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9/11, september 11, emily strato
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afghanistan, bbc news, the econo
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arizona immigration law, bbc new
arms control, bbc news
arms flow to terrorists, bbc new
Arnold Schwarzenegger, bbc news
aung song suu kyi, myanmar, bbc
australia floods, bbc news
australia, cookbooks
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baltimore shooting, bbc news
ban aid, bob geldof, bbc world s
bangladesh clashes, bbc news
bat global markets, bbc news
bbc 2, biodun iginla
bbc news
bbc news, biodun iginla, david c
bbc news, biodun iginla, south k
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bbc news, google
bbc strike, biodun iginla
bbc world service, biodun iginla
bcva, bbc news
belarus, bbc news, maria ogryzlo
Ben Bernanke, federal reserve
Benazir Bhutto, sunita kureishi,
benin, tokun lawal, bbc
Benjamin Netanyahu, bbc news
berlusconi, bbc news, italy
bill clinton ,emanuel, bbc news
bill clinton, Earth day, biodun
black friday, bbc news
black-listed nations, bbc news
blackwater, Gary Jackson, suzann
blogging in china, bbc news
bradley manning, bbc news
brazil floods, bbc news
brazil, biodun iginla, bbc news,
british elections, bbc news, bio
broadband, bbc news, the economi
Bruce Beresford-Redman. Monica
BSkyB bid, bbc news
budget deficit, bbc news,
bulgaria, natalie de vallieres,
business travel, bbc news
camilla parker-bowles, bbc news
canada, bbc news, biodun iginla
carleton college, bbc news, biod
casey anthony, bbc news
catholic church sex scandal, suz
cdc, e coli, suzanne gould, bbc
charlie rangel, bbc news
chicago mayorial race, bbc news,
chile miners, bbc news
chile prison fire, bbc news
chile, enrique krause, bbc news,
china, judith stein, bbc news, u
china, xian wan, bbc news, biodu
chinese dipolomat, houston polic
chinese media, bbc news
chirac, france, bbc news
cholera in haiti, biodun iginla
christina green, bbc news
Christine Lagarde, bbc news
Christine O'Donnell, tea party
chronical of higher education, b
citibank, bbc news
climate change, un, bbc news, bi
coal mines, west virginia, bbc n
common dreams
common dreams, bbc news, biodun
commonwealth games, bbc news
condi rice, obama
condoms, suzanne gould
congo, bbc news
congress, taxes, bbc news
contagion, islam, bbc news
continental airlines, bbc news
Continental Express flight, suza
corrupt nations, bbc news
Countrywide Financial Corporatio
cross-dressing, bbc news, emily
ctheory, bbc news, annalee newit
cuba, enrique krause, bbc news,
Cuba, Raúl Castro, Michael Voss
dealbook, bbc news, nytimes
digital life, bbc news
dorit cypis, bbc news, community
dow jones, judith stein, bbc new
egypt, nasra ismail, bbc news, M
elizabeth edwards, bbc news
elizabeth smart, bbc news
embassy bombs in rome, bbc news
emily's list, bbc news
entertainment, movies, biodun ig
equador, biodun iginla, bbc news
eu summit, bbc news, russia
eu, arab democracy, bbc news
europe travel delays, bbc news
europe travel, biodun iginla, bb
europe travel, france24, bbc new
eurozone crisis, bbc news
eurozone, ireland, bbc news
fair, media, bbc news
fake deaths, bbc news
FASHION - PARIS - PHOTOGRAPHY
fbi, bbc news
fcc, neutral internel, liz rose,
Federal Reserve, interest rates,
federal workers pay freeze, bbc
fedex, racism, bbc news
feedblitz, bbc news, biodun igin
ferraro, bbc news
fifa, soccer, bbc news
financial times, bbc news
firedoglake, jane hamsher, biodu
flashing, sex crimes, bbc news
fox, cable, new york, bbc
france, labor, biodun iginla
france24, bbc news, biodun iginl
french hostages, bbc news
french muslims, natalie de valli
FT briefing, bbc news, biodun ig
g20, obama, bbc news
gabrielle giffords, bbc news
gambia, iran, bbcnews
gay-lesbian issues, emily strato
george bush, blair, bbc news
germans held in Nigeria, tokun l
germany, natalie de vallieres, b
global economy, bbc news
goldman sachs, judith stein, bbc
google news, bbc news, biodun ig
google, gianni maestro, bbc news
google, groupon, bbc news
gop, bbc news
Gov. Jan Brewer, bbc news, immig
greece bailout, bbc news, biodun
guantanamo, bbc news
gulf oil spill, suzanne gould, b
Hackers, MasterCard, Security, W
haiti aid, enrique krause, bbc n
haiti, michelle obama, bbc news
heart disease, bbc news
Heather Locklear, suzanne gould,
Henry Kissinger, emily straton,
Henry Okah, nigeria, tokun lawal
hillary clinton, bbc news
hillary clinton, cuba, enrique k
hugo chavez, bbc news
hungary, maria ogryzlo
hurricane katrina, bbc news
Ibrahim Babangida, nigeria, toku
india, susan kumar
indonesia, bbc news, obama admin
inside edition, bbc news, biodun
insider weekly, bbc news
insider-trading, bbc news
International Space Station , na
iran, latin america, bbc news
iran, lebanon, Ahmadinejad ,
iran, nuclear weapons, bbc news
iran, wikileaks, bbc news
iraq, al-qaeda, sunita kureishi,
iraq, nasras ismail, bbc news, b
ireland, bbc news, eu
islam, bbc news, biodun iginla
israeli-palestinian conflict, na
italy, eurozone crisis
ivory coast, bbc news
James MacArthur, hawaii five-O
Jamie Paulin-Ramirez, biodun igi
jane hansher, biodun iginla
japan, bbc news, the economist
jerry brown, bbc news
Jerry Brown, suzanne gould, bbc
jill clayburgh, bbc news
Jody Weis, chicago police, bbc n
John Paul Stevens, scotus,
juan williams, npr, biodun iginl
judith stein, bbc news
Justice John Paul Stevens, patri
K.P. Bath, bbc news, suzanne gou
keith olbermann, msnbc, bbc news
kelly clarkson, indonesia, smoki
kenya, bbc news, police
Khodorkovsky, bbc news
Kyrgyz, maria ogryzlo, bbc news,
le monde, bbc nerws
le monde, bbc news, biodun iginl
lebanon, nasra ismail, biodun ig
Lech Kaczynski
libya, gaddafi, bbc news,
london ftse, bbc news
los alamos fire, bbc news
los angeles, bbc news, suzanne g
los angeles, suzanne gould, bbc
LulzSec, tech news, bbc news
madoff, bbc news, suicide
marijuana, weed, bbc news, suzan
Martin Dempsey, bbc news
maryland, bbc news
media, FAIR, bbc news
media, free press, fcc, net neut
