NEWS,16.01.2013

Obama unveils $500m gun-control proposals

President Barack Obama on Wednesday launched the most sweeping effort to curb US gun violence in nearly two decades, announcing a $500m package that sets up a fight with Congress over bans on military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines just a month after a shooting in Connecticut killed 20 school children.Obama also signed 23 executive actions, which require no congressional approval. But the president, speaking at the White House, acknowledged the most sweeping, effective actions must be taken by lawmakers."To make a real and lasting difference, Congress must act," Obama said. "And Congress must act soon." He added, "I'll put everything that I've got into this."Obama was joined by children who wrote him letters about gun violence in the weeks following the Connecticut shooting. Families of the children killed in the shooting, as well as survivors, were also in the audience.The president appealed to the nation's conscience, but his announcement promises to set up a bitter fight with a powerful pro-gun lobby that has long warned supporters that Obama wanted to take away their guns.The US has the highest rate of gun ownership of any country in the world, and pro-gun groups see any move on gun restrictions as an offense against the right guaranteed by the Second Amendment of the US Constitution. Critics counter that the country's founding fathers never could have foreseen assault weapons more than two centuries ago, when guns were intended for the common, not individual, defence, guns were often stored in community areas and rifles fired one shot at a time."This is the land of the free and the home of the brave, and always will be," Obama said, acknowledging the right to possess and bear firearms. "But we've also long realised ... that with rights come responsibilities."Emotions have been high since the Connecticut shooting, which Obama has called the worst day of his presidency. He largely ignored the issue of gun violence during his first term but appears willing to stake his second term on it now. He'll have to contend with looming fiscal issues that have threatened to push whatever he proposes aside, at least for a while.Gun control advocates also worry that opposition from the powerful National Rifle Association (NRA) and its allies in Congress will be too great to overcome. The NRA released an online video on Wednesday that called Obama an "elitist hypocrite" for having armed Secret Service agents protect his daughters at school while not committing to installing armed guards in all schools. The NRA insists that the best way to prevent more mass shootings is to give more "good guys" guns.The White House called the NRA video "repugnant and cowardly”.The public appears receptive to stronger federal action on guns, with majorities of Americans favouring a nationwide ban on military-style rapid-fire weapons, according to a new AP -GfK poll. Three-quarters of Americans said they reacted to the Connecticut shooting with deep anger, while 54% said they felt deeply ashamed it could happen in the US.The poll also shows 51% said they believed laws limiting gun ownership infringe on the public's right to bear firearms.White House officials, seeking to avoid setting the president up for failure, have emphasised that no single measure - even an assault weapons ban - would solve the scourge of gun violence. But without such a ban, or other sweeping Congress-approved measures, it's unclear whether executive actions alone can make any noticeable difference.The president asked Congress to renew the ban on high-grade, military-style assault weapons that was first signed into law by then-president Bill Clinton in 1994, but expired in 2004. Obama also called for limiting ammunition magazines to 10 rounds or fewer, and he proposed a federal statute to stop purchases of guns by buyers who are acting for others.The president also called for a focus on universal background checks. About 40% of gun sales take place without background checks, including those by private sellers at gun shows or over the internet, according to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.The president's framework is based on recommendations from Vice President Joe Biden, who led a wide-ranging task force on gun violence. Beyond the gun control measures, Biden also gave Obama suggestions for improving mental health care and addressing violent images in video games, movies and television.States and cities have been moving against gun violence as well. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday signed into law the toughest gun control law in the US, and the first since the Connecticut shooting. The law includes a tougher assault-weapons ban and provisions to try to keep guns out of the hands of mentally ill people who make threats.The NRA criticised the bill, saying in a statement, "These gun control schemes have failed in the past and will have no impact on public safety and crime."In Washington, it's unclear how much political capital Obama will use in pressing for congressional action.The White House and Congress will soon be consumed by three looming fiscal deadlines, each of which is expected to be contentious. And the top Republican in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, has warned the White House that it will be at least three months before the chamber considers gun legislation.Congress, in any case, can move slowly. The chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee said on Wednesday he'll begin hearings in two weeks on gun safety proposals. Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy, a gun owner, said he envisions a series of hearings examining violence in popular media and how to keep guns safe, among other topics.Leahy's plan could take more time than Obama has urged.Obama's long list of executive orders includes the following:Ordering tougher penalties for people who lie on background checks and requiring federal agencies to make relevant data available to the federal background check system.Ending limits that make it more difficult for the government to research gun violence, such as gathering data on guns that fall into criminal hands.Requiring federal law enforcement to trace guns recovered in criminal investigations.Giving schools flexibility to use federal grant money to improve school safety, such as by hiring school resource officers.Giving communities grants to institute programs to keep guns away from people who shouldn't have them.

Republicans ready for debt-ceiling battle

Republican lawmakers are preparing to introduce legislation to direct the US Treasury to make interest payments on American bonds first and then prioritise other government outlays in case Congress does not raise the debt ceiling.Supporters of the idea see it as a politically palatable alternative to default, which could rattle markets as occurred in the summer of 2011. The likelihood of another market-unsettling event is challenging Republicans to find another idea as they use the debt ceiling as leverage to extract spending cuts from President Barack Obama.But critics, including some Republicans, say prioritising payments is largely unworkable and would not fool the markets.The Treasury hit the $16.4tn debt ceiling, or the legal amount it is allowed to borrow, on New Year's Eve and started moving funds around so that the government can continue paying its bills. But the department said it will run out of funds as early as mid-February. Among those advocating the approach is Republican Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, who is expected to reintroduce legislation next week to instruct the Treasury to make sure bond-holders, got paid first if Congress does not raise the debt ceiling by the deadline.In the House of Representatives, Arizona Republican David Schweikert introduced legislation that would force the Treasury to prioritize payments to bond-holders, Social Security recipients and military salaries."No one is talking about default except for the president," said Patrick Tiberi, a Republican Representative from Ohio who heads a tax-writing subcommittee."He doesn't need to default because he has enough revenue, money coming in from the taxes that you guys pay to pay bills," Tiberi told reporters on Tuesday."Ninety-nine percent of my constituents would say that sending out Social Security payments and keeping veteran hospitals open is a bigger priority than national parks," he said. But former advisers to Republican President George W Bush say the idea is unworkable for a number of reasons, including the fact that tax revenue does not come in at the same rate that payments are due."Prioritisation is impossible," said Tony Fratto, who was Deputy Press Secretary for Bush and a spokesperson on economic policy who fought through approximately seven debt limit increases with Congress. "Is the government really going to be in the position of withholding benefits, salaries, rent and contract payments, in order to pay off Treasury bond-holders? That would be a political catastrophe," Fratto said.Keith Hennessey, Bush's National Economic Council director, said prioritisation was a bad idea that could increase credit risk and said it would be irresponsible."Payment prioritisation doesn't stop payments, it just delays them. Then the aggrieved party sues the government, and probably wins, and it turns into a bloody mess," Hennessey, now an economist at Stanford, said in a blog post this week.Even when the government was operating under a budget surplus, as it did from 1998 through 2001 under President Bill Clinton, the Treasury still had to borrow or issue debt to make its regular payments because its income fluctuates month-to-month.The department is expected to run out of ways to stave off a default as early as mid-February, and Republican lawmakers say they will refuse to give the Obama administration the votes needed to raise the debt cap unless Democrats agree to spending cuts and changes to federal benefits programs.On 15 February, the government is expected to take in about $9bn in revenues and is required to pay bills amounting to $52bn, according to the think tank the Bipartisan Policy Centre, which analysed Treasury's cash flows. The Treasury Department has said ensuring that bond investors got paid before others would be a "default by another name."And in the past, Treasury officials have said the department lacks the formal legal authority to establish priorities to pay obligations, according to the non-partisan Congressional Research Service.

