UPI NewsTrack TopNews

Clinton accepts State offer, sources say

WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- Sen. Hillary Clinton has accepted President-elect Barack Obama's offer to be the Secretary of State nominee, two of Clinton's confidants said Friday.

Clinton reached the decision after lengthy discussions with Obama about the nature of her role and his plans for foreign policy, one confidant told The New York Times.

Senior Obama advisers said Friday morning the offer had not been formally accepted and an announcement wouldn't be made until after Thanksgiving.

Clinton's apparent decision came after days of intense negotiations and vetting of former President Bill Clinton to remove any obstacles his global business and charitable activities may raise. Lawyers for the Obama transition team and the former president examined his finances and developed guidelines for his future activities to avoid any appearances of conflict of interest should Hillary Clinton take the top diplomatic job, the Times reported.

Clinton turned over names of 208,000 donors to his foundation and library and agreed to the conditions sought by Obama's transition team, people close to the

Gov. Richardson considered for Commerce

WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson is said to be a serious contender to be nominated as the U.S. Commerce secretary by President-elect Barack Obama.

Richardson, who was the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations for former President Bill Clinton, originally was floated as a possible nominee for secretary of State, The Washington Post reported Friday.

Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., reportedly accepted Obama's offer for that position Friday.

Speculation about the Commerce post originally centered on Chicago billionaire Penny Pritzker, who the finance chairwoman for Obama's campaign and a close friend but she removed herself from consideration Thursday.

Richardson, a two-term governor, was among the early crowded field seeking the Democratic nomination for president. After he dropped out from the race, Richardson endorsed Obama.

Richardson spent 15 years in the U.S. House of Representatives. A year after his ambassadorship, Richardson was named Energy secretary by Clinton.

Gen. Jones leading Obama choice for NSA

WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- A retired Marine general has emerged as President-elect Barack Obama's choice for his national security adviser, officials close to the transition team said.

The transition team has told Gen. Jim Jones that the post is his if he wants it, the sources told CNN, cautioning that no final decision has been made and discussions continue.

Conversations center on how much power Jones, who once served as NATO's operational commander, would have as national security adviser, CNN said.

One person close to the transition said Jones has a good relationship with current Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who could remain in that post, at least initially, after Obama takes office in January.

Haniyeh says factions support Gaza truce

GAZA, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said Friday that armed factions in Gaza are dedicated to maintaining a truce in the troubled region.

The Hamas official said in the wake of a rocket attack on southern Israel that the Gaza factions are committed to honoring the peace truce with Israel, The Jerusalem Post said.

"I have met with armed factions over the past two days and they stated their position clearly: they are committed to calm as long as (Israel) abides by it," Haniyeh said.

The Post said the Popular Resistance Committees armed wing has accepted responsibility for the rocket attack, which caused no injuries at an industrial zone.

The Hamas leader also took time Friday to deny the existence of any tension between his militant group and Egypt in relation to collapse of Hamas-Fatah talks being mediated by Egypt.

"In day-to-day relations there may be differences, this is true, but it does not mean that there is a strategic tension with our brothers in Egypt," Haniyeh said.

Witness admits deadly online prank

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- A young woman testified about posing as a teenage boy in a series of e-mail messages that ended in a 13-year-old girl's suicide, officials said.

"You're the kind of boy a girl would kill herself over," Ashley Grills, 20, told a Los Angeles federal court jury during testimony about what Megan Meier wrote before taking her own life at her suburban St. Louis home in 2006.

Grills, testifying under an immunity agreement, admitted she came up with the idea to create a fake MySpace account with the identity of a cute teenage boy and not her employer, Lori Drew, on trial in connection with the death.

The goal, she said, was to learn what Meier might have been saying about Drew's teenage daughter.

Drew, a neighbor of the dead girl, is charged with conspiracy and three counts of accessing a computer without authorization in interstate commerce to obtain information to inflict emotional distress.

Grills described how Drew had become angry with Megan for "spreading lies" about her daughter, Sarah, and was eager to "expose" her. The original idea was to lure Megan to make nasty remarks about Sarah, but soon developed into other methods of humiliating the girl, devised by Drew, she said.

Legal experts believe the trial is an unprecedented use of computer fraud statutes in a case involving the use of a social networking site.

The trial is in Los Angeles where MySpace is based.

Grade school takes Obama's name

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y., Nov. 21 (UPI) -- Barack Obama, two months from taking the oath of office as the 44th U.S. president, already has a school in New York State named in his honor.

The Hempstead school board on Long Island voted unanimously Thursday night to give the president-elect's name to the Ludlum Elementary School. Joseph Laria, the district superintendent, told Newsday that the name change is immediate, although the district has not yet arranged for a new Barack Obama Elementary School sign.

Laria said that students at the predominately minority grade school wanted the name change with support from their teachers and school staff. The school held mock debates before the Nov. 4 election.