Nov
16
Wildfires in LA reduce hundreds of homes to ash
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LOS ANGELES - Southern Californians endured a third day of destruction Saturday as wind-blasted wildfires torched hundreds of mobile homes and mansions, forced tens of thousands of people to flee and shut down major freeways.
No deaths were reported, but the Los Angeles police chief said he feared authorities might find bodies among the 500 burned dwellings in a devastated mobile home park that housed many senior citizens.
“We have almost total devastation here in the mobile park,” Fire Capt. Steve Ruda said. “I can’t even read the street names because the street signs are melting.”
The series of fires has injured at least 20 people and destroyed hundreds of homes from coastal Santa Barbara to inland Riverside County, on the other side of the Los Angeles area. Smoke blanketed the nation’s second-largest city Saturday, reducing the afternoon sun to a pale orange disk.
As night fell, a fire fed by a sleet of blowing embers hopscotched through the winding lanes of modern subdivisions in Orange and Riverside counties, destroying more than 50 homes, some of them apparently mansions.
A blaze in the Sylmar community in the hillsides above Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley destroyed the mobile homes, nine single-family homes and several other buildings before growing to more than 8,000 acres - more than 12 square miles. It was only 20 percent contained Saturday.
It sent residents fleeing in the dark Saturday morning as notorious Santa Ana winds topping 75 mph torched cars, bone-dry brush and much of Oakridge Mobile Home Park. The blaze, whose cause was under investigation, threatened at least 1,000 structures, city Fire Department spokeswoman Melissa Kelley said.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in Los Angeles and Orange and Riverside counties. Fire officials estimated that at its peak 10,000 people were under orders to evacuate, including residents of the mobile home park.
Extreme fire conditions were expected to continue into Sunday morning, with humidity at just 10 percent to 15 percent and winds gusting to 45 mph through canyons. Winds, however, could reverse direction and dip to 5-mph breezes Sunday afternoon.
“We still have another 15 hours of red flag conditions,” Robert Balfour, a senior meteorologist with the National Weather Service in San Diego, warned fire officials at a briefing Saturday night.
Many heat records were set as the region withered under the Santa Anas. Downtown Los Angeles was 20 degrees above normal at a record 93 degrees.
At an evacuation center, Lucretia Romero, 65, wore a string of pearls and clutched the purse and jacket she snatched as firefighters shouted at them to flee hours earlier.
Her daughter, Lisa, 42, wore a bloodstained shirt and pants. A helicopter dropping water on their home caused the entryway ceiling to collapse. Debris scratched her forehead and gave her a black eye.
Lucretia Romero said she saw smoke above the hills beyond the front door and then, within an hour, saw that a canyon across from her home was red with flame.
“They would drop water, the water would squash the flames and then two minutes later the flames would come back,” she said. Firefighters soon banged on the door and gave them 10 minutes to evacuate.
Flames swept across the park and scorched cypress trees, Ruda said. Firefighters had to flee, grabbing some residents and leaving hoses melted into the concrete.
Ruda produced a burned U.S. flag on a broken stick as a sign of hope and bravery for firefighters. “The home that this flag was flying from is gone,” he said.
Police Chief William Bratton said cars were found in the debris at the park, raising concerns that bodies might be found. Crews were waiting for the ground to cool before bringing in search dogs, he said.
The Santa Anas - dry winds that typically blow through Southern California between October and February - tossed embers ahead of flames, jumping two interstate highways and sparking new flare-ups. Walls of flame raced up ridge lines covered in sun-baked brush and surrounded high-power transmission line towers.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said the fire caused problems that shut down power lines in places, and he asked residents to conserve power to help avoid possible blackouts.
Shortly after midnight, the Sylmar fire burned to the edge of the Olive View-UCLA Medical Center campus, knocking out power and forcing officials to evacuate two dozen critical patients.
The shifting winds caused the fire to move uphill toward the San Gabriel Mountains, downhill toward homes and sometimes skip across canyons. It also jumped across Interstates 5 and 210, forcing the California Highway Patrol to shut down portions of both freeways and some connecting roads.
More than 60 homes were damaged or destroyed in a fire that erupted in the Riverside County city of Corona and spread west to the Orange County communities of Yorba Linda and Anaheim Hills.
In addition, 50 apartment units burned in a complex in Anaheim Hills. Devin Nathanson, 27, had put down a deposit on an apartment there and planned to move in Saturday. Instead, he watched from the road as it burned to the ground.