Germany to bring gold home

Germany's central bank is hauling home tens of thousands of gold bars currently stored in the US and France, in a high-security operation spread over eight years. All 374 tons of German gold held in Paris vaults will be moved back to the Bundesbank's vaults in Frankfurt by 2020, the bank said on Wednesday. A further 300 tons of gold stored in New York will also be brought back.In total, the shipments are worth $36bn at current market prices and represent about 19% of Germany's gold reserves - the world's second-largest after the United States.Once the shipment is complete, Frankfurt will hold half of Germany's 3 400 tons of reserve gold - currently worth about $183bn - with New York retaining 37% and London storing 13%.But don't expect the Bundesbank to reveal how it's going to keep the valuable cargo safe on its way back to Germany - especially after the stunning raid of a Berlin bank earlier this week in which burglars tunnelled 30m to reach the safety deposit room."For security reasons we can't discuss that, partly to protect the gold, partly to protect the staff that will be carrying out the transfer," said spokesperson Moritz August Raasch."But of course since we transport large sums of money around Germany every day, we've got a certain amount of experience with this."During the Cold War, Germany kept most of its gold abroad for fear it could fall into the hands of the Soviet Union if the country was invaded.Another reason was that it's easier to swap the reserves for foreign currency in London, Paris and New York, where gold is traded.Since France, like Germany, switched to the euro more than a decade ago, storing gold in Paris was no longer necessary, the Bundesbank said.The move follows criticism last year from Germany's independent Federal Auditors' Office, which concluded that the central bank failed to properly oversee its gold. The auditor suggested the central bank should carry out regular inspections of the gold held abroad.The auditors' report stunned Germany, where the Bundesbank routinely tops polls of the nation's most trusted institutions. The central bank was taken aback and maintained it didn't see the need for more scrutiny in overseeing the reserves, saying "there is no doubt about the integrity of the foreign storage sites."But several politicians jumped on the issue and called for some of the reserves to be repatriated.The Bundesbank isn't taking any chances should anything happen to the gold on its way back to Frankfurt.

Renewed talks on Iranian nuclear probe

Senior UN investigators opened a new round of talks on Wednesday with Iranian officials in Tehran in the hopes of restarting a probe into allegations that the Islamic Republic carried out atomic bomb trigger tests and other suspected weapons-related studies. The semi-official ISNA news agency reported that negotiations started at the headquarters of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation. It gave no further details.The UN meetings are considered an important test of Iran's willingness to address Western concerns before the possible resumption of wider dialogue with the US and other world powers.Negotiations with the six nations - the US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany - fell apart more than six months ago and Iran has proposed getting them back on track, perhaps as soon as later this month.The US and others hope the talks will result in an agreement by the Islamic Republic to stop enriching uranium to a higher level that could be turned relatively quickly into the warhead-grade material.Iran denies such aspirations, insisting it is enriching only to make reactor fuel and to make isotopes for medical purposes.ISNA said EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton has agreed restart the next round of world power talks with Iran on 28-29 January, but no decision has yet been made on the venue. The last round, held in Moscow in June, ended in stalemate.The official IRNA news agency, however, said the talks may not resume until early February.Before departing on Tuesday for Iran, UN team leader Herman Nackaerts said the International Atomic Energy Agency hoped to "finalise the structured approach" that would outline what the agency can and cannot do in its investigation.The UN nuclear watchdog wants to revisit Parchin, a military site southeast of Tehran, to probe allegations that Iran may have tested components needed to develop a nuclear weapon. Tehran has steadfastly denied any such activity.Iran says IAEA's suspicions are based on forged intelligence provided by the CIA, the Israeli Mossad, Britain's MI-6 and other intelligence agencies, and that Tehran has not been allowed to see the materials to respond to them.The IAEA also is trying to follow up other suspicions, including whether Iran did computer modelling of nuclear warhead core. The agency says it has intelligence information indicating Iran carried out preparatory work for a nuclear weapons test, and development of a nuclear payload for Iran's Shahab 3 intermediate range missile - a weapon that can reach Israel.Iranians say they have a bitter memory of allowing IAEA inspections and providing replies to a long list of queries over its nuclear program in the past decade. Now, Tehran says such queries should not be revived.Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ramin Mehmanparast said on Tuesday that Iran provided detailed explanations to IAEA questions on six outstanding issues in the past but instead of giving Iran a clean bill of health, the agency levelled new allegations on the basis of "alleged studies" provided by Iran's enemies.Iran uses that term to refer to allegations about Parchin and other claims that it says the IAEA levels only to keep the issue alive.Tehran has in the past allowed IAEA inspectors twice into Parchin, but now it says any new agency investigation must be governed by an agreement that lays out the scope of such a probe."Obligations of the other party must be clearly specified. If a claim is to be raised on a spot in Iran every day and [the UN agency] seeks to visit our military facilities under such a pretext... this issue will be unending," Mehmanparast said on Tuesday.President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad acknowledged on Wednesday that sanctions have slowed down Iran's growth and disrupted its foreign trade and said the country must move away from a dependence on oil revenues to overcome sanctions.Addressing parliament, Ahmadinejad said "structural changes" are needed in Iran's economy to overcome the sanctions.Iran is under toughed Western oil and banking sanctions over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment. The US and its allies fear Iran may ultimately be able to develop nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran denies.

NEWS,11.11.2012

What did they learn?

The 2012 presidential election shattered spending records, further polarised a divided country and launched a thousand hashtags. The race appeared to be a nail-biter going into Tuesday night but in the end, it came down to the state that most had been saying for weeks that it would Ohio.

Here are five things we learned from Tuesday:

1. The GOP has a Latino problem

"If we don't do better with Hispanics, we'll be out of the White House forever," says Republican strategist and CNN contributor Ana Navarro, who was the national Hispanic co-chair of Senator John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign.

"The big issue Republicans are going to have to wrestle with is the Hispanic issue," adds Republican strategist and CNN contributor Ari Fleischer, who served as former president George W Bush's first press secretary. "Republicans are going to have to find a different way forward."

The national exit polls tell the story. Latinos are the fastest growing-segment of the population. Their share of the vote expanded from 9% in 2008 to 10% in this election. The president won 67% of the vote four years ago. He increased that to 71% this year.

Latinos were crucial in helping Obama win the battleground states of Colorado and Nevada, and in putting the president in the lead for Florida's 29 electoral votes. And they were just as important in turning the former swing state of New Mexico into what appears to be an increasingly safe state for the Democrats.

If the current trend continues, Arizona and Texas could turn from red to purple.

The 2012 election is a loud wake-up call for the GOP to change its stance on illegal immigration.

And that's being acknowledged by arguably the best known Latino Republican senator.

"The conservative movement should have particular appeal to people in minority and immigrant communities who are trying to make it, and Republicans need to work harder than ever to communicate our beliefs to them," said Senator Marco Rubio of Florida in a statement on Tuesday night.

2. The youth vote came up big and the white vote got smaller

A big question heading into Election Day was whether younger voters would show up at the polls.

More of them did than last time.

According to national exit polls, 18-29 year olds increased from 17% to 18% of the electorate from 2004 to 2008. They made up 19% of the electorate this time around. That jump in size from four years ago made up for the president's drop in capturing the youth vote, from 66% in 2008 to 60% in 2012.

It wasn't just age, but also race, that worked in the president's favor.

Obama's share of the white vote dropped from 43% four years ago to 39% this year. But that was negated by the shrinking of the white vote from 74% of the electorate four years ago to 72% now. And the African-American percentage of the electorate stayed steady at 13%. Some GOP strategists said that the white vote needed to be 74% for Romney to win.

"The youth vote and the black vote turned out once again and that's to the president's credit," Fleischer said.

3. The auto bailouts helped drive Obama to victory in Ohio

For months, the Obama campaign touted the taxpayer bailouts of General Motors and Chrysler, and they were given prominent prime-time placement during the Democratic National Convention in early September.

It's a strategy that the Obama campaign thought could be the difference in Ohio, a major base for the auto industry that eventually decided the election.

"The American auto industry is back on top," Obama said campaigning last week in the Buckeye State.

The bailouts were started under President George W Bush in 2008 but Obama grabbed the keys to the programme the next year, managing and funding the assistance.

Romney opposed the bailout and pushed for a privately financed and managed bankruptcy of the two automakers. The Obama campaign and other Democrats have attacked Romney over his opposition to the federal intervention, which aided the companies through their eventual bankruptcies.

And in the final weeks leading up the the election, the Obama campaign highlighted pushback by General Motors and Chrysler to a Romney TV ad and a radio spot this past week that claimed both domestic auto makers were sending US jobs to China.

It seemed to work. Nearly six in 10 Ohio voters said they approved of the federal government's role in helping the troubled domestic automakers, and according to exit polls, the president won three quarters of those voters.

4. Romney wasn't able to expand the map

Much was made of campaign visits by Romney and his running mate, Representative Paul Ryan, to Pennsylvania in the final weekend before the election, and Romney's return to the Keystone State on election day.

The Romney campaign and allied super PACs supporting the GOP nominee flooded Pennsylvania airwaves in the final weeks with a flurry of TV ads.

To a lesser degree, there was a similar push in Minnesota, another solidly Democratic state where public opinion polls tightened last month.

There was talk by Romney campaign officials of being on offense and of expanding the electoral map.

It didn't pan out.

While Romney performed stronger than 2008 Republican nominee John McCain in Pennsylvania and Minnesota, it wasn't enough. And of the swing states that swung blue four years ago, it appears Romney was only able to turn Indiana and North Carolina red again.

Romney's 'all' proved not enough

5. What will $6bn get you?

We had a Democratic president, a Republican House of Representatives, and Democratic Senate going into the 2012 election. And we'll have a Democrat in the White House, with a Republican House and a Democratic Senate after the election.

When all the bills are in, total spending for the 2012 election (all federal and state races) could top a record-breaking $6bn. And what did all that money buy?

Some would argue ... nothing.

 

Greece votes on budget to unlock aid

Parliament in Athens are preparing to vote on an annual budget that will cut spending and raise taxes yet again but which the government insisted will kill off talk of Greece being forced out of Europe's currency union.An anti-austerity demonstration called by major trade unions mustered thousands of protesters outside during the debate but a spokesman for conservative prime minister Antonis Samaras's coalition reflected confidence the government majority would see the 2013 budget bill pass, probably around midnight."With today's vote, we put an end to the Grexit talk," Simos Kediglou told a Greek television channel, using the term coined for the possibility Greece might force to exit the euro zone.The measure, following a separate package of belt-tightening approved last week, should ensure Athens receives further credit from international lenders and so avoid imminent insolvency.However, many of the 10 million Greeks, driven to despair by five years of debt-laden economic slump, fear attempts to cut the public deficit will only deepen the crisis and many poorer citizens say living standards in a country where unemployment is running at 25% are becoming hard to bear."All those measures throw us back 50 years," said Thymios Marvitsas, 75, during a communist protest march to parliament during the budget debate. "Our pensions and wages are cut. My life is getting harder and harder."Police estimated the crowd outside parliament at 13,000.Arguments about the wisdom of cutting spending have also divided the political establishment and today's vote poses a test of confidence in Samaras's three-party coalition.It managed to pass Wednesday's austerity and reform package by only a narrow majority after the smallest of the partners, Democratic Left, abstained. However, its leaders have said the party will vote for the 2013 budget and, with Samaras having nominal support from 168 of the 300 members, it should pass.Hours later, euro zone finance ministers meet in Brussels for talks likely to be dominated by the Greek crisis though a final decision on extended more credit is not expected.Securing both pieces of budget-cutting legislation has been a condition of renewing bailout funding and unlocking more than 30 billion euros in financing from the International Monetary Fund and European Union later this month.The government, formed after a tumultuous election in June, has ignored sliding poll numbers and occasionally violent street protests in pursuit of favour with its creditors."Today we must demand sacrifices so there is hope for future generations," Finance Minister Yannis Stounaras told parliament on Saturday. "Re-establishing our credibility is our only passport to recovery."For the opposition, Panagiotis Lafazanis of the leftist SYRIZA party, responded: "For three years you have been going from bailout to bailout, rescue to rescue."You've already bankrupted the Greek people."According to the budget draft, the Mediterranean state's economy will shrink for its sixth year running, by 4.5%.The budget deficit will be 5.2% of gross domestic product (GDP), down from 6.6% expected this year. But once the cost of paying interest on its huge debt is removed, Greece will show a tiny surplus for the first time in decades.These deficit figures assume Athens's lenders will extend a deadline for it to narrow its fiscal shortfall by two years in exchange for the new belt-tightening package.The biggest cost-reductions next year are pension cuts of up to 15% for almost half the total 9.4 billion euros in budget savings and public wages cuts of 1.2 billion.Greece's fiscal adjustment has hit workers more than the wealthy elite. This has become a sore point in a nation where media have published lists of bankers, lawyers and shipping magnates who they say have moved cash to Switzerland."It's always the same. The poor pay and no one touches the rich and the tax evaders. Winter is coming and I can't afford heat," said 41-year-old housewife Angeliki Petropoulou.

Brics eye $240bn forex reserves pool

Leading emerging market countries are discussing pooling up to $240bn in foreign exchange reserves to protect themselves from short-term liquidity pressures, according to documents outlining plans by the five Brics nations.Brics countries China, Russia, India, Brazil and South Africa announced a working group in June to look into jointly pooling reserves and creating a new development bank to fund infrastructure projects in the developing world.According to the documents, the pool of central bank money would be available to Brics facing balance of payments difficulties. Some, however, are also pushing for a precautionary credit line, similar to the IMF's that provides countries with insurance against outside economic shocks.The move is part of growing frustration among the Brics and other developing countries with the continued dominance by the United States and European countries of global institutions like the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.Brics officials meeting on the sidelines of a recent G20 summit of finance ministers from developed and developing nations sought to advance their plans ahead of a Brics leaders' summit in South Africa in March.Planned currency swap arrangements would also give Brics the ability to lend to each other to keep markets liquid. fficials at the G20 Brics meeting, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said China had emphasised that the size of the reserve pool needed to be sufficiently big to be taken seriously by markets.Officials believe that the Brics reserve pool should be similar in size to the Chiang Mai Initiative of southeast Asian countries, which was doubled to $240bn in May to boost their protection against external shocks. The Chiang Mai program, first agreed in 2000, has never been put to use because it would require the country to request a program from the IMF, which was blamed for insufficient bailouts during the Asian currency crisis of 1998.Eswar Prasad, a Cornell University economics professor and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, said the proposed plan for pooling resources posed a "strong and serious challenge to existing global monetary arrangements.""Irrespective of the logic and possible complications of these schemes to pool their funds, these proposals from the Brics may have the salutary effect of prodding global monetary reforms along at a faster pace," Prasad said.Countries like China are keen to see its currency, the yuan, added to the IMF basket of currencies, currently including the pound, yen, euro and dollar, that make up the IMF unit of account, the Special Drawing Right.   While a number of the Brics believe disbursements from the reserve pool should be made in US dollars, others preferred to use the SDR. "In terms of disbursement, the preference would be to use the US dollar or other reserve currencies, but the view was also expressed that part of the disbursements could be made available in Brics national currencies," according to the documents.Discussions are also looking at what conditions should be attached to the reserve pool. One question is whether the scheme should be linked to an IMF program, which could be a bitter pill to swallow for any of the Brics. Some Brics are arguing for a partial link to the IMF, with an initial quick disbursement subject to rules of the pooling. The Brics are also considering creating a new development bank to support financing of long-term infrastructure projects for emerging and developing economies, to meet the pressing need for roads, railways, ports and electricity.The Brics bank would be in competition with the World Bank and other multilateral development banks, which also provide loans for infrastructure projects. However, countries like India are already facing limits on its borrowing from the World Bank.The Brics documents noted that existing multilateral development banks are under-capitalised compared to the growing needs of emerging economies and developing countries.The new bank would initially issue non-concessionary project-linked finance to members, meaning that the financing would be at a higher cost. A small window of low-cost loans could be considered as the bank expanded, the documents said.The World Bank and other institutions have long insisted that lending to poor countries should involve low-interest loans to avoid pushing up their debts to unsustainable levels.

