TIJUANA, Mexico - Massive gunbattles broke out between suspected drug traffickers who fired at each other while speeding down heavily populated streets of this violent border city early Saturday, killing 13 people and wounding nine.

All of the dead were believed to be drug traffickers, possibly rival members of the same cartel who were trying to settle scores, said Rommel Moreno, the attorney general of Baja California state, where Tijuana is located.

“Evidently this is a confrontation between gangs,” Moreno told reporters.

Eight suspects and one federal police officer were injured in the pre-dawn shootings, none gravely, said Agustin Perez Aguilar, a spokesman for the state public safety department. The suspects are being held on suspicion of weapons possession among other possible charges.

Police recovered 21 vehicles, many with bullet holes or U.S. license plates; a total of 54 guns; and more than 1,500 spent shell casings at various points in the city where the battles broke out, Perez Aguilar said.

At one point, the alleged traffickers fired at one another as their sport utility vehicles sped down a busy six-lane boulevard lined with restaurants, car repair shops, medical offices and strip malls.

Bullet holes could be seen in the walls of a factory building and on the perimeter wall of a housing complex along the road, but no bystander deaths were reported. It was not clear how long the gunbattles lasted.

A mall security guard who did not want to give his name for fear of reprisals said he heard hundreds of gunshots fired, some of which passed near him.

“I hit the ground,” the guard said. When he got up again, he said he saw bullet holes in the wall behind him, a dead man lying in a pool of blood and 11 abandoned, bullet-ridden SUVs on the street.

The first shootout claimed seven victims. Three subsequent gunbattles — one outside a hospital — claimed five more, police said. The body of a man police believe to be the 13th victim turned up at a city hospital.

Tijuana, a sprawling metropolis just across the border from San Diego, California, is pervaded by frequent violence, much of it blamed on drug cartels battling for control of lucrative trafficking routes. The city is home to the Arellano-Felix drug cartel.

In January, eight people died in a gunbattle at a Tijuana safe-house apparently used by drug hit men to hold kidnapped rivals. In that confrontation, hit men holed up inside the house battled police and soldiers with automatic weapons for three hours.

NEW YORK - Things were going so normally, so predictably at Saturday’s NFL draft. All six players the league invited to the festivities hit the stage in the first half-dozen selections. Yawn. Then came the wake-up call: trade after trade after trade, affecting 14 of the 31 first-round picks.

At one point, five of seven selections had been bartered. A little while later, it was another five of six.

Jake Long just sat back and smiled — right from the outset.

The Michigan tackle already had signed with the Miami Dolphins as the top overall choice. He inked a five-year contract worth $57.75 million, $30 million of it guaranteed.

“I was a little more relaxed just knowing where I was going and just being here to make it official,” Long said. “That solidified it all. It was just breathtaking to walk out there and shake the commissioner’s hand and hold up that jersey. It was a dream come true.”

Chris Long of Virginia, Matt Ryan of Boston College, Darren McFadden of Arkansas, Glenn Dorsey of national champion LSU and Vernon Gholston of Ohio State didn’t have to wait long to walk under the floodlights, either. It was the first time since the NFL began inviting multiple prospects in 1993 and they all went at the very beginning of the proceedings.

So unlike last year, when Notre Dame’s Brady Quinn had to wait hours to be chosen.

“It’s great to see the green room empty,” said defensive end Long, who went second to St. Louis.

“It’s a blessing to be here, they only ask six guys to come,” DE/LB Gholston added. “Funny how it worked out, teams made good selections.”

After St. Louis took the son of Pro Football Hall of Famer Howie Long, Ryan, who could solve the quarterback problems in Atlanta, went to the Falcons.

Following a long-standing tradition, Oakland went for the gamebreaker in running back McFadden, prompting the fans to boo loudly. Many wanted the two-time Heisman Trophy runner-up to fall to the New York Jets at No. 6.

All-American defensive tackle Dorsey was taken fifth overall by the Chiefs. Dorsey patted his heart as he held up a No. 1 Chiefs red jersey that was so small he, frankly, could never fit into it.

