Obama picks Shinseki as Veterans Affairs secretary

Obama picks Shinseki as Veterans Affairs secretary

WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama has chosen retired Gen. Eric K. Shinseki to be the next Veterans Affairs secretary, turning to a former Army chief of staff once vilified by the Bush administration for questioning its Iraq war strategy.

Obama will announce the selection of Shinseki, the first Army four-star general of Japanese-American ancestry, at a news conference today in Chicago. He will be the first Asian-American to hold the post of Veterans Affairs secretary.

Shinseki’s tenure as Army chief of staff from 1999 to 2003 was marked by constant tensions with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, which boiled over in 2003 when Shinseki testified to Congress that it might take several hundred thousand U.S. troops to control Iraq after the invasion.

Kennedy considers Clinton’s Senate seat

WASHINGTON — Caroline Kennedy, a scion of the most famous family in American politics, has spoken by phone with New York Gov. David Paterson, D, about the Senate seat that has opened up with the nomination of Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a cousin of Caroline Kennedy’s, confirmed to the Associated Press late Friday that she was “interested” in the seat, but national party operatives cautioned that the process of picking a replacement for Clinton remains in its early stages.

One New York political insider suggested that the revelation of Kennedy’s interest in the seat is designed to keep New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, the current front-runner, from winning the appointment.

Palin won’t release testimony in ethics probe

ANCHORAGE, Alaska —As far as Gov. Sarah Palin is concerned, Troopergate is behind her and she won’t release to the public testimony she gave in an investigation into whether she violated ethics laws in firing her public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan.

But the day she testified, Palin’s attorney said she wanted to make her testimony public.

She gave her only testimony in the matter on Oct. 24 while on the vice presidential campaign trail. Her attorney, Thomas Van Flein, said at the time that she wanted to release a transcript of her sworn testimony.

The governor said she did nothing wrong and that Monegan was dismissed for reasons unrelated to her concerns about her ex-brother-in-law, trooper Michael Wooten.

Thailand’s opposition plans to form new government

BANGKOK, Thailand — Thailand’s main opposition party said Saturday it plans to form a new government with the help of defectors from the ruling coalition, a move certain to appease an anti-government group that recently paralyzed the capital, shutting down its main international airport for a week.

The opposition Democrat Party announced it had mustered the backing of 260 lawmakers in the 400-seat lower house, allowing it to form a government with Oxford-educated party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva as the new prime minister.

Try on pants, have soup

NEW YORK — You know the economy is ailing when a Manhattan fashion boutique offers free soup.

The temporary fashion boutique called The 1929 sells chic clothes and gives away soup and coffee. The store is in one of the trendiest shopping districts in the city.

Manager and co-owner Aaron Genuth says the store in SoHo was inspired by the Great Depression. His partner Levi Okunov says they want people to go to the store, have a bowl of soup and try on clothing.

The store sells the work of independent designers on its ground floor. The basement is an art and performance space where the free nourishment is doled out.

Combined dispatches