VOA News 31 October 2010 Investigators are seen with a United Parcel Service jet near the company's facility at Philadelphia International Airport, Friday, Oct. 29, 2010.
As authorities in Yemen search for those behind the plot to air mail bombs to the United States, U.S. and British officials are examining ways to increase the screening of air freight and guard against future terrorist threats.
The Obama administration's counter-terrorism advisor, John Brennan, says "we have to presume" there might be more bombs on cargo aircraft. Brennan told a television interviewer on NBC's "Meet the Press" that the United States is trying "to get a better handle of what else might be out there."
He noted that all cargo flights from Yemen have been suspended.
Britain's Home Secretary Theresa May says the British government is looking at the screening of air freight after one of the bombs sent from Yemen was discovered at a regional airport. May, in an interview with BBC television,echoed concerns expressed by Brennan that the terrorist threat remains a constant.
In Yemen, government security agents have been conducting searches across the capital, Sana'a, and questioning cargo workers at airports. Twenty-six suspected packages have been seized during the searches.
A young woman has been arrested on suspicion of involvement in sending the two explosive packages from Yemen last week that were addressed to Jewish places of worship in the U.S. midwestern city of Chicago. A lawyer for the woman, engineering student Hanan al-Samawi, says she has no ties to terrorist groups and may have been tricked.
Al-Samawi's mother has also been detained.
U.S. officials say the bombing plot has "all the hallmarks of al-Qaida." Brennan in another television interview said forensic analysis indicates the bomb-maker in this plot also made the devices involved in the failed bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner last December.
The bomb-maker, identified Ibrahim Hasan al-Asiri of al-Qaida's Yemen branch, is also suspected of making the bomb that attempted to blow up Saudi Arabia's deputy interior minister, Prince Mohammed ben Naif, also in 2009. the plot.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
The farm, renowned locally for its donuts and cider, is in Saratoga County, the 62nd and last county Mr. Cuomo has visited on his campaign tour.
A few hundred party activists and locals had gathered under the rafters of the farm’s big warehouse, waiting for the candidate to make his entrance, listening to the warmup acts: local party leaders, legislative candidates and congressmen.
Then, at 12:16 p.m., an opening appeared in a curtain behind the stage, and Mr. Cuomo came out to enthusiastic applause.
He deployed a flurry of gestures — a veritable field guide of political signals — the thumbs up, the victory sign, the wave, the wink, the blown kiss. He seemed at ease, perhaps no surprise after Saturday morning brought yet another poll showing him leading comfortably.
While Mr. Cuomo’s running mate, Robert J. Duffy, was speaking, Richard Horstman, an 83-year-old retired carpenter, handed Mr. Cuomo a union mailer, seeking his autograph. Mr. Cuomo obliged.
“I’m going to give it to my grandchildren,” said Mr. Horstman later, wearing a denim jacket over a Buffalo Bills sweatshirt. “I’ve been around a long time, I’ve seen them all come and go, but he’s done a nice job, boy.”
Mr. Cuomo, wearing a dark suit and a red tie covered with tiny giraffes, was reflective and combative on the stage.
“This is special for me,” he told the crowd. “Saratoga is the last county in the state that I will have visited during this gubernatorial campaign.”
He added: “I saved the best for last.”
Throughout the visit, there seemed a sense of destiny, that Mr. Cuomo was about to seize a job held for a dozen years by his father, Mario M. Cuomo.
“What people say about my father is that he was all about principle and integrity, and it’s telling, because this is a relatively recent phenomenon where you have a state government with this level of corruption,” Mr. Cuomo said after his speech. “We had a great state government for a lot of years. And Mario Cuomo, 12 years — you could agree with him, disagree with him — 12 years of principle and integrity, and that’s the foundation of everything.”
He never spoke the name of his opponent, the Republican, Carl P. Paladino. Later, when asked why, he lightly told reporters: “Did you know who I was talking about? Then I effectively communicated.”
Before the crowd, he seemed to relish in Mr. Paladino’s gaffes: “I’ll tell you the simple truth. The more they talk, the better we look,” he said, and after applause died down, added, “You could not make this stuff up.”
“I wanted to have my commercials be them talking,” he continued, smiling, the laughter in the audience building. “Every day they outdo themselves.”
People here take government more personally than in other parts of the state, chiefly because Saratoga County neighbors Albany County and is home to many government employees.
“He’s going to win, no doubt about it,” said Susan Peluso, a 58-year-old teacher from Mechanicville, who was carrying a framed and yellowed 24-year-old newspaper picture of Mario Cuomo holding her daughter, who was wearing a “Kids for Cuomo” T-shirt.
Chuck Mielcarski, a 70-year-old retired teacher, said: “I voted for Spitzer last time, and I was very disappointed. I don’t think I’ll be disappointed this time.”
Dilma Rousseff, the handpicked successor of wildly popular President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, headed into today's runoff vote a good 10 percentage points ahead of more centrist challenger, Jose Serra, according to polls.
Ms. Rousseff would be the third woman elected president of a South American country in just the past few years, following former President Michelle Bachelet of Chile, who held office from 2006 to 2010, and President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner of Argentina, who was elected in 2007.
But far from capitalizing on what analysts and recent polls say is a high receptivity to a woman president, the former Marxist rebel and obscure career bureaucrat has shied away from making her gender an issue in the campaign. Instead, she's allowed Mr. da Silva – known widely here simply as "Lula" – to play the gender card in a series of remarks intended to evoke either chivalry or predict voter sexism.
“I think this strategy here is a very male thing," says Arthur Ituassu, an adjunct professor of social communication at Rio de Janeiro’s Pontifícia Catholic University. "When [Rousseff] is pressed about something now, Lula says: ‘Oh c’mon, she’s a woman. Don’t put too much pressure on her.’ [It's designed] ... to remind people that in a male culture you should not put that much pressure on a female.”
He calls this strategy “intelligent,” adding that if Rousseff were to say those things, voters would see it as a sign of weakness.
So what has Lula said?
After Rousseff faced a tough interview in August on Brazil’s Jornal Nacional TV, Lula came to her rescue: “I hoped that for the fact that you [Rousseff] are a woman and a candidate, the interviewer would have a bit more courtesy.”
Weeks later, when an alleged scandal broke in the Brazilian media accusing members of Rousseff and Lula's Workers’ Party of hacking into tax records of the opposition, Lula again defended his candidate in chivalrous terms. "Trying to harm a woman of Dilma Rousseff's quality with lies and calumny is a crime against Brazil, and in particular, the Brazilian women," he said.
Lula has been peppering appearances with similar remarks for months.
Back in March, he spoke with Rousseff by his side, predicting “prejudice” to come. “A macho society like ours is not 100 percent ready to see a woman fight over the important job of mayor, of governor, and of the president,” he said.
Was this protectionism really necessary? Many political analysts and sociologists in Brazil say "no."
A September Global Attitudes poll conducted by Pew Research Center found that at least 70 percent of Brazilians viewed the election of a woman president positively.
