The New Nation - Internet Edition

Obama leads in 2 States; Hillary holds Pennsylvania

Internet, Washington

Barack Obama is leading Hillary Clinton in two of the next three Democratic primaries, an advantage, if it holds, that would allow him to sew up the nomination.

A new Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll of likely Democratic voters gives Clinton a 46 percent to 41 percent edge in Pennsylvania, and a similar 40 percent to 35 percent lead for Obama in Indiana. In North Carolina, Obama has a larger, 13- point advantage.``To have a solid chance of winning the nomination she'd probably have to win all three'' and get ``a double-digit victory in Pennsylvania,'' says Tad Devine, a former strategist for Democrat John Kerry's 2004 presidential bid. ``If she wins just one of the three, it may be difficult if not impossible for her to continue'' and ``if she loses Pennsylvania, it's over.''

The poll offers some warnings for Democrats in the general election. More than two-fifths of voters in each of the three states say the controversy surrounding Obama's former pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, will be a problem if the Illinois senator is the Democratic presidential nominee in the fall. In addition, at least one-fifth of voters in Indiana and North Carolina say they would vote for Republican candidate John McCain in the November election if their chosen Democratic candidate isn't the party nominee.

The poll of 687 Democratic primary voters in Indiana, 623 in Pennsylvania and 691 in North Carolina was conducted April 10-13, and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. The Pennsylvania primary is April 22; the contests in North Carolina and Indiana take place May 6.

New York Senator Clinton's chances for the nomination rest on two factors: moving within striking distance of Obama on delegates and winning as many overall popular votes. Obama currently has 1,640 -- 150 more than Clinton -- of the 2,025 delegates needed to clinch the nomination, according to the Associated Press.

So far, Obama has gotten 800,000 more votes in Democratic primaries. If the two contenders trade narrow victories in Pennsylvania and Indiana while Obama wins decisively in North Carolina, that almost certainly would add to his delegate and popular-vote majorities and, with only seven primaries left, make it almost impossible for Clinton to catch up.

US loses 2 more Marines in Iraq

AP, Baghdad

The British military says an airstrike in Basra has killed four gunmen armed with rocket propelled grenades.

British spokesman Maj. Tom Holloway says the group was attacked just after midnight by a warplane. He says four gunmen died when their vehicle was blown up. Another gunman was injured.

The British and U.S. military are using air power to support Iraqi government forces. These are conducting sweeps of Iraq's southern oil capital looking for militants and illegal arms.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military says two Marines died Sunday in Iraq's western Anbar province when their vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb.

The deaths raise to at least 4,036 the number of U.S. military members who have died since the war started in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Meanwhile, differences have emerged between the U.S. and Iraq on how to deal with Shiite militant Muqtada al-Sadr, with the Americans appearing more willing than the Shiite-led government to concede a legitimate political role to the anti-U.S. cleric. The gap appeared after fighting broke out last month between Iraqi forces and al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia in Basra. Clashes quickly spread to Baghdad, where U.S. and Iraqi troops are still confronting Shiite militiamen in the Mahdi Army stronghold of Sadr City.

Two Israeli soldiers, four Palestinians killed in Gaza

AFP, Gaza City

Israeli troops backed by assault helicopters stormed into the Gaza Strip on Wednesday and battled heavily armed militants, killing four Hamas fighters and reportedly losing two of their own.

The clashes marked the second eruption of violence in a week in the Hamas-led Palestinian territory. Two Israeli soldiers were killed and five wounded in an armed confrontation east of Gaza City, the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya satellite channel reported.

Hamas claimed it killed the soldiers in a "sophisticated ambush" in Gaza City. Four Hamas activists were killed in the same area, Palestinian medics said.

The militants of the Ezzedin Al-Qassam Brigades, the Islamic movement's military wing, were killed by members of an Israeli unit backed by helicopters.

Six other Brigades members were captured and taken back to Israel by the soldiers at dawn, the sources said.

The army was involved in several clashes, a military spokeswoman said. In one battle, troops were "targeted by Palestinians and there were several casualties," she said, adding that there had been several incidents and that Palestinians had used anti-tank missiles and mortars as well as assault rifles.

Price of rice prompts renewed anger in Haiti

Reuters, Port-Au-Prince

Sellers and angry customers clashed over the price of rice in Haiti on Tuesday, three days after the government announced a deal to reduce the price by 15 percent after food riots that killed at least five people.

Vendors said customers had expected rice prices to drop immediately after the government announced on Saturday an agreement with importers to cut the cost of a 110-pound (50-kg) sack of rice from $51 to $43. But vendors were still selling older, higher-priced stocks, angering hungry Haitians and keeping alive simmering tensions over skyrocketing living costs in a nation where most people get by on less than $2 a day.

There were no reports of injuries as a result of the heated confrontations, which in some places involved minor scuffles, but lawmakers called on the government to announce immediately when the price cuts would reach the market to prevent further violence.

China steps forward in bid to end Iran dispute

Reuters, Shanghai

China edged nearer the centre of contention over Iran's nuclear ambitions on Wednesday, hosting talks of diplomatic powers on whether to offer stronger incentives to Iran to curb its atomic work.

The gathering of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council -- the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France -- plus Germany and an EU representative marked a first such meeting for China, which has kept away from the spotlight in the dispute.

China, which has hosted six-party talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear program, wants to highlight its role seeking to end the impasse over Iran's efforts to enrich uranium, but also wants to avoid falling out with a key oil supplier. "With this balance of interests, it's difficult to imagine China being a place for breakthroughs," said Shen Dingli, an expert on nuclear politics at Fudan University in Shanghai.

"The equation of interests won't change and China isn't some magical place to solve problems. But it's important to show that China is part of the international mainstream on these issues."

Tehran insists it has the right to enrich uranium, which it says is for peaceful power. But the United States, Western European powers and their supporters fear Iran's enrichment could give it the means to make nuclear weapons.

The Security Council has passed three resolutions with sanctions pressing Iran to give international inspectors more information about nuclear work and to stop the enrichment.

Ahmadinejad says Sept 11 was 'suspect event’

AFP, Tehran

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday reaffirmed his doubts about the accepted version of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, describing the strikes as a "suspect event".

"Four or five years ago a suspect event took place in New York," Ahmadinejad said in a speech to a public rally in the holy city of Qom broadcast live on state television. "A building collapsed and they said that 3,000 people had been killed, whose names were never published."

"Under this pretext they (the United States) attacked Afghanistan and Iraq and since then a million people have been killed," he said. This was the third time in just over a week that Ahmadinejad has publicly raised doubts about the September 11 airborne attacks on New York and Washington carried out by Al-Qaeda militants which killed nearly 3,000 people.

Bush to outline vision for fighting climate change

AFP, Washington

US President George W. Bush is to announce his vision for fighting global climate change on Wednesday, in a marked turnaround for a president who has long steered clear of the topic. The speech by Bush, known for cozying up to big energy-burning industries and opposing mandatory caps on carbon emissions as too costly to the economy, will lay out goals for countering environmental pollution over the next 20-50 years. Bush's spokeswoman revealed few details, but the leader of one of the world's top polluters was not expected to stray far from the largely voluntary, pro-technology approach he has embraced in the past. "This speech is not going to lay out a specific proposal," said White House press secretary Dana Perino. "It is a speech that will talk about a strategy for a way forward, and principles for dealing with the problem."