Muara Teweh!

Reflecting on her victory in the Pennsylvania primary, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday neatly summed up the chief political rationale of her enduring candidacy.

“I won the states that we have to win — Ohio, now Pennsylvania,” Mrs. Clinton said on CNN about her successes over Senator Barack Obama, in one of her six appearances on morning news shows. “It’s very hard to imagine a Democrat getting to the White House without winning those states.”

Mrs. Clinton says her popularity among blue-collar workers, women and Hispanics makes her the candidate to beat Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, in the swing states that decide presidential races. Along with Ohio and Pennsylvania, she also cites her success in Michigan and Florida — even though the Democratic Party disqualified those contests, and Mr. Obama was not on the Michigan ballot — to claim an edge in crucial battlegrounds. » Read more after the jump →

PRINCETON, NJ–(Marketwire) - ETS confirmed today the decision by the Border and Immigration Agency of the United Kingdom’s Home Office to recognize the TOEIC® (Test of English for International Communication™) test as part of its new immigration Points-Based System (PBS). The new Australian-style immigration system began in the United Kingdom February 29.

The system’s main elements consolidate more than 80 work and study application routes into five tiers and awards points to reflect aptitude, experience, age and level of need in any given sector. The TOEIC test will be used to certify the English level of immigrants, specifically those seeking work, under the country’s new policy.

Since 1979, the TOEIC test has been recognized for the highest levels of score reliability and fairness. Developed by ETS, the same company that developed the TOEFL® test (Test of English as a Foreign Language™) for students, the TOEIC test has set a worldwide standard » Read more after the jump →

ROTA, Spain (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Tuesday it would be a “big mistake” to ease world pressure on Iran just because a U.S. intelligence report said Tehran stopped its nuclear weapons program in 2003.

Rice, who has spent years battling to get the backing of reluctant world powers such as Russia and China to punish Iran over its nuclear program, said she would continue to push for a third U.N. Security Council sanctions resolution against Tehran.

“The timing has got to be to continue to pursue the Security Council resolutions, to pursue the other pressures that we are bringing to bear, so that they don’t acquire the fissile material (to build a bomb),” Rice told reporters traveling with her to Ethiopia.

“I continue to see Iran as a dangerous power in international politics,” she added before a refueling stop in Rota, southern Spain. » Read more after the jump →

ROCHESTER, New Hampshire (CNN) — Sen. Hillary Clinton was set to resume her presidential pursuit Saturday in Iowa after a hostage standoff at her campaign office in Rochester, New Hampshire, was peacefully resolved Friday.

Leeland “Lee” Eisenberg, 46, of Somersworth, New Hampshire, walked into the office wearing what he said was a bomb strapped to his chest, police said. The “bomb” turned out to be road flares held with duct tape.

Five people inside the office at the time, including a small child, were eventually released unharmed.

Clinton, who had been in the Washington area, flew to New Hampshire Friday night to meet with the hostages and their families. At a news conference afterward, she said they expressed “a lot of relief, a lot of gratitude.”
» Read more after the jump →

A “dangerous and dynamic” wildfire in Southern California that left six firefighters hurt and destroyed dozens of homes grew to 4,650 acres Saturday night, officials said.

But firefighters have been able to contain 25 percent of the blaze, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

They got a slight break when dry Santa Ana winds clocked at 57 mph (92 kph) earlier in the day decreased to about 20 mph, CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras said.

But the winds were unpredictable.

“Until the fire is knocked down, we can’t be sure what the next development will be,” Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said at a news conference earlier.

About 10,000 people fled their homes in the Malibu area ahead of the flames, which began around 3:30 a.m. PT (6:30 a.m. ET). » Read more after the jump →

Two of Pakistan’s bigger opposition parties said today they would probably boycott the parliamentary elections due to be held in early January if the president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, persisted in holding the vote while still maintaining emergency rule.

However, the leader of the biggest opposition party, Benazir Bhutto, has not yet said whether she would pull her party, the Pakistan Peoples Party, out of the election.

On Sunday, Ms. Bhutto said General Musharraf’s announcement that elections would go ahead in January was a positive though insufficient step. Today she assumed a slightly tougher tone, suggesting her negotiations with General Musharraf had come to an end.

“We cannot work with anyone who has suspended the Constitution, imposed emergency rule and oppressed the judiciary,” she said. “We are saying ‘no’ to any more talks.” » Read more after the jump →

The six leading Democratic presidential candidates showed up for the Iowa Democratic Party’s big Jefferson Jackson Dinner on Saturday night, and five of them gave very good speeches.

Barack Obama’s was excellent. It was one of the best of his campaign. The passion he showed should help him close the gap on Hillary Clinton by tipping some undecided caucusgoers his way.

His oratory was moving, and he successfully contrasted himself with the others — especially Clinton — without being snide or nasty about it.

That was an important thing for him to do. Historically, the Iowa party’s “JJ” dinner is a landmark event in Democratic presidential caucus campaigns. All the key party activists, donors and players are present. This year, about 9,000 of them showed up.

(Most were from Iowa, though there was some grumbling that Obama packed the place with ringers from Illinois. Joe Biden even greeted them in his speech. The charge that they brought » Read more after the jump →