UK & USA Today Editoweb 20 July 2009

Support for Obama on healthcare slips: poll
WASHINGTON: Public support for President Barack Obama's handling of healthcare reform, the pillar of his legislative agenda, has fallen below 50 percent for the first time, a Washington Post-ABC News poll released on Monday said.
Obama and his Democratic allies in Congress have run into stiff opposition this month as they try to pass legislation to restructure the $2.5 trillion U.S. healthcare industry through the creation of a government-run health insurance program.

Minneapolis struggles with rise of Somali gangs
Ahmednur Ali's family fled the chaos and violence of their East African homeland Somalia in the 1990s, eventually making their way to Minnesota like thousands of their compatriots.
While many of the estimated 32,000 Somalis who settled in the state have struggled to adapt, Ali flourished. By age 20, he had blazed a path to Minneapolis' Augsburg College, where he played soccer, studied political science and aspired to a political career modeled on President Barack Obama's.

Burnham denies mixed messages on swine flu
London: Mr Burnham said: "The advice has been clear all along that women who are pregnant should take extra precautions as they would anyway - they should really follow the advice about hand hygiene, they should consider avoiding crowded places."
During a visit to a health centre in south London, he insisted the NHS is dealing "fantastically well" with the virus and preparations here are the best in the world.

UK terror threat downgraded to 'substantial'
That means the official assessment of the danger of an attack in the near future has shifted from "highly likely" to a "strong possibility".
Home Secretary Alan Johnson warned the country still faces a "real and serious" threat from terrorists and urged members of the public to remain vigilant.
The Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre, a unit within MI5, sets the level based on an analysis of intelligence.
The assessment covers potential attacks by al-Qaeda or linked extremist groups and the threat from dissident Republican and Loyalist terrorists in Northern Ireland.

GM gets three offers for Opel
General Motors (GM) said on Monday that it had received three binding takeover offers for Opel that it would consider together with the European countries that would be affected by the deal. Skip related content
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An Opel logo is pictured at the Opel plant in Gliwice Enlarge photo
In a surprise move, the once heavily favoured consortium of Magna and Sberbank changed its plans at the last minute and agreed that they would evenly split a stake in Opel, in a concession to critics, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
"The final bids as well as GM's preliminary findings will then be reviewed with the German and other impacted governments, the EU Commission and the Opel/Vauxhall Trust Board," GM Europe said in a statement released after the deadline for submissions, without naming the bidders.