NATIONAL & WORLD DIGEST - October 20, 2008

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New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-New Doubts Cloud Iraqi Security Pact With U.S.
BAGHDAD - Hopes that a security agreement between Iraq and the United States could be concluded swiftly receded Sunday as several of the leading Iraqi political parties, including some that had negotiated the agreement, appeared to back away from quick approval.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/20/world/middleeast/20iraq.html?hp

-Beijing Olympics Building Chief May Be Executed for Corruption
BEIJING - A former Beijing official who oversaw citywide construction projects for this year's Olympic Games has been given a suspended death sentence for corruption in a case that involved bribery and lavish living, state news outlets reported on Sunday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/20/sports/olympics/20beijing.html

-China's Economic Growth Is Slowest in 5 Years
HONG KONG - Economic growth in China slowed to 9 percent in the third quarter of this year, the slowest pace in more than five years, as industrial production and construction slackened because of weak exports, a slumping real estate market and temporary restrictions imposed during the Beijing Olympics.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/21/business/worldbusiness/21yuan.html

-Trial Memo: A Showdown, and Some Final Evidence, Before a Senator's Case Goes to the Jury
The ethics trial of Senator Ted Stevens heads to what should be a dramatic climax on Monday: a courtroom confrontation between Mr. Stevens and a Justice Department prosecutor that features a crucial telephone conversation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/20/washington/20stevens.html

-The Real Plumbers of Ohio
Paul Krugman
John McCain's strategy, in this final stretch, is based on the belief that Republicans can still pursue plutocratic policies while claiming to be the party of regular guys. [...] And when it turned out that the right's new icon had a few issues, like not being licensed and comparing Mr. Obama to Sammy Davis Jr., conservatives played victim: see how much those snooty elitists hate the common man? [...] But President Bush's policies have already led to disaster - and whatever he may say, Mr. McCain proposes continuing Mr. Bush's policies in all essential respects, and he shares Mr. Bush's anti-government, anti-regulation philosophy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/20/opinion/20krugman.html?ref=opinion

-The Case Against and for Mikhail Khodorkovsky
Until one of Russia's oligarchs, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, is freed from a labor camp, he will be seen as a dissident of the government and as a symbol of the lost rule of law.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/20/opinion/20mon4.html?ref=opinion

-Russia Unromanticized
By John R. Bolton
Former secretaries of state Henry Kissinger and George Shultz argued recently on this site that the United States should neither be "isolating" Russia nor drifting toward "confrontation." The Post's Masha Lipman urged us to avoid "Cold War preconceptions and illusions." Unfortunately, these distinguished commentators are aiming at straw men: No serious observer thinks we face a new Cold War or that isolating Russia because of its increasing foreign adventurism is a real solution. U.S. opposition to Russia's recent behavior should not rest on a desire to "punish" Russia but on the critical need to brace Moscow before its behavior becomes even more unacceptable.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/19/AR2008101901332.html

-Ortega Amnesia
By Jackson Diehl
This is a column about a country that has scarcely been mentioned in the presidential campaign, that has disappeared from the American press and that has essentially been forgotten by Washington -- which is the oddest part of the story. After all, two decades ago Nicaragua and its president, Daniel Ortega, inspired fierce passions here: Democrats and Republicans spent most of a decade bitterly debating whether to fund an armed opposition movement against his Sandinista regime, and senior Reagan administration officials broke the law in order to do so.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/19/AR2008101901334.html

-OIL SHOCK: As Fuel Prices Fall, Will Push For Alternatives Lose Steam?
Just four months ago, a conference here on electric cars drew four times as many people as expected. District fire marshals ordered some of the crowd to leave, and the atmosphere was more like that of a rock concert than an energy conference. A brief film depicted an electric car owner driving off with a beautiful woman to the strains of "The Power of Love" while her original companion struggles to pay for gasoline. The audience cheered.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/19/AR2008101902073.html?hpid=topnews

-Archbishop criticizes Obama, Catholic allies
Denver Roman Catholic Archbishop Charles Chaput labeled Barack Obama the "most committed" abortion-rights candidate from a major party in 35 years while accusing a Catholic Obama ally and other Democratic-friendly Catholic groups of doing a "disservice to the church." Chaput, one of the nation's most politically outspoken Catholic prelates, delivered the remarks Friday night at a dinner of a Catholic women's group.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/19/AR2008101900451.html?hpid=sec-religion


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Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-ANALYSIS | COLIN POWELL ENDORSES BARACK OBAMA
Will Powell propel Obama?
One analyst said Colin Powell's endorsement of Barack Obama was 'devastating' for John McCain's chances; another said it `gives Obama a little more credibility.'
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/campaign-2008/story/733041.html


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Fort Report
http://www.fortreport.com/
Go to the links for the following articles:

-A friendly nod from a familiar face
Colin Powell's decision will not make him a liberal darling, but it will influence voters unsure of Obama's military experience Pssst. The truth is, among people who are most likely to be ardent supporters of Barack Obama, Colin Powell would not win any popularity polls. Even factoring in today's endorsement of Obama, he will long be best-remembered by American liberals for his now-infamous presentation to the UN on Saddam Hussein's phantom weapons of mass destruction and for not going public with what everyone assumes were his serious reservations about the war in Iraq to begin with.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2008/oct/19/colin-powell-endorses-barack-obama

-Investigator To Interview Palins This Week
Palins Will Give Depositions To Troopergate Investigator This Week
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her husband will meet this week with an investigator determining whether she violated state ethics law when firing her public safety director. Thomas Van Flein, the attorney for both Sarah and Todd Palin, said Sunday the separate depositions by an attorney for the Alaska Personnel Board will be held out of state. The investigator, Timothy Petumenos, will fly to meet the Palins.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/10/19/ap/politics/main4531413.shtml

-Obama opens 6-point lead over McCain
Democrat Barack Obama has expanded his national lead over Republican John McCain in the presidential race to 6 percentage points, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Monday. Obama leads McCain 50 percent to 44 percent among likely U.S. voters in the latest three-day tracking poll, up from Obama's 3-point advantage on Sunday. The telephone poll has a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/20/AR2008102000077.html


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