Republican presidential candidate John McCain and Democrat Hillary Clinton sought to shore up support among black voters on Friday in the city where civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jnr was slain 40 years ago. Democrat Barack Obama honoured King’s legacy with a speech in Indiana, while his rivals attended activities in Memphis.
United States employers cut a surprisingly large 80 000 jobs in March, marking the biggest decline in employment in five years, a government report showed on Friday. The mounting job losses swelled the national unemployment rate to 5,1% last month, compared with 4,8% in February.
A transgender man who is six months pregnant said in an interview aired by Oprah Winfrey on Thursday that he always wanted to have a child and considers it a miracle. ”It’s not a male or female desire to have a child. It’s a human desire,” a thinly bearded Thomas Beatie said.
Forty years after Martin Luther King Jr was shot to death, the civil rights leader is still roiling American politics. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican candidate John McCain have both come to Memphis to mark King’s April 4 1968, death and try to shore up support among black voters.
A roommate-finding site cannot require users to disclose their sexual orientation, a United States appeals court ruled on Thursday, in the latest skirmish over whether anti-discrimination rules apply to the web. The court said Roommates.com, which obliges users to list their sexual orientation, was different from sites where people volunteer or withhold personal information.
Democratic White House contender Barack Obama on Wednesday mocked rival Hillary Clinton’s claim to be a ”Rocky” fighter for the working classes, as polls suggested he is punching into her lead in gritty Pennsylvania. ”We all love Rocky, and last time I checked I was the underdog in this state,” Obama told trade unionists.
Almost three years after Hurricane Katrina, nearly 40 000 families still are living in vulnerable mobile homes and trailers across the United States Gulf Coast with another hurricane season just two months away, the top US disaster official said on Wednesday.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Wednesday won the endorsement of Lee Hamilton, a former Indiana congressman who is a leading United States authority on foreign relations and national security. Hamilton said Obama offers American voters the best chance to create a new sense of national unity and transcend division.
A newly declassified 2003 Justice Department memo gave United States military interrogators broad authority to use extreme methods in questioning al-Qaeda detainees, US media said on Wednesday. The memo argued that the US president’s wartime authority exempted them from laws banning cruel treatment.
High food prices around the world? Blame — at least in part — the investors who moved their money into commodities in the past five years, looking for better returns than they were getting from stocks and bonds. Global investment funds saw the potential for profits in commodities outstripping those from the stock market, and from 2002 started diving into oil.
Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama assailed potential White House opponent John McCain on the economy on Tuesday, accusing the Republican of favoring the wealthy and turning his back on struggling workers and middle-class families.
Appeals by South African double amputee Oscar Pistorius and Olympic champion Justin Gatlin will be heard by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) this month and next, the Lausanne-based court said. Pistorius’s hearing will take place on April 29 and 30 and Gatlin’s will follow on May 28 and 29, CAS said.
Yahoo! on Monday launched a site for women between the ages of 25 and 54, calling it a key demographic underserved by current Yahoo! properties. The site, Shine, is aimed largely at giving the struggling internet company additional opportunities to sell advertising targeted to the key decision-maker in many households.
Tennis greatness is measured in Grand Slam triumphs, but that doesn’t make the game’s best players immune to the lure of Olympic gold. Andy Roddick has decided to skip the Beijing Games in August in order to prepare for a run at the US Open, but for most of the top players on the ATP and WTA tours, the Games remain a key event in the 2008 calendar.
The head of the main United States spy agency has warned that al-Qaeda is training operatives who ”look Western” and could enter the United States undetected to conduct terrorist attacks. Central Intelligence Agency Director General Michael Hayden said the terror network has shed its operational reliance on mastermind Osama bin Laden.
A woman who claims she was ordered by federal airport screeners to remove her nipple rings with pliers demanded an apology from the United States Transportation Security Administration on Thursday. Mandi Hamlin (37) also called for an investigation into the February 24 incident in Lubbock, Texas.
Ernie Els withdrew from the Houston Open on Sunday because of a virus, giving him an unexpected two weeks off before going to the US Masters. ”I am very disappointed to have been forced to make this decision because I was really looking forward to playing this week,” Els said in a statement.