NEWS,05.11.2012

'King-maker' Ohio final stop before poll

President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney stormed into the final day of campaigning before Election Day, on 6 November, once again visiting the toughest battleground state of all - Ohio. The industrial Midwestern state has picked the winner of the last 12 electionNationwide polls show the two locked in one of the closest, and most expensive, presidential races in recent US history.But a majority of polls in the battleground states especially in Ohio and other Midwestern states of Iowa and Wisconsin show Obama with a slight advantage. That gives him an easier path to the 270 electoral votes needed for victory. No Republican has won the White House without carrying Ohio, and it was possible that Romney would make a last-minute visit to the state on Election Day.Under the US system, the winner is not determined by the nationwide popular vote but in state-by-state contests, making nine "battleground" states that don't consistently vote Republican nor Democratic extremely important in such a tight race. Winning a state gives Romney or Obama that state's electoral votes, which are apportioned to states based on a mix of population and representation in Congress.This year's tight race raises the possibility of a replay of the chaotic 2000 election, when Republican George W Bush won the presidency with an electoral vote majority while Democrat Al Gore had a narrow lead in the nationwide popular vote.Both Obama and Romney say this year's winner will be determined by which of their campaigns can get the most supporters to the polls. "This is going to be a turnout election," the president declared in an interview airing on Monday. Obama needs the support of blacks and Hispanics to counter Romney's support among while men, but his campaign knows that the feeling of making history by electing America's first black president that fired up the 2008 campaign, has cooled.Rock legend Bruce Springsteen and rapper Jay-Z were joining Obama for Ohio events on Monday."We have one job left," and that's getting people out to vote, Romney told a Florida crowd on Monday morning. The crowd chanted, "One more day!"The cost of the presidential campaign has surged past $2bn.Romney, who described himself as "severely conservative" during the Republican primary campaign, has shifted sharply in recent weeks to appeal to the political centre and highlights what he says was his bipartisan record as governor of Democratic leaning Massachusetts. He continues to insist that his experience as a businessman would help fix the still-weak US economy a top issue with voters.Obama has come back from a weak performance in his first of three debates with Romney last month and hammered at Romney's shifting positions.The final national Wall Street Journal Poll, released on Sunday, showed Obama with the support of 48% of likely voters, with Romney receiving 47%. The poll had a margin of error of 2.55 percentage points.The final national poll from the Pew Research Centre found Obama with a three-point edge over Romney, 48% to 45% among likely voters, an improved showing that indicates the president may have benefited from his handling of the response to last week's Superstorm Sandy. Obama suspended three full days of campaigning to deal with the East Coast disaster. The Pew poll had a margin of error of 2.2 percentage points.If the election were held now, an Associated Press analysis found that Obama would be all but assured of 249 electoral votes by carrying 20 states that are solidly Democratic or leaning his way and the District of Columbia. Romney would lay claim to 206, from probable victories in 24 states that are strong Republican ground or tilt toward the Republicans.Up for grabs are 83 electoral votes spread across Colorado, Florida, Ohio, New Hampshire, Virginia and Wisconsin. Of those, Republicans and Democrats alike say Obama seems in slightly better shape than Romney in Ohio and Wisconsin, while Romney appears to be performing slightly better than Obama or has pulled even in Virginia and Florida.With Obama sustaining his lead in Ohio, Romney has made a surprise, last-minute move in neighbouring Pennsylvania. The state has voted Democratic in the last five presidential elections and has long been counted in the Obama column. Romney made his first visit of the fall campaign on Sunday.The theme from the movie Rocky blared from the loudspeakers as he stepped to the podium in a Philadelphia suburb. "The people of America understand we're taking back the White House because we're going to win Pennsylvania," Romney told a large crowd on a cold night.Obama's campaign said Romney's move in Pennsylvania showed the Republican's desperation over his diminished chances in Ohio. And the Obama campaign announced that former president Bill Clinton Obama's most powerful surrogate would make four campaign stops in Pennsylvania on Monday.About 30 million people have already cast ballots in 34 states and the District of Columbia, although none will be counted until Election Day on Tuesday.Storm-hit New York and New Jersey hurried to make voting accessible in a region where more than 1 million remain without power. The states, however, are considered by both campaigns to be heavily for Obama.

 

