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Cars define the CEO, survey finds

Tue, 11/12/2007 - 22:25 by MT Staff

New York -- U.S. employees pay close attention to what their company head drives, with only 10 percent of nearly 3,000 people not knowing, a survey found Tuesday.

BMW was the most popular make driven by C-level executives -- executives with "chief" in their title -- yet it accounted for only 13 percent of the total, the survey TheLadders.com conducted for USA Today found.

After BMW was Ford at 7 percent and Lexus at 5 percent, the survey found.

A separate USA Today survey of 90 chief executive officers found 13 percent drove a BMW, 12 percent a Mercedes and 10 percent a Toyota.

"Of all the products in the world, cars are the most reliable representation of an individual's personality," Golden Gate University psychology Chairwoman Kit Yarrow told the newspaper.

Winfrey campaigns for Obama in S.C, N.H.

Mon, 10/12/2007 - 23:09 by MT Staff

Columbia, S.C. -- Television talk-show host Oprah Winfrey helped attract about 29,000 people to a rally for Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barrack Obama in South Carolina.

Obama and his leading rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton, are vying to attract black voters and, more particularly, female blacks, The Washington Post reported.

"Both campaigns are fishing in the same pond," said Carol Fowler, head of the Democratic Party in South Carolina.

The event Sunday in Columbia, S.C., followed a similar Obama-Winfrey appearance in Iowa Saturday.

Fowler said census figures show women will account for 60 percent and blacks for 55 percent of the primary vote.

Former President Bill Clinton, who the Post said is very popular in the black community, spent both Saturday and Sunday in South Carolina campaigning for his wife.

Obama headlines with band Wilco

Sun, 09/12/2007 - 14:16 by MT Staff

Chicago -- Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama took to the stage in Chicago to kick off a series of "Ba-Rock" concerts to mobilize young voters.

Obama appeared with the bands Wilco and Third Eye Blind in a concert Friday night at the Riviera theater, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Saturday.

Obama accused the Bush administration of treating the "Constitution as a nuisance rather than as the foundation of our liberty" and told the cheering crowd, "This is our moment! This is our moment!"

Obama is to join the Goo Goo Dolls at a concert in Los Angeles after campaigning this weekend with entertainment mogul Oprah Winfrey in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

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Copyright 2007 by United Press International.

Obama for President, Oprah tells Iowa

Sun, 09/12/2007 - 11:30 by Daisy Sarma

Oprah left the comforting confines of her chat show to hit the campaign trail for the first time in support of Barack Obama as the next president of the United States of America. Yesterday, she hit the campaign trail running in Iowa, speaking to a gathering in Des Moines, Iowa. Iowa would be holding the first presidential caucus in the U.S. for the next presidential elections on January 3.

Buddhist prayer leads to P.C. row

Sun, 02/12/2007 - 19:50 by MT Staff

Dumfries, Scotland -- A prayer and homily by a Buddhist nun at a local council meeting in Scotland has kicked off a row about bigotry, political correctness and religious freedom.

The Dumfries and Galloway Council originally invited Ani Tsultrim Zangmo to open its monthly meeting to mark the 40th anniversary of the Kagyu Samye Ling Monastery, The Scotsman reports. The monastery in Eskdalemuir is the oldest in Britain.

Three Conservative council members, all practicing Christians, decided to skip the Buddhist prayer. A Labor member, Ted Brown, reported them to the Standards Commission and complained about their behavior in a local newspaper.

While Brown has decided not to pursue a complaint, a number of groups have weighed in on the side of the three Conservatives. They include Forward Together, an evangelical Church of Scotland group, and the Campaign Against Political Correctness.

Police: Road rage may have caused shooting

Sun, 02/12/2007 - 15:06 by MT Staff

Stone Mountain, Ga. -- Police in a Georgia community are investigating a recent shooting at a gas station that may have been prompted by road rage.

Gwinnett County Police Department spokeswoman Cpl. Illana Spellman said Robert Lankford II, 34, appeared to have been wounded Thursday by a gunshot fired by a pickup truck driver he had followed to the gas station, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Saturday.

Spellman said that, according to Lankford, the unidentified man had slammed on his brakes repeatedly while in front of him.

A police report said that after pulling into the station, the pickup truck driver allegedly turned his vehicle around and fired a shot at Lankford while calling him a "long-haired hippie."

