Obama pushes for healthcare vote

The US president has urged congress to vote on his healthcare reforms plan in the next few weeks despite continued opposition against the measure by Republicans.

Speaking at the White House on Wednesday, Barack Obama rejected Republican calls to throw out broad bills passed by the House of Representatives and senate last year and start the process again.

"For us to start over now could simply lead to delay that could last for another decade or even more," Obama said.

"Given these honest and substantial differences between the parties ... I do not see how another year of negotiations would help," he added.

Robert Gibbs, the White House spokesman, said the president would do "whatever it takes to get healthcare done" and Obama said Americans were waiting for the administration to lead.

'Reconciliation procedure'

It now appears likely that Obama's fellow Democrats will use a congressional procedure called "reconciliation".

The process requires only a simple majority instead of the usual 60 votes that are needed in the 100-member chamber to overcome procedural hurdles.

The Democrats lost their "supermajority" of 60 votes after Republican Scott Brown won the Massachusetts seat left vacant by the death of Democrat Edward Kennedy in January.

Without "reconciliation", they would need at least one Republican senator's support for the healthcare measure – something they are unlikely to get.

Obama did not use the word reconciliation in his speech on Wednesday, but made clear he supported that process.

"No matter which approach you favour, I believe the United States congress owes the American people a final vote on healthcare reform," he said. "Now is the time to make a decision about how to finally reform healthcare so that it works."

Republicans dismissed Obama's comments and said Democrats risked paying a heavy price in mid-term congressional elections in November if they tried to push through the reforms without Republican support.

"Every election in America this fall will be a referendum on this issue," Mitch McConnell, the senate Republican leader, said.

Obama said his plan included ideas from his fellow Democrats as well as opposition Republicans, who staunchly oppose the idea of a large-scale overhaul of the $2.5 trillion healthcare industry, which accounts for one-sixth of the US economy.

Republicans say such a plan is too expensive for a government already running huge budget deficits.

Obama renewed his effort to win Republican backing with a healthcare summit last week and a letter on Tuesday outlining some of their ideas he was willing to adopt.

He said he was open to Republican ideas such as scrutinising healthcare providers who get federal money and offering more grants to study alternatives to medical malpractice suits.

'Different Obama'

Eleanor Clift, a contributing editor for Newsweek magazine, told Al Jazeera that since the Republican's victory in Massachusetts, "we've seen a different Obama - somebody who's willing to call out the Republicans for their obstructions and who understands that he has to rally the Democrats".

"I think he thought that if you're rational and you explain to people what you're doing, that your good deeds will just speak for themselves, and he let his opponents define legislation that was emerging in a very negative way and he really didn't punch back," she said.

Now, however, "we're seeing a new aggressiveness and assertiveness".

Obama is due to travel to Philadelphia and St Louis next week to make his case for the healthcare overhaul, knowing full well that the political stakes are enormous.

Obama's approval ratings have dropped during the healthcare fight amid public worries about an unemployment rate hovering around 10 per cent.

With polls providing a mixed picture of their attitudes, the president made clear he was willing to let voters decide in November whether healthcare should be approved or not.

With more than one third of the senate and all seats in the House of Representatives up for grabs, his fellow Democrats want to move past healthcare to focus on job creation and the economy.

It is unclear whether Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, will be able to muster a bare majority of 216 Democrats to pass the plan in the House, with moderates fearing a rebellion from voters more concerned about jobs.

But Clift told Al Jazeera that she thinks the plan will pass "because this is now the president's bill".

"Members of congress who are wavering will now have to go to the Oval Office and explain to the president why they're not backing him in an election year where Democrats are vulnerable.

"The president's put his imprint on it and I think he's made it pretty clear that the success of his presidency really hinges on him getting legislation."

Strong aftershocks rock Chile

Strong aftershocks have struck Chile again, rocking the battered town of Concepcion and sending panicked residents fleeing.