Obama and Romney in final voter appeals

The Democratic incumbent, appearing in Madison, Wisconsin, drew a large crowd that was warmed up by Bruce Springsteen."Wisconsin, tomorrow you have a choice to make," he said. "It is a choice between two different visions for America."On the defensive throughout the year for presiding over persistently high unemployment, Obama said the choice was between the Republicans' "top-down policies that crashed our economy" and his own approach to moving the country forward.Romney was in Lynchburg, Virginia, telling voters: "One final push is going to get us there."We're only one day away from a fresh start, one day away from the start of a new beginning," he said.Obama was making stops in three swing states and Romney was hitting four.Their goal was to piece together the 270 Electoral College votes needed for victory in the state-by-state battle for the presidency.All eyes were on the Midwestern state of Ohio, whose 18 electoral votes could be decisive.After voting early in his home state of Massachusetts, Romney was considering a last-second visit to Ohio on election day to try to drive turnout, aides said.The election's outcome will impact a variety of domestic and foreign policy issues, from the looming "fiscal cliff" of spending cuts and tax increases that could kick in at the end of the year to questions about how to handle illegal immigration or Iran's nuclear ambitions.The balance of power in Congress also will be at stake, with Obama's Democrats now expected to narrowly hold their Senate majority and Romney's Republicans favoured to retain control of the House of Representatives.In a race where the two candidates and their party allies raised a combined $US2 billion , the most in US history, both sides have pounded the heavily contested battleground states with an unprecedented barrage of ads.The close margins in state and national polls suggested the possibility of a cliffhanger that could be decided by which side has the best turnout operation and gets its voters to the polls.In the final days, both Obama and Romney focused on firing up core supporters and wooing the last few undecided voters in battleground states.Romney reached out to dissatisfied Obama supporters from 2008, calling himself the candidate of change and ridiculing Obama's failure to live up to his campaign promises."He promised to do so very much but frankly he fell so very short," Romney said at a rally in Cleveland on Sunday.Obama, citing improving economic reports on the pace of hiring, argued in the final stretch that he has made progress in turning around the economy but needed a second White House term to finish the job."This is a choice between two different versions of America," Obama said in Cincinnati.Obama will close his campaign with a final blitz across Wisconsin, Ohio and Iowa - three Midwestern states that, barring surprises elsewhere, would be enough to get him more than the 270 electoral votes needed for victory.Polls show Obama has slim advantages in all three. His final stop on Monday night will be in Iowa, the state that propelled him to the White House in 2008 with a victory in its first-in-the nation caucus.Romney will visit his must-win states of Florida and Virginia where polls show he is slightly ahead or tied along with Ohio before concluding in New Hampshire, where he officially started his presidential run last year.The only state scheduled to get a visit on Monday US time from both candidates is Ohio, the most critical of the remaining battlegrounds - particularly for Romney. He has few paths to victory if he cannot win in Ohio, where Obama has kept a small but steady lead in polls for months.One in every eight jobs in Ohio is tied to car manufacturing and Obama has been buoyed in the state by his support for a federal bailout of the auto industry.Ohio also has a strong state economy with an unemployment rate lower than the 7.9% national rate.That has undercut Romney's frequent criticism of Obama's economic leadership, which has focused on the persistently high jobless rate and what Romney calls Obama's big-spending efforts to expand government power.Romney, who would be the first Mormon president, has centered his campaign pitch on his own experience as a business leader at a private equity fund and said it made him uniquely suited to create jobs.Obama's campaign fired back with ads criticising Romney's experience and portraying the multimillionaire as out of touch with everyday Americans.Obama and allies said Romney's firm, Bain Capital, plundered companies and eliminated jobs to maximize profits. They also made an issue of Romney's refusal to release more than two years of personal tax returns.

States that will decide White House race

The White House race has narrowed to a fight over less than 10 states ahead of Tuesday's tight election between President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.Obama's strategy, with a final day of campaigning to go, is to solidify his last line of defence in the industrial Midwest, and to try to pluck away several insurance states from Romney's target list elsewhere.The Republican challenger trails the president in polls in many of the battleground states but retains a narrow and plausible path to the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency.Romney's camp also argues that the challenger may not even be behind, claiming that state polls are based on unrealistic assumptions of the size of the Democratic slice of the electorate and underplay Republican enthusiasm.Here is the state of play in swing states that will decide whether Obama wins a second term, or Romney recaptures the White House for Republicans.

The number of electoral votes each state has is in brackets.

Obama's last line of defence

If Obama wins Ohio, Wisconsin and Iowa, and avoids any upsets on his turf, he is all but certain to become only the second Democrat to win two White House terms since World War II.

Romney spent months trying to tear the president's Midwestern "firewall" but was hampered by an Obama advertising blitz hammering him as a wealthy plutocrat who disdains the middle class.

-    Ohio (18)

In most recent polls, Obama led Ohio between two and five points, an ominous sign for Romney, as no Republican since the Civil War has lost the state and gone on to win the White House.

Obama touts his bailout of the indebted auto industry in 2009 and Romney's opposition to it, as one-in-eight jobs in the state are linked to the sector.

His team believes that Romney has undermined his hopes in Ohio by running an ad warning that Chrysler will outsource production of its Jeep vehicles to China, a charge the company's CEO has said is false.

Obama leads an average of polls in Ohio by the  website by 2.8%.

-    Wisconsin (10)

Wisconsin has been solid Democratic territory for years: the last time a Republican won the state was Ronald Reagan in 1984.

But Republicans, who managed to repel an attempt by Democrats to oust Governor Scott Walker in a recall election this year, have a solid ground game in the state, and Romney's running mate Paul Ryan is a local boy.

The president leads average by 4.2%.

-    Iowa (6)

Where it all started for Obama. The president built his grass roots operation in the agricultural heartland state and believes that after carving out an advantage in early voting, he has the edge on Romney.

Obama leads average in Iowa by 2.5%.

Up for grabs

-    Florida (29)

The Sunshine State, the largest electoral battleground, is often decisive in presidential elections, but may not be the kingmaker this time. But Obama is competing fiercely there because if he wins, it is all but impossible for Romney to take the White House.
A punishing foreclosure crisis and an unemployment rate higher than the national average have many analysts expecting Florida to swing to Romney.

Obama has led several recent polls however, and if he can get a bumper turnout in Democratic strongholds in the southern part of the state, he could pull off a surprise.

Romney leads average by 1.4%.

-    Virginia (13)

Neither side seem to know whether the state will revert to Republicans after Obama became the first Democrat to win there since 1964. Obama needs to maximize turnout among students, and African American voters around the cities of Richmond and Norfolk.

Romney will count on old school conservatives in rural areas of the state and look to cut down on Obama's margins with educated middle class voters in the Washington DC suburbs.

Currently, Romney leads average by 0.3%.

-    North Carolina (15)

The most likely state to move from Democratic to Republican because Obama won it by only 14 000 votes in 2008. Romney aides are certain their man will win, but the Obama camp has mobilised a massive early voting effort, which it says will keep the president competitive into election day.

Romney is up 3.8% in scoreboard.

-    Colorado (9)

Romney's best chance to grab a western swing state. Obama is relying on women and Hispanic voters to keep him in the game here and currently heads the RCP average by 0.6%.

-    New Hampshire (4)

The flinty northeastern state with an independent streak knows Romney well after he served as governor of neighbouring Massachusetts.

Obama won this state, in 2008 and leads average this year by 1.5%.

May be over

-    Nevada (6)

The Obama campaign says it has a substantial lead after early voting which means Romney needs to win big in election day voting.
Obama has a powerbase among Hispanic voters, and his trip to the bowels of a vast Las Vegas casino hotel to greet culinary workers a few weeks ago looks to have paid off.

Obama leads Nevada by 2.8% in average.

Romney's last stand

-    Pennsylvania (20), Michigan (16), Minnesota (10)

Romney will make a late swoop into Pennsylvania on Sunday after ignoring the Keystone State for much of the campaign. Democrats say his move shows desperation and recognition that he cannot get to 270 electoral votes elsewhere. Obama leads the RCP average by 3.9%.

Republicans have also made big advertising buys in Democratic states Minnesota, where Obama is up by 5.8 five points, according to RCP and in Michigan where Obama leads by 3.8% in the averages.

Obama aide David Axelrod is so confident that he has offered to shave his trademark moustache if Romney wins any of the trio.

