Headlines

Politics

• Clinton Trounces Obama In Pennsylvania (Video)
  
• Undecideds Swing For Clinton, Both Take Hits For Negative Campaign
• New York Times Editorial Eviscerates Clinton
• LA Times Questions McCain’s Disability Pension

US

• Student Planning School Attack Charged With WMD
• Former Army Engineer Charged With Selling Secrets To Israel (Video)
• Self-Poisoned Man Charged In Ricin Case
• Ironically, Chicago Faces Bloody Summer Due To Lack Of Criminal Leadership
• US Has 5% Of World Population, 25% Of Prisoners

International

• Global Warming Could Cause New World Wars Lasting “Centuries”
• Qa’ida Number Two Criticizes Muslims For Lack Of Support
• Iraq PM Calls On Arab Nations To Rally Behind It
• Zimbabwe Said To Release Last Month’s Election Results This Weekend
• Chinese Ship Carrying Arms To Zimbabwe May Return Home After Block From US
• China’s Government Quenching Anti-West Olympic Protests
• US To Make Link Between N. Korea And Syria
• Canada And Mexico Back Bush On Expanding NAFTA (Video)

Business & Economics

• Gas, Oil, And Dollar Hit New Records
• California Foreclosures Soar By Over 300%
• Murdoch Moves On Buying Newsday For Nearly $600 Million From Tribune Co.
• eBay Sues Craigslist Over Dilution
• Home Sales Decline, But Signs Of Hope Emerge

Photo of the Day

President Bush plants a tree with the President of Mexico and Canada’s Prime Minister, and looks extraordinarily ridiculous in doing so.

Politics

Clinton Trounces Obama In Pennsylvania (Video)

Hillary Clinton won yesterday’s primary in Pennsylvania, 55% to 45%, keeping her campaign very much alive. “‘Some people counted me out and said to drop out but the American people don’t quit, and they deserve a president who doesn’t quit, either,’ Clinton told supporters at a victory rally after walking out to Tom Petty’s song ‘I Won’t Back Down.’ Clinton’s Pennsylvania victory fuels questions about why Obama hasn’t been able to sew up the nomination, despite having more money, having won more states and having a lead in the popular vote and pledged delegates, according to ABC News’ delegate scorecard.” Clinton needed a big victory to keep her campaign alive as she faces a virtually insurmountable lead by Obama in delegates and is playing a long-shot strategy of convincing delegates to support her as the more electable candidate against McCain in the general election.

Undecideds Swing For Clinton, Both Take Hits For Negative Campaign

“The tough tone of the Pennsylvania Democratic campaign tarnished both candidates — more so Hillary Clinton, with 68 percent of voters saying she attacked Barack Obama unfairly. Yet it appears to have worked: Late deciders favored Clinton by a wide margin, boosting her to an essential victory in the state. Clinton beat Obama by 58-42 percent among voters who decided in the last few days, countering his equally large edge among those who picked their candidate between a week and a month ago. It was the sixth primary in a row in which she won late-choosing voters. While two-thirds of voters said Clinton attacked Obama unfairly, 50 percent also said Obama unfairly attacked Clinton. Both numbers were higher than in previous primaries overall — by 16 points for Clinton and 12 for Obama — reflecting the negative tone of the campaign’s closing days. However, voters who said Obama attacked unfairly were more apt to punish him for it: Clinton won those voters by 67-33 percent; of those who said Clinton attacked unfairly, Obama won by a narrower 55-45 percent.”

New York Times Editorial Eviscerates Clinton

“The Pennsylvania campaign, which produced yet another inconclusive result on Tuesday, was even meaner, more vacuous, more desperate, and more filled with pandering than the mean, vacuous, desperate, pander-filled contests that preceded it. Voters are getting tired of it; it is demeaning the political process; and it does not work. It is past time for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to acknowledge that the negativity, for which she is mostly responsible, does nothing but harm to her, her opponent, her party and the 2008 election… On the eve of this crucial primary, Mrs. Clinton became the first Democratic candidate to wave the bloody shirt of 9/11. A Clinton television ad — torn right from Karl Rove’s playbook — evoked the 1929 stock market crash, Pearl Harbor, the Cuban missile crisis, the cold war and the 9/11 attacks, complete with video of Osama bin Laden. ‘If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen,’ the narrator intoned.”

