Obama 'would be killed'

The Nobel Prize-winning novelist Doris Lessing says she believes Barack Obama would be assassinated if he were elected president.

Asked if she supported Hillary Clinton or Mr Obama, Lessing told the Stockholm daily Dagens Nyheter "it doesn't matter," but suggested the two should join forces in the election.

"It would be best if they ran together. Hillary is a very sharp lady. It might be calmer if she wins and not Obama," Lessing was quoted as saying.

"He would probably not last long, a black man in the position of president. They would kill him," Lessing said on Saturday. She did not specify who she believed would kill Obama.

Her agent did not answer phone calls seeking comment yesterday.

Lessing, 88, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature last year, is known for her strong and sometimes contrary statements. In October, she told a Spanish newspaper that the September 2001 attacks were "neither as terrible nor as extraordinary" as many people thought.

The Swedish Academy, which awards the Nobel Prize, praised her "scepticism, fire and visionary power".