NEWS,04.11.2012

Obama and Romney sprint to unpredictable finish

President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney are sprinting to an unpredictable finish in the last 48 hours of a very close race for the White House.The two candidates have been trying to turn out supporters and woo undecided voters in a handful of toss-up states.Obama and Romney began cross-country trips on the next-to-last day of a race that polls show is deadlocked nationally, although the president appeared to have a slight edge in the swing states that will decide who captures the 270 electoral votes needed to win on Tuesday .US correspondent told Breakfast the race was "insanely tight", with polls showing the two candidates within a margin of error of each other."Both candidates are trying to win over any last-minute voters that they can especially in the swing states that will likely win this election," he said."Perhaps the state of most importance of crucial importance to both campaigns - is Ohio. Barack Obama is campaigning there every day at the moment," he said.Political Editor Corin Dann told the programme that support in Obama's hometown was muted and there was some disappointment after his first term.He said Chicago was "very much a Democrat town" but that Romney supporters were also visible.Obama himself did not have any events scheduled in Chicago over the next couple of days, Dann said. "All the effort and energy is spread out into those states which will decide this election."But our correspondent said that despite the popular vote being close, he believed Obama had "a pretty clear lead when it comes down to the Electoral College vote", which will actually decide the election.After months of sometimes bitter attacks and saturation advertising in pivotal states, Obama and Romney pressed their arguments that they offer the best solution to weak economic growth and partisan gridlock in Washington.The two also made direct appeals for votes in a race that may come down to which side does the best job of getting its supporters to the polls."It's up to you. You have the power," Obama told a crowd of more than 14,000 people who filled the downtown streets of Concord, New Hampshire."You will be shaping the decisions for this country for decades to come, right now, in the next two days."In Iowa, Romney urged more than 4,000 people in a Des Moines hall to get out and vote and convince a few undecided or former Obama supporters to back him while they are at it.Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, renewed his argument that he is the candidatewho offers real change and can reach out to Democrats to craft bipartisan agreements."Accomplishing real change is not just something that I talk about. It's something that I've done," Romney told supporters in Des Moines."And it's something I'm going to do when I am president of the United States."Advisers for Obama and Romney blanketed the Sunday morning news shows to predict victory in a race focused on eight or nine battleground states that will provide the margin of victory in what national polls show is likely to be a very tight race.A daily online tracking poll on Sunday showed Obama with a national lead over Romney of 48% to 47% - essentially a dead heat.The result fell within the survey's credibility interval, a tool used to account for statistical variation in Internet-based polls.Many polls show Obama with a slight but persistent lead in Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa and Nevada states that would give him more than the 270 electoral votes he needs, barring any surprises elsewhere.Republicans said they see a different story in early voting in key states, which mostly shows Democrats casting more early ballots but not at the pace that Obama set in his victory in 2008 over Republican John McCain by 7 percentage points.Obama and Romney planned stops on Sunday in Ohio, perhaps the most critical of the swing states and particularly vital for Romney. If he loses Ohio, Romney would need a breakthrough in another state where polls currently show him trailing.Both candidates were getting plenty of help in the late stages from their running mates, Vice President Joe Biden and Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan.Obama also got help at his New Hampshire rally from popular former President Bill Clinton.Ryan joined fans holding tailgate parties outside a Green Bay Packers football game in Wisconsin.Campaigning in Ohio, Biden joked that the end of Daylight Savings Time in the United States on Sunday was Romney's favorite day because he could officially turn back the clock.

World week ahead: All eyes on US election

All eyes are on the US presidential elections this week and investors may prove hesitant to make fresh bets until the results are in.One of the latest polls showed that President Barack Obama is slightly ahead of Mitt Romney in Ohio and Florida, viewed by many strategists as the two most important swing states. The Wall Street Journal/Marist College survey of likely voters put Obama ahead of Romney in Ohio, 51% to 45%, and in Florida, 49% to 47%, according to Bloomberg News. Obama appears to be receiving a lift from his managing of the crisis in the wake of Hurricane Sandy as well as encouraging economic signs."The market might like the fact of an Obama win since it would mean less uncertainty," Ryan Detrick, senior technical strategist at Schaeffer's Investment Research, in Cincinnati, told Reuters.Trading on Wall Street was limited to three days last week-stock markets were closed on Monday and Tuesday-as Hurricane Sandy caused an estimated US$50 billion of damage to the East Coast of the US.New York City in particular was hit hard with transportation and the power grid suffering significant damage. In addition, almost half of the people killed as a result of the superstorm died in the New York City area.Amid low volume and a focus on the storm, markets were mostly muted the final three days of last week: the Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 0.2%; the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1%; and the Nasdaq Composite Index shed 0.2%.There were notable and individual exceptions among companies including Starbucks which lifted its profit forecast for the fiscal year and whose shares surged 9% on Friday.The latest clues on the state of the world's largest economy will come in the form of the ISM Non-Manufacturing Index and reports on international trade and weekly jobless claims in the days ahead.Last week, data provided much-needed relief with better-than-expected numbers on consumer confidence and manufacturing. Most importantly October's jobs report-released on Friday-was stronger than anticipated and bolstered hope that progress is being made after all in the struggling labour market. US employers added 171,000 jobs in October and more people resumed looking for work, which pushed the jobless rate slightly higher to 7.9%.The US Treasury is scheduled to sell US$72 billion in notes and bonds this week, according to Bloomberg. The appetite for US government debt remains strong as the economic impact of Sandy raised fresh concerns about the recovery. A Reuters poll of economists predicted that Sandy will knock 0.2 percentage points off of fourth-quarter gross domestic product. US bonds also are being lifted by the lingering EU crisis. Europe's feeble finances may take five years or more to resolve, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told some of her own party officials on Saturday.Looking beyond the elections, the outlook for US corporate earnings continues to weigh on Wall Street. Of the 378 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings so far, 61.9% have exceeded forecasts, in line with the 62% quarterly average since 1994, according to Thomson Reuters data through Friday.However, just 38.2% of companies having reported better-than-expected revenue, compared with the 62% quarterly average since 2002 and the 55% average over the past four quarters.Companies set to report this week include Groupon, Time Warner Cable and News Corp.In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index increased 1.6% last week lifted by some strong results from a range of companies including Deutsche Bank as well as a plan by UBS to slash 10,000 jobs as it refocuses its business.Not to be forgotten, policy makers at the European Central Bank and the Bank of England meet later this week. BOE officials will decide whether to extend the bank's asset-purchase program after the UK economy grew in the third quarter. The nine-member Monetary Policy Committee will probably leave the target for asset purchases at 375 billion pounds (nz$728 billion), according to 35 of 45 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. Seven forecast a 50 billion-pound increase in quantitative easing, and three expect a 25 billion-pound expansion.The latest data on China-with reports on retail sales, industrial production, and the consumer price index due this week-will also be closely watched for further clues that the slowdown in the pace of expansion of the world's second-largest economy is less than initially feared. A report on the weekend showed that China's non-manufacturing sector rebounded in October. The timing is good as it comes days ahead of the once-in-a-decade leadership change at the top of the Communist Party set for November 8.

Greek PM warns of euro exit

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras warned again on Sunday that the debt-crippled country could be forced out of the euro if parliament fails to approve a new round of austerity measures needed for a lifeline from creditors."We must save the country from catastrophe... if we fail to stay in the euro nothing will make sense," he told lawmakers from his conservative party.Parliament is due to vote Wednesday on a bill outlining €18bn of cuts and other reforms, followed by a vote on Sunday on the 2013 budget as Greece battles to secure a new tranche of aid from its troika of international creditors.Samaras said the votes were vital to "put an end once and for all" to the risk that Greece, faced with a crushing debt mountain, could return to the drachma.He called on coalition partners, the socialist Pasok and the moderate left-wing Dimar (Democratic Left) parties, which have raised concerns about the scope of the measures, to act in the "supreme interests of the nation".Greek unions however are planning a two-day strike from Tuesday to coincide with the austerity vote amid seething public anger over further painful cuts in a country that is heading for its sixth year of recession.Greece has been negotiating with the European Union, International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank to unlock a €31.5bn tranche of a bailout package or risk bankruptcy in mid-November.But the IMF said last week that the talks were stalled over the conditions for financing Greece, which has been seeking a two-year extension to meet its fiscal goals, sending stocks crashing.The Dimar party, which has 16 deputies, has suggested it would vote against the bill Wednesday because of its objections to labour market deregulation proposals, while up to five socialist lawmakers could also defy Samaras.The dissenters would leave the government with a narrow majority, with just 154-159 seats in the 300-member assembly, the Greek press said on Sunday, while predicting the measures would nevertheless go through.

