Lieberman secures enough signatures for Nov. ballot
Hartford, Conn. – U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, who relaunched his campaign as an independent after losing the Democratic primary, has enough valid voter signatures to secure a spot on the November ballot, the secretary of the state announced Wednesday.
Lieberman far exceeded the 7,500 signatures necessary to be certified as a third-party candidate, Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz said.
His name will appear on the general-election ballot under his newly created party, Connecticut for Lieberman. By creating the party, Lieberman secured a position higher on the ballot than he would have had as an independent.
“We are happy to have cleared this hurdle, so we can focus on bringing people together in Connecticut for a new politics of unity and purpose,” said Dan Gerstein, Lieberman’s campaign spokesman.
Lieberman lost the Aug. 8 Democratic primary to Ned Lamont, a Greenwich businessman who criticized Lieberman for his support of the Iraq war and perceived closeness to President Bush. Lamont’s 10,000-vote victory was seen as a referendum on an unpopular war.
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa
Obama pays tribute to South Africans
Sen. Barack Obama, the only African-American in the Senate, paid tribute Wednesday to South Africans’ fight for freedom, saying they helped inspire his political career.
The Illinois Democrat toured Soweto, the township where white rulers once tried to confine by night the blacks who worked in their homes, offices and mines by day.
Obama arrived in South Africa on Sunday, the first stop on a sentimental tour of the continent of his late father – a goatherder who went on to become a Harvard-educated government economist for his native Kenya.
BEIJING
Chavez vows 500,000 barrels of oil a day
Venezuela will export 500,000 barrels of oil a day to China within five years, President Hugo Chavez said Wednesday at the start of a trip aimed at forging stronger energy ties with China.
Chavez plans to sign agreements on joint projects in petroleum, telecommunications, farming and railways that will significantly boost China’s investment in Venezuela, the world’s No. 5 oil exporter.
CHARLESTOWN, N.H.
Woman drowns after rescue boat capsizes
A rescue boat taking an injured woman to an ambulance capsized in a river, trapping the woman beneath the overturned boat, where she drowned, authorities said.
Virginia Yates, 60, of Rockingham, Vt., had slipped on a dock Tuesday afternoon and was being taken to a hospital for treatment.
A fire-and-rescue crew from Cornish, N.H., brought a new flat-bottomed airboat and strapped her onto a backboard. But as the boat headed to a waiting ambulance, it started taking on water and capsized.
LAGOS, Nigeria
Kidnappers free six, including American
Kidnappers freed six foreigners Wednesday, including an American boat captain abducted in a nightclub raid in Nigeria’s southern oil region.
The six men were set free in the Port Harcourt area, the focus of a series of kidnappings in recent weeks, said state government spokesman Magnus Abe.
Militants opposed to Nigeria’s oil policies are suspected in the abductions. Among those released was Royce Parfait, a commercial ship captain from Charleston, Tenn.
CINCINNATI
Killer of activist gets lesser conviction
A man who gunned down a community activist just steps from City Hall was found guilty Wednesday of voluntary manslaughter, a lesser conviction than prosecutors wanted.
Judge Norbert Nadel, hearing the case without a jury, said there was not enough evidence to support the more serious charge of aggravated murder against Howard Beatty, 52.
Beatty was accused of shooting Kabaka Oba in the leg, arm and chest shortly after the activist addressed the City Council on April 12. Oba died three days later at a local hospital.
MOGADISHU, Somalia
International seaport reopens after 11 years
The seaport in the Somali capital reopened Wednesday for the first time in 11 years, the latest sign that the city’s Islamic fundamentalist rulers are trying to restore confidence after more than a decade of anarchy.
Mogadishu International Seaport still must undergo dramatic renovations after so many years of disuse, but it is ready to receive commercial traffic, said Sheik Abdulkadir Ali Omar, a member of the Islamic militia that has taken control of the capital and much of southern Somalia in recent months.
LAS VEGAS
All-night marriage counter to shut down
After years of sanctioning hastily made matches, the Las Vegas marriage bureau plans to close its all-night counter. County officials approved a new 8 a.m. to midnight schedule that will take effect Wednesday, eliminating 24-hour marriage-license service on Fridays, Saturdays and holidays.
The counter did not offer after-midnight service Monday through Thursday.
