One civilian was killed and five others injured as Islamist insurgents attacked African Union (AU) peacekeepers in the Somali capital, Mogadishu. Eyewitnesses say the insurgents aimed artillery fire at a base occupied by Ugandan AU troops, and the six victims were inadvertently struck by stray gunfire. The clash came only two days after two AU peacekeepers and three Somali civilians were wounded in a roadside bomb explosion targeting a new contingent of AU troops arriving from Burundi. [PE]
Friday, October 17, 2008
Thursday, October 16, 2008
EU plans more help for mothers
The European Commission is unveiling plans to extend the minimum maternity leave across Europe from 14 to 18 weeks.
Nancy Godfroid wants more flexible rules to improve work-life balance
The plans are meant to offset falling birthrates across the EU.
For Nancy Godfroid, it would be a dream come true. It's 0730 and Nancy has to take her four-year-old son Anthony to school in a leafy district of Brussels.
She is the sort of woman that an ageing Europe needs, with a full-time job in a bank and another baby due later this month. You could say she has it all - but that's not what she thinks.
"The rules should be more flexible," Nancy Godfroid said, "in terms of the number of weeks you can take before and after birth.
"If I give birth earlier than expected, I lose part of my leave. I'd also like to have more time to breast-feed."
More safeguards
The existing EU law, which dates from 1992, provides for a minimum 14 weeks of maternity leave throughout Europe, including two compulsory weeks before the birth.
Nancy's situation is like that of many mothers across the EU
The new rules say women should be entitled to at least 18 consecutive weeks' maternity leave, six of which should be taken after birth. The rest would be taken before or after labour, as the mother chooses.
Under the proposals, the 27 EU countries would guarantee that women won't be sacked during or immediately after maternity leave. Governments would be free to offer new mothers more time off, but would have to pay them at least as much as sickness leave.
Across Europe, there are wide differences in the amount of leave and pay for mothers-to-be. In Belgium, it is 15 weeks; in France, 16; in Britain it is 26, while in Bulgaria you can take almost a year.
In Germany, which has one of the lowest birthrates in the EU, women are entitled to the minimum 14 weeks, but with full pay.
EU sets example
But Katharina von Schnurbein is lucky. Because she works for the European Commission, she gets 20 weeks on full pay.
Katharina enjoys generous terms as an EU employee
"I think we set a good example," said Ms Von Schnurbein, who is the social affairs spokeswoman for the European Commission.
She is also the highly pregnant poster-girl for the new directive on maternity leave. Just hours before she starts hers, she argues that giving women across Europe more support would make more of them choose to have babies and go back to work.
"It makes sense to see this not only as spending," Ms Von Schnurbein said, "but also as an investment in the future, to see how we can enable women to have a career, to have children and have the number of children they want."
The European Commission may want a better balance between work and family life, but that costs money.
Countries like Germany and Belgium would have to give women longer maternity leave, Britain and Bulgaria would have to pay them more while they stay at home looking after their babies - at least as much as normal sickness pay.
Liliane Volozinskis, from the European Union of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, which represents 12 million companies, says the price would be high for business and women themselves.
"It could create reluctance from small employers to hire women," she said, "because particularly in difficult economic situations you need to have people coming as soon as possible on the labour market."
Some, like the Czech Republic, also object to what they say is European Commission interference in their social welfare systems.
But if a majority of EU governments and the European Parliament agree, the new rules for maternity leave could be in place by 2011. That may encourage others to follow Nancy's and Katharina's example.
Nancy Godfroid wants more flexible rules to improve work-life balance
The plans are meant to offset falling birthrates across the EU.
For Nancy Godfroid, it would be a dream come true. It's 0730 and Nancy has to take her four-year-old son Anthony to school in a leafy district of Brussels.
She is the sort of woman that an ageing Europe needs, with a full-time job in a bank and another baby due later this month. You could say she has it all - but that's not what she thinks.
"The rules should be more flexible," Nancy Godfroid said, "in terms of the number of weeks you can take before and after birth.
"If I give birth earlier than expected, I lose part of my leave. I'd also like to have more time to breast-feed."
More safeguards
The existing EU law, which dates from 1992, provides for a minimum 14 weeks of maternity leave throughout Europe, including two compulsory weeks before the birth.
