US governor Rod Blagojevich was thrown out of office without a single politician coming to his defence, brought down by a government-for-sale scandal that stretched from Chicago to Capitol Hill and turned the foul-mouthed politician into a national punchline.

AFGHANISTAN will postpone its presidential election until August 20, some four months later than the Constitution specifies, to give incoming US forces more time to stabilise the country’s most violent regions, the national election commission said yesterday.

Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich was impeached by furious colleagues who said he had turned state government into a “freak show”.

US politicians were today rushing to prevent the state governor charged with trying to sell President-elect Barack Obama’s Senate seat in a “political corruption crime spree” appointing someone to the post.

Five days from their first presidential debate, Democrat Barack Obama has climbed in the polls as Republican John McCain fumbled his response to a looming US economic cataclysm.