media, media matters for america
media, mediabistro, bbc news
melissa gruz, bbc news, obama ad
mexican drug cartels, enrique kr
mexican gas explosion, bbc news
mexican's execution, bbc news
Michael Skakel, emily straton, b
Michelle Obama, bbc news
michigan militia, suzanne gould,
middle-class jobs, bbc news
midwest snowstorm, bbc news
Mikhail Khodorkovsky, bbc news
minnesota public radio
moveon, bbc news, biodun iginla
msnbc, david shuster, bbc news
mumbai attacks, bbc news
myanmar, burma, bbc news
nancy pelosi, us congress, bbc n
nasra ismail, israeli-palestinia
Natalia Lavrova, olympic games,
Nathaniel Fons, child abandonmen
nato, afghanistan, bbc news
nato, pakistan, sunita kureishi,
nelson mandela, bbc news
nestor kirchner, bbc news
net neutrality, bbc news
new life-forms, bbc news
new year, 2011, bbc news
new york city, homelessness, chi
new york snowstorm, bbc news
new zealand miners, bbc news
News Corporation, bbc news
news of the world, bbc news
nick clegg, uk politics, tories
nicolas sarkozy, islam, natalie
nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, toku
nobel peace prize
nobel peace prize, bbc news, bio
noreiga, panama, biodun iginla,
north korea, bbc news, nuclear p
npr, bbc news, gop
npr, media, bbc news
ntenyahu, obama, bbc news
nuclear proliferation, melissa g
Nuri al-Maliki, iraq, biodun igi
nytimes dealbook, bbc news
obama, bill clinton, bbc news
obama, biodun iginla, bbc news
oil spills, bbc news, the econom
olbermann, msnbc, bbc news
Omar Khadr, bbc news
Online Media, bbc news, the econ
pakistan, sunita kureishi, bbc n
paris airport, bbc news
Pedro Espada, suzanne gould, bbc
phone-hack scandal, bbc news
poland, maria ogryzlo, lech Kac
police brutality, john mckenna,
police fatalities, bbc news
Pope Benedict XVI, natalie de va
pope benedict, natalie de vallie
popular culture, us politics
portugal, bbc news
Potash Corporation, bbc news
prince charles, bbc news
prince william, katemiddleton, b
pulitzer prizes, bbc news, biodu
qantas, airline security, bbc ne
racism, religious profiling, isl
randy quaid, asylum, canada
Ratko Mladic, bbc news
Rebekah Brooks, bbc news, the ec
republicans, bbc news
richard holbrooke, bbc news
Rick Santorum , biodun iginla, b
robert gates, lapd, suzanne goul
rod Blagojevich, suzanne gould,
roger clemens, bbc news
russia, imf, bbc news, the econo
russia, maria ogrylo, Lech Kaczy
san francisco crime lab, Deborah
sandra bullock, jess james, holl
SARAH EL DEEB, bbc news, biodun
sarah palin, biodun iginla, bbc
sarkosy, bbc news
saudi arabia, indonesian maid, b
saudi arabia, nasra ismail, bbc
Schwarzenegger, bbc news, biodun
science and technology, bbc news
scott brown, tufts university, e
scotus, gays in the military
scotus, iraq war, bbc news, biod
sec, judith stein, us banks, bbc
Senate Democrats, bbc news, biod
senegal, chad, bbc news
seward deli, biodun iginla
shanghai fire, bbc news
Sidney Thomas, melissa gruz, bbc
silvio berlusconi, bbc news
single currency, bbc news, the e
snowstorm, bbc news
social security, bbc news, biodu
somali pirates, bbc news
somalia, al-shabab, biodun iginl
south korea, north korea, bbc ne
south sudan, bbc news
spain air strikes, bbc news
spain, standard and poor, bbc ne
state of the union, bbc news
steve jobs, bbc news
steven ratner, andrew cuomo, bbc
Strauss-Kahn, bbc news, biodun i
sudan, nasra ismail, bbc news, b
suicide websites, bbc news
supreme court, obama, melissa gr
sweden bomb attack, bbc news
syria, bbc news
taliban, bbc news, biodun iginla
Taoufik Ben Brik, bbc news, biod
tariq aziz, natalie de vallieres
tariq azziz, jalal talbani, bbc
tea party, us politics
tech news, bbc, biodun iginla
technology, internet, economics
thailand, xian wan, bbc news, bi
the economist, biodun iginla, bb
the economsit, bbc news, biodun
the insider, bbc news
tiger woods. augusta
timothy dolan, bbc news
Timothy Geithner, greece, eu, bi
tornadoes, mississippi, suzanne
travel, bbc news
tsa (travel security administrat
tsumami in Indonesia, bbc news,
tunisia, bbc news, biodun iginla
turkey, israel, gaza strip. biod
Turkey, the eu, natalie de valli
twincities daily planet, bbc new
twincities.com, twin cities dail
twitter, media, death threats, b
Tyler Clementi, hate crimes, bio
uk elections, gordon brown, raci
uk phone-hack, Milly Dowler
uk tuition increase, bbc news
un wire, un, bbc news, biodun ig
un, united nations, biodun iginl
unwed mothers, blacks, bbc news
upi, bbc news, iginla
us billionaires, bbc news
us economic downturn, melissa gr
us economy, us senate, us congre
us empire, bbc news, biodun igin
us housing market, bbc news
us jobs, labor, bbc news
us media, bbc news, biodun iginl
us media, media matters for amer
us midterm elections, bbc news
us midterm elections, melissa gr
us military, gay/lesbian issues
us politics, bbc news, the econo
us recession, judith stein, bbc
us stimulus, bbc news
us taxes, bbc news, the economis
us, third-world, bbc news
vatican, natalie de vallieres
venezuela, bbc news
verizon, biodun iginla, bbc news
volcanic ash, iceland, natalie d
volcanis ash, bbc news, biodun i
wal-mat, sexism, bbc news
wall street reform, obama, chris
wall street regulations, banking
warren buffett, us economic down
weather in minneapolis, bbc news
white supremacist, Richard Barre
wikileaks, bbc news, biodun igin
wvirginia coal mine, biodun igin
wvirginia mines, biodun iginal,
xian wan, china , nobel prize
xian wan, japan
yahoo News, biodun iginla, bbc n
yahoo, online media, new media,
yemen, al-qaeda, nasra ismail, b
zimbabwe, mugabe, biodun iginla
|
Biodun@bbcnews.com
Friday, 15 October 2010
Breaking News Alert Countrywide's Former Chief in Settlement of Fraud Case
Topic: Countrywide Financial Corporatio
by Judith Stein and Biodun Iginla, BBC News Analysts Fri, October 15, 2010 -- 2:42 PM ET -----
Lawyers have told the Associated Press that Angelo Mozilo, the co-founder of Countrywide Financial Corporation, and two other defendants have reached an agreement with federal regulators to settle civil fraud and insider trading charges.
