Finding Clues to the Future in Flood of Midterm Data
By MICHAEL D. SHEAR
Published: November 1, 2010
WASHINGTON – Even for a nation that is, by now, used to drinking in political news through a fire hose, election night on Tuesday could be a difficult one to absorb.
More than 500 House, Senate and governor’s races will be decided, if not by the end of the night, then over the course of the nail-biting days ahead as write-in ballots are counted and recounts are requested.Beyond the individual results, the nation will be looking at the returns for answers to bigger questions: Was this election about President Obama? How powerful a phenomenon is the Tea Party movement? How will the new Congress address the still-weak economy? What will it mean for the crop of likely 2012 Republican presidential candidate? Did anonymous campaign money sway the outcome?
Immune discovery opens up new line of attack against viruses
The immune system has been found to target viruses inside cells, suggesting new strategies against infections including the common cold and winter vomiting bug
Ian Sample, science correspondent
guardian.co.uk,
They are mankind’s greatest killer and rank among the hardest to treat of all diseases, claiming twice as many lives as cancer. But a discovery could give doctors a new weapon in the battle against viruses, including those that cause widespread illnesses such as the common cold and gastroenteritis.In a report published today, scientists revealed a previously unknown way that the immune system attacks infections, a finding that offers a new approach to treating diseases caused by viruses.
USA
The war the election forgot
War sets the rhythm for military spouses like Veda Olechny. But for just about everyone else, it’s easy to ignore, and in this turbulent election season there is little mention of Afghanistan or Iraq.
By Faye Fiore and Mark Z. Barabak
November 2, 2010
Reporting from Marydel, Del., and Los Angeles – It’s easy to tell 1st Sgt. Patrick Olechny is away. The freezer is stocked with single-serving dinners. The TV is off and, at nearly 8 p.m., the living room is dark.Olechny is at war in Afghanistan, on his fourth tour of combat duty. His wife, Veda, is waiting for his return – in time for Thanksgiving, she prays each night.
War sets the rhythm for military families like theirs: Home by 9, in case he beeps on Skype. Cellphone charged, in case he calls. No point buying pot roast; she can’t finish it herself.
Is the American Dream Over?
A Superpower in Decline
DER SPIEGEL
It was to be the kind of place where dozens of American dreams would be fulfilled — here on Apple Blossom Drive, a cul-de-sac under the azure-blue skies of southwest Florida, where the climate is mild and therapeutic for people with arthritis and rheumatism. Everything is ready. The driveways lined with cast-iron lanterns are finished, the artificial streams and ponds are filled with water, and all the underground cables have been installed. This street in Florida was to be just one small part of America’s greater identity — a place where individual dreams were to become part of the great American story.But a few things are missing. People, for one. And houses, too. The drawings are all ready, but the foundations for the houses haven’t even been poured yet.
Europe
Britain and France to seal defence pact
Treaties could lead to British and French planes flying from each other’s aircraft carriers and joint tests on nuclear warheads
Richard Norton-Taylor, security editor
The Guardian, Tuesday 2 November 2010
British and French planes could be flying from each other’s aircraft carriers before the end of the decade and tests on nuclear warheads will be conducted jointly under treaties to be drawn up today at a summit in London between David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy.The treaties, which could also lead to a joint expeditionary force, are the result of months of planning by officials, encouraged by the two leaders. Unlike the original entente cordiale, which was the product of mutual concern about a hostile power before the first world war, today’s is the product of hard-headed pragmatism, designed to maximise each nation’s military capabilites while saving money.
Sarkozy government in ‘final act’, says leading socialist
The Irish Times – Tuesday, November 2, 2010
RUADHÁN Mac CORMAIC in Paris
NICOLAS Sarkozy presides over a government in its “final act”, with the conditions for his defeat in France’s next presidential election now falling into place, a leading socialist has claimed.With both Mr Sarkozy and his opponents on the left claiming to have emerged strengthened from the acrimonious debate over pension reform, which was finally passed by parliament last week, the former leader of the Socialist Party (PS), François Hollande, said the “objective conditions” for the president’s defeat in the 2012 election had come together.