 

G20 flags US fiscal cliff

Finance chiefs of the world's 20 leading economies are ringing alarm bells over the US fiscal cliff and Europe's debt woes at a meeting in Mexico this weekend as they look to push back deficit reduction targets to help boost growth.Unless a fractious US Congress can reach a deal, about $600bn in government spending cuts and higher taxes are set to kick in on January 1, threatening to push the American economy back into recession and hit world growth.But with the US presidential election looming on Tuesday, dealing with the fiscal cliff has been delayed. "The Americans themselves acknowledge that this is a problem," a G20 official said on condition of anonymity. "The US administration says it doesn't want to fall off the fiscal cliff, but right now it can't tell us how exactly it will address it because that issue is on ice ahead of the election."Tax cuts enacted under President George W. Bush are set to expire in January, when automatic spending cuts designed to put pressure on lawmakers to strike a long-term budget deal are also set to kick in."What remains a sort of key aspect is that the United States is not respecting the current commitments (to reduce its deficits) and does not have a credible fiscal consolidation plan," one European official said. The US Congress will also soon have to raise the nation's debt limit to avoid a default. An initial consensus around the need for urgent action to prevent a new depression has given way to deep differences over issues such as spending to boost growth and the right pace of belt-tightening to tackle high debt levels. Jose Angel Gurria, head of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, said on Saturday the G20 should appeal to the United States to avoid the fiscal cliff, but added he was optimistic that Congress would strike a deal."I still believe it is not going to be applied," Gurria said in an interview before the meeting of G20 finance chiefs, which formally starts on Sunday. Officials are also concerned about Japan's own fiscal cliff, and recognise that previous commitments made by developed countries to cut their budget deficits in half by 2013 and to stabilise their debt load by 2015 look unfeasible.US and European officials are also likely to come under pressure from G20 peers for dragging their feet on implementing the so-called Basel III accords on financial regulations, the world's response to the 2007-09 financial crisis. Despite the issue's prominence, a G20 source said Russia wants to keep financial regulation discussions at a more technical level when it takes over the presidency of the group from Mexico after this meeting, which ends on Monday. Spain's reluctance to seek financial aid is stoking worries that Europe's debt crisis could further hurt world growth. The government is under pressure to seek a bailout as it struggles to cope with high public debt and the cost of recapitalising its banks. Eurozone sources say they expect Spain to seek financial aid from the eurozone in November. A government source told Reuters on Wednesday that Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy had not ruled out applying for a rescue, but Rajoy has signaled he will not rush unless market conditions deteriorate significantly.

G20 finance chiefs to tackle euro crisis

G20 finance chiefs begin Sunday two days of talks aimed at quelling fears of a global economic downturn amid a persistent eurozone debt crisis and a looming fiscal crunch in the United States.Finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of 20 top economies will gather in Mexico City as debt-riddled Greece continues to trouble Europe while Spain fights off pressure to seek a bailout.While Madrid avoids the bailout route, the problems in Greece are still haunting Europe's single currency, more than two years after Athens received its first multi-billion-euro rescue.Greek officials are locked in tough negotiations with European Union and IMF auditors over austerity measures Greece must take in return for a bailout payment it needs to avoid defaulting on its debt.While the fiscal situation in the United States is also a major concern, officials do not expect any movement on that front until after Tuesday's US presidential election.The White House and Congress need to find a compromise by the end of the year to avoid a "fiscal cliff" of automatic spending cuts and tax hikes, which experts say could hurt the US economy and curb global growth.The meeting is a follow-up to a June summit, when G20 leaders vowed to coordinate "fiscal actions" to boost domestic demand if economic conditions deteriorated.Since then, the IMF slashed its 2012 global growth forecast to 3.3%, eurozone unemployment rose to a record 11.6% in September and growth decelerated in emerging nations.

NEWS,03.11.2012

President Barack Obama

As the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama, aged 51, passed a revamp of the national healthcare system and authorised the raid that killed Osama bin Laden but struggled to revive the economy and create jobs.Ahead of the US presidential election on Tuesday, here are key facts about Obama, the nation's first black president.Barack Obama has a personal background like no other president in US history. His mother, Ann Dunham, was a white woman from Kansas and his father, Barack Obama Snr, was a black Kenyan who saw little of his son after a divorce when the boy was a toddler. Obama spent much of his childhood in Indonesia and then Hawaii, where he lived with his maternal grandparents.Obama struggled with his mixed racial background while growing up, writing in a memoir that he wondered "if something was wrong with me". He also was troubled by the absence of his father, who he considered a "myth", and said that may have contributed to him using marijuana and cocaine in his youth.Obama graduated from New York's Columbia University in 1983 and then worked in the business sector in New York and for a Chicago community group. In 1988 he went to Harvard Law School, where he became the first black president of the prestigious Harvard Law Review.Obama's relationship with Congress is not great. Even when Democrats controlled the House of Representatives and the Senate, Republicans often stymied his initiatives. The situation became more difficult when tax-averse Republicans took over in the House in 2010.In the early 1990s Obama worked in a voter registration campaign in Chicago, taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago and joined a law firm that specialised in civil rights and neighbourhood development. He married Michelle Robinson, who he met at a law firm when he was an intern and she was assigned to be his adviser.In his rare spare moments, the lanky Obama pursues his lifelong love of basketball with semi-regular games at an FBI gym. He also makes time for school functions and sports events of daughters Sasha and Malia and tries to get out for an occasional "date night" with his wife.Obama's political career began with election to the Illinois State Senate in 1996 and soared in 2004 when he gave a rousing keynote address at the Democratic National Convention. In November of that year he was elected to the US Senate.Obama won the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination by defeating Hilary Clinton, the former first lady and New York senator, and then took the presidency by beating Republican Senator John McCain. His energetic campaign was built on a theme of "hope and change" fuelled by powerful oratory.A mood of national optimism prevailed at Obama's 20 January 2009, inauguration, which drew an estimated 1.8 million people to the National Mall in Washington despite bitter cold. He began his presidency with a 68% approval rating.Obama simultaneously oversaw wars in Iraq, which he ended in 2011, and Afghanistan, as well as the US military involvement in Libya that helped oust Muammar Gaddafi. In May 2011 he authorised the raid in which US Navy Seals killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan - a triumph he points to as indicative of a strong national security policy.Obama inherited an economic crisis so persistent that it remains a threat to his re-election. Almost 800 000 jobs were lost the month he took over. In the early days of his administration, he pushed through an $831bn economic stimulus package and renewed loans to automakers, even making the government a temporary part-owner of General Motors.The centrepiece of his domestic agenda was the Affordable Care Act, the healthcare reform law better known as Obamacare. Its purpose is to give all Americans affordable insurance and more protections but critics say it is expensive federal interference. A key aspect of the reform requiring most Americans to get insurance or pay a penalty survived a 2012 US Supreme Court challenge.Obama has a reputation as a charming communicator but he also is criticised for being aloof and not building better relationships with congressional leaders. Some have questioned his preparation skills, especially after a sub-par performance in a presidential debate with Republican opponent Mitt Romney.