The settlement was announced at a hearing on Friday in federal court in Los Angeles.
Countrywide was a major player in the market for high-risk subprime mortgages that helped touch off the financial crisis.
Read More: http://www.nytimes.com?emc=na
Posted by biginla
at 8:13 PM BST
Fed's Bernanke signals new round of quantitative easing
Topic: Ben Bernanke, federal reserve
15 October 2010 Last updated at 13:00 ET US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has opened the way to a new round of quantitative easing. "There would appear, all else being equal, to be a case for further action," he said, in a speech to the Boston regional federal reserve. The US central bank is expected to back a move to buy up US government bonds in order to lower borrowing costs at its next meeting on 3 November. Mr Bernanke said unemployment and low inflation lay behind his view. However, some colleagues at the Fed have expressed much more hawkish views, and Mr Bernanke was careful not to pre-empt the decision of the rate-setting committee due next month. In his speech, he did not give any indication of the size or timing of any new quantitative easing, but did confirm it was likely to target US government bonds. Previously the Fed has bought up billions of dollars of US mortgage debts. Dual mandate Mr Bernanke warned that prolonged high employment would put recovery at risk, while the inflation rate has been trending downwards. The Fed has a dual mandate to maintain price stability and full employment. Continue reading the main story “Start Quote The message of today's speech is that chairman Bernanke thinks that US inflation is dangerously low, that unemployment is dangerously high, and that growth can and should be much faster than it is now.” End Quote Stephanie Flanders BBC economics editor He played down a view expressed by some of his colleagues that high unemployment was "structural" in nature - for example because US workers do not have relevant skills for available jobs - and therefore something the Fed could not help. Instead he blamed the continuing high level of joblessness on the sharp contraction in demand in the economy - something that further monetary easing should ameliorate. He also raised concern that the inflation rate was falling below what he considered consistent with the Fed's mandate. He said some measures suggested the underlying inflation rate - which ignores short-term price volatility - may have fallen as low as 0.5% in recent months. Most analysts believe the Fed targets a rate of 2%. Weak dollar Continue reading the main story The speech contained no major surprises for markets, as it largely repeated views expressed in the minutes from the Fed's latest policy meeting. The dollar dropped about 0.3% against most major currencies following the speech's release, before bouncing back strongly when stronger-than-expected retail sales were announced 15 minutes later. Against the yen, it briefly hit a new 15-year low of 80.89, only 1.5% above its all-time low of 79.7 yen. Quantitative easing is partly aimed at weakening the dollar's value, by increasing the amount of dollar cash in circulation. A weaker dollar helps the Fed achieve its dual mandate, by making US exporters more competitive - stimulating job creation - and by increasing inflation through higher import prices. The dollar has lost 15% of its value against the euro since early June, on growing speculation that a slowdown in the US economy in the second half of the year would force the Fed to ease monetary conditions further. More on This Story
Posted by biginla
at 8:05 PM BST
Israel unveils settlement plans
Topic: israeli-palestinian conflict, na
15 October 2010 Last updated at 11:45 ET by Nasra Ismail, BBC News Analyst, for the BBC's Biodun Iginla Israel unveils preliminary plans for 238 new homes for Jewish settlers in East Jerusalem, sparking an angry Palestinian response. -
Iran says two Germans have admitted breaking the law after they were arrested for interviewing the son of a woman sentenced to death for adultery. -
Iran's foreign minister says Tehran is ready to resume talks with the international community on its nuclear programme after a lapse of one year. -
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Posted by biginla
at 7:54 PM BST
DailyMe by the BBC's Biodun Iginla
Topic: bbc news, biodun iginla, the eco
Latest News -
| 1 hour, 47 minutes ago -
| Fri, Oct 15, 8:46 AM -
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| Thu, Oct 14, 9:22 PM ASSOCIATED PRESS | WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve is prepared to take further steps to rejuvenate the economy by buying Treasury bonds but is wrestling with how big the program should be, Chairman Ben Bernanke said Friday.Bernanke also indicated... Read more HEADLINE NEWS FOR YOU:Edit - Track-It U.S. News U.S. News ADWATCH: With campaign ads, don't trust, verify ASSOCIATED PRESS | 19 minutes ago Safety violations cited at Maldonado farm LOS ANGELES TIMES | Thu, Oct 14, 11:48 PM
- Track-It World News World News Reopening of toxic spill plant postponed | 1 hour, 57 minutes ago Israel OKs new homes in East Jerusalem, raising doubts about peace talks LOS ANGELES TIMES | 2 hours, 9 minutes ago
- Track-It Business Business GE 3Q profit drops 18 pct, sales of equipment fall ASSOCIATED PRESS | 4 minutes ago Banking concerns, GE results drag stocks lower ASSOCIATED PRESS | 48 minutes ago
- Track-It Sports Sports Bills S Scott pedals his way to practice ASSOCIATED PRESS | 1 hour, 5 minutes ago Furor surrounds Brett Favre, but what do we really know? THE MIAMI HERALD | Fri, Oct 15, 8:13 AM
THE DAY IN PHOTOS -
Hugo Chavez,Vladimir Putin, AP | 28 minutes ago -
Dmitry Medvedev AP | Fri, Oct 15, 10:17 AM -
Dmitry Medvedev, Hugo Chavez AP | Fri, Oct 15, 9:47 AM -
Barack Obama AP | Fri, Oct 15, 1:32 AM -
Brandon Jennings, Cartier Martin AP | Thu, Oct 14, 11:02 PM -
Mike Conley, Stanko Barac AP | Thu, Oct 14, 11:02 PM -
Manuel Gonzalez AP | Thu, Oct 14, 4:32 PM -
Baby Flamingo AP | Thu, Oct 14, 4:02 PM -
Baby Flamingo AP | Thu, Oct 14, 3:47 PM -
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad AP | Thu, Oct 14, 3:17 PM -
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad AP | Thu, Oct 14, 3:17 PM Viewing photo 1 of 11 <a target="_blank" href="http://ad.doubleclick.net/click%3Bh%3Dv8/3a34/f/62/%2a/n%3B229493087%3B1-0%3B0%3B53445240%3B4307-300/250%3B38621925/38639682/1%3B%3B%7Esscs%3D%3fhttp://media.fastclick.net/w/click.here?cid=255947&mid=476331&m=6&sid=46970&c=0&tp=8&forced_click=http%3a%2f%2fwww.marriott.com/setSCtracking.mi%3Fscid%3D2010927D15850000004%26mid%3D/rewards/promotion.mi%3Fpromotion%3DVF10"><img src="http://s0.2mdn.net/2045811/MI_REWARDS_Q4_OCTOBER_300x250_30k_V1.jpg" width="300" height="250" border="0" alt="" galleryimg="no"></a> <a href="http://d1.openx.org/ck.php?oaparams=2__bannerid=125002__zoneid=58148__cb=ea5e284632__r_id=57782939d553e9a4593731ad97b28a37__r_ts=lachg6__oadest=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia.fastclick.net%2Fw%2Fclick.here%3Fsid%3D46970%26m%3D6%26c%3D1" target="_blank"> <img src="http://media.fastclick.net/w/get.media?sid=46970&m=6&tp=8&d=s&c=1" width=300 height=250 border=1></a> <a href='http://d1.openx.org/ck.php?n=ac612509&cb=4098' target='_blank'> <img src='http://d1.openx.org/avw.php?zoneid=58148&cb=8334&n=ac612509' border='0' alt='' /> </a>