Middle East
Yemen’s splendid isolation
A little-known Arabic country labelled the ‘new crucible of terror’ is, behind the headlines, a place of contemporary beauty and rich history, argues Nick Redmayne
Tuesday, 2 November 2010
For a country proud of its Roman epithet, Arabia Felix (Fortunate Arabia), of late Yemen has found its historic reputation difficult to live up to. A steadfastly McDonald’s-free zone at the tip of the Arabian Peninsula bordering Saudi Arabia and Oman, headlines describe Yemen as “a crucible of global terror” and “the world’s next failed state in waiting”. A grumbling al-Houthi insurgency in the north combines with ferment by dissatisfied secessionists in the south and a catalogue of al-Qa’ida outrages elsewhere. However, Yemen’s complex history and contemporary reality defies sound bites and is the country is the definitive example of seeing once being worth more than a thousand words of news reporting.
Al-Qaeda claims Iraq church attack
Al-Qaeda-linked group claims responsibility for attack on Baghdad church that resulted in deaths of 58 people.
Last Modified: 02 Nov 2010
An al-Qaeda-linked group has claimed responsibility for an attack on a Catholic church in the Iraqi capital, which resulted in the deaths of 58 people.The Reuters news agency reported the death toll on Monday, a day after attackers stormed the Our Lady of Salvation church in the Karrada neighbourhood of central Baghdad.
The assailants took more than 100 people hostage in a standoff that ended after police stormed the church two hours later. At least 25 of those killed were hostages.
“Right from the very beginning their phone calls were fully intercepted and we strongly believe there were non-Iraqi people among the group. We will investigate their nationalities,” Abdul Qader al-Obeidi, the Iraqi defence minister, said.
Asia
Census-takers begin visiting China’s 400 million households
The Irish Times – Tuesday, November 2, 2010
CLIFFORD COONAN in Beijing
MORE THAN six million census-takers headed out across China yesterday to issue questionnaires to 400 million households as the country’s sixth national census began.Since the last census in 2000, China has changed beyond recognition in many places, and keeping tabs on millions of migrant workers is going to prove a major challenge. Many Chinese worry about privacy and are uneasy about answering questions on education, family history, employment situation and resident status.
There are big colourful posters all over, draped outside apartment blocks and in the subways. “Care about the census, care about our own life”reads one.
Myanmar’s polls a headache for ASEAN
By Larry Jagan
HANOI – Leaders at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in the Vietnamese capital over the weekend left the meeting in a quandary. The regional grouping’s founding six members have collectively tried for over a decade to nudge Myanmar’s ruling junta towards genuine political and economic reform.But with the first elections in 20 years scheduled for November 7, they realize that even their most modest suggestions – for example, allowing for outside election monitors – have been wholly ignored. “Myanmar is simply not complying with ASEAN at all,” said Kavi Chongkittavorn, a senior editor with the Bangkok-based Nation newspaper and a renowned ASEAN expert.
Africa
War-era guns linked to recent murders in Uganda
TUESDAY, 02 NOVEMBER 2010
WITH many weapons from 20-year civil war still in circulation, Ugandan police have voiced concern that wave of killings may continue.
But according to the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), spate of gun crime in Lira district has been blamed by police on the wide availability of weaponry left over from Uganda’s civil war.
At the beginning of October, a 60-year-old woman was gunned down over a land dispute in Alito sub-county in Kole district, near the town of Lira. A week earlier, a woman was shot and killed in Barr sub-county, to the east of Lira, also because of a disagreement about land.
Côte d’Ivoire awaits results after millions vote
DAVID LEWIS AND LOUCOUMANE COULIBALY | ABIDJAN
The election commission has until Wednesday to announce the full results from Sunday’s poll, although partial results may start coming in later on Monday. Most analysts expect the vote to go to a run-off between the top two candidates.“The challenge now is: will the popular will be respected by the political leaders? This now hinges on how the election commission manages it,” an international observer told Reuters.
“This is a huge test of the election commission’s capacity,” the observer said of the logistical challenges of reliably collating votes from the 60% to 70% of Côte d’Ivoire’s 5,7-million registered voters who took part.
Latin America
Mexico violence casts shadow over Day of the Dead
Residents can’t forget victims of the drug war during a holiday that celebrates death.
By Tracy Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times
November 2, 2010
Reporting from Mexico City –
So many dead.It is often said that Mexicans famously celebrate death; that it is viewed not just as the end of life but a single stage in an infinite cycle.The Mexican, as poet Octavio Paz once put it, does not fear death but “mocks it, courts it, embraces it, sleeps with it.”
But this year, as Mexicans picnic at cemeteries and erect elaborate altars to mark the nation’s annual Day of the Dead observances, death is haunting in its abundance.
Recent Comments