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LOS ANGELES A Korean grocers' group sued former U.N. ambassador Andrew Young for libel for claiming that they and other market owners "ripped off" blacks. The suit, filed last week in Los Angeles County Superior Court, also names the Wal-Mart store chain and seeks at least $7.5 million in damages. The former Atlanta mayor resigned as head of a Wal-Mart advocacy group on Aug. 18 amid controversy over comments he made to the weekly, black-owned Los Angeles Sentinel. In an interview, Young said that Wal-Mart competition had forced smaller, "mom-and-pop" stores out of his neighborhood. "But you see, those are...

Ned Lamont's primary victory against Joe Lieberman in Connecticut supposedly represented the triumph of the antiwar, anti-Bush "net roots" within the Democratic Party. Alas, our troop presence in Iraq is increasing; it appears Lieberman, running as an independent, will trounce Lamont; and President Bush is having his best week in the polls in six months (which is not quite the same thing as saying he's doing well in the polls). So, have the Lamonters and other victims of so-called BDS - Bush derangement syndrome - been routed? Not quite. Because BDS sufferers have a related secondary affliction: WMDS. This refers...

The civil rights leader Andrew Young, who was hired by Wal-Mart to improve its public image, resigned from that post last night after telling an African-American newspaper that Jewish, Arab and Korean shop owners had “ripped off” urban communities for years, “selling us stale bread, and bad meat and wilted vegetables.” In the interview, published yesterday in The Los Angeles Sentinel, a weekly, Mr. Young said that Wal-Mart “should” displace mom-and-pop stores in urban neighborhoods. “You see those are the people who have been overcharging us,” he said of the owners of the small stores, “and they sold out and...

In an interview, Young was asked whether he was concerned that Wal-Mart causes smaller, mom-and-pop stores to close. ``Well, I think they should; they ran the 'mom and pop' stores out of my neighborhood,'' the paper quoted Young as saying. ``But you see, those are the people who have been overcharging us, selling us stale bread and bad meat and wilted vegetables. And they sold out and moved to Florida. I think they've ripped off our communities enough. First it was Jews, then it was Koreans and now it's Arabs; very few black people own these stores.'' Young said he...

ATLANTA Former Atlanta mayor and U.N. ambassador Andrew Young has stepped down from his position as head of Working Families for Wal-Mart, the longtime civil rights leader said early Friday. Young was hired by the group in February to help improve Wal-Mart's image. "I think I was on the verge of becoming part of the controversy, and I didn't want to become a distraction from the main issues, so I thought I ought to step down," Young told The Associated Press. Young said his decision came after a report in the Los Angeles Sentinel, which he said was misread and...

Former US president Jimmy Carter speaks with DER SPIEGEL about the danger posed to American values by George W. Bush, the difficult situation in the Middle East and Cuba's ailing Fidel Castro. SPIEGEL: Mr. Carter, in your new book you write that only the American people can ensure that the US government returns to the country's old moral principles. Are you suggesting that the current US administration of George W. Bush of acting immorally? Carter: There's no doubt that this administration has made a radical and unpressured departure from the basic policies of all previous administrations including those of both...

(AP) - Former United Nations ambassador and Atlanta mayor Andrew Young will be the public spokesman for a group organized with backing from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. that defends the world's largest retailer against mounting attacks from its critics. Working Families for Wal-Mart, a group of community leaders from across the country, was set to announce Monday that Young will be the chairman of its 16 member steering committee formed in December to counter charges from two union-backed groups that are pressuring Wal-Mart to improve wages and benefits.

AMERICANS will certainly have 9/11 in mind when they vote today. But they should keep another date in mind, too — one almost exactly a quarter-century ago: Nov. 4, 1979. A clear path runs to 9/11 from the day of the raid on the U.S. embassy in Tehran and the seizure of American hostages. The 1979 embassy attack came at a time when the administration of President Jimmy Carter was trying to prop up the new Khomeinist regime in Tehran. Carter had decided to support Khomeini in the context of the so-called "Green Belt" strategy developed by National Security...

