Rome - Pope Benedict XVI on Friday morning departed from Rome's Fiumcino airport and headed for France for a four day visit - his first there as pontiff.

Benedict left Rome on an Alitalia Airbus A321 jet at 9:15 am (0715 GMT) and was expected to arrive at Paris' Orly airport around two hours later, an airport spokesman said.

The trip, Benedict's 10th abroad since his 2005 election, includes talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The French president, together with his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, was scheduled to welcome the pontiff upon his arrival at Orly.

Washington  - Alaska Governor Sarah Palin on Thursday said she was confident that she could take over the presidency if called upon, in her first interview since accepting the nomination to run as vice president with Republican nominee John McCain.

Palin, governor since 2006, was little-known nationally until she was named two weeks ago as McCain's running mate. She has faced questions from Democrats about whether she has the experience - especially in foreign policy - to be vice president to the 72-year- old McCain.

New York  - Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain cast aside politics on Thursday to pay their respects to the victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks, appearing together at the former site of the World Trade Center in New York.

Democrat Obama and Republican McCain shook hands and quietly chatted as the walked down the ramp leading to "Ground Zero," where ceremonies had taken place to mark the seventh anniversary of the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.

Washington  - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will visit Washington later this month as the US Congress begins to contemplate the approval of the landmark nuclear deal between the two countries.

President George W Bush formally submitted the nuclear cooperation agreement to Congress late Wednesday as he rushes to complete the deal before he leaves office in January.

Caracas  - The Venezuelan government on Thursday accused the United States of sponsoring a plan to assassinate President Hugo Chavez, hours after he ordered an investigation into a military conspiracy to overthrow him.

Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said Caracas had no doubt of Washington's involvement in the plot and would file formal complaints against the United States in international fora.

"As investigations move on we will get to see to what extent (the United States) was involved," Maduro said.

New York  - The UN Security Council on Thursday condemned in the "strongest terms" the attack in Lebanon that killed Saleh Aridi, a member of the Lebanese Democratic Party.

The council urged the Beirut government to bring before justice the attackers and those who planned or financed the assassination. The attack on Wednesday injured several other people.