Democrat John Edwards says his presidential campaign "goes on strongly" in the face of a repeat cancer diagnosis for his wife, Elizabeth, a somber development that thrust his White House bid into uncharted territory.
Elizabeth Edwards' breast cancer had spread to a bone, the couple revealed at a news conference on Thursday designed to reassure the public about the prognosis for her health and his candidacy.
"The bottom line is, her cancer is back," said John Edwards, the 2004 vice presidential nominee and former senator, at a news conference in their hometown of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. "We are very optimistic about this, because having been through some struggles together in the past, we know that the key is to keep your head up and keep moving and be strong."
The Edwardses suffered through the death of their teenage son, Wade, in 1996 and Mrs. Edwards' breast cancer diagnosis the day after John Kerry and John Edwards lost the 2004 election. She was treated with surgery and several months of radiation and chemotherapy.
The recurrence of the cancer presents a setback for the couple, both personally and politically.
"Getting these results was not a good day for us," John Edwards said.
Elizabeth Edwards' illness and treatment are certain to affect her husband's campaign schedule and may raise questions about the viability of his campaign, especially among financial donors wondering whether he will be in for the long haul. The first fundraising deadline is next Saturday.
Edwards has been considered among the top-tier candidates although he trails frontrunner Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama in public opinion polls. His forceful opposition to the Iraq war and often-repeated apology for his 2002 vote for it, as well as his plans on universal health care, have improved his standing among the party's liberal base.
The Philippines yesterday said its coast guard would acquire 40 fast patrol craft from France, with plans to deploy some of them in disputed areas of the South China Sea. The deal is the “largest so far single purchase” in Manila’s ongoing effort to modernize its coast guard, with deliveries set to start in four years, Philippine Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Ronnie Gil Gavan told a news conference. He declined to provide specifications for the vessels, which Manila said would cost 25.8 billion pesos (US$440 million), to be funded by development aid from the French government. He said some of the vessels would
CARGO PLANE VECTOR: Officials said they believe that attacks involving incendiary devices on planes was the work of Russia’s military intelligence agency the GRU Western security officials suspect Russian intelligence was behind a plot to put incendiary devices in packages on cargo planes headed to North America, including one that caught fire at a courier hub in Germany and another that ignited in a warehouse in England. Poland last month said that it had arrested four people suspected to be linked to a foreign intelligence operation that carried out sabotage and was searching for two others. Lithuania’s prosecutor general Nida Grunskiene on Tuesday said that there were an unspecified number of people detained in several countries, offering no elaboration. The events come as Western officials say
Hundreds of thousands of Guyana citizens living at home and abroad would receive a payout of about US$478 each after the country announced it was distributing its “mind-boggling” oil wealth. The grant of 100,000 Guyanese dollars would be available to any citizen of the South American country aged 18 and older with a valid passport or identification card. Guyanese citizens who normally live abroad would be eligible, but must be in Guyana to collect the payment. The payout was originally planned as a 200,000 Guyanese dollar grant for each household in the country, but was reframed after concerns that some citizens, including
A plane bringing Israeli soccer supporters home from Amsterdam landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on Friday after a night of violence that Israeli and Dutch officials condemned as “anti-Semitic.” Dutch police said 62 arrests were made in connection with the violence, which erupted after a UEFA Europa League soccer tie between Amsterdam club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli flag carrier El Al said it was sending six planes to the Netherlands to bring the fans home, after the first flight carrying evacuees landed on Friday afternoon, the Israeli Airports Authority said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered