N.M. Gov. Bill Richardson to endorse Obama
ALBUQUERQUE, March 21 (UPI) -- New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a former candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, will endorse Barack Obama in his bid, the Obama campaign said.
The endorsement is expected to be formally announced Friday during a rally in Oregon, The New York Times reported reported.
Richardson, the country's only Hispanic governor, was courted by both Obama, D-Ill., and Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y. He served as U.N. ambassador and energy secretary in the Clinton administration.
Richardson praised Obama's judgment and ability to be commander in chief in a statement explaining his endorsement.
"I believe he is the kind of once-in-a-lifetime leader that can bring our nation together and restore America's moral leadership in the world," Richardson said in the statement released by the Obama campaign Friday.
Richardson dropped out of the race for the Democratic nomination Jan. 10. He drew 5 percent of the vote in the New Hampshire primary and 2 percent of the vote in the Iowa caucuses.
AIDS vaccine trials may have added risk
BETHESDA, Md., March 21 (UPI) -- Two field tests of an AIDS vaccine not only failed to protect people from the virus but may have put them at greater risk, U.S. researchers said.
The results of the worldwide trials prompted scientific inquiry as researchers try to assess what happened and whether they should known the outcome, The Washington Post reported Friday.
Both field tests were halted in September and seven other trials of similarly designed AIDS vaccines have been stopped or postponed indefinitely.
"This is on the same level of catastrophe as the (NASA space shuttle) Challenger disaster," said Robert Gallo, co-discoverer of the human immunodeficiency virus, the virus that causes AIDS, and head of the Institute for Human Virology in Baltimore.
The STEP and Phambili studies used the same vaccine and were stopped when it became evident the studies were futile and possibly harmful, the Post reported.
One hypothesis for what went wrong is the vaccine somehow prepared the immune system to be more susceptible to HIV infection, a scenario that wasn't foreseen or suggested by previous studies, the Post said.
The National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md, which funded the trials, will meet week to reassess its AIDS vaccine program.
Inflation hits basic needs hardest
WASHINGTON, March 21 (UPI) -- The middle class and poor have been hit harder by inflation than affluent groups in the United States, a report on Thursday said.
Inflation has risen faster for basic necessities than it has for luxury items, while wages for lower level employees has risen slower than most, The Washington Post reported.
The cost of grocery, gasoline and healthcare has risen 9.2 percent since 2006, while the cost of items considered more luxurious -- eating at a restaurant or a new car -- have risen only 2.4 percent, the Post said.
Basic necessities cost the average family $972 more per year than they did in 2006, the Post reported.
Grocery and gasoline prices have risen sharply. The average family spends $253 more per year at the grocery store and $378 more at the gas station.
The average costs -- luxuries and basics -- have gone up 4 percent, while the cost of dairy items have gone up 15 percent, fruits and vegetables 10 percent and grain products 8 percent.
At the same time, the average earnings for those below the management level rose about 5 percent, the report said.
Pelosi meets with Dalai Lama
DHARAMSHALA, India, March 21 (UPI) -- U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday met with the Dalai Lama, as Tibetans waged a determined protest against Chinese rule of their land.
Pelosi, D-Calif., accompanied by nine other U.S. lawmakers on an Indian trip, traveled to Dharamshala in northern India, where the Tibetan spiritual leader has lived in self-imposed exile since the failed Tibetan rebellion in 1959.
Pelosi was given a rousing welcome at the main temple complex, opposite the residence of the Dalai Lama, the Press Trust of India reported.
The Nobel Laureate Buddhist leader has been under constant attack from China, which accuses him of masterminding the violence in Tibet since last week. He denied the charges and appealed to world leaders to urge Chinese leaders to resume dialogue on Tibet and appealed to his follower to refrain from violence.
A local television report quoted Pelosi as saying the situation in Tibet is a challenge to the conscience of the world, which needs to speak up on the issue.
Pelosi successfully campaigned last year to award him the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest U.S. civilian award.
Pakistan bombing kills 5 soldiers
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, March 21 (UPI) -- A suicide bomb attack killed five Pakistani soldiers in a tribal area bordering Afghanistan, where U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney was visiting.
The attacker crashed an explosives-laden vehicle into a Pakistani military vehicle outside a brigade headquarters Thursday in South Waziristan's main town of Wana, injuring 11 more, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The report said a militant group led by a commander named Maulvi Nazir claimed responsibility for the attack.
In Afghanistan, Cheney and President Hamid Karzai stressed Pakistan's role in the fight against Islamic extremism.
Commenting on the level of cooperation expected from Pakistan's new coalition government, Cheney said, "a government has an obligation to control its sovereign territory, to make certain that that territory doesn't become a safe haven for ... terrorist groups intending to do harm to others," the Times reported.
Cheney also said the Pakistanis "have as big a stake as anyone else in dealing with the threat that sometimes emerges from those areas along the border."
