.

Tens of thousands of Shiites are expected to flock to Karbala to venerate Imam Mahdi, an eighth century imam who vanished as a boy and whom Shiites believe will return to bring justice to the world.

The Shiite community was once led by a series of infallible imams that were direct descendants of the Prophet Mohammed and his son-in-law Ali. When the Mahdi went into hiding, leadership of the community passed to the clergy.

In other violence, a car bomb targeting a police patrol near the restive city of Baquba, about 60 kilometres (35 miles) north of Baghdad, killed two policemen and injured six, security officials said.

The defence ministry said that on Tuesday the Iraqi army discovered dozens of houses which had been booby-trapped with explosives by Al-Qaeda jihadists in the same area – about 10 kilometres southeast of Baquba.

Also near Baquba, a bomb hidden in a field killed a 10-year-old girl, a security official said.

On July 29, some 50,000 Iraqi soldiers and police launched a major push against Al-Qaeda and other insurgents in Diyala, which commanders describe as Iraq's most dangerous province.

The Iraqi military imposed a curfew on Baquba, capital of Diyala, on Tuesday after a suicide bomber struck, injuring the governor of the province.

Zimbabwe opposition leader blocked from travelling to summit

OHANNESBURG - Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was blocked on Thursday from attending a key regional summit, but said he was "hopeful" talks to resolve the country's political crisis would resume.

"I'm hopeful that the talks will resume," Tsvangirai told AFP by phone after Zimbabwean authorities seized his passport at Harare airport, preventing him flying to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) meet in South Africa.

"The whole thing was going to be determined at this SADC summit," he said.

Passports belonging to other members of his party's leadership were also seized.

"We were all scheduled to go and meet with the troika, the SADC organ on politics and defence. We're not going anymore," Tsvangirai said.

Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change party had earlier issued a statement saying he had been detained along with two other top members of his party at the airport

The MDC leader disputed the reference to a detention, saying that the incident amounted to his passport being seized. He said no reason had been given to him.

"It was the South Africans who invited us and paid for the tickets," Tsvangirai said of the summit, clarifying that he meant the South African government.

His claim could not immediately be confirmed by the Pretoria government.

He declined to discuss details of the power-sharing talks aimed at ending Zimbabwe's political crisis, currently stalled after Tsvangirai said he needed more time to consider a deal agreed by the other main participants, President Robert Mugabe and the leader of a smaller opposition faction, Arthur Mutambara.

The two would have a majority in parliament if they combined forces. The ruling party lost its majority for the first time since independence in recent elections.

The talks' mediator, South African president Thabo Mbeki, conceded after three days of negotiations adjourned on Tuesday that "there is disagreement on one element over which Morgan Tsvangirai had asked for time to reflect."

"We have adjourned to give Morgan Tsvangirai more time to consider these matters," he said.

The talks follow Mugabe's re-election in a June presidential run-off widely condemned as a sham.

Tsvangirai boycotted the run-off despite finishing ahead of Mugabe in the March first round, saying dozens of his supporters had been killed and thousands injured.

Zimbabwe's government mouthpiece the Herald reported on Thursday that Tsvangirai had balked at signing the deal, but was now coming under heavy pressure to do so.

The paper, quoting sources close to the talks, said "Tsvangirai ...would be accommodated in the new government when he was ready to sign."

Mbeki is expected to brief his peers at the 14-nation SADC summit in Johannesburg this weekend.

Trade unions are planning protests against Mugabe's participation in the summit in the absence of a negotiated settlement to the crisis, and Zimbabwe's neighbour Botswana has threatened to boycott the summit if the 84-year-old attends.

Georgian relief operation hampered as aid workers ambushed

BRUSSELS - A truce between Russia and Georgia has failed to open up the conflict zone to much-needed emergency supplies, aid agencies and EU officials said on Thursday, as UN staff were held up by armed gunmen.

The United Nations workers were ambushed in the Georgian city of Gori before having their vehicles stolen, an official said, adding that the area was not yet considered safe enough for aid workers to operate in.

Robert Watkins, UN resident coordinator for Georgia, told AFP two UN-marked cars were taken by "paramilitary" gunmen after security officials doing a safety assessment there were stopped at gunpoint.

Latest estimates by the Georgian and Russian governments put the number of displaced people in the region at nearly 115,000.

"The authorities in principle are ready to give us access but we are being told that there are ongoing security concerns," said Geneva-based spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross Anna Nelson.

"We are ready to go in. We do not expect access today as it is already nightfall there. But we are ready to go in from the north and the south," she added.

The European Commission said it was concerned at the inability of aid workers to get help to tens of thousands of hungry and needy people.

Commission spokesman John Clancy told reporters in Brussels the truce had had little impact on the level access.

"The cessation of hostilities announced by Moscow has not yet reflected particularly into any improvement in terms of access for humanitarian aid workers," Clancy said, adding that emergency medical aid was "urgently needed."