Indeed, many election watchers say that Rousseff actually missed an opportunity to play up her feminine credentials as much as the Brazilian voters would accept and even welcome.
“The image of women in politics is very positive,” says Fátima Pacheco Jordão, a sociologist and polling expert with the São Paulo Patrícia Galvão Institute, who adds that polls show that Brazilians view female politicians as more honest and likely to fulfill promises.
Ms. Jordão points out that the two main female candidates in this election – Rousseff and the Green Party’s Marina Silva, who came in a strong third-place finish in the first round of voting – never went beyond the slogans of “primeira” president.
Compared with the 2006 election of Chile's popular president, Ms. Bachelet – the second democratically elected female president in Latin America, after Nicaragua’s Violeta Chamorro in 1990, and then followed by Argentina’s Ms. Fernández de Kirchner and Costa Rica’s Laura Chinchilla – Rousseff does not stress women’s issues in her campaign, says Rosângela Bittar, editor-in-chief in Brasília and political columnist of the Valor Econômico newspaper.
“She’s not doing any female themes,” says Ms. Bittar. “Her themes are Lula’s programs.”
As Jordão puts it: “The voter is more mature than the female candidates.... He’s more comfortable with a woman than [the female candidates were].”
by Xinhua writers Wu Chen, Liu Jie and Xu Xiaoqing
SHANGHAI, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- China staged a series of performances, parades and forums here Sunday to celebrate the end of the Shanghai World Expo, which International Exhibitions Bureau (BIE) President Jean-Pierre Lafon called an "astounding success."
The first of its kind staged in a developing country, the event attracted 246 participating countries and international organizations and 73 million visitors. Both figures are records in the history of expos, the first of which was held in London in 1851.
On an area of 5.28 square kilometers, the Expo Site has become a global village where people can not only see rare cultural treasures from around the world -- the bronze chariot and horse sculpture from China's Warring States period, the statue of Athena from Greece and French impressionist masterpieces, for example -- but also get a taste of the diversity of the world's cultures through more than 20,000 cultural events.
The gala is eyed in China as another event of national splendor after the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games showcased China's status as an economic and political power to the world.
It is also a milestone in both economic and social terms, bringing attention to the future of the planet, which is battling with poverty, war, pollution and energy shortages.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao declared the closure of the Expo at a ceremony Sunday evening. Before that, he said at the Summit Forum on the sidelines of the Expo the success of the Expo has boosted China's confidence and resolve to pursue reform and opening up.
"The Expo has brought together the Chinese people wishing to learn more about the world and foreign friends wishing to know more about China. Thanks to the Expo, they have forged a strong bond of friendship," said the Premier.
WASHINGTON — A high-spirited, spillover crowd numbering in the tens of thousands swamped the National Mall Saturday, overwhelming the city's public transportation system as they flocked to what organizers billed as a "comedic call for calm."
But the three-hour event ended on a serious note when Stewart, in a remarkable break from his usual satiric stance, made an impassioned defense of American unity and denounced cable news depictions of a country riven with animosity.
"The image of Americans that is reflected back to us by our political and media process is false," he said.
"We hear every damn day about how fragile our country is, on the brink of catastrophe, torn by polarizing hate and how it's a shame that we can't work together to get things done. The truth is, we do," he added emphatically. "We work together to get things done every damn day. The only place we don't is here or on cable TV."
As organizers had promised, the rally carried no partisan message — none of the speakers even urged people to vote in Tuesday's midterm elections. The most overt political statement was made by Velma Hart, who famously told President Obama at a town hall meeting in September she was "exhausted" from defending him.
Hart, who received one of the day's four "medals of reasonableness," drew cheers when she said of Obama: "I appreciated his answer and I appreciate the answer that he's given us every day since. So I'm very excited."
Some in attendance viewed the event as a much-needed political revival for the left, waving signs calling for gay rights and the legalization of marijuana and jabbing at Republicans and the "tea party" movement. "I'm from Kentucky. Sorry about Rand Paul," read one. "Put Your Tea On Ice," declared another.
"Jon Stewart might not have wanted a political rally — this is a political rally," said Vince Beltrami, 48, president of the Alaska AFL-CIO, who flew with his wife from Anchorage to attend. "This is reasonable people's opportunity to stand up against the crazy."
His sign read: "Did I have to fly 3776 miles to refudiate Sarah Palin? You betcha!"
Still, the majority in attendance seemed motivated less by partisanship than a deep-felt desire to speak out against the rancorous political discourse that has dominated the 2010 elections.
"We feel that a very radical minority has controlled the dialogue of our politics and it's about time the more rational population start getting involved," said Brian Sibson, 51, of Jacksonville, FL.
An eclectic and youthful crowd turned out for the event, jammed together so tightly in some sections of the lawn that they could not move.
The turnout was estimated by organizers at more than 250,000, but the figure was not confirmed by local or federal authorities, who do not estimate crowd sizes. Still, the large gathering spoke to the following of the two comedians, but also suggested that their liberal fans have a deep hunger for inspiration amid a dispiriting political climate.
Some felt let down that Stewart and Colbert did not deliver a specific call to action.
"I was disappointed, but I think their whole point is that we've politicized almost everything and we can't take ourselves too seriously," said Minneapolis resident Adam Schreifels, 38.
But others said they were heartened to just encounter such a large number of like-minded citizens.
"I think this is an important statement about how a lot of people feel politics have eroded," said Anne Menard, 57, of Harrisburg, Pa.
Fans who could not make it to Washington organized at least 20 satellite "Sanity" rallies in cities such as Austin, Los Angeles, Chicago and Boise. Judy Temple, 71, a retired postal worker from Oxnard, said she decided to attend the L.A. festivities to do her part in sending a message.
NEW: Tomas weakens to a Category 1 stormNEW: Watches and warnings have been canceled2 people injured in St. VincentForecasters think Tomas will become Category 3 storm
Miami, Florida (CNN) -- A weakened Hurricane Tomas was heading into open Caribbean waters on Sunday after pounding the island of St. Vincent with gusty winds and heavy rain, the National Hurricane Center said.
More than 1,000 people entered shelters as Tomas dealt a blow to the island, an emergency official said. Two people were injured, one critically, when they tried to go out and repair roof damage during the storm, said Michelle Forbes, acting director of National Emergency Management.
As of 11 a.m. Sunday, the center of Tomas was located about 180 miles (290 kilometers) west of St. Lucia and about 345 miles (550 kilometers) south-southeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico, according to the Miami, Florida-based Hurricane Center. It was moving west-northwest at about 9 mph (15 kph).
Tomas had weakened from a Category 2 to a Category 1 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of about 90 mph (150 kph), forecasters said. Some additional weakening was expected Sunday, followed by little change in strength Monday and Tuesday.
Its general motion was expected to continue through Sunday night, followed by a western turn on Monday. "Tomas is forecast to move across the eastern Caribbean Sea during the next couple of days," the Hurricane Center said.