“At least none of my stuff was inside yet,” he said.
Palm trees lining the entrance to the complex were ablaze, and two firefighters manned hoses at the swimming pool and sprayed water on the leasing center. The roof caved in with a loud bang.
About 2,000 acres - more than 3 square miles - were charred by that fire, with more than 12,000 people in 4,500 dwellings ordered to evacuate in Anaheim alone. Six firefighters were injured, including four Corona firefighters who were hurt when flames swept over their engine. Two of the Corona crewmembers were treated at a hospital and released.
Winds began to decrease in the afternoon and were expected to drop further overnight, but humidity was expected to remain low.
Nov
10
Obama to use executive orders for immediate impact
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WASHINGTON - President-elect Obama plans to use his executive powers to make an immediate impact when he takes office, perhaps reversing Bush administration policies on stem cell research and domestic drilling for oil and natural gas.
John Podesta, Obama’s transition chief, said Sunday Obama is reviewing President Bush’s executive orders on those issues and others as he works to undo policies enacted during eight years of Republican rule. He said the president can use such orders to move quickly on his own.
“There’s a lot that the president can do using his executive authority without waiting for congressional action, and I think we’ll see the president do that,” Podesta said. “I think that he feels like he has a real mandate for change. We need to get off the course that the Bush administration has set.”
Podesta also said Obama is working to build a diverse Cabinet. That includes reaching out to Republicans and independents - part of the broad coalition that supported Obama during the race against Republican John McCain. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has been mentioned as a possible holdover.
“He’s not even a Republican,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said. “Why wouldn’t we want to keep him? He’s never been a registered Republican.”
Obama was elected on a promise of change, but the nature of the job makes it difficult for presidents to do much that has an immediate impact on the lives of average people. Congress plans to take up a second economic aid plan before year’s end - an effort Obama supports. But it could be months or longer before taxpayers see the effect.
Obama could use his executive powers to at least signal that Washington is changing.
“Obama’s advantage of course is he’ll have the House and the Senate working with him, and that makes it easier,” said Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond. “But even then, having an immediate impact is very difficult to do because the machinery of government doesn’t move that quickly.”
Presidents long have used executive orders to impose policy and set priorities. One of Bush’s first acts was to reinstate full abortion restrictions on U.S. overseas aid. The restrictions were first ordered by President Reagan and the first President Bush followed suit. President Clinton lifted them soon after he occupied the Oval Office and it wouldn’t be surprising if Obama did the same.
Executive orders “have the power of law and they can cover just about anything,” Tobias said in a telephone interview.
Bush used his executive power to limit federal spending on embryonic stem cell research, a position championed by opponents of abortion rights who argue that destroying embryos is akin to killing a fetus. Obama has supported the research in an effort to find cures for diseases such as Alzheimer’s. Many moderate Republicans also support the research, giving it the stamp of bipartisanship.
On drilling, the federal Bureau of Land Management is opening about 360,000 acres of public land in Utah to oil and gas drilling. Bush administration officials argue that the drilling will not harm sensitive areas; environmentalists oppose it.
“They want to have oil and gas drilling in some of the most sensitive, fragile lands in Utah,” Podesta said. “I think that’s a mistake.”
Two top House Republicans said there is a willingness to try to work with Obama to get things done. But they said to expect Republicans to serve as a check against the power held by Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress.
Nov
8
Hurricane Paloma, a Category 3 storm, eyes Cuba
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GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands - Late-season Hurricane Paloma strengthened into a Category 3 storm as it lashed the Cayman Islands with wind and rain Friday, knocking down trees and signs.
The storm was expected to lose some strength overnight before punching Cuba’s midsection on Saturday, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. Cuba already is suffering from billions of dollars in damage from two previous hurricanes this season.
“It’s not like it’s new to them, unfortunately,” said Dave Roberts, a U.S. Navy hurricane specialist. “If I were living on the island, I would at least prepare for a Category 2.”
Cuban official newspaper Granma, recalling past late-season hurricanes such as a 1932 storm that killed about 3,000 people, said Paloma poses “a potential danger for the island.”
The Cayman Islands government asked all hotels to remove guests from the ground and first floors. Nearly 40 people were already staying in the islands’ seven shelters.
Water service across Grand Cayman was turned off, and power likely will be cut as the storm nears, hazard management director Barbara Carby said.
