World at a glance
Tuesday, 22 Apr 2008 12:39
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama face a crucial vote in Pennsylvania
Democratic presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have traded insults ahead of a crucial vote in Pennsylvania.
Though former first lady Ms Clinton is expected to win Tuesday's vote, anything less than a double-digit victory could see her campaign for the Democratic party's nomination for the US presidency derailed.
The New York senator is trailing Mr Obama in the delegate count - he has 1,645 to her 1,507, according to the Associated Press news agency - but could keep her bid for the White House alive with a win in Pennsylvania, the last of the major US states to hold an electoral primary.
Ms Clinton and Illinois senator Mr Obama traded barbs at the weekend, after Mr Obama had said that either Democrat candidate would be a better president than Republican candidate John McCain and "all three of us would be better than George Bush".
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Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has urged the United Nations to intervene to stop alleged post-election 'military terrorism' in Zimbabwe.
Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon met with Mr Tsvangirai at a UN conference on trade and development in Accra.
And Mr Ban spoke out publicly against the "very serious humanitarian situation" that now exists in the troubled southern African nation.
Zimbabwe has been in turmoil since the national election took place late last month, which appeared to show support for Robert Mugabe had run out after his ruling Zanu-PF party lost out in the polls to Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change party.
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A British solider was killed in an explosion in southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed yesterday evening.
The MoD statement said the soldier, from the Queens Royal Lancers Regiment, died on Monday after a suspected minestrike hit a vehicle providing security to a resupply convoy returning to Camp Bastion.
The soldier was airlifted to the medical facility at the camp but was declared dead on arrival.
A second soldier was injured in the explosion and is currently receiving treatment.
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Life expectancy in a significant segment of the US population is declining or at best reaching a plateau, according to new research.
Between 1960 and 2000 overall life expectancy in the US increased by more than seven years for men and more than six years for women.
But a new study of long-term mortality trends in US counties released today shows that these gains are not reaching many parts of the country.
Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health and the University of Washington found that while life expectancy in the best-off counties continued to improve, four per cent of the male population and 19 per cent of the female population experienced decline or stagnation in mortality in the 1980s.
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Back in Britain, the Competition Commission (CC) is considering forcing BAA to sell off some of its airports in a bid to shake up the industry.
The market regulator said in its interim report that BAA's ownership of seven airports in the UK – including the three major London airports, Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted - may not be serving the interests of either airlines or passengers.
Provisional findings are expected to be published in August, when the CC will also outline possible solutions, which may include the sale of one or more of BAA's airports, the watchdog added.
Chairman of the BAA airports inquiry Christopher Clarke said: "BAA dominates the airports markets in the south-east of England and in lowland Scotland, both areas of high economic activity and importance.
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And finally, in sport, Rafael Benitez believes striker Fernando Torres and midfielder Steven Gerrard could make the difference for Liverpool in their crunch clash with Chelsea.
The Reds and the Blues will contest a third Champions League semi-final in four years when they meet in the two-legged contest this week and next, with the first leg to be played at Anfield tonight.
And Benitez, who has masterminded victories for his side in both previous last-four encounters, says his two star men may hold the key to establishing a first-leg lead to take to Stamford Bridge next week.
"Gerrard is a key player for us, and when he scores the winner in the semi-final maybe Chelsea will see even more how important he is for us," the Spaniard explained.
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