"We hope that the situation changes in the coming hours," he said.

A UN human rights expert said he too was alarmed at the lack of humanitarian access to the wounded and displaced in the week-old dispute over the Russian-backed breakaway region of South Ossetia.

Many people caught up in the conflict were "still exposed to continuing dangers, facing difficulties in accessing shelter, medical care and food," said Walter Kaelin, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's representative for the rights of internally displaced persons.

He said he was "also alarmed about reports that humanitarian access is still blocked and by allegations of widespread looting of property left behind by the displaced."

Aid was required particularly in the camps hastily set up for displaced people within Georgia, mostly in and around the capital Tbilisi, Clancy added.

As well as access to hotspots for humanitarian workers, another problem was getting the aid to the area, with ports being particularly hazardous.

Marie Anne Isjer-beguin, chair of the European parliament's Georgia delegation, appealed in Tbilisi jointly for the creation of a humanitarian corridor.

Georgian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Giorgi Gorgiladze, speaking in Geneva at a disarmament conference, blamed Russian armed forces for not granting aid workers access to territory they controlled.

Meanwhile, UNHCR flew its second humanitarian flight to the Georgian capital carrying tents, jerry cans, blankets and telecommunications equipment.

Turkey also stepped up humanitarian assistance sending a further 10 trucks of relief supplies.

The United States State Department said a second C-17 US military cargo plane carrying humanitarian aid had arrived in Tbilisi on Thursday.

Italy was due to send two planeloads of relief materials "as rapidly as possible, probably during the weekend".

Rice, Sarkozy urge Russia and Georgia to sign ceasefire

BORMES LES MIMOSAS, France - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and French President Nicolas Sarkozy called on Thursday for Moscow and Tbilisi to rapidly sign a six-point ceasefire to end their conflict.

The US top diplomat flew into France for talks with Sarkozy, who brokered a fragile ceasefire to end five days of fighting, before heading on Friday for crisis talks with Georgia's leaders in Tbilisi.

Both Sarkozy and Rice pledged their support for Georgia's territorial integrity, calling for a swift end to the conflict, following their meeting at Bregancon Fort, an official presidential residence on the Riviera.

"It is time for this crisis to be over," Rice told reporters. "Georgia, whose territorial integrity, independence and sovereignty we fully respect, must be able to go back to normal life."

"We need to stop the shock of war. It takes time but we are making progress," agreed the French president.

The United States and Georgia have accused Russia of continuing attacks despite the ceasefire agreement, which both Georgia and Russia approved, but which neither has yet signed.

Both Rice and Sarkozy urged them to quickly formalise the truce "to consolidate the cessation of hostilities and accelerate the withdrawal of Russian forces to their positions prior to August 7," the French presidency said in a statement after their talks.

"The head of state and Mrs Rice both deemed that the six-point agreement protocol approved by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili on August 12 must be signed without delay by the parties."

The French leader told reporters Rice would carry documents to Tbilisi for signature by Saakashvili.

"If tomorrow, President Saakashvili signs the document that we negotiated with Mr Medvedev, then the withdrawal of Russian troops will be able to start. That is what is at stake," Sarkozy said.

Sarkozy, who negotiated the truce on behalf of the European Union, said there was "a great similarity of views" between France and the United States.

Both shared "a will to obtain peace, a withdrawal of Russian military forces from Georgia and the respect for the sovereignty, independence and integrity of Georgia," the French leader said.

France is shortly to submit a draft UN Security Council resolution on the Caucasus conflict, incorporating the ceasefire plan, with the French foreign ministry calling Thursday for the council to rapidly adopt the text.

Rice's trip to Georgia for talks with President Mikheil Saakashvili is aimed at showing US solidarity with the former Soviet republic as it seeks support from its new Western allies.

Her visit comes a day after US President George W. Bush toughened his stance on the conflict, chiding Moscow for attacking Georgia and warning it had put post-Cold War relations with the West "at risk".

Russian troops and armour rolled into South Ossetia on Friday in response to a Georgian bid to regain control of the renegade region which broke from Tbilisi in the early 1990s.

The two countries engaged in five days of bitter fighting until the ceasefire was agreed on Tuesday, but new clashes in the Gori region northwest of Tbilisi have underlined the fragility of the agreement.

Russian forces remained in the strategic town of Gori, which lies outside South Ossetia, where explosions were heard on Thursday.

Georgian officials accused Russian forces of destroying installations before their departure, although Russia insists it is sticking to the peace plan.

The French foreign ministry said on Thursday it was verifying the reports of explosions.

Recalling that Medvedev had promised to stop the hostilities in Georgia, Rice appealed directly to the Russian president: "We would hope he would be true to his word and that these operations would halt."

Russians begin pulling back from flashpoint Georgian city

TBILISI, Georgia - Russian forces started withdrawing on Thursday from the flashpoint Georgian city of Gori, officials said, adding a new twist to the campaign for a permanent peace between the neighbours.