“We have asked everybody to come off the streets and to be home and safe right now,” she said.
Stranded tourists watched dark clouds gather and saw the storm whip up 10-foot (3-meter) waves from their hotels or beachfront restaurants.
“It was a real surprise,” said Rick Douglas, 50, of Toronto, who checked weather Web sites before flying to the Caribbean. “It just said there was a tropical depression starting, but I didn’t think it would turn into anything serious.”
His wife, Susan Douglas, was confident they would be safe as long as they follow orders.
“Grand Cayman has been there and done that, so they are prepared,” she said.
Paloma’s top winds Friday night were near 115 mph, and it was centered about 25 miles south of Grand Cayman, heading northeast at 7 mph.
Havana’s communist government activated the early stages of its highly organized civil defense system. In central and eastern Cuba, people were advised to stay tuned to state media for news of Paloma’s progress and be ready to evacuate.
Paloma was aiming toward the central-eastern city of Camaguey, which was particularly hard-hit by Hurricane Ike in early September.
Ike and Hurricane Gustav, which struck the island in late August, together caused an estimated $9.4 billion in damage. Nearly a third of Cuba’s crops were destroyed, causing widespread shortages of fresh produce and prompting authorities to order the planting of vegetable greens and other short-term vegetables.
Forecasters expect Paloma to weaken into a tropical storm over Cuba and then steer south of Florida through the Bahamas and into the Atlantic.
Cayman Islands Gov. Stuart Jack said Friday that a British Royal Navy ship was on the way and would be available to provide humanitarian assistance if needed.
The airport closed Friday morning after extra flights were added to fly out some people late Thursday.
Muniran Charran, a construction worker from Guyana, said he first heard about the storm Thursday night over the radio.
“We didn’t really have any time to prepare because the banks and the stores all closed so early today,” he said.
He was drinking beers with friends in the downstairs lobby of their beachfront apartment complex.
“What we’ve been seeing all day is just a lot of rain and strong winds,” Guyana native Shik Khan said. “We hope that when we wake up, everything is fine.”
Nov
8
Obama to center stage, promises action on economy
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CHICAGO - Inheriting an economy in peril, President-elect Obama warned on Friday that the nation faces the challenge of a lifetime and pledged he would act urgently to help Americans devastated by lost jobs, disappearing savings and homes seized in foreclosure. But the man who promised change cautioned against hopes of quick solutions.
“It is not going to be easy for us to dig ourselves out of the hole that we are in,” Obama said at his first news conference since winning the presidency on Tuesday.
The No. 1 priority, Obama said, is to get Congress to approve an economic stimulus plan that would extend jobless benefits, send food aid to the poor, dispatch Medicaid funds to states and spend tens of billions of dollars on public works projects. If the plan is not approved this month, in a special session of Congress, Obama said that “it will be the first thing I get done as president of the United States.”
In his first appearance since a jubilant election-night celebration, Obama sought to project an air of calm and reassurance to a deeply worried nation. He stood in a presidential-like setting with an array of eight American flags and a lectern showing a presidential seal above the words “The Office of the President Elect.” The stage behind him was lined with advisers he had summoned, his economic brain trust.
Almost 20 minutes late to his first meeting with reporters, Obama spoke for just 20 minutes and broke no ground with new policy announcements or disclosures of who would be in his Cabinet. In lighthearted moments, he joked about seances with dead presidents and the appeal of animal shelter dogs that are “mutts like me.”
Constrained by the fact he will not take office until Jan. 20, Obama deferred to President Bush and his economic team on major decisions. “The United States has only one government and one president at a time,” he said.
Declaring he would not respond to issues “in a knee-jerk fashion,” Obama declined to say how he would deal with Iran, whose president sent a letter of congratulations to Obama. “I want to be very careful that we are sending the right signals to the world as a whole that I am not the president and I won’t be until January 20th,” he said.
A new jobless report offered no comfort. The unemployment rate climbed to a 14-year high in October,and 10.1 million people were out of work. In Detroit, General Motors reported a huge third-quarter loss and said it may run out of cash next year. Ford planned more job cuts after burning through billions of dollars of its own.
While standing back as long as Bush is president, Obama said his advisers would keep close watch on the administration’s efforts to unlock frozen credit and stabilize financial markets. Obama said he wanted to make sure the Bush administration was “protecting taxpayers, helping homeowners and not unduly rewarding the management of financial firms that are receiving government assistance.”
Obama spoke after he and Vice President-elect Joe Biden met privately with economic advisers to discuss ways to stabilize the economy.
“We are facing the greatest economic challenge of our lifetime, and we’re going to have to act swiftly to resolve it,” Obama said.
He said he was confident that “a new president can have an enormous impact,” but he tempered that optimism by adding, “I do not underestimate the enormity of the task that lies ahead.”
“Immediately after I become president, I will confront this economic challenge head-on by taking all necessary steps to ease the credit crisis, help hardworking families, and restore growth and prosperity,” Obama said.
“Some of the choices that we’re going to make are going to be difficult,” he said. “It is not going to be quick. It’s not going to be easy for us to dig ourselves out of the hole that we are in.” But he said he was confident the country could do it.
Obama left the door open to the possibility that economic conditions might prompt him to change his tax plan that would give a break to most families but raise taxes on those making more than $250,000 annually.
“I think that the plan that we’ve put forward is the right one, but obviously over the next several weeks and months, we’re going to be continuing to take a look at the data and see what’s taking place in the economy as a whole,” Obama said.
Democratic congressional leaders want to pass a broad economic aid package in a postelection session later this month, but prospects appear dim because of Bush’s opposition.
Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md., the majority leader, said the House wouldn’t reconvene for a postelection session unless Bush did an about-face and drops his opposition. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., isn’t sure such a package could get through the Senate either, he added.
“Clearly there’s no point in us doing something if the administration’s going to take a position that they’re not going to sign something,” Hoyer said.
If Congress and Bush can’t come to terms on a stimulus bill this fall, lawmakers have spoken with Obama’s team about a Plan B: The new Congress could quickly pass an economic aid package when it reconvenes in early January, readying it for Obama’s signature as his first official act after being inaugurated, Democratic leadership aides said.
That measure would probably be just the first installment of a broader package, including a middle class tax cut, that Congress could pass separately after Obama is in the White House.
Nov
7
Villagers found dead in rebel-controlled town
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KIWANJA, Congo - Villagers who fled fighting in this rebel-held town trickled home Thursday to find the bodies of more than a dozen men in civilian clothes in and around mud huts - and accused rebel leader Laurent Nkunda’s forces of the slayings.
But New York-based Human Rights Watch accused a pro-government militia called the Mai Mai as well as the rebels of deliberately killing civilians in Kiwanja and said U.N. peacekeepers nearby had been unable to protect them.
Nkunda’s men wrested control of Kiwanja Wednesday following heavy fighting with the Mai Mai, one of many signs that the conflict is spreading in eastern Congo and a fragile cease-fire is close to unraveling.
The villagers said rebels had killed unarmed civilians suspected of supporting the Mai Mai, but the rebels said the dead were militia fighters who had been armed.
A U.N. official said Kiwanja was in fact subjected to two rounds of terror: First the Mai Mai arrived and killed those they accused of supporting Nkunda’s rebels, then Nkunda’s rebels stormed in, killing men they charged were loyal to the Mai Mai.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to reporters.
Human Rights Watch said at least 20 people were killed and another 33 wounded during the battle for the town.
“The U.N. should not leave these defenseless people to be slaughtered by fighters on both sides,” said Anneke Van Woudenberg, a senior Africa researcher for the rights group.
North of Kiwanja, rebels captured an army base in Nyanzale Thursday after fighting with the army, the U.N. said. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for an immediate cease-fire and urged the armed groups involved to find a political solution.
Ban was flying to the Kenyan capital of Nairobi to attend an African Union summit Friday aimed at bringing peace to the region. Congo President Joseph Kabila is expected, along with Rwanda President Paul Kagame, who wields strong influence Nkunda’s rebels.
Dozens of militia groups operate in the remote terraced valleys and hills of eastern Congo, a lawless region that the government and a 17,000-strong peacekeeping mission have struggled to bring under control for years.
Among the armed groups are the Mai Mai and ethnic Hutu insurgents from Rwanda who fled to Congo after helping carry out Rwanda’s 1994 bloody genocide.
In Kiwanja Thursday, an AP reporter was led by frightened, whispering residents to huts where she counted the bodies of 16 people - covered with blankets or sheets - in one small part of Kiwanja. All but two were men, the residents said. None appeared armed.
Chorade Muhimdo, 38, said residents who stayed in Kiwanja despite rebel orders to leave were inside their homes when rebels “came and shot them.”
