Paris - French President Nicolas Sarkozy was to travel to Damascus later Tuesday for a two-day visit, the first voyage to Syria by a French head of state in four years.

The trip will include a summit meeting on the Mideast peace process on Thursday with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Turkish President Recep Tayyid Erdogan and the Emir of Qatar, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani.

Washington  - President George W Bush called Republican presidential hopeful John McCain the candidate who "understands the lessons" of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, according to excerpts released ahead of his address to the party convention Tuesday.

Bush was set to speak later Tuesday by satellite to convention delegates gathered in St Paul, Minnesota. He was originally to appear in person on Monday but cancelled the visit due to Hurricane Gustav's arrival on the Gulf Coast.

Moscow  - Russia escalated the war of words over the Georgian conflict Tuesday, calling the former Soviet republic's political leadership "bankrupt."

"President Mikheil Saakashvili no longer exists for us - he's a political corpse," said Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in an interview with Italian television RAI. The text of his comments was released by the Kremlin.

Medvedev emphasized Russia's willingness to help reconstruct in the two regions that were the source of the August conflict.

Damascus  - French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that "peace in the Middle East passes through France and Syria" and that his visit to Syria sent a friendship message to the Syrian people.

"Syria can present a significant help in solving issues in the Middle East," Sarkozy told the Syrian al-Watan daily Tuesday, on the eve of a high-profile visit to Damascus.

Washington  - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will travel to Libya this week in a further step of renewing relations between the two countries after decades of tension.

Rice will be the first secretary of state to visit Libya since 1953 and will meet with Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi after arriving from Portugal on the September 4-7 trip.

Rice's visit comes after the two countries agreed to establish a fund to compensate the families of the US victims of terrorist attacks involving the Libyan government, and after Tripoli abandoned weapons of mass destruction programmes in 2003.

Riga  - Three Baltic foreign ministers discussed Georgia during informal talk Tuesday in the seaside resort of Jurmala in Latvia.

Latvia's Maris Riekstins met with Estonia's Urmas Paet and Lithuania's Petras Vaitiekunas to discuss how Monday's European Union decisions could be implemented through a free trade agreement with Georgia, and easing visa restrictions for its nationals.

On Monday, the EU postponed talks with Russia until Moscow fulfills all points of the peace plan brokered by the EU's French presidency.