HILL DROPS A RACIAL BOMB
Hillary Rodham Clinton played the race card yesterday as she dismissed Barack Obama as a candidate who will have a hard time winning support from "white Americans." It was the most starkly racial comment Clinton has made in the campaign, and drew quick condemnation from some Democrats. "I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on," she told USA Today in an interview published yesterday. She referred to an Associated Press story on Indiana and North Carolina exit polls "that found how Sen. Obama's support among working, hardworking Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me." USA Today 
VOA VIEW: The liberal media has favered and pushed for Obama.

California Superdelegate Wants $20 Million For His Support
With superdelegates holding the key to the Democratic presidential nomination, one undecided Democratic National Committee member is putting a price on his support. Steven Ybarra, a California lawyer in Sacramento, says he wants $20 million for his endorsement. It’s not for him personally, he says, but to register Mexican-American voters in New Mexico, Colorado and Florida. He said his hope is that by adding more than 1 million of those voters to the rosters in those swing states, they could help swing the election to the Democratic nominee in November. Legal experts say problems could emerge with such a quid pro quo arrangement  it might be considered commercial bribery and a court might be able to undo his superdelegate vote if such a transaction occurred. Fox News

Gas Prices Rattle Americans
Record high gas prices are prompting Americans to drive less for the first time in nearly three decades, squeezing family budgets and causing major shifts in driving habits, federal data and a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll show. As prices near — or in some places top — $4 a gallon, most Americans say they are cutting back on other household spending, seriously considering buying more fuel-efficient cars and consolidating their daily errands to save fuel. Americans worry that steep gas costs are here to stay: eight in 10 say they doubt today's high prices are temporary, the poll finds. USA Today 
VOA VIEW: Oil prices go three cents forward, one cent back, than four cents forward, never going back to the original low.

Conservative Flat Tax Idea Could Serve Liberal Ends
Facing a shortfall that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has estimated at $20 billion, California Democratic lawmakers are looking for a way to raise tax revenue. They might want to adopt and modify an idea advocated by a conservative think tank and increase tax revenue while lowering tax rates. California's tax rates currently top out at 10.3 percent for individuals and 8.84 percent on corporate profits. But a report by the Pacific Research Institute says a flat, 3-percent rate would collect the same amount if the state also eliminated all of the deductions that now riddle the income tax code. SHNS

House Passes $300B Foreclosure Rescue
The House has passed a housing aid plan to provide $300 billion in refinanced mortgages for struggling homeowners. President Bush says he'll veto the bill. It passed 266-154 with support from 39 Republicans. The measure would let debt-ridden homeowners refinance into fixed-rate, government-backed mortgages they could afford. Congressional analysts say it could help as many as 500,000 borrowers and cost $2.7 billion over the next five years. The White House calls it a burdensome bailout that would open taxpayers to inappropriate risk and reward those who helped cause the housing crisis. ABC News
VOA VIEW:  Hard working taxpayers meeting their obligations should not be funding those who can't.

New Rule Would Limit Insurers Contact With Elderly
Agents selling private health insurance plans to the elderly and disabled would be barred from cold-calling, door-to-door solicitations and pitching their products outside hospital waiting rooms or pharmacies, under a federal rule proposed. The rule is designed to make it harder to pressure Medicare beneficiaries into signing up for insurance products they don't need or want. It essentially restricts face-to-face solicitations to those initiated by the customer. A new Medicare drug benefit began Jan. 1, 2006. Since then, participants and state insurance commissioners have complained that some agents use false information to enroll people into certain plans, particularly those offering comprehensive health insurance. Las Vegas Sun

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Obama Backers Blame Limbaugh For Clinton Indiana Win
Rush Limbaugh's "Operation Chaos" a tactic that calls on Republicans to vote for Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries to keep her in the race where she will "bloody" Barack Obama and cause primary mayhem in general is apparently working, according to the Obama campaign. The campaign said that the tactic helped Clinton win the Indiana primary on Tuesday. Limbaugh has said that he thinks Obama will be the Democratic presidential nominee. But he has been encouraging his audience of about 14 million listeners to vote for Clinton. Speaking about "Operation Chaos" on his talk-radio show Tuesday, Limbaugh said it has not only caused chaos in the Democratic Party, but also in the "drive-by media." CNS

