This just on the BBC

Cheney, Obama 'distant cousins'

Theymay be polar opposites politically but US Vice-President Dick Cheneyand Democratic candidate Barack Obama are related, Mr Cheney's wifesays.

Lynne Cheneysaid she had discovered while doing family research for a new book thather husband and the Illinois senator were eighth cousins.

She said she traced a common ancestor of the two men to be a 17th century immigrant from France.

She described the connection as "amazing".

"This is such anamazing American story that one ancestor... could be responsible downthe family line for lives that have taken such different and variedpaths."

According to MrsCheney's spokeswoman, Mr Obama is distantly related to Mareen Duvall,whose son Samuel married the granddaughter of Mr Cheney's ancestor,also called Richard Cheney.

Mr Obama's spokesman, Bill Burton, responded to the news by saying: "Every family has a black sheep."

Mr Cheney, thebrooding neo-conservative closely associated with the decision toinvade Iraq, has little else in common with Mr Obama.

Mr Obama, theson of a Kenyan man and a white woman from Kansas, has earned epithetslike "rock star" because of his popularity among young Democrats, and areputation as a liberal because of his voting record in the Senate