“There was a lot of emotion,” he said. “I told myself I was not going to cry, but you get the tears start coming and you can’t control that.”

The Jets wound up with Gholston of Ohio State, who must now learn to play in the 3-4 alignment the team prefers.

“I’m looking forward to going up against Jake Long twice a year,” he said of what will be a revival of their Big Ten rivalry.

At the seventh overall spot, the bartering began, and never really stopped. Eight of the next 15 picks were involved in trades.

New Orleans moved up to No. 7 to get defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis of Southern California, who was recruited to the school by the Saints’ new defensive line coach, Ed Orgeron. New Orleans gave up the No. 10 overall spot to New England, and its third-round slot, and got a fifth-rounder along with the chance to take Ellis.

Then Jacksonville moved up from 26th overall to eighth, where it grabbed Florida DE Derrick Harvey. The Jaguars gave the Ravens four picks to get to that spot.

Everything moved at a good pace after the NFL cut the first round from 15 minutes per pick to 10. The first round took 3 hours, 30 minutes, a significant improvement over the five-hour marathons of previous years.

The Dolphins used only a few seconds to hand in their card. The Rams and Falcons didn’t take much longer, but the Raiders used almost their entire time, as did Kansas City.

Jake Long became the first top overall pick from Michigan since Tom Harmon in 1941. He was accompanied by several family members onstage as he donned a Dolphins hat.

Then came another Long, who proudly held up a Rams jersey and pointed to the fans in the upper deck of the hall. Chris Long is the second straight defensive lineman selected in the opening round by St. Louis, following Nebraska’s Adam Carriker last year.

“I knew I was in the running, but all the guys here were great players and they could have chosen anyone,” Chris Long said. “It came down to needs.”

Ryan has an open course to starting in Atlanta, with Michael Vick in jail on dogfighting charges, and only journeymen Chris Redman and Joey Harrington to compete with.

“I have to go down and gain the respect of my teammates, do everything I can do to get on the field next year,” Ryan said.

Asked about replacing Vick in Atlanta and whether he expected to play or watch as a rookie, Ryan added: “I’ll go down there to do all I can to be successful, try to not be distracted, try to win. … There’s not a right or wrong way to do it. I want to get there and learn the offense so I have a chance to play.”

McFadden joins a crowded backfield in Oakland, where Justin Fargas recently signed a new contract and Dominic Rhodes and LaMont Jordan are on the roster.

“The time I talked to the Raiders coaching staff, they tell me they’re missing a playmaker from their offense,” McFadden said. “I feel I can add to that with my big-play ability.”

Dorsey will be a building block for the Chiefs, who are revamping their roster this offseason. Gholston could do the same for the Jets, who have lacked a true pass-rushing threat since trading away John Abraham.

Cincinnati took USC linebacker Keith Rivers ninth, then the Patriots selected another linebacker, Jerod Mayo of Tennessee. Buffalo went for Troy CB Leodis McKelvin and Denver took Boise State tackle Ryan Clady.

Carolina, looking for a complement to DeAngelo Williams, selected Oregon running back Jonathan Stewart, then dealt with Philadelphia to get Pitt tackle Jeff Otah in the 19th position. The Panthers gave up next year’s first-rounder in that trade.

Chicago took Vanderbilt tackle Chris Williams for its spotty offensive line. Chris Long’s teammate, guard/tackle Branden Albert, went 15th to Kansas City after the Chiefs traded up with Detroit. Two slots later, tackle Gosder Cherilus of Boston College went to the Lions, prompting some in the audience to chant “FIRE MILLEN” in reference to Lions president Matt Millen.

The first player from the former Division I-AA went 16th when Arizona selected CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie of Tennessee State. At No. 18, another small college guy was taken when Baltimore traded up to get quarterback Joe Flacco of Delaware with a pick Houston had owned.

After cornerback Aqib Talib, who reportedly tested positive for marijuana while at Kansas, was taken by Tampa Bay, the Falcons moved up to 21st overall. They chose Southern California tackle Sam Baker, son of Arena Football League commissioner David Baker, to help protect Ryan.