Nancy's situation is like that of many mothers across the EU
The new rules say women should be entitled to at least 18 consecutive weeks' maternity leave, six of which should be taken after birth. The rest would be taken before or after labour, as the mother chooses.
Under the proposals, the 27 EU countries would guarantee that women won't be sacked during or immediately after maternity leave. Governments would be free to offer new mothers more time off, but would have to pay them at least as much as sickness leave.
Across Europe, there are wide differences in the amount of leave and pay for mothers-to-be. In Belgium, it is 15 weeks; in France, 16; in Britain it is 26, while in Bulgaria you can take almost a year.
In Germany, which has one of the lowest birthrates in the EU, women are entitled to the minimum 14 weeks, but with full pay.
EU sets example
But Katharina von Schnurbein is lucky. Because she works for the European Commission, she gets 20 weeks on full pay.
Katharina enjoys generous terms as an EU employee
"I think we set a good example," said Ms Von Schnurbein, who is the social affairs spokeswoman for the European Commission.
She is also the highly pregnant poster-girl for the new directive on maternity leave. Just hours before she starts hers, she argues that giving women across Europe more support would make more of them choose to have babies and go back to work.
"It makes sense to see this not only as spending," Ms Von Schnurbein said, "but also as an investment in the future, to see how we can enable women to have a career, to have children and have the number of children they want."
The European Commission may want a better balance between work and family life, but that costs money.
Countries like Germany and Belgium would have to give women longer maternity leave, Britain and Bulgaria would have to pay them more while they stay at home looking after their babies - at least as much as normal sickness pay.
Liliane Volozinskis, from the European Union of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, which represents 12 million companies, says the price would be high for business and women themselves.
"It could create reluctance from small employers to hire women," she said, "because particularly in difficult economic situations you need to have people coming as soon as possible on the labour market."
Some, like the Czech Republic, also object to what they say is European Commission interference in their social welfare systems.
But if a majority of EU governments and the European Parliament agree, the new rules for maternity leave could be in place by 2011. That may encourage others to follow Nancy's and Katharina's example.
Budget fears dominate EU summit
Anxiety about national budgets dominated an EU summit where the rescue and supervision of banks vied with climate change as the most pressing issue.
The severity of the financial crisis has had an impact on the EU's ambitious plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions, which look likely to be watered down under pressure from a new "eastern bloc", along with Italy.
The billions of euros required to adapt large enterprises to the emissions targets threaten to put further strain on budgets already groaning under the weight of bank bail-outs and rising unemployment.
Poland, heavily reliant on coal-fired power stations, teamed up with seven other former communist countries to demand a reassessment of the burden imposed by the targets.
Then Italy's Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, struck a protectionist note, saying Italian firms were "in no state to take on costs like those we thought about last year".
Fiercely debated
The European Commission will now look at the specific problems that some countries face in meeting the targets. But it is determined - along with the French EU presidency - to clinch a deal on the targets before next year.
The proposed changes to the EU's pioneering Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) will be fiercely debated in the European Parliament and by ministers, who are supposed to hammer out a deal strong enough to inspire the rest of the world. The EU is gearing up for major international talks next year on climate change.
For those who want the European Union to walk with power and purpose on the world stage this summit is both triumph and tragedy
BBC's Mark Mardell in his blog
Mardell's Europe
One of the parliament's chief negotiators on the climate package, Green MEP Satu Hassi, urged EU leaders to "keep firm with the commitments already given".
"The financial crisis does not blow away climate change," she said, adding that the crisis "teaches us that early action is always wiser than emergency action".
Yet in the absence of a clear roadmap on the climate package, EU leaders were keen to show a united response to the banking crisis.
The turmoil in Wall Street, with the freezing of inter-bank lending, triggered emergency bank bail-outs by individual European governments before the 15 eurozone countries announced a joint multi-billion-euro plan to recapitalise banks and guarantee loans.
UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown basked in his fellow Europeans' praise for showing the way, with his rescue plan for British banks, estimated to be worth £500bn (641bn euros).
But, in contrast with his famously low-key appearances at EU summits, he joined the chorus of calls for more co-ordinated EU action.
'Crisis cell'
The EU plans to set up a "financial crisis cell" - a rapid response team tasked with co-ordinating EU action in any future financial crises. Any member state in trouble will be able to trigger the new alert system. The idea is to prevent any country's state intervention harming the interests of another EU member.
But France's President Nicolas Sarkozy also stressed the need for global solutions, to refashion the world's financial system and make it "fit for the 21st century".
He and commission president Jose Manuel Barroso will meet US President George W Bush on Saturday to prepare for a global crisis summit - a "G8 plus", including emerging powers like China and India.
President Sarkozy wants a tighter rein on the financial sector
Mr Sarkozy's priority is tighter financial supervision, with action on hedge funds, tax havens, executive pay and ratings agencies.
Maintaining the international competitiveness of European industry is looming as the next big challenge, once some stability returns to the banking system.
Mr Sarkozy says he wants to see the same joint EU effort applied to that problem as to the banking crisis.
Energy security is highlighted as another EU priority in the summit conclusions - though it was overshadowed by the urgent economic and climate agenda.
The fuel protests across Europe earlier this year - triggered by surging oil prices - and worries about the reliability of Russian gas supplies made energy security a pressing issue.
The EU wants to diversify its sources of supply, make the energy market more transparent and improve the Baltic region's pipeline network.
As for the Lisbon Treaty, which dominated the last EU summit in Brussels, the Irish government has pledged to come up with a plan by December. But the bank crisis has forced the EU's controversial institutional reforms onto the back-burner.
The severity of the financial crisis has had an impact on the EU's ambitious plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions, which look likely to be watered down under pressure from a new "eastern bloc", along with Italy.
The billions of euros required to adapt large enterprises to the emissions targets threaten to put further strain on budgets already groaning under the weight of bank bail-outs and rising unemployment.
Poland, heavily reliant on coal-fired power stations, teamed up with seven other former communist countries to demand a reassessment of the burden imposed by the targets.
Then Italy's Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, struck a protectionist note, saying Italian firms were "in no state to take on costs like those we thought about last year".
Fiercely debated
The European Commission will now look at the specific problems that some countries face in meeting the targets. But it is determined - along with the French EU presidency - to clinch a deal on the targets before next year.
The proposed changes to the EU's pioneering Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) will be fiercely debated in the European Parliament and by ministers, who are supposed to hammer out a deal strong enough to inspire the rest of the world. The EU is gearing up for major international talks next year on climate change.
For those who want the European Union to walk with power and purpose on the world stage this summit is both triumph and tragedy
BBC's Mark Mardell in his blog
Mardell's Europe
One of the parliament's chief negotiators on the climate package, Green MEP Satu Hassi, urged EU leaders to "keep firm with the commitments already given".
"The financial crisis does not blow away climate change," she said, adding that the crisis "teaches us that early action is always wiser than emergency action".
Yet in the absence of a clear roadmap on the climate package, EU leaders were keen to show a united response to the banking crisis.
The turmoil in Wall Street, with the freezing of inter-bank lending, triggered emergency bank bail-outs by individual European governments before the 15 eurozone countries announced a joint multi-billion-euro plan to recapitalise banks and guarantee loans.
UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown basked in his fellow Europeans' praise for showing the way, with his rescue plan for British banks, estimated to be worth £500bn (641bn euros).
But, in contrast with his famously low-key appearances at EU summits, he joined the chorus of calls for more co-ordinated EU action.
'Crisis cell'
The EU plans to set up a "financial crisis cell" - a rapid response team tasked with co-ordinating EU action in any future financial crises. Any member state in trouble will be able to trigger the new alert system. The idea is to prevent any country's state intervention harming the interests of another EU member.
But France's President Nicolas Sarkozy also stressed the need for global solutions, to refashion the world's financial system and make it "fit for the 21st century".
He and commission president Jose Manuel Barroso will meet US President George W Bush on Saturday to prepare for a global crisis summit - a "G8 plus", including emerging powers like China and India.
President Sarkozy wants a tighter rein on the financial sector
Mr Sarkozy's priority is tighter financial supervision, with action on hedge funds, tax havens, executive pay and ratings agencies.
Maintaining the international competitiveness of European industry is looming as the next big challenge, once some stability returns to the banking system.
