The New Nation - Internet Edition

Agency, Washington

More than 11,000 pages of schedules detailing Hillary Clinton's daily activities as first lady have been released by the US National Archives.

The move follows months of pressure from freedom of information groups.

The campaign team for Democratic rival Barack Obama was also keen to see if the papers backed Mrs Clinton's claim of experience gained during that time.

The records show she kept busy during the Monica Lewinsky crisis but, critics say, leave many questions unanswered.

In campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination, Mrs Clinton has said her years with husband Bill in the White House would help equip her to be president.

She has claimed hands-on involvement in foreign policy areas including Northern Ireland and Kosovo.

Critics will be scrutinising the schedules closely to see whether or not they produce evidence to support Mrs Clinton's assertions of foreign policy and national security experience.

Barack Obama has challenged Mrs Clinton's claims to experience.

Mrs Clinton has been accused of seeking to delay the papers' release while making her bid for the White House.

More than one-third of the 11,046 pages of schedules, covering the period from 1993 to 2001, have parts blacked out. Archivists said it was to protect the privacy of third parties. Entries may also have been blacked out for national security reasons.

According to records for the week in January 1998 in which the news about her husband's affair with intern Monica Lewinsky came out, Mrs Clinton had a packed schedule.

She gave speeches, attended a black tie dinner and appeared by her husband's side at an education event.

Clinton's annual State of the Union address was that same week.

The papers also detail Mrs Clinton's activities at the time of the Whitewater investigation, although her diary for 26 January 1996 - the day she was questioned before a federal grand jury - says "no public schedule".

The Clintons were eventually cleared of acting illegally in the Arkansas land deal known as Whitewater.