She is taking a road trip to meet small groups of voters in Iowa, having announced her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination on Sunday.

She had been expected to declare her candidacy for months.

Mrs Clinton ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008 but lost to Barack Obama.

‘Listening tour’

A few hours into her journey from New York to Iowa, Mrs Clinton tweeted: “Road trip! Loaded the van & set off for IA. Met a great family when we stopped this afternoon. Many more to come.

Mrs Clinton’s team said she would spend the next few weeks building up grassroots support in the early Democratic primary states.

Her first rally, to officially kick off her campaign, is not expected until mid-May. But her trip to Iowa is to be a “listening tour” where Mrs Clinton will meet voters at low-key events.

Later this week, she is expected to meet groups of students, teachers and small business owners.

On Sunday, Mrs Clinton launched her campaign website and declared in a video that she was running for president.

“Americans have fought their way back from tough economic times,” she said, “but the deck is still stacked in favour of those at the top.

She added that she wanted to be a champion for “everyday Americans”.

The video features a number of Americans talking about their hopes and aspirations.

Mrs Clinton has already had the backing of Mr Obama, who said on Saturday that she would make an “excellent president”.
But the attacks from Republicans have already started.

Jeb Bush, former Florida Governor and brother of George W Bush who expected to stand as a Republican candidate, tweeted: “We must do better than Hillary.”

In his own online video on Sunday, he focused on foreign policy, saying: “We must do better than the Obama-Clinton foreign policy that has damaged relationships with our allies and emboldened our enemies.”

Another Republican presidential contender. Rand Paul, also criticised Mrs Clinton for her handling of a September 2012 attack on a US diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, in which the US ambassador was among those killed.

He also said questions remained about funds received by a charity set up by Mr and Mrs Clinton.

Republican Senator Marco Rubio is expected to announce his candidacy for his party’s nomination at an event in Miami later on Monday.

Source: BBC

“He is so discredited [that] nobody trusts him. His time is up. I think he should step aside.”

Mr Addison, who was the lead counsel for the three petitioners in the eight-month long Supreme Court litigation on the 2012 election results, accused Dr Afari Gyan as the “stumbling block” to free and fair elections in Ghana.

“I believe that it is about time he stepped aside,” Mr Addison said.

The renowned lawyer was speaking on TV3’s Hot Issues on Saturday, April 11 when he made these remarks.

Dr Afari Gyan has superintended over Ghana’s six successive elections under the Fourth Republic with his expertise a sought-after on the continent.

His statutory retirement in June has generated public debate especially over who succeeds him though the 1992 Constitution makes it clear the President has the sole prerogative in consultation of the Council of State to do that.

“There certainly will be an opportunity for a grateful nation to express its gratitude to an illustrious son of the land, who has led a team of dedicated, and hardworking men and women over the last 23 years to guide our nation in one of the most delicate aspects of modern democracy-elections,” President John Dramani Mahama stated during his 2015 state-of-the-nation address to Parliament.

“As President of the Republic , let me on behalf of the   people of Ghana express our respect for the dedication to work shown by Dr Afari Gyan. I have no doubt that his place in Ghana’s history is assured and he will be dearly missed when he finally retires this year.”

But Mr Addison, who cross-examined the Electoral Commissioner for more than a month during the landmark petition, said the Supreme Court should have taken punitive action against Dr Afari Gyan over the conduct of the 2012 elections.

“He is stubborn as he is now because he was not chastised by the Supreme Court when clearly he is the cause of all the problems we had.”

Financial loss to the state

Dr Afari Gyan’s swan song would have been the 2015 district level elections, which were declared unconstitutional by the Court.

Due procedure, according to the Court, were not followed by the Electoral Commission of Ghana. A new legislation has been laid in Parliament to get the process constitutional.

According to Mr Addison, the blame should be put at the doorstep of the Chairman of the Commission.

