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In a race for the US presidency, Hillary Rodham Clinton faces a problem that has dogged her since her days as first lady: an entrenched bloc of voters who simply do not like her. And her experience as a senator in New York shows that despite vigorous campaigning around the state since taking office, she remains an extremely polarising figure who is unable to sway these voters to her side. One poll after another shows that roughly one in three New Yorkers has an unfavourable opinion of her, a statistic that has not changed since she took office in 2001....

When Hillary Clinton runs for president, she may have to face her own version of the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth - in the form of her husband's accusers, the women the Clintons have been trying to erase from the national memory of Bill's presidency. Reacting to Sen. Clinton's efforts to use the opening of her husband's presidential library last week as a springboard for her campaign, star impeachment witness Kathleen Willey told NewsMax, "I have some words of advice for the former first lady. Remember the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth." Willey said she was struck by the fact that...

New York Sen. Hillary Clinton warned Thursday that she already sees signs of corruption with Republicans firmly in control of the House, the Senate and the White House. "You know, absolute power corrupts absolutely," Clinton told CNN's "American Morning." Dropping the bipartisan demeanor she'd adopted for the opening of her husband's presidential library, Clinton said, "I think that we have an administration and Republican leadership that, you know, is very powerful. And power should be handled carefully in a democracy." Clinton complained that when Republicans were in the minority, "they certainly wanted to apply the harshest of rules to Democratic...

Former Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson, D-Culver City, kicks Zhang Xiao Ju betweent the legs during a demonstration performed by Buddhist monks at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif., Monday, March 22, 2004. In their first visit to the United States, a group of Shaolin martial artists from SongShan, China demonstrated acrobatic flips and shows of strength among other things. With the monks urging him on, Wesson made several kicks to the monk who showed no emotion. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

Schools Close, Buddhist Monks Leave Temples Amid Violence in Southern Thailand The Associated Press Published: Jan 28, 2004 BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - More than 1,000 schools closed and some monks evacuated their temples as tensions between Buddhists and Muslims in southern Thailand heightened, officials and media reports said Wednesday. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said local leaders from the Muslim-dominated south told him some groups behind the violence received foreign funds. He did not elaborate. Public schools will remain closed this week while government officials discuss security measures for teachers, who are receiving death threats. The recent violence includes the killings...

The government orders the move amid fears of fresh violence in the restive provinces bordering Malaysia BANGKOK - Thailand ordered massive school closures across its Muslim-majority south yesterday as the region grappled with an eruption of violence against government targets and Buddhist monks. Bird flu and southern violence: Thaksin's toughest challenges The Thai PM feels that he is being tested to the limit. All 248 schools in Narathiwat province were closed and at least 40 per cent of schools in two other provinces were shut down after emergency meetings on the crisis. 'We have decided to close all schools in...

BANGKOK, Thailand -- A Buddhist monk was hacked to death Thursday while begging for food, an attack the police chief said was aimed at inciting religious unrest in the Muslim-dominated south. Thailand's southernmost provinces have been tense since Jan. 4 when suspected Muslim separatists torched 21 government-run schools and raided an army camp in Narathiwat province, killing four soldiers and stealing hundreds of rifles. The monk was collecting food from followers in Narathiwat's Bachor district when an unidentified man approached him on a motorcycle and chopped him to death with a machete, national police chief Gen. Sant Sarutanond said. Walking...

TWO Buddhist monks and a policeman have been killed in Muslim-majority southern Thailand in attacks believed to be linked to separatist unrest in the region, the government and police said today. "Two monks were killed while they were walking to receive alms and one monk was seriously hurt at about 6am" this morning (local time) in separate but simultaneous attacks, police in Yala said. "A policeman was also shot dead late Friday in Ying-or district in neighbouring Narathiwat province." Thailand's southern region was rocked by a series of attacks on government targets earlier this month which left six people dead.

<p>BANGKOK, Thailand (CNN) -- Two Buddhist monks have been slashed to death in separate roadside attacks in southern Thailand, two days after a similar attack which police blamed on Muslim extremists.</p> <p>The killings -- which police said appeared to be coordinated and simultaneous -- took place 10 kilometers apart at about 6 a.m. local time Saturday in Yala, about 1,100 kilometers south of Bangkok, police said.</p>