WASHINGTON: US president-elect Barack Obama is considering naming former first lady Hillary Clinton, his onetime rival for the White House, as his secretary of state, a foreign news channel reported.Two unnamed Obama advisers told the network that Clinton, now a senator for New York, "is under consideration" for the post.Clinton flew to Chicago -- where Obama is based -- on Thursday, but an adviser said it was on personal business.Clinton, 61, has extensive foreign policy experience from her time in the senate, where she serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, and indirectly when her husband Bill Clinton was president from 1993 to 2001.Several big names have been mentioned in the press as possible Obama secretaries of state, including another former Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, New Mexico governor and former UN ambassador Bill Richardson, a favorite of the powerful Latino community; and moderate Republican Senator Richard Lugar.The Obama transition team has not said publicly who may be under consideration for cabinet positions, but has insisted no announcements would be made this week.During the bruising Democratic presidential primary Clinton tore into Obama's lack of foreign policy experience, describing some of his proposals such as talking to Iran as "naive."Obama in turn constantly reminded voters that Clinton approved legislation authorizing President George W. Bush to invade Iraq, a vote she never publicly rejected.Once Clinton lost the Democratic presidential nomination, the former first lady campaigned fiercely for Obama.
Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in...
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