Soldiers deployed in the city urged people to evacuate following Wednesday's temblors and the authorities issued a tsunami warning.

Reporting from Concepcion, Al Jazeera's Lucia Newman said there was pandemonium everywhere as people rushed to get to higher ground even though the city is quite far away from the sea, making the possibility of a tsunami very remote.

Call for calm

No damage or injuries were recorded in the aftershocks that came as Michelle Bachelet, the outgoing president, called for calm and asked people to stop hoarding supplies and help with relief efforts.

Speaking in the Chilean capital, Santiago, on Wednesday, she said: "We don't have shortage. There is enough food, so everyone has to remain calm in places where stores are closed.

"We will replenish the stores. Banks are beginning to open ... that is to say we will return to relative normality," she said on national television.

Bachelet's statement comes in the face of criticism that her government has been slow to respond to one of the world's most powerful earthquakes in a century.

Chilean emergency officials and the military have blamed each other for not clearly warning coastal villages of tsunamis immediately after Saturday's quake, angering survivors who lost relatives and friends in the massive waves.

The number of those killed by Saturday's magnitude 8.8 earthquake and the tsunami that followed has risen to more than 800, and is likely to increase as rescue workers continue search and recovery efforts amid the rubble of collapsed buildings.

Hundreds of people are still missing after the quake, which left an estimated 1.5 million homes damaged.

A curfew remained in place in Concepcion following Wednesday's aftershocks, with thousands of troops patrolling the streets in devastated areas to keep order and oversee aid distribution.

Military trucks and helicopters delivered food and water, while rescue crews searched coastal hamlets north of the city for any survivors trapped in the debris.

Insecurity remains

Our correspondent said there was a strong sense of insecurity across the city four days after the initial quake.

Widespread looting had subsided, our correspondent said, but there was still lawlessness, especially after dark, with gangs descending on some poor neighbourhoods late on Tuesday, triggering gunshots and compelling the army to move in.

In Constitucion, one of several coastal villages which were nearly wiped out by the disaster, some reports put the number of missing people as high as 500.

The town, with a population of about 40,000, accounts for almost half of the official death toll.

And Bachelet's plea for people not to hog supplies appears to have fallen on deaf ears in the town where prices for foodstuffs such as flour and sugar have skyrocketed partly because of hoarding and looting.

No damage or injuries were reported in Chile's second-biggest city.

Iraq's Fearful Christian Candidates

A spike in violence against the Christian community in northern Iraq is leading many of their candidates to consider dropping plans to contest the March 7 general elections.

"The only loser in all this violence is our minority which, although representing only 5 percent of the parliamentary seats, is being the first choice for extremists and militants in the northern region," Kammar Bashar, a Christian candidate, told IslamOnline.net.

At least eight Christians have been killed in the last two weeks in the northern city of Mosul.

Six were gunned down in the street, near their homes or at work places while the two others went missing before their bodies were founded later dumped in the street.

A UN report said Sunday that 4,098 Christians fled Mosul between February 20 and 27 following the attacks.

Some 1,000 Christians marched took to the streets of Hamdaniya, a town 40 kilometres east of Mosul, on Sunday to protest the killings and urge the government for protection.

"Like me, two other colleagues running for seats in the March 7 elections have doubts about running," said Bashar.

According to him, a meeting will be held Tuesday with community members in the region to evaluate the situation and decide about their campaign and candidacy.

"If the reason for Christians being killed in the past days is our candidacy, probably the best to do is drop from the elections race to protect our community since security authorities are not doing anything to help us."

Officials in Ninawa province say the recent attacks aim to force Christian candidates to drop their campaigns.

Under the constitution, five seats of the parliament must be occupied by Christians.

The seats are given to the top vote-collecting candidates across the country, with no geographical quotas.

Terrorized

A spokesperson for the provincial governor of Mosul said they are closely monitoring the recent episodes and have already asked for security reinforcements in areas where the attacks happened.

But Rita Abdel, a member of Christian community in Mosul and an aid worker for an organization helping displaced Christian families, is not satisfied.