“There’s no reason,” he said. “Once they think you are Mai Mai, they have to kill you.”
One woman, 47-year-old Ajeni Niragasigwa, said rebels killed her 17-year-old son while he was trying to cross a rebel checkpoint.
“They came to kill the people,” she said, tears streaming down her face. “They did not come to protect.”
She held her cheeks in her hands, looked to the skies and wailed: “Congo!”
Rebel Capt. John Imani said about 60 people had been killed in the fighting, mostly Mai Mai. “Whoever is moving with a gun, he’s an enemy,” Imani said.
Nkunda’s spokesman, Bertrand Bisimwa, said armed government troops and allied Mai Mai militia had infiltrated Kiwanja in civilian clothes and began killing villagers who supported the rebels.
Nkunda defected from the army in 2004, saying he needed to protect his tiny Tutsi minority from Rwandan Hutu militias. He has since expanded his mission to “liberating” Congo from an allegedly corrupt government.
Nkunda told The Associated Press on Thursday that his mission justifies the suffering of some 250,000 forced from their homes since he launched an offensive Aug. 28. He also suggested that Congo’s army was being bolstered by foreign militias from Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda.
Congo’s government has charged Nkunda with involvement in war crimes, and Human Rights Watch says it has documented summary executions, torture, and rape committed by soldiers under Nkunda’s command in 2002 and 2004. The rights group said at least 100 civilians have been killed and more than 150 injured since fighting resumed in August.
On Thursday, the director of Community Radio of Kiwanja said rebels killed one of his reporters, accusing him of broadcasting anti-rebel statements.
Jean-Baptiste Kiana said he was at the home of the reporter, Alfred Ndjondjo Victwahiki Munyamariza, when the rebels barged in, forced him out of the house, and shot him in the head in his garden. Kiana said Munyamariza, 25, was killed in plain sight of his wife and toddler daughter.
Fresh fighting between army forces and rebels erupted Thursday north of Kiwanja around the town of Nyanzale, said U.N. peacekeeping spokesman Madnoje Mounoubai. The Congolese army abandoned its positions there and thousands of refugees also fled, seeking shelter near a U.N. base, he said.
Nkunda told The Associated Press that army forces backed by Mai Mai attacked rebel positions miles from Nyanzale before dawn.
“We were attacked three times this morning,” he said, speaking from one of his bases in the Mushaki mountains, some 40 miles north of the provincial capital of Goma. “My soldiers have a right to defend themselves. And the best defense is offense.”
Later Thursday, the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo confirmed that Nkunda’s fighters captured the villages of Nyanzale and Kikuku.
Nyanzale is one of three operational army bases in North Kivu provinces. The rebels seized the biggest army base in eastern Congo on Oct. 20.
The army could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday.
The latest violence dealt another blow to a fragile unilateral cease-fire Nkunda declared Oct. 29 as his fighters reached the outskirts of Goma, suddenly halting a lightning advance that forced Congo’s army into retreat.
The conflict in eastern Congo is fueled by festering ethnic hatred left over from the 1994 slaughter of a half-million Tutsis in Rwanda, and Congo’s civil wars from 1996-2002, which drew neighboring countries in a rush to plunder Congo’s mineral wealth.
Nov
7
Obama’s choice of Emanuel shows switch in tone
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CHICAGO - Barack Obama is signaling a shift in tactics and temperament as he moves from candidate to president-elect, picking sharp-elbowed Washington insiders for top posts.
His choice Thursday for White House chief of staff - Rahm Emanuel, a fiery partisan who doesn’t mind breaking glass and hurting feelings - is a significant departure from the soft-spoken, low-key aides that “No-Drama Obama” surrounded himself with during his campaign. And transition chief John Podesta, like Emanuel, is a former top aide to Bill Clinton and a tough partisan infighter, though less bombastic than the new chief of staff.
The selections are telling for Obama, who campaigned as a nontraditional, almost “post-partisan” newcomer. People close to him say the selections show that Obama is aware of his weaknesses as well as his strengths and knows what he needs to be successful as he shifts from campaigning to governing.
“No one I know is better at getting things done than Rahm Emanuel,” said Obama, who also spoke by phone with nine world leaders Thursday.
Obama, who survived a long contest with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination, also has made it clear he will rely heavily on veterans of her husband’s eight-year administration, the only Democratic presidency in the past 28 years. Podesta was President Clinton’s chief of staff, and several other former Clinton aides are on Obama’s short lists for key jobs, Democratic officials say. Some of them helped write a large briefing book on how to govern, assembled under Podesta’s supervision.