Mortgage Crisis Seeps To Prime Loans
The first concrete evidence that delinquencies on mortgage bills have spread well beyond those with subpar credit shows that even prime borrowers have increasingly fallen behind on their house payments. The figures remain relatively small so far. But if they rise further, delinquencies on prime loans — given only to those with good credit — could prolong the housing crisis.  About 2.3% of prime loans were 60 days' past due in February, the highest level in at least a decade, according to data from FirstAmerican CoreLogic LoanPerformance. That's up from 1.4% a year ago. USA Today
VOA VIEW: The talk of a bailout for those who can't pay inspires others to get in line.

Medical Know-How Raises Doctors' Suicide Rate
There's a grim, rarely talked-about twist to all that medical know-how doctors learn to save lives: It makes them especially good at ending their own. An estimated 300 to 400 U.S. doctors kill themselves each year a suicide rate thought to be higher than in the general population, although exact figures are hard to come by. Some doctors believe the stigma of mental illness is magnified in a profession that prides itself on stoicism and bravado. Many fear admitting psychiatric problems could be fatal to their careers, so they suffer in silence. MSNBC

Overlooked In The Global Food Crisis: A Problem With Dirt
Science has provided the souped-up seeds to feed the world, through biotechnology and old-fashioned crossbreeding. Now the problem is the dirt they're planted in. As seeds get better, much of the world's soil is getting worse and people are going hungry. Scientists say if they can get the world out of the economically triggered global food crisis, better dirt will be at the root of the solution. Soils around the world are deteriorating with about one-fifth of the world's cropland considered degraded in some manner.  Newsda
VOA VIEW: Highly unlikely anything will change.

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Vote Delayed On War Funding Bill
House Democratic leaders Thursday night delayed a vote on a $195 billion measure to pay for the war in Iraq and provide education help to veterans and relief for the jobless. House Speaker. 1 of 2 House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, promised to deal with the concerns of conservative Democrats, who were upset that the war funding bill includes new benefit programs without offsetting cuts to other programs. At the same time, Republicans say they've been excluded from crafting the measure and have forced dozens of procedural votes over the past three days in protest. A vote on the funding bill had initially been planned for. CNN

Bond Outlines Proposal On Nonpermissible Actions By CIA
Seeking to referee a stalemate over CIA interrogations, Sen. Kit Bond says Congress should ban waterboarding but allow the agency some leeway in how it questions detainees. Bond, a Missourian and senior Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, outlined his proposal in nonbinding language accompanying a bill that sets out the intelligence community’s policies, programs and spending for 2009. An unclassified summary was released Thursday. Like the 2008 version of the authorization bill — which President Bush vetoed — the 2009 bill restricts the CIA to using only the 19 interrogation techniques approved by the military in the Army Field Manual. Bond said he would seek to attach his proposed compromise to this or other legislation. Kansas City Star
VOA VIEW: Words or  threats alone will not get info from terrorists.

Group Urges F.D.A. To Take Contraceptive Off Market
A consumer advocacy group petitioned the government Thursday to pull the birth control patch off the market, calling it far riskier than the pill. “Ortho-Evra is a poor choice for women,” Dr. Sidney Wolfe of the group, Public Citizen, wrote the Food and Drug Administration. Warnings about the Ortho-Evra weekly patch have escalated since a 2005 investigation by The Associated Press found that patch users had higher rates of life-threatening blood clots than did women who took birth control pills. Blood clots are a rare side effect for estrogen-related products. NY Times

Insurer AIG Posts 1st-Quarter Loss On Write-Downs
American International Group Inc the world's largest insurer, posted its largest ever quarterly loss on Thursday and said it would raise $12.5 billion to fortify its balance sheet. The result marked the second consecutive quarter that AIG had posted record losses, hurt by a write-down of derivatives exposed to bad mortgage investments. Separately, the company said it was looking for a new CFO after naming Steven Bensinger vice-chairman of financial services, effective immediately. Reuters