Mr Sarkozy says he wants to see the same joint EU effort applied to that problem as to the banking crisis.
Energy security is highlighted as another EU priority in the summit conclusions - though it was overshadowed by the urgent economic and climate agenda.
The fuel protests across Europe earlier this year - triggered by surging oil prices - and worries about the reliability of Russian gas supplies made energy security a pressing issue.
The EU wants to diversify its sources of supply, make the energy market more transparent and improve the Baltic region's pipeline network.
As for the Lisbon Treaty, which dominated the last EU summit in Brussels, the Irish government has pledged to come up with a plan by December. But the bank crisis has forced the EU's controversial institutional reforms onto the back-burner.
Mandela's jail overrun by rabbits
South Africa's Robben Island is to be closed for two weeks while authorities cull rabbits that have overrun the site where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned.
The rabbits are so numerous that they threaten the island's vegetation and historic buildings, an official said.
Mr Mandela, who became South Africa's president after the end of apartheid, was held on Robben Island for 18 years.
The UN World Heritage site has become one of the country's most famous tourist attractions.
"The current population is so large that it threatens to permanently damage the island's sensitive vegetation, and poses a serious threat to other fauna species," said Seelan Naidoo, an official at the Robben Island museum.
A "humane" cull would be carried out in co-ordination with animal rights groups, he said.
This will be followed by a sterilisation programme aimed at allowing a small and manageable population of rabbits.
The Robben Island museum, located off the coast of Cape Town, is to be closed from 1-16 November.
The rabbits are so numerous that they threaten the island's vegetation and historic buildings, an official said.
Mr Mandela, who became South Africa's president after the end of apartheid, was held on Robben Island for 18 years.
The UN World Heritage site has become one of the country's most famous tourist attractions.
"The current population is so large that it threatens to permanently damage the island's sensitive vegetation, and poses a serious threat to other fauna species," said Seelan Naidoo, an official at the Robben Island museum.
A "humane" cull would be carried out in co-ordination with animal rights groups, he said.
This will be followed by a sterilisation programme aimed at allowing a small and manageable population of rabbits.
The Robben Island museum, located off the coast of Cape Town, is to be closed from 1-16 November.
Mandela's jail overrun by rabbits
South Africa's Robben Island is to be closed for two weeks while authorities cull rabbits that have overrun the site where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned.
The rabbits are so numerous that they threaten the island's vegetation and historic buildings, an official said.
Mr Mandela, who became South Africa's president after the end of apartheid, was held on Robben Island for 18 years.
The UN World Heritage site has become one of the country's most famous tourist attractions.
"The current population is so large that it threatens to permanently damage the island's sensitive vegetation, and poses a serious threat to other fauna species," said Seelan Naidoo, an official at the Robben Island museum.
A "humane" cull would be carried out in co-ordination with animal rights groups, he said.
This will be followed by a sterilisation programme aimed at allowing a small and manageable population of rabbits.
The Robben Island museum, located off the coast of Cape Town, is to be closed from 1-16 November.
The rabbits are so numerous that they threaten the island's vegetation and historic buildings, an official said.
Mr Mandela, who became South Africa's president after the end of apartheid, was held on Robben Island for 18 years.
The UN World Heritage site has become one of the country's most famous tourist attractions.
"The current population is so large that it threatens to permanently damage the island's sensitive vegetation, and poses a serious threat to other fauna species," said Seelan Naidoo, an official at the Robben Island museum.
A "humane" cull would be carried out in co-ordination with animal rights groups, he said.
This will be followed by a sterilisation programme aimed at allowing a small and manageable population of rabbits.
The Robben Island museum, located off the coast of Cape Town, is to be closed from 1-16 November.
Somali Islamists threaten Kenya
Somali Islamists say they will attack Kenya if it goes ahead with plans to train 10,000 government troops.
"We will order all our holy warriors to start the jihadi war inside Kenya," said spokesman Sheikh Muktar Robow.
Foreign Affairs Minister Moses Wetangula has been quoted recently offering the training to beleaguered government forces.
The warning comes as insurgents have again battled government troops and peacekeepers in the capital, Mogadishu.
At least five people have been killed, residents and doctors say.
