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Ship hired by U.S. military fires warning shots in Gulf
2008-04-27 00:20:00
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A cargo ship hired by the U.S. military fired warning shots at approaching boats in the Gulf , the U.S. Navy said on Friday, underscoring tension in the region as the Pentagon sharpened its warnings to Iran. According to American defense officials, the Westward Venture cargo ship chartered by the U.S. Defense Department was traveling in international waters when two unidentified small boats approached on Thursday. After the boats failed to respond to radio queries and a warning flare, the cargo ship's security team fired "a few bursts" of machine gun and rifle warning shots, according to Cmdr. Lydia Robertson, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Navy's Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet. "The small boats left the area a short time later," she said by telephone. "They were able to avoid a serious incident by following the procedures that we use." The news helped push oil prices up more than $3 to $119.50 a barrel -- within striking distance of the record $119.90 hit earlier...
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Obama says he will fine-tune his campaign
2008-04-26 23:57:00
INDIANAPOLIS (Reuters) - Democrat Barack Obama said on Friday he would fine-tune his U.S. presidential campaign and remind voters of his humble roots after a defeat in Pennsylvania fueled in part by his failure to win over working-class voters. Obama leads the Democratic race but is in a grueling battle with Hillary Clinton for the right to face Republican John McCain in November's presidential election. Nine of the state-by-state nominating contests remain before voting ends on June 3. Obama, an Illinois senator, said he would make adjustments after losing Pennsylvania's primary election to Clinton on Tuesday. That followed another big-state loss to Clinton, a New York senator, in Ohio in March. "There's no doubt that a campaign has to continually fine-tune itself," Obama told reporters in Indiana, one of two crucial battlegrounds in the next round of contests on May 6. "You know this has been a long campaign. What worked well three months ago, if you're doing the exact sam...
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Clinton lobbies superdelegates after Pennsylvania win
2008-04-26 23:44:00
WASHINGTON (AP) - Hillary Rodham Clinton , capitalizing on her Pennsylvania primary victory, reached out this week to uncommitted Democratic superdelegates. "Her pitch was that she had just had a substantial victory in Pennsylvania and her campaign had raised quite a bit of money because of it," said Rep. Dan Boren of Oklahoma. "There wasn't a hard push or a hard sell. She asked me what are some of the things she needs to be talking about. I just told her the No. 1 issue is the economy." Boren remains uncommitted but noted "it's really important to me how my district voted" - for Clinton. Clinton also met with Reps. Ike Skelton of Missouri, Jason Altmire of Pennsylvania, Ron Klein of Florida and Brad Ellsworth of Indiana, among others. Clinton's presidential campaign has spent months playing defense while Barack Obama whittled away at her lead in superdelegate endorsements. Her supporters urged undecided superdelegates to hold off on endorsing a candidate - if they weren't re...
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Delegate challenges concerning Florida, Michigan to be heard
2008-04-26 23:30:00
WASHINGTON (AP) - A plan to award half-delegates for the disputed Michigan and Florida Democratic presidential primaries will get a hearing before party leaders. The co-chairs of the Democratic National Committee's Rules and Bylaws committee sent members a memo Friday announcing a meeting May 31 to consider the idea. The committee stripped Michigan and Florida of their national convention delegates because they held primaries too early. DNC members in Michigan and Florida have filed challenges to restore the delegates. Under the challenges, all superdelegates from both states would get to vote. The pledged delegates would only count for half votes. Hillary Rodham Clinton won both contests and has been pushing for the delegates to be seated. Her rival Barack Obama has said it isn't fair to award delegates based on the votes because all the candidates agreed to boycott the contests and his name wasn't on Michigan's ballot. Most of the Democratic candidates had their names rem...
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No Lawyers, Please
2008-04-07 00:25:00
A poll released this week finds that most Americans do not want their day in court. Rather, they prefer cheaper and faster methods of settling arguments. When asked how they'd like to settle a dispute with a company, 82% chose arbitration, which avoids the time and expense of going to court. Only 15% opted for litigation. Americans are not confident that a lawsuit will produce a fair result, reports the poll, but a solid majority looks favorably on mediation and arbitration. The survey was conducted by Barack Obama's pollster on behalf of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and it may torpedo pending Democratic legislation. Benenson Strategy Group, whose Joel Benenson polls for the Obama campaign, conducted the survey along with respected GOP pollster Bill McInturff. There is an eerie echo here of Hillary Clinton's Mark Penn, presumably caught off base helping Colombia secure a free trade agreement. In fact, Mr. Benenson's work merely reflects earlier findings from the American Bar ...
