Hillary Clinton hit out at Democratic White House rival Barack Obama over Iraq on Wednesday, as a report by war commander General David Petraeus ignited new campaign brush fires. The New York senator questioned whether Obama could live up to his pledge to bring United States troops home and lashed out at Republican nominee John McCain.
African National Congress leader Jacob Zuma on Tuesday criticised the delay in declaring the results of Zimbabwe’s presidential election. Zuma, the front-runner to become the next president of South Africa, indicated that ”keeping the nation in suspense … keeping the international community in suspense” was wrong.
The top United States commander in Iraq told Congress on Tuesday he plans to stop US troop withdrawals in July due to fragile security gains and heard appeals for quicker action to find a way to end the war. Appearances by General David Petraeus and the US ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, drew US presidential candidates.
Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr threatened on Tuesday to end a truce he imposed on his militia last year, raising the prospect of worsening violence in Iraq just hours before top US officials testified on Iraq in Washington. Al-Sadr urged his Mehdi Army to ”continue your jihad and resistance” against US forces.
The top United States general and diplomat in Iraq testify in politically charged hearings in Congress on Tuesday, and face a grilling from three senators vying to inherit the war as the next US president. General David Petraeus and ambassador to Baghdad Ryan Crocker will appear to update progress in the war.
Hillary Clinton’s faltering presidential campaign will undergo a ”mini-makeover” that will emphasise her more caring side following the departure of its main strategist, Mark Penn. Penn’s exit, announced on Sunday, follows clashes over his outside work for other clients as well as screaming matches with senior campaign staff and withering criticism of his strategy.
Tax returns released by former first couple Hillary and Bill Clinton revealed they earned -million over eight years, and questions were raised on Saturday about the sources of much of their wealth. Analysts and media focused on the -million Bill Clinton earned for speaking engagements.
Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai declared himself the clear winner on Saturday of a presidential election and accused Robert Mugabe’s ruling party of preparing for a "war" against the people. "The result is known, that the Movement for Democratic Change [MDC] won the presidential and parliamentary election," Tsvangirai said.
Zimbabwe was on Saturday facing a protracted battle between the opposition and President Robert Mugabe’s ruling party over the outcome of elections, with results still awaited a week on from the vote. Mugabe, still to make any public comment since last Saturday’s elections, was endorsed by his Zanu-PF party on Friday to stand in a run-off.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and top aides thrashed out his survival prospects on Friday as the opposition upped pressure for presidential poll results to be declared after its parliamentary victory. The Movement for Democratic Change has lodged a court application demanding an end to the silence over the outcome of March 29’s presidential ballot.
A leadership meeting of President Robert Mugabe’s ruling party will decide on Friday to contest a runoff election against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, a senior official said. Referring to a meeting of the Zanu-PF politburo, a senior party member told Reuters: ”I have no doubt the resolution will be in favour of a run-off, I have no doubt about that.
The head of the crisis-hit investment bank Bear Stearns has blamed short sellers and market manipulators for spreading negative financial rumours to induce a collapse of the 85-year-old Wall Street institution. Bear’s chief executive, Alan Schwartz, told the senate’s finance committee in Washington that his firm had been as well-capitalised as its rivals.
A projection by Zimbabwe’s ruling party shows opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai will beat President Robert Mugabe in the country’s election but a run-off will be needed, Zanu-PF party sources said on Tuesday. Two senior sources said projections showed Tsvangirai getting 48,3%, against Mugabe’s 43%.
The National Civil Rights Museum sits in what was the Lorraine Motel, just beyond the shadows of Memphis’s skyscrapers and the garish neon glow of Beale Street — the main drag made famous by the likes of BB King and James Baldwin. The first words of the first exhibit state: ”Protest against injustice is deeply rooted in the African-American experience.”
A war of words has erupted ahead of election day in Zimbabwe this Saturday, with the opposition saying the government has already rigged the vote. These elections were ”never meant to be an even playing field”, said Nkosana Moyo, coordinator of presidential hopeful Simba Makoni’s campaign, in Johannesburg on Wednesday.
One may wind up as the first woman to lead the United States Senate. Another is relatively young and could run again for president. The third may simply resume his role as a congressional maverick and retire in two years. These are among the options that await the losers in the three-way race for the White House.
