The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Obama, Romney fight to the finish in a battle of equals
Latest poll survey shows both tied at 48% among likely voters

Washington, November 4
As they zeroed in towards the D-day in a virtually tied presidential race, both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, battling fatigue and nerves, darted across crucial swing states in their desperate final bids to woo the starkly polarised American electorate.

On the final weekend before this Tuesday's election, the US President and his Republican challenger were locked in a bitter and tight race to the White House, with the outcome still too close to call.

The latest Washington Post-ABC News national poll showed a dead heat this weekend, with Obama and Romney both at 48 per cent among likely voters, though poll pundits gave the incumbent a narrow advantage in the crucial contest for the electoral votes needed to win the election.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney listens as his wife Ann Romney speaks during a rally in Colorado. AFP

Burdened by a sagging economy and fighting partisan attacks from the Conservatives, Obama, 51, is seeking a re-election with a contention that his job was only half done.

While Obama's plea has rested on the need for more time to revive an economy devastated by the cavalier policies of the former Republican administrations, Romney has sought to convince voters that the American economy was on wrong track and needs a change in command to lift it out of the doldrums.

The campaign though has often taken bitter and nasty turns with personal attacks and accusations, as the two sides spent millions of dollars in commercials blitz.

Interestingly, the Obama campaign took a Republicanisque turn when they released a web video featuring the President talking about his faith, with various faith leaders giving a moral, even Biblical backing for his policies.

The most recent CNN Poll of Polls, an average of 10 national polls, has Obama just one point ahead of Romney, 48 to 47 per cent, with the results very much inside the margin of error.

With the polarisation starkly visible, close to as many Americans will have voted against the winner as against him, once the results are out.

On a campaign trail that will end in Wisconsin just hours before the election opens on Tuesday, Obama will travel to Florida, Colorado and Ohio.

With the gruelling schedule taking a toll, both Obama and Romney were showing signs of fatigue as they criss crossed on their multiple state visits to catch any undecided voters in the battleground states.

At a campaign event in Virginia, former president Bill Clinton, who has been making regular campaign appearances, joined Obama again and told the gathering in a hoarse voice that he had "given my voice in the service of my president". — PTI

Romney trails in two key states with close personal ties

Washington: It happened in 1844, and now 168 years later, Republican nominee Mitt Romney may need to duplicate a rare feat achieved by James Polk, the 11th US President, if he wants to defeat President Barack Obama in Tuesday's race to the White House.

According to latest polls, Romney, 65, faces the prospect of losing both the state of his birth, Michigan, and the state where he lives and served as governor, Massachusetts to Obama, a Democrat. Polk, a Democrat, who was president from 1845 to 1849 is the only major candidate to win the White House despite losing the vote in the state where he was born and the state where he lived, a CNN report said.

Post-Sandy, Indians in the US say never saw such devastation before

New York, November 4
A week after superstorm Sandy battered the US, a large number of Indians residing in New York and New Jersey, the two worst-hit states, continue to struggle to get back on their feet, with several of them saying they had never experienced such devastation before.

Like the millions of other residents in the region, recovery from the destruction caused by Sandy has been painfully slow for the Indians, who make up a chunk of the New York and New Jersey population.

Several of them live in areas where power has not yet been restored and there appears to be little hope for any relief soon.

New Jersey resident Mansi Agarwal, who works as a software engineer at Google's Manhattan office, has been without power since the storm made landfall in New Jersey last Monday.

Mother of seven-month old twin daughters, Agarwal said she moved to a friend's place after waiting in vain for a couple of days for power to be restored in her building.

Like thousands of other New Jersey residents, Agarwal has not been able to go to work in New York for about a week since the public transport system that connects New Jersey to Manhattan has remained suspended in the aftermath of the storm.

Indians living in New Jersey use the PATH commuter trains to get to work in New York.

While the subways in New York are gradually resuming operations, the PATH service, which forms the primary transit link between Manhattan and Jersey, remains suspended.

Sangeeta Singh, as associate director at an independent school in New York, says she has never seen such devastation caused by a natural disaster in the past 27 years that she has been in the US. The storm "has been totally devastating. It is an act of mother nature that has literally taken the region by storm," she said.

Sangeeta was among the few fortunate residents who did not have to go days without power but her home suffered significant damage when power cables fell on her roof, triggering fears of fire.

The region is now facing severe gas shortage, with Sangeeta describing scenes outside the lone gas station in her area as "chaotic.

Sangeeta said grocery stores and supermarkets are running out of essential food supplies as trucks have not been able to cross into the city for days due to flooding. — PTI

Coptic Christians name new pope

Cairo, November 4
Egypt's Coptic Orthodox church chose a new pope, Tawadros II, in a sumptuous service on Sunday and Christians hope he will lead them through an Islamist-dominated landscape and protect what is the Middle East's biggest Christian community.