As Tomas headed into open water, all watches and warnings associated with the storm were canceled. However, tracking maps show the storm heading west and re-intensifying into a Category 2 by Wednesday, then turning north toward Haiti as a Category 3 storm. It could deal a harsh blow to Haiti, as the impoverished nation is still recovering from a devastating earthquake in January and is currently dealing with a cholera outbreak.
On St. Vincent, Tomas left downed trees blocking many roads, Forbes said, and large areas of the island lacked power. More than 100 homes sustained roof damage, she said, and authorities expect the number to rise.
The main hospital on the island, Milton Cato Memorial Hospital, lost power temporarily but was able to get a generator up and running, according to Forbes.
Earlier, as a tropical storm, Tomas damaged homes and downed power lines in Barbados, according to the Hurricane Center.
Hurricane-force winds extended outward up to 40 miles (65 kilometers) from the storm's center, with tropical storm-force winds extending outward 175 miles (280 kilometers). CNN Radio's Matt Cherry contributed to this report.
President Obama may be the latest Democratic president who has to survive a conservative "wave election."
"It's an election in which conservatives gain enough power in Congress -- even if they don't control it -- to block liberal legislation," said Julian Zelizer, a congressional historian at Princeton University. "They're usually some kind of response or backlash to a president who has put forth a big agenda."
If the polls are right, Obama -- whose presidency has included a landmark health care bill and a major stimulus package --is looking at the same fate that befell Democratic predecessors Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton. (It should be noted that three of those presidents -- Roosevelt, Truman, and Clinton -- went on to win the next presidential election.)
A look at those previous conservative waves:
1938 -- Republicans and conservative Democrats increased their numbers, partly in reaction to Roosevelt's Supreme Court "packing" plan and New Deal initiatives, and in defiance of FDR's efforts to purge his party of conservatives. The Republicans picked up 81 House seats. The GOP remained very much in the minority in both the House and the Senate, but combined with conservative Democrats to basically end the New Deal, though Roosevelt's attention was turning to another major project: World War II.
1946 -- A year after Roosevelt's death and the end of World War II, war-weary voters in a bad economy turned against a Democratic Party that had ruled Washington since the 1932 election. The Republicans gained 55 seats in the next U.S. House and 13 in Senate, winning control of Congress. Two year later, however, President Harry Truman would run against the "Do Nothing" Republican Congress, and sweep to an upset election win over Thomas Dewey.
1966 -- Two years before, President Lyndon Johnson won a landslide that swept in huge Democratic majorities that produced such "Great Society" legislation as the Voting Rights Act and Medicare. In this election, however, the shadows of Vietnam, inflation, and race riots helped Republicans win 47 House seats. The Democrats still controlled Congress, but LBJ's ambitions faced new legislative roadblocks. One prominent Republican went across the country in 1966 campaigning for GOP candidates: Richard Nixon, who would be elected president in two years.
1978 -- A slow economy and ratification of the Panama Canal treaties gave Republicans an opening two years into Jimmy Carter's presidency. The Republicans gained 15 House seats and three Senate seats, with many new members from the South, previewing the GOP rise in the region. While Democrats still held Congress, these mid-terms also previewed Ronald Reagan's presidential election -- and a Republican takeover of the Senate -- in 1980.
1994 -- President Bill Clinton's early struggles led to a political earthquake. Under the leadership of Newt Gingrich, the Republicans gains 54 House seats, winning control of the chamber for the first time in four decades. The GOP also wins eight Senate seats to win that chamber. Clashes between Clinton and the conservative Congress led to a government shutdown, but also welfare reform and a balanced budget. Clinton played off the Gingrich Congress to cruise to re-election over Senate Republican leader Bob Dole in 1996.
Democrats have had their "wave" mid-term elections, such as the "Watergate class" of 1974. Their last wave came in 2006, as Democrats rode George W. Bush's unpopularity to re-capture control of the House and Senate -- and pave the way for Barack Obama's election two years later.
Now, Obama, with his health care plan, his stimulus bill, and other big initiatives, faces a counter-wave.
"The ingredients are there," Zelizer said.
(Posted by David Jackson)
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At least 32 wounded in Istanbul explosion(AP) – 6 hours ago
ISTANBUL (AP) — A suicide bomber blew himself up Sunday beside a police vehicle in a major Istanbul square near tourist hotels and a bus terminal, wounding 32 people, including 15 policemen.
The attack in Taksim Square, which was followed by police gunfire and sent hundreds of panicked people racing for cover, coincided with the possible end of a unilateral cease-fire by Kurdish rebels, but there was no immediate claim of responsibility. Turkey, a NATO ally that has deployed troops in a non-combat role in Afghanistan, is also home to cells of radical leftists and Islamic militants.
Istanbul police chief Huseyin Capkin said the bomber tried but failed to get into a parked police van and detonated the bomb just outside the vehicle, blowing himself to pieces. Riot police are routinely stationed at Taksim, a popular spot for street demonstrations that abuts a major pedestrian walkway whose shops and restaurants are usually packed.
At least 32 people, including 15 police officers, were injured, at least two of them seriously, Istanbul Gov. Huseyin Avni Mutlu said.
After the blast, he said, investigators at the scene found and defused a package of plastic explosives that could have been detonated with the push of a button.
"It was a terrifying, very loud explosion," said Mehmet Toz, a coffee stall owner who was in the square at the time of the blast. "Everyone started to run around, people fell on the ground. There was panic."
Another witness, Muammer Ulutas, said a policeman fired four rounds at the body of the suicide bomber after the explosion. He glimpsed the remains of the assailant, who appeared to be in his early 20s.
The attack occurred as Istanbul was preparing to hold Republic Day parades to mark the 1923 founding of Turkey. The celebrations were originally planned for Friday, but were delayed due to heavy rain. Taksim Square, a transport hub that is a major stop on the city's underground train network and close to the Hyatt, Ritz-Carlton and other major hotels, was festooned with red and white Turkish flags.
Kurdish rebels fighting for autonomy in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast have a history of suicide bombings in Turkey and their unilateral cease-fire was scheduled to expire at the end of October. The state has held secretive talks with the jailed leader of the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, in an effort to end the conflict, But an ongoing trial of more than 150 Kurds, including a dozen elected mayors, on charges of rebel links is a sign of the deep reserves of mistrust between authorities and the ethnic minority.
Interior Minister Besir Atalay, speaking to Turkish journalists on a visit to China, said "certain suspicions, certain evidence" indicated who was behind the attack, but said the government would not rush to announce its theories.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was inaugurating a hamlet for villagers whose homes are to be flooded by a new dam in southeastern Turkey, said the suicide attack was aimed at "obstructing Turkey's development."
"We will not show any tolerance toward those who to want cause turmoil," Erdogan said.
President Abdullah Gul said the assailants would "fail in their aim to replace friendship, brotherhood and peace with violence in the face of the people's will for unity to live as brothers."
