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Obama leads McCain on economy, poll says

PRINCETON, N.J., Oct. 14 (UPI) -- U.S. voters say they think Democrat Barack Obama would better handle the economy as president than Republican John McCain, a Gallup Poll indicates.

Obama's 53 percent-to-38 percent lead over McCain in the latest Gallup Poll is a bump from the 3 percentage point lead he held just before the Republican National Convention in September, survey results released Tuesday indicate.

Most Republicans and Democrats said they consider their own party's candidate to be more capable of handling the economy than his opponent. Independents tipped the scales for Obama, with the majority favoring the Illinois senator while 32 percent named McCain, the Princeton, N.J., polling agency said.

The weekend issues poll found Obama was preferred over McCain on the matter of taxes and energy, as well as healthcare.

McCain was favored on the issues of terrorism and gun policy. He also has a slight lead on the war in Iraq, but the advantage is not statistically significant, Gallup said.

Results are based on telephone interviews conducted Friday through Sunday with 1,269 adults. The margin of error is 3 percentage points.

McCain presents more economic proposals

BLUE BELL, Pa., Oct. 14 (UPI) -- Republican presidential candidate John McCain Tuesday outlined his plans to protect pensions, help U.S. homeowners and put money in taxpayers' pockets.

"If I am elected president, I will help to create jobs for Americans in the most effective way a president can do this -- with tax cuts that are directed specifically to create jobs, and protect your life savings," McCain said during a rally in Blue Bell, Pa., near Philadelphia.

McCain restated several proposals he announced previously, such as suspending rules requiring investors to sell off their IRAs and 401Ks when they reach age 70 1/2. He also pledged to halve capital gains tax on stocks purchased and held for more than a year.

He reiterated his plan to buy mortgages directly from homeowners and mortgage servicers, replacing them with manageable fixed-rate loans.

McCain said he would increase the amount of capital losses from $3,000 to $15,000 that could be deducted from income.

The Arizona Republican also repeated his pledge to veto pork barrel spending and to freeze spending for a year for all programs except areas such as defense and veterans care.

"We are going to use that year to turn Washington inside out and get rid of wasteful, inefficient programs that do no one any good," McCain said.

Reforming the tax system would provide relief to U.S. workers and create jobs, he said. McCain pledged to double the child deduction from $3,500 to $7,000 and promised $5,000 to buy health insurance for "(every) person in America who chooses it."

The federal business tax rate would be lowered from 35 percent to 25 percent under a McCain administration, and taxes on unemployment benefits would be eliminated, he said.

Fla. docs sign McCain health petition

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Oct. 14 (UPI) -- More than 90 Florida doctors are seeking the health records of Republican U.S. presidential nominee John McCain to guarantee he is in good health.

The physicians have signed a national petition calling on McCain, a U.S. senator from Arizona, to fully disclose his medical records, saying they're concerned about his bouts with skin cancer and that voters have a right to know more, The St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times reported Tuesday.

"If you still want to vote for the guy, that's fine. But you should know about it," said Dr. Max Rubin, a dermatologist from Delray Beach, Fla., told the newspaper, while Tallahassee, Fla., orthopedic surgeon Ray Bellamy added, "I don't want to look to see if he's taking Viagra. I want to see if there's strong evidence he's in good health or not."

If elected, McCain would begin his term at age 72. His staffers have dismissed the petition as a ploy by a group with ties to the liberal activist organization Moveon.org.

But the Florida doctors, some acknowledged as backers of Democratic opponent Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, say the issue is pertinent because of McCain's choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice president.

McCain released about 1,500 pages of his medical records in May.

Gitmo lawyers doubt interpreters' skills

WASHINGTON, Oct. 14 (UPI) -- Defense lawyers at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are raising concerns about the quality of the Arabic interpreters offered inmates.

The attorneys say a lot is literally being lost in translation as they confer with their clients, who include prisoners charged in connection with the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States.

The Washington Post Tuesday said a linguist working for one defense team stated that half of what the court interpreter relayed was incorrect.

"Regular omissions, or mistranslations of key words or phrases often led to disjointed, incomprehensible or misleading translations into both English and Arabic," said lawyers for 9/11 defendant Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi's in a recent motion seeking to postpone his trial until a better interpreter can be found.

Military and federal government officials told the Post that the interpreters are native-level speakers and are as good as would be found in a civilian court. Nevertheless, the Pentagon is instituting new controls to address the lawyers' concerns.

Severe famine overtaking Zimbabwe

MUTARE, Zimbabwe, Oct. 14 (UPI) -- Famine on a scale never before seen in Zimbabwe is quickly and quietly overtaking the country, aid workers said.

Emaciated children are dying a rate that is overwhelming rural hospitals and is even spreading to sections of the urban middle classes as a result of an economic catastrophe brought about by President Robert Mugabe's policies, The Times of London reported Tuesday.

The newspaper said that an undercover 600-mile journey through Zimababwe's Manicaland province revealed exhausted food reserves and widespread instances of kwashiorkor, marasmus and pellagra -- diseases brought about by hunger. About 5 million people in Zimbabwe are facing starvation, two-thirds of the country's children cannot attend school and water shortages have led to deadly cholera outbreaks, The Times reported.

"Malnutrition is a silent emergency that affects young children and they die quietly," Geoff Foster, a pediatrician in a hospital in Mutare, told the newspaper. "There is a famine situation prevailing and it is desperate."

Food shortages started in 2000 when Mugabe began confiscating white-owned farms for political reasons, and although he has partially relaxed a ban on food distribution by aid agencies, restrictions are still severely handicapping relief delivery, aid officials say.

Winds cooperating with SoCal fire crews

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 14 (UPI) -- Los Angeles firefighters were holding their own Tuesday afternoon as two stubborn wildfires threatened suburban neighborhoods.

Santa Ana winds remained relatively light for much of the day, giving crews in the San Fernando Valley a welcome advantage as they battled fires that had burned a combined 14,000 acres and nearly 59 structures.

"This thing is not over," Los Angeles County Fire Inspector Paul Hartwell told the Los Angeles Times. "This is halftime. Don't get comfortable."

The National Weather Service said a red-flag warning remained in effect until Wednesday night for Los Angeles and Ventura Counties where wind gusts in some canyon areas could potentially hit 50 mph.

For much of Tuesday, the winds were on the light side as firefighter carved out containment lines and guarded threatened homes against approaching flames.

The Mareck fire was considered 70 percent contained at nearly 5,000 acres; however, the Senson fire near Porter Ranch ballooned to nearly 10,000 acres and was still a threat to several neighborhoods in Granada Hills.

To the south of Los Angeles, another fire on the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base closed Interstate 5 for more than an hour, cutting the coastal route between Orange and San Diego Counties.