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Clinton Invokes Female Trailblazer
2008-04-07 00:19:00
Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton laid claim Sunday to Montana's famed female trailblazer - Jeannette Rankin, who in 1916 became the first woman ever elected to Congress. "Remember, Jeannette Rankin was elected before women could vote. So who says men don't vote for a woman?" Clinton told an audience crowded into an airport hangar here. A Republican and lifelong pacifist, Rankin lost her House seat after just one term in part because she voted against authorizing U.S. entry into World War I. She was elected again in 1940 and became the only member of Congress to oppose entry in World War II. Rankin was also an ardent feminist who championed birth control and women's suffrage. For her part, Clinton reaffirmed her vote to authorize the U.S. invasion of Iraq, saying she believed at the time it was a vote to send in weapons inspectors rather than to launch immediate military action. "I'm more than willing to be held accountable for it, because that's the way it is life. You are ...
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Clinton Renews Call to Count Florida, Michigan
2008-04-06 23:44:00
Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton on Saturday strengthened her pitch to allow the results of disputed primaries in Michigan and Florida to be counted in the nominating contest, noting the vote totals had been officially recognized in each state. "Some say their votes should be ignored and the popular vote in Michigan and Florida should be discounted. Well, I have a different view," Clinton said at a rally here. "The popular vote in Florida and Michigan has already been counted. It was determined by election results, it was certified by election officials in each state, it's been officially tallied by the secretary of state in each state, and the question is whether those 2.3 million Democrats will be honored and their delegates seated by the Democratic party." Both the Michigan and Florida primaries were essentially nullified after they were moved into January in violation of national Democratic party rules. The party voted to strip both states of their delegates and all the candid...
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USA 2008: The Great Depression
2008-04-01 03:49:00
We knew things were bad on Wall Street, but on Main Street it may be worse. Startling official statistics show that as a new economic recession stalks the United States, a record number of Americans will shortly be depending on food stamps just to feed themselves and their families. Dismal projections by the Congressional Budget Office in Washington suggest that in the fiscal year starting in October, 28 million people in the US will be using government food stamps to buy essential groceries, the highest level since the food assistance programme was introduced in the 1960s. The increase ? from 26.5 million in 2007 ? is due partly to recent efforts to increase public awareness of the programme and also a switch from paper coupons to electronic debit cards. But above all it is the pressures being exerted on ordinary Americans by an economy that is suddenly beset by troubles. Housing foreclosures, accelerating jobs losses and fast-rising prices all add to the squeeze. Emblematic of ...
More About: Business , Depression , World News , Great , Today

Hillary's Bad History
2008-04-01 03:41:00
No, not sniper fire in Bosnia. We're referring to Hillary Clinton's lament last week that the U.S. is flirting with a 1990s Japan-style deflation. Perhaps it's a good time to remind everyone what really happened in Japan, so Mrs. Clinton and the rest of Washington don't make the same mistakes. "I don't think we can work our way out of the problems we're in in the broad-based economy with monetary policy alone," Mrs. Clinton said in the interview with Journal reporters. "I think the Japanese tried that and tried and tried that." She added Japan should have relied more on fiscal stimulus spending and aid to banks and homeowners, which is what she wants Washington to try now. The Senator needs a refresher in Japanese economic history. Far from easing monetary policy, the Bank of Japan kept money too tight for too long in the early 1990s. Japan's stock market slide began in early 1990, but its central bank raised interest rates through most of that year and didn't cut them unt...
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Clinton Says Obama Wants to Stop Votes
2008-04-01 03:35:00
Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton accused rival Sen. Barack Obama and his allies of trying to stop people from voting as some of his backers have called on her to drop out of the presidential race. The Obama campaign rejected the charge, dismissing Clinton's criticism as "completely laughable." In a series of television interviews in states holding upcoming contests, Clinton vowed to press on with her campaign and suggested Obama and his supporters wanted to keep those states from playing a role in selecting the party's presidential nominee. "My take on it is a lot of Senator Obama's supporters want to end this race because they don't want people to keep voting," she told CBS affiliate KTVQ in Billings, Mont. "That's just the opposite of what I believe. We want people to vote. I want the people of Montana to vote, don't you?" Montana holds its primary June 3. The New York senator made similar comments in interviews with stations in Indiana and North Carolina, which ho...