Turkey frequently accuses the PKK of carrying out attacks to prevent the economic and social progress of Turkey, which has made big strides as a regional power in recent years despite conflict between its Islamic-leaning government and secular elites linked to the military and judiciary. An alleged anti-government network that includes military officers faces charges of seeking to foment chaos that would topple Erdogan's government; secular critics say the trials are a government effort to silence dissent.
At Taksim, police sealed off roads with yellow tape and forensic teams in blue coveralls combed the area for debris and other evidence. One walked around the ledge of a monument to Turkish independence in the center of the square. Hours later, some areas were reopened.
The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons, a militant group linked to the PKK, claimed responsibility for a June bombing in Istanbul that killed four soldiers and an officer's 17-year-old daughter. Authorities suspected Kurdish rebels in a 2008 bombing in Istanbul that killed 17 people, though the PKK denied involvement.
According to the government, the last suicide bombing by the PKK was in 2008, when an assailant blew himself up at a police checkpoint in the Mediterranean city of Mersin and injured 13 police officers. In May 2007, a Kurdish rebel blew himself up in the capital, Ankara, killing seven.
Two previous suicide attacks in Taksim in 1999 and 2001 killed two police officers and wounded a total of 13 people.
Homegrown Islamic militants tied to al-Qaida carried out suicide bombings in Istanbul, killing 58, in 2003. The targets were the British consulate, a British bank and two synagogues. In 2008, an attack blamed on al-Qaida-affiliated militants outside the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul left three assailants and three policemen dead.
On Oct. 22, Turkish police said they detained five people, including three university students, suspected of providing financial and technical support to the al-Qaida network in Afghanistan. The raids were carried out in the Aegean coastal city of Izmir and several other cities.
Associated Press writer Suzan Fraser contributed to this report from Ankara, Turkey.
About two dozen members of the Congregation Or Chadash were enjoying their usual Friday evening dinner before services at their Edgewater neighborhood headquarters when they got the startling news that they were apparently the target of an international terrorist plot.
The small congregation for gay, lesbian, transgender and bisexual Jews that started with an alternative newspaper ad in 1976 had gotten used to a life of relative obscurity — too small with about 100 members to afford its own building or build much of a profile.
How a terrorist in Yemen who'd rigged printer cartridges with explosives would know who and where they are sparked as much puzzlement as fear, congregants said Saturday.
"I thought 'Wow, I didn't know we had such visibility,'" congregation member Marvin Levin said.
Pausing, he added: "I don't know that we want such visibility."
But that's what the tight-knit group got as federal officials announced Saturday that a woman in Yemen had been arrested in the alleged terrorist plot that sent several packages to the U.S. loaded with the industrial explosive, PETN.
Authorities have not said which two Chicago addresses the packages were mailed to, but a source told the Tribune both were Jewish congregations on the North Side, home to a thriving Jewish community. Chicago police Saturday said they were making increased checks in areas with a high number of synagogues, including Edgewater, Rogers Park and West Rogers Park.
Or Chadash has for seven years shared space on North Sheridan Road with another Jewish congregation, the Emanuel Congregation. The squat brick building yards from Lake Michigan also is home to a day school for about 140 children between kindergarten and seventh grade.
Or Chadash leaders said they learned that their group was an intended recipient of one of the Yemen packages from Emanuel's Rabbi Michael Zedek.
"It was just a surprise," said Rabbi Larry Edwards of Or Chadash. "When I was first hearing news (about the packages), I assumed there were probably bigger targets. We're a small congregation. Either we were selected at random or it's because we're a mostly gay congregation."
Or Chadash, which is officially aligned with the Union of Reform Judaism, began after somebody placed an ad in a local paper in 1976, seeking to meet with like-minded gay and lesbian Jews, Levin said.
"At that time, it was probably one of the few places gay and lesbian Jews could openly worship in the area," he said. "Today, there are many more options, and some people like to be part of a congregation that's more mainstream, while others like to worship with people like themselves."
Over the years, the group has expanded to include Jews from more traditional backgrounds, said Bill Wahler, the group's co-president. With Edwards working part time, volunteers frequently conduct services to lend a diversity of perspectives to how they practice their faith, he said.
Until now, Or Chadash had never received threats of violence, Edwards said.
While Or Chadash members vowed Saturday against letting the threat affect their how they operate, members of the Emanuel Congregation reacted with a mix of weary humor and sadness over the idea that harm might have come to students at the day school.
"There is nothing shocking in (the threat)," Zedek said during a service Saturday punctuated by the whir of a high-speed camera shutter emerging from the cadre of media at the synagogue's rear. "We're heartbroken. But realistically, as well, one lives in this world."
"The real tragedy of this is if it caused us to hate," said Shifra Werch, an Emanuel congregant.
Considering the day's school children, Zedek spoke of his own grandchildren during the service.
"It does pain me, the kind of world that we're leaving for them," he said.
Tribune reporters Caroline Kyungae Smith and Jeremy Gorner contributed.
Former president Bill Clinton speaks at a campaign rally for Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, back, and other Democratic candidates in Canton, Ohio. (Associated Press / October 30, 2010)Former President Bill Clinton campaigned in Ohio on Saturday, part of a last-minute push by Democrats to capture a state that has been traditionally important to the presidential aspirations of both parties.
As he has throughout this midterm campaign season, Clinton slammed Republicans and compared their economic policies during the recession to his administration's positive efforts.
"Their deal sounds good but it doesn't work," Clinton said.
With just days to go before Tuesday's election, this weekend is whirlwind of stops, rallies and meet-and-greets as Democrats try to energize their base and Republicans continue their push to win the House and Senate.
But even within campaigning across the country, Ohio has a special place.
In 2008, Ohio was one of nine state President Obama captured and Ohio remains a crucial state to Obama’s re-election chances. On Sunday, the president will make his 12th visit since taking office to the state and his second visit in as many weeks.
Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will campaign on Sunday in Cleveland.
Democrats are pushing for Gov. Ted Strickland, locked in a close race with former congressman John Kasich. Most polls show Kasich ahead, but Strickland remains close and within the margin of error in some polls.
The governor's race is also especially important in Ohio because of redistricting. The next governor will have a large say in drawing the new congressional and state legislative district lines which could influence Ohio elections for a decade.
Clinton's campaign stops took him to Canton, where Rep. John Boccieri interrupted the former president's speech by running off of the stage when the congressman learned his wife had gone into labor.
"The baby is now being born!" Clinton told the cheering crowd. "You'd be amazed how many times I take a picture with a very pregnant woman and then she immediately gives birth."
"We got another Democrat," Clinton said. "I wish we could register that baby before it's too late."
Security officials inspect UPS containers in the cargo area of East Midlands airport after an explosive package was found on a plane from Yemen. Photograph: David Jones/PA
Sophisticated bombs contained in packages sent from Yemen were designed to explode in the air and bring down the cargo planes carrying them, the government confirmed.
