Obama closes in on Clinton

Obama closes in on Clinton

WASHINGTON — Barack Obama is closing in on Democratic presidential rival Hillary Rodham Clinton’s advantage among superdelegates, building on his lead in the primary race even as he faces troubled times.

Party leaders are encouraging superdelegates to pick a side by late June to prevent the fight from going to the national convention in August, and it seems some are listening as the race enters its final five weeks of voting.

Chelsea Clinton got a superdelegate for her mom while campaigning in Puerto Rico on Wednesday, just as Obama press secretary Bill Burton sent out a statement announcing the support of Rep. Lois Capps. The statement didn’t mention the personal connection — Capps is Burton’s mother-in-law.

N.Y.: Grisly electrocution of animals for fur is banned

ALBANY, N.Y. — New York has become the first state in the nation to ban the electrocution of animals in a particularly gruesome way to harvest their fur.

The law bans the practice of anal and genital electrocution of fur-bearing animals, including mink, foxes, chinchillas and rabbits. The misdemeanor is punishable by up to a year in jail.

National animal rights advocates on Wednesday said they hope it will force similar measures in other states.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wants to use the law to push states to ban similar practices on farms, which are often hidden in rural areas where animals are born and bred unsheltered in cages.

Japan’s oldest panda dies

TOKYO — Japan’s oldest giant panda, Ling Ling, a longtime star at Tokyo’s largest zoo and a symbol of friendship with China, died Wednesday of heart failure, zookeepers said.

Ling Ling was 22 years and seven months old, equivalent to about 70 human years, the Ueno Zoo said. It said he was the fifth-oldest known male panda in the world.

Ling Ling began losing his appetite and strength last August because of his old age, and recently suffered from heart and kidney problems, zoo official Motoyasu Ida said.

Keepers and visitors mourned the panda, which was the zoo’s most popular attraction for more than 15 years.

Schwarzenegger takes shot at small-town officials

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Wednesday it’s good for state legislators from “little towns” to globe-trot and see worldly things like “an airport,” “a highway that maybe has 10 lanes” or even “a highway on top of a highway.”

The Republican governor, at an infrastructure conference hosted by billionaire Michael Milken, said he has benefited by riding high-speed trains in France and China, which gave him more inspiration to support similar projects in California.

“And that’s why I always encourage the legislators in Sacramento, because some of them come from those little towns,” Schwarzenegger said. “They come from those little towns, and they don’t have that vision yet of an airport or of a highway that maybe has 10 lanes. Or of putting a highway on top of a highway. They look at you and say, ‘Well, we don’t have that in my town, what are you talking about?’”

His comments drew laughs and applause from the big-city audience at the Beverly Hilton.

Whale rule is blocked

WASHINGTON — White House officials have blocked a rule aimed at protecting endangered North Atlantic right whales for more than a year by challenging the findings of government scientists, according to documents obtained by the Union of Concerned Scientists.

The documents, which were mailed to the environmental group by an unidentified National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration official, illuminate a struggle that has raged between the White House and NOAA for more than a year. In February 2007, NOAA issued a final rule aimed at slowing ships traversing some East Coast waters to 10 knots or less during parts of the year to protect the right whales, but the White House has blocked the rule from taking effect.

Spy court OKs requests

WASHINGTON — The nation’s spy court approved a record number of requests to search or eavesdrop on suspected terrorists and spies last year, the Justice Department said Wednesday.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court approved 2,370 warrants last year targeting people in the United States believed to be linked to international terror organizations.

That figure represents a 9 percent increase over 2006. The number of warrants has more than doubled since the terrorist attacks of 2001.

Combined dispatches