The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	white house dreams Obama, Romney line up elite lawyers for election disputes Presidential campaigns prepare for recounts, challenges Washington, October 27 As President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney scramble to come out ahead in the November 6 election, two other men are preparing for a legal showdown that could begin the next day. They are the lawyers who have been tapped by the Obama and Romney teams to navigate any legal challenges to voting procedures or results in a tight contest that could dredge up memories of the disputed 2000 election that was settled by the US Supreme Court. Leading Romney's team is Benjamin Ginsberg, chief legal counsel for George W. Bush's presidential campaigns in 2000 and 2004. Obama has turned to Robert Bauer, a past White House counsel who has spoken out against Republican-led efforts to alter voting laws in states including Ohio, a politically divided state that could determine who wins the November 6 election. Already, Ginsberg and Bauer have been quiet players in the 2012 campaign. This fall, the duo negotiated the terms of the three presidential debates and the one between Vice-President Joe Biden and Republican vice-presidential nominee Paul Ryan. The agreement dealt with the details of the debates, such as the format of each event. Before the Republican convention in Tampa, Florida, in late August, Ginsberg led the Romney campaign's efforts to wrest greater control over the party's rules, angering some Republican activists who saw the move as a power grab by Romney's team. Ginsberg and Bauer, who did not respond to requests for comment, have been engaged in the same type of election legal adventures so frequently that Joe Allbaugh, Republican George W. Bush's campaign manager in 2000, teasingly calls them the "Bobbsey Twins," after the children's book characters. For decades, Ginsberg and Bauer have given partisan legal advice for campaigns, recounts and election court battles. "The truth is, there are very few lawyers who work in this area," Ginsberg told The New York Times in 2004. With Obama and Romney in a virtual dead heat in the polls, the state-by-state race for president has a range of chaotic possibilities. — Reuters Romney maintaining small ‘lead’ over Obama Ahead of the November 6 US Presidential election, Republican challenger Mitt Romney is maintaining a small lead over incumbent Barack Obama who, however, still has a "narrow advantage" in key battle ground states, according to opinion polls. Romney, 65, is having a lead of five points over Obama in the Gallup's rolling daily tracking, while in RealClearPolitcs he has a lead of just 0.9 point. The Washington Post-ABC poll says the Republican nominee has one point lead. However, in the key battle ground state of Ohio, Obama was leading by four points, according to CNN, which said the race here is still close. The State has 18 electoral college vote.
	‘Super storm’ Sandy regains hurricane strength Miami, October 27 Tropical cyclone Sandy revved back up to hurricane strength on Saturday as it churned toward the US northeast coast where it threatens to become one of the worst storms in decades. The late-season storm has been dubbed "Frankenstorm" by some weather watchers because it will combine elements of a tropical cyclone and a winter storm and is forecast to reach the US coast close to Halloween. Forecast models show it will have all the ingredients to morph into a so-called "super storm." Governors in states along the US East Coast declared emergencies on Friday, with officials urging residents to stock up on food, water and batteries. The US Navy ordered all ships in the Norfolk, Virginia, area, including a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, out to sea to ride out the approaching storm. "We're expecting a large, large storm," said Louis Uccellini, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Center for Environmental Prediction. Sandy battered the Bahamas southeast of Florida on Friday after causing widespread destruction in eastern Cuba a day earlier. The storm was expected to crawl northward on Saturday and Sunday and then turn toward the US coast. Sandy's powerful winds and rains were blamed for 41 deaths in several Caribbean countries, including 11 in Cuba. Most were killed by falling trees and building collapses. On its current projected track, Sandy could make US landfall on Monday night or Tuesday somewhere between North Carolina and southern New England, forecasters said. The storm has the potential to cause widespread power outages and to unleash flooding and even dump snow as far inland as Ohio. It also threatens to disrupt air travel along the US East Coast. — Reuters
	More than 150 ‘killed’ in Syria despite truce Beirut, October 27 More than 150 persons have been killed since a Muslim holiday truce between rebels and the regime came into effect, a watchdog said today, as new clashes broke out across Syria. The four-day conditional ceasefire between President Bashar al-Assad's regime and the rebel Free Syrian Army for the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday started Friday but has failed to take hold amid sustained clashes, bombings and shelling. Today, clashes and attacks took place in the Damascus province, Aleppo to the north, Daraa in the south and the eastern city of Deir Ezzor, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Five persons were killed in a car bomb attack in Deir Ezzor, the Observatory said. State television blamed the attack on "terrorists" and said the bomb had gone off in front of a church, causing significant damage. Regime shelling targeted several areas of Damascus province, where one person was killed by army sniper fire and another in the bombardment, it said. Two soldiers were also killed in clashes in the rebel-held city of Harasta near Damascus. Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said violence east of Damascus also continued to rage despite the truce proposal. "In the Eastern Ghuta area of Damascus province, the army has used tanks to shell several rebel-held towns, including Harasta, Zamalka and Douma," Abdel Rahman told AFP. Two persons, including a child, were also killed by gunfire in Daraa, while shelling of various areas of Aleppo wounded several people, the Observatory said. — AFP
