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Team Obama fights to keep lead after Romney shines in debate
Indian-origin couple found dead in Oz house fire
9 kids killed as landslide buries school in China |
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Drone strike kills 5 Qaida suspects in south Yemen
Notice to Zardari over poll funding
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us presidential election Washington, October 4 Romney gave a strong performance and stayed on the offensive throughout the two men's first head-to-head meeting in the campaign for the November 6 election. But with less than five weeks before election day, the Republican still faces a tough fight to overtake the Democrat. Obama landed some punches on Romney's tax plan, but appeared restrained and missed — or chose not to pursue — several opportunities to attack. Romney's confident, rigorous debating revived his flagging campaign and could help him cut into Obama's slim but steady lead in opinion polls. But analysts said they still favoured the president's re-election chances. "Nobody is going to switch sides on the basis of this debate," said Samuel Popkin, a political science professor at the University of California at San Diego. Obama campaign surrogates flooded the Thursday morning television talk shows, acknowledging Romney had scored what they called "style points." But they accused Romney of repeated factual errors, such as insisting Obama would cut $716 billion from Medicare, and of changing positions on important issues. "Again and again and again, he told a story to the American people that is completely in contrast with what he said before and unfounded in fact. And that's going to catch up with him," senior Obama campaign adviser David Axelrod said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "I give him credit for a strong performance. I give him an 'F' for being honest with the American people," Axelrod said. Obama underwhelmed, but there was no knockout punch or devastating sound bite that could cause backers to reassess their support for the president. "For now we'll chalk this up as a wake-up call for the
president, who still has a vastly superior campaign organisation and owns the pivotal issue of Medicare," Greg Valliere, chief political analyst at Potomac Research Group, wrote in a note to clients on Thursday morning. "But this is still a winnable election for Romney and that was the ultimate take-away last night," he said. Going into the debate, Obama held a lead of 5 to 6 percentage points over Romney in most national polls, and is ahead by at least narrow margins in almost all the battleground states where the election will be decided. He was up by 6 points among likely voters in Wednesday's Reuters/Ipsos daily tracking poll, leading by 47 percent to Romney's 41 percent, a margin that has held fairly steady since mid-September. Voting has also begun in some form or another in 35 states, and 6 per cent of likely voters have already cast their ballots. Another 28 percent intend to do so before November 6, according to the Reuters/
Ipsos poll. — Reuters
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Indian-origin couple found dead in Oz house fire
Melbourne, October 4 Police said officers were in the area attending an unrelated matter when they observed a fire coming from a house in Hale Street early this morning. Police said they entered the house and located a man, dragging him from the burning building. The man was taken to a local hospital with significant burns but has since died of his injuries. Police also recovered a body of a woman from the house. Australian media identified the victims as Sargun Ragi, 22, and her taxi driver husband Avjit Singh, 31. The couple separated in August this year, The Australian newspaper said. Police did not confirm how Sargun died, but said her death is being treated as "suspicious". The paper, citing its sources, reported that Sargun had been stabbed repeatedly. Sargun had been married to Singh for a year and had been living in the Kew house for just three days.
— PTI
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9 kids killed as landslide buries school in China Beijing, October 4 The mishap took place at Zhenhe village located in Yiliang County of Zhaotong City, the county government said. The landslide, estimated to be around 10,000 cubic metre, engulfed a primary school building, trapping 18 students, the government said. Two residences near the school were also hit by the landslide, with one villager being buried. A family of three managed to escape the landslide before it arrived. The government has moved local residents to safer places and dispatched rescue teams to the area. On September 7, multiple earthquakes struck Yiliang County and its neighbouring areas in Yunnan and Guizhou provinces, killing 81 people and injuring 800 others. —
PTI
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21 Syrian soldiers die in blast Beirut, October 4 The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights had reported an earlier toll of 18 from the violence in Qudsaya, west of the capital, but revised it upwards. "According to a medical source and eyewitnesses, the toll may rise further still," the Britain-based watchdog said. Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said the clashes in Qudsaya were continuing, and that most of the troops who died were killed in the explosion and the remainder in the fighting. "The rebels likely used a small explosive device (that was) placed near the Republican Guards' living quarters in Qudsaya," said Abdel Rahman. The army launched a major offensive on Qudsaya and a neighbouring locality yesterday, deploying troops heavily there, the Observatory and AFP journalists said. — AFP
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Drone strike kills 5 Qaida suspects in south Yemen
Aden, October 4 "Five militants belonging to Ansar Al-Sharia (Partisans of Islamic law) were killed in a drone strike" in Shabwa, a source said. Witnesses said the drone fired four missiles at the two cars as they travelled through the town of Saeed in Shabwa, a stronghold of the militant group. "The two cars are still burning and we couldn't get close to them because the drones are still hovering in the area," said a local.
— AFP
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Notice to Zardari over poll funding A three-member bench of Supreme Court hearing Asghar Khan case regarding distribution of funds by ISI to politicians in 1990 polls, has made President Asif Ali Zardari a defendant in the case and issued a notice. Pakistan’s premier spy agency, ISI, distributed millions to politicians opposed to Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) under slain premier Benazir Bhutto in order to defeat her in the 1990 elections. Main opposition leader Nawaz Sharif is cited as one of major beneficiaries therein.
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US crackdown on online fraud schemes from India UK girl has more IQ than Einstein
Alligator found in US supermarket 9 booked in Pak for assault on children Court orders arrest of Philippine
ex-prez Obama wanted to try Osama in court?
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President Barack Obama's backers scrambled to keep his edge in the presidential race on Thursday after rival Mitt Romney's aggressive debate performance put his campaign on a more positive footing.
