WACO, Texas — Recasting what would keep her campaign alive, Hillary Rodham Clinton’s advisers said Friday that if rival Barack Obama loses any of Tuesday’s four presidential primaries, it would show Democrats are having second thoughts about him. Obama heads into Tuesday’s primaries in Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont riding a streak of 11 consecutive primary and caucus wins and leading the former first lady in popular vote, committed delegates and fundraising. A loss for Obama in even one of the four states Tuesday would indicate Democrats have developed a case of “buyer’s remorse,” a senior Clinton strategist said.
D.C.: No grand jury, Mukasey says
Attorney General Michael Mukasey on Friday refused to refer the House’s contempt citations against two of President Bush’s top aides to a federal grand jury. Mukasey says they committed no crime. Mukasey said White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former presidential counsel Harriet Miers were right in refusing to provide Congress White House documents or testify about the firings of federal prosecutors. The House voted two weeks ago to cite Bolten and Mukasey for contempt of Congress and seek a grand jury investigation.
@3. Headline Briefs 14 no:Appeal planned on anthrax shots
An attorney for six Defense Department employees said Friday they will appeal a federal judge’s dismissal of their lawsuit challenging the Pentagon’s policy of compulsory anthrax vaccinations for certain troops, their attorney said. The employees, who are military personnel, had argued that they should not be forced to take the vaccine because there is no scientific proof that it is effective for humans, their attorney said. The shots have been required for most military units and civilian employees assigned to homeland bioterrorism defense or deployed for 15 or more consecutive days in Iraq, Afghanistan or South Korea.
@3. Headline Briefs 14 no:U.S. will cut back on its food aid
The U.S. government’s humanitarian relief agency will significantly scale back emergency food aid to some of the world’s poorest countries this year because of soaring global food prices, and the U.S. Agency for International Development is drafting plans to reduce the number of recipient nations, the amount of food provided to them, or both, officials at the agency said. USAID officials said that a 41 percent surge in prices for wheat, corn, rice and other cereals over the past six months has generated a $120 million budget shortfall that will force the agency to reduce emergency operations.
Georgia: Son charged in slayings
A teenage boy is accused of fatally shooting his mother and her two little girls, one of whom was the 4-year-old daughter of rap star Juvenile. Anthony Tyrone Terrell Jr., 17, was charged Friday with murder in the deaths at the family home near Lawrenceville, where the bodies were found the night before, a police spokeswoman said. She identified the victims as Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Deputy Joy Deleston, 39, and her two daughters, Micaiah, 11, and Jelani, 4.
Bolivia: President praises protest
President Evo Morales on Friday praised street protesters who blocked opposition lawmakers from attending a congressional session to approve a national referendum on the leftist leader’s proposed constitution. Hundreds of pro-Morales demonstrators on Thursday seized the plaza in front of the congressional building, shutting out many opposition politicians and permitting the presidents’ Movement Toward Socialism party to approve the May 4 referendum without debate.
Iraq: Archbishop kidnapped
Gunmen kidnapped a Chaldean Catholic archbishop and killed three of his guards Friday in the latest attack targeting Iraq’s dwindling Christian minority in Mosul. The armed group intercepted Archbishop Faraj Rahho as he left the Church of the Holy Spirit after celebrating Mass, a Nineveh security officer said. Chaldean Catholics, who recognize the authority of the pope, are the largest group among Iraq’s small Christian community.
@3. Headline Briefs 14 no:Turkey pulls troops out of Iraq
Turkey announced Friday that it had pulled its troops out of northern Iraq, ending a large-scale offensive against Kurdish separatist guerrillas that has strained relations between the two U.S. allies. A statement by the Turkish military command said the weeklong operation had achieved its goals by denying militants from the Kurdish Workers Party, or PKK, a permanent and secure base in the mountainous border region from which to launch attacks on Turkish territory.
Israel: Military warns of attack
Israel’s deputy defense minister warned of disaster in the Gaza Strip after Palestinian rocket fire grew more ominous Friday with an assault on an Israeli city. “As the rocket fire grows, and the range increases … they are bringing upon themselves a greater ‘shoah’ because we will use all our strength in every way we deem appropriate,” he said. The Hebrew word “shoah” most often refers to the Holocaust, but Israelis use it to describe various types of disasters.
From Herald news services
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