Obama himself brims with self-confidence, to the point that some people view him as arrogant. But to a greater degree than many presidents, he appears willing to lean on Washington insiders associated with other politicians.
Still, he is also certain to bring to the White House a cadre of longtime aides.
Emanuel accepted Obama’s offer with a gesture of bipartisanship, addressing part of his statement to Republicans. “We often disagree, but I respect their motives,” Emanuel said. “Now is a time for unity, and, Mr. President-elect, I will do everything in my power to help you stitch together the frayed fabric of our politics, and help summon Americans of both parties to unite in common purpose.”
That would come as news to some Republicans.
In contrast to Obama’s collegial style and that of his top campaign advisers, Emanuel is known as a foul-mouthed practitioner of brass-knuckled politics who relishes both conflict and publicity. He once mailed a dead fish to a political foe.
But he also earned a reputation for pragmatic efficiency, whether the goal was winning House elections for Democrats or working with Republicans to enact Clinton’s centrist political agenda.
“Rahm knows Capitol Hill and has great political skills,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. “He can be a tough partisan but also understands the need to work together.”
House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio was less kind. He called his appointment an “ironic choice for a president-elect who has promised to change Washington, make politics more civil and govern from the center.”
Democrats say Obama is self-assured enough to acknowledge his limitations by the appointments he makes.
“I know what I’m good at. I know what I’m not good at. I know what I know, and I know what I don’t know,” Obama once told Pete Rouse as he prepared to move up from Illinois state senator to the U.S. Senate.
Thus, when Obama was elected to the Senate, he picked Rouse, a press-averse former top aide to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, to run his Capitol Hill office. When Obama embarked on his presidential campaign, he chose advisers with presidential campaign experience like the studious David Plouffe as campaign manager and the even-keeled David Axelrod as chief strategist.
Axelrod is likely to get a job as a top adviser at the White House, and Robert Gibbs is the likely pick for press secretary. Gibbs has been Obama’s longtime spokesman and confidant, at his side from his 2004 Senate campaign through the long days on the presidential campaign trail.
In Emanuel, Obama has chosen a fellow Chicagoan who intimately knows both the White House and Congress, as a former political and policy aide for President Clinton and a current Illinois congressman who is the No. 4 Democrat in the House.
Obama frequently sought Emanuel’s advice during the presidential race, according to one campaign official.
Emanuel said he weighed family and political considerations before accepting the job on Thursday, according to Democratic officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid angering Obama. He will have to resign his congressional seat and put aside hopes of becoming speaker of the House.
With the selection, Democrats say Obama seemed to recognize he may have his work cut out for him in taming the House: Liberals may try to push their own agenda, not necessarily Obama’s. They say Emanuel is someone who not only can stand up to Congress but also maneuver through it to achieve a chief executive’s goals.
Nov
6
Barack Obama has started forming his administration by asking Rahm Emanuel, a former adviser to President Clinton, to be his chief-of-staff.
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Rahm Emanuel is an Illinois congressman and tough Washington insider who has been strongly Criticised by some republicans for being too partisan. U.S. president-elect Obama is expected to appoint a new treasury secretary soon. He has until his inauguration on 20 January to select his senior officials. President Bush has pledged his complete co-operation during the transition. With the business of preparing for government under way, Obama will start receiving the president’s daily CIA briefings, from today which will include updates on covert operations. Obama was elected the first black U.S. President on Tuesday with a resounding win over republican rival John Mccain. Projected results from Tuesday’s election have yet to be announced for the states of north Carolina and Missouri, which are believed to be too close to call. But with most precincts tallied, Obama’s share of the popular vote stands at 52.3%, compared with Mr Mccain’s 46.4%. Turnout was reported to be extremely high - in some places “unprecedented” in what many Americans said they felt was a historic election. The entire us house of representatives and a third of us senate seats were also contested in Tuesday’s elections. The democrats increased their senate majority by five seats, but fell short of the 60 needed to stop blocking tactics by republicans. They also increased their majority in the house of representatives, gaining 20 seats to give a total 252, leaving the republicans with 173. Meanwhile Alaska governor Sarah Palin said she’s happy to be back in her home after she and John Mccain lost the U.S. presidential election. A crowd of well-wishers were on hand to greet Palin. Palin remains a popular governor in her home state and said she’s looking forward to work on a pipeline that will help America become less dependent on foreign oil.