A witness told the BBC there were clashes near an African Union peacekeeping base at the strategic K-4 junction and that mortars were used.
The Islamists have increasingly targeted the AU peacekeeping force in recent months, as well as the government and their Ethiopian allies.
The K-4 junction is strategically placed in the south of the city linking the airport and the presidential palace, and some AU peacekeepers are based there.
The witness said he could see houses on fire, and heavy gunfire could be heard in the background.
The government is recognised by the international community but correspondents say it only controls a few patches of the country.
Somalia has been without a functioning government since President Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted in 1991.
Ethiopian troops helped the government push Islamist forces from control of central and southern Somalia in late 2006, triggering an insurgency.
The US supports Ethiopia's intervention in Somalia and accuses the Islamists of links to al-Qaeda.
The US says they are sheltering al-Qaeda operatives who attacked Israeli targets in Kenya in 2002.
'Threat'
On Thursday, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said Ethiopia would review its position in the coming months, but would stay longer if Somali politicians showed "readiness for peace".
Even if Ethiopian troops left, he said, they could still return if the powerful Islamist militia al-Shabab threatened to take power.
Civilians have fled the fighting in Mogadishu in huge numbers
"Whenever there's a threat posed, we will come back to break their backs," he said.
"Any government is preferable to the Shabab. It's in the interest of Ethiopia and the Somali people to prevent them from coming to power."
More than three million people - almost half of Somalia's population - need food aid, according to the UN.
Aid agencies recently estimated that 1.1 million people had been uprooted from Mogadishu over the last nine months.
Last weekend, Burundi deployed more than 800 peacekeepers to Somalia, boosting the strength of the AU force to just over 3,000.
But the mission, which is made up of troops from Uganda and Burundi, remains well below the force of 8,000 that the AU originally said it would send.
Mr Meles said Ethiopian troops would remain in Somalia "at least until the African peace force is fully deployed."
"We will order all our holy warriors to start the jihadi war inside Kenya," said spokesman Sheikh Muktar Robow.
Foreign Affairs Minister Moses Wetangula has been quoted recently offering the training to beleaguered government forces.
The warning comes as insurgents have again battled government troops and peacekeepers in the capital, Mogadishu.
At least five people have been killed, residents and doctors say.
A witness told the BBC there were clashes near an African Union peacekeeping base at the strategic K-4 junction and that mortars were used.
The Islamists have increasingly targeted the AU peacekeeping force in recent months, as well as the government and their Ethiopian allies.
The K-4 junction is strategically placed in the south of the city linking the airport and the presidential palace, and some AU peacekeepers are based there.
The witness said he could see houses on fire, and heavy gunfire could be heard in the background.
The government is recognised by the international community but correspondents say it only controls a few patches of the country.
Somalia has been without a functioning government since President Mohamed Siad Barre was ousted in 1991.
Ethiopian troops helped the government push Islamist forces from control of central and southern Somalia in late 2006, triggering an insurgency.
The US supports Ethiopia's intervention in Somalia and accuses the Islamists of links to al-Qaeda.
The US says they are sheltering al-Qaeda operatives who attacked Israeli targets in Kenya in 2002.
'Threat'
On Thursday, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said Ethiopia would review its position in the coming months, but would stay longer if Somali politicians showed "readiness for peace".
Even if Ethiopian troops left, he said, they could still return if the powerful Islamist militia al-Shabab threatened to take power.
Civilians have fled the fighting in Mogadishu in huge numbers
"Whenever there's a threat posed, we will come back to break their backs," he said.
"Any government is preferable to the Shabab. It's in the interest of Ethiopia and the Somali people to prevent them from coming to power."
More than three million people - almost half of Somalia's population - need food aid, according to the UN.
Aid agencies recently estimated that 1.1 million people had been uprooted from Mogadishu over the last nine months.
Last weekend, Burundi deployed more than 800 peacekeepers to Somalia, boosting the strength of the AU force to just over 3,000.
But the mission, which is made up of troops from Uganda and Burundi, remains well below the force of 8,000 that the AU originally said it would send.
Mr Meles said Ethiopian troops would remain in Somalia "at least until the African peace force is fully deployed."
