The New Nation - Internet Edition

Obama maintains lead over McCain in opinion polls

AFP, Jacksonville

Barack Obama stood on the threshold of history Monday as polls gave the Democrat a sharp edge over John McCain on the last day of campaigning for the most dramatic presidential vote in a generation.

But McCain, a former prisoner of war in Vietnam, was adamant he would confound the pollsters to stage a shock comeback and wrench victory from the African-American Obama's grasp on Tuesday.

The 47-year-old Democrat stressed the historic nature of his quest to be America's first black president, striking an optimistic tone as fresh polls gave him a wide lead and heaped further pressure on McCain .

"This is a defining moment in our history," Obama wrote in an article published Monday in The Wall Street Journal.

"Tomorrow, I ask you to write our nation's next great chaptert If you give me your vote, we won't just win this election-together, we will change this country and change the world."

McCain was defiant. "My opponent is measuring the drapes at the White House," he said, as he wrapped up a frenzied day of campaigning with a midnight rally in Miami. "They may not know it, but the Mac is back! And we're going to win this election," he added, to deafening cheers.

The Republican was to launch a frenetic dash through at least seven states on the marathon campaign's final day. Obama was to blitz through Florida, North Carolina and Virginia bidding to storm Republican bastions and turn them over to his side.

On stage in Cleveland, Ohio, Sunday evening after a rousing set from rocker Bruce Springsteen, Obama confessed his delight to be rejoined on the trail by his wife Michelle and two young daughters. "Everything looks a little better," he told 80,000 supporters at a rally in drenching rain in Ohio on Sunday. "Everybody's got a smile on their face," he said. "You start thinking that maybe we might be able to win an election on November 4."

Obama lacerated McCain on the stricken US economy and said his rival's policies would extend President George W. Bush's legacy of financial crisis and "war without end" in Iraq, while neglecting resurgent militancy in Afghanistan. McCain also attacked his rival on the economy, in his own Wall Street Journal article. "Senator Obama wants to raise taxes and restrict trade," he charged. "The last time America did that in a bad economy it led to the Great Depression." The final pre-election poll of Gallup-USA Today published Monday gave Obama a yawning lead of 11 points -- 55 percent to 44 for McCain.

Meanwhile, months before Tuesday's election, John McCain and Barack Obama were secretly planning for a job only one of them will face-transitioning their political campaigns into a governing machine. The new president will have a transition of just 77 days from his election to his inuguration to slow the ship of state, replace thousands of government officials and chart a new course.

Since the first transition, in 1797, from president George Washington to John Adams, the peaceful handover of power has become ever more choreographed with each successive administration, especially since World War II. But the 2009 cycle, from President George W. Bush to his successor will be more fraught than usual, with the United States mired in a financial crisis and with more than 150,000 soliders in combat abroad.

"You have to go back to 1933 to find a transition as equally challenging as this one," said Darrell West, director of Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution, citing the transfer of power to Franklin D. Roosevelt during a banking crisis.

Gunmen kidnap Afghan government adviser in Pakistan

Reuters, Chitral

Gunmen in Pakistan have kidnapped an Afghan government adviser visiting relatives in a northwestern border region, police said Monday, the third prominent Afghan kidnapped in Pakistan in recent weeks.

Akhtar Kohistani, an adviser at the Afghan Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development, was abducted in Seerdoor Kadak, a village in Pakistan's northwestern Chitral district, while visiting his in-laws.

"Unidentified armed men broke into his in-laws' house last night and took him away," said Chitral police chief Sher Akbar Khan.

Chitral is opposite the insurgency-plagued Afghan provinces of Kunar and Nuristan. Khan said the motive for the abduction was not known and his men were investigating.

Late last week, gunmen kidnapped Zia-ul-Haq, a brother of Afghan Finance Minister Anwar Ul-Haq Ahady, in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, security officials said.

Pakistani police are also searching for Afghanistan's top diplomat in Pakistan, ambassador-designate Abdul Khaliq Farahi, who was kidnapped on September 22 in Peshawar.

Islamist militants are fighting the governments of both Pakistan and Afghanistan, which are both important U.S. allies.

Kidnapping by criminal gangs is also a problem in both countries.

Bombings kill 6, wound at least 23 in Baghdad

AP, Baghdad

A string of bombings in the Iraqi capital killed six people and wounded at least 23 others Monday, including a senior Oil Ministry official, authorities said.

The six people died when two bombs - one of them hidden in a trash can - exploded in Tahariyat square in central Baghdad during the morning rush hour. Police said 21 people were wounded, including 10 policemen and two women. Police spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.

The explosions caused extensive damage to shops lining the square in Baghdad's predominantly Shiite east half of the city.