Posted by biginla
at 7:46 PM BST
Topic: condoms, suzanne gould
Former Vt. man settles suit over condom in Whopper MONTPELIER, Vt. – A former Vermont man who claimed he bit into a Burger King sandwich and found an unwrapped condom has settled his lawsuit out of court, his lawyer said Friday. The attorney, Devin McLaughlin, said Friday that the details of the settlement are confidential and won't be disclosed, but the owner-operator of the Rutland restaurant says forensic analysis of the object and surveillance video prove it didn't originate in the Burger King. "That was, from our side, pretty conclusive," said Joseph Zirkman, vice president and general counsel for Carrols Restaurant Group Inc., of Syracuse, N.Y. "They agreed to drop their claim and we agreed to drop our counterclaim. The parties agreed to pay their own legal costs, so you can draw your own conclusions." In 2007, Van Miguel Hartless sued the store's owners, who denied the claim and filed a countersuit. At the time, Hartless was a student at Green Mountain College. He claimed he bit into a Southwestern Whopper and found a condom, which he said caused him "sustained pain and suffering, vomiting, nightmares, mental and emotional distress" and medical expenses. He couldn't be reached for comment Friday. He has since moved to El Paso, Texas, and efforts to reach him by telephone were unsuccessful Friday. He did not respond to a request for comment sent to him on Facebook, and his lawyer wouldn't say where he lives or make him available for comment. "The lawsuit has been resolved upon terms acceptable to each of the parties, and those terms are confidential," McLaughlin said. The Rutland Herald, which first reported the settlement Friday, says Hartless and the company asked a court on Oct. 6 to dismiss the case.
Posted by biginla
at 7:36 PM BST
Updated: Friday, 15 October 2010 7:39 PM BST
Obama to Meet Condoleezza Rice
Topic: condi rice, obama
by Melissa Gruz, BBC News Analyst, for the BBC's Biodun Iginla President Barack Obama will welcome former Secretary of State and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice back to the White House on Friday. Obama has sharp foreign policy differences with Rice, a Republican who was a key figure in the run-up to the Iraq war, which Obama always opposed, under George W. Bush's administration. Editor's Notes: Low Thyroid Corrected Easily by This Group of Doctors Does the H1N1 Vaccine Weaken Your Immune System? The president also frequently criticized the former White House team for neglecting the Afghan war, as he formulated a new strategy last year. But Obama and Rice are both racial pioneers. He is America's first black president, and she is the highest-ranking black woman in the history of the executive branch of the U.S. government. In an interview on MSNBC on Wednesday, Rice said that comments by former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich that Obama's worldview was "anti-colonial" because of his African heritage were "over the top." Rice, who has returned to academic life, is promoting a memoir and will meet Obama in the Oval Office. Additional Links: Inside Suzanne Somers' Breast Cancer Fight Chocolate's 700-Year History of Healing
Posted by biginla
at 7:26 PM BST
Waltzing with disaster
Topic: hungary, maria ogryzlo
Hungary's toxic sludge The Danube basin is littered with accidents waiting to happen Oct 14th 2010 | BUDAPEST | From The Economist print edition FOR now, at least, the Danube glints just about blue in the autumn sun. A rapidly built network of dams and weirs, and massive amounts of gypsum and acetic acid, have stemmed or at least neutralised the tide of toxic waste that hit the river after a reservoir wall gave way at the MAL Zrt aluminium plant at Ajka, in western Hungary, on October 4th. Nine people were killed and 150 injured when a torrent of highly caustic red liquid gushed over nearby villages, fouling waterways and sweeping away people, livestock and possessions. Now tests in Hungary, as well as in neighbouring Serbia, Croatia and Slovakia, have shown that the water’s pH level has been reduced to slightly over eight, around normal for this time of year, says Philip Weller of the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River. Yet although short-term catastrophe may have been avoided, the river and its basin are dotted with a worrying number of potential disasters in the making (see map). Many factories and storage facilities date back to communist times, when environmental and safety standards were laxer than today. Even modernised sites pose huge risks: a cyanide spill at a gold-extraction plant in Baia Mare in Romania poisoned the Tisza river in 2000. Predicting further leakages is extremely difficult, says Gabor Figeczky of the World Wildlife Fund’s Hungarian arm. Until last week MAL’s plant was not considered particularly risky, at least in comparison with the red sludge stored at Almasfuzito, 80 kilometres north-west of Budapest. There, says the WWF, 40 hectares of unlined pools pollute the groundwater and seep into the Danube. Alarmingly, the reservoir walls also serve as flood dykes for the Danube. If one gave way it would release the toxic mud directly into the river and poison Budapest’s drinking-water supply. The government has taken MAL Zrt under temporary state control and frozen its assets. Zoltan Bakonyi, the company’s managing director, was detained for questioning on suspicion of criminal negligence, although later released without charge. Viktor Orban, the prime minister, thinks he knows where culpability lies. On October 11th he said there were reasons to believe that some people at MAL were “driven by their private interests” to avoid repairing the reservoir’s dodgy walls. Mr Orban has long promised action against what he calls Hungary’s “oligarchs”, businessmen whose political connections helped them to become immensely wealthy in the post-communist years. There is certainly little public sympathy for MAL’s rich bosses. The company’s initial offer of 100,000 forints ($510) compensation to each affected family caused fury. MAL denies any negligence and says the reservoir met the required standards when inspected. The European Commission, which has sent a team of five environment and toxicology experts to help the clean-up, will be examining the Hungarian authorities’ oversight of the plant before the spill, says a spokesman. If it appears that Hungary failed properly to implement the relevant EU laws, Brussels may open an investigation.
