McCain hits hot buttons; Obama stays cool

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y., Oct. 16 (UPI) -- The two major-party U.S. presidential candidates hit the campaign trail Thursday in battleground states with less than three weeks until the general election.

Democratic nominee Barack Obama traveled to New Hampshire while Republican candidate John McCain visited Downington, Pa.

During Wednesday's debate at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., McCain hit all the hot buttons issues -- taxes, healthcare, the economy, judicial appointments -- but Obama remained cool to the effort, an analysis Thursday in the New York Times reported.

McCain began Wednesday's debate on the offensive while Obama seemed flatter, the analysis said. However, the Arizona Republican grew angry as he challenged Obama about his ties to 1960s radical William Ayers, the University of Illinois at Chicago education professor who co-founded the Weather Underground militant ant-war group.

McCain's body language was as edgy as his voice at times, the analysis said. He rolled his eyes, interrupted Obama, sighed and raised his eyebrows during Obama's turns to speak. Obama, the Times analysis said, also had a bit of a non-verbal edge when he reacted to McCain's comments by smiling, shaking his head and sometimes chuckling.

Petraeus undertakes war strategy review

WASHINGTON, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus is developing an assessment for strategy for Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and surrounding regions, military officials say.

The assessment will result in a new campaign plan for the Middle East and Central Asia, where Petraeus will oversee military operations as the head of U.S. Central Command starting Oct. 31, The Washington Post reported Thursday.

The review formally begins in November, but experts and military officials involved in the reassessment told the newspaper that Petraeus already is focusing on government-led reconciliation of Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as leveraging diplomatic and economic initiatives with regional countries influential in the war.

The review comes as Petraeus, who led an effort credited with dramatically reducing violence in Iraq, faces expectations that he will find a similar way to stem escalating violence and casualties in Afghanistan, the Post said.

Petraeus, however, is trying to dampen expectations of a repeat performance, saying during a meeting with Post editors and writers the Afghanistan effort "is going to be the longest campaign of the long war."

The assessment team's mission includes other government agencies and nations in the planning to "mitigate the risk of over-militarization of efforts and the development of short-term solutions to long-term problems," the Post said.

Some experts questioned whether Petraeus will have the authority to carry out such a sweeping strategy because he "is not in charge of our diplomacy. He can't decide whether we try to form an international contacts group on Pakistan," said Barnett Rubin, an Afghanistan expert at New York University.

Iran said to show it could attack Israel

TABRIZ, Iran, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- Iranian military exercises near Iran's border with Turkey are intended to show Iran could attack Israel, a government TV channel reported Thursday.

The exercises near Tabriz -- with U.S. F-4, F-5 and F-14 jet fighters, along with Russian Sukhoi and Iranian Saegheh, or Thunderbolt, fighters -- include upgraded jets that "can fly to Israel and back without needing to refuel," Iran's English-language Press TV reported.

With more than 100 warplanes participating, the exercises seek to demonstrate Iran's "military offensive capabilities in the wake of escalating war threats against the Islamic Republic," Press TV said.

The Israeli military intelligence Web site DEBKAfile characterized the war games as intending to simulate an attack on Israel. In June, more than 100 Israeli fighter-bombers conducted air maneuvers over the Mediterranean and Aegean seas, midway between Israel and Iran.

DEBKAfile said Tehran's latest drill was a response to "speculation rife in the West that Israel may use the window between the U.S. election and the swearing-in of the new president in January for an attack on Iran's nuclear installations."

The International Atomic Energy Agency said in a report last month that Iran had improved its ability to produce enriched uranium but had not diverted any nuclear material for weapons purposes.

Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes like generating electricity.

Ohio takes voter ruling to Supreme Court

WASHINGTON, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- The Ohio attorney general filed an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to block a lower court decision that could challenge voters at the polls.

The filing on behalf of Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat, contends upholding a federal appeals court ruling would create mayhem on Election Day and force many voters to cast provisional ballots that may or may not be counted depending on local election boards' judgments, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

The court directed Brunner to provide local election officials access to computerized lists of new voters whose registration information doesn't match state driver records or Social Security information, the Post said. Republicans contend the verification system is difficult for local officials when new voter information has a discrepancy.

Brunner had said adapting Ohio's voter registration system to accomplish that change would require several days to work on software programming while accommodating a surge of voter registrations arriving at the office.

"Federal government red tape, misstated technical information or glitches in databases should not be the basis for voters having to cast provisional ballots," Brunner told The New York Times, adding that she plans to comply with the order and also require notifications be mailed to voters whose records have discrepancies.

State Republican Deputy Chairman Kevin DeWine characterized the appeal to the Supreme Court as a "stunning in its attempt to defy the law."

Suspected pipe bomb found at airport

NEW YORK, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- Agents say they detained a man Thursday at MacArthur Airport on Long Island, N.Y., after allegedly finding a suspected pipe bomb in his luggage.

The Southwest Airlines terminal was evacuated for about an hour after Transportation Security Administration agents found "M-80 fireworks and ammunition" and a device with wires in the man's carry-on bag, TSA spokeswoman Lara Uselding told Newsday.

The man, whose name was not released, had a ticket for a Southwest Airlines flight to Las Vegas, Uselding said. A bomb squad removed the bag from the airport.

In airports across the country, TSA agents this week have found 24 firearms or incendiary devices carried by passengers, Uselding said.

Final Titanic survivor selling mementos

WINCHESTER, England, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- Millvina Dean, the last living survivor of the Titanic, says she is selling her mementos of the maritime disaster to pay her nursing home fees in Britain.

The 96-year-old woman, who was only 2 months old when the RMS Titanic sank in 1912, said an accident forced her to live in a nursing home in Hampshire and now she must sell her mementos to pay her mounting bills, The Times of London said Thursday.

"I was hoping to be here for two weeks after breaking my hip but I developed an infection and have been here for two years," she said. "I am not able to live in my home anymore."

"I am selling it all now because I have to pay these nursing home fees and am selling anything that I think might fetch some money."

Her mementos, which include a suitcase and Titanic Relief Fund compensation letters, will go on auction Saturday.

The Times said Dean became the sole survivor of the historic disaster that killed 1,517 people after fellow Titanic survivor Barbara Dainton died in 2007.

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