Dallas, which came into Saturday with two first-round picks, used No. 22 for McFadden’s backfield mate at Arkansas, Felix Jones, who also can return kicks. That began a run on runners, with Illinois‘ Rashard Mendenhall going to Pittsburgh and speedy Chris Johnson of East Carolina taken by Tennessee at 24.

The Cowboys then traded up three spots with Seattle to get cornerback Mike Jenkins of South Florida, regarded by some as the best defensive back in the draft.

In all, 14 of the 31 first-round selections — New England forfeited its own spot because of the Spygate scandal, but had a pick acquired last year from San Francisco — were involved in trades. The Jets finished off the swapping by moving into Green Bay’s No. 30 slot for Purdue tight end Dustin Keller, bringing a chorus of boos.

The Super Bowl champion Giants took Kenny Phillips of Miami with the final pick of the opening round. Phillips was the only safety selected in the round.

For the first time since 1990 and only the second time since 1967, there were no wide receivers taken in the first round.

Several renowned college players went in the second round, which began with Miami taking Clemson DE Phillip Merling. Houston’s Donnie Avery was next, the first wideout chosen, by St. Louis.

On consecutive picks toward the end of Round 2, Baltimore grabbed Rutgers star running back Ray Rice, Green Bay selected Louisville QB Brian Brohm, and Miami got Michigan QB Chad Henne.

NEW YORK - Hundreds of angry people marched through Harlem on Saturday after the Rev. Al Sharpton promised to “close this city down” to protest the acquittals of three police detectives in the 50-shot barrage that killed a groom on his wedding day and wounded two friends.

“We strategically know how to stop the city so people stand still and realize that you do not have the right to shoot down unarmed, innocent civilians,” Sharpton told an overflow crowd of several hundred people at his National Action Network office in the historically black Manhattan neighborhood. “This city is going to deal with the blood of Sean Bell.”

Sharpton was joined by the family of 23-year-old Sean Bell — a black man — and a friend of Bell who was wounded in the 2006 shooting outside a Queens strip club. Two of the three officers charged were also black.

The rally at Sharpton’s office was followed by a 20-block march down Malcolm X Boulevard and then across 125th Street, Harlem’s main business thoroughfare, where some bystanders yelled out “Kill the police!”

Fifty of the marchers carried white placards bearing big black numbers for each of the police bullets fired at Bell and his friends.

Sharpton urged people to return for a meeting this coming week “to plan the day that we will close this city down” with the kind of “massive civil disobedience” once led by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

“They never accused Sean Bell of doing anything. Then why is he dead?” Sharpton asked, his voice roaring with anger. Authorities “have shown now that they will not hold police accountable. Well, guess what? If you won’t, we will!”

“Shut it down! Shut it down!” the crowd chanted, standing up and applauding wildly.

Sharpton didn’t say exactly how they would protest the acquittals of the officers who fired the 50 shots. He said Bell’s supporters could demonstrate all over the city, from Wall Street to the home of Justice Arthur Cooperman, who on Friday acquitted the three detectives after a nonjury trial.

Sitting behind Sharpton as he spoke were Bell’s parents, his sister and Nicole Paultre Bell, who took her fiance’s name after his death.

“The justice system let me down,” Paultre Bell told the crowd in a soft voice. “April 25, 2008: They killed Sean all over again. That’s what it felt like to us.”

It was her first public comment since she stormed out of a courtroom Friday after the NYPD detectives were cleared in Bell’s killing as he left his bachelor party.

One of Bell’s companions, Joseph Guzman, also spoke briefly on Saturday, saying: “We’ve got a long fight.”

WASHINGTON - The electoral road to the White House favors Democrats this fall — either Barack Obama or Hillary Rodham Clinton — and has Republican John McCain playing defense to thwart a presidential power shift.

A downtrodden economy, the war in Iraq and a public call for change have created an Electoral College outlook and a political environment filled with extraordinary opportunity for the Democrats and enormous challenge for the GOP nominee-in-waiting.