Posted by biginla
at 12:04 PM BST
France 24 Newsletter by the BBC's Biodun Iginla
Topic: france24, bbc news, biodun iginl
| Friday October 15, 2010 08:52 (Paris time) | Share this email with your social network | | -
World -
Several French petrol stations have run out of supplies after industrial action over pension reform plans shut all but one of France’s 12 refineries. The French government earlier said there were enough fuel reserves for at least one month. -
The first three Chilean miners left hospital late on Thursday, one day after their dramatic rescue from a collapsed mine where they survived for 69 days. The remaining 30 miners are due to head home on Friday after medical tests. -
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on a two-day trip to Lebanon, arrived to a hero's welcome on Thursday in Bint Jbeil, a Hezbollah stronghold close to the border with Israel. -
Presidential campaigning officially kicks off on Friday in Ivory Coast. Fourteen candidates are in the running, but all eyes are on the three front runners:incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo, former President Henri Konan Bedié and former Prime Minister Alassane Ouattara. -
In the Parisian suburb of Montreuil, 14 Roma men were ordered to leave French territory after a police roundup in August. Lawyers say their case proves the government is behind a discriminatory and illegal policy of expulsions. -
-
Business -
Low-cost Irish carrier Ryanair will close its Marseille base as a result of its ongoing dispute with French authorities. French prosecutors have refused to drop a case against the airline for hiring French employees on Irish employment contracts. -
China's trade surplus fell to 16.88 billion dollars in September, its lowest level in five months. Strong imports explain the slowdown of the trade surplus as international pressure to let the yuan appreciate keeps growing. -
The US government has lifted its ban on deepwater drilling weeks ahead of schedule, citing new, "tighter" rules that it says reduce the risk of a repeat of the catastrophic BP oil spill. -
They helped banks make money faster than ever before, until they had laid the foundations for a mathematician-led market meltdown. Meet the quants, the “Alchemists of Wall Street” on show at the annual science film festival in Paris. -
According to the Wall Street Journal, a record 144 billion dollars in compensation and benefits will be paid out by Wall Street this year compared to 139 billion dollars in 2009, indicating that the financial world is getting back on its feet. -
-
Sports -
Serbian authorities apologised on Wednesday for the stadium clashes that forced the suspension of a Euro 2012 qualifier against Italy. UEFA has warned that sanctions could include Serbia's disqualification from the competition. -
The fight for the Liverpool football team was taken to a Texas state court on Wednesday in the ongoing bitter fight between the current American owners who are trying to stop the venerated club from being sold to the owners of the Boston Red Sox. -
Frenchman and team coach of Arsenal Arsene Wenger has said that he would consider working with Paris Saint Germain in the future. Wenger, however, ruled out a managerial role at the under performing Parisian club. -
Laurent Blanc's players beat Luxembourg 2-0 in a qualifying match for the 2012 European Championships, making it three wins in a row for the first time in as many years. -
Germany's Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) claimed his third win of the season in Japan ahead of his Australian team mate Mark Webber, who still tops the drivers' overall standings. Spaniard Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) was third. -
-
Culture -
Nelson Mandela never wanted to become South Africa's president and would have preferred a younger person to become the country's first black ruler, according to his memoirs released on Thursday. -
From noon (Paris time) on Tuesday, FRANCE 24's Arabic service will broadcast 24 hours a day. -
Eleven Egyptian officials including the head of the culture ministry's fine arts department were convicted of negligence and jailed for three years Tuesday, after a $50 million dollar Van Gogh painting was stolen in August from a Cairo museum. -
Hitting the screen after a wave of publicity, David Fincher’s "The Social Network" is a riveting drama about the creation of Facebook. But those expecting a verdict on the site's controversial creator Mark Zuckerberg shouldn't hold their breath. -
Australian soprano Joan Sutherland, one of the most celebrated opera singers of all time, has died at her home in Geneva aged 83. -
-
science -
A network of suspected Armenian gangsters used means such as setting up fake medical clinics to try and cheat the government's medical insurance programme out of $163 million, the largest fraud by a criminal enterprise in the programme’s history. -
The sixth edition of the French capital’s international science film festival served up a tribute to biodiversity in its various forms – and a warning about the difficulty of preserving it. -
The 2010 Global Hunger Index released Monday says that nearly one in six people go hungry, with child malnutrition causing lifelong harm to health and productivity. South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa fared the worst. (Photo: Philip Flämig/IFPRI). -
British physiologist Roberts Edwards, considered the father of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), has been awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize for medicine. -
-
-
France -
Several French petrol stations have run out of supplies after industrial action over pension reform plans shut all but one of France’s 12 refineries. The French government earlier said there were enough fuel reserves for at least one month. -
In the Parisian suburb of Montreuil, 14 Roma men were ordered to leave French territory after a police roundup in August. Lawyers say their case proves the government is behind a discriminatory and illegal policy of expulsions. -
The ongoing strikes in France continued to disrupt transportation Thursday. Despite the opposition, President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged to push through the pension reforms, which will see the retirement age in France rise from 60 to 62-years-old. -
Low-cost Irish carrier Ryanair will close its Marseille base as a result of its ongoing dispute with French authorities. French prosecutors have refused to drop a case against the airline for hiring French employees on Irish employment contracts. -
France will incorporate EU laws on migration in its new immigration policies, Immigration Minister Eric Besson said on Wednesday, after Brussels raised stringent objections to the expulsion of hundreds of illegal Roma migrants from France. -
-
Europe -
Riot police stormed the Akropolis on Thursday to disperse demonstrators from the culture ministry's staff who blockaded the country's biggest tourist site for a second day to protest government austerity measures. At least one protester was detained. -
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and members of his cabinet visited the area that was devastated by a toxic sludge spill last week, as the death toll from the industrial accident rose to nine on Wednesday. -
Hungary's parliament has passed a bill nationalising aluminium producer MAL, the company responsible for a toxic sludge spill that killed eight people last week. -
Kerosene poured into waters off the Netherlands on Tuesday after a tanker collided with a Cypriot container ship, ripping a giant hole in the hull near the waterline. -
A collision between a bus and a goods locomotive has killed 40 people and injured several others in eastern Ukraine. -
-
Middle-East -
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on a two-day trip to Lebanon, arrived to a hero's welcome on Thursday in Bint Jbeil, a Hezbollah stronghold close to the border with Israel. -
