Putin glad to shed burden of presidency

The Russian President, Mr Vladimir Putin, insisted on Friday that he really would be passing on the baton of power to his chosen successor, Mr Dmitry Medvedev, when he steps down as President next month. Despite widespread speculation that the outgoing leader will still be directing Kremlin affairs as prime minister, Mr Putin told reporters at the Nato Bucharest summit he was looking forward to shedding the burdens of office.

"I’m looking forward to moving this burden from my shoulders — to the shoulders of my successor," Mr Putin said, speaking off the cuff at an unexpected press conference after the Nato summit in Bucharest. "This is nothing to be sorry about, this is a long-awaited freedom, the end of my term as President," he added.

In a virtually unprecedented move among world leaders, Mr Putin is set to take over as prime minister after stepping down as president on May 7. Officially, he will then shed presidential responsibilities such as foreign policy. Speaking of his successor, president-elect, Mr Medvedev, he said: "You will have some interesting times in him!"

With the US President, Mr George W. Bush, also coming to the end of his eight-year term this year, Bucharest represented one of the two mens’ final summits together. Mr Bush joked that the pair of them were "a pair of battlehorses," according to one official inside Friday’s NATO-Russia Council (NRC) meeting. Both of them will meet at the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi this weekend for one-to-one talks.

Clintons earn $109m in 8 yrs

The New York Senator and Presidential hopeful, Ms Hillary Rodham Clinton and former president, Mr Bill Clinton released tax data on Friday showing they earned $109 million over the last eight years, an ascent into the uppermost tier of American taxpayers that seemed unimaginable in 2001, when they left the White House with little money and facing millions in legal bills.

The bulk of their wealth has come from speaking and book-writing, which together account for almost $92 million, including a $15 million advance — larger than previously thought — from Mr Clinton’s 2004 autobiography, My Life. The former President’s vigorous lecture schedule, where his speeches command upwards of $250,000, brought in almost $52 million.

During that time, the Clintons paid $33.8 million in US federal taxes and claimed deductions for $10.2 million in charitable contributions. The contributions went to a family foundation run by the Clintons that has given away only about half of the money they put into it, and most of that after Ms Clinton declared her candidacy for Presidency.

Ms Clinton’s campaign released the eight years of income-tax information late on Friday, following a rising clamour on the campaign trail for her to follow the lead of her opponent, Senator, Mr Barack Obama, who had previously disclosed his tax returns for the same period.

The revelation — that the Clintons are in the top one-hundredth of one per cent, or roughly 14,500, of all taxpayers — came on the day that Ms Clinton called for the creation of a Cabinet-level post to tackle poverty.