LA Times Questions McCain’s Disability Pension

“Sen. John McCain has long said he is in robust health and is strong enough to hike the Grand Canyon, but he also is receiving what his staff Monday termed a ‘disability pension’ from the Navy. When McCain released his tax return for 2007 on Friday, he separately disclosed that he received a pension of $58,358 that was not listed as income on his return. On Monday, McCain’s staff identified the retirement benefit as a ‘disability pension’ and said that McCain ‘was retired as disabled because of his limited body movements due to injuries as a POW.’”

US

Student Planning School Attack Charged With WMD

“An 18-year-old accused of planning to bomb his high school will be charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction, which carries a possible life sentence, the top federal prosecutor in South Carolina said Tuesday. Ryan Schallenberger also will face two lesser federal charges stemming from what authorities say was a scheme to detonate explosives in a suicide attack on his high school in the small town of Chesterfield. The straight-A student will be charged in federal court in Florence on Tuesday afternoon, said Kevin McDonald, the acting U.S. attorney for South Carolina. McDonald said the federal charge comes into play mostly because Schallenberger ordered materials that can be used for bombs through the mail.” Schallenberger’s parents called police after he received a shipment of ammonium nitrate in the mail, the same bomb ingredient used by Timothy McVeigh in the Oklahoma City bombing.

Former Army Engineer Charged With Selling Secrets To Israel (Video)

“An 84-year-old retired military engineer from New Jersey was arrested early Tuesday and charged with sending highly classified military information to Israel through an operative who also served as handler for convicted spy Jonathan Pollard. Ben-Ami Kadish, a U.S. citizen and engineer employed at a military arsenal in Dover, New Jersey, supplied secrets to Israel from 1979 through 1985, according to a court document unsealed Tuesday. Kadish is accused of providing secrets that dealt with nuclear weapons, the F-15 plane and the Patriot defense missile system.”

Self-Poisoned Man Charged In Ricin Case

“A federal grand jury indicted a man arrested last week in connection with a mysterious case of exposure to the deadly biological agent ricin, prosecutors said. Roger Von Bergendorff, 57, was indicted on charges of possession of a biological toxin, possession of unregistered firearms and possession of firearms not identified by serial number, said Natalie Collins, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Las Vegas, Nevada. Bergendorff was hospitalized for two months with suspected ricin poisoning, and was discharged before his arrest.”

Ironically, Chicago Faces Bloody Summer Due To Lack Of Criminal Leadership

“Nine people were killed in 36 shootings over the weekend in Chicago, reflecting what some community leaders say is a deadly breakdown in discipline among gang members after a crackdown over the past few years put many of their leaders behind bars. ‘The older guys, in the past, looked out for the little ones. Now they’re all locked up,’ said Nick Stames, a social studies teacher at Crane Tech High School on the city’s gang-ridden West Side. ‘There’s no sense of discipline in the projects,’ he added. ‘Everybody’s doing their own thing.’ Now there is growing fear that Chicago could be in for a long, bloody summer. ‘If this happened on this weekend, what is ahead of us when it gets to be 85, 90 and when the schools close in June?’ asked the Rev. Michael Pfleger, an activist on the South Side. ‘A lot of kids out there are running their own game, trying to one-up each other for respect.’”

