Anna Nicole Smith's file was among those accessed, AP reports

A US state department review has found that the passport files of several high-profile Americans have been accessed, the Associated Press reports.
It comes a week after revelations that workers improperly viewed the files of the three presidential candidates.
Other Americans whose files had been viewed since January 2007 included late Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith, AP reports, citing unnamed officials.
AP says the review is not complete and the number of cases is not yet clear.
State department officials told AP the review involved several hundred US citizens whose passport files are flagged for extra protection because of their prominence.
These people include politicians, entertainers and athletes. Accessing their files triggers an automatic record that it has been viewed. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7315813.stm>

Does 'misspeak' mean lying?

WHO, WHAT, WHY? The Magazine answers...

Clinton would have chosen her words carefully

Hillary Clinton says she was "misspeaking" when she incorrectly recalled her trip to Bosnia. Is this a euphemism?

After Donald Rumsfeld's "unknown unknowns", it's time to untangle another piece of US politics-speak. Or should that be misspeak?
When Hillary Clinton corrected her description of a visit to Bosnia in 1996, she made an interesting choice of words: "I did misspeak the other day."
Her initial version of events was that her plane landed under fire and she had to duck and run to her vehicle.
But television footage shows her disembarking with a smile, waving to the crowd and strolling across the tarmac to greet a little girl who read her a poem.

THE ANSWER Not necessarily. While one meaning is to fail to tell the whole truth, 'misspeak' can also mean to speak unclearly or misleadingly, without intent Clinton's tale falls flat

The word "misspeak" has a long and varied history, says John Simpson, chief editor of the Oxford English Dictionary.
"It goes back to the Old English period before the Norman Conquest to mean to murmur or grumble.
"But it's got quite a wide sense of meanings, to speak insultingly or improperly or to speak disparagingly or disrespectfully or to speak evil of. Then in the mid to late Middle Ages, it was to pronounce incorrectly."
Chaucer used it in the Miller's Tale - "If that I mysspeke or seye" - as meaning to speak insultingly. But nearly all these meanings are mostly obsolete, according to the OED.

The citations suggest that this 'misspeaking' can be deliberate or unintentional Fiona Douglas

The most common modern sense of "misspeak" is in the US, where it has developed two meanings since the late 19th Century - to speak unclearly or to fail to tell the whole truth, says Mr Simpson. And it crossed the Atlantic in the mid 20th Century. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7314726.stm>

Amateur sleuths name anonymous dead

03/30/2008 | 04:54 PM

LIVINGSTON, Tennessee - Four days a week Todd Matthews earns $11.50 an hour working for an automotive parts supplier. He punches in at 4:15 a.m., punches out nearly 11 hours later, then drives half a mile to his little beige house on a hill where, in the distance, he can glimpse the Appalachian mountains.
He spends the next seven to eight hours at his desk, beneath shelves lined with miniature plastic skulls, immersed in a very different world.

Their faces seem to float from his computer — morgue photographs, artist sketches, forensic reconstructions — thousands of dead eyes staring from endless Web sites as though crying out for recognition. John and Jane and Baby "Does" whose nameless bodies have never been identified.
His wife, Lori, complains that Matthews spends more time with the dead than he does with the living, including his two sons, Dillan, 16, and Devin, 6.

You need a hobby, she says, or a goal.

I have a goal, he replies, though he describes it as a "calling".

He wants to give "Does" back their names.

His obsession began two decades ago, when Lori told him about the unidentified young woman wrapped in canvas whose body her father had stumbled on in Georgetown, Ky., in 1968. She had reddish brown hair and a gap-toothed smile. And no one knew her name.

So locals blessed her with one. They buried her under an apple tree with a pink granite tombstone engraved with the words "Tent Girl."

At 37, Matthews is a sensitive soul who has always felt an affinity for the dead, perhaps because two of his siblings died just after birth. Matthews still chokes up when he visits the graves of Gregory Kenneth and Sue Ann. But at least he knows where they are buried.

Tent Girl haunted him. Who were her siblings? What was her name?

Matthews began searching library records and police reports, not even sure what he was seeking. He scraped together the money to buy a computer. He started scouring message boards on the nascent Internet.