Palestinian officials have rejected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's offer to renew a partial freeze on settlement building if Palestinians recognise Israel as "a Jewish state". -
Eleven Egyptian officials including the head of the culture ministry's fine arts department were convicted of negligence and jailed for three years Tuesday, after a $50 million dollar Van Gogh painting was stolen in August from a Cairo museum. -
Three people were wounded Wednesday when a grenade targeting a British diplomatic vehicle caused an explosion near the British embassy in Yemen's capital, Sanaa. In a separate incident, the French manager of a foreign energy firm was killed in Sanaa. -
An unnamed Syrian official says a 19-year-old schoolgirl blogger, who has been held incommunicado in a Syrian jail since December 2009, stands accused of spying for a foreign state. -
-
Africa -
Officials in north Sudan say it is impossible to hold a crucial referendum in January on the future of oil-rich Abyei, a region claimed by both north and south Sudan. -
Niger's second-in-command junta leader, Colonel Abdoulaye Badie, has been arrested and is being interrogated at military headquarters in Niamey, a military source said on Thursday. -
French authorities have arrested Rwandan rebel chief Callixte Mbarushimana, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court under charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed in the Democratic Republic of Congo. -
Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir said Tuesday that he would not accept South Sudan voting for independence in a forthcoming referendum, as negotiations on the oil-region border region of Abyei stalled. -
Al Qaeda's North African branch demanded Friday that France repeal its ban on full-face veils, release a number of detained militants and pay a ransom of over 7 million euros in exchange for five French hostages thought to be held in Mali. -
-
Americas -
The first three Chilean miners left hospital late on Thursday, one day after their dramatic rescue from a collapsed mine where they survived for 69 days. The remaining 30 miners are due to head home on Friday after medical tests. -
A network of suspected Armenian gangsters used means such as setting up fake medical clinics to try and cheat the government's medical insurance programme out of $163 million, the largest fraud by a criminal enterprise in the programme’s history. -
A complex 22 hour rescue of the trapped miners ended flawlessly Wednesday, as Chileans celebrated across the country. Following the August 5th collapse of the mine, the men survived for 10 weeks underground. -
Sixty-nine days trapped more than 600 metres underground: for the 33 miners rescued this week in San Jose, Chile, returning to the surface is a sort of deliverance. But can one escape such a trial unscathed? -
More than half of the 33 Chilean miners who have been trapped underground in the San Jose mine for more than two months have arrived at the surface in a special rescue capsule to cheers and tears of joy from friends, family and onlookers. -
-
Asia-Pacific -
Pakistani police arrested a group of seven militants Thursday whom they suspect of plotting to kill the prime minister, foreign minister and other top officials. The men are reportedly members of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, which has links to al Qaeda. -
Five NATO soldiers were killed in a bomb attack in Afghanistan on Thursday, bringing the coalition death toll to 586 this year. The Taliban insurgency against NATO troops and the Afghan government is now in its deadliest year. -
US soldiers on patrol in Afghanistan discovered a US citizen who was reported missing two months ago and who claimed to have fled his Taliban kidnappers, officials said on Wednesday, as three separate attacks took the lives of six NATO troops. -
A group of retired Communist Party officials have called in an open letter for China to reconsider its restrictions on free speech, saying the current policy created a "false democracy of affirming in principle and denying in actuality". -
A cargo C-130 aircraft has crashed in the mountains near Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, killing all seven people on board, officials say. -
| | |
Posted by biginla
at 9:48 AM BST
France24 Newsletter by the BBC's Biodun Iginla
Topic: france24, bbc news, biodun iginl
| Friday October 15, 2010 08:52 (Paris time) | Share this email with your social network | | -
World -
Several French petrol stations have run out of supplies after industrial action over pension reform plans shut all but one of France’s 12 refineries. The French government earlier said there were enough fuel reserves for at least one month. -
The first three Chilean miners left hospital late on Thursday, one day after their dramatic rescue from a collapsed mine where they survived for 69 days. The remaining 30 miners are due to head home on Friday after medical tests. -
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on a two-day trip to Lebanon, arrived to a hero's welcome on Thursday in Bint Jbeil, a Hezbollah stronghold close to the border with Israel. -
Presidential campaigning officially kicks off on Friday in Ivory Coast. Fourteen candidates are in the running, but all eyes are on the three front runners:incumbent president Laurent Gbagbo, former President Henri Konan Bedié and former Prime Minister Alassane Ouattara. -
In the Parisian suburb of Montreuil, 14 Roma men were ordered to leave French territory after a police roundup in August. Lawyers say their case proves the government is behind a discriminatory and illegal policy of expulsions. -
-
Business -
Low-cost Irish carrier Ryanair will close its Marseille base as a result of its ongoing dispute with French authorities. French prosecutors have refused to drop a case against the airline for hiring French employees on Irish employment contracts. -
China's trade surplus fell to 16.88 billion dollars in September, its lowest level in five months. Strong imports explain the slowdown of the trade surplus as international pressure to let the yuan appreciate keeps growing. -
The US government has lifted its ban on deepwater drilling weeks ahead of schedule, citing new, "tighter" rules that it says reduce the risk of a repeat of the catastrophic BP oil spill. -
They helped banks make money faster than ever before, until they had laid the foundations for a mathematician-led market meltdown. Meet the quants, the “Alchemists of Wall Street” on show at the annual science film festival in Paris. -
According to the Wall Street Journal, a record 144 billion dollars in compensation and benefits will be paid out by Wall Street this year compared to 139 billion dollars in 2009, indicating that the financial world is getting back on its feet. -
-
Sports -
Serbian authorities apologised on Wednesday for the stadium clashes that forced the suspension of a Euro 2012 qualifier against Italy. UEFA has warned that sanctions could include Serbia's disqualification from the competition. -
The fight for the Liverpool football team was taken to a Texas state court on Wednesday in the ongoing bitter fight between the current American owners who are trying to stop the venerated club from being sold to the owners of the Boston Red Sox. -
Frenchman and team coach of Arsenal Arsene Wenger has said that he would consider working with Paris Saint Germain in the future. Wenger, however, ruled out a managerial role at the under performing Parisian club. -
Laurent Blanc's players beat Luxembourg 2-0 in a qualifying match for the 2012 European Championships, making it three wins in a row for the first time in as many years. -
Germany's Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) claimed his third win of the season in Japan ahead of his Australian team mate Mark Webber, who still tops the drivers' overall standings. Spaniard Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) was third. -
-
Culture -
Nelson Mandela never wanted to become South Africa's president and would have preferred a younger person to become the country's first black ruler, according to his memoirs released on Thursday. -