US Has 5% Of World Population, 25% Of Prisoners

“The United States has less than 5 percent of the world’s population. But it has almost a quarter of the world’s prisoners. Indeed, the United States leads the world in producing prisoners, a reflection of a relatively recent and now entirely distinctive American approach to crime and punishment. Americans are locked up for crimes — from writing bad checks to using drugs — that would rarely produce prison sentences in other countries. And in particular they are kept incarcerated far longer than prisoners in other nations. Criminologists and legal scholars in other industrialized nations say they are mystified and appalled by the number and length of American prison sentences.”

International

Global Warming Could Cause New World Wars Lasting “Centuries”

“Climate change could cause global conflicts as large as the two world wars but lasting for centuries unless the problem is controlled, a leading defence think tank has warned. The Royal United Services Institute said a tenfold increase in research spending, comparable to the amount spent on the Apollo space programme, will be needed if the world is to avoid the worst effects of changing temperatures. However the group said the world’s response to the threats posed by climate change, such as rising sea levels and migration, had so far been ’slow and inadequate,’ because nations had failed to prepare for the worst-case scenario. ‘We’re preparing for a car bomb, not for 9/11,’ said Nick Mabey, author of the report which comes after Lord Stern, who compiled an economic assessment of climate change for the Government, said last week that he had underestimated the possible economic consequences.”

Middle East

Qa’ida Number Two Criticizes Muslims For Lack Of Support

“Al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri criticised Muslims for failing to support Islamist insurgencies in Iraq and elsewhere in a new audiotape posted Tuesday on the Internet. Osama bin Laden’s top lieutenant also blasted Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas over their reported readiness to consider a peace deal with Israel. ‘I call upon the Muslim nation to fear Allah’s question (at judgement day) about its failure to support its brothers of the Mujahedeen (holy Warriors), and (urge it) not to withhold men and money, which is the mainstay of a war,’ he said. He also used the two-and-a-half hour message to urge Muslims to join militant groups, mainly in Iraq, where he claimed that the insurgency against the Iraqi government and the US-led coalition forces is bearing fruit. ‘I urge all Muslims to hurry to the battlefields of Jihad (holy war), especially in Iraq,’ Zawahiri said in the message, the second in a two-part series to answer about 100 questions put to him via online militant forums.”

Iraq PM Calls On Arab Nations To Rally Behind It

“Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq made an urgent appeal on Tuesday for greater international support to Iraq, and he voiced frustration with fellow leaders of Arab nations for failing to send ambassadors and relieve Iraq’s debts. ‘It is hard for us to understand why our Arab brothers do not exchange diplomats with Iraq,’ Mr. Maliki said, speaking in Kuwait at a gathering of Iraq’s neighbors and other backers. He added, ‘Some Western countries have kept their diplomatic missions in Baghdad, and have not given security as an excuse.’”

Africa

Zimbabwe Said To Release Last Month’s Election Results This Weekend

“A Zimbabwe election official said Tuesday that results from the presidential and parliamentary elections should be announced this weekend, four weeks after votes were cast. Election officials are working on a recount of the hotly contested March 29 race between President Robert Mugabe and opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai. Officials are also recounting 23 of Zimbabwe’s 210 voting districts but have not yet released any results of the vote, said George Chiweshe, chairman of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission. The delay in releasing the presidential election results have raised fears that Mugabe, who has been in office for 28 years, is taking underhanded steps to cling to power.”

Chinese Ship Carrying Arms To Zimbabwe May Return Home After Block From US

“A Chinese ship that was blocked from unloading its cargo in South Africa may return to China because of difficulties at African ports, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said Tuesday. The ship, which is suspected to be carrying weapons destined for Zimbabwe, left South African waters Friday after that country’s High Court ruled that the cargo could not be transported on South African roads to landlocked Zimbabwe, where violence continues in a dispute over election results. It was last believed to be headed toward Angola, South African officials said. The United States has asked that other southern African countries not allow the ship to dock, a senior U.S. administration official in Washington said Tuesday. Deputy U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey said the United States has been ‘tracking this vessel for a few days now, and we don’t think it is appropriate for anyone to provide additional weapons in Zimbabwe as they are going through a political crisis.’”