Five years after New York became one of the first major world cities to ban smoking in public places, nearly a quarter of a million people have kicked the habit and tobacco-related deaths have dropped significantly. The feared economic impact on bars and restaurants failed to materialise and cities from London to Hong Kong have since followed suit.
United States Senator Robert Casey of Pennsylvania on Friday endorsed Barack Obama’s campaign for the Democratic nomination for president in a boost for the Illinois senator. Casey could help Obama win over some of the state’s white, socially conservative, blue-collar voters, many of whom are unionised and fear economic uncertainty.
The maker of the popular photo-editing software Photoshop on Thursday launched a basic version available for free online. San Jose, California-based Adobe Systems says it hopes to boost its name recognition among a new generation of consumers who edit, store and share photos online.
Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have vowed the Democratic Party will heal its wounds, whoever wins their toxic White House race, and unite to thwart Republican John McCain. The bitter rivals spoke up amid mounting concern among party leaders that the fiercely contested battle could scupper a golden chance to grab back the White House.
Oil prices leapt higher on Thursday as concerns about tight supplies were stoked by news that saboteurs had blown up an Iraqi export pipeline, traders said. New York’s main oil contract, light sweet crude for delivery in May, rose by $1,68 to close at $107,58 per barrel. In intraday trade it had hit $108,22.
Paintings and sculptures long stored away are finding a new audience as museums strive for mass appeal with high-tech websites packed with video, podcasts and interactive elements. Moreover, these institutions are finding that rather than diminishing the number of museum visits, the web is actually boosting in-person attendance.
Ten years ago this month, the lives of millions of men and women were changed almost overnight by the advent of a little blue pill — the first oral treatment for impotence. Viagra, developed by accident by scientists at Pfizer Laboratories, was first approved for use by the United States Food and Drug Administration on March 27 1998.
Italian porn star Ilona Staller, known as ”La Cicciolina,” sued her ex-husband Jeff Koons on Wednesday, saying he failed to pay about €1,5-million (,3-million) in child support ordered by an Italian court. The couple divorced in 1994, and Staller took their son to Italy.
Chaminda Vaas took five wickets to bowl Sri Lanka to their first victory in the Caribbean, defeating the West Indies by 121 runs after tea on the final day of the opening Test in Georgetown, Guyana, on Wednesday. The home team, set an unlikely victory target of 437, slumped from 156-1 to 315 all out.
Democratic hopeful Barack Obama on Wednesday dismissed Republican White House candidate John McCain’s economic plan as an insult, which left homeowners to face a mortgage crunch alone. In his first campaign appearance since a short vacation, Obama fired a new volley at the Arizona senator in a battle that is sure to intensify.
Call them Pavlov’s fish: scientists are testing a plan to train fish to catch themselves by swimming into a net when they hear a tone that signals feeding time. If it works, the system could eventually allow black sea bass to be released into the open ocean, where they would grow to market size, then swim into an underwater cage to be harvested.
Barack Obama’s camp has accused Hillary Clinton of trying to divert attention from her exaggerated account of a 1996 trip to Bosnia after she revived a row over her rival’s fiery pastor. With Obama set to return to the campaign trail on Wednesday after a short Easter holiday, the Democratic White House foes were braced for more bitterness.
The West Indies closed the fourth day of the first Test on 96-1, having been set a victory target of 437 by Sri Lanka in Georgetown, Guyana, on Tuesday. Sri Lanka bowled out the hosts for 280 in the morning and then scored 240-7 before declaring midway through the evening session.
A section of Antarctica’s massive Wilkins Ice Shelf has begun disintegrating under the effects of global warming, satellite images by the University of Colorado’s National Snow and Ice Data Centre showed. The collapse of a substantial section of the ice shelf was triggered on February 28 when an iceberg measuring 41km by 2,4km broke off its south-western front.
Space shuttle Endeavour headed for home on Wednesday after delivering a Japanese module and a Canadian robot to the International Space Station. Its 16-day mission was scheduled to end with a landing at Kennedy Space Centre in Florida at 23.05pm GMT, 33 minutes before sundown.