Rice makes emotional farewell

Capping four years as the Bush administration’s top diplomat, a teary-eyed Condoleezza Rice bade a spirited farewell tonight to an assembly of several hundred State Department employees.

Ms Rice was greeted by thunderous applause as she appeared in the building’s C Street lobby to thank the staff in optimistic oratory that echoed President George Bush’s 2005 Inauguration speech in which he said he would fight for freedom in every nation with the “ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world”.