The top U.S. envoy to Africa called the month of post-election violence in Kenya “ethnic cleansing” and said Wednesday that Washington was reconsidering hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to the country. Jendayi Frazer said neither President Mwai Kibaki nor his chief rival, opposition leader Raila Odinga, is doing enough to stop the bloodshed that has claimed more than 800 lives since the disputed Dec. 27 presidential vote.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger endorsed John McCain on Thursday, giving a boost to the Republican presidential front-runner six days before California’s high-prize primary. The two appeared at a news conference after touring a Los Angeles-based solar energy company. Schwarzenegger’s endorsement of McCain is yet another setback for Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who saw Florida slip from his grasp Tuesday after McCain rolled up the support of that state’s two top elected Republicans, Gov. Charlie Crist and Sen. Mel Martinez.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama raised $32 million in the month of January, a whopping figure that has permitted the campaign to boost staff and extend advertising to states beyond the sweeping Feb. 5 contests, aides said Thursday. The amount was the most raised in one month by a presidential candidate who still faced a primary challenge. Obama is now advertising in 20 of the 22 states in play for next week’s Super Tuesday and plans to begin advertising in seven more states that hold primaries or caucuses later in February.
Consumers increased their spending at the weakest pace in six months while applications for unemployment benefits soared last week, two more signs the economy is weakening. The Commerce Department reported Thursday that consumer spending edged up just 0.2 percent in December – the year’s peak shopping season – down sharply from a 1 percent gain in November. It was the weakest performance in this area since a similar 0.2 percent rise in June of last year.
Meanwhile on Thursday, the Labor Department reported that the number of laid off workers filing applications for unemployment benefits soared by 69,000 to 375,000. That was the highest level for jobless claims since the week of Oct. 8, 2005, when the economy was dealing with the disruptions caused by Hurricane Katrina and the other Gulf Coast hurricanes.