More About: Today , Stop , Votes

Second Female Senator Endorses Obama
2008-04-01 03:27:00
Democratic Sen. Barack Obama secured the backing of a second female senator on Monday as a top supporter of Hillary Rodham Clinton raised expectations for her rival in the upcoming Pennsylvania primary. Freshman Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, who recently voiced concerns about the rancorous tone of the Democratic primary, said she was forced to choose because she found remaining uncommitted difficult. "Between Barack and a hard place, I chose Barack," she told reporters in a conference call. "He's able to dissolve the hard cynical edge that has dominated our politics under the Bush administration." Klobuchar joins Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill in backing Obama, who hasn't fared as well with white female voters as Clinton has. Clinton leads Obama among white women 59 percent to 36 percent, according to exit polls of 27 competitive Democratic primaries held so far. Obama has won among white females in only Vermont, New Mexico and his home state of Illinois, while tying Clinton...
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Clinton: In the Race for the Long Run
2008-03-29 03:03:00
If Hillary Rodham Clinton is feeling heat from pundits and party elders to quit the race and back Barack Obama, you'd never know it from her crowds, energy level and upbeat demeanor on the campaign trail. "There are millions of reasons to continue this race: people in Pennsylvania, Indiana and North Carolina, and all of the contests yet to come," Clinton told reporters Friday. "This is a very close race and clearly I believe strongly that everyone should have their voices heard and their votes counted." The former first lady weathered a two-pronged blow Friday, with influential Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey Jr. endorsing Obama and another Senate colleague, Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy, urging her to step aside. But to hear Clinton tell it, it was just another day in an epic primary battle whose result is still not known. "I believe a spirited contest is good for the Democratic Party and will strengthen the eventual nominee," she said. "We will have a united party behind whomever...
More About: Politics , Today , Race , Long

McCain guru linked to subprime crisis
2008-03-29 02:59:00
The general co-chairman of John McCain?s presidential campaign, former Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas), led the charge in 1999 to repeal a Depression-era banking regulation law that Democrat Barack Obama claimed on Thursday contributed significantly to today?s economic turmoil. ?A regulatory structure set up for banks in the 1930s needed to change because the nature of business had changed,? the Illinois senator running for president said in a New York economic speech. ?But by the time [it] was repealed in 1999, the $300 million lobbying effort that drove deregulation was more about facilitating mergers than creating an efficient regulatory framework.? Gramm?s role in the swift and dramatic recent restructuring of the nation?s investment houses and practices didn?t stop there. A year after the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act repealed the old regulations, Swiss Bank UBS gobbled up brokerage house Paine Weber. Two years later, Gramm settled in as a vice chairman of UBS?s new investment banking ar...
More About: Politics , Today , Subprime , Crisis , Guru

Mexican army streams into violent city on U.S. border
2008-03-29 02:44:00
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (Reuters) - Hundreds of camouflage-clad Mexican troops flew into the northern city of Ciudad Juarez on Friday to quell a surge in drug gang murders across the border from El Paso, Texas. Part of a 2,500-strong army and federal police force set to descend on the dilapidated city over the next three days, the heavily armed soldiers streamed out of military planes and were trucked off to set up road blocks and launch foot patrols. The troop convoys are opening up a new front in President Felipe Calderon's 15-month-old war on drug cartels. Already about 25,000 soldiers and federal police have deployed in hotspots across Mexico, especially along the U.S. border. Ciudad Juarez, which has drawn worldwide attention because of a rash of brutal murders of women, has seen 200 people slain in drug-related violence so far this year -- ten times as many as a year ago. The overall death toll associated with drug gangs in Mexico has rise to more than 720 so far this year,...
More About: World News , Today , Army , City

Obama Gets Boost, Clinton Urged to Quit
2008-03-29 02:31:00
Barack Obama got a surprise boost in the last big state of the long Democratic campaign Friday with an endorsement from Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey Jr., while another Obama supporter sought to nudge Hillary Rodham Clinton out of the race. Clinton leads by double-digits in Pennsylvania polls, and Obama hopes Casey's endorsement will earn him a second look from the state's white, working class and Catholic voters - groups that have leaned toward Clinton in other Democratic contests this year. Clinton, on the other hand, is hoping a victory in Pennsylvania will help persuade party "superdelegates" to support her and allow her to catch Obama in the race for National Convention delegates. Sen. Patrick Leahy, a Vermont senator who endorsed Obama in January, said she was never going to win enough delegates, and he suggested she should throw in the towel in "the interests of a Democratic victory in November." A number of Democrats have expressed concern that Republican John McCain is g...