In the process, Matthews discovered something extraordinary. All over the country, people just like him were gingerly tapping into the new technology, creating a movement — a network of amateur sleuths as curious and impassioned as Matthews.

Today the Doe Network has volunteers and chapters in every state. Bank managers and waitresses, factory workers and farmers, computer technicians and grandmothers, all believing that with enough time and effort, modern technology can solve the mysteries of the missing dead.

Increasingly, they are succeeding.

The unnamed dead are everywhere — buried in unmarked graves, tagged in county morgues, dumped in rivers and under bridges, interred in potter's fields and all manner of makeshift tombs. There are more than 40,000 unnamed bodies in the U.S., according to national law enforcement reports, and about 100,000 people formally listed as missing.

The premise of the Doe Network is simple. If the correct information — dental records, DNA, police reports, photographs — is properly entered into the right databases, many of the unidentified can be matched with the missing. Law enforcement agencies and medical examiners offices simply don't have the time or manpower. Using the Internet and other tools, volunteers can do the job. <http://www.gmanews.tv/story/86870/Amateur-sleuths-name-anonymous-dead>

Clinton rejects call to quit race

Mrs Clinton is telling supporters that all votes count Clinton at rally

US presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton has rejected calls by supporters of her rival, Barack Obama, to abandon her campaign for the Democratic nomination.

Senator Patrick Leahy, an influential Democrat and Obama supporter, had said that by remaining in the race she was helping the Republican party.

Mrs Clinton told supporters she had no intention of abandoning the race.

The New York senator is trailing Mr Obama in the number of delegates needed to obtain the nomination.
But the latest opinion polls suggest that she is leading Mr Obama by more than 10 points in the next major primary in Pennsylvania on 22 April.

My attitude is that Senator Clinton can run as long as she wants - her name's on the ballot and she is a fierce and formidable competitor Barack Obama

"There are some folks saying: 'Well, we ought to stop these elections'," she told a crowd at a high school in Indianapolis, Indiana.

"I didn't think we believed that in America. I thought we of all people knew how important it was to give everyone a chance to have their voices heard."

Former President Bill Clinton said those calling for his wife to pull out of the race should "just relax".

"Everywhere I go, all these working people say, 'Don't you dare let her drop out - don't listen to those people in Washington'," he said during campaigning in Pennsylvania.

Mrs Clinton also made a campaign stop in Kentucky, where her main theme was jobs and the economy. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7321119.stm>

Georgia 3rd-graders aimed to hurt teacher - cops

04/02/2008 | 10:22 AM

WAYCROSS, Ga. - A group of third-graders plotted to attack their teacher, bringing a broken steak knife, handcuffs, duct tape and other items for the job and assigning children tasks including covering the windows and cleaning up afterward, police said Tuesday.

The plot by as many as nine boys and girls at Center Elementary School in south Georgia was a serious threat, Waycross Police Chief Tony Tanner said.

"We did not hear anybody say they intended to kill her, but could they have accidentally killed her? Absolutely," Tanner said. "We feel like if they weren't interrupted, there would have been an attempt. Would they have been successful? We don't know."

The children, ages 8 and 9, were apparently mad at the teacher because she had scolded one of them for standing on a chair, Tanner said. A prosecutor said they are too young to be charged with a crime under Georgia law.

School officials alerted police Friday after a pupil tipped off a teacher that a girl had brought a weapon to school, Tanner said. <http://www.gmanews.tv/story/87320/Georgia-3rd-graders-aimed-to-hurt-teacher---cops>

Elderly US pair murdered homeless

Golay drugged her victims before driving a car over their bodies

Two elderly women have been convicted over the murder of two homeless men in an attempt to collect $2.8m (£1.4m) in life assurance.
Helen Golay, 77, and Olga Rutterschmidt, 75, befriended the men from around Los Angeles, put them up in flats and took out insurance policies.
The two men were then drugged and killed in staged road accidents.
Golay was convicted of murder and Rutterschmidt of conspiracy to murder. Both face life in prison.
Kenneth McDavid, 50, was found dead in the Westwood area of Los Angeles in June 2005. Paul Vados, 73, died in Hollywood in 1999.
The women, who had been friends for 20 years, were arrested in May 2006.

