Obama backer cites 'blue dress' in Bill Clinton attack

Sen. Hillary Clinton's aides blasted Sen. Barack Obama's campaign Monday after a major Obama supporter referenced the blue dress at the heart of former President Bill Clinton's impeachment scandal.

Sen.John Mccain, back from his trip to the Middle East and Europe heads to California for fundraisers

Gordon Fischer, a former chair of the Iowa Democratic Party and part of Obama's Iowa support team, also compared Bill Clinton unfavourably to John MCCain.

McCarthy was a senator who was known for leveling accusations that people were Communists or spying for the Russians in the 1950s. "When Joe McCarthy questioned others' patriotism, McCarthy (1) actually believed, at least aparently (sic), the questions were genuine, and (2) he did so in order to build up, not tear down, his own party, the GOP," Fischer, wrote on his blog.

"Bill Clinton cannot possibly seriously believe Obama is not a patriot, and cannot possibly be said to be helping -- instead he is hurting -- his own party. B. [Bill] Clinton should never be forgiven. Period. This is a stain on his legacy, much worse, much deeper, than the one on Monica's blue dress."

Fischer was referring to Bill Clinton's comments over the weekend that a race between Sen. John McCain and Hillary Clinton would be a contest between two people who love their country.

Some Obama supporters -- including former Air Force Gen. Tony McPeak -- have interpreted that statement as an attack on Obama's patriotism. Fischer, who endorsed Obama last fall, later removed the post from his blog and replaced it with an apology. "I sincerely apologize for a tasteless and gratituous [sic] comment I made here about President Clinton. It was unnecessary and wrong," he wrote.

In a conference call with reporters Monday, Clinton aides said Fischer's decision to attack the New York senator reflected "gutter tactics that [the Obama] campaign is now deploying." "This is now the Obama campaign's primary message to the American people," said spokesman Howard Wolfson. "Not to build him up, but to tear Sen. Clinton down."

He also dismissed Fischer's apology. "In my opinion the remarks of Gordon Fischer are very much in keeping with the campaign Sen. Obama is running. So I don't know why he would apologize.

" Clinton aides also distanced themselves from remarks made this weekend by Clinton supporter and CNN analyst James Carville. Carville told the New York Times last Saturday that New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson's endorsement of Obama "came right around the anniversary of the day when Judas sold out [Jesus] for 30 pieces of silver." On Monday, Carville defended his comments.

"That's exactly what I said and ... I think the quote had the desired intent ... that people saw Richardson and saw somebody who is disloyal," Carville told Wolf Blitzer. "I'm very satisfied with the response I gave."

Carville also said he hadn't spoken with Hillary Clinton about Richardson's endorsement, but that he was outraged. "I doubt if Gov. Richardson and I will be terribly close in the future," he said, but "I've had my say ... I got one in the wheelhouse and I tagged him." On Monday, Richardson said Democrats need to "stop the bloodletting" so the party can unify before the convention.

"We're fighting each other, so we've got to end this," Richardson said on CNN's "American Morning." Richardson, a former member of the Clinton administration, said he almost endorsed Clinton right after her husband visited him to watch the Super Bowl. Meanwhile, Clinton returned to the campaign trail Monday to take on the economy in a policy address in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

She said the country's economic crisis "is, at its core, a housing crisis," and called on President Bush to appoint an "emergency working group on foreclosures." Obama is in the middle of a three-day vacation in the U.S. Virgin Islands, following the hit he took following the flap over his former minister, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Some of Wright's old sermons came under fire after a news report this month turned some of his most controversial comments into a YouTube phenomenon. In one, the minister said America had brought the September 11 attacks upon itself. In another, he said Clinton had an advantage over Obama because she is white.

In a radio interview on the "Michael Smerconish Show" that aired Monday in Philadelphia, Obama defended the church, saying it is "not some crackpot church," and pointing out that Bill Clinton also had ties to Wright.

CNN

More arrests as Tibet still tense

Tibet's government-in-exile, based in northern India, now says it can confirm 140 people died in the violence, which began on 10 March.

China has reported 19 deaths, but independent confirmation of either figure is impossible to obtain.

Foreign journalists remain barred from Tibet and other restive areas. The protests began in Lhasa, and have since escalated, spreading to Tibetan communities in nearby regions and overseas.

On Monday pro-Tibet activists attempted to disrupt Monday's ceremony in Greece to light the Olympic torch - something Chinese media appears to have ignored.

'Reliable information'

Chinese authorities in Tibet say they have formalised the arrest of 13 people for taking part in monk-led demonstrations in Lhasa on 10 March.

According to the Tibet Daily, the 13 were part of a crowd protesting near one of Lhasa's main monasteries, yelling "reactionary slogans" and holding a banner. The report did not say whether those held were Tibetan monks. Unrest is still being reported in Tibet's neighbouring provinces. The state news agency Xinhua said one Chinese policeman was killed and several others were injured during clashes on Monday in Sichuan's Garze prefecture.

Police "were forced to fire warning shots, and dispersed the lawless mobsters", the agency quoted a local official as saying. It did not say whether any civilians were hurt.

Samdhong Rinpoche, prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile, said that its updated death toll of 140 came from sources in Tibet and represented information as of Monday night. The government-in-exile, which is based in Dharamsala in northern India, has also released names of 40 people it says were killed in the protests.

It had "reliable information" on other casualties but would gather more comprehensive information before revealing their names, it said in a statement on its website. 'Flawless' Chinese and Tibetan sources have given very different accounts of the protests.