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"Pay day" loans exacerbate housing crisis
2008-03-24 16:11:00
As hundreds of thousands of American home owners fall behind on their mortgage payments, more people are turning to short-term loans with sky-high interest rates just to get by. While hard figures are hard to come by, evidence from nonprofit credit and mortgage counselors suggests that the number of people using these so-called "pay day loans" is growing as the U.S. housing crisis deepens, a negative sign for economic recovery. "We're hearing from around the country that many folks are buried deep in pay day loan debts as well as struggling with their mortgage payments," said Uriah King, a policy associate at the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL). A pay day loan is typically for a few hundred dollars, with a term of two weeks, and an interest rate as high as 800 percent. The average borrower ends up paying back $793 for a $325 loan, according to the Center. The Center also estimates pay day lenders issued more than $28 billion in loans in 2005, the latest available figures. ...
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Obama's Church Addresses Controversy
2008-03-24 16:04:00
CHICAGO (AP) - The new pastor of Barack Obama's Chicago church said during Easter Sunday services that recent national scrutiny of the church is a test that will only make the congregation stronger. "Any time you go through a crucifixion experience ... eventually they have to lift you up," said the Rev. Otis Moss III, who did not shy away from the controversy surrounding his predecessor at Trinity United Church of Christ, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. Wright retired from Trinity's pulpit last month but retains the title of senior pastor. Video from some of his more inflammatory sermons has surfaced online and on television in recent weeks. Moss said Sunday that Wright's critics and the news media "are just lifting us up to give us the opportunity to speak love to this situation." Obama, a Democratic presidential candidate, has responded to the flap by condemning Wright's statements but expressing admiration and support for the pastor who officiated at his wedding, baptized hi...
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Clinton proposes Greenspan lead foreclosure group
2008-03-24 15:57:00
WHITE PLAINS, New York (Reuters) - Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and other economic experts should determine whether the U.S. government needs to buy up homes to stem the country's housing crisis, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton will propose on Monday. Clinton, a presidential candidate and senator from New York, said the Federal Housing Administration should "stand ready" to buy, restructure and resell failed mortgages to strengthen the ailing U.S. economy. "Just as it has in the past, this kind of temporary measure by the government could give our economy the boost it needs and families the help they need," Clinton will say, according to excerpts of remarks prepared for a speech in Philadelphia. "It would not require a single new government bureaucracy, and would be designed to be self-financing over time -- so it would cost taxpayers nothing in the long run." Clinton threw her weight behind legislation proposed by Democrats Rep. Barney Frank...
More About: Politics , Business , Today , Foreclosure

Dozens of children in U.S. face life in prison
2008-03-22 23:34:00
ALABASTER, Alabama (Reuters) - Underage criminals cannot face the death penalty in the United States but dozens of offenders imprisoned for crimes committed when they were young teenagers will still die behind bars. The U.S. Supreme Court abolished the death penalty for minors in 2005 but 19 states permit "life-means-life" sentences for those under 18, according to a study by the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI). In all, 2,225 people are sentenced to die in U.S. prisons for crimes they committed as minors and 73 of them were aged 13 and 14 at the time of the crime, according to the group, which is based in Montgomery, Alabama. Elsewhere in the world, life sentences with no chance of parole are rare for underage offenders. Human Rights Watch estimates that only 12 people outside the United States face such sentences. Judicial reform advocates say the U.S. provision is an example of how harsh sentences have helped cause a jump in incarceration rates since the 1970s. The United State...
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Clinton Got Along With GOP in Senate
2008-03-22 23:22:00
Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived in the Senate before she had even surrendered the title of first lady. An anything-but-typical freshman, she surprised skeptics with how well she fit in to a chamber where reputations are usually built over decades. She didn't big-foot colleagues. A junior senator in the minority party, she put her head down and went to work. She sought out the longest-serving senator in history, West Virginia's Robert Byrd, to receive a tutorial on the art of legislating, even though he had been an outspoken critic of her husband during the impeachment debate. She waited her turn to speak, and when she did talk, it was clear she had done her homework. By most accounts she was seen as a serious legislator who tended to her state's interests. She was re-elected in 2006 in a cakewalk. But there is no blockbuster legislation with her name on it. No soaring oratory still rings in the ears. Some campaign promises went unfulfilled, notably her promise to create 200...