Intelligence experts believe the use of the devices, contained in printer cartridges on board two Chicago-bound cargo planes, represents a shift in terrorist tactics to commercial targets.
President Barack Obama phoned David Cameron to thank him personally for the UK's "close co-operation" in helping disrupt the bomb plot. The pair agreed that their countries' respective authorities would remain in close contact in the coming days, the White House said.
Speaking ahead of a meeting with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, Cameron said: "We have to do even more to crack down and cut out the cancer of al-Qaida in Yemen and the Arabian Peninsula. We have immediately banned packages coming to or through Britain from the Yemen. In the end these terrorists think our interconnectedness, our openness as modern countries, is what makes us weak. They are wrong – it is a source of our strength, and we will use that strength, that determination, that power and that solidarity to defeat them."
Cameron also spoke to Yemen's president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, who later said his security forces had arrested a Yemeni woman in connection with the plot. He gave no other details about her.
Both of the devices, one discovered in the hold of a plane that landed at East Midlands airport after flying from Cologne, the other on a plane in Dubai, were described as "extremely professional" by intelligence officials.
One was linked to a mobile phone, while the other was attached to a timer. The Observer understands that the East Midlands device was so sophisticated an examination by forensics experts initially suggested it did not contain explosives. "Even when it was examined, the sniffer dogs couldn't detect it," a security source said. "It was only when they [forensics experts] had a second look at it they realised what it was."
It has emerged the devices were discovered only after a tip-off from Saudi intelligence. "This… started with good information from the Saudis," the US homeland security secretary, Janet Napolitano, said. "We were then immediately able to work with other countries, particularly the UK and the UAE, to segregate these packages, to begin the analysis about what they were."
If the devices had blown up over the Atlantic, or any other large stretch of water, identifying the cause would have been difficult because there would have been little trace left of the planes. But the discovery of the packages – addressed to two US synagogues – is a potentially vital weapon for the security services. "Now we've got them, we can figure out how they have been made, who made them and how to stop them," one source said.
The sophistication of the devices is likely to raise concerns about airport security. Investigators in the Yemeni capital, Sana'a, investigated 24 other suspect packages yesterday, according to a security official. Authorities were also questioning cargo workers at the airport and employees of the local shipping firms contracted to work with commercial logistics companies.
The home secretary, Theresa May, said a preliminary examination of the device found at East Midlands airport had confirmed it was viable: "The target of the device may have been an aircraft and, had it detonated, the aircraft could have been brought down," she said. "But we do not believe the perpetrators… would have known the location of the device when they planned for it to explode.
"At this stage we have no information to indicate another attack is imminent. The threat level is already at severe, meaning that a terrorist attack in this country is highly likely. We do not plan to change that threat level at this stage."
The Metropolitan police said "early indications suggest [the device] had the potential to bring down an aircraft in flight if detonated".
All unaccompanied air freight originating in Yemen and moving into or through the UK has been suspended. Direct cargo and passenger flights from Yemen were suspended for security reasons in January, following the failed attempt to bomb an aircraft destined for Detroit the month before.
Security sources acknowledged that targeting cargo planes represented a shift in tactics for terrorist groups. "These people are seeking any way they can to attack," a security source said. "This was a potential attack on US business and the impact could have been huge. Damaging the west's economy is a key objective of al-Qaida."
HANOI: The Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, has met her Chinese counterpart for the first time and has agreed to visit China next year.
Ms Gillard met the Premier, Wen Jiabao, in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi yesterday on the sidelines of the 16-nation East Asia Summit.
The summit brings together the leaders of the 10 ASEAN countries plus Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.
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Ms Gillard said she and Mr Wen discussed a wide range of economic, political and defence matters.
''China is obviously hugely important to Australia and hugely important as a rising power in our world,'' Ms Gillard told reporters after the meeting.
''We obviously want to see China involved in the international system in a rules-based framework.''
Ms Gillard said she was pleased Mr Wen had invited her to visit China at a mutually convenient time next year.
''I very much look forward to that visit,'' she said.
Ms Gillard met the New Zealand Prime Minister, John Key, and the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, on Friday.
At the meeting Ms Gillard raised her plan for a regional asylum-seeker processing centre.
''I said Australia is pursuing a regional protection framework and a regional processing centre,'' Ms Gillard said.
''That was noted by the United Nations Secretary-General, and I will continue as I have bilateral meetings [to raise] questions of people-smuggling and people movements in our region.''
Ms Gillard said she would also raise people-smuggling during the summit itself, as well as a variety of economic and trade matters.
She would also voice concerns about the elections in Burma, to be held next Sunday.
''Australia is, of course, committed to pressing for free elections, for transparency, for the release of political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi, and for reconciliation within Burma.''
Ms Gillard is expected to meet the leaders of India, Laos and the Philippines. She will meet Vietnamese leaders today.
She will also travel to Kuala Lumpur today for talks with the Malaysian Prime Minister, Najib Razak, and then to Jakarta for talks with the Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
She will return to Australia on Thursday.
The 10 members of ASEAN are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Burma, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Steve Herman | Seoul 30 October 2010 South Korean mother Kim Rye-jung, 96, right, kisses her North Korean daughter Woo Jung Hye during the Separated Family Reunion Meeting at Diamond Mountain in North Korea, 30 Oct 2010.
More than 400 South Koreans, from nearly 100 families, are beginning a reunion in North Korea with relatives from whom they have been separated since the early 1950s. This is the first such event in more than a year.
It is a long-awaited and emotional encounter for the long-separated relatives from about 100 families.
Most of those reuniting are in their 80s, who expressed a desire to see loved ones a final time before they die.
Two batches of relatives from each side of the heavily fortified border will be reunited for three days. The second group will meet next Wednesday at the same location, the Mt. Kumgang resort.
The last reunion was held 13 months ago. They began a decade ago amid warming relations and political conciliation.
Relations chilled again between Seoul and Pyongyang after the sinking in March of a South Korean naval vessel in the Yellow Sea. An international investigation concluded the Cheonan warship exploded after being hit by a North Korean torpedo. Forty-six South Korean sailors died.
North Korea is demanding South Korea donate hundreds of thousands of tons of rice and fertilizer as a prerequisite for family reunions to resume on a regular basis.
Professor Lee Woo Young at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul says this is a typical demand from Pyongyang.
Lee says North Korea always uses the family reunions to gain economic benefits, noting every time one is held such aid has been sent to Pyongyang. This, he says, emphasizes the fact the impoverished North requires outside assistance.
More than 20,000 South Koreans have been briefly reunited with relatives in the North since the Red Cross-organized program began.
The latest reunion went ahead despite an incident Friday afternoon along the border. Seoul says two shots were fired from North Korea at a South Korean guard post, 90 kilometers northeast of Seoul.
A Defense Ministry official here says South Korean soldiers returned three shots from a machine gun under established procedures. It is uncertain whether the initial firing by North Korea was deliberate or accidental.
The U.S.-led United Nations command, which oversees the 1953 armistice, is to investigate the incident. It will determine whether the firing violated the agreement that halted the Korean War.
