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Bush pardons 15, commutes one sentence

WASHINGTON, March 25 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush pardoned 15 people and commuted the sentence of another individual, the Justice Department said Tuesday.

Among those who received pardons Monday were William Marcus McDonald who was convicted of possession and distribution of cocaine and marijuana use at an Air Force general court martial in 1984. Several other drug-related convictions were pardoned as well, the Justice Department said in a news release.

Jerry Lynn Moldenhauer and Thomas Donald Moldenhauer of Colorado Springs, Colo., received commutations of their probations and fines for knowingly selling migratory birds in violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

Bush commuted the sentence of Patricia Beckford of Portsmouth, Va., who was convicted for attempting to distribute crack cocaine and food stamp fraud. She originally was sentenced to 23 years imprisonment; five years supervised release and $10,000 fine. Under terms of her commutation her sentence will expire July 24, while terms of her supervised release will remain intact.

Obama camp calls for Clintons' tax returns

WASHINGTON, March 25 (UPI) -- Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama posted his 2005-2006 tax returns on his campaign Web site and urged his rival to do the same, his campaign said.

The Hill reported that Obama's campaign is calling on Hillary Clinton, the junior senator from New York, to release her tax returns before the April 22 primary in Pennsylvania.

Robert Gibbs, a spokesman for the Illinois senator, said Clinton will do so if she values transparency in government. The Clinton campaign said Monday that the senator planned to release her tax filings after the April 15 filing deadline, but before the Pennsylvania primary.

Obama's campaign has insisted that the tax filings are need to determine the origin of a $5 million loan Clinton made her campaign and more information on how her husband, former President Bill Clinton, received a $20 million payout from Yucaipa, which the newspaper reported is a supermarket holding company that invests in offshore tax shelters.

"Senator Clinton recently claimed that she's 'the most transparent figure in public life,' yet she's dragging her feet in releasing something as basic as her annual tax returns," Gibbs said in a statement. "Senator Clinton can't claim to be vetted until she allows the public the opportunity to see her finances."

Court rejects passenger bill of rights

ALBANY, N.Y., March 25 (UPI) -- An appeals court Tuesday struck down a New York law requiring airlines to provide basic necessities to passengers stuck on the ground for more than three hours.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the law was pre-empted by federal authority, RTT News reported.

The sponsor of the legislation, state Assemblyman Michael Gianaris, told the news service he and other officials are considering whether to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"This is by no means the end of the story," the Democrat was quoted as saying. "The question is: What's the right thing to do, but there will be a next step -- that's for sure."

He said airlines are out to protect their profit and not their passengers, pointing to an incident at Kennedy International Airport last year when passengers on a JetBlue plane were delayed on the tarmac for 10 hours with no food or water while toilets overflowed.

"Prisoners of war under the Geneva Convention have more rights right now than airline passengers in this country, and that is completely unacceptable," Gianaris said.

Chavez lauds 'win' over ExxonMobil

CARACAS, Venezuela, March 25 (UPI) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said his country's recent victory in a lawsuit over ExxonMobil was akin to "a win against the Yankees."

Last week a judge in London unfroze $12 billion in Venezuelan assets seized last month amid a legal battle with U.S. petroleum giant ExxonMobil over the nationalization of its projects in Venezuela.

"I feel like a baseball manager that suddenly has his team … winning against the Yankees," said Chavez, El Universal reported Tuesday.

But the battle between Exxon and PDVSA is far from over, according to analysts.

"Both companies will likely harden their positions, and continue to battle each other out in the courts over the next several years," said Patrick Esteruelas, a Latin America analyst for the New York-based think tank Eurasia Group.