Both parties count on victory in dozens of states that long have voted their way. The competition to reach the 270 electoral votes needed to win is expected to play out primarily in 14 states. All but one saw the greatest action in 2004. The exception is Virginia, a longtime Republican stronghold where Democrats have made inroads.

Eight of the states went for President Bush four years ago, including the crown jewels Ohio and Florida. Six, including big-prize Pennsylvania, voted for Democrat John Kerry. In the battlegrounds, far more electoral votes, 97, are up for grabs for Democrats than the 69 available for McCain to go after. Twice as many of the closest states — decided by 2 or fewer percentage points — voted Republican in 2004; they include New Mexico and Iowa, which the GOP won by 1 point.

Both sides argue that their candidates can expand the playing field by making more states competitive than in previous elections. But they likely will only spend time and money to test that theory once they feel confident about higher priority states.

“This is going to be a tough campaign. I have no illusions how hard we have to work to win,” McCain says, a sobering assessment of a Republican’s chances when most voters say the country is on the wrong track under a GOP president.

Conversely, Democrats exude confidence that Nov. 4 will break their way — even as they continue their nomination slugfest.

“I have every reason to believe we’re going to have a Democratic president,” Clinton argues. Obama declares: “We will beat John McCain in November. You can take that to the bank!”

Recent polls, however, show McCain competing strongly with both Clinton and Obama in hypothetical matchups, and Republicans and Democrats envision a close race.

In 2004, Bush won 286 electoral votes to 251 for Kerry. This year’s Democratic nominee must triumph in all the states Kerry won, and pick up 19 more votes to prevail — or come up with another game plan to reach the magic number. McCain, for his part, must fend off Democratic challenges to hang on to the GOP advantage.

DEMOCRATIC OPPORTUNITIES:

Of the 14 battlegrounds, Bush won eight with 97 electoral votes. Half of those states were decided by only 1 or 2 percentage points, and all were under 10 points. Five have Democratic governors this year. Electoral votes are in parentheses.

Three Western states — Colorado (9), Nevada (5) and New Mexico (5) — appear obvious targets for Democrats given their gains in the region, sharp population growth and large numbers of swing-voting Hispanics. But McCain, a four-term senator from Arizona, does well among those voters, too; his Senate support for an eventual path to citizenship for illegal immigrants could help.

To the east, Iowa (7) holds promise for the Democrats; Republicans narrowly put it into their column in 2004 after years of Democratic dominance. Both Obama and Clinton competed here during the primary. McCain’s opposition to ethanol subsidies complicate his chances, nor is he a favorite of evangelicals. Though less likely to change hands, Missouri (11) is a perennial battleground.

McCain also must defend the two vote-rich prizes that decided the past two elections.

Ohio (20), a bellwether that tipped the race to Bush in 2004, may be poised for a switch, with a rash of job losses, high numbers of Iraq casualties and a series of Republican statewide political defeats in 2006, including the governor.

Florida (27), which put Bush in the White House in 2000 and voted for him again in 2004, will certainly be hard-fought, given its electoral treasure chest. Its demographics are tilting more Republican, though, and Obama has fared poorly in the primaries among Jewish and Hispanic voters. Clinton may have a better shot.

Virginia (13) is a case where Obama, who is black, might play stronger than Clinton because of the state’s large black population. The state moves into the competitive category given Democratic gains fueled by the growing Washington suburbs. Virginia also is home to large communities of military veterans who may have an affinity for McCain, a former Navy pilot who spent more than five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

REPUBLICAN OPPORTUNITIES:

Kerry won six of the hard-fought states offering 69 electoral votes that McCain will try to put in the GOP column. All of those were decided by under 5 percentage points. Most have Democratic governors as well as long histories as swing states.

In the upper Midwest, Minnesota (10) has a quirky independent streak that presents an opening for McCain. It also has a Republican governor and will host the GOP’s national convention. Wisconsin (10) and Michigan (17) have high numbers of Reagan Democrats that McCain could attract. But voters in all three states are reeling from economic woes, and that works in the Democrats’ favor.

