London - Britain's leading Financial Times newspaper Monday threw its weight behind US presidential candidate Barack Obama, saying the campaign had shown that the Democrat was the "right choice" to lead the US.

"At the outset, we were not so confident. Mr Obama is inexperienced. His policies are a blend of good, not so good and downright bad," said the newspaper.

But the public had "learned a lot" about Obama and the Republican cndidate, John McCain.

The double slaying of singer/actress Jennifer Hudson’s mother and brother has seen support pouring in from all quarters, from Democratic presidential hopeful - Barack Obama to most everyone in Hollywood.  Hudson shares her hometown of Chicago hometown with Barack, on a personal request from Obama’s camp, sang the national anthem during the Democratic National Convention in August, when the party formally declared him to be the party’s nominee for the post of President of the USA.

Washington, Oct 27: Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has opened up an eight-point lead over his rival John McCain in Virginia, and the Illinois Senator is entering the final week of the campaign with several core advantages when it comes to turning out his supporters.

According to a new Washington Post poll, Virginia voters think that Obama is the candidate who would do more to bring needed change to Washington, who understands the economic challenges people are facing and who is the more honest and trustworthy of the two rivals.

Orlando, Fla, Oct 27 : Barack Obama’s campaign has pulled the plug on a Florida news station’s access to the presidential candidate after an anchorwoman angered Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden with uncomfortable questions during a satellite interview.

WFTV-Channel 9 anchorwoman Barbara West quizzed Biden about Obama’s intention to “spread the wealth,” referring to the Democratic White House contender’s comments to “Joe the Plumber.”

Washington - The race for the US presidency was entering the backstretch Monday as Democrat Barack Obama pushed to keep Republican John McCain on the defensive in states long regarded as Republican strongholds - like Virginia and Florida.

Senator Obama was to deliver a speech in the hotly contested manufacturing-intensive Rust Belt state of Ohio that his campaign called his "closing argument."

Moscow - John McCain's US presidential campaign begged at the enemy's door this week when a wayward letter reached the desk of Russia's UN envoy Vitaly Churkin in New York asking for a donation.

The Russians wouldn't spare a ruble for the Republican, and sent McCain a sardonic message saying that unlike the United States, the Russian government does "not finance political activity in foreign countries."

In fact, Russian officials aren't banking on either McCain or Democratic nominee Barack Obama mending relations upturned by Russia's recent war with US-ally Georgia.