The judge ordered lawyers for the defence and prosecution to restate their arguments on Thursday on murder charges pending against Rutterschmidt. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7351810.stm>

Gaffes dominate Democratic debate

Senator Clinton on speaking about Bosnia

US Democratic presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have held their final debate before next week's key primary in Pennsylvania.

Senator Clinton criticised her rival's recent remark that working-class voters clung to guns and religion in difficult times, calling it "offensive".
Senator Obama said the comments had been taken out of context.
Both expressed confidence that either of them could beat Republican John McCain in November's election.

But both declined to confirm whether they would ask the other to be their vice-presidential running mate. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7351619.stm>

Clinton wins key Democratic vote

Hillary Clinton has beaten rival Barack Obama in a critical vote in the state of Pennsylvania as the two battle to be the Democrats' presidential candidate.

Speaking after her solid nine-point win, she said Americans deserved "a president who doesn't quit".
Although this victory keeps her campaign alive, Mrs Clinton still faces an uphill battle to overtake her rival, correspondents say.
Mr Obama said he had done well to gain ground on Mrs Clinton in Pennsylvania.

With 99% of returns counted, Mrs Clinton was leading Mr Obama by 54.7% to 45.3%. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7359957.stm>

Washington diary: Trench warfare

By Matt Frei
BBC News, Washington

The candidacy of Hillary Rodham Clinton refuses to die. She has been compared to the Duracell battery bunny that keeps on shuffling when others, powered by lesser fuel cells, have ground to a halt.

The Clintons have always been professional politicians

Less kindly she has been likened to Glenn Close in the film "Fatal Attraction", who is supposed to have been drowned in the bathtub but then comes back in one last terrifying moment, wielding a carving knife.

The simple but frequently overlooked fact about Senator Clinton is that unless there is an overwhelming reason to bow out of the race she will simply not go away.

Why should she? She has found her own voice and proved herself as a formidable candidate.

It is not for nothing that Sally Bedell Smith entitled her brilliant book about the Clintons "For the Love of Politics".

Politics is the family business - it runs in their blood.

The Clintons may have been trained as lawyers but they have always been professional politicians, who revel in the bare knuckle, brow-beating, arm-squeezing, baby-hugging business of getting elected and wielding power.

That's what Hillary means when she boasts about experience and tells her audience that she has been in the fight long enough to know how to deliver the knock-out blows against John McCain in November.

In effect she is saying: "I may not be about change. I may not embody the new type of politics, you all yearn for. But I am really good at the old type. In a nasty fight you want me on your side not the loping intellectual from Harvard!"

Her victory in big states like Pennsylvania, Ohio and California indicates that she may have a point - this is certainly the message her surrogates will be hammering home. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7364195.stm>

Washington diary: Miracle needed

By Matt Frei BBC News, Washington

I think it is safe to assume that Rupert Murdoch has been struck off the Clinton family Christmas card list.

Mrs Clinton was forced to loan her campaign $6.4m last month

One of his newspapers, the tabloid New York Post, distilled what an army of bet-hedging pundits, silver-tongued strategists, retired White House bigwigs and hand-wringing party bosses tried to hint at last night after Hillary's lead in Indiana had been parboiled down to a miserly 2%:

"TOAST!", the newspaper thundered at New Yorkers as they bit into their bagels.

For all their supposed straight talking, Americans, I find, are unusually uncomfortable at calling a spade a spade when the gardening implement is aimed at political royalty - so leave it to the filthy tabloids.

The New York Daily news was kinder and perhaps more accurate: "Hill needs a miracle!"

She does indeed. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7389151.stm>

 

Obama criticises mocking sermon

Rev Pfleger apologised for his sermon

US Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama has said he is "deeply disappointed" at a supporter's sermon that mocked rival Hillary Clinton.

Rev Michael Pfleger said Mrs Clinton felt "entitled" to win because she was white and was forced to realise there was "a black man stealing my show".

Mr Obama said the sermon was "divisive, backward-looking rhetoric".