Oil Lobby Reaches Out To Citizens Peeved At The Pump
Faced with a national outcry over the high price of gasoline and soaring profits for energy companies, the oil and gas industry is waging an unusually pricey campaign to burnish its image. The American Petroleum Institute, the industry's main lobby, has embarked on a multiyear, multimedia, multimillion-dollar campaign, which includes advertising in the nation's largest newspapers, news conferences in many state capitals and trips for bloggers out to drilling platforms at sea. The intended audience is elected officials and the public, with an emphasis on the latter. WashingtonPost 
VOA VIEW: Nothing short of lower prices will end public disdain for the gas industry.

Obama Makes Move To Wrap Up Washington Superdelegates
Sen. Barack Obama stepped into a swarm of superdelegates when he visited the House of Representatives in the middle of a vote. Obama stayed on the floor for almost half an hour visiting with both Democrats and Republicans who looked completely star struck. Even Speaker Nancy Pelosi left her weekly press briefing and made a beeline for the House floor to say hello. And the Capitol Hill press corps surrounded the House Chamber to catch him on his way out and fire questions about such an unusual move for a presidential candidate, even if he is a senator. CBS News

GM To Break Up SUV-Truck Marriage To Cut Fuel Use
General Motors Corp. may be forced to break up a seven-decade marriage of pickups and large sport- utility vehicles as Americans restrict the fossil-fuel diet of their transportation.  Under pressure to produce a more fuel-efficient and cleaner- running line of vehicles, GM is investigating ways to design a lighter replacement for its biggest SUVs, such as the Chevrolet Tahoe, without relying on a heavier pickup-truck frame, according to people familiar with the effort. The Tahoe and its predecessors have shared the design of the Chevy Silverado pickups since the model was introduced in 1965. Bloomberg

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Cindy McCain: I Will Never Release My Tax Returns
Cindy McCain says she will never make her tax returns public even if her husband wins the White House and she becomes the first lady. “You know, my husband and I have been married 28 years and we have filed separate tax returns for 28 years. This is a privacy issue. My husband is the candidate,” Cindy McCain, wife of Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting John McCain, said in an interview. Asked if she would release her tax returns if she was first lady, Cindy McCain said: “No.” The Arizona senator released his tax return last month. Fox News

Who will Obama Pick As His Vice President?
With the Democratic nomination almost within his grasp, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama sometime soon will start the next great guessing game in American politics: Who will be his running mate? Will he pick someone with expertise in foreign policy or national defense to offset his lack of experience? A governor from a battleground state with executive experience? How about a former rival — maybe named Clinton? Obama won't talk about it yet, even if he's secretly running through the pros and cons of different names. McClatchy
VOA VIEW: Obama may win the Democratic nomination, but has no chance wining the presidency, regardless who he picks as VP running mate.

Powell Backs Higher GI Education Benefits
Former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Colin Powell, speaking at his City College of New York alma mater Thursday morning, said veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan deserve a GI Bill that pays more of the cost of higher education. The U.S. House of Representatives is considering legislation that would expand the GI BILL, which today provides only a tiny fraction of the support it did when it was signed into law by Franklin Roosevelt in 1944. Powell said he favors a version known as the "Webb Bill,", because it provides a larger share of education costs than does a rival bill. Powell, whose 2002 testimony before the United Nations helped make the case for sending U.S. troops to Iraq, said he does not share concerns that boosting education packages for returning vets will deplete the military's ranks by encouraging soldiers to return to civilian life. Powell was at CCNY to attend the announcement of a new scholarship program for student-veterans there, founded by financier Jerome Kohlberg, who hopes to award 1,000 grants over the next three years. Newsday

Senate Ethics Panel Dismisses Vitter Complaint
The Senate Ethics Committee on Thursday dismissed a complaint against Sen. David Vitter, a suspected patron of a prostitution ring headed by a woman who killed herself last month. In a letter to the Louisiana Republican, the panel said the conduct at issue allegedly occurred before his Senate candidacy and time in office. In addition, it did not result in his being charged criminally, the committee said. As a result, the panel said it did not have jurisdiction, dismissing "without prejudice" the complaint filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, or CREW, a private watchdog group. Washington Post 
VOA VIEW: A matter for the voters to evaluate at reelection time.