The Korean peninsula has lived under the uneasy truce for nearly 60 years. During that time there has been no communication between ordinary citizens across the border.
Nevada Senator Harry Reid acknowledges supporters during a campaign rally in Las Vegas, Nevada, October 22, 2010, after President Barack Obama spoke.
Credit: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque By Thomas Ferraro
WASHINGTON | Sat Oct 30, 2010 5:54am EDT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Harry Reid, a key ally to President Barack Obama, is in danger in Tuesday's election of becoming the first U.S. Senate majority leader in 58 years to be booted out of office by home-state voters.
A Reid defeat -- to a favorite of the anti-establishment Tea Party movement -- would be a repudiation of Obama, who made several trips to Nevada to try to bail out his fellow Democrat, widely viewed as tough but not charismatic.
It would also be a sign that the political brand of many experienced senators -- those who deliver results through back-room dealings rather than fiery oratory -- is not as powerful a draw for voters as it once was.
But above all, it underlines the importance of the economy and unemployment in these elections. Nevada has the highest jobless rate in the country, at 14.4 percent compared to a national average of 9.6 percent.
"In a sense it is a configuration of the stars," said Stephen Hess, a congressional scholar at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank. "If any of these factors weren't there, I don't think it would be a close election."
Anti-Washington ire fanned by the weak U.S. economy has made Reid a top Republican target and put him in a razor-close race with Sharron Angle, a darling of the Tea Party movement.
"You know, Harry's not the flashiest guy, let's face it," Obama told a crowd of about 9,000 people in Las Vegas this month. Laughter then turned to applause as Obama added: "Harry Reid does the right thing."
The right thing in Obama's eyes has been to play a major role in shepherding the president's agenda through Congress, including his landmark overhaul of the healthcare system.
But those legislative achievements have brought few visible benefits to Nevadans, where the rate of home foreclosures is also the highest in the country.
Nevada's Senate race has been among the nation's nastiest with Reid and Angle exchanging barbs, and polls showing voters view both of them unfavorably.
DISDAIN FOR REID
Democrats celebrated when Angle won the Republican primary, predicting that her views -- which include privatizing Social Security -- were too extreme. But disdain for Reid is so strong the race remains too close to call.
Eric Herzik, who heads the political science department at the University of Nevada, Reno, thinks Reid, 70, will scrape out a win, as he has in a number of close races before becoming the Senate's top Democrat.
"I'm sticking with my early prediction. It will be close, it will be ugly and I think Harry Reid wins," Herzik said.
Reid spent six years in the House of Representatives and 24 in the Senate, becoming Senate minority leader in 2005 and rising to majority leader two years later.
The joint rally by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert began its variety show of shtick and song, political purpose and wink-wink whimsy. The two Comedy Central fake-news anchors arrived onstage Saturday afternoon to present bits that pit Stewart's wry rationalism against Colbert's warped bravado.
As throngs headed to join in the Mall's hoopla, some were thwarted by transportation delays. Metro's trains, teeming with rallygoers, could not accommodate new passengers at stops closer to downtown. Also, many prospective rail riders arrived at stations in Maryland and Virginia only to be confronted with long lines that defied usual weekend patterns.
On a stage west of the Capitol dome, the TV personalities welcomed cross-genre musical acts that sang in harmony -- Kid Rock with Sheryl Crow, Jeff Tweedy and Mavis Staples -- or in mock discord, as when mellow folkie Yusuf Islam (formerly known as Cat Stevens) had an interruptive session with metal rocker Ozzy Osbourne.
Mall visitors arrived in steady streams on foot, bike and when possible, by Metro. Many toted signs with arch witticisms such as those identifying the carrier as a member of the "Decaf Party." In keeping with the meta qualities of the Comedy Central shows, one spectator had a sign that was decidedly not purposeful in its announcement. "I am holding a sign," it read.
"I find it incredibly ironic," says Jim Neimeier, who drove to Washington from Wisconsin for the event, "that I had to come to a rally sponsored by a comedian to get at the truth."
Or at least a point of view diametrically opposed to the one expressed by Glenn Beck two months ago, when he staged a religiously themed "Restoring Honor" rally -- on the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech -- with Sarah Palin on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
The "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear" is billed as a correction to what Stewart, Colbert and their fans consider the extremism and dishonesty that have infected the American political system, especially the self-righteousness and fear-mongering they see in the right-leaning Beck and his employer, Fox News.
But with its Capitol backdrop, exuberant crowd and clever placards, the Stewart-Colbert rally began to look like an ironic version of the political theater it sends up. At some point, do those mocking such hubris actually exhibit hubris?
"This is the most American thing I've ever done!" a young man screamed Saturday morning into a plastic megaphone, provided free by Comedy Central.
The megaphones, handed out with tea towels from the swag bags of volunteers, mixed with backpacks and folding chairs. Earnest signs read "I'm Not Afraid of Muslims, Tea Parties, Gays." Irreverent ones read "Support the Right to Arm Bears." Obama inauguration gear made it back out of the closet. On many posters reading "Hope," the visage of Stewart, not Obama, stared out.
With all the trouble it took to get to the Mall, some attendees chose a more unusual mode of transportation: a 70-foot-long, 30-foot-tall copper-colored dragon on wheels. The vehicle, favored by anti-nuclear-weapon activists from the counterculture festival Burning Man, echoed down Irving Street. Along 14th Street NW, people held signs reading "Free the Gays" or "The Sky Is Falling." Scores of people dressed in wigs and costumes, in part because the rally coincides with many Halloween celebrations. One man dressed as Abe Lincoln. Another went as a tea party activist (tea bags dangling from his hat's brim).
"It's just a lovely day to be on the Mall, to meet up with out-of-town friends," said Ruth Hupart, 24, a Hill staffer.
ALABAMA - Republican Sen. Richard Shelby cruising to a fifth term in heavily Republican state. Republican Robert Bentley favored in gubernatorial race
ALASKA - Sen. Lisa Murkowski in unpredictable write-in campaign after losing GOP primary in tea party revolt. Republican Sean Parnell favored for governor
ARIZONA - Sen. John McCain coasting to fifth term after tough GOP primary. Gov. Jan Brewer also on track toward re-election. Four House Democrats in trouble.
CALIFORNIA - Former Gov. Jerry Brown leads Republican Meg Whitman in polls. Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer in close race with Carly Fiorina.
COLORADO - Sen. Michael Bennet and tea party-backed Republican Ken Buck in close race. Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper favored for governor.
CONNECTICUT - Competitive governor's race between Democrat Dan Malloy and Republican Tom Foley. Attorney General Richard Blumenthal favored over GOP candidate Linda McMahon for Senate.
DELAWARE - GOP candidate Christine O'Donnell never got traction in Senate race versus Chris Coons. Rare pickup opportunity for House Democrats.
FLORIDA - Marco Rubio coasting to Senate win for GOP. Democrat Alex Sink and Republican Rick Scott in fierce governor's race. GOP targets four House seats.
