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From 2004 — when Obama first won his United States Senate seat — hundreds of local and foreign visitors streamed to the modest hometown of his father’s birthplace.#mce_temp_url# That stardust settled deeper on the village when Obama visited in August 2006, as rumors swirled that he was seeking the Democratic Party’s ticket for the 2008 presidential polls. What had been a trickle of interest became a swirling flood of high-end SUVs and tourist buses desperate to glimpse the African roots of the man who would make history as the U....

So is this NAFTA-gate? Um, not quite. Top Clinton aides Howard Wolfson and Mark Penn may have repeated the catchy neologism five times on this morning’s conference call, but reports late last week of Obama economic adviser Austan Goolsbee privately telling Canadian consular officials in Chicago that Obama’s tough talk on the North American Free Trade Agreement was mere rhetoric still don’t strike me as particularly scandalous. Even the leak today of a memo describing the meeting– the memo twisted his words, Without direct quotes, it’s impossible to conclude that our neighbors to the north accurately reported what he said....

As jury selection began yesterday in the corruption trial of veteran Chicago fixer Antoin “Tony” Rezko, there was an unexpected face in the courtroom audience: an unidentified staffer scoping out the scene for Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama. As Newsweek reported this week, Obama is a long-time friend of Rezko’s. In 2005, Rezko and his wife were involved in a tangled property deal in which Rezko’s wife bought a vacant lot next to a historical house purchased by Obama and his wife; Obama later acknowledged that his real-estate dealings with Rezko were “boneheaded....

Djokovic’s much-publicised visa fiasco eventually ruled him out of his Australian Open defence in January, and he was knocked out of the French Open by Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals. There was to be plenty of good financial news as he scooped a cool $2.5 million (£2m) for winning Wimbledon this year — his 21st Grand Slam. Sadly for Djokovic he won’t be competing at the US Open due to his vaccination status not meeting coronavirus entry requirements for the country,...

Last month E Ink, a small Cambridge, Mass., start-up, took a step along the long road to the e-book. It unveiled a sample of changeable display of alphanumeric characters on a flexible page of plastic transistors, made by Lucent Technologies. It was proof that its “ink” could one day be the basis for “pages” of an e-book that rivaled paper: readable, low-powered and, above all, bendable. E Ink’s electronic ink consists of plastic microcapsules that contain a certain ratio of dark dye to white paint chips....

Sorry, Frederic Auburtin, you aren’t going to get a do-over. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Gavin O’Connor, who recently wrapped the Affleck thriller “The Accountant,” will direct and co-write the script. PHOTOS: Top 10 World Cup runs made for the movies | Soccer stars behaving badly Warner Bros. capped eight days of negotiations by winning the film rights to investigative reporter Ken Bensinger’s upcoming book on Blazer’s rise from unemployed American soccer dad to the FIFA executive committee member known as “Mr....

Emotions were raised once Westbrook showed up to the arena wearing an “official photographer” vest, likely mocking Durant’s passion for photography. MORE: Picking MVP — but not Durant or Westbrook As the game played out, however, a new foe emerged. Backup center Enes Kanter, who has been teasing Durant all offseason, got in an exchange with the new Warriors forward late in the second quarter. It’s not exactly clear what was said between the two, but Kanter’s OKC teammate Steven Adams was even telling him to knock it off....

Some aides also worry that the campaign’s intense focus on issues may be a mistake. Polls show voters like Hillary’s stands on topics from education to gun control but still question her motives. Aides are urging her to loosen up, mingle with the public and meet with the media. This week’s tour will feature more retail politics, but issues will remain front and center, aides say. “It’s not an either-or choice,” says a top adviser....

The National Sports Development Fund (NSDF), on Thursday, announced that up to 50 sportspersons, who are Olympic medal hopes, will get support for customised training under the ‘NSDF 50′ scheme. The Sports Authority of India (SAI) has been asked to recommend the names of the sportspersons, in consultation with the concerned National Sports Federations (NSF), by the end of August. “Potential sportspersons who are medal hopes for the 2020 Olympics should be encouraged and supported on a continuing basis....