Gas Jumps Nearly 3 Cents To Record
Oil futures extended their seemingly relentless advance, rising to a new record near $124 a barrel as investors captivated by the market's upward momentum looked past the government's report of an increase in crude and gasoline supplies. At the pump, gas prices rose for the first time since last week. At the pump, the average price of a gallon of regular gas nationwide rose 2.7 cents to a record $3.645, according to a survey of stations by AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. Diesel prices also rose, adding 0.9 cent to match a record national average of $4.251 a gallon. Gas prices tend to lag oil futures, and with crude rising to a new record near $124 a barrel Wednesday and likely headed higher, it's widely expected the average price of gas will soon rise as high as $4. ABC News

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Russia Expels U.S. Military Attachés
Russia has ordered two American military attachés at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow to leave the country following the expulsion of a pair of Russian diplomats from Washington, U.S officials said.  U.S. officials played down any linkage between the expulsions of the Americans, which were ordered on April 28, and the U.S. decisions to expel the Russian military attachés. One Russian military officer was ordered to leave Washington on November 6, 2007. The second was ordered to leave on April 22, officials said. One official, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, said the United States viewed them as "separate incidents." CNN
 
Bush Set To Veto $300 Billion Farm Bill
Administration officials have dashed hopes among farm-state lawmakers from both parties that President Bush will sign a nearly $300 billion farm bill that they finished Thursday. The veto warning sets up an effort by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, joined by many farm-state Republicans, to override a veto and defend government payments to farmers earning record incomes even as food prices soar. Administration officials said the bill, which would set U.S. food policy for the next five years, is loaded with budget gimmicks that disguise a $20 billion increase in spending. SF Gate
VOA VIEW: A definite waste and fraud.

Troops, Immigrants Denied Rebate Checks
When Congress passed an economic-stimulus package giving hefty rebates to most taxpayers, it tried to make sure that illegal immigrants didn't get any of the cash. But in attempting to avoid giving rebates to illegal immigrants Congress inadvertently penalized hundreds of thousands of legal U.S. residents — and tens of thousands of U.S. troops stationed overseas — simply because their spouses lack a Social Security number. Sun-Sentinel

Depressed Teens More Likely To Smoke Pot
Depression, teens and marijuana are a dangerous mix that can lead to dependency, mental illness or suicidal thoughts, according to a White House report being released today. A teen who has been depressed at some point in the past year is more than twice as likely to have used marijuana as teens who have not reported being depressed — 25 percent compared with 12 percent, said the report by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. Houston Chronicle
VOA VIEW: A 'no-brainer.'

U.S. Defense Contractors Seek Offshore Havens
When the Pentagon announced an obscure California company had won a lucrative military contract, no one mentioned any plans for a Caribbean outpost a tropical shell the company quickly created that allowed it to duck millions in taxes and deflect U.S. lawsuits. It's legal, at least for now. Contractors large and small have been heading offshore to shield piles of taxpayer dollars, according to an Associated Press investigation, but irate lawmakers are thundering that they'll put an end to it.
Almost a decade ago, a few months after winning the deal that has totaled more than $2 billion, Combat Support Associates established its subsidiary in the Cayman Islands, a British territory and tax haven. MSNBC

Unemployment Applications Plummet
The number of newly laid off U.S. workers seeking unemployment benefits dropped much more than expected last week. The Labor Department reported Thursday that applications for unemployment benefits fell to 365,000, a decline of 18,000 from the previous week. Economists had been looking for a much smaller decrease of around 5,000. Weekly jobless claims have been exceptionally volatile in recent weeks because of strike-related layoffs in the auto industry and an unusually early Easter, which has played havoc with the government's seasonal adjustment measurements. CBS News

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More Than Half Of US Diabetics Have Arthritis
More than half of U.S. adults with diabetes also have arthritis, raising a serious obstacle for diabetic patients urged to exercise, according to a government study. The survey of nearly 800,000 people is the first extensive look at the overlap between the two conditions, said Dr. John Klippel, president of the Arthritis Foundation. And its findings highlight a significant challenge: Most diabetics are told exercise is important to their health, but experts say many of them don't do it. Las Vegas Sun