GEORGIA - Republicans favored for governor (former Rep. Nathan Deal) and especially Senate (Johnny Isakson seeking another term).
In the likely event that Republicans capture control of one or both houses of Congress this week, the new leaders will face a strategic question. Should they pursue the agenda of the Tea Party movement that brought them to power? Or should they try to mollify their party’s base with gestures and symbols, without taking its ideology too seriously? While they’ll never discuss this problem honestly, indications are that the GOP’s congressional leadership will feint right while legislating closer to the center.
The choice is between a Ronald Reagan strategy and a Newt Gingrich strategy. Reagan, who rode a conservative movement to the presidency in 1980, was a master of the right fake. After one brief, disastrous attempt to reduce Social Security spending in 1981, he never seriously challenged federal spending again. But he sounded so convincing in his rhetorical flights that both conservatives and liberals walk around today thinking he cut government. George W. Bush followed the same model, humoring the base while letting government expand.
Gingrich, after becoming speaker of the House in 1994, was much more literal-minded. He and the “Contract With America” Republicans made the terrible mistake of taking their own antigovernment rhetoric seriously. They proposed a budget that really would have slashed federal spending on Medicare, Medicaid, education, and the environment. And when Bill Clinton wouldn’t roll over for them, they were willing to shut down the government, which they had convinced themselves everyone else hated as well.
Recent reports in The Wall Street Journal and elsewhere suggest that the future leaders of a Republican House intend to avoid repeating Gingrich’s mistake. The House candidates most likely to win are experienced politicians who understand they’re being handed a gift, not a mandate. They don’t think working with Democrats is evil. On big-picture tax and budget issues, they want to compromise with President Obama.
What makes this plausible is that the House leaders in waiting are, by and large, not an ideological group. John Boehner, the speaker-in-the-wings, could have replaced Monty Hall on Let’s Make a Deal. Kevin McCarthy, who will probably become House whip, is less pickled-looking but similarly pragmatic. Even Eric Cantor, the more ideological likely majority leader, says he has no interest in another government shutdown. By contrast, Mike Pence of Indiana, who advocates a “no compromise” strategy, is considering resigning from the leadership to run for president.
In practice, it may be difficult to discern which tactic congressional Republicans are pursuing. “Repealing” health-care reform, for instance, sounds like a radical step. In fact, voting for repeal would be little more than a gesture, since Obama would veto any such measure. But refusing to fund parts of the health-care bill in the 2012 budget would be a meaningful effort at rollback—and would be likely to provoke a high-stakes showdown.
One can already see an antagonism emerging between the GOP’s congressional and presidential wings. The congressional wing, seeking to retain in 2012 the swing seats it picks up this year, will incline toward symbolic action. The presidential wing, trying to capture the Tea Party activists in a primary season, will argue for a frontal challenge to spending. If congressional leaders show moderation, they can expect to be accused of selling out by Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin. But they are likely to back off nonetheless, because draconian cuts in social spending, especially in an anemic economy, would be politically suicidal.
Why does antigovernment ideology work as an electoral strategy but fail as a governing one? In The New York Review of Books, Michael Tomasky offers a persuasive explanation. In broad terms, the American public likes Republican themes of liberty and small government better than Democratic themes of compassion and fairness. But when it comes to the specifics, the situation is reversed. Democratic programs like Social Security and Medicare retain broad popular support; conservative cuts in programs provoke antagonism. Thus conservatives prefer to debate philosophy, while liberals would rather argue about programs.
This conundrum makes it difficult for Democrats to connect their policies to their beliefs. Conversely, it makes it hard for Republicans to follow through on their ideas. We’ll see what the GOP does with another opportunity to put them into practice.
There are only two people in the world who know for sure whether former President Bill Clinton urged Democratic Senate Kendrick Meek to bow out of the race, and both of them are denying it.
Though the former president's spokesman confirmed reports that he told Meek to step aside so Gov. Charlie Crist could trip Republican Marco Rubio at the finish line, Clinton said Friday he did no such thing.
``We did talk last week following a rally in Orlando about the race and its challenges,'' Clinton said in carefully worded statement. ``I didn't ask Kendrick to leave the race, nor did Kendrick say that he would. I told him that how he proceeds was his decision to make and that I would support him regardless.''
Meek launched his own counteroffensive as yet another poll showed him mired in third place. He bounced over the airwaves from Fox and Friends to ABC's Good Morning America to MSNBC's Morning Joe -- roughly a dozen national television appearances by day's end.
Again and again, Meek accused Crist of cooking up the whole story.
``He will do anything to win, and if that's stepping on my back, so be it,'' Meek said after addressing hundreds of members of the teachers' union in Orlando. ``He's a hard-core politician. Don't let that smile on his face fool you.''
Meek also confirmed a bizarre story about Crist buzzing around Florida political circles -- that Crist offered him a cross and asked him to ``pray'' on whether to stay in the race. The venue: a American Israel Public Affairs Committee gathering Monday in Hollywood.
PHILADELPHIA - With the debates over, ads flooding the airwaves and an election that's shaping up as a $4 billion contest finally coming to a close, Democrats are looking to something very basic for an edge: phone calls and door knocks.
So President Obama took his get out the vote message to Temple University as he made a closing argument for his party's agenda.
His speech was short and his message simple.
"I want everybody to get out there, knock on doors, make phone calls, volunteer, talk to your friends, talk to your neighbors, go into the beauty shops, the barbershops your church," he said. "If you do that, I am confident, we aren't just going to win this election, but we are going to keep on moving this country forward."
The crowd of 1,000 - mostly young people chanting campaign slogans and wearing Obama T-shirts circa 2008 - are exactly the type of voters that Democrats will need to stave off a midterm rout. This weekend, Obama's schedule has stops in four urban areas.
Obama has visited this city, which is key to Democrats' chances of victory in statewide races, four times over the past six weeks, and first lady Michelle Obama will hold a rally here Monday.
And the Democratic National Committee has poured more than $50 million into the get-out-the-vote effort in a bid to get at least a share of the 15 million young and first-time voters from 2008.
Over recent weeks, Obama has drawn an audience of about 185,000 people with 10 rallies in different states, and party leaders said they see some momentum.
"If you look at the polling in Pennsylvania and California, after the president's visits there, Democrats either closed the gap or in some instances widened their lead," said Mitch Stewart, executive director of Organizing for America, the DNC's grass-roots branch. "These events are a real shot in the arm for our organization specifically, but also to the candidates that are running there."
Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter who said that 2010 is about 2012, said that "we are going to drive turn out aggressively in this city."
"Every elected official is focused on this election," he said. "They are mobilizing all over Philly and the suburbs."
Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Corbett in remarks Thursday suggested that his aim is to keep turnout in Philadelphia down, comments that Nutter said have galvanized the base.
BRUSSELS, Oct 29 (Reuters) - The European Union on Friday set in motion plans to amend the EU's main treaty to create a permanent system to fight financial crises, and said a summit deal on new budget rules would strengthen the euro.