Iran and Iraq in war missing deal
Iran and Iraq have signed an agreement to search for missing persons from the bitter eight-year war they fought in the 1980s, the Red Cross says.
It said both countries had agreed to share information and would hand over any remains that were found.
It is not known how many people are missing, but some estimates put the figure in hundreds of thousands.
Delegates from Iraq and Iran signed the document at the Red Cross headquarters in Geneva, the aid agency said.
It was the first time the two neighbours signed a direct agreement to work together on the issue, having dealt separately with the Red Cross until now.
The agreement represents "an important step toward easing the heavy burden of thousands of bereaved Iraqi and Iranian families," said a spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) .
Around a million people were killed in the 1980-1988 war, with thousands of prisoners captured on both sides.
Iran's official reports suggest at least 8,000 Iranians are unaccounted for. Iraq's Ministry of Human Rights says the Iraqi figure ranges from 375,000 to one million.
In total, the ICRC says it has helped repatriate some 97,000 prisoners of war (POWs) since the end of the war.
Twenty years after the end of the war, families on both sides continue to search for records of their loved ones in hospitals, morgues and police stations.
It said both countries had agreed to share information and would hand over any remains that were found.
It is not known how many people are missing, but some estimates put the figure in hundreds of thousands.
Delegates from Iraq and Iran signed the document at the Red Cross headquarters in Geneva, the aid agency said.
It was the first time the two neighbours signed a direct agreement to work together on the issue, having dealt separately with the Red Cross until now.
The agreement represents "an important step toward easing the heavy burden of thousands of bereaved Iraqi and Iranian families," said a spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) .
Around a million people were killed in the 1980-1988 war, with thousands of prisoners captured on both sides.
Iran's official reports suggest at least 8,000 Iranians are unaccounted for. Iraq's Ministry of Human Rights says the Iraqi figure ranges from 375,000 to one million.
In total, the ICRC says it has helped repatriate some 97,000 prisoners of war (POWs) since the end of the war.
Twenty years after the end of the war, families on both sides continue to search for records of their loved ones in hospitals, morgues and police stations.
US rivals back on campaign trail
The US presidential rivals are heading back to the campaign trail after a heated final televised debate.
John McCain turned in an aggressive performance but opinion polls on the event suggested he had failed to land a telling blow on Barack Obama.
Analysts say the Republican Mr McCain will now spend some time focusing on shoring up stronghold states.
Frontrunner Mr Obama advised against complacency, recalling his surprise defeat in the New Hampshire primary.
On Thursday night the two candidates will again share a stage - giving speeches at a traditional political dinner in Manhattan in honour of former New York Governor Al Smith.
Advertising plans
Mr Obama will now be targeting states he previously considered to be Republican territory, commentators say.
He is heading out to visit Virginia and Missouri in the next few days.
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McCain and Obama on taxes, tax-cuts and Joe the plumber
Sources in the Democratic campaign say he will advertise in West Virginia, which George W Bush won four years ago and which Mr Obama lost to Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the primary.
The sources say the campaign may also fund attempts to win over states such as Kentucky, North Dakota and Georgia.
Mr McCain will visit the swing state of Pennsylvania but sources say he will also have to go to more favourable Republican territories such as Virginia, Colorado and Florida.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) has said it will halt advertising in Maine and Wisconsin. The move suggests strategists are doubtful about their candidate's chances there, analysts say.
The McCain campaign will continue to run its own ads in the states. Mr McCain was in Wisconsin last week, and running mate Sarah Palin is expected to visit Maine on Thursday.
'I'm not Bush'
On Thursday morning, Mr Obama said there were now 19 days to go but that would be a beginning not an end, as the amount of work for the next president would be "extraordinary".
He warned against complacency, referring to his defeat by Mrs Clinton in the New Hampshire primary.
"I've been in these positions before where we were favoured and the press starts getting carried away, and we end up getting spanked," Mr Obama said.
Again, McCain seems harsher, but is this not what debating is all about?
BBC North America editor Justin Webb
Read Justin's thoughts in full
Blow by blow: McCain v Obama
Republican challenge on Ohio
In Wednesday's 90-minute TV debate at Hofstra University in Long Island, New York, analysts said Mr McCain had turned in his best performance.
