US vice presidentials clash in high stakes debate

DANVILLE (REUTERS) - Vice President Joe Biden and rival Republican Paul Ryan clashed sharply over foreign policy in a high-stakes debate, with Mr Biden aggressively defending the Obama administration's policies and dismissing Mr Ryan's criticism as "malarkey."

Mr Biden went on the offensive early, providing the emotion and passion that President Barack Obama was criticized for lacking in last week's debate with Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

Mr Ryan accused the Obama administration of projecting an image of American weakness to the world.

"With all due respect, that is a bunch of malarkey," Mr Biden retorted, attacking Mr Romney as "not presidential" for holding a news conference on Libya just after a US diplomatic compound was attacked and the ambassador killed.