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China ups Tibet death toll, fears unrest may spread
2008-03-22 23:14:00
KANGDING, China (Reuters) - China said 19 people died in riots in the Tibet an capital last week and official media warned against the unrest spreading to the northwest region of Xinjiang, where Uighur Muslims bridle under Chinese control. Eighteen were burnt or hacked to death in the Lhasa violence, Xinhua news agency said. It has repeatedly quoted officials as saying separatists backed by the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, engineered the protests. But China's handling of the unrest has been met by mounting international concern, overshadowing the run-up to the Beijing Olympic Games in August the host wants to a celebration of its arrival as a world power. Xinhua said 18 civilians and a policeman died in Lhasa. A total of 382 people were wounded, 58 seriously in the violence. Exiled Tibetans claim as many as 100 have died in the protests which spilled over this week into neighboring ethnic-Tibetan areas. "SPLIT THE MOTHERLAND" The official media of the north...
More About: World News , Today , Death

Guns and Legal Ammo
2008-03-22 05:47:00
As shoot-outs go, the Supreme Court had a famous one Tuesday during oral arguments over the constitutionality of Washington D.C.'s handgun ban. The smoke won't clear until the High Court issues its decision, but the debate this week augurs well for a conclusion that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to bear arms. District of Columbia v. Heller has become the test case for a question that has animated legal scholars, politicians and lower courts for much of our modern history: Is the Second Amendment guarantee a collective right, which is to say it is reserved only for state militias, or is it an individual right? Judge Laurence Silberman's landmark opinion last year for the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down D.C.'s ban on handguns, rejecting the militia argument and scouring the historical and legal record to show that the Founders clearly intended to protect an individual's right to defend himself and family. The District appealed, and so the Supreme...
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Court Dismisses Florida Primary Lawsuit
2008-03-22 05:29:00
A federal appeals court dismissed a lawsuit against the Democratic National Committee over the party's decision to strip Florida of its delegates to its national convention. But the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a ruling released Friday, said the lawsuit "raises a number of interesting and potentially significant questions," and gave the plaintiff an opening to amend and refile the lawsuit. The plaintiff, Victor DiMaio, a Democratic Party activist from Tampa, Fla., said he would refile. DiMaio filed the lawsuit in 2007 accusing the party of disenfranchising Florida's Democratic voters by barring them from having their say in choosing their party's nominee. The party stripped both Florida and Michigan of their national convention delegates because they moved their primaries to January dates that were earlier than party rules allowed. The Democratic National Committee argued the party has the right to set its own rules and not seat delegates who refuse to follow them. ...
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McCain Meets Sarkozy, Comments on China
2008-03-22 05:00:00
Republican presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain said Friday that China is harming its world image with its crackdown in Tibet and expressed hope Beijing would seek a peaceful solution to the crisis. McCain did not discuss the issue during a 45-minute meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy , but told reporters later the subject was "one of the first things I would talk about if I were president of the United States today." China's crackdown "is not correct," McCain said in the courtyard of the French presidential Elysee Palace. "The people there are being subjected to mistreatment that is not acceptable with the conduct of a world power, which China is," McCain said in response to a question by a Chinese television journalist. "There must be respect for human rights, and I would hope that the Chinese are actively seeking a peaceful resolution to this situation that exists which harms not only the human rights of the people there but also the image of China in the world." ...
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Obama Aide: Bill Clinton Like McCarthy
2008-03-22 04:51:00
A retired Air Force general compared former President Clinton to Joseph McCarthy, the 1950s communist-hunting senator, on Friday after Clinton seemed to question Democrat Barack Obama 's patriotism. Merrill "Tony" McPeak, a former chief of staff of the Air Force and currently a co-chair of Obama's presidential campaign, said he was disappointed by comments Clinton made while campaigning for his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, in a speech Friday in Charlotte, N.C. "I think it would be a great thing if we had an election year where you had two people who loved this country and were devoted to the interest of this country," Clinton said. "And people could actually ask themselves who is right on these issues, instead of all this other stuff that always seems to intrude itself on our politics." McPeak learned of the remarks while at an Obama rally in Salem, Ore. Afterward, he called Clinton's statement horrible and compared it to McCarthy, the Republican senator from Wisconsin wh...
