Poll woes don't slow Obama's campaign money train (Reuters)

CHICAGO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama is raising millions of dollars for his re-election campaign, keeping the support of big and small donors despite the sputtering economy and slumping opinion poll numbers.

Amid high unemployment and fears of a second recession, Obama has faced withering criticism from within his own party for seeming to give in too easily to Republicans in Congress and not taking a firmer stand on issues such as protecting the environment.

His approval ratings have been hovering at about 43 percent and polls show he would face a tough fight to defeat Texas Governor Rick Perry or former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, the two top contenders for the Republican presidential nomination to oppose Obama in November 2012.

His campaign has indicated that fund-raising slipped in the June-September quarter. And there has been discontent among some 2008 donors, with some Wall Street cash shifting to Romney, co-founder of buyout firm Bain Capital, a sign of business unease with Obama's tenure.

But if Obama lacks the rock-star status he had four years ago, his events are still selling out and his fund-raising machine is outstripping 2008. Donors said the Obama camp is worried about the country's finances, not the campaign's.

"I haven't heard anyone outwardly worried. It seems like they are on track to hit their goals," said a top fund-raiser close to the campaign, requesting anonymity to speak freely.

"Put it this way: it is not money that they are worried about. They would trade all the money for better economic data," he said.

The Democratic president still attracts the army of low-dollar givers who helped push him to the White House in 2008, and the loyalty of enough big contributors that analysts anticipate he will amass a $1 billion campaign warchest.

"Some of these people may still be disappointed, but they're not going to be ready to write Barack Obama off," said Stuart Rothenberg, an independent political analyst in Washington.

Obama, the first black U.S. president, is a historic figure whose personal popularity outstrips his approval ratings. Known as a strong campaigner, he offers as president constant media attention and an access to power that appeals to big donors, many of whom are concerned that the Republican field is tacking too far toward the right.

'CLASS WARFARE'

"We've heard a lot of concern about the right wing Republican agenda, what many people refer to as 'taking the country backwards' or 'in the wrong direction,'" said Andrew Spahn, a Los Angeles based consultant who is advising DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg as he raises money for Obama's re-election campaign.

Katzenberg, who hosted two sold out, big-dollar fundraisers in the spring, has committed to pumping $500,000 for the Obama campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Obama appealed to his base strongly on Monday by laying out a $3.6 trillion plan to cut U.S. budget deficits partly by raising taxes on the rich, which Republicans rejected as "class warfare" and a political stunt.

Some major Democratic supporters, including big labor unions, have responded positively to the plan. Opinion polls also show voter misgivings about Washington's handling of the economy extend to Republicans in Congress, as well as Obama.

"In the end, every American is frustrated with the economy and the way governance works, but that all doesn't fall on the president's shoulders," said Howard Bragman, a Hollywood publicist and longtime Democratic activist.

"His base hasn't left him and they're the ones who are the organizational spine of this campaign," he said.

Obama raised up to $2.8 million at fundraisers in Washington on Thursday and millions more on Monday in New York, where he warned donors of a "very perilous path" if his debt reduction plan is not passed. More fundraisers are on tap in New York and California in the coming days.

Member of his team stress that Obama's campaign had more than 520,000 individual donors in the second quarter of 2011, more than it had for all of 2007, and of those 260,000 had never given before.

Obama's fundraising far outstripped any of his Republican rivals in the second quarter of 2011, as he and the Democratic National Committee raked in $86 million. Romney, who led all Republicans, raised $18 million.

Campaigns do not have to release their third-quarter fundraising totals until October 15, but Obama's set a goal on September 9 of raising $55 million between June and September, to benefit the re-election efforts and the Democratic National Committee.

Presidential fundraising typically wanes in the summer the year before the election, and it was hit more this year because Obama canceled a series of events in July during protracted debt negotiations with Republicans in Congress.

(Additional reporting by Kim Dixon, writing by Patricia Zengerle; editing by Alistair Bell)

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UN vote on Palestine: Can Tony Blair prevent a diplomatic train wreck? (The Christian Science Monitor)

Washington – The Israeli and Palestinian leaders are headed for a showdown at the United Nations next week – unless former British Prime Minister Tony Blair succeeds in an apparent 11th-hour bid to table a controversial UN vote on Palestinian statehood.

Both Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday they plan to address the UN in New York late next week – Mr. Abbas to seek approval of Palestine as a UN member state, Mr. Netanyahu to tell the UN General Assembly why in his view a vote on Palestine would ruin chances for Mideast peace.

The looming confrontation over Palestine – with the United States promising to use its veto if the question of UN membership as a full-fledged state reaches the Security Council – is being portrayed in various quarters from the US to Europe and beyond as a diplomatic train wreck waiting to happen.

RELATED: Top 5 issues on the table for Israeli-Palestinian talks

Some analysts warn of a day-after of confusion and dashed hopes that could spawn a new wave of Mideast violence.

It is in this climate of tension and foreboding that Mr. Blair is reportedly shopping around a plan to apply the traina€?s brakes and avoid a crash. Blair is the envoy of the Middle East Quartet, comprised of the US, the European Union, Russia, and the UN.

Under Blair’s proposal, the Palestinians would indeed present their bid for statehood, but to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Mr. Ban would take the proposal under advisement, with a commitment to present it for a vote in the General Assembly by the end of the year if the Israelis and Palestinians have not returned to direct negotiations by then.

The plan has several points in its favor:

‧ It allows the Palestinians to take their case for statehood to the UN – which the leadership says it is committed to doing – while avoiding a vote in the hothouse of the UN General Assembly’s opening week, when world leaders from President Obama to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be on hand.

‧ It avoids the prospect of a US veto, which many analysts say would damage the US role as an honest broker in the Mideast peace process and could poison American relations with Arab and Muslim countries.

a€￠ It opens the way for the resumption of direct negotiations which went nowhere after President Obama relaunched them in Washington last September.

Blair has presented his plan to Israeli and Palestinian leaders this week even as other diplomats have been shuttling to the region to try to avoid a UN vote and get back to direct peace talks.

Obama dispatched two diplomats, Mideast envoy David Hale and White House Mideast chief Dennis Ross, to the region again this week. The EU’s top foreign policy representative, Catherine Ashton, was also in talks in Jerusalem and Ramallah.

It was unclear late Thursday how coordinated the different diplomatic initiatives were or whether any of them was making headway.

In the meantime, confusion reigned over exactly what path the Palestinians were intending to take in New York in the absence of an accepted plan for putting off a statehood vote.

Palestinian leaders in Ramallah said their plan is to seek full UN membership – in other words, a Security Council vote – when Abbas speaks to the General Assembly Sept. 23.

“We have decided to submit our application for full membership,” Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad al-Maliki said Thursday. “At the same time,” he continued, “we have said that, until then, we are open to any kind of suggestions or ideas that could really come from any side for the renewal of negotiations.”

Hours later in New York, however, the Palestinians’ permanent observer to the UN, Riyad Mansour, told journalists that a decision has yet to be made on going for full membership through the Security Council or for some other form of UN representation through the General Assembly.

Mr. Mansour’s less categorical terms were interpreted by some analysts as a sign that a compromise was still possible.

Yet while Mr. al-Maliki also suggested that the statehood bid could ultimately be put off in favor of negotiations, he said that any such move would only be possible if the agreed direct negotiations came “with clear terms of reference, with a clear timetable and a clear end game.”

RELATED: Top 5 issues on the table for Israeli-Palestinian talks

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China sacks 3 senior officials after high-speed train crash (Reuters)

WENZHOU, China (Reuters) – China sacked three senior railway officials Sunday after a collision between two high-speed trains killed at least 43 people and raised new questions about the safety of the fast-growing rail network.

A bullet train Saturday night hit another express which lost power following a lightning strike, state media said, in the country's deadliest rail disaster since 2008.

The power failure knocked out an electronic safety system designed to alert trains about stalled locomotives on the line.

As rescue teams and firefighters with excavators searched for survivors, state television said a 4-year-old boy and a male toddler had been pulled alive from the wreckage.

It was not known how many people were on the trains, which collided on a bridge near the city of Wenzhou in Zhejiang province, some 860 miles south of Beijing.

"The task for us now is to clear the debris and also to check for survivors in those areas that we have not gone to," said 35-year-old rescue worker Wang Jun. "Also, we are trying to get the railway line to be operational again."

Authorities moved quickly to assuage public anger by sacking the head of the Shanghai railway bureau, his deputy and the bureau's Communist Party chief, the Railways Ministry said in a statement on its website (www.china-mor.gov.cn).

The three will "also be subject to investigation," the statement added.

Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang, visiting the scene, "pledged that the investigators will find out the cause of the accident and those responsible will be seriously punished according to the law," the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Rescuers found more bodies Sunday afternoon, bringing the death toll to 43. Almost 200 people remain in hospital, 12 of them in critical condition, Xinhua said.

Two foreigners died in the accident, according to the semi-official China News Service, including a woman in her 20s.

Rail is the most popular method of long-distance transport in China and trains are usually crowded with as many as 1,000 passengers.

The reliability of China's rail network was called into question recently when the flagship Beijing-Shanghai high-speed line suffered a series of power outages soon after opening to great fanfare a month ago.

China's rail network has also been hit by a series of scandals. Three railway officials have been investigated for corruption this year, according to local media reports.

In February, Liu Zhijun was sacked as railways minister for "serious disciplinary violations." He led the rail sector's investment drive over the past decade.

Chinese internet users took to popular Twitter-like microblogging site Weibo to vent their anger about the accident, with some calling for Railways Minister Sheng Guangzu to resign, posting his picture online with a large red cross through it.

"The Railways Ministry should realize that passengers are not just little white mice," wrote Yang Chunxiao.

"Do you think officials are really trying to help? It's all for show," added A Cige.

"FLYING INTO THE AIR"

One train was heading from Beijing to the coastal city of Fuzhou, and the other was running from Hangzhou to Fuzhou.

Both trains were made by China South Locomotive and Rolling Stock Corp Ltd (CSR).

The force of the collision sent "the head of the train flying into the air," said Cai Qi, a 30-year-old villager who saw the accident and rescued five children, four women and one man. "Some of them had their hands or legs broken. Some were crushed inside debris and we pushed and carried them out."

"Suddenly, there was a loud bang," said 32-year-old survivor Yin Caohui. "After that, the train broke. It was all dark and we could not see anything."

A 31-year-old survivor, who gave his last name as Yu, said the train stopped suddenly and the lights immediately went off but the passengers "didn't think it was so serious."

"Only when we got down, we saw so many train carriages falling down," Yu said.

In 2008, an express train traveling from Beijing to the eastern coastal city of Qingdao derailed and collided with another train, killing 72 and injuring 416 people.

(Additional reporting by Aly Song in Wenzhou and Sally Huang and Sui-Lee Wee in Beijing; Writing by Sui-Lee Wee and Ben Blanchard)

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Chinese state media say 16 dead in train accident (AP)

BEIJING – A Chinese bullet train lost power after being struck by lightning and was hit from behind by another train, knocking two of its carriages off a bridge, killing at least 16 people and injuring 89, state media reported.

The official Xinhua News Agency said four cars on the second train also derailed, but it did not say how serious that was.

The first train was traveling from the Zhejiang provincial capital of Hangzhou when the accident occurred in Wenzhou city at about 8:30 p.m. (1230 GMT), Xinhua said.

It said one carriage from the first train fell about 65 to 100 feet (20 to 30 meters). Pictures on the Internet showed one badly damaged car lying on its side by the bridge and the second car leaning against the bridge after landing on its end..

Xinhua quoted an unidentified witness as saying "rescuers have dragged many passengers out of the coach that fell on the ground."