From noon (Paris time) on Tuesday, FRANCE 24's Arabic service will broadcast 24 hours a day. -
Eleven Egyptian officials including the head of the culture ministry's fine arts department were convicted of negligence and jailed for three years Tuesday, after a $50 million dollar Van Gogh painting was stolen in August from a Cairo museum. -
Hitting the screen after a wave of publicity, David Fincher’s "The Social Network" is a riveting drama about the creation of Facebook. But those expecting a verdict on the site's controversial creator Mark Zuckerberg shouldn't hold their breath. -
Australian soprano Joan Sutherland, one of the most celebrated opera singers of all time, has died at her home in Geneva aged 83. -
-
science -
A network of suspected Armenian gangsters used means such as setting up fake medical clinics to try and cheat the government's medical insurance programme out of $163 million, the largest fraud by a criminal enterprise in the programme’s history. -
The sixth edition of the French capital’s international science film festival served up a tribute to biodiversity in its various forms – and a warning about the difficulty of preserving it. -
The 2010 Global Hunger Index released Monday says that nearly one in six people go hungry, with child malnutrition causing lifelong harm to health and productivity. South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa fared the worst. (Photo: Philip Flämig/IFPRI). -
British physiologist Roberts Edwards, considered the father of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), has been awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize for medicine. -
-
-
France -
Several French petrol stations have run out of supplies after industrial action over pension reform plans shut all but one of France’s 12 refineries. The French government earlier said there were enough fuel reserves for at least one month. -
In the Parisian suburb of Montreuil, 14 Roma men were ordered to leave French territory after a police roundup in August. Lawyers say their case proves the government is behind a discriminatory and illegal policy of expulsions. -
The ongoing strikes in France continued to disrupt transportation Thursday. Despite the opposition, President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged to push through the pension reforms, which will see the retirement age in France rise from 60 to 62-years-old. -
Low-cost Irish carrier Ryanair will close its Marseille base as a result of its ongoing dispute with French authorities. French prosecutors have refused to drop a case against the airline for hiring French employees on Irish employment contracts. -
France will incorporate EU laws on migration in its new immigration policies, Immigration Minister Eric Besson said on Wednesday, after Brussels raised stringent objections to the expulsion of hundreds of illegal Roma migrants from France. -
-
Europe -
Riot police stormed the Akropolis on Thursday to disperse demonstrators from the culture ministry's staff who blockaded the country's biggest tourist site for a second day to protest government austerity measures. At least one protester was detained. -
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and members of his cabinet visited the area that was devastated by a toxic sludge spill last week, as the death toll from the industrial accident rose to nine on Wednesday. -
Hungary's parliament has passed a bill nationalising aluminium producer MAL, the company responsible for a toxic sludge spill that killed eight people last week. -
Kerosene poured into waters off the Netherlands on Tuesday after a tanker collided with a Cypriot container ship, ripping a giant hole in the hull near the waterline. -
A collision between a bus and a goods locomotive has killed 40 people and injured several others in eastern Ukraine. -
-
Middle-East -
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on a two-day trip to Lebanon, arrived to a hero's welcome on Thursday in Bint Jbeil, a Hezbollah stronghold close to the border with Israel. -
Palestinian officials have rejected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's offer to renew a partial freeze on settlement building if Palestinians recognise Israel as "a Jewish state". -
Eleven Egyptian officials including the head of the culture ministry's fine arts department were convicted of negligence and jailed for three years Tuesday, after a $50 million dollar Van Gogh painting was stolen in August from a Cairo museum. -
Three people were wounded Wednesday when a grenade targeting a British diplomatic vehicle caused an explosion near the British embassy in Yemen's capital, Sanaa. In a separate incident, the French manager of a foreign energy firm was killed in Sanaa. -
An unnamed Syrian official says a 19-year-old schoolgirl blogger, who has been held incommunicado in a Syrian jail since December 2009, stands accused of spying for a foreign state. -
-
Africa -
Officials in north Sudan say it is impossible to hold a crucial referendum in January on the future of oil-rich Abyei, a region claimed by both north and south Sudan. -
Niger's second-in-command junta leader, Colonel Abdoulaye Badie, has been arrested and is being interrogated at military headquarters in Niamey, a military source said on Thursday. -
French authorities have arrested Rwandan rebel chief Callixte Mbarushimana, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court under charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed in the Democratic Republic of Congo. -
Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir said Tuesday that he would not accept South Sudan voting for independence in a forthcoming referendum, as negotiations on the oil-region border region of Abyei stalled. -
Al Qaeda's North African branch demanded Friday that France repeal its ban on full-face veils, release a number of detained militants and pay a ransom of over 7 million euros in exchange for five French hostages thought to be held in Mali. -
-
Americas -
The first three Chilean miners left hospital late on Thursday, one day after their dramatic rescue from a collapsed mine where they survived for 69 days. The remaining 30 miners are due to head home on Friday after medical tests. -
A network of suspected Armenian gangsters used means such as setting up fake medical clinics to try and cheat the government's medical insurance programme out of $163 million, the largest fraud by a criminal enterprise in the programme’s history. -
A complex 22 hour rescue of the trapped miners ended flawlessly Wednesday, as Chileans celebrated across the country. Following the August 5th collapse of the mine, the men survived for 10 weeks underground. -
Sixty-nine days trapped more than 600 metres underground: for the 33 miners rescued this week in San Jose, Chile, returning to the surface is a sort of deliverance. But can one escape such a trial unscathed? -
More than half of the 33 Chilean miners who have been trapped underground in the San Jose mine for more than two months have arrived at the surface in a special rescue capsule to cheers and tears of joy from friends, family and onlookers. -
-
Asia-Pacific -
Pakistani police arrested a group of seven militants Thursday whom they suspect of plotting to kill the prime minister, foreign minister and other top officials. The men are reportedly members of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, which has links to al Qaeda. -
Five NATO soldiers were killed in a bomb attack in Afghanistan on Thursday, bringing the coalition death toll to 586 this year. The Taliban insurgency against NATO troops and the Afghan government is now in its deadliest year. -
US soldiers on patrol in Afghanistan discovered a US citizen who was reported missing two months ago and who claimed to have fled his Taliban kidnappers, officials said on Wednesday, as three separate attacks took the lives of six NATO troops. -
A group of retired Communist Party officials have called in an open letter for China to reconsider its restrictions on free speech, saying the current policy created a "false democracy of affirming in principle and denying in actuality". -