He went on the attack immediately, calling Mr Obama's tax plans class warfare and deriding efforts to link him to President George W Bush.
"Senator Obama, I am not President Bush. If you wanted to run against President Bush, you should have run four years ago," Mr McCain said.
He also referred to Mr Obama's association with Bill Ayers, once a member of a US group that waged a violent campaign against the Vietnam War.
However, Mr Obama appeared unruffled by the attacks, saying Mr McCain had been "a vigorous supporter of President Bush".
He added: "Mr Ayers is not involved in my campaign. He has never been involved in this campaign. And he will not advise me in the White House."
The Illinois senator said that 100% of Mr McCain's political adverts had been negative and that voters were more interested in how the candidates planned to fix the economy.
'Socialist'
Immediate voter polls found Mr Obama came out on top.
Who is 'Joe the plumber'?
A CNN poll of people watching Wednesday's debate said Mr Obama won by 58% to 31%, while a CBS survey found the Democrat the winner by 53% to 22%.
A poll of undecided independent voters by US network Fox also suggested Mr Obama was the victor.
One interested viewer was Joe Wurzelbacher.
He shot to prominence in the campaign when he met Barack Obama and expressed concern about what the senator's tax plans might mean for his plumbing business.
After the debate "Joe the plumber" from Ohio said he was "floored" by the impact he had made.
He refused to say who he would vote for but said Mr Obama had a "very socialist view" of taxes "and that's incredibly wrong".
John McCain turned in an aggressive performance but opinion polls on the event suggested he had failed to land a telling blow on Barack Obama.
Analysts say the Republican Mr McCain will now spend some time focusing on shoring up stronghold states.
Frontrunner Mr Obama advised against complacency, recalling his surprise defeat in the New Hampshire primary.
On Thursday night the two candidates will again share a stage - giving speeches at a traditional political dinner in Manhattan in honour of former New York Governor Al Smith.
Advertising plans
Mr Obama will now be targeting states he previously considered to be Republican territory, commentators say.
He is heading out to visit Virginia and Missouri in the next few days.
emp_load.getEmpEmbeddedParams("emp_7673004");
McCain and Obama on taxes, tax-cuts and Joe the plumber
Sources in the Democratic campaign say he will advertise in West Virginia, which George W Bush won four years ago and which Mr Obama lost to Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the primary.
The sources say the campaign may also fund attempts to win over states such as Kentucky, North Dakota and Georgia.
Mr McCain will visit the swing state of Pennsylvania but sources say he will also have to go to more favourable Republican territories such as Virginia, Colorado and Florida.
The Republican National Committee (RNC) has said it will halt advertising in Maine and Wisconsin. The move suggests strategists are doubtful about their candidate's chances there, analysts say.
The McCain campaign will continue to run its own ads in the states. Mr McCain was in Wisconsin last week, and running mate Sarah Palin is expected to visit Maine on Thursday.
'I'm not Bush'
On Thursday morning, Mr Obama said there were now 19 days to go but that would be a beginning not an end, as the amount of work for the next president would be "extraordinary".
He warned against complacency, referring to his defeat by Mrs Clinton in the New Hampshire primary.
"I've been in these positions before where we were favoured and the press starts getting carried away, and we end up getting spanked," Mr Obama said.
Again, McCain seems harsher, but is this not what debating is all about?
BBC North America editor Justin Webb
Read Justin's thoughts in full
Blow by blow: McCain v Obama
Republican challenge on Ohio
In Wednesday's 90-minute TV debate at Hofstra University in Long Island, New York, analysts said Mr McCain had turned in his best performance.
He went on the attack immediately, calling Mr Obama's tax plans class warfare and deriding efforts to link him to President George W Bush.
"Senator Obama, I am not President Bush. If you wanted to run against President Bush, you should have run four years ago," Mr McCain said.
He also referred to Mr Obama's association with Bill Ayers, once a member of a US group that waged a violent campaign against the Vietnam War.
However, Mr Obama appeared unruffled by the attacks, saying Mr McCain had been "a vigorous supporter of President Bush".
He added: "Mr Ayers is not involved in my campaign. He has never been involved in this campaign. And he will not advise me in the White House."