Chinese authorities have accused the Dalai Lama of orchestrating the unrest, partly in an attempt to sabotage the Beijing Olympics. They accuse foreign media of misrepresenting government efforts to restore order as a military crackdown.

But the Tibetan government-in-exile says innocent civilians have been killed by Chinese troops.

Events in Tibet have also led to protests overseas. On Monday, pro-Tibet activists briefly disrupted a flame-lighting ceremony in Greece for the Olympic Games in Beijing this summer.

Protesters from media rights group Reporters Without Borders broke through the cordon of 1,000 police officers in Olympia as China's envoy spoke. But prominent Chinese media outlets did not appear to have reported this. Xinhua described the ceremony as "flawless".

BBC

No smooth sailing with Putin

Interviewed by Samangie Wettimuny

When Kosovo unilaterally declared its independence from Serbia on February 17, 2008. Russia's President Vladimir Putin issued a warning to the West that Russia "knows what it will do" in response to that decision.

What he implied was that he intends to retaliate. Putin had fervently resisted Kosovo's independence against Serbia's will who saw it as a "terrible precedent which will de facto blow apart the whole system of international relations'. In fact it was an 'independence' backed by the West.

The four major bodies who played a lead role in this respect were United Nations (UNO), European Union (EU), North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the USA. It seems that Russia has already started acting on its threat to avenge the West's partition of Serbia.

Moscow has lifted the economic sanctions against Georgia's breakaway province of Abkhazia and the West seems to be thoroughly displeased over the decision. The EU has already issued a statement regarding Russia's move.

The USA and Europe see "Kosovo" as a "unique case" and emphasize that the way Kosovo was handled cannot set a precedent for other separatist movements. But both Abkhazia and South Ossetia have a great inclination to get separated from Georgia as the ruling government is pro-American.

The sanctions were forced upon by the Commonwealth of Independent States, (which unites most former Soviet Republics) in 1996 in order to motivate Abkhazia to allow Georgian refugees come back to the country. (Thousands of ethnic Georgians had fled Abkhazia due to the armed conflict that disturbed their life style.

This conflict ended in August 1993 with Abkhazia gaining de facto independence from the former Soviet Republic.

Though Russia has never recognized either Abkhazia or Ossetia as separate countries, by issuing passports to a majority of the local residents it has supported their sovereignty in an implicit manner. As a result over 55,000 of Georgian refugees could return to Abkhazia.

The recent statement issued by Russian Foreign Ministry affirmed that the ban on trade and financial ties with Abkhazia is no longer in existence as it "hampers social and economic programs in the region and dooms the people of Abkhazia to unjustified suffering."

Georgia hopes to seek NATO membership at the next summit which will be held early next month. At a national referendum held in the country in January, more than 70% of Georgians voted for NATO membership for Georgia. But Vladimir Putin had already warned Russia that if NATO grants Georgia its membership the results would be alarming.

Then Russia would make the next step and would formally recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia as separate countries.

He has also said that under president-elect Dmitry Medvedev things would be even more difficult for their opposition groups.

New PM for Pakistan

Key leaders of the coalition kept away from the ceremony in Islamabad, in what BBC correspondent Barbara Plett says is an apparent snub to Mr Musharraf.

Mr Gillani is a leader of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) that won the most votes in elections in February.

Two top US officials have meanwhile arrived for talks in Pakistan. US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte and Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher held talks with Nawaz Sharif, who heads the PPP's coalition partner, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

Officials say they are also expected to meet President Pervez Musharraf and Mr Gillani.

The US has said it expects Pakistan's new government to continue a crackdown on Islamist militants along the country's border with Afghanistan.

President Musharraf has been a key ally in the US-led "war on terror". Leaders in the new coalition have hinted at a negotiated solution to the Islamist uprising.

'Dictating terms'

Speaking after the meeting, Mr Sharif said he had told the US envoys it was "no longer a one-man show in Pakistan" - referring to President Musharraf.

He said the country would adopt a new strategy against terrorism after the matter had been debated in parliament.

"It is unacceptable that while giving peace to the world we make our own country a killing field," Mr Sharif said.

Pakistani analyst and former general Talat Masood told AFP news agency the US envoys were "fearful of any softening towards the militants by the incoming government". Zaffar Abbas, an editor with Pakistani newspaper Dawn, said the arrival of the US delegation on the day the new prime minister had been sworn in suggested they were "trying to dictate terms".

"The problem with the Americans is they don't understand the domestic pressure on the new government," Mr Abbas told the Associated Press news agency. "People are expecting this government to explore other possibilities for a solution to what's happening in the tribal areas," he said.

Decision on judges

Mr Musharraf administered the oath of office to Mr Gillani in a short, crisp ceremony at the presidential residence in Islamabad.

The Pakistani national anthem was sung, along with verses from the Koran. The BBC's Barbara Plett says the ceremony caps 24-hour period that has highlighted the president's increasing isolation.

Mr Gillani's first move after being elected by parliament on Monday was to order the release of top judges detained when President Musharraf imposed emergency rule in November.

The judges were dismissed as they were about to decide on the legality of the president's re-election last year. The PPP nominated Mr Gillani as its candidate at the weekend.

This is the first time in 12 years that the PPP will head the government, a coalition with a substantial majority. Correspondents say Mr Gillani is much admired within the PPP. He has resisted pressure from President Musharraf to desert the party, refusing to do any deals with him.

Mr Gillani was sent to jail in 2001, serving five years following a conviction over illegal government appointments. The sentence was passed by an anti-corruption court formed by President Musharraf.

His opponents say it was a means of intimidating and coercing their members to join his government.