	Exodus follows Myanmar unrest Sittwe, October 27 Thousands of displaced people have surged towards already overcrowded camps in western Myanmar, officials said today, after vicious new communal violence that has left dozens dead. Seething resentment between Buddhists and Muslims erupted this week in new unrest in Rakhine state that has seen whole neighbourhoods razed and caused a fresh exodus of people fleeing for safety from Rohingya minority areas. The latest fighting, which has prompted international warnings that the nation's reforms could be under threat, has killed at least 67 people. It was unclear how many from each community had died, but a state official has said roughly half the dead were women. Tens of thousands of mainly Muslim Rohingya are already crammed into squalid camps around the state capital Sittwe after deadly violence in June and Rakhine state officials said the latest bloodshed had caused an influx of boats carrying around 6,000 people to the city. "The local government is planning to relocate them to a suitable place. We are having problems because more people are coming," said Rakhine government spokesman Hla Thein. Some of the displaced are still on boats while several thousand have docked on an island opposite Sittwe. Human Rights Watch today released satellite images showing "extensive destruction of homes and other property in a predominantly Rohingya Muslim area" of Kyaukpyu-where a major pipeline to transport Myanmar gas to China begins. The images show a stark contrast between the coastal area as seen in March this year, packed with hundreds of dwellings and fringed with boats, and in the aftermath of the latest violence, where virtually all structures appear to have been wiped from the landscape. HRW said 633 buildings and 178 houseboats and barges had been torched in the area, one of seven townships affected by the latest strife. — AFP
	Ransom note helps cops nab Saanvi’s killer Washington, October 27 For $50,000, a 26-year-old software engineer from Andhra Pradesh kidnapped and killed his family friend’s 10-month-old baby Saanvi, whose body he stuffed in a suitcase, but nicknames used by him in the ransom note provided critical clues that helped the police nab him. Raghunandan Yandamuri was arrested on charges of kidnapping and killing Saanvi Venna and her 61-year-old grandmother Satyavathi Venna, who was found dead at an apartment complex in Upper Merion Township on October 22. Yandamuri, who used to live in the same complex, was produced before a Pennsylvania court after the police found the body of Saanvi yesterday from the men's locker room of his apartment's gymnasium in the King of Prussia. There were blood marks on her white dress. The body had been hidden inside a dark wooden sauna under a deep bench. Court documents indicate that Yandamuri moved to King of Prussia, in Upper Merlon Township of Pennsylvania from San Jose in California. Being held without a bail, he does not have a lawyer. He told the detectives that he targeted the apartment of Venkata Venna, 41, and Chenchu Latha Punuru because he believed they had money as they both were employed. The ransom note asked Venkata that "Lata" be asked to deliver the ransom at a local store. Investigators determined "Lata" is a reference to Venkata’s wife and only some close friends call her by that name. "The first word in the ransom note is Shiva. During the interview, Vankata told the investigators that his full name is Venkata Konda Siva Prasad Venna and some of his close friends and family members call him Siva," the affidavit said. — PTI Nicknames did him in The accused, who used to live in the same complex, had addressed Saanvi’s parents by their nicknames in the note.
	Stop aid to India, China, Annan tells Europe London, October 27 Former secretary general of the United Nations Kofi Annan has asked Britain and the European Union to stop providing millions of pounds in aid to wealthy nations like India and China. He said booming nations such as China, Brazil and India should wean themselves off development funding so it could be targeted at ‘weaker’ parts of the world instead. Annan, a Ghanaian who was the UN secretary general from 1997 to 2006, said not all the countries, which received aid from the UK taxpayers needed it, the Daily Mail reports. "Countries like Brazil, China, India, Ghana, Guatemala and Honduras; some of these countries can fend for themselves," the paper quoted Annan, as saying. His comments come after International Development Secretary Justine Greening called for the European Union to stop giving aid to relatively rich nations. — ANI
	Imran taken off US-bound plane in Toronto Toronto, October 27 Pakistani cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan was taken off a New York-bound plane here and claimed that he was questioned by American officials about his stance on US drone strikes in Pakistan. Imran, chairman of the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) party, was questioned for about an hour late yesterday before he was allowed to travel by the US officials. "I was taken off from plane and interrogated by US Immigration in Canada on my views on drones. My stance is known. Drone attacks must stop," Imran tweeted. "Missed flight and sad to miss the Fundraising lunch in NY but nothing will change my stance. Still looking forward to meet PTI family there," Imran said. Imran was headed to New York to attend a fundraiser organised by his party's US chapter in Long Island here. Earlier, Imran had intended to hold a demonstration outside the United Nations headquarters in protest of the US drone strikes on his country's soil. Meanwhile, president of Imran's party in New York Muzammil Anwar said the rally was cancelled as it coincided with the festival of Eid and several supporters of Imran had cited their inability to participate in the demonstrations due to the Id celebrations on October 26. Anwar said Imran along with other party activists were taken off an American Airlines plane and questioned by US officials at Toronto's International Airport. — PTI