Democrats primed for spectacular finale

Barack Obama will Thursday summon Americans to join his crusade for political change, as he claims his place in history in a dazzling finale to the Democratic convention.

The Illinois senator will formally accept his nomination as the first African-American major party White House candidate before more than 70,000 people crammed into an open-air football stadium in Colorado.

Historic echoes will be everywhere: the speech will be taking place on the 45th anniversary of the day when civil rights icon Martin Luther King envisaged an elusive future of racial equality in his "I have a Dream" speech.

Against a classically-themed backdrop and with fireworks primed to go off after his closing line, Obama will set course for a general election showdown with Republican John McCain in November which polls show is a dead heat.

While the evening will be a spectacular affair, Obama knows he must try to reach into the living rooms of American voters struggling to make ends meet amid an economic crunch, and who have turned against the Iraq war.

Popular Malaysian political website blocked: government

Malaysia on Thursday defended blocking access to a prominent political website that has attacked top leaders, saying it had ignored warnings against publishing "slanderous" articles.

Malaysia's media is tightly controlled by the government, and it has expressed frustration over its inability to rein in Internet news portals which have become popular alternative news sources.

The Star newspaper said the government-backed communications watchdog had ordered all 21 Internet providers in the country to block the Malaysia Today website, whose founder has already been charged with sedition.

"I think we don't intend to curtail people's freedom and right to give information and debate," Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar told reporters.

"But when you publish content that is libellous, defamatory and slanderous to other people I think it is only natural we take action," he said.

"So many warnings and opportunities have been given and it is not heeded, so I am sure they have exercised their authority well under the law."

Raja Petra Kamaruddin, founder and editor of the Malaysia Today website, confirmed that access to his website had been blocked but said a mirror site had been established with a foreign provider.

"I will fight the government action all the way. Their action will not stop me from writing," he said, promising to challenge the shutdown in court.

Raja Petra is already facing a sedition charge and a defamation suit after linking Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak and his wife to the sensational murder of a Mongolian woman.

Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders ranks Malaysia 124 out of 169 on its worldwide press freedom index, and says the main media are "often compelled to ignore or to play down the many events organised by the opposition".

The government has previously threatened that bloggers could be punished under draconian internal security laws which provide for detention without trial.

Anwar's Return

Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's political future hinged on a by-election this week, which he won by a landslide victory.

Anwar Ibrahim's tumultuous career has seen him rise to the peak of political power, only to be beaten and jailed, and then return to prominence as the leader of Malaysia's resurgent opposition.

This crucial vote will return him to parliament after a decade long absence.
The March elections handed the opposition control of five states and a third of parliamentary seats. Ibrahim has to persuade 30 lawmakers to switch sides from the ruling coalition in order to gain the majority needed to form a new government.