World News 04-12-2000 Gore Ready To Concede Defeat who: Al Gore what: Running out of time as court adjourns where: Florida, USA when: Yesterday snippet: A decision is expected later today from the Leon county circuit court in the Florida state capital, Tallahassee, which is due to settle the latest and possibly last dispute over manual recounts in this year`s US presidential election. Time is running out for Democratic candidate Al Gore to win the recount he demands in Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties, says The Independent`s Andrew Gumbel. The counts need to be completed by December 12th when the state is due to make its appointments to the Electoral College which chooses the president. George W Bush, who was declared the winner of the election by 537 votes on November 26th, has done his best to slow down the legal process, bombarding the court with requests "to broaden the scope of the trial to include hundreds of thousands more ballots and at least two more counties". The Democrats are already signalling that there is little hope, says The telegraph, quoting Warren Christopher, the former secretary of state leading Mr Gore`s legal battle, who said yesterday: "When the time comes, [the Vice-President] will concede in a very gracious way." Meanwhile, reports The Guardian, there are claims that thousands of black (and therefore predominantly pro-Democrat) citizens lost their right to vote in Florida. The US justice department is investigating reports of "police intimidation and administrative measures which had the effect of disproportionately disenfranchising black voters" in the state, which is governed by Jeb Bush, brother of the Republican candidate. [... more]

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