The pullout came as the United States through its full support behind the Georgian government saying that US military aircraft would take humanitarian aid and that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would visit Tbilisi this week.

"The Russians have started to withdraw, the Georgian police and special forces are taking control," Georgian Interior Ministry Spokesman Shota Utiashvili told AFP.

A senior Russian military official said the handover would take two days.

The Russian and Georgian leaders agreed a ceasefire late Tuesday under which there was to be a withdrawal of their forces to positions before Georgia launched its offensive on the breakaway province of South Ossetia a week ago.

But on Wednesday Russian armoured vehicles patrolled Gori, a key town linking the east and the west of the country. A convoy of tanks and trucks was also seen on the main road from Gori to Tbilisi.

Hundreds of South Ossetian rebels with some Russian army personnel looted and burned houses in villages near Gori.

Tensions remained high between Russia and the West, with Moscow warning Washington it would have to choose between its partnership with Russia or supporting Georgia.

The United States is the major western ally of Georgia which wants to join NATO.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the United States it has to choose between a "relatively virtual" relationship with Georgia and a "partnership (with Russia) on questions that require collective action."

But US President George W. Bush dispatched Rice to Tbilisi and not Moscow.

"The United States of America stands with the democratically elected government of Georgia, insists that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia be respected," Bush said.

He ordered US aircraft and naval forces to deliver humanitarian and medical supplies to Georgia.

"To begin to repair the damage to its relations with the United States, Europe, and other nations, and to begin restoring its place in the world, Russia must keep its word and act to end this crisis," Bush demanded.

Rice was to hold talks in France with President Nicolas Sarkozy on the peace deal he brokered, before travelling to Tbilisi for talks with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.

Russian troops and armour rolled into South Ossetia on Friday in response to a Georgian bid to regain control of the renegade province which broke from Tbilisi in the early 1990s. Russian troops then pushed on into other parts of Georgia while aircraft bombed targets.

Medvedev halted the offensive on Tuesday saying that Georgia had been "punished" and Sarkozy later negotiated a ceasefire with Medvedev and Saakashvili.

Despite the deal, bitterness remains. Russia said that while it would talk with the European Union about the truce agreement, it refuses to deal directly with the Georgian president.

"We still have diplomatic relations with Georgia, we have millions of Georgian nationals who are Russian citizens and living happily in Russia," Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov told BBC television.

"But we won't directly talk to Saakashvili, we won't do that. We offered him peace but not friendship."

Russia has accused Georgia of violating the truce by failing to pursue an "active withdrawal" from South Ossetia, where Moscow says 2,000 civilians were killed in the fighting.

The United Nations estimates some 100,000 people have been forced from their homes.

The Georgian health minister put the death toll in Georgia at 175 people, mainly civilians. Russia said 74 of its troops had been killed.

Russian investigators said they had opened a probe into whether Georgian forces committed genocide in their attack last week on South Ossetia, RIA Novosti news agency reported.

The first UN and US planes carrying humanitarian aid landed in Tbilisi on Wednesday with tents, blankets and emergency supplies, officials said.

The US Defence Department meanwhile denied comments by Saakashvili that the United States would take over control of Georgia's seaports and airports as part of the humanitarian efforts.

"We do not need nor do we intend to take over any air or seaports in order to deliver humanitarian assistance to those caught in this conflict," said Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell.

Obama grants unity vote on Clinton's White House bid

WASHINGTON - Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, bidding to heal wounds still festering from their bitter scrap for the White House nomination, agreed on Thursday to put her name up for a convention vote.

The symbolic vote will allow the former first lady's supporters to have their say at the August 25-28 convention in Denver, and then the party can move on to take the fight to Republican John McCain, the erstwhile rivals said.

But it could also bring lingering tensions bubbling back to the fore, with pro-Clinton groups angered at her primary loss already planning to rally in Denver ahead of the nominating ballot on August 27.

"I am convinced that honouring Senator Clinton's historic campaign in this way will help us celebrate this defining moment in our history and bring the party together in a strong, united fashion," Obama said in a joint statement.

Clinton said: "With every voice heard and the party strongly united, we will elect Senator Obama president of the United States and put our nation on the path to peace and prosperity once again."

The decision means that delegates in Denver will hold a "roll-call" vote to formally enter Clinton's achievement – she won nearly 18 million primary votes – into the record.

The race ran all the way into June, and Clinton ultimately came up short as party grandees known as "superdelegates" rallied to Obama.

"After the state-by-state roll is tallied, Mrs Clinton is expected to turn over her cache of delegates to Senator Barack Obama," the New York Times reported.

"So how will Mrs Clinton, who is a superdelegate herself, vote? Associates say she will throw her lot behind Mr Obama and ask her supporters to follow suit," it said.

In a YouTube video from a California fundraiser last month, Clinton told her supporters that a roll-call vote would provide "catharsis" for the Democratic Party after its months-long nominating fight.

Clinton, herself, is due to address the convention in prime-time on Tuesday, August 26. Her husband, former president Bill Clinton, will speak on the next night, Wednesday, when the ballot takes place.

After the ballot, Obama's vice presidential nominee is scheduled to address the delegates.

Hillary Clinton's billing the night before would appear to preclude her from being the VP pick – and many of her more diehard supporters say the only way they will countenance voting for Obama is with her on the ticket.

But prominent Democrats who sided with the New York senator, the once "inevitable" nominee because of her and Bill Clinton's long standing as Democratic royalty, are now pledging fealty to Obama.

"There are many, many fine choices Senator Obama can make (for VP)," Ohio Governor Ted Strickland told reporters at an automotive conference in Michigan.

"My first choice would be Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, obviously, but I have no reason to believe that will happen and I have no idea who the final choice will be," he said.

According to widespread reports, both camps have been debating for weeks the former first lady's demand for a public acknowledgement at the convention of her prolonged battle for the Democratic nomination.

But the joint statement said the initiative came from the Illinois senator.

"Senator Obama's campaign encouraged Senator Clinton's name to be placed in nomination as a show of unity and in recognition of the historic race she ran and the fact that she was the first woman to compete in all of our nation's primary contests," it said.

"Senator Obama and Senator Clinton are looking forward to a convention unified behind Barack Obama as the party's nominee and to victory this fall for America."

Iranian president in Turkey for nuclear talks

ISTANBUL - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad began talks here on Thursday on closer ties with Turkey and Tehran's controversial nuclear programme on his first ever bilateral visit to a NATO-member country.

Heavy security measures were in place for Ahmadinejad's arrival to Istanbul, Turkey's biggest city, with snipers placed on rooftops around the Ataturk airport and police closing off the road leading into the city.

Shortly after his arrival, the Iranian president went into a closed-door meeting with his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul after which the two leaders were expected to hold a news conference.

He will meet Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and address a businessmen's meeting on Friday before leaving.

Ahmadinejad's two-day visit comes amid mounting tension over the Islamic Republic's nuclear drive which the West suspects is a cover for a secret nuclear weapons programme.

Iran is refusing to halt its uranium enrichment activities even though it is facing a fresh round of sanctions after failing to give a clear response to an incentives package offered by six world powers.

It has however agreed to continue talks with the European Union aimed at resolving the dispute.

Turkey, which has significantly improved relations with Iran in recent years, believes it can help resolve the stand-off through its close ties with both its eastern neighbour and Western powers.

Foreign Minister Ali Babacan said last month that Ankara was taking on a role "of consolidating and facilitating" the talks rather than formal mediation.

In a joint television interview with Turkey's NTV and CNN-Turk news channels on Wednesday, Ahmadinejad sounded an upbeat note on the talks with the six powers – Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States.

"We think that the question of nuclear power is going in the right direction," he said. "The negotiations are good negotiations and that is going to continue."

Tehran also appreciated Ankara's "efforts to reduce the tensions and establish a constructive dialogue," he added.

Turkey, which itself is seeking to build its first nuclear power plant, says Iran has the right to possess nuclear power for peaceful purposes, but opposes nuclear weapons in the region.

Ahmadinejad's visit, however, has drawn the ire of Turkey's ally Israel which has warned Ankara against "giving legitimacy" to a leader who has called for the destruction of the Jewish state and questioned the Holocaust.

In Wednesday's interview, Ahmadinejad launched his usual attack on Israel, describing it an illegitimate state based on a lie.

"It is an illegitimate regime... The Zionist regime is based on a lie," he charged. "They (Israelis) do not belong to this region. They should go."

Non-Arab and secular Turkey has been Israel's main regional ally since 1996, when the two signed a military cooperation accord, much to the anger of Arab countries and Iran.

It is currently acting as mediator in indirect talks between Israel and its arch-foe Syria.

Turkey and Iran used to have stormy ties, clouded by Turkish accusations that Tehran was seeking to undermine Ankara's secular regime and turning a blind eye to separatist Kurdish rebels active in the region.

But the two countries have boosted security cooperation in the past decade and in 2001 Turkey began buying Iranian gas via a pipeline between the two countries, overriding US discontent.

Poland, US close in on missile deal

WARSAW - Warsaw and Washington looked set to close a deal Thursday on basing a US missile shield in Poland, despite Moscow's vehement opposition to the plan which has been given a new edge by Russia's conflict with Georgia.

A source close to the negotiations said Washington had "given very serious consideration" to Warsaw's demands -- Poland wants the United States to provide major security guarantees in return for hosting a base -- and that the "stars are aligning."

After meeting with US negotiator John Rood Wednesday evening, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said their "positions have got closer."

Earlier rounds were often low-key, but the talks have been thrown back into the spotlight by fighting between Russia and Georgia, which like Poland is an ex-communist country turned US ally.

"Today we're facing a new international situation. The situation doesn't change our arguments but in my view reinforces them," Sikorski said.

On Tuesday, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the talks seemed "on the right track."

"Our arguments about the need for a permanent presence of US troops and missiles on Polish soil have been taken seriously by the American side," he said.

"The events in the Caucasus show clearly that such security guarantees are indispensable," he added.

"As soon as we are sure that Poland's security has been reinforced to the degree we want, we're not going to wait for hours to sign a deal," he pledged.

Washington aims to base 10 interceptor missiles in Poland plus a radar facility in the neighbouring Czech Republic by 2011-2013 to complete a system already in place in the United States, Greenland and Britain.

Washington insists the shield is meant to ward off attacks by "rogue states," notably Iran, and is not directed against Russia.

The shield, however, has become a major source of tension with Moscow, which dubs it a security threat aimed at undermining Russia's nuclear deterrent, and has vowed a firm response if the Czechs and Poles go ahead.

"These installations... only worsen the situation. We will be forced to respond to this adequately. The EU and US have been warned," Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said last month.

The Czech Republic and Poland were Soviet satellites until 1989, joined NATO in 1999 and the EU in 2004.

A US-Polish deal would be highly symbolic, showing a resurgent Russia that flexing its muscle in the Caucasus has not given it a new say on its Cold War-era turf further north.

While Prague signed a radar deal in July, Washington's talks with Warsaw have been grinding on for 15 months.

Amid concerns about the potential risks -- not specifically from Russia --
of hosting the silos, Warsaw has long pressed the US side to provide a THAAD or Patriot air-defence system.

Defence Minister Bogdan Klich said that Washington may deploy a permanent Patriot missile base in Poland, operated by US soldiers.

"One battery is just the start. Once it's based permanently in Poland, that would enable the launch of a modernisation programme which by 2018 would provide a complete anti-missile defence system," Klich told the daily Rzeczpospolita.

"We're also counting on the fact that getting Patriots would allow us discounts on other batteries and open the road to a more modern air defence system, like the THAAD," he said.

Sikorski said Poland also wants a "kind of reinforcement of Article Five" of the treaty binding NATO's 26 nations, which says an attack against one is an attack against the entire alliance.

Gunmen assault prayer service, kill 17 in N. Mexico attacks

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico - An armed gang killed nine people during mass in a drug rehabilitation centre in this northern Mexican border town, and eight others died in separate attacks in the area overnight, police said on Thursday.

The gunmen "entered (the building) shooting at people who were praying" late Wednesday, police said, adding that 10 more people were wounded.

After the shooting, the assassins left the scene and calmly passed a group of security forces, who did nothing to detain them, said a statement from the municipal office of public security, quoting witnesses.

In an escalation of drug-related violence in Mexico's northern border regions, two people were also killed in a nearby rehabilitation centre last weekend.

Meanwhile, five men were kidnapped and later executed in Chihuahua town, capital of Chihuahua state, and three others were violently killed in separate attacks in Ciudad Juarez.

Federal authorities have deployed more than 36,000 soldiers across the country, including 2,500 in Ciudad Juarez, in an effort to combat drug trafficking and related violence, but some 2,000 people have been killed so far this year.

Authorities attribute some 780 assassinations in Ciudad Juarez this year to turf wars between drug cartels.

World's tallest woman dies at 53

WASHINGTON - An American believed to be the world's tallest woman has died, nursing home staff told AFP on Thursday.

Sandy Allen, 53, who grew to be more than seven feet, seven inches tall died on Wednesday at a nursing home in Shelbyville, Indiana.

A spokeswoman for the Heritage House Convalescent Centre in Shelbyville said Allen "had been in failing health in recent years and died of natural causes".

She had been listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's tallest woman. By the time she was 10, Allen already stood six foot three. By 16, she was over seven feet tall, the Indianapolis Star daily said.

It's believed that a tumour on her pituitary gland caused her abnormal growth. It was removed when Allen was in her 20s, but she continued to be affected by a variety of health issues related to her height, including poor circulation and weak leg muscles that kept her confined to a wheelchair in her later years.

While her height brought her and the town of Shelbyville fame, it also led to personal despair, especially in her late teens when she spoke about her height being an impediment to relationships.

The newspaper quoted a letter Allen is said to have written to Guinness in 1974 in which she said: "I would like to get to know someone that is approximately my height. It is needless to say my social life is practically nil and perhaps the publicity from your book may brighten my life."

Bush throws support behind Georgia

WASHINGTON - US President George W. Bush on Wednesday demanded Russian troops leave Georgia as he dispatched Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the country in a strong show of support for his pro-West ally.

"The United States of America stands with the democratically elected government of Georgia, insists that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia be respected," Bush said in a brief White House statement.

Standing with Rice and US Defence Secretary Robert Gates at his side in the White House Rose Garden, he scolded Moscow for its attacks on Georgia and warned it had put Russia's post-Cold War embrace by the West "at risk."

"To begin to repair the damage to its relations with the United States, Europe, and other nations, and to begin restoring its place in the world, Russia must keep its word and act to end this crisis," he demanded.

Rice was to leave immediately Wednesday for France, which has led European efforts to broker a ceasefire, before travelling on to Georgia.

"On this trip, she will continue our efforts to rally the free world in the defence of a free Georgia," said the US president, who spent the morning in the White House "situation room" - his high-tech national security nerve centre.

As an international aid operation swung into place, a American C-17 military aircraft landed in Tbilisi bearing medical supplies, shelter, bedding and cots, and Bush promised more would be on the way.

The Pentagon, meanwhile, said it will be reviewing the needs of the Georgian military, battered in more than four days of all-out fighting with Russian forces over the breakaway region of South Ossetia.

But the comments by Bush, who postponed his vacation plans for a day or so to track the crisis, drew an angry response from Moscow.

"The Georgian leadership is a special project for the United States," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, quoted by Interfax news agency.

"At some time it will be necessary to choose between supporting this virtual project and real partnership on questions which actually require collective action."

The White House denied that US-Russia relations were on "adversarial" footing in the wake of the recent events, but spokeswoman Dana Perino admitted ties were "complex and complicated."

Bush said he had spoken to French President Nicolas Sarkozy and to Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili amid a peace push by Paris, which holds the rotating European Union presidency.

Bush also said he had had reports of Russian actions "inconsistent" with Moscow's statements that it had halted military operations and agreed to a provisional ceasefire.

"We expect Russia to meet its commitment to cease all military activities in Georgia, and we expect all Russian forces that entered Georgia in recent days to withdraw from that country," he warned.

But the Pentagon denied comments by Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili that the United States would take over control of Georgia's seaports and airports.

"We do not need nor do we intend to take over any air or seaports in order to deliver humanitarian assistance to those caught in this conflict," said Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell.

"It is simply not a requirement of this mission and it is not something we are seeking to do," he said.

Saakashvili earlier had sharply criticised the initial US response to the crisis, saying initial statements from top US officials on Moscow's push in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia were "too soft."

Washington has called an extraordinary meeting of NATO alliance foreign ministers next week and scrapped joint military exercises with Russia, in its first concrete response to the armed conflict in Georgia.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the August 15-23 FRUKUS naval exercise in the Sea of Japan involving ships from France, Britain, Russia and the United States "has been cancelled."

"It just wasn't appropriate in the current situation."

France to submit new UN draft on Georgia-Russia peace

UNITED NATIONS - France will soon introduce a new draft resolution on the Caucasus conflict in the UN Security Council to incorporate the peace plan agreed by Russia and Georgia, Belgium's UN Ambassador said Wednesday.

Jan Grauls, who chairs the 15-member Council this month, told reporters the French delegation was holding bilateral talks with other council members to amend the draft it circulated Monday and which called for an immediate truce and respect for Georgia's territorial integrity.

He said the text needed to be amended to incorporate the peace deal brokered French President Nicolas Sarkozy on behalf of the European Union to end hostilities between Russia and Georgia.

The French sponsors "will come up with a new draft on the basis of the Sarkozy plan ... very soon," Grauls said.

"This is a very positive development because it indicates that the military logic which prevails until last weekend has now given way to a political logic, a diplomatic logic."

He also welcomed what he called a "good and strong statement" by UN chief Ban Ki-moon in which the latter restated his backing for Georgia's territorial integrity.

Ban also said the United Nations stood ready "to facilitate international discussions as well as to contribute to possible peacekeeping or other arrangements for Abkhazia and South Ossetia."

The Sarkozy plan includes a commitment not to resort to force, to end hostilities definitively and to provide free access for humanitarian aid.

Georgian military forces are also to withdraw to their usual bases while Russian military forces are to pull back to the lines held prior to the outbreak of hostilities.

Pending an international mechanism, Russian peacekeeping forces will implement additional security measures.

Finally, international talks are to open on the security and stability arrangements in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the two Moscow-backed Georgian breakaway enclaves.

Wednesday Sarkozy said his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev had pledged to honour the six-point peace deal.

Russian troops and armor rolled into Georgia's South Ossetia region Friday in response to a Georgian bid to regain control of the renegade region which broke from Tbilisi in the early 1990s.

Syria and Lebanon agree to start diplomatic ties

DAMASCUS - Syria and Lebanon have agreed to start diplomatic ties and exchange ambassadors for the first time since independence about 60 years ago, a Syrian presidential adviser said on Wednesday.

The decision was taken during a meeting in Damascus between President Bashar al-Assad and his visiting Lebanese counterpart Michel Sleiman, presidential counsellor for politics Bussaina Shaaban said in a statement.

"The two presidents decided to establish diplomatic relations at the level of ambassadors, in line with the treaty of the United Nations and international law," the statement said.

Presidents Assad and Sleiman "instructed their foreign ministries to take the necessary measures in this regard to conform with the laws of the two countries," the statement added.

Syria and Lebanon have not had diplomatic ties since independence from French colonial power about 60 years ago but Assad and Sleiman agreed to establish relations during talks last month in Paris.

Wednesday's confirmation of the decision marks the first fruits of a landmark trip to Damascus by Sleiman, the first Lebanese president to visit Damascus since Syria withdrew its troops from Lebanon in April 2005 ending almost three decades of military domination of its "sister" nation.

The Syrian pullout came two months after the assassination in a massive Beirut bomb blast of Lebanese ex-premier Rafiq Hariri, for which Damascus has denied any responsibility despite accusations by Lebanese anti-Syrian groups.

Hours before Sleiman flew in, a bomb exploded in the northern Lebanese port city of Tripoli, killing at least 14 people, nine of them soldiers, and wounding 40 others.

Sleiman, a former army chief elected by parliament in May, was given a red-carpet welcome by Assad at the People's Palace overlooking Damascus on his arrival.

"(Assad) has instructed all concerned Syrian officials that he wants this visit to be successful and fruitful," Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said in comments published in Lebanon's As-Safir newspaper.

"The visit is a starting point... for future relations. We hope it will yield good relations in the interests" of the Lebanese and Syrian people.

Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a stalwart of the Syrian-backed opposition in Beirut, said however the Tripoli bombing was timed "to prevent the improvement of Lebanese-Syrian relations."

Syria's foreign ministry condemned the attack as a "criminal act" and expressed support for Lebanon "in the face of all those who are manipulating its security and stability."

Sleiman's visit aims to redefine ties between Beirut and Damascus which have been on the decline since the Hariri murder.

The agenda features prickly issues such as a border demarcation, a review of longstanding accords, Lebanese detainees in Syria and the presence of radical pro-Syrian Palestinian groups in Lebanon, as well as the opening of embassies.

Sleiman was elected in May as part of an agreement struck in Doha between the pro- and anti-Syrian camps in Lebanon after an 18-month political crisis which degenerated into deadly factional violence.

The deal led to the formation of a national unity government, a development which would have been impossible without Syrian consent.

Sleiman's visit comes a day after Beirut's Western-backed government won a vote of confidence in parliament, after stormy debates on the thorny issue of weapons held by the Syria- and Iran-backed Hezbollah Shiite militant group.

The vote allows the 30-member cabinet formed a month ago by Prime Minister Fuad Siniora to finally start work.

"Syria wants a stable, united and Arab Lebanon which does not serve as a trampoline for hostile activities," Elias Murad, editor-in-chief of the ruling Baath party newspaper, told AFP.

Syria's official Tishrin newspaper hailed the summit and said it expected "past mistakes to be overcome... by establishing diplomatic relations" which it said must be based on "respect, friendship and coordination."

Officials in Damascus insist Syria has not interfered in Lebanon since its troop withdrawal and has worked to reunify ranks in Beirut, pointing to the Doha power-sharing accord.

But Beirut's An-Nahar, reflecting the suspicions of Lebanon's anti-Syrian parliamentary majority, has voiced doubts over how Damascus will "manage the relations."

Arkansas Democratic leader dies after shooting

WASHINGTON - The chairman of the Democratic Party of Arkansas was killed on Wednesday by a gunman who barged into the party's state headquarters and opened fire, police and Democratic leaders said.

Bill Gwatney "was shot multiple times" in the upper body and died of his wounds a few hours later, Little Rock police department Lieutenant Terry Hastings said in a briefing aired by FOX News.

The killing of Gwatney, reportedly 48, left fellow Democratic leaders in shock less than two weeks before the party's national convention in the midst of a fierce White House battle.

"We are deeply saddened by the news that Bill Gwatney has passed away," former president Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary said in a joint statement. The couple lived for years in the Arkansas capital of Little Rock while Bill Clinton was governor and were close friends of Gwatney.

Police said the suspected shooter was also fatally wounded, after police exchanged gunfire with him following a high-speed chase into another county.

Gwatney was shot at least three times shortly before noon (1700 GMT) by a man who walked into the party headquarters near the state capitol building and asked to see the chairman, according to local media.

Police were reportedly alerted to the attack by a 911 emergency call from Gwatney's secretary who had dashed into a nearby florist shop. A witness there heard her tell police: "Help, our chairman's been shot," the Arkansas Times reported.

The shooting left the party's politicians and leaders deeply shaken less than two weeks before Democrats gather in Denver to officially anoint Barack Obama as their candidate for president in November's general election.

"This senseless tragedy comes as a shock to all of us," Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said in a statement issued before Gwatney was pronounced dead.

"Our thoughts and prayers go out to Chairman Gwatney and his family," Dean added.

In an earlier statement, Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton - Obama's main rival in the heated battle for the Democratic nomination - said they were "stunned and shaken by today's shooting" of Gwatney, whom they described as their "cherished friend and confidante."

Obama reacted swiftly to the shooting as well, saying he was "shocked and saddened" by the tragedy.

Gwatney was one of the party's nearly 800 so-called superdelegates, who are allowed to vote as they wish at the convention. During the nomination campaign Gwatney supported Clinton, who handily defeated Obama in the Arkansas primary.

Lieutenant Hastings said the motive for the shooting was unclear.

"That's something that we'll be looking into. Right now we don't have an answer for you on that," he said, adding that the suspect was not a former Gwatney employee.

Hastings said the suspect fled the scene in a pickup truck and was chased into Grant County some 40 kilometres south of Little Rock, where he was fatally shot.

The violent attack is the second in several months targeting the Democratic Party. In November a man claiming to be armed with a bomb took over US presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton's campaign office in the state of New Hampshire and held five people hostage for more than five hours before surrendering.

Attack on Lebanese army kills 14

TRIPOLI, Lebanon - A bomb blast targeting the Lebanese army killed nine soldiers and five civilians in the northern city of Tripoli on Wednesday in the deadliest attack in the troubled country in three years.

The bombing, which left a child among the dead, came just hours before President Michel Sleiman began a landmark visit to Syria and the day after Lebanon's new national unity cabinet won parliamentary approval.

At least 40 people were also wounded in the blast that ripped through a shopping street in the heart of the Mediterranean port city during morning rush hour, a security official said.

A child shoeshiner was among the 14 dead, the official said, adding that nine of those killed and many of the wounded were soldiers.

"My son! My son!," screamed one mother striking her chest at a Tripoli hospital after learning that her 22-year-old soldier son was dead.

It was the deadliest attack since ex-premier Rafiq Hariri and 22 other people were killed in a Beirut car bomb attack in February 2005.

It was also the worst bloodshed involving the army since a 15-week battle last year with the Al-Qaeda inspired Fatah al-Islam militia in a Palestinian refugee camp near Tripoli that left 400 people dead, including 168 soldiers.

The army said the bomb was planted in a bag at a military gathering point in the Masarif Street commercial district and exploded near a public bus carrying soldiers from the northern region of Akkar.

"The terrorist explosion directly targets the army and peaceful co-existence in the country," an army statement said.

The attack came a day after a national unity government formed by Prime Minister Fuad Siniora following 18 months of deadly tensions with the Hezbollah-led opposition, finally won a vote of confidence in parliament.

The crisis had pushed the country to the brink of a new civil war and was only ended by an Arab-brokered power-sharing agreement in May.

Sleiman, who was army chief until his election as president by MPs in May, branded the attack a "terrorist crime," a sentiment echoed by Syria.

"The army and security forces will not be terrorised by attacks and crimes that target it and civil society, and the history of the army attests to that," Sleiman said.

The security official said the bomb was packed with 20 kilogrammes of explosives, and the force of the blast blew the remains of some of the dead on to the roofs of nearby buildings.

Oussama Safa, head of the Lebanese Centre for Policy Studies, said the attack could have been one of a series he saw as retribution for the army's crushing of Fatah al-Islam last year.

Desperate families gathered at hospitals for news about their loved ones but were blocked by security from entering. One hospital official said identification was delayed because some bodies were mutilated beyond recognition.

Tripoli has been rocked by deadly violence in recent months.

In June and July, 23 people were killed in battles between Sunni Muslim supporters of Siniora and their Damascus-backed rivals from the Alawite community.

The fighting focused on the Sunni stronghold of Bab al-Tebbaneh and the mainly Alawite Jabal Mohsen district which are both a short distance from Masarif Street.

There has been tension between the two communities ever since Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war. Alawites are an offshoot of Shiite Islam and straddle the border into Syria whose President Bashar al-Assad is a follower of the faith.

The explosion came hours before Sleiman arrived in Damascus for a landmark summit with Assad where the two later announced diplomatic relations would be established for the first time.

"Syria staunchly denounces the criminal act perpetrated this morning in Tripoli that killed many innocent civilians," the Syrian foreign ministry said.

Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri said the timing of the bombing reflects efforts "to prevent the improvement of Lebanese-Syrian relations."

French President Nicolas Sarkozy condemned the "cowardly" attack and reaffirmed "unfailing support for Lebanon" in the fight against terrorism.

Arab League chief Amr Mussa said it was "aimed at complicating the security and political situation in Lebanon and hampering the launch of the new government."

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also condemned the attack saying it should not "hinder the positive steps" taken in returning Lebanon to normality, while Saudi Arabia's SPA state news agency quoted an unnamed official as slamming the blast as an "abhorrent terrorist crime."