Spellman told the newspaper Lankford received medical attention for a gunshot wound to his torso and police were searching for the unknown assailant.

Hillary Utilizes Post-Hostage Crisis Scenario

Sun, 02/12/2007 - 13:29 by Daisy Sarma

The hostage crisis that fell upon the Rochester, New Hampshire, campaign office of Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton had all the makings of a thriller, and was real drama compared to all the other stuff that goes into making a campaign season. However, it also came as a heaven-send for Clinton to show the nation how she would be in a crisis situation.

Dangerous times for Russia, Kasparov says

Fri, 30/11/2007 - 20:38 by MT Staff

Moscow -- A day after his release from detention, opposition leader Garry Kasparov warned of a "dangerous period" for Russia under President Vladimir Putin.

Kasparov warned that Russia is headed for a "very dangerous period" under Putin's continued power and said the failure to abide by the constitution "could result in a catastrophe for the whole country," The New York Times reported Friday.

Kasparov and his Other Russia coalition said they planned to continue protests against what they see as a repressive Kremlin ahead of state Duma elections Sunday.

Putin said the country would return to the times of "humiliation, dependency and disintegration" after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 if opposition leaders emerged victorious, the Times said.

U.S. may be softening Syria policy

Fri, 30/11/2007 - 20:36 by MT Staff

Washington -- U.S. political allies agreed to drop challenges against the Lebanese presidential campaign of a Syrian ally, a move some say signals warmer U.S.-Syria ties.

The end of opposition to the campaign of Gen. Michel Suleiman, commander of the Lebanese armed forces, by U.S. allies has been cited by some as evidence of Washington's willingness to compromise with Syria, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

Some experts said the decision could be tied to Syria's participation in the Annapolis, Md., Middle East peace summit Tuesday.

A senior U.S. official with ties to Middle East policy told the Journal the Bush administration didn't urge its Lebanese allies "one way or the other" on the compromise but U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice considered a compromise on the Lebanese presidency to be one of her goals during the Annapolis conference.

Diana watched Dodi die, officer testifies

Thu, 29/11/2007 - 23:24 by MT Staff

Paris -- A policemen testified that Britain's Princess Diana watched her lover Dodi Fayed die before her eyes in the fatal car crash in Paris.

Sebastien Dorzee, the first Parisian officer at the scene, testified before an inquest that Diana uttered a few words upon realizing the situation, The Times reported in London Thursday.

"She moved, her eyes were open, speaking to me in a foreign language. I think that she said 'My God', on seeing her boyfriend dying. At the same time she was rubbing her stomach, she must have been in pain," Dorzee said. "A few seconds later she looked at me. Then she put her head down again and closed her eyes."

Dorzee continued noting that photographers on the scene were "vicious and repellent," but said they did not surround the crashed Mercedes until a few minutes after the crash.

Iran to look again at journalist's death

Wed, 28/11/2007 - 21:20 by MT Bureau

Tehran -- A new investigation into the death of an imprisoned Canadian news photographer in 2003 has been ordered by Iran's Supreme Court.

Zahra Kazemi, who was 54, was arrested while taking pictures outside the Evin prison in Tehran and died in jail. Initially the government said she had suffered a stroke, then later said she had fallen and struck her head. Eventually a committee said an intelligence agent had struck her a fatal blow.

The agent was tried and acquitted, which led to strained diplomatic relations between Canada and Iran, a New York Times correspondent reported from Tehran.

Tuesday, judicial spokesman Alireza Jamshidi said the high court had reviewed the case and wasn't satisfied, Iran's ISNA news agency reported.

Security heightened after blasts

Sat, 24/11/2007 - 16:17 by MT Bureau

Lucknow, India -- India's major cities were on high security alert Saturday after near-simultaneous blasts in three towns reportedly killed 14 people.

The blasts were set off Friday in Lucknow, capital of northern Uttar Pradesh state, and Faizabad and Varanasi in the same state.

The Press Trust of India reported ix blasts, all in the vicinity of crowded courts, claimed 14 lives, and left at least 50 people injured. Some of the bombs had been planted on bicycles.

A police official in Varanasi said nine of those killed were from his city, one of the holiest cities for Hindus because the sacred Ganges River flows through it.

Uttar Pradesh is India's largest state and the constituency of Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi of the Congress Party, which leads India's ruling coalition.