“You know the intransigence of the Electoral Commissioner. He recently again because of his intransigence he alone will not heed to any advice, goes ahead with the district level elections and look at the results another financial loss to the state.”

By Emmanuel Kwame Amoh|3news.com|Ghana

Small queues formed at polling stations, with voters saying the elections guaranteed stability.
 
The opposition and Western powers said the polls lacked credibility because of political repression.

Mr Bashir has ruled Sudan since 1989, and is charged by the International Criminal Court (ICC) with genocide.

The 71-year-old president denies the charges, which arose from the conflict in Darfur.

‘Power struggles’

The African Union (AU) has rejected the ICC’s attempts to have him arrested, arguing that Mr Bashir enjoys presidential immunity and therefore cannot be tried while in office.

Sudan election:

•    President Omar al-Bashir is up against 15 little-known candidates
•    44 parties are taking part in the parliamentary poll

Key issues:

•    US relations – lifting economic sanctions and getting the country removed from the list of state sponsors of terrorism

•    Securing peace – there is fighting in Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile

•    Economy – when the South Sudan seceded, the country lost most of its vital oil revenues

Will Bashir be snubbed by his people?

How Sudan’s election works

The BBC’s James Copnall reports from Khartoum that there is a large crowd where Mr Bashir is voting, but most of them are journalists and security personnel.

Ahmed Sulieman, a university professor, said he was voting as it was the only way to guarantee a peaceful transfer of power.

“Many countries are suffering amid power struggles,” Mr Sulieman told Associated Press news agency.
“I am here for the sake of stability and safety,” he added.

Mr Bashir is being challenged by 15 little-known candidates, after the main opposition parties denounced the polls as a sham.

The UK, US and Norway have said in a statement that “an environment conducive to participatory and credible elections does not exist” in Sudan.

The three countries form a troika which has been trying to resolve differences between the government and opposition.

By:BBC

The apology letter, a copy of which is available to tv3network.com, comes a day after the MP reportedly met with some government officials and the National Democratic Congress over his unsavory comments.

The Minister in his letter apologizes to President John Dramani Mahama, the NDC and the people of Ghana particularly the chiefs and people of the Nantong constituency.

In an interview Mutala granted Tamale-based Diamond FM, he is heard on a tape angrily using the unsavory words unlike a Minister and a legislator, accusing a colleague MP and Minister who he claims is scheming to get him out of parliament. 

In the same interview, he accused some unnamed NDC Members of Parliament of greasing the palms of chiefs and opinion leaders in the Northern Region with “filthy, ill-gotten money” to his political career.

The Deputy Trades and Industry Minister is incensed over what he says are attempts by the MPs to unseat him and has dared them to do their worse and face his wrath.

The tape which went viral has been condemned in and outside his party with a campaign on social media calling for his dismissal as a Deputy Minister since his actions clearly goes against the code of ethics for government officials.

The Minister in his apology letter however noted that he had not posted anything on his Facebook Page in the last one week. The MP by this statement, is seeking to suggest that the statement on his wall which ostensibly relates to the content of his interview on radio, was not written by him. 

Below is Murtala’s apology letter

“Please accept this letter as a formal apology for my comments on Diamond fm, a couple of days ago. I wish to acknowledge that I could have handled the matter better rather than an outburst, which was as a result of deep pain occasioned by events over the years”.

“I wish to render my unqualified apology to His Excellency the President. I wish also to render same to the NDC party and government, the good people of Ghana, the chiefs and religious leaders of Dagbong, as well as the Chiefs and people of the Nanton Constituency whose interest i have sworn to defend”.

“I however wish to take this opportunity to dissociate myself from a statement purported to have been  attributed to my face book wall”.

“As a matter of fact,  I have not posted anything on my face book wall the past week since I have been on an official assignment in Morocco. Therefore that purported message is not from me. Once again I apologize sincerely”.

By: Ebenezer Afanyi Dadzie/3news.com/Ghana