The moves, intended to head off any sovereign debt problems, face a long and potentially divisive battle before they take effect and EU sources said the head of the European Central Bank had expressed reservations about some of the proposals.
But the agreement on limited treaty change at a two-day summit in Brussels, and the endorsement of tougher budget rules [ID:nLDE69I1FB], was a victory for Germany's push for greater financial stringency following Greece's debt crisis.
"We are doing everything to ensure that there will never be a repeat of the crisis we have had," German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters. "One can already say that the euro will be strengthened."
She won guarded praise in the German media for a compromise that bought time to find a lasting remedy to the bloc's debt problems, offering her some respite from criticism that she had bowed too easily to French demands to water down proposals for semi-automatic sanctions on budget rule-breakers.
Any failure to reach a deal and any sign that the EU was backtracking on efforts to tighten fiscal discipline could have unsettled investors already worried by debt problems in countries such as Portugal, Greece and Ireland. [ID:nLDE69R0V7]
Leaders of the 27 EU states committed the bloc to treaty changes to create a permanent mechanism that will replace a 440-billion euro ($611 billion) emergency safety net for indebted euro zone countries when it expires in mid-2013.
Herman van Rompuy, the president of the EU Council grouping national governments, will draw up proposals to amend the Lisbon treaty in cooperation with the executive European Commission and the leaders hope to agree on the changes in December.
"The European Council has sealed a solid pact to strengthen the euro. That's one of the most important decisions that we have taken in the last months," Van Rompuy told reporters.
<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ For analysis on mechanics of treaty change, see [ID:nLDE69Q0H2] For more on how treaty change may work, see [ID:nLDE69S0GV] For a link to all treaty change stories click [ID:nLDE69R14T] For an interactive timeline on the euro zone crisis, click on link.reuters.com/kar27p
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TSA probes suspicious items on planesNEW: Investigators found a suspicious package containing a toner cartridge on a plane from YemenNEW: Authorities are focusing on cargo flights from Yemen into the United StatesPlanes are being checked and have been isolated at airports in Philadelphia and NewarkFor more coverage visit CNN affiliates WPVI and WABC. Are you there? Send pictures and video.
(CNN) -- At least two U.S. airports were on high alert Friday after investigators found a suspicious package on a plane in the United Kingdom the night before, a law enforcement source with detailed knowledge of the investigation said.
The suspicious package, which contained a "manipulated" toner cartridge, tested negative for explosive material, the source said, but it led to heightened inspection of arriving cargo flights in Newark, New Jersey, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and a UPS truck in New York.
Police also were investigating a suspicious package at the distribution center of an airport in East Midlands, in the United Kingdom, an airport spokesman said. Authorities said they could not immediately connect that investigation to the ones unfolding in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.
Authorities seemed most focused on inspecting cargo planes.
Investigators were examining two UPS planes that landed at Philadelphia International Airport and another at Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey, said Mike Mongeot, a UPS spokesman.
Authorities are focusing on flights coming from Yemen into the United States, according to the source.
The Transportation and Security Administration said authorities were acting "out of an abundance of caution."
"The planes were moved to a remote location where they are being met by law enforcement officials and swept," the administration said in a statement.
UPS said it is cooperating with authorities, and its shipment is being removed from the aircraft.
In Philadelphia, three people aboard one plane were removed from the plane and scanned with negative results, the Philadelphia Fire Department said. The type of material that may be involved is not known, officials said.
In Newark, investigators were examining another UPS plane, said Mike Mangot, a UPS spokesman.
In New York, the bomb squad responded to a report of a suspected explosive device inside a package aboard a UPS truck, the deputy police commissioner, Paul Browne, said.
Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, police were investigating a reported suspicious package at the East Midlands Airport, an airport spokesman, Russell Craig said. The investigation caused minimal disruption and only affected the freight distribution area, he said.-- CNN's Jeanne Meserve, Susan Candiotti, Caroline Paterson, Per Nyberg
Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan (R) walks past China's Premier Wen Jiabao as Asian leaders get ready for a gala dinner during the 17th ASEAN Summit in Hanoi October 29, 2010.
Credit: Reuters/Damir Sagolj By James Pomfret and Yoko Kubota
HANOI | Fri Oct 29, 2010 11:02am EDT
HANOI (Reuters) - Japan Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao will not hold a one-on-one meeting intended to mend ties at an Asian summit as Chinese anger flared over an over-lapping claim in the resource-rich East China Sea.
China lambasted Japan on Friday for raising the issue of disputed islands in the sea and a Japanese cabinet secretary later said Beijing had torpedoed a slated meeting between the two premiers at the last minute, though its pursuit of strategic and beneficial ties remained unchanged.
"I cannot say there won't be any impact (on relations)," said Japanese deputy chief cabinet secretary Tetsuro Fukuyama when asked about the setback. "But what is essential is a calm response," he told reporters.
Ties between China and Japan deteriorated last month with the detention of a Chinese fishing boat captain by the Japanese coast guard after their boats collided near the disputed isles.
The two sides had taken steps to mend ties and speculation swirled over whether Wen and Kan would hold bilateral talks on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific summit in Hanoi.
Japan said China's decision to scrap the talks was based on a "misunderstanding" over a media report that Beijing had agreed to resume negotiations with Japan on the exploration for oil and gas fields in the East China Sea.
China, however, put a different spin on the geo-political row, saying Japan had "inflamed" the East China Sea issue and disseminated information violating China's territorial claims.
"Their actions have damaged the atmosphere," Chinese Foreign Ministry official Hu Zhengyue told reporters in Hanoi, referring to Japan's raising of the Diaoyu islands in ministerial talks at the summit. "They are responsible for everything."
Japan calls the islands the Senkakus.
Both leaders appeared stiff and avoided eye contact when they lined up for photographs with other leaders during the day.
In a sign of the diplomatic shadow-play, Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara earlier told reporters after a meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Yang Jiechi, that talks had been held in a "very good atmosphere."
The flareup over the islands is the latest in a string of rows to strain ties between the neighbors.
Both governments are extremely wary of public opinion in their countries where age-old suspicion runs deep, partly from Japan's wartime occupation of parts of China.
Anti-Japan protests broke out in several Chinese cities in recent days, while in Japan, Kyodo news agency reported that suspicious containers of red liquid were sent to the Chinese embassy and consulates.
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Investigators are seen with a United Parcel Service jet near the company's facility at Philadelphia International Airport, Friday, Oct. 29, 2010.
Former president Bill Clinton speaks at a campaign rally for Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, 
Security officials inspect UPS containers in the cargo area of East Midlands airport after an explosive package was found on a plane from Yemen. Photograph: David Jones/PA 
South Korean mother Kim Rye-jung, 96, right, kisses her North Korean daughter Woo Jung Hye during the Separated Family Reunion Meeting at Diamond Mountain in North Korea, 30 Oct 2010.