Meanwhile Mr Obama has told the BBC he expects to be his party's nominee when primary elections end next week.

Rev Pfleger has apologised for his sermon at Mr Obama's Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.

According to Associated Press news agency, Rev Pfleger said in the sermon: "[Hillary Clinton] just always thought that, 'This is mine. I'm Bill's wife. I'm white.'

These words are inconsistent with Senator Obama's life and message and I am deeply sorry if they offended Senator Clinton or anyone else who saw them Rev Michael Pfleger

"And then, out of nowhere, came 'Hey, I'm Barack Obama.' And she said, 'Oh damn, where did you come from? I'm white. I'm entitled. There's a black man stealing my show.'"

He added: "She wasn't the only one crying. There was a whole lot of white people crying."

In response, Mr Obama said in a statement: "As I have travelled this country, I've been impressed not by what divides us, but by all that unites us.

"That is why I am deeply disappointed in Father Pfleger's divisive, backward-looking rhetoric, which doesn't reflect the country I see or the desire of people across America to come together in common cause."

Rev Pfleger said the words in his sermon were "inconsistent with Senator Obama's life and message and I am deeply sorry if they offended Senator Clinton or anyone else who saw them".

Mr Obama has had other problems with a clergyman during the nomination campaign.

He denounced the claim by Rev Jeremiah Wright, who officiated at his wedding and baptised his daughters, that the 9/11 attacks were an example of "America's chickens coming home to roost". <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7426649.stm>

Bush sorry over Berlusconi insult

Berlusconi has been a staunch supporter of Bush's war in Iraq

The White House has apologised to Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi for a briefing describing him as a political "amateur" who is "hated by many".

The "insulting" biography was included in a press kit distributed to reporters travelling with President George W Bush to a meeting of world leaders in Japan.

He was "one of the most controversial leaders" of a country "known for governmental corruption and vice".

Only last month, Mr Bush visited his old ally, calling him a "good friend".

The four-page description of Mr Berlusconi had been taken from the Encyclopedia of World Biography.

It refers to the Italian prime minister as a man "hated by many but respected by all at least for his bella figura (personal style) and the sheer force of his will".
It says Mr Berlusconi was said to be "regarded by many as a political dilettante (amateur) who gained his high office only through use of his considerable influence on the national media".
Acknowledging the error, White House spokesman Tony Fratto issued an apology.
"A biography of Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi included in the press package used language that is insulting both to Prime Minister Berlusconi and to the Italian people," Mr Fratto said in a statement.

"We apologise to Italy and to the prime minister for this very unfortunate mistake.

"The sentiments expressed in the biography do not represent the views of President Bush, the American government, or the American people," he said.

Mr Berlusconi was a key supporter of the US-led war in Iraq.

During Mr Bush's farewell tour of Europe last month, Mr Berlusconi called the US leader "a personal friend of mine and also a great friend of Italy".
To which Mr Bush responded: "You're right. We're good friends." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7495754.stm>

Obama dismisses conservative criticism over foreign language comments

07/12/2008 | 09:56 AM

WASHINGTON — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama was under fire from conservatives for suggesting that American children should learn a foreign language. Meanwhile, his Republican rival John McCain was reaching out to women voters.

Obama, speaking at a rally in Dayton, Ohio, on Friday, batted away conservative criticism over a comment he made about Americans' lack of foreign language skills.

"The Republicans jumped on this. I said, absolutely immigrants need to learn English, but we also need to learn foreign languages," the likely Democratic nominee said as the 1,000-plus crowd in a school gymnasium cheered. It's a position he has long held.

"This is an example of some of the problems we get into when somebody attacks you for saying the truth, which is: We should want our children with more knowledge.

We should want our children to have more skills. There's nothing wrong with that. That's a good thing. I know, because I don't speak a foreign language. It's embarrassing," Obama said chuckling as his audience did the same.

At issue was a remark the Illinois senator made Tuesday in Georgia that drew laughter from the crowd — but disdain from conservatives and groups advocating English as the official US language. His remark has caused buzz on the Internet and talk radio. <http://www.gmanews.tv/story/106564/Obama-dismisses-conservative-criticism-over-foreign-language-comments>