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has used massive bribery, grossly-biased state media and inflammatory language to ensure he wins next week’s polls and the regional Southern African Development Community (SADC) grouping has not been able to stop him, a local rights body said on Thursday.
The United States Supreme Court considers on Tuesday a landmark legal battle over gun rights, taking up for the first time in nearly 70 years whether Americans have the right to keep and bear arms. The court’s ruling, expected by the end of June, could have a far-reaching impact on gun control laws in the US.
Zimbabwe’s ambassador to South Africa on Monday criticised the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) for claiming that President Thabo Mbeki had not been an ”honest broker”. He was briefing Parliament’s portfolio committee on foreign affairs ahead of his country’s ”harmonised” March 29 elections.
For one spring evening in a blue-tiled mosque just south of Tehran, it sounds and feels as though the hour of the Iranian reformists has come again. The mosque is packed with men and boys chanting the name of Mohammad Khatami. They push and shove in the hope of catching a glimpse of the former president who tried to smooth some of the sharp edges of the Islamic republic.
Resigning over reports he paid for a 000-an-hour prostitute, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer leaves behind his political post but could face legal trouble from the stunning sex scandal. Spitzer now faces the possibility of federal criminal charges over how he may have paid for prostitution services.
With pressure mounting on Governor Eliot Spitzer to resign over a prostitution scandal, investigators said he was clearly a repeat customer who spent tens of thousands of dollars — perhaps as much as  000 — with the high-priced prostitution service over an extended period of time.
Accompanied by a village choir, waving fists and miniature ruling party flags, the crowd of several thousand thunders out four words in a constant refrain: "Long live comrade Mugabe." A poet punctuates his recital with long pauses before chanting a string of praises for Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe.
Shamim ”Chippy” Shaik has been stripped of his doctorate degree from the University of KwaZulu-Natal without reason, his brother and lawyer Yunis Shaik said on Sunday. Last year, media reports said that ”more than two-thirds” of Shaik’s 2003 PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the then-University of Natal had been plagiarised
On the segregated campus of South Africa’s University of the Free State this weekend, tensions were thunderously high as black students planned a mass protest for Monday against the white students who made a video humiliating their black cleaners.<br><img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/319216/video-icon.gif"> <a href="http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=333647&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__national/" target="_blank" class="standardtextsmall"><b>With live video</b></a>
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/ 27 February 2008
Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton clashed sharply in a high-stakes one-on-one debate on Tuesday, accusing each other of falsely portraying their stances on healthcare, trade and other issues. Clinton, who needs to win next week in Ohio and Texas, went on the attack early in the debate at the Cleveland State University.
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/ 25 February 2008
A Nigerian tribunal will rule on Tuesday whether the election of President Umaru Yar’Adua was valid, a decision that could entrench a disputed government or tip Africa’s most populous nation into turmoil. Yar’Adua won a landslide victory in last April’s elections but observers accused the party of widespread vote-rigging.
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/ 21 February 2008
John McCain denied a romantic relationship with a female American telecommunications lobbyist on Thursday and said a report by the New York Times suggesting favouritism for her clients is ”not true”. The likely Republican presidential nominee described the woman in question, lobbyist Vicki Iseman, as a friend.
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/ 17 February 2008
Al Gore, who lost to George Bush in the 2000 presidential election, is becoming a key potential power broker in the increasingly bitter battle between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to win the Democrat nomination. Gore emerged on Saturday as a possible mediator who could negotiate a resolution if the primary campaign ends in a stalemate.
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/ 15 February 2008
Democrat Barack Obama is the ”Yes We Can” candidate of the 2008 presidential race, an Elvis-like presence riding a wave of popular enthusiasm unseen in United States politics in many years. By contrast, rival Hillary Clinton is the policy wonk who says she has the solutions to what ails America, and she frequently lists them.
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/ 12 February 2008
Hillary Clinton’s stuttering White House campaign faces the prospect of three new hammer blows on Tuesday, with Democratic rival Barack Obama tipped to sweep a trio of Washington-area nominating contests. Clinton insisted her historic quest was in good shape, despite opinion polls that suggest she will tumble to defeat.
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/ 9 February 2008
Hillary Clinton’s campaign team is bracing for Barack Obama to take the lead later this month for the first time in the battle for the all-important delegates who will decide the Democratic nomination. The race looks poised to swing his way after a series of votes, beginning on Saturday with caucuses in Washington state, Nebraska and the Virgin Islands.