The Illinois senator said that 100% of Mr McCain's political adverts had been negative and that voters were more interested in how the candidates planned to fix the economy.
'Socialist'
Immediate voter polls found Mr Obama came out on top.
Who is 'Joe the plumber'?
A CNN poll of people watching Wednesday's debate said Mr Obama won by 58% to 31%, while a CBS survey found the Democrat the winner by 53% to 22%.
A poll of undecided independent voters by US network Fox also suggested Mr Obama was the victor.
One interested viewer was Joe Wurzelbacher.
He shot to prominence in the campaign when he met Barack Obama and expressed concern about what the senator's tax plans might mean for his plumbing business.
After the debate "Joe the plumber" from Ohio said he was "floored" by the impact he had made.
He refused to say who he would vote for but said Mr Obama had a "very socialist view" of taxes "and that's incredibly wrong".
Monday, October 13, 2008
Ghanaians Express Frustration With Kufuor’s Advisors Over Plane Mishap
Some Ghanaians are reportedly expressing outrage after President John Kufuor's life was put at risk over the weekend when the presidential jet carrying him aborted its trip due to technical malfunctions. They are calling for the resignation of President Kufuor's top advisors for putting his life in danger. They contend that President Kufuor has been not been using the presidential jet, nicknamed the Flying Coffin, due to its unworthiness.
Kufuor was traveling on the presidential jet on a scheduled state visit to Equatorial Guinea to participate in that country's 40th Independence anniversary with President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. The flight had to be aborted after the pilot cited failure of the pressure system, which made temperature within the cabin began to rise significantly.
From the capital Accra, managing editor Ben Ephson of the independent Daily Dispatch newspaper tells reporter Peter Clottey Ghanaians are upset that President Kufuor's Advisors did not value his life.
"Actually what happened is that the pilot said there was a reduction in pressure so the internal pressure system was not working. So the plane started getting hot. So 20 minutes after the flight, he (President Kufuor) had to return to Accra," Ephson noted.
He said Ghanaians are expressing outrage after the president's aborted attempt to fly in the "Flying Coffin" presidential jet.
"If you remember, this plane in the 1990s it was nicknamed the flying coffin because ex-President Jerry Rawlings had used it and he has had a few close shaves with life and death. So the ex-president had to buy a new presidential jet. Now, when President Kufuor was in opposition before winning the 2000 election, he had criticized the way and manner the new plane was bought. So I believe that arising from that previous criticism, when he (President Kufuor) came to power he refused to use that plane and in the end, he exchanged that plane for some helicopters and jet fighters for the Ghana Air force," he said.
Ephson said although the president would be going out of office this year, he controversially put forward a plan, which would acquire two new presidential jets.
"Incidentally, within the last three or four months, he (President Kufuor) has put together a package and he is buying two presidential jets totaling $110 million dollars, and which would be delivered in mid 2009. That is for whoever becomes the next president to use," Ephson pointed out.
He said President Kufuor's plan to purchase two new presidential planes did not go down well with some Ghanaians who he said are still opposed to it.
"The decision to buy those two planes came under a lot of criticism, and some of the arguments used by the ruling NPP (New Patriotic Party) was that President Rawlings also bought one. And I believe this is what quite irritated a lot of floating voters because their argument is that well, for the floating voters, President Rawlings because he had a majority in parliament in 2000, bought a presidential jet, and you (President Kufuor) to use. You are buying it for others to use. This is what has irritated some of the floating voters. So, clearly there was criticism that well, whether we like it or not, money has been spent that was the people's money and not that of the former president. He (Ex-President Rawlings) used state funds to buy the presidential jet, so yes, you may have criticized it, but yes you have to use it," he said.
Ephson said Ghanaians are expressing their frustration over the plane's close call in flight.
"I think that people have been a bit angry. Angry in the sense that the presidents put himself at that risk because, take it or leave it, he is our number one citizen. And that if decided not to use the plane, people expected that he could have chartered a plane or had a plane sent for him, or gone by a commercial flight because that plane was not named the flying coffin for nothing. It had put the former president's life at risk. So people were wondering, yes he may had flown a few times, but you know the president's health is always paramount in any given country, and people thought that he was taking an unnecessary risk," Ephson noted.
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