Romney, Obama power into final weekend

President Barack Obama and Republican foe Mitt Romney on Saturday power into a final weekend of campaigning before handing their fates to voters after a bitter, gruelling White House race.The rivals will chase one another through the battleground states that will decide Tuesday's election, with Obama seeking to solidify his midwestern line of defence, while Romney seeks an eleventh hour breakthrough.Obama will campaign in Ohio, the possible tipping point state, before heading to Wisconsin and Iowa, his trio of "firewall" battlegrounds ahead of a late night rally in Virginia, where he still hopes for an insurance win.Romney, fresh from the biggest rally of his campaign, which drew around 18 000 people on a cold night in West Chester, Ohio, on Friday will travel to New Hampshire, Iowa and Colorado.In a show of close combat on the last weekend of the campaign, both candidates will be in the eastern Iowa town of Dubuque, within hours of one another.Romney warmed up for the frenzied last weekend with a huge rally in Ohio, bringing together his former primary rivals Rick Santorum and Rick Perry, along with Obama's 2008 rival John McCain.In all, 45 lawmakers and relatives of the candidate and running mate Paul Ryan wearing Romney jackets attended the rally near the Republican stronghold of Cincinnati."We're almost home. One final push will get us there," Romney said before a crowd police estimated to be at least 18 000 strong. "We are so very, very close. The door to a brighter future is there, it's open, it's waiting for us."Obama had earlier evaded a last-minute time bomb as the economy pumped out more jobs than expected in October, delivering a boost to his re-election hopes as the final weekend of campaigning begins.Romney, however, seized on an uptick in the jobless rate by a tenth of a point to 7.9% to bemoan an economy at a "virtual standstill".After several weeks of polls suggesting a neck-and-neck race, there were new signs that Obama's position, as he seeks a second term, may be solidifying.National polls of the popular vote now mostly show a tied race or with either man up one point but with time running out Obama's position in key battleground states seems to be holding.The candidate that wins the White House will need to mass 270 electoral votes on the state-by-state map.Obama is asking voters for a second term, despite the sluggish economic recovery, while Romney is seeking a quick comeback for Republicans after George W Bush left office in 2009 with the party in disarray.All Obama's polling leads were within the margin of error, however, and both campaigns, though expressing confidence, will face a nervous night as results roll in on Tuesday and test their assumptions about the race.Obama, perhaps mindful of millions of Americans suffering from the lingering impact of the worst recession since the 1930s, avoided a triumphal tone on the jobs data that sent relief rippling through his campaign team."We have made real progress," Obama said, in Hilliard, on the first stop of a day-long swing through small towns in Ohio, which could be a tipping point state in a tied-up election.Romney highlighted the fact that, although the economy is creating jobs at a moderate pace, unemployment remains at historically high levels."For four years, President Obama's policies have crushed America's middle class," Romney said in a statement."When I'm president, I'm going to make real changes that lead to a real recovery, so that the next four years are better than the last," said Romney, who started his day in Wisconsin and ended it in Ohio.The release of the final major economic data before the election had worried Obama aides who feared that a leap in the rate above the psychological 8% mark could have sent late-deciding voters to Romney.But although the data was far from spectacular - with 171 000 jobs created last month - there was enough in the report, including upward revisions of previous monthly figures, for Obama to argue the economy was improving.Obama, campaigning in Ohio on Friday repudiated Romney's claim to being an agent of change, accusing him instead of trying to "massage the facts", highlighting a Romney ad that claims that Chrysler plans to outsource jobs to China to produce its Jeep vehicles."I know we are close to an election, but this isn't a game. These are people's jobs. These are people's lives," Obama said, noting that auto bosses had directly contradicted Romney on the attack.The president repeatedly touts his decision to bail out indebted US automakers in a politically unpopular 2009 move that helped restore the industry to health.One in eight jobs in Ohio are linked to the sector, and Romney's opposition to the bailout has emerged as a liability for the Republican.A CNN/Opinion Research poll showed Obama up three points in Ohio, raising his average in the RealClearPolitics aggregate of opinion surveys in the state to 2.4 points.The president also leads Romney in enough of the eight or so swing states to assure himself of the 270 electoral votes needed for re-election, if polling data is confirmed by voting.

Romney hits Obama on 'revenge' vow

Republican nominee Mitt Romney chided President Barack Obama on Saturday for calling on Americans to vote for "revenge" as the battle for the White House raced to an ill-tempered climax.Three days before voters chose between giving Obama a second term or sending him packing back to Chicago, the rivals chased one another through a handful of states that will decide Tuesday's too-close-to-call election.Romney was up early in New Hampshire, which has only four of the 270 electoral votes needed to claim the White House but could punch above its weight in a tight finish, accusing Obama of "demonising" political foes."I won't represent just one party, I'll represent one nation," Romney told a crowd at an airport rally outside Portsmouth, and warned Obama would find it impossible to work with congressional Republicans if he wins re-election.Romney also debuted a new political ad on Saturday, seizing on Obama's comment in Ohio on Friday when he told supporters angry at the Republicans not to boo but to vote, saying "voting's the best revenge".The ad featured Romney telling his biggest crowd of the campaign in Ohio also Friday that Obama "asked his supporters to vote for revenge - for revenge"."Instead, I ask the American people to vote for love of country," Romney said.While Romney was campaigning, Obama was back in Washington visiting the headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as New York and New Jersey struggle to deal with the aftermath of murderous superstorm Sandy."We still have a long way to go," said Obama, stressing he had no time for government "red tape" which could hold up the relief effort, after discussing the crisis with the governors of New Jersey, Connecticut and New York.The Obama campaign enjoys the comparison between Obama doing his job managing the government while Romney campaigns as polls show a majority of Americans approve of the president's handling of Sandy.With time running down until the election, Obama soon headed back to the campaign trail, with a long day of campaign stops planned in Ohio, the possible tipping point state before heading to Wisconsin and Iowa.He will wrap up his day with a late night rally in Virginia, a state where he and Romney are locked in a tight race.Romney, fresh from the biggest rally of his campaign, which drew at least 18 000 people on a cold night in West Chester, Ohio, left New Hampshire for trips to Colorado and Iowa.In a show of close combat on the last weekend of the campaign, both candidates will be in the eastern Iowa town of Dubuque, within hours of one another.Latest polls show Obama and Romney tied nationally, but Obama appears to be solidifying his position in enough of the eight or so swing states that will decide the election to support his hopes of a second term.New surveys by the Wall Street Journal and NBC News Saturday showed the president up by 47-49% in Florida and leading Romney by 51-45 % n Ohio, double the margin in the current RealClearPolitics average.A Mason Dixon poll for the Miami Herald, however, had Romney up by six points in Florida, which the Republican, who also needs Ohio, cannot afford to lose if he is to be elected America's 45th president.The Obama and Romney campaigns have sharply differing views of the race.The president's team believe that early voting and polling data, plus the president's grass roots turnout machine, mean that Obama will prevail in a close race.But Romney's camp believes opinion polls are overstating the proportion of Democrats in the electorate and that their candidate is poised to ride the support of independent voters to victory on Tuesday.On Friday, Obama earlier evaded a last-minute time bomb as the economy pumped out more jobs than expected in October.Romney, however, seized on an uptick in the jobless rate by a tenth of a point to 7.9% to bemoan an economy at a "virtual standstill".Obama, campaigning in Ohio Friday repudiated Romney's claim to being an agent of change, accusing him instead of trying to "massage the facts", highlighting a Romney ad that claims that Chrysler plans to outsource jobs to China to produce its Jeep vehicles."I know we are close to an election, but this isn't a game. These are people's jobs. These are people's lives," Obama said, noting that auto bosses had directly contradicted Romney on the attack.The president repeatedly touts his decision to bail out indebted US automakers in a politically unpopular 2009 move that helped restore the industry to health.One in eight jobs in Ohio are linked to the sector, and Romney's opposition to the bailout has emerged as a liability for the Republican.