A Pageant Peace Sign There’s something decidedly unkosher about the new Miss Israel. Rana Raslan, 21, is the first Arab to win the country’s beauty crown. Raslan, an aspiring kindergarten teacher, says she doesn’t see herself as a political statement in a swimsuit, and she doesn’t think the Jewish judges did either. “They wanted a beauty queen, not a political queen,” she says. Mazel tov to everyone. A Dance for Charles, a Song for Camilla...

The problems started when a reported NDA’d launch time for pre-orders leaked in the days before Nvidia’s 3080 released. 6:00 am PT/9:00 am ET on September 17 would be when retailers could begin selling 3080 cards, said the report. Having a date and exact time may seem helpful, but the opposite is true. Scalpers using bots are widespread in the graphics card industry. With an exact time, they can purchase a card even before a website’s updated to list it....

This holiday season has been a difficult one for PC gamers, with the plight of scalping at an all time high. Every PC building forum is full of complaints about the lack of stock on every major retailer, the issue of bots buying out everything, and PSAs to wait until the new year to even bother with acquiring new parts. While this announcement is encouraging at the surface level, buyers are sure to be skeptical....

In case you didn’t know… Johnny Gargano was part of the tag team DIY, which split up at ‘Takeover: Chicago’ when his partner, Tomasso Ciampa, turned on him following their failure to win the Tag Team Titles in a Ladder match. Gargano later returned to NXT and focused on being ‘Johnny Wrestling’ again. In the match against Cien Almas at ‘Takeover: Brooklyn III’, Gargano was ready to pick up the win and was preparing to deliver his finisher when he was distracted by Zelina Vega as she threw a DIY t-shirt at him....

Then, NXT’s McKenzie Mitchell put the match’s status in further jeopardy. She’d said that she saw NXT GM William Regal meeting with the medical staff. Now, William Regal has revealed via Twitter that Timothy Thatcher was injured while training for the Fight Pit. While the Thatch-as-Thatch-Can master is as tough as they come, they were unable to clear him tonight considering the match’s intensity and grueling nature. NXT New Year’s Evil looks to be a stacked card New Year’s Evil is a stacked show from top to bottom, with some highly anticipated showdowns taking place....

This was a war of attrition as they split the first two falls in their 2-out-of-3 falls match, but the toughest part was yet to come with the third fall taking place inside a steel cage with plenty of weapons at their disposal. They each used everything they could get their hands on as they beat and battered one another until they both crashed off the top of the cage through a table....

During her championship defense against Ember Moon, Asuka suffered a broken collarbone. WWE broke the news on its website, reporting that she will be out of action for up to two months. SUMMERSLAM 2017: Brock Lesnar retains belt in wild main event “During the match, she landed awkwardly from a throw from Ember Moon and was able to complete the match, but had notable pain and discomfort,” Dr. Westerfield said....

“What is he using them for? For crowd control, for repressing the right of people to protest. For a political stunt, obviously,” de Blasio said during a Thursday morning interview with CNN. “We’re not going to allow that.” “What Donald Trump is doing is just exasperating the tensions and the divisions, and I actually think it will backfire on him,” the mayor said. “That will backfire in every way. It has to be stopped....

Adams was asked whether he would change the requirement Wednesday after NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said on ESPN’s Get Up that he did not understand why the rule stopped Irving from playing home games, while unvaccinated players on visiting teams could come to NYC and play. Irving, the only unvaccinated player on the Nets or the New York Knicks, is not allowed to play in home games in the Nets’ Barclays Center or the Knicks’ Madison Square Garden because of the city’s vaccine requirements for athletes and entertainers....

“We watched the news yesterday as everyone did,” he told PIX 11 News. “I saw the attorney general’s remarks. But beyond that, that’s our involvement.” This news comes as David Soares, the District Attorney for Albany County, announced his office’s plans to open a criminal investigation against Cuomo. Soares said he planned to request investigative materials from the state attorney general so that his office could look into claims brought forth by 11 women, most of whom worked for the state government....