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New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson Endorses Obama
2008-03-22 04:48:00
Bill Richardson, the nation's only Hispanic governor, backed Barack Obama for president Friday, moved to deliver his much-coveted endorsement by the senator's speech about race. The New Mexico governor joined Obama at spirited rally Friday and said the Illinois senator demonstrated his leadership abilities this week with his speech on race. "You are a once-in-a-lifetime leader," the governor said from the stage. "Above all, you will be a president who brings this nation together." Richardson dropped his own bid for the nomination in January. His support for Obama comes during a tough period for the senator. Although he still leads Hillary Rodham Clinton in delegates, Obama has seen his lead in national polls wither in the fallout from divisive remarks by his former pastor. Richardson was relentlessly courted by both candidates and his support for Obama provides him a potential counterweight to Clinton's strength among Hispanic voters. It wasn't the first time racial concerns...
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Cheney to Mideast with "rich agenda" on oil, peace
2008-03-17 04:56:00
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President Dick Cheney left on Sunday for the Middle East to raise concerns about high oil prices, push Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, and seek support for Iraq, where war began five years ago this week. Cheney, who has strong ties with leaders in the Middle East, will visit Oman, Saudi Arabia, Jerusalem, the Palestinian territories, and Turkey during a nine-day trip to the region. "Clearly, our ongoing efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan will be discussed," John Hannah, national security adviser to Cheney, told reporters. "Middle East peace, Iran, the situation in Syria, Lebanon, the violence in Gaza, energy -- it's a very long list and rich agenda." Cheney will reinforce the message from visits by President George W. Bush in January and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice earlier this month, in a stepped-up diplomatic push for Israelis and Palestinians to move forward on peace efforts dealt a blow by violence in Gaza and Israel. "The mood has deterior...
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Fed acts to protect financial system
2008-03-17 04:36:00
The U.S. Federal Reserve on Sunday announced fresh emergency measures to stem a fast-spreading global financial crisis, using tools it has not used since the Great Depression. The Fed cut the discount rate it charges on direct loans to banks and setting up a new program to provide cash to a wider range of big financial firms. Senior Fed officials said the extraordinary measures, which follow a sequence of emergency steps over the last ten days, were necessary to ensure the broad spectrum of financial firms have access liquid funds as problems at investment bank Bear Stearns on Thursday and Friday put the broader financial system at risk. The move will be seen as an attempt to prevent other major investment banks and brokers from suffering the same fate as Bear, the fifth-largest U.S. investment bank, as the pressures on the U.S. financial system from the credit market turmoil reach unprecedented levels. Bear's major shareholders, including British billionaire Joseph Lewis and B...
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Obama Expands Delegate Lead Over Clinton
2008-03-17 04:30:00
Democrat Barack Obama expanded his fragile lead in delegates over rival Hillary Rodham Clinton on Saturday, picking up nine delegates as Iowa activists took the next step in picking delegates to the national convention. More than half the 14 delegates allocated to John Edwards on the basis of caucus night projections switched Saturday to Obama. Iowa Democratic Party officials said that with all of the delegates picked, Obama claimed 52 percent of the delegates elected at county conventions on Saturday, compared with 32 percent for Clinton. Some of the delegates picked at Saturday's conventions were sticking with Edwards, even though he's dropped from the race since Iowa held its caucuses in January. Democratic Party projections said the results mean Obama increased by nine the number of delegates he collects from the state, getting a total of 25 compared with 14 for Clinton and six for Edwards. Twelve automatic delegates bring the state's total to 57. Obama has been endorsed ...
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Stocks experience biggest one-day gain in five years as Fed adds liquidity
2008-03-12 03:29:00
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rallied more than 3 percent on Tuesday, giving the S&P 500 its best advance since October 2002, after the Federal Reserve said it would add up to $200 billion to strained credit markets in a coordinated effort with other central banks. The Dow and Nasdaq rang up their biggest daily percentage gains since March 2003. The Fed said it was expanding a lending program and will accept a broader base of securities as collateral, including mortgage bonds whose value has declined as the housing bubble burst. Shares of mortgage-related companies and banks led the way, helping the market recover after three days of losses. Stocks had been close to their lows for the year as recession fears mounted. Shares of Fannie Mae, the largest U.S. mortgage finance company, advanced 11.1 percent to $22.00, and Citigroup Inc, the largest U.S. bank, climbed 9.1 percent to $21.49. Home builders' shares also rallied, as the Fed's action could help boost mortgage lending and e...
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