The trains involved are "D" trains, the first generation bullet train with an average speed of about 95 miles (150 kilometers) per hour and not as fast as the new Beijing-Shanghai line.

Xinhua said the train hit by lightning was "D3115." It said the Ministry of Railways confirmed that it was hit from behind by train "D301."

China has spent billions of dollars and plans more massive spending to link the country with a high-speed rail network. Recently, power outages and other malfunctions have plagued the showcase high-speed line between Beijing and Shanghai since it opened on June 30.

Official plans call for China's bullet train network to expand to 8,000 miles (13,000 kilometers) of track this year and 10,000 miles (16,000 kilometers) by 2020.

The huge spending connected with the rail expansion also has been blamed for corruption, and Railways Minister Liu Zhijun was dismissed this spring amid an investigation into unspecified corruption allegations.

No details have been released about the allegations against him, but news reports say they include kickbacks, bribes, illegal contracts and sexual liaisons.

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31 dead, 100 injured as train derails in India (AP)

FATEHPUR, India – Rescuers searched through the wreckage of a packed express train for people trapped inside after it derailed in northern India on Sunday, killing at least 31 people and injuring 100 others, officials said.

The Kalka Mail train was on its way to Kalka, in the foothills of the Himalayas, from Howrah, a station near Kolkata in eastern India, when 12 coaches and the engine jumped the tracks at Malwan station, near the town of Fatehpur in Uttar Pradesh state, senior railway official A.K. Jain said.

The cause of the derailment was not immediately clear but it appeared that the driver applied the emergency brakes, Jain said.

At least 31 people were killed and rescue workers pulled at least 100 injured passengers out of the wreckage, said Brij Lal, a state police official.

Late Sunday night, a second train derailed in the northeastern state of Assam, injuring at least 100 people, said S.K. Roy, a local magistrate.

Local police suspect that a remote control-triggered bomb caused four coaches of the Gauhati-Puri Express to be thrown off the tracks in the town of Rangiya, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) west of the state's capital, Gauhati, Roy said.

S. Hajong, a local railways spokesman, said two of the four coaches plunged into a pond and casualties are feared.

Roy did not blame any rebel group and no one has taken responsibility for the attack so far. More than 30 groups in northeastern India have been fighting for decades for independence or wide autonomy in the region, about 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) east of New Delhi.

It was the third train accident in India in the last four days. A train hit a bus at an unmanned railway crossing last Thursday, killing 35 people.

In Fatehpur, the accident site was a pile of twisted metal. At least one coach flew above the roof of another ahead of it and was dangling precariously, television footage showed. Another coach was thrown away from the rest of the train.

The toll was likely to rise as rescuers made their way through the coaches and used gas cutters to cut through the mangled metal, Lal said. Rescue efforts continued late into the night.

"We're trying to cut into the coaches and rescue those still trapped inside," Lal said.

A senior railway official, H.C. Joshi, told CNN-IBN news channel that rescuers were struggling to free at least five people pinned under the wreckage of one of the worst-damaged coaches.

Medical personnel rushed to the area, about 75 miles (120 kilometers) southeast of Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh state.

Army helicopters were ferrying the most seriously injured victims to hospitals and 30 army engineers had joined the rescue efforts, Lal said.

TV stations showed local residents helping injured passengers away from the train, several in makeshift stretchers, and breaking the windows of coaches to help those trapped inside.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed "deep sorrow and shock" at the loss of lives. The Railways Ministry announced compensation of 500,000 rupees ($11,000) for the families of those killed in the accident.

The number of passengers on board the Kalka Mail — named for its past use in the postal service — was not known. Express trains normally carry about 1,000 people and travel at speeds of 60-80 miles (100-130 kilometers) per hour.

India's railroad network is one of the largest in the world and carries about 14 million passengers a day. Accidents are common, with most blamed on poor maintenance and human error.

___

Biswajeet Banerjee in Lucknow contributed to this story.

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