Conservative Christians Question Senate Probe Of Churches
Nearly two-dozen conservative Christian leaders have signed a letter to the Senate Finance Committee questioning an investigation into six large ministries that preach a gospel of prosperity. The letter argues that the 6-month-old inquiry sets a dangerous precedent. It also suggests that the ministries were targeted for sharing the same branch of evangelicalism" and promoting "socially conservative public policy positions such as support for the traditional definition of marriage. Although the ministries under scrutiny are conservative theologically, they are not at the forefront of the culture wars issues championed by the leaders who are now rallying to their side. CNS

Despite Reports. Al Qaeda In Iraq Leader Not Captured
The U.S. military says the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq has been not been captured — despite a claim by the Iraqi government. U.S. military spokeswoman Maj. Peggy Kageleiry says "neither coalition forces nor Iraqi security forces detained or killed Abu Ayyub al-Masri. This guy had a similar name." Detroit Free Press

Guantanamo General Won't Receive Post In Pakistan
When the Pentagon announced in March that Major General Jay W. Hood would become the senior officer based in Pakistan, it reflected the military's aim to put a crisis-tested veteran in a critical job at a pivotal time in the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Pakistan's tribal areas. But nearly two months later, the military has quietly canceled Hood's assignment after the 33-year Army officer was excoriated in the Pakistani news media for one of his previous jobs: commander of the US prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Boston Globe
VOA VIEW: Certain assignments can be career killers.

U.S. Economic Anxiety Hits Women Harder
The U.S. economic downturn has spread personal financial worries far and wide, but women are more worried about paying bills, losing jobs, providing for children and saving for retirement, according to a study released. The study comes as the U.S. economy has been mired in a half-year-long period of stagnation accompanied by a shrinking job market, rising energy prices and a downward spiral in consumer confidence. The report said women, particularly among minorities, have more financial worries than men. It was based on a survey commissioned in February 2007 by the Rockefeller Foundation and an analysis by the Institute for Women's Policy Research. Reuters

Clinton Advisers Talk Exit Strategy
She's darting across the country like a full-fledged presidential candidate, but the conversation within Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's circle of advisers and donors has turned to how she can make a dignified exit from the race. Outwardly, Clinton operated Thursday as if the disappointing results from Indiana and North Carolina never happened. She made stops in West Virginia, South Dakota and Oregon, while her husband held a conference call with top fundraisers. Before dawn, one of her advisers, Mark Penn, crafted a memo to outline the campaign's strategy. But for all the signs of normalcy, much of the infrastructure that keeps the Clinton campaign going — the aides, donors and political allies — is resigned to the reality that the Democratic nomination is out of reach. Seattle Times
VOA VIEW: The Clinton's are not quitters, and have proven to be very resourceful.

US Lacks Plan To Counter Terrorist Messsages On The Internet
The United States must develop a communications plan to counter radical Islamic messages on the Internet, according to a US congressional report released because the Internet's easy access makes it possible for al-Qaida and other terrorist sympathizers to spread their beliefs and recruit new followers, the government needs a coordinated and thorough response that it currently lacks, said the senior senators on the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, an independent, said al-Qaida is better at communicating its message to Americans than the U.S. government is at communicating its message. Jerusalem Post

Guantanamo Judge Demands Detainee's Records
A frustrated military judge vowed yesterday to suspend the war-crimes trial of a Canadian detainee unless the Guantanamo detention center provided a "day-by-day, hour-by-hour" record of his confinement. Attorneys for Omar Khadr said details, including logs of interrogations at this base, could provide grounds to suppress self-incriminating statements. Khadr is accused of killing a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan when he was 15. Philadelphia Inquirer

Wheat Disease Threatens Supplies
A lethal variant on an ancient disease affecting wheat has spread from its base in Africa to Iran and now threatens vast fields in South Asia, the Middle East and Europe at a time of global food shortages, agricultural specialists warn. The new strain of wheat-stem rust, first identified in Uganda nine years ago, is threatening crops during a global crisis over rising food prices, depleted reserves, rising agricultural trade barriers and violent food-related protests on four continents. Washington Times

