■ United States
Sidney Sheldon passes on
Sidney Sheldon, an Oscar-winning Hollywood screenwriter who went on to become one of the world's most read novelists, died in California on Tuesday at the age of 89, a publicist said. Sheldon's death was caused by complications from pneumonia in Rancho Mirage, California. He became a US icon in the 1970s with bestsellers spun out of international intrigue and the sexual liberation of the era. Strong women were often the main characters. Translations into 71 languages in 180 countries won him a listing in The Guinness Book of Records as "the world's most translated author."
■ United States
Obama wants troops out
Likely Democratic presidential contender Illinois Senator Barack Obama called on Tuesday for the removal of US combat forces from Iraq by March 31 next year, to counter what he called President George W. Bush's "failed policy of escalation." "The American people have waited, the American people have been patient. We have given chance after chance for a resolution that has not come," Obama said on the floor of the Senate, as he pledged to introduce legislation calling for the troop pull out. "The time for waiting in Iraq are [sic] over. The days of our open-ended commitment must come to a close, and the need to bring this war to an end is here."
RSS