(CNSNews.com) - Why are Senate Democrats debating the qualifications of a woman whose accomplishments speak for themselves, some prominent black Democrats wondered on Tuesday. Andrew Young -- the former Atlanta mayor, U.S. congressman and United Nations ambassador in the Carter administration -- and C. Delores Tucker, chair of the National Congress of Black Women, agreed to appear with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist on Tuesday, to urge support for Dr. Condoleezza Rice as the next secretary of state. "We think that Condoleezza Rice not only deserves the support, but the country needs a strong, wise secretary of state with a...

His goal is to get clergy behind the Democrats LEXINGTON MAN HEADS NEW GROUP PUSHING FOR POLITICAL CHANGE By Frank E. Lockwood HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER Most regular churchgoers want to re-elect President Bush. Most non-churchgoers plan to vote for the Democratic presidential candidate. That's the finding of a recent poll by the Pew Center for the People and the Press -- and it's a finding that Lexington's Albert M. Pennybacker hopes will change between now and November. Pennybacker, a former Lexington Theological Seminary professor, a Disciples of Christ minister and a lifelong Democrat, is chief executive officer of the Clergy...

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) -- Andrew Young, a civil rights trailblazer and former U.N. ambassador, plans to endorse Democrat Wesley Clark for president, giving the retired Army general a boost in primary states with a significant number of minority voters. Young is scheduled to appear at a Dec. 21 campaign event with Clark in South Carolina, which holds its primary Feb. 3. Officials familiar with discussions about the event, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the former ambassador will endorse Clark. It is the latest development in a high-stakes endorsement race designed to make inroads in minority communities. Former Vice President...

Former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young announced today that he would not enter the race for the Senate seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Zell Miller. Young made his announcement at an 8:30 a.m. news conference. "I decided I could not be the candidate. I was afraid I would win," he said to laughter from supporters. He was surrounded by his exploratory committee as he made the announcement. He said he would continue in the public realm in an effort to "restore faith in American governnment." The guessing game had reached a fever-pitch this week, when Young on Wednesday indicated he...

<p>Andrew Young, the former mayor and ambassador who told Georgia Democratic leaders he planned to run for U.S. Senate next year, is now telling close friends that he is leaning toward skipping the race, the Associated Press learned yesterday.</p> <p>"He is thinking of not running," said a Young associate who spoke on the condition of anonymity.</p>

Sam Nunn's daughter may run for Senate By MARIA SAPORTA Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer Michelle Nunn, founder and executive director of Hands On Atlanta and daughter of former Sen. Sam Nunn, is contemplating a run for Sen. Zell Miller's seat. "I've been giving it serious consideration," Nunn, 36, said Tuesday. "A message that needs to be heard is that Democrats need a new generation of leaders. People are looking for some new voices in the political sphere." Former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young has said he is seriously considering running. Nunn said she will be meeting with Young on Friday to...

More countries likely will fall in behind the United States once hostilities with Iraq begin, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations predicted yesterday in Louisville. Andrew Young, who was U.N. ambassador under President Jimmy Carter in the late 1970s, said he thinks international support will grow even more in the effort to transform Iraq into a peaceful and stable country. ''We may find that President Bush has pulled a real coup,'' said Young, who supported Al Gore in the 2000 election. ''I think we're going to be proven right in the U.N.'' Young was in Louisville to address...

Andrew Young is lost, misguided, confused 6/7/01 6:28:53 PM (GMT +2) ELSEWHERE in this issue we report about the deteriorating situation at farms in Matabeleland North where stocktheft and death threats are rife despite a recent call for restraint from Vice President Joseph Msika. In our issue last week, a reader wrote to us chronicling the painful events in some areas of Mashonaland Central such as Dotito, Chiutsa, Chahwanda and Mudzengerere where the reader, in his own words, says a few former guerrillas were causing terror. In all these, and many other undocumented cries for help by ordinary Zimbabweans...