Meanwhile, Abdul-Sahib Salman Qutub, one of three senior undersecretaries in the Oil Ministry, suffered minor injuries when a bomb went off at his house as he left for work, ministry spokesman Assem Jihad said. Jihad said Qutub's driver was seriously injured in the attack. Violence has dropped in Iraq since the Sunni revolt against al-Qaida and the routing of Shiite militias in Baghdad and southern Iraq last spring.

But attacks continue, although at a lower level, and U.S. officials warn the gains are reversible.

Twin bombing kills 6 in central Baghdad

Australian PM under fire over alleged Bush leak

AFP, Sydney

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd came under fire on Sunday for reportedly leaking embarrassing details of a phone call with US President George W. Bush.

During the call to discuss the global financial crisis on October 10, Bush reportedly responded to a suggestion by Rudd for a summit of the G20 group by saying: "What's the G20?"

The alleged exchange, reported by The Weekend Australian to have taken place as Rudd took the call during a dinner party at his official Sydney residence, has been denied by both Washington and Rudd's office.

But the leader of the opposition Liberal Party, Malcolm Turnbull, said Sunday that Rudd should apologise for embarrassing Bush by leaking details of the phone call.

The alleged exchange was leaked "in a way that was clearly authoritative, that clearly came from the prime minister's office," Turnbull said. The briefing was "designed to embarrass the US, and in particular the president, and of course to make Mr Rudd particularly knowledgeable," Turnbull said.

Taiwan's President vows not to 'budge an inch’ on sovereignty

AFP, Taipei

Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou pledged not to "budge an inch" on the island's sovereignty dispute with China, on the eve of historic talks with Beijing, it was reported Sunday.

The Hong Kong-born Ma also denied accusations from the pro-independence opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) that he was selling out Taiwan to Beijing, in an interview with the Taipei-based United Daily News.

His remarks came a day before the arrival of Chen Yunlin, the highest Chinese official to visit the island in nearly six decades after the two sides split in 1949 at the end of a civil war.

Chen and his Taiwanese counterpart Chiang Pin-kung are expected to sign agreements on direct shipping, air cargo, food safety and a postal service, and the Ma administration has guaranteed that no political issues will be placed on the agenda.

The DPP, which is planning mass demonstrations during Chen's visit, has accused Ma of backing down on sovereignty issues, an accusation he flatly rejects.

Dalai Lama admits Tibet autonomy drive has failed

AFP, Tokyo

The Dalai Lama said Monday that the drive for greater autonomy for Tibet has ended in failure, urging Tibetans to be open to all options in negotiations with Beijing over the region's future.

The exiled leader is on a week-long visit to Japan for talks on spirituality as the latest negotiations between his envoys and Chinese officials were due to begin in Beijing.

He also hinted at his retirement and said he would ask Tibetans whether to continue the ancient tradition of appointing his successor by recognising his reincarnation.

"My trust in the Chinese government has become thinner, thinner, thinner. Suppression (in Tibet) is increasing and I cannot pretend that everything is OK," the Dalai Lama told a press conference here.

"I have to accept failure. Meantime among Tibetans in recent years, our approach failed to bring positive change inside Tibet, so criticism has also increased.

West warns of humanitarian crisis in DR Congo

AFP, Kibumba

European officials warned Sunday that 1.6 million displaced people are at risk in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, as a UN official said help will go into rebel-held zones on Monday.

Gloria Fernandez, head of mission for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said access to rebel-held Rutshuru, in the north of Nord-Kivu province, has been organised following negotiations.

"We have organized a convoy that is going tomorrow (Monday) with the participation of international NGOs and UN agencies," Fernandez told reporters.

It is estimated that 250,000 civilians have been directly affected by the most recent conflict, particularly in Rutshuru.

"Many humanitarian organizations were forced to leave their places of work and suspend their operations temporarily," she said.

As rebels sought to reassure residents in newly-captured territories that they would be safe, Western diplomats pleaded for cooperation to address humanitarianÂ concerns .

Hanoi suffers as Vietnam flood toll rises to 55

AFP, Hanoi

Floods have killed 55 people in northern and central Vietnam including 18 in the capital Hanoi, which has been hit by the worst flooding in almost 25 years, emergency services said Monday.

Victims have drowned, been struck by falling trees and collapsing buildings or been electrocuted by live power lines, said the National Flood and Storm Prevention Committee.

Rains have lashed central Vietnam for more than a week and left many Hanoi neighbourhoods inundated in muddy waters since Friday, with thousands of residents trapped inside waterlogged homes, many without electricity.

Hanoi families with young children were using canoes and barges made from oil drums, packaging, bathtubs and banana trees to evacuate their television sets, furniture and other valued possessions.