Early voting began in the key battleground state of Ohio Tuesday, a day after Ohio courts ruled that new voters could register and cast an absentee ballot on the same day. Republicans, who argue same-day voting opens the door to voter fraud, opposed the measure; Democrats backed it. They hope to encourage college students and other groups such as minorities, the poor and the homeless to make use of the same-day voting period. Previously, voters had to be registered for at least 30 days before receiving an absentee ballot, which tended to reduce participation among such voter groups.
The Senate passed the $700 billion Wall Street rescue plan Wednesday night by a significant margin. Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain were among the 74 senators who approved the bailout. The legislation will now move to the House, where party leaders are more confident it will pass this time due to added tax breaks and other provisions. If passed, it will go onto President George W. Bush, who has already expressed his support for the bill, hoping it will reach his desk by the end of the week.
The wreckage of missing U.S. millionaire Steve Fossett’s plane was spotted late Wednesday during an aerial search of the Sierra Nevada Mountains near Mammoth Lakes. Fossett vanished in September last year on a solo flight that took off 90 miles away in neighboring Nevada. Most of the fuselage had disintegrated, with engine parts scattered several hundred feet away. No human remains have yet been found at the crash site, but officials said remains are often not found within the first few days, and sometimes not found at all because of animals.
In India, a ban on smoking tobacco in public went into effect Thursday . Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss says he aims to cut the number of smokers and to protect passive smokers from the harmful effects of tobacco. Those flouting it face fines of 200 rupees ($4.50). Tobacco smoking in India kills 900,000 people a year. That figure is expected to rise to a million by 2010.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met Thursday near Moscow with his Ukrainian counterpart Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, where they discussed the supplying of Russian gas to Ukraine. The two premiers signed an energy memorandum meant to act as the basis for future gas negotiations; both said they are willing to establish a gradual transition to market prices within three years. Russia briefly cut gas supplies to Ukraine earlier this year, accusing it of failing to pay a debt of about 1.5 billion dollars, which Ukraine insisted it had paid. Putin has expressed outrage at reports that Ukraine supplied arms and technicians to Georgia before the recent war. After the talks, h e said that if such reports were confirmed, they constituted a “crime”.
Compiled by Laura Brown
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