US SENATE Republican Leader Bill Frist yesterday called for the Bush administration to stop a deal permitting a United Arab Emirates company to take over six American seaports, upping the ante on a fight that several congressmen, governors and mayors are waging with the White House.

The wife of an American governor has apologised for saying she wanted to shoot singer Britney Spears.

HURRICANE Isabel left 15 people dead and knocked out power to more than 4.5 million people before weakening into a tropical depression yesterday as it raced toward Canada swamping some tidal communities along Chesapeake Bay.