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China Puts Positive Spin On Relations With Japan
Pandas and ping-pong helped sweeten politics yesterday on day three of the Chinese President Hu Jintao's state trip to Japan, which is warming frigid ties between the two old enemies despite being marred by controversy over Tibet. On the first visit to Japan by a Chinese leader in a decade, Mr Hu, 65, played table tennis with the Olympic hopeful Ai Fukuhara, surprising millions of TV viewers by giving the 19-year-old a run for her money. Independent News

Al-Qaida In Iraq Leader 'Arrested'
The leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, has been arrested in the northern city of Mosul, the Iraqi defence ministry said today. A spokesman said the arrest of al-Masri, also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, was confirmed to him by the Iraqi commander of the province.  Guardian

Iranian President Ahmadinejad: Israel Is A 'Stinking Corpse'
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that the State of Israel is a "stinking corpse" that is destined to disappear. "Those who think they can revive the stinking corpse of the usurping and fake Israeli regime by throwing a birthday party are seriously mistaken," the official IRNA news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as having said. Ahmadinejad further stated that Israel "has reached the end like a dead rat after being slapped by the Lebanese" referring to the Second Lebanon War in the summer of 2006. Jerusalem Post
VOA VIEW: Ahmadinejad is mad.

UN 'Disappointed' At Burma Access
The UN says it is extremely disappointed at the slow progress made in securing access to victims of last weekend's cyclone in Burma. Humanitarian chief John Holmes told reporters that Burma's response was "nothing like as much as is needed". In addition to about 23,000 people who died in the storm and tidal surge, 1.5 million are at risk, he said. The US has rejected an idea to air-drop supplies into Burma without permission, after its planes were denied entry. Some supplies have been allowed into Burma but many more tonnes of aid, and dozens of foreign staff, have not. BBC

Violence Escalates Between Sunni And Shia
Clashes between Shia supporters of Hizbullah and Sunni backers of the Lebanese government intensified today, turning some neighbourhoods of Beirut into battlegrounds. The latest sectarian confrontations are in response to a defiant speech by the Hizbullah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in which he said militant groups would respond with force to any attacks. The spiralling violence has prompted Washington's ambassador to the UN to step in, urging the security council to consider sanctions if Syria and Hizbullah do not resolve the growing crisis in Lebanon. Guardian

Putin Signals He Intends To Keep Power
When Boris Yeltsin left the Kremlin eight years ago, he gave Vladimir Putin the pen he had used to sign important documents and decrees, a gesture symbolizing the transfer of power to Russia's new president. When Putin left the Kremlin, he took the pen with him. Putin, who became prime minister Thursday, has signaled that he intends to remain Russia's principal leader, at least in the short term -- and possibly much longer. He is keeping the trappings of his presidency and many of its powers as well. Detroit News 
VOA VIEW: Putin is a Cuba's Castro want to be.

Iraq Prepares For Baghdad Exodus
The authorities in Baghdad say they are preparing for an exodus of thousands of people from eastern parts of the city. Fighting between government and US troops on one side, and Shia militia on the other, has intensified recently. Two football stadiums are on stand-by to receive residents from two neighbourhoods in the Sadr City area. The government has warned of an imminent push to clear the areas of members of the Mehdi Army, loyal to the anti-American cleric, Moqtada Sadr. In the last seven weeks around 1,000 people have died, and more than 2,500 others have been injured, most of them civilians. BBC

Abortion: The Battle Lines Are Drawn
A study of the survival rates of premature babies has provided a vital boost to pro-choice campaigners, ahead of one of the most significant parliamentary debates on abortion for a generation. As the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill returns to the Commons, campaigners are preparing to use it as a battleground for reform of Britain's abortion laws, 40 years after the termination of pregnancy was made legal. Anti-abortion MPs are demanding a cut in the 24-week time limit on the ground that some babies are viable at 23 or even 22 weeks. Independent News

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