Hillary Clinton’s audacious bid to take her fight with Barack Obama all the way to Denver in August is now threatening to tear their party apart. Pennsylvania is now the next do-or-die battle in that grim fight. The state goes to the polls on April 22 and for Clinton it is a must-win.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) holds its spring meeting in Washington, DC, on Saturday amid what officials describe as the worst financial crisis since the 1930s Depression and as the global economy weakens. The 185-member IMF warned on Wednesday that the economic outlook was increasingly grim.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu had kind words on Friday for United States First Lady Laura Bush and both Democratic candidates for president. But when asked about President George Bush’s legacy to the world, Tutu avoided the question and left the stage in an exaggerated tiptoe as the audience roared.
On one floor is a bullet-scarred car used by American journalists in the Balkans. On another is the phone Rupert Murdoch used to make multibillion-dollar media deals. And in between there is one of the biggest remaining chunks of the Berlin Wall and the mangled remains of a communication tower from the 9/11 attack.
He told his wife he’d gone fishing. But when a photograph of Dick Cheney, the United Vice-President, appeared on the White House website, the smile on his face and the reflection in his sunglasses left some questioning his catch. The reflection appears to show the double image of a naked woman cavorting before him.
But for a trick of fate, Chris Rock might have been a truck driver. Instead the Brooklyn boy is the "funniest man alive".
Britain’s Justin Rose reeled off six birdies in eight holes to share the first-round lead at the US Masters while Tiger Woods laboured to stay in touch on Thursday. Rose shrugged off two early bogeys to fire a four-under-par 68 in bright sunshine. He launched his sizzling run at the par-three sixth before ending the day level with South African Trevor Immelman.
A vast study of the plants and animals unique to Madagascar was published on Thursday in a bid to protect thousands of rare species found only on the large African island. The island is home to 2% of the Earth’s total biodiversity, and only in Madagascar can one find wild lemurs, among many other unique species.
American Airlines has cancelled about 570 flights scheduled for Friday, raising to more than 3 000 the number this week it has grounded to reinspect the wiring on its MD-80 fleet for a second time. The disruption has affected more than 300 000 passengers, including Friday’s schedule cuts.
American Airlines cancelled 1 094 flights, or nearly half its schedule, on Wednesday to reinspect aircraft, a disruption that affected about 100 000 passengers and triggered chaos at the busiest United States airports. The airline said it also expected more than 900 cancellations on Thursday.
Microsoft plans on Thursday to unveil a web-based service for driving directions that uses sophisticated software to help its users avoid traffic jams, the New York Times reported. The software technology system, called Clearflow, will provide drivers with alternative information for routes that takes into account prevailing traffic patterns.
Gary Player finally has Arnold Palmer beaten. When Player tees off on Thursday, it will be his 51st Masters. That tops by one the record he shared with The King for most Masters played. Player already holds the record for most consecutive British Opens played — 46. ”The word that comes to mind is ‘thankful’,” the 72-year-old said.
Tiger Woods opens his quest for an unprecedented Grand Slam of golf at Augusta National on Thursday, carrying the lowest odds ever for a player at the outset of a Major. The world number one is quoted at evens or just above evens to win a fifth Green Jacket, with the next best being two-time winner Phil Mickelson.
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.
United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Wednesday it was time to remove former South African president Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress (ANC) from a US blacklist drawn up during the apartheid era. ”I really do hope that we can remove these restrictions on the ANC,” Rice told a Senate committee.
The global economic outlook is becoming increasingly grim as the United States appears unable to escape recession from a housing meltdown, the effects of which are still spreading, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Wednesday. Global expansion is set to slow to 3,7% in 2008 amid an unfolding crisis that began in the United States, the IMF said.
Federal cybersecurity officials are trying to develop an early-warning system that alerts authorities to incoming computer attacks targeting critical United States infrastructure, says Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. His keynote speech on Tuesday at the RSA security conference, however, was light on details.
Yahoo! will begin showing homemade videos on its online photo-sharing site, Flickr, in a long-anticipated move that may be too late to lure most people away from the internet’s dominant video channel, Google’s YouTube. Flickr’s video technology is the latest example of Yahoo! trying to catch up to Google in a crucial battleground.
Hundreds of coffee-obsessed consumers in the United States chimed in moments after Starbucks launched a website asking customers to pitch changes the company should make to revive its struggling US business. And they have kept those thoughts coming, by the thousands.
Thousands of protesters were expected to line the route of the latest leg of the Olympic torch’s ”Journey of Harmony” on Wednesday as officials in San Francisco braced themselves for a repetition of the tumultuous scenes in Paris and London. A broad coalition of protest groups has converged on the city.
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.
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.
Golf superstar Tiger Woods takes aim at a fifth US Masters crown this week amid breathless speculation that it could be the first step toward a once-unimaginable Grand Slam. ”I think he’s the only player capable of doing that,” American Steve Stricker said on Monday as the world’s best golfers began their preparations for the first Major championship of 2008.
Authorities have now removed 401 children from a remote ranch in west Texas belonging to a breakaway Mormon sect linked to jailed polygamist leader Warren Jeffs, Texas authorities said on Monday. Patrick Crimmins, a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, said 401 children have been taken from the compound.
The Los Angeles Times on Monday retracted a story that linked hip-hop mogul Sean ”Diddy” Combs to the 1994 shooting of rapper Tupac Shakur, admitting that the report relied on fake FBI documents. The move came three weeks after the paper’s website carried a lengthy story by Pulitzer Prize-winner Chuck Philips.
United States internet company Yahoo! on Monday rejected software giant Microsoft’s three-week ultimatum to accept a takeover offer, but left the door open to a higher bid. "We continue to believe that your proposal is not in the best interests of Yahoo! and our stockholders," it said in a letter to Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft.
Authorities removed more than 180 women and children from the Texas compound of a polygamist sect on Saturday evening after receiving reports of ”sexual and physical abuse”. The 10 000-member Mormon group is led by Warren Jeffs, who was convicted in Utah last year on two counts of accomplice to rape.
One of the world’s leading climate scientists warns on Monday that the European Union and its international partners must urgently rethink targets for cutting carbon dioxide in the atmosphere because of fears they have grossly underestimated the scale of the problem.
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.
Charlton Heston, the chisel-jawed Hollywood icon best remembered for his Oscar-winning performance in the 1959 epic <i>Ben Hur</i>, died on April 5 at his home, his family said. He was 84. Heston’s family said in a statement that the actor died with his wife of 64 years, Lydia, by his side.
United States authorities removed 52 girls from a polygamous sect’s compound in western Texas on Friday, and questioned the remaining members of the breakaway Mormon church, officials said. Those removed were aged from six months to 17 years old, according to the Child Protective Services in Schleicher County.
Once-unstoppable Roger Federer finds himself without a title entering the clay-court portion of the ATP season, a situation that has the world number one looking for reasons why and finding few answers. The Swiss superstar was upset by Andy Roddick in the quarterfinals of the Sony Ericsson Open on Thursday.