Asia

China’s Government Quenching Anti-West Olympic Protests

“After more than a week of protests against what some Chinese see as the demonization of their nation by the West, there are indications the Chinese government is making an effort to rein in the anger. The protesters have mostly been angry young men, their fury directed against the French supermarket chain Carrefour and against CNN. Some protests, on mainland China and elsewhere, have drawn thousands. However, Beijing appears to be gently admonishing protesters that enough is enough. The state-run English-language newspaper China Daily for a fourth straight day on Tuesday called on protesters to tone it down.”

US To Make Link Between N. Korea And Syria

“North Korea was helping Syria build a plutonium-producing nuclear reactor before Israel bombed the site last September, the Bush administration is set to tell Congress. The new information could increase the position of hard-liners in Congress and the administration who have argued against a deal being negotiated to dismantle North Korea’s nuclear-weapons program. The hard-liners say Pyongyang hasn’t provided enough assurances it will dismantle its atomic arsenal in return for economic and diplomatic incentives.”

Americas

Canada And Mexico Back Bush On Expanding NAFTA (Video)

“President Bush pulled the leaders of Mexico and Canada into an unusually direct involvement in his domestic political efforts to expand free trade on Tuesday when his two North American allies joined him in a foray into both Congressional politics and the presidential campaign. President Felipe Calderón of Mexico and Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada lent their weight to what has been something of a lonely campaign by the president as he has traveled the country to make pro-trade speeches and angry statements about the ‘petty politics’ that he sees threatening one of his administration’s major legacies.”

Business & Economics

Gas, Oil, And Dollar Hit New Records

“Gas and oil prices pushed further into record high territory Tuesday, with retail gas reaching a national average of $3.51 for the first time and crude nearing $120 as the dollar fell to a new low against the Euro.” The Euro passed through the $1.60 mark for the first time.

California Foreclosures Soar By Over 300%

“The number of California homes lost to foreclosure in the first quarter surged 327% from year-ago levels — reaching an average of more than 500 foreclosures per day — DataQuick said in a report, warning that the widening foreclosure problem could ’spread beyond the current categories of dicey mortgages, and into mainstream home loans.’”

Murdoch Moves On Buying Newsday For Nearly $600 Million From Tribune Co.

“Rupert Murdoch is moving to tighten his already-imposing grip on American news media, striking a tentative deal to buy his third New York-based paper, Newsday, and getting his first chance to appoint the top editor of The Wall Street Journal, after the resignation of the editor on Tuesday. His $580 million bid for Newsday and his urgency in remaking The Journal worry his competitors and cause angst in many newsrooms, including his own. And both moves are vintage Rupert Murdoch, a man who operates his sprawling News Corporation like an old-style media mogul, making big bets on old and new media — bankrolling the new Fox Business Network, aggressively pursuing a deal for Yahoo, and buying Dow Jones & Company, publisher of The Journal, for far more than analysts thought it was worth. And that was just in the last year.”

eBay Sues Craigslist Over Dilution

“EBay, based in San Jose, Calif., filed a lawsuit in the Delaware Court of Chancery on Tuesday against Craigslist, the online classified advertising company in which it owns a minority stake. In a statement, eBay said that in January, Craigslist executives took actions that ‘unfairly diluted eBay’s economic interest’ in the company. EBay did not specify what those actions were but said they diluted its 28.4 percent share in the company by more than 10 percent. EBay bought an interest in Craigslist in 2004 for an undisclosed sum.”

Home Sales Decline, But Signs Of Hope Emerge

“U.S. sales of previously owned homes declined in March as the housing-market slump continued, but two gauges of home prices provided a glimmer of hope that the downturn might be easing a bit. Existing-home sales fell 2% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.93 million, the National Association of Realtors said. The drop followed an increase of 2.9% in February, the first monthly gain since July. Home sales were down 19.3% from the 6.11-million-unit pace recorded in March 2007.”