Former Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney endorsed erstwhile rival John McCain on Thursday and urged Republicans to unite behind him in a gesture that could help McCain with disgruntled conservatives.
In a tight Democratic race, Barack Obama continued to pick up steam. The first-term senator secured the backing of one of Hillary Clinton's influential black congressional backers while another prominent civil rights leader and congressman openly discussed a possible switch.
Obama also was likely to win one of the most coveted endorsements in organized labor yesterday, that of the Service Employees International Union. Clinton notched a minor, but much-needed victory of her own, winning on Thursday the popular vote in New Mexico's caucuses.
McCain has been the presumptive Republican nominee since Romney dropped out of the race a week ago. Despite his wide lead in the delegate count, he struggled to win over the party's core conservative and evangelical Christian base -- a voting bloc that has so far sided more with preacher-turned-politician Mike Huckabee.
Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts, endorsed McCain at his former campaign headquarters in Boston, and asked his national convention delegates to swing behind the veteran Arizona senator and former prisoner-of-war in some of his kindest words to date about his former rival.
"Even when the contest was close and our disagreements were debated, the caliber of the man was apparent," Romney said, as McCain stood next to him.
While McCain struggled with conservatives, Clinton faced difficulties of a different sort.
With added momentum from his string of eight victories since last Saturday, Obama has a good opportunity to extend his streak with weekend primaries in Wisconsin and Hawaii, his native state.
He secured two endorsements on Thursday and was expected to win another yesterday.
Former Republican Senator Lincoln Chafee, now an independent, endorsed Obama as the best presidential candidate to restore US credibility.
Similarly, the United Food and Commercial Workers, a politically active union with significant membership in the upcoming Democratic battlegrounds of Texas and Ohio on March 4, threw its support behind him.
Clinton, who just a few weeks ago was considered the overwhelming Democratic favorite, has struggled to keep up with Obama.
Even as she rallied to halt Obama's momentum, jabbing at the front-runner and highlighting her economic policies while portraying him as more flash than substance, she endured another blow as one of her superdelegates, Representative David Scott, switched sides.
"You've got to represent the wishes of your constituency," Scott said in an interview on Wednesday in the US Capitol. "My proper position would be to vote the wishes of my constituents."
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not