"Militants are killing Christians, dropping their bodies outside their homes in front of the remaining family members to scare the community and it is still being considered as a general problem of violence," she fumed.

"The local government said they have asked for more protection in area but no one has reported a single extra officer than we had before."

Many Christians are not planning to cast their ballots on March 7 because of the spiralling violence.

"I won't take the risk of voting and have family members killed," said Tabis Noor, a 41-year-old resident of Mosul, where violence is higher against Christians.

"Yesterday a written message was dropped at the doors of many families in our neighbourhood warning us not to go to polls or try to elect someone from our community. They the price would be paid with our lives," he added.

"If we try to be recognised politically, our punishment is with threats and killings, so it is better to be alive than take the risk for something that in practice will bring no support or prosperity to our community."

Since the 2003 US-led invasion, Al-Qaeda militants have been targeting Christians and other minorities.

Hundreds of thousands have since fled Iraq to neighbouring and European countries.

The number of Christians in Iraq is estimated at nearly 750,000, a small minority in a country of 28 million.

"I’m working in a way to flee Iraq because this country is not part of our history anymore," says an angry Noor.

"We are being marginalised and when we ask for protection, the only phrase we get is that violence is general and not specific to anyone.

"We don’t have rights in Iraq anymore."

Malaysian MP Quits in "Allah" Row

A lawmaker quit opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's Peoples Justice Party (PKR) on Wednesday, March 3, in protest over whether Christians can use the word "Allah" for God, leaving the opposition with 79 seats in the 222-seat federal parliament.

"I am deeply concerned with the political struggles and activities of PKR," MP Mohsin Fadzli Samsuri told a news conference reading from a written statement.

He accused PKR, often known simply as Keadilan, of compromising on certain matters to achieve a certain objective and seeking support from other countries to attack the sovereignty of Malaysia.

"The insulting of the institution of Islam…including the endorsement of the use of the word Allah (by non-Muslims) made me reach a point where I could no longer compromise and keep quiet," asserted MP Mohsin.

Multiethnic Malaysia has been divided over allowing Christians to use the word Allah to refer to God.

The country's High Court had overturned a government ban on the use of the word in Christian publications.

Mohsin believes that by supporting the decision the opposition had insulted Islam, the religion of the majority in the country.

"I cannot remain tolerant and stay silent ... in the name of Allah, I hereby declare my decision to step down [from the party."

Blow

This is the third defection from Anwar's PKR in just two weeks, leaving the opposition with 79 seats in the 222-seat federal parliament.

Some analysts predict other defections are on their way.

"The opposition is already aware of which other lawmakers are expected to defect," political analyst Shahruddin Badarudin told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Anwar, a former deputy premier who was sacked and convicted on separate sodomy and corruption charges, emerged from prison in 2004 to forge an alliance between Keadilan, the Islamic party PAS and the Democratic Action Party.

The alliance made major gains in the 2008 polls, winning control over five of the country's 13 states.

Anwar wanted to seize power by securing mass defections from the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN).

But it was the BN that ended up drawing defectors, wresting control of the northern Perak state when three state assemblymen jumped ship in early 2009.

Some analysts say the defections could help the government regain its legislative majority.

The BN only needs 11 more seats to reclaim its two-thirds majority in the parliament.

Mohammad Agus Yusoff from National University of Malaysia believes that if the opposition loses its one-third hold on parliament, the government would once again be able to amend the constitution and change election rules to boost its own position.

But the opposition alliance tried to play down the importance of the defections.

"Before the 2008 general elections, Keadilan faced difficulties in finding candidates and we took whoever we could get, with the consequence that some of them were not up to the mark," Party Vice-President Sivarasa Rasiah told AFP.

"It's better they leave now rather than weaken us later at a more critical time near or at the next general election."

The defections are happening against the backdrop of Anwar's trial on new sodomy charges that could see him jailed for up to 20 years.