A cargo C-130 aircraft has crashed in the mountains near Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, killing all seven people on board, officials say. -
| | |
Posted by biginla
at 9:45 AM BST
Tea party hopefuls in close races
Topic: tea party, us politics
LOS ANGELES – Weeks from the elections, the tea party has proven it's no flash in the pan. More than 70 of its candidates are on ballots from coast to coast, and nearly three dozen are locked in competitive House races, according to a state-by-state analysis by The Associated Press. From the hundreds of conservative activists who took up the cause in races this year, these candidates — mostly Republicans — emerged to capture nominations and are running with the support of loosely organized tea party groups that are furious at the government. Some of the candidates are political newcomers who have struggled to organize and raise money and have little chance of winning on Nov. 2. In some states, tea party groups are divided over whether to even back candidates or become active in campaigns. But about 35 candidates appear to be waging viable campaigns that have put them ahead or within striking distance of their opponents, according to the AP analysis. Candidates with tea party ties are favored to win in Republican-leaning districts in Indiana and South Carolina. Several are running strong in a number of rural districts in the West and the suburbs of several major cities. Three candidates aligned with the tea party are in tight races in Michigan, which has the second highest unemployment rate in the nation at 13.1 percent. The prospects for the tea party candidates have stirred anxious debate in both political parties. And their legions of backers have Democrats fearing that 2010 could be the reverse of 2008, when Democrats attracted 15 million first-time voters who helped the party win control of the White House and Congress. Jim Bennett, who saw his father, Utah Sen. Bob Bennett, dispatched by tea party activists who flooded the state Republican convention in May, described a movement motivated and energized "to burn down anything that had anything to do with Washington." "I've decided the Republican Party in Utah doesn't exist anymore — it's the tea party and the Democrats," Jim Bennett, who managed his father's campaign, said months after he was defeated. The deep vein of conservative anger was there in 2008, but "it's taken a different turn now that the Democrats have the White House," says Larry Grisolano, a media consultant to President Barack Obama's campaign. "Now they have something to be against." Most of the House candidates with tea party support would be anonymous outside their home districts: a rancher, pilot, a pizzeria owner, doctors and war veterans. Their political experience ranges from first-time candidates who emerged from the movement to House incumbents who have become closely identified with the movement, including Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota. Former Philadelphia Eagles lineman Jon Runyan is in his first campaign — a tight race in New Jersey's 3rd Congressional District. He was recruited by a New Jersey legislator. In Indiana, Jackie Walorski is a state legislator who won the endorsement of several tea party groups. How much impact the movement will have in Congress next year depends in part on how many of the candidates win. More than a half-dozen tea party-backed Senate candidates, including Florida's Marco Rubio, Nevada's Sharron Angle, Colorado's Ken Buck and Alaska's Joe Miller, are polling ahead of their rivals or are in competitive races. They are relying on support of the movement's dedicated backers. "There is nothing that will keep them from turning out," said Democratic pollster Andre Pineda, who has advised the Democratic National Committee this year. "The real enthusiasm gap is between tea party folks and everybody else," Pineda said. On Election Day, "they will be there." January could see a dramatic remaking of the congressional agenda, with the GOP possibly in control of one or both chambers. Tea partiers' call for reining in government and cutting back spending could affect efforts to address the home foreclosure crisis and any administration attempts to kick-start the slow economic recovery with another stimulus measure. The movement's fierce opposition to Obama's health care overhaul could drive efforts to repeal the law. Some tea party-backed candidates have called for phasing out Social Security or eliminating the Education Department or other federal agencies. It's not clear to what degree new members aligned with the tea party would cooperate with Democrats — or even centrist Republicans. The tea party presence extends from Hawaii, where Republican John Willoughby credits his win in a three-way primary to the support of the Kona Tea Party and the Maui Tea Party No Ka Oi, to Arizona, where dentist Paul Gosar won the support of Sarah Palin and tea party activists and knocked off an establishment Republican in the state's 1st Congressional District primary. Gosar is trying to oust Democratic Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick in the largely rural district. Tea partiers have been going door to door for Gosar, seeking votes. If elected, slowing spending and the cutting the debt is "going to be the mantra," Gosar says. "We've got to make sure the government is cut back." In the bucolic Hudson Valley of New York, Republican Nan Hayworth has tea party backing in a close race with Democratic Rep. John Hall, whose campaign has depicted her as a fringe candidate. To Hayworth, it's Hall and Washington Democrats who are out of the mainstream. Tea party members "are insisting we pay careful attention to the size and scope of the federal government," says Hayworth, a member of the Hudson Valley Patriots. "People are acutely sensitive" to the growth of Washington spending. In Michigan, three candidates aligned with the tea party are in tight races. In Detroit's northern suburbs, former Army officer Rocky Raczkowski is counting on tea party clout to help him defeat first-term Democratic Rep. Gary Peters. The tea party is a network of loosely connected community groups — not an established political party with official nominees — so there is some debate about any list of candidates aligned with the movement. Even within the tea party there often is disagreement among rival groups about the legitimacy of candidates claiming tea party credentials, particularly between national and local organizations. In identifying candidates, the AP assessed factors including a candidate's history with the movement, the involvement of local leaders and activists in a campaign, endorsements or support from tea party-affiliated groups and whether a candidate is running on a platform that dovetails with the movement's agenda. In some cases, candidates defeated establishment-backed Republicans in primaries. In other cases, candidates had the backing of Palin, a tea party favorite, or are getting help from FreedomWorks or other groups sympathetic to the tea party cause. Democrats — even those in party strongholds — are not dismissing the challenge. Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff holds a nearly 20-point registration edge in his suburban Los Angeles district but he sent voters a two-page letter warning that the election of tea party-backed Republican John Colbert would mean the end of Medicare and the Environmental Protection Agency. "His campaign is no joke," writes Schiff, who carried the district with 69 percent of the vote two years ago. "We have seen tea party radicals elected in state after state. We cannot take this threat lightly." What's motivating voters this year? "It's the attitude of our leadership, the sense they are not listening to us," says Jonathan Wilson, co-founder of the Pasadena Patriots, whose members are working on behalf of Colbert.
Posted by biginla
at 9:33 AM BST
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