US Senator Barack Obama, still trying to douse embers of resentment among backers of his defeated primary rival Hillary Rodham Clinton, said the New York senator will have top billing on the second night of the Democratic convention later this month in Denver.
Obama’s campaign called the former first lady, who nearly upended Obama’s bid for the nomination in an extended and often bitter primary season, “a champion for working families and one of the most effective and empathetic voices in the country today.”
She will speak on Tuesday, Aug. 26 — the 88th anniversary of US women’s right to vote.
There still was no word on whether Clinton would seek a roll call vote for her candidacy as a means of allowing her large bloc of delegates to express a “cathartic” expression of support before falling in line behind Obama. Clinton’s husband, former president Bill Clinton, who has offered only tepid support for Obama, was not listed in the campaign’s news release, although it has said he would speak on the third night of the convention.
The headliner on that night, the campaign said on Sunday, would be Obama’s as yet unannounced vice presidential selection.
Obama is expected to become the party’s first black presidential nominee on the fourth and final night as the convention moves from the indoor Pepsi Arena to a bigger venue at Invesco Field at Denver’s Mile High stadium.
That night is the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
Obama, who is on vacation visiting his grandmother in his birth state of Hawaii, and Republican opponent Senator John McCain were taking the day off Sunday from a campaign that has grown increasingly negative.
But McCain’s campaign manager kept up the attack in the candidate’s absence, saying on a Sunday political talk show that it was Obama, not the four-term Arizona senator, who first began negative campaigning. McCain has tried to portray Obama as an empty celebrity with a gift for public speaking but little substance to back it up.
“Obama started negative campaigning on John McCain long before we started punching back, and I think a lot of our effort is really to get back into this game, try and galvanize some of the public attention back onto this race, make sure everybody understands there’s two people in this race, not just one, and I think we’ve been successful in doing that,” Rick Davis said on Fox television without elaboration.
Earlier, the two candidates joined in condemnation of Russian attack on neighboring Georgia, the first major US foreign policy crisis of the general election campaign. McCain warned the Kremlin of long-term consequences and Obama called for immediate mediation.
In Baghdad, meanwhile, Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said on Sunday Iraqi negotiators were “on the brink” of reaching a long-term security pact with the US that will decide the fate of US troops in Iraq.
Zebari said the Iraqis are insisting on the inclusion of a “clear timeline” for the withdrawal of US-led forces. But he has refused to give any dates. US acceptance — even tentatively — of a specific timeline would represent a dramatic reversal of US policy in place since the war began in March 2003.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The