Florida likely to host mail-in primary
WASHINGTON
A consensus began to emerge yesterday that the best way to give Florida’s Democrats a voice in electing a candidate for president lies with the U.S. Postal Service.
The Democratic National Committee stripped Florida and Michigan of all their convention delegates – a total of 313 – for holding their primaries too early, making both contests meaningless. New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton won both states, but no delegates. Her rival, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, did not appear on Michigan’s ballot.
But the disqualification of Florida and Michigan has created a headache for the Democratic party due to the unexpected closeness of the race between Obama and Clinton. Officials from both states are trying to figure out how best to resolve the issue before the national convention in August.
MADRID, Spain
Socialist party wins in Spanish election
Spain’s opposition conservatives have conceded defeat in the country’s general election.
Popular Party spokesman Pio Garcia Ecudero congratulated the ruling Socialist party, saying it appeared their victory was clear.
Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodrigue Zapatero’s Socialist party won the election despite worries about a slumping economy, immigration and resurgent Basque militants.
The results appeared to be an endorsement of Zapatero’s record, which include the withdrawal of Spanish troops from Iraq and a drive to give more power to Spain’s semiautonomous regions..
BHURBAN, Pakistan
Pakistan to reinstate former judges
Pakistan’s election winners sealed an agreement yesterday to form a coalition government and said parliament would restore judges fired by President Pervez Musharraf – further clouding the U.S.-allied leader’s political future.
In the capital, police fired tear gas at protesters who gathered outside the residence of the deposed Supreme Court chief justice to demand his reinstatement.
Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, whose government was ousted in Musharraf’s 1999 coup, announced their pact after talks at a resort town in the foothills of the Himalayas.
CARACAS, Venezuela
Venezuela to reopen Colombian embassy
Venezuela said yesterday that it is reopening its embassy in Colombia and will allow back Colombian diplomats expelled last week by President Hugo Chavez in a crisis sparked by a cross-border Colombian attack on rebels in Ecuador.
The government cited an easing of tensions at a summit in the Dominican Republic on Friday, where President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa shook hands with Colombia’s U.S.-backed leader, Alvaro Uribe, after a tense debate.
The Venezuelan Foreign Ministry said it “has decided to re-establish the normal functioning of its diplomatic relations with the government of the Republic of Colombia,” citing what it called a “victory for peace and sovereignty.”
Chavez ordered the Venezuelan embassy in Bogota and sent troops to the border with Colombia after Colombia’s March 1 strike in Ecuador that killed 25 people including Raul Reyes, a spokesman and top leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.
Venezuela also said it was expelling Colombia’s ambassador and all diplomatic personnel.
– Compiled from Daily wire reports