US campaign enters final weekend , US Presidential Election 2008

The two men seeking to become president of the United States of America are beginning one final weekend of campaigning before election day.

Democratic candidate Barack Obama still holds a poll lead, but one new survey suggests his lead over Republican John McCain is narrowing slightly.

Mr McCain holds rallies in Virginia and Pennsylvania before appearing on TV show Saturday Night Live.

Mr Obama campaigns in Nevada, Colorado and bellwether state Missouri.

Both men are visiting states seen as crucial to their chances of winning Tuesday's election.

Analysts say Mr McCain needs to win in Pennsylvania - where he is behind in state polls - to have a chance. Polls in Virginia, which voted Republican in 2004, show Mr Obama has pulled ahead of his rival there.

Mr Obama also leads Mr McCain in Nevada and Colorado, both of which voted for George W Bush four years ago.

Missouri is seen as a vital state to win because of its record of backing the eventual winner in almost every election since 1904. Mr Obama leads in Missouri by a very narrow margin, polls show.

Mr Obama is extending his campaign advertising into traditionally Republican territory over the weekend, running advertisements in Arizona, his rival's home state, as well as Georgia and North Dakota.

'Coming back'

As the candidates focus on battleground states last-minute preparations are being made for Tuesday's vote, the BBC's North America editor Justin Webb reports.

Polling officials are expecting some 130 million Americans to vote - a turnout which would prove higher than in any election since 1960.

Security is of most concern in Chicago, Mr Obama's base, where up to one million people are expected to turn out in the city centre for what they hope will be a White House victory for the Illinois senator.

But Mr McCain is remaining defiant, playing on his status as the underdog and telling supporters on Friday night that he would still make a late run to victory.

He was boosted by the support of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who gave a rousing speech in the swing state of Ohio.

The ex-film star said Mr McCain was a real "action hero" who had spent more time as a prisoner of war than Barack Obama had served in the US Senate.

"We're closing, my friends, and we're going to win in Ohio," Mr McCain told the Ohio crowd.

"We're a few points down but we're coming back and we're coming back strong."

In a new poll Reuters/Zogby poll released on Saturday Mr Obama's lead was down to 5%, at 49% to Mr McCain's 45%. The gap narrowed from 7% in the previous survey.

Mr Obama warned supporters to expect a hard fight until the very end of the campaign.

"We are four days away from changing the United States of America," he said

Our correspondent says that while the McCain camp claim their candidate is just four points behind in the national polls, his problem is that in many states that he has to win, he is behind.

No Republican has ever been elected without winning Ohio, Justin Webb adds, and John McCain appears to be five points adrift there at the moment.

E-mail error ends up on road sign!

The English is clear enough to lorry drivers - but the Welsh reads "I am not in the office at the moment. Please send any work to be translated."

When officials asked for the Welsh translation of a road sign, they thought the reply was what they needed.

Unfortunately, the e-mail response to Swansea council said in Welsh: "I am not in the office at the moment. Please send any work to be translated".

So that was what went up under the English version which barred lorries from a road near a supermarket.

"When they're proofing signs, they should really use someone who speaks Welsh," said journalist Dylan Iorwerth.

Swansea Council became lost in translation when it was looking to halt heavy goods vehicles using a road near an Asda store in the Morriston area

All official road signs in Wales are bilingual, so the local authority e-mailed its in-house translation service for the Welsh version of: "No entry for heavy goods vehicles. Residential site only".

The reply duly came back and officials set the wheels in motion to create the large sign in both languages.

The notice went up and all seemed well - until Welsh speakers began pointing out the embarrassing error.

Welsh-language magazine Golwg was promptly sent photographs of the offending sign by a number of its readers.
Site of wrongly translated sign
The sign was lost in translation - and is now missing from the roadside

The sign was lost in translation - and is now missing from the roadside

Managing editor Mr Iorwerth said: "We've been running a series of these pictures over the past months.

"They're circulating among Welsh speakers because, unfortunately, it's all too common that things are not just badly translated, but are put together by people who have no idea about the language.

"It's good to see people trying to translate, but they should really ask for expert help.

"Everything these days seems to be written first in English and then translated.

"Ideally, they should be written separately in both languages."

A council spokeswoman said: "Our attention was drawn to the mistranslation of a sign at the junction of Clase Road and Pant-y-Blawd Road.

Other confusing signs

"We took it down as soon as we were made aware of it and a correct sign will be re-instated as soon as possible."

The blunder is not the only time Welsh has been translated incorrectly or put in the wrong place:

• Cyclists between Cardiff and Penarth in 2006 were left confused by a bilingual road sign telling them they had problems with an "inflamed bladder".

• In the same year, a sign for pedestrians in Cardiff reading 'Look Right' in English read 'Look Left' in Welsh.

• In 2006, a shared-faith school in Wrexham removed a sign which translated the Welsh for staff as "wooden stave".

• Football fans at a FA Cup tie between Oldham and Chasetown - two English teams - in 2005 were left scratching their heads after a Welsh-language hoarding was put up along the pitch. It should have gone to a match in Merthyr Tydfil.

• People living near an Aberdeenshire building site in 2006 were mystified when a sign apologising for the inconvenience was written in Welsh as well as English.

Dig finds camp of 'real Crusoe', Robinson Crusoe

02-November, 2008, BBC News--Archaeologists have unearthed evidence of the campsite of a marooned sailor who is said to have inspired the fictional castaway Robinson Crusoe.

The findings, carried in the journal Post-Medieval Archaeology, follow digs on a Pacific island west of Chile.

Daniel Defoe is believed to have based Crusoe on Alexander Selkirk, a Scotsman rescued from the island in 1709.

Postholes suggest the sailor built two shelters near a stream, with a look-out point to watch for approaching ships.

The island used to be known as Aguas Buenas, but has been renamed Robinson Crusoe Island after the character created by Defoe in his 18th Century classic.

The team also unearthed a pair of navigational dividers from the period, which they believe belonged to Selkirk.

The captain of the ship which found Selkirk referred to a number of mathematical instruments in his possession.

He also spoke of Selkirk shooting wild goats to help his survival on the Pacific island, although there were no relics of that activity.

David Caldwell, from National Museums Scotland, said: "The evidence uncovered at Aguas Buenas corroborates the stories of Alexander Selkirk's stay on the island and provides a fascinating insight into his existence there.

"We hope that Aguas Buenas, with careful management, may be a site enjoyed by the increasing number of tourists searching for the inspiration behind Defoe's masterpiece."

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