New Hampshire (4) fell to Kerry by a razor-thin margin four years ago and, Democrats captured two House seats two years later. But McCain has a close bond with the state that made him in his first presidential primary in 2000, and saved him this year.

It’s been 20 years since Pennsylvania (21) voted Republican. Further complicating McCain’s chances: The state’s economy is bad and many Pennsylvanians have died in Iraq, the war he staunchly supports. Still, conservative swaths that are home to right-leaning Democrats could give McCain an opening. As usual, the Philadelphia suburbs figure to be pivotal.

Oregon (7) has become more competitive in recent elections, but Democrats have won it in each of the last five. McCain hopes his moderate image and support for curbing climate change will tip the state to Republicans.

WILD-CARDS:

Beyond the core states, several others are worth watching.

If Clinton wins the Democratic nomination, Arkansas will certainly be contested. It has voted Republican in back-to-back elections but her husband, a former governor there, carried it twice. West Virginia (5), too, could be a target given that Bill Clinton won it twice and it’s home to a large number of the working-class voters she attracts.

Should Obama be the nominee, Democrats say they hope to put solid Southern GOP states in play, those with large black populations. Among them: North Carolina (15) and Georgia (15), and possibly even Louisiana (9) and Mississippi . But these are unlikely targets unless the Democrats think the election is in hand.

Democrats also say they may look at Montana (3), which has a Democratic governor, and Kentucky , which twice voted for Bill Clinton. But they’re also long-shots.

McCain should hold his home state of Arizona (10) despite Democratic threats to play there. He sees potential opportunities in Democratic-leaning states on both coasts because of his appeal to voters across the political spectrum. These include Washington (11) and Maine (4), and, perhaps, even New Jersey (15) and Delaware (3). McCain also talks big about California (55) but the last Republican to win there was George H.W. Bush in 1988.

MIAMI (AFP) — FBI agents on Friday said they were investigating the abduction of a 26 year-old airplane pilot in the southern state of Florida.

The pilot, identified as Robert Wiles, was kidnapped April 1 at the Lakeland Linder regional airport, near the central Florida city of Tampa, Federal Bureau of Investigations agents said at a press conference with local media.

Wiles is in charge of business affairs at a family company that maintains and services airplanes, the Tampa Tribune newspaper reported on its Internet website.

“We have a ransom situation here. In the United States, kidnappings for ransom are very rare,” said FBI spokesman David Couvertier.

Three NYC police officers have been found not guilty on charges relating to the shooting of an unarmed black man killed in a hail of bullets on his wedding day.Sean Bell, 23, was shot, along with two friends, after a bachelor party at a strip club in the city in November 2006.

50 bullets were fired at him. He was unarmed.

A New York State Supreme Court judge cleared two officers of manslaughter and other charges and a third of reckless endangerment in the death.

After the verdict, loud sobs were heard in the courtroom. Outside, about 200 demonstrators angrily yelled at television cameras.

‘They’re murderers, criminals, and they are going to rot in hell where they belong,’ one man shouted.

The case has generated outrage in New York’s black community, and police prepared for potential unrest with the announcement of the verdict.

However, officials said they did not expect violence because numerous demonstrations against the perceived police brutality had remained peaceful.

The detectives, Mike Oliver, Marc Cooper and Gescard Isnora, waived their right to a jury trial and decided to have the judge decide guilt or innocence.

Defence lawyers said jurors in the borough of Queens were likely to be biased against the policemen due to the intense media coverage the case has generated.

State Supreme Court Judge Arthur Cooperman said the charges could not be proved beyond a reasonable doubt.

The eight-week trial centred on whether the detectives had reason to believe they faced imminent danger and whether they made it clear to Mr Bell and the two survivors that they were police officers.

On the night of the shooting, Mr Isnora, the undercover officer who fired first, followed Sean Bell and his two friends to Mr Bell’s car believing they went to fetch a gun to settle a dispute at the club.

The other officers reached Mr Bell’s car after the initial confrontation and said they believed Detective Isnora was being fired at from inside the vehicle.