Nov
6
NATIONAL NEWS - The executive committee of national economic council met in Islamabad with Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani in chair.
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The meeting reviewed new development projects in the country. The projects which were reviewed include housing and physical planning, power sector, health, energy, transport, communication, environment and social sector development. The ECNEC also reviewed the Diamir Bhasha dam project and the plan to rehabilitate the affectees of Bhashah dam project.
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Nov
6
At least eleven people were killed and 45 wounded when a bomb ripped through a gathering of tribal elders in Salarzai area of Bajaur Agency.
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The blast occurred as the tribal elders had gathered to devise a strategy against the militants. The Jirga decided to hand over militants wanted by the government to local administration in a day or two. Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani strongly condemned the blast and expressed shock and grief over the loss of lives in it. He directed the local authorities to ensure provision of prompt medical facilties to the injured.
Earlier, at least five militants were killed and seven injured in shelling by security forces in Mamoond and Chahar Mang areas of the agency. Our correspondent reports that the security forces also destroyed several hideouts of militants.
Nov
6
Rice: Mideast peace by year-end no longer possible
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TEL AVIV, Israel - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday all but conceded that an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal by a year-end deadline is no longer possible.
But she also said upon arriving here that it is important to maintain momentum and support for the negotiations so that new governments in both Israel and the United States have “a firm foundation” to continue to the talks next year.
En route to the Middle East for her eighth trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories since the parties set the deadline for reaching an agreement at last November’s summit at Annapolis, Md., Rice said political uncertainty in Israel is the main complication to the goal.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is being forced from office by a corruption scandal, and the country is set to hold new elections in February. Rice noted that the situation “is a constraint on the ability of any government to conclude” a deal.
“I’ve learned never to predict in this business,” she said, “but it is clear we’re in a different situation now because Israel is going to elections.”
“It is our expectation that the Annapolis process has laid groundwork which should make possible the establishment of a Palestinian state when the political circumstances permit,” Rice added. “I think that whatever happens by the end of the year, you’ve got a firm foundation for quickly moving this forward to conclusion.”
The two sides for months have been backing away from the timeline pushed in Annapolis.
Although Rice refused to absolutely rule out the chance of an agreement by year’s end, her remarks reflect the first time that a Bush administration official has publicly not held out hope that the deadline could be met.
Israeli and Palestinian officials have long said they believe the year-end deadline is unrealistic.
“We’ll see where they are at the end of the year,” said Rice, vowing to “work on this with the parties until the day that we leave.”
With her time in office rapidly waning, Rice is hoping to shore up the fragile Israeli-Palestinian negotiations and leave a viable process for the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama.
She will also visit Egypt and Jordan to shore up Arab support for the talks. At some point before Obama moves into the White House on Jan. 20, Rice said she would like to see the sides memorialize the progress they have made but not stretch to conclude a partial deal.
“It will be important to wrap up all of that work one way or another,” she said.
Rice has been making the same twin challenges to Israel and the Palestinians on more than 20 largely fruitless journeys to the region during her tenure as secretary of state: Israel should loosen its grip on the West Bank and the Palestinians should tighten theirs on militants.
The talks that began in Annapolis, Md., have produced few tangible results and are expected to be placed on hold for at least several months during the U.S. transition from Bush to Obama. In addition, Israel will hold elections on Feb. 10 and there are questions about the tenure of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose opponents claim his term expires in January.
Rice will see Abbas and Olmert, along with the chief negotiators from both sides, on Thursday and Friday before visiting Jenin, the West Bank town where Palestinians retook security control early this year on Saturday.
She then heads to the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik in Egypt where top officials from the international diplomatic “quartet” on the Middle East will be briefed on the status of the talks on Sunday.
Any results officially reported to the quartet - the European Union, Russia, the United States and the United Nations - from Palestinian-Israeli talks so far could become a basis for future negotiations, even after the Israeli election.
The quartet envoys will get from Israeli and Palestinian negotiators a progress report that could prevent backpedaling during the Israeli and U.S. leadership changes.
The idea is to “listen and to record and to know where we are heading,” EU envoy Marc Otte said after meeting with the chief Palestinian negotiator in Jerusalem on Thursday.
Israel and the Palestinians have agreed on key principles, such as a land swap, but gaps remain wide on core issues, including the partition of Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees.