Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/18030
Monday, October 18, 2010 – Daily News – 3B WORLD BRIEFING Obama targeting key Dem constituencies CLEVELAND (AP) — Heading into the homestretch of the midterm elec- tions, President Barack Obama is target- ing key Democratic constituencies as he tries to energize voters and build up Election Day turnout among his support- ers. The groups Obama is targeting mirror those that helped him win the White House: young people, African-Ameri- cans and women. A crucial element of the president’s strategy in the two weeks before the Nov. 2 election is finding a way to get first-time voters from 2008 to head back to the polls even though Obama’s name isn’t on the ballot. Obama isn’t shying away from reali- ty: The sputtering economy has created a tough political environment for Democ- ratic candidates. ‘‘When times are that difficult, elec- tions are going to be difficult and under- standably so,’’ Obama said Sunday while speaking at a fundraiser for Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland at a private home outside Cleveland. Obama was joined at the fundraiser by first lady Michelle Obama. From Cleveland, the Obamas were to travel to Columbus to headline a large nighttime rally on the campus of Ohio State Uni- versity. Iraq’s top vote-getter Allawi accuses Iran of interference BAGHDAD (AP) — The leader of the Iraqi bloc that came first in elections accused Iran on Sunday of trying to desta- bilize Iraq and manipulate the political process as he jeered at rival politicians seek- ing Tehran’s blessing for forming the next government. Ayad Allawi, a secular Shiite, narrowly won the most seats in the March 7 vote with strong Sunni backing but did not get nearly enough to control the government outright. That allowed his chief rival, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, to sideline the Iraqiya political party that Allawi heads by forming a Shiite-dominated alliance similar to the current government and close to Iran. ‘‘I won’t be begging Iran to agree upon my nomination,’’ Allawi told the Al-Ara- biya satellite TV channel. He added that Iran should get out of Iraqi politics and ‘‘not impose or support one fac- tion over the other.’’ Allawi’s remarks were a clear jab at al- Maliki, who heads to Iran on Monday as he scrambles for enough Shiite support to keep his job. There were also new indications that al-Maliki’s efforts to enlist Sunni allies in the region are falling short. The king of neighboring Jordan pointedly avoided endorsing the Iraqi prime minister for a second term in a statement Sunday. Even without gay marriage on state ballots, the issue is a part of many races NEW YORK (AP) — This election will be the first since the 1990s without a mea- sure to ban gay marriage on any state ballot, yet the divisive issue is roiling races across the country during a time of tumult for the gay rights movement. In Minnesota, New Hampshire, Califor- nia and New York, gubernatorial campaigns have become battlegrounds for rival sides in the debate, with the Democratic candidates supporting same-sex marriage and the Republicans opposed. In Iowa, voters will decide whether to oust three state Supreme Court justices who joined last year’s unanimous decision mak- ing the state one of five where gay marriage is legal. And in Rhode Island and California, Democratic candidates are seeking to become the fourth and fifth openly gay members of Congress. The Californian, Palm Springs Mayor Steve Pougnet, has a husband and 4-year-old twins, and would be Congress’ first openly gay parent. The races are unfolding on a rapidly shifting gay rights landscape, with activists elated by important court rulings, irked at setbacks in Washington and jolted by high- profile cases of anti-gay violence and bully- ing-provoked suicides. Chile’s miners welcomed to poor neighborhoods COPIAPO, Chile (AP) — Carlos Bugueno is out of the collapsed mine but still lives in close quarters, sharing his small wood-and-tin house with 16 relatives. His family welcomed him home by lining the street with white plastic bags filled with air — they had no money for balloons. Despite donations and the promise of book and movie deals, most of the 33 Chilean miners trapped more than two months have returned to lives of struggle in improvised homes, often in gang-ridden neighborhoods lacking basic services. Some worry it won’t get better. ‘‘Three months from now, what will I be doing? Selling candy on the beach? Won- dering what the government has done for us? Nothing,’’ said Edison Pena. ‘‘I’m very afraid and I would like for things to change.’’ All but one of the miners have been released from the hospital since their rescue Wednesday from the San Jose gold and copper mine, where they had been trapped nearly a half-mile underground since the Aug. 5 collapse. Most returned to the mine Sunday for a Mass at the makeshift camp where their relatives had waited for them. ‘‘It’s nice to be here where our families were,’’ said Luis Urzua, the shift foreman who has been praised for leading the trapped miners through the 69-day ordeal, especially in the first 17 days when they had no contact with the outside world and just a 48-hour emergency food supply. American freed in Iran makes required visit to bombing TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — An Iranian- American businessman freed after more than two years in Tehran’s main prison vis- ited survivors of a deadly 2008 mosque bombing as a condition of his release in a scripted event Sunday that could carry pro- paganda value at home. Iranian authorities did not immediately explain their demand for 71-year-old Reza Taghavi to pay homage in the southern city of Shiraz — and personally acknowledge an attack in which he denies having any connection. But it would fit neatly into pos- sible Iranian attempts to squeeze multiple messages from Taghavi’s release on Satur- day after 29 months in custody. It can easily score political points at home for the ruling clerics at a time when sanctions are hurting Iran’s economy. Iran is pressing to resume talks on its nuclear program with the United States and other world powers after a yearlong stand- off. The EU’s foreign affairs and security chief, Catherine Ashton, suggested last week after meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton that talks could be held as early as next month. Support our classrooms, keep kids reading. DONATE YOUR VACATION newspaper dollars to the Newspaper In Education Program HELP OUR CHILDREN For more details call Circulation Department (530) 527-2151 D NEWSAILY RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY T H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U N T Y S I N C E 1 8 8 5 PHONE: (530) 527-2151 FAX: (530) 527-5774 545 Diamond Avenue • P.O. Box 220 • Red Bluff, CA 96080