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2008-06-08

Senator Hillary Clinton has formally given up her bid to be the first woman in the White House. At a rally to announce she was suspending her campaign for the Democratic Party nomination, Mrs. Clinton endorsed her once bitter rival Barack Obama and urged her supporters to work for him.

"When I started this race, I intended to win back the White House and make sure we have a president who puts our country back on the path to peace, prosperity and progress, and that's exactly what we're going to do by ensuring that Barack Obama walks through the doors of the Oval Office on January 20, 2009.

For his part, Barack Obama, paid tribute to, what he called, Mrs. Clinton's historic campaign. He said the Democratic Party was stronger and he was a better candidate as a result of the long contest between them. He predicted Hillary Clinton would be at the forefront of the election battle ahead. The Obama campaign has put a link on its website encouraging his supporters to e-mail her and thank her.

According to the Zimbabwe's High Court that the opposition Movement for Democratic Change can hold campaign rallies, overturning a police decision to ban them. A lawyer for the MDC said the judge had ordered the police not to interrupt its rallies. Observers say that previous court rulings have been ignored by the authorities who repeatedly prevented campaigning by the opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

Leaders of northern and southern Sudan say they have agreed on, what they call, a roadmap to defuse a dispute over the oil-rich region of Abyei, which brought them to the brink of hostilities. A southern Sudanese minister said the agreement could involve international arbitration and must be signed by President Omar al-Bashir and his southern counterpart Salva Kiir.

The opposition in Venezuela has held a protest march over a government decision to bar opposition candidates from standing in local elections planned for later this year. Hundreds took part in the march in the capital Caracas. Nearly 400 opposition candidates have been accused of corruption by the Venezuelan authorities and declared ineligible to take part in the elections. As James Ingham reports from Caracas.

Campaigning is already underway here in regional and local elections planned for later this year. But a number of candidates will be unable to stand for office. Venezuela's Comptroller General, the country's top anti-corruption official, has ruled that 400 people are ineligible as they are accused of various wrongdoings. 80% of them are from the opposition. They all denied the charges and instead accused the government of using this political maneuver to block the opposition.

The protestors say the government's move is unconstitutional and violates a person's right to be able to vote for whom they like.

World News from the BBC.

The Guatemalan government says it plans to deploy 500 troops on the border with Mexico to combat drug trafficking and related violence. The spokesman for the Interior Ministry said the force would be ready within three months. The deployment was proposed as part of an American counter-drug plan for Mexico and Central America which still awaits approval by the US Congress.

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has won support at an international meeting of Muslim scholars for his plan for dialogue between Muslims, Christians and Jews. The King put forward the proposal at a three-day gathering in Mecca of some 500 Muslims from around the world. Andrew Bolton reports.

There aren't many firm details of exactly what the plan entails. What is known though is that it calls for conferences, forums and discussion groups to which religious leaders, academics and the media will be invited. When and ,indeed, precisely where all this will happen is not yet clear. Nonetheless, the announcement is something of a breakthrough. The King has been keen to pursue interfaith talks as a way of improving his conservative kingdom's international image.

Police in Kosovo have arrested a man on suspicion of burglary at the home of the Prime Minister Hashim Thaci. They say an intruder was spotted by security guards on the second floor balcony of Mr. Thaci's house in the capital Pristina on Friday night. Shooting broke out when the guards challenged the intruder. Mr. Thaci was not at home at the time, although his family was, and no one was injured.

The first two matches of the European Football Championships have been played with the co-host, Switzerland losing 1-0 to the Czech Republic in the opening game. In the other match, Portugal beat Turkey 2-0. Switzerland and Austria are hosting the three-week tournament which the football authorities say could generate revenues of nearly two billion dollars.

BBC News.