Christians, who make up about a tenth of Egypt's 83 million population, fret about political gains made by Islamists since Hosni Mubarak was ousted last year. Radical Islamists have been blamed for attacks on churches several times since but Copts have long complained of discrimination in Muslim-majority Egypt.

In a ritual steeped in tradition and filled with prayer, chants and incense at Abbasiya cathedral in Cairo, the names of three papal candidates chosen in an earlier vote were placed in a wax-sealed bowl before a blindfolded boy picked out one name.

Copts, who trace their church's origins to before the birth of Islam in the 7th century, believe this long-established selection process ensured worldly influences did not determine the successor to Pope Shenouda III, who led the church for four decades until his death in March at the age of 88.

"Pope Tawadros II is the 118th (leader of the church), blessed congratulations to you," said interim Pope Bakhomious, dressed in gold-embroidered robes, who has temporarily been in the post since Shenouda's death.

As he held the name aloft, the congregation in the packed cathedral applauded. The formal ceremony to install Bishop Tawadros as the pope will take place on November 18, a priest said.

The new pope, bishop of a region in the Nile Delta north of Cairo, had trained as a pharmacist before joining the priesthood. Clerics said he turned 61 on Sunday, but state media gave his birth date as Nov. 4, 1952 suggesting he had turned 60.

Church experts said he had strong communication skills and had called for peaceful co-existence in Egyptian society. Muslim leaders and politicians offered congratulations and voiced hopes he would foster greater national unity.

Mona Saleh, a 65-year-old Muslim, watched the whole ceremony, which lasted several hours and was broadcast on state television. "I am glad for my country to have a new pope," she said, speaking on the street near the cathedral.

In a ballot last week the candidates had been whittled down to the three. Voters included leading members of the church, public figures and a handful of representatives of the Ethiopian church, which has historic links to the church in Egypt.

The other two candidates for the papal post were Bishop Rafael, a 54-year-old who qualified as a doctor before entering the priesthood, and Father Rafael Afamena, a 70-year-old monk who studied law before taking on holy orders. — Reuters

Cosy texts to Brooks put Cameron in spot

London, November 4
British Prime Minister David Cameron today faced huge embarrassment after details of intimate text messages he exchanged with the embattled former News International boss Rebekah Brooks were published by the media.

In one message, Cameron, the Conservative Party leader, thanks Brooks, 44, for letting him ride one of her family's horses, saying it was "fast, unpredictable and hard to control but fun", according to texts obtained by The Mail on Sunday.

In another, a gushing Brooks tells Cameron, 46, that she felt so emotional listening to his Tory conference speech in 2009 she "cried twice", adding: "Will love "working together".

Downing Street told BBC that the text messages were authentic and said the Prime Minister co-operated with Justice Leveson Inquiry, which is going into the culture, practices and ethics of the media here.

Much of the Leveson inquiry has taken up with questions about links between politicians and Rupert Murdoch's News International. The two messages published by the Mail on Sunday were sent in October 2009, shortly after Brooks became chief executive of News International.

The existence of the messages has been at the centre of a row between Labour MP Chris Bryant and Cameron for several weeks and the contents will be a thorn in the prime minister's side, the British media commented. — PTI

China’s communists expel Bo Xilai from party

Beijing, November 4
Bracing for the once-in-a-decade leadership change, China's ruling Communist elite today expelled disgraced leader Bo Xilai, accused of corruption, sex and sleaze, in a scandal that has thrown the party into its biggest crisis in decades.

Scorching any attempts by hardliners to rally behind the pro-Maoist charismatic leader, the Plenary Session of the 17th Central Committee of the Party headed by outgoing President Hu Jintao, which concluded today, endorsed the decision of the 24-member Politburo to expel Bo from the party.

The party also endorsed the decision to expel Bo's close associate and police Chief of Chongqing city, Wang Lijun, who sought refuge in a US Consulate.

Today's decision sealed the fate of 63-year-old Bo, who was expected to contest for a top post in the highest policy making body at the key Congress beginning here on November 8, to elect the new set of leaders at various levels replacing the present lot headed by Hu and Premier Wen Jiabao. — PTI

US Air Force struggles with aging fleet

Tokyo, November 4
For decades, the US Air Force has grown accustomed to such superlatives as unrivaled and unbeatable. These days, some of its key combat aircraft are being described with terms like geriatric, or decrepit.

The aging of the US Air Force, a long-simmering topic in defence circles, made a brief appearance in the presidential debates when Republican nominee Mitt Romney cited it as evidence of the decline of US military readiness.

His contention that the Navy is the smallest it's been since 1917 got more attention, thanks to President Barack Obama's quip that the Navy also has fewer "horses and bayonets."

But analysts say the Air Force has a real problem, and it will almost certainly get worse no matter who wins Tuesday's election. — AP