Superman’s home planet, Krypton, has been pinpointed by an influential astrophysicist hired by DC Comics.
The fictional planet Krypton would have orbited a red dwarf star called LHS 2520, says Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the American Museum of Natural History’s Hayden Planetarium in New York City.
As reported by SPACE.com senior writer Mike Wall, the star is 27.1 light-years from Earth in the southern constellation Corvus, also known as “The Crow”, says Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson. The star is cooler and smaller than our sun.
The coordinates of LHS 2520 are:
Right Ascension: 12 hours, 10 minutes, 5.77 seconds
Declination: -15 degrees, 4 minutes, 17.9 seconds
Proper Motion: 0.76 arcseconds per year, along 172.94 degrees from due north
Superman’s home planet, Krypton, has been pinpointed by an influential astrophysicist hired by DC Comics
“This is a major milestone in the Superman mythos that gives our super hero a place in the universe,” DC Entertainment co-publisher Dan DiDio said in a company statement.
“Having Neil deGrasse Tyson in the book was one thing, but by applying real-world science to this story he has forever changed Superman’s place in history,” he said.
“Now fans will be able to look up at the night’s sky and say, <<That’s where Superman was born>>.”
The planetary details will be encompassed in a new Superman book titled Star Light, Star Bright, which comes out on Wednesday.
Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, who has a history of applying science to entertainment, will appear in the comic, aiding Superman on his adventure.
In real life, Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson made headlines in April after getting film director, James Cameron, to alter the night’s sky as seen in The Titanic due to inaccuracies. The correction was made and can be seen in the re-release of Titanic 3-D.
Staten Island residents were guided to a polling site in the dark this morning by flares as problems mounted for New York voters across the city struggling with power outages caused by Hurricane Sandy.
With hundreds of temporary polling places in operation across the battered East Coast, voters in the Midland Beach neighborhood of Staten Island lined in pitch black to cast their ballots in outdoor tents as police officers stood guard.
In Rockaway Park in Queens, voting was reportedly delayed because of a loss of power and in New Jersey tens of thousands of e-mail voters were thrown into panic after they were told they had to send in hard copies of their ballots as well – with no exceptions.
Across the East Coast problems were compounded by near freezing temperatures early this morning at temporary polling stations and New York’s MTA said it was providing free ‘voter shuttles’ today for people in the Rockaways, Staten Island and Coney Island whose normal polling stations were destroyed or damaged in last week’s storm.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg urged city residents to check the Board of Elections website to discover any polling changes as government officials struggled to ensure that everyone who wants to vote can.
“Vote. It is our most precious right,” said Michael Bloomberg on election eve.
However, with the myriad of problems presenting residents with barriers to vote, some are simply not bothering.
“We’ve got too many concerns that go beyond the national scene,” said Staten Island resident Paul Hoppe – who lost his home in last week’s massive storm which claimed over 100 lives across the nation.
Staten Island residents were guided to a polling site in the dark this morning by flares as problems mounted for New York voters across the city struggling with power outages caused by Hurricane Sandy
Across New Jersey almost 100 polling stations across the state are without power as the Lieutenant Governor performed a U-turn last night and said that the state does need email voters to submit hard copies of their ballots by mail immediately.
The move which allowed no exceptions for victims of Sandy caused massive confusion, as earlier in the day Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno had told county-level officials to accept e-mailed ballots until 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday.
However, the security risks inherent in voting remotely was deemed a danger that could compromise the result and the Lt. Gov was forced to issue new advice to beleaguered voters across the state who are keen to vote.
The confusing about-turn was designed to relieve the damage caused by flooding and winds from Hurricane Sandy, which has made hundred of polling locations unavailable nationwide.
However, voting experts were unanimous that her advice was incorrect: “You must have a paper ballot backup,” said Penny Venetis, a professor at Rutgers University School of Law in Newark.
“Voters’ e-mails can be modified or interfered with – without their knowledge – coming into the county election computers,” said Andrew Appel to NJ.Com, a computer science professor at Princeton University.
“E-mail voting is completely untrustworthy and insecure unless it’s backed up by paper ballots that a voter signs and sends in.”
Larry Norden, a voting-rights advocate for New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice, said the email option wouldn’t be viable for voters still without power.
“My biggest concern about all this is confusion. These places need to take statewide action to make sure people who have been displaced know there is some way they can vote,” said Larry Norden.
Meanwhile, problems for voters not affected by Sandy began to mount during the early morning.
Voting machine problems have caused delays and long lines at one polling station in a heavily populated Indianapolis suburb.
Hamilton County residents had to wait nearly 30 minutes to vote at Hamilton Southeastern High School in Fishers because voting machines weren’t operating when that polling site opened Tuesday.
WTHR-TV reports that by the time the problem was fixed a half-hour later the school’s gym was filled with voters and the line spilled out the door.
The heavily Republican county north of Indianapolis saw other polling station problems, but those were quickly fixed.
Hamilton County Election Administrator Kathy Richardson says cards used to clear tallies from machines before voting begins were improperly programmed. Some 500 machines in about 150 polling places had to be reset once those cards were reprogrammed.
Because of the turbulent counting process and new regulations about proper ballot submissions, there is a distinct possibility that the country will not know the next president for days or weeks after they cast their votes.
A half-dozen problems are at the top of the list for political analysts, who are zoning in on new voter identification requirements and provisional ballot measures in a number of states as two legal issues.
The hurricane may play a role in any potential battle over a close popular vote, as would any machine malfunction issues that inevitably arise every election.
The final two problem areas come from a group of civilians from a subset of the Tea Party who are intent on serving as extra minders at polling stations to look out for fraud, and the onslaught of lawsuits that has already begun in Florida over the deadline for early voting.
Echoes of the mess created in Florida back in 2000 are already flashing before pundits’ eyes as the Democratic Party filed lawsuits calling for an extension of the early voting deadline because of excessive lines this weekend.
Though the early voting period officially ended on Saturday, the Democrats challenged- and were quickly rebuked by- Republican governor Rick Scott by demanding the deadline was extended.
The lawsuits were rejected, and now the focus turns solely to Tuesday.
Nissan has slashed its full-year profit forecast by 20% after car sales slumped in China amid anti-Japanese protests.
The Japanese carmaker now expects a net profit of 320 billion yen ($4 billion) for the year ending March 2013, down from an earlier estimate of 400 billion yen.
Nissan says car sales plunged 35% in China in September.
A territorial dispute between Japan and China over islands in the East China Sea has led consumers in China to boycott Japanese products.
Among Japanese carmakers, Nissan has been hardest hit by the anti-Japan sentiment.
Koji Endo, automotive analyst with Advanced Research Japan, said that close to 30% of Nissan’s vehicle sales come from China. By way of comparison, rival Toyota relies on China for about 10% of its global sales.
The company trimmed its 2012 China sales forecast to 1.175 million vehicles from a previous 1.35 million.
Nissan has slashed its full-year profit forecast by 20 percent after car sales slumped in China amid anti-Japanese protests
However, chief operating officer Toshiyuki Shiga said the company remains committed to China with no major changes in its long-term growth plans.
He did say, though, that it will assess future investments cautiously.
“We are gradually seeing signs of recovery [in China]. Customers are gradually coming back to dealerships,” Toshiyuki Shiga told reporters on Tuesday.
He said visitors to the company’s China dealerships were back to around 80% of pre-dispute levels, and orders were running at about 70%.
Nissan’s fortunes contrasted sharply with German carmaker BMW, which announced a record pre-tax profit of 2 billion euros ($2.5 billion) in the third quarter, thanks largely to booming sales in Asia.
The world’s largest luxury carmaker saw sales in China and Japan rise by 33% and 21.5% respectively in the nine months to the end of September.
Nissan said its setback in China was somewhat countered by growth in sales elsewhere, however, including in the US, Indonesia and India in the July-to-September quarter.
The company posted a net profit of 106 billion yen, an almost 8% rise compared with the same period last year.
Koji Endo said he remained optimistic about Nissan’s overall growth as the US market “seems to be very strong” for Nissan, and other Asian countries could also make up the shortfall in China.
“Asia is another very strong market especially in Thailand and Indonesia, Nissan seems to be aggressively investing in Thailand, so hopefully in the future, any weakness in the Chinese market can be offset by Thailand, Indonesia as well as in the US,” said Koji Endo.
Insano, the world’s tallest water slide, is towering over the Brazilian landscape at a whopping 41 metres high, it is the equivalent of a 14-storey building.
Insano has been listed in the Guinness Book of World Records and brave riders plummet down the slide at a nerve-shredding speed, reaching around 65 miles an hour.
The plunge is so steep that although riders travel 41 metres, the whole ride takes just four or five seconds.
The Brazilian beach park website describes the Insano as the most extreme equipment of this type of the planet.
Constructed in 1989, the thrill ride attracts dare devils from all over the world.
Martha Carolina, who works at the beach park, said: “I’m a Brazilian and I work at the water park – it’s funny to watch the tourists start panicking and sometimes they really start crying. Normally they’re all Europeans, Germans, Russians and French.”
One rider commented: “When you slide down, you basically fly because the fall is too steep so you’re in mid-air for most of it.”
Insano, the world’s tallest water slide, is towering over the Brazilian landscape at a whopping 41 metres high, it is the equivalent of a 14-storey building
For safety reasons Insano only allows travel in a single position – on your back with arms and legs crossed. However with such hair-raising speeds it is hard to imagine this would be a problem for most as it is unlikely many would want to plunge down head first.
Insano can be found in Fortaleza, Brazil, and for those not distracted by the significant drop below it offers great views of the Atlantic Ocean from the top.
Snooki and her castmates came together to spearhead the fundraising efforts to rebuild the Hurricane Sandy devastated Jersey Shore.
Snooki led the way on Monday morning when she made an early start on Good Morning America to appeal for funds.
And it was a success, with charitable fans donating $7 million. Thrilled Snooki tweeted: “Wow GMA raises 7 million! Thank you everyone for calling in!!!”
As a resident of the area Snooki has been busy tweeting to her many followers with appeals to help.
Snooki has also been updating them about her own situation, tweeting: “Back in jersey! Hope our power comes back this week!!”
Buildings were knocked down, roads swept away, the historic boardwalk partially destroyed, and a piece of the iconic Star Jet rollercoaster was left hanging into the ocean after the storm hit Sunset Height a week ago.
Snooki and her castmates came together to spearhead the fundraising efforts to rebuild the Hurricane Sandy devastated Jersey Shore
On November 15th, Snooki will appear alongside her former Jersey Shore castmates in a one-hour fundraising special.
The program will be broadcast from MTV’s Times Square studio in New York.
The network said on Monday that the program will solicit contributions for the rebuilding of Seaside Heights, the heart of the Jersey Shore and the principal setting for the Jersey Shore series.
For this effort, MTV will be partnering with Architecture for Humanity, a nonprofit organization that provides design and construction services to communities in need. Seaside Heights was among numerous coastal areas devastated by Sandy last week.
Snooki tweeted: “MTV, Arch For Humanity and I are coming together to help re-build Seaside stronger than ever. Join us November 15 on MTV.”
CBS has quietly released an interview with President Barack Obama which was filmed one day after the attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi – and in which he refuses to call the incident an act of terrorism.
The footage, released seven weeks after it was filmed, shows Barack Obama contradicting himself yet again on the attack that left ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans dead.
When exactly Barack Obama called the September 11 al Qaeda attack in Libya “terrorism” has become an increasingly contentious area of debate – and the interview throws doubt on the president’s previous and later claims.
At the second presidential debate in October, Barack Obama claimed he had first called the incident an act of terrorism during his Rose Garden speech just hours after the attack.
But the newly-released footage, filmed 12 hours after the Rose Garden appearance, shows he was still apprehensive about the label.
“Mr. President, this morning you went out of your way to avoid the use of the word terrorism in connection with the Libya Attack, do you believe that this was a terrorism attack?” interviewer Steve Kroft asked in the 60 Minutes interview.
“Well it’s too early to tell exactly how this came about, what group was involved,” he responded.
“But obviously it was an attack on Americans. And we are going to be working with the Libyan government to make sure that we bring these folks to justice, one way or the other.”
Obama refuses to call Libyan embassy attack an act of terrorism during 60 Minutes interview
Steve Kroft continued: “It’s been described as a mob action, but there are reports that they were very heavily armed with grenades, that doesn’t sound like your normal demonstration.”
Barack Obama responded: “As I said, we’re still investigating exactly what happened, I don’t want to jump the gun on this… And my suspicion is there are folks involved in this. Who were looking to target Americans from the start.”
The interview previously aired on October 19, but this section was edited out, Bret Baier reported on Fox. CBS only released this footage on Sunday – more than seven weeks after the interview.
The network even failed to offer it up when questions were raised during the presidential debate over whether he had called the attack terrorism before blaming it on rallies against an anti-Islamic film.
Jennifer Lopez couldn’t seem to make her mind up on what look she was going for as she stepped out in Stockholm on Monday night.
Donning a somewhat bizarre combination of red tracksuit bottoms and a glamorous fur-trimmed coat, Jennifer Lopez, 43, suffered a definite fashion faux pas in the unusual ensemble.
While the superstar’s top half looked chic and stylish in a tan coat, biscuit-colored jumper and pashmina, her bottom half certainly let her down.
JLo was a far cry from her usually preened and polished self in a pair of baggy bright red tracksuit bottoms and white-trimmed trainers.
But she managed to inject a spot of glamour to her ensemble with a red crocodile skin Hermes handbag and a pair of oversized sunglasses, while her locks tumbled in dramatic curls around her shoulders.
Jennifer Lopez couldn’t seem to make her mind up on what look she was going for as she stepped out in Stockholm on Monday night
Despite her fashion faux pas, Jennifer Lopez was grinning from ear-to-ear as she stepped out in the Swedish capital ahead of her appearance Ericsson Globe Arena as part of her Dance Again world tour.
As usual, JLo’s toyboy lover, Casper Smart, 25, was by her side as she made her way to the show and the backing dancer had opted for an equally casual look.
Casper Smart wrapped up against the cold winter weather in a black leather jacket, hooded jumper, jeans, trainers and a baseball cap to shelter his shaved head.
Globe magazine has published a shocking front cover claiming that Queen Elizabeth is dying and the Duchess of Cornwall has an “evil plot” to seize the throne.
The magazine alleges that the 86-year-old monarch is “sick and fading fast”.
The cover of the weekly magazine shows a close-up photo of the Queen with the headline “World Exclusive – Queen dying!”.
According to Globe magazine, the Queen’s health problem has triggered a bitter battle for the crown by her daughter-in-law Camilla.
The Duchess of Cornwall is frequently the target of negative coverage by the magazine.
The publication claims she is trying to sabotage Prince William and Kate Middleton from stepping up to the throne.
“The Queen’s condition is fading and ruthless Camilla has been plotting,” a source told the magazine.
Globe magazine has published a shocking front cover claiming that Queen Elizabeth is dying and Camilla has an evil plot to seize the throne
While Buckingham Palace refused to comment on the claims, the Queen’s recent public schedule has still been robust.
On Friday the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were photographed saying farewell to the President of Indonesia, Dr. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his wife at Buckingham Palace.
The day before the Queen unveiled a colorful stained glass window to commemorate her Diamond Jubilee at the Chapel of the Savoy in London.
Globe magazine, which is published in Florida, is no stranger to controversy.
In 1997, it caused outrage when it printed autopsy photos of the murdered child beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey.
In her hometown of Boulder, Colorado, many stores were so outraged by the publication that they took the edition off the stands.
In 2010, Globe magazine published a front cover with a picture of actor Gary Coleman during his last hours – sparking outrage throughout the world.
In the photograph Gary Coleman can be seen on his hospital bed, hooked up to equipment whilst his ex-wife, Shannon Price poses next to him.
The headline shouts “It was murder” and credits the picture as the “Last photo”.
The publication covers a widespread range of topics, including politics, celebrity news, human interest and high-profile crime stories.
But it also frequently features the British Royal family on its pages.
Past allegations that have been plastered across the front cover include “Camilla’s suicide attempt! Breaks leg in terrifying leap”, and “Princess Diana’s secret daughter!”.
Kate Middleton has now also become a staple for the magazine – since her 2011 wedding she has been dogged by media rumors that she is pregnant.
But Globe magazine took the story further and claimed she was pregnant, and miscarried her first child with Prince William.
They ran the headline: “Kate loses baby! Her crushing heartbreaking as William leaves for military duty.”
The shocking allegations about Queen Elizabeth’s health come during at difficult year for the royal family and their relationship with the media.
The Kardashian sisters have joined forces with UK high street staple Dorothy Perkins, just in time for the Christmas party season.
Kim, Kourtney and Khloe Kardashian have injected their va-va-voom style in to over 100 pieces for the store including sequined clutch bags, blinging tops and – of course – killer party dresses.
Kourtney Kardashian’s bohemian chic can be emulated with floaty drape sleeve blouses and Kim’s red carpet glamour arrives in “look at me” dresses while Khloé’s edgier dressing sees playful prints and a mix of textures.
Commenting on the partnership, a spokesman for Dorothy Perkins says: “This was an opportunity we couldn’t miss.
“This was an opportunity we couldn’t miss. Knowing how popular they are and the huge interest they attract, it enables our customer to buy in to their lifestyle and emulate their look at a great price.”
The Dorothy Perkins brand has been a feature of our high streets since 1919, and has previously been associated with more demure office and casual wear.
The store has recently re vamped its image though in the hope of attracting a younger, more glamorous crowd, and it doesn’t get more glamorous than the Kardashian sisters.
The Kardashian sisters have joined forces with UK high street staple Dorothy Perkins, just in time for the Christmas party season
Kourtney, Khloe and Kim Kardashian are currently in the UK to celebrate the launch of the Kardashian Kollection (Khloe is jetting in especially after The X Factor in America). It is the first time that the girls have appeared together in London and they will be appearing at the Atrium at Westfield London on Saturday, November 10th, 2012, at 12:30 p.m.
Wristbands will be distributed from Westfield London from 9:00 a.m. and only the first 500 people to collect a numbered wristband will be eligible to enter the signing queue. As this is based on a first come first served basis, this does not guarantee that you will meet or obtain a signature from the Kardashian sisters, as there is a fixed time they will be at Westfield London to meet and greet their fans.
The Kardashian Kollection will be available in selected Dorothy Perkins stores and online from the 8th of November.
Neil Heywood, the British businessman killed in China by Bo Xilai’s wife, had been providing information to the British secret service, the Wall Street Journal newspaper claims.
Neil Heywood had been communicating with an MI6 officer about top politician Bo Xilai for at least a year before he died, the paper said.
The UK Foreign Office said it would not comment “on intelligence matters”.
In April, Foreign Secretary William Hague said Neil Heywood was not a government employee “in any capacity”.
The case is at the heart of China’s biggest political scandal in decades.
The November 2011 death of Neil Heywood brought down Bo Xilai, the former Communist Party chief of Chongqing and a high-flier who was once tipped for top office.
Bo Xilai’s wife, Gu Kailai, was jailed in August for the murder of Neil Heywood at a Chongqing hotel. His former police chief, Wang Lijun, has also been jailed in connection with the scandal.
Bo Xilai himself was expelled from parliament in September, stripping him of immunity from prosecution. He is accused of abuse of power, bribe-taking and violating party discipline, Chinese state media say, and is expected to go on trial in the future.
Ever since Neil Heywood’s death plunged China into political crisis, there have been claims the Briton may have been a spy.
Citing unnamed friends and British officials, the Wall Street Journal said that while Neil Heywood was not an MI6 employee, he had knowingly passed on information to the organization.
“The Journal investigation, based on interviews with current and former British officials and close friends of the murdered Briton, found that a person Mr. Heywood met in 2009 later acknowledged being an MI6 officer to him,” the Wall Street Journal says in its report.
“Mr. Heywood subsequently met that person regularly in China and continued to provide information on Mr. Bo’s private affairs.”
Neil Heywood’s relatives declined to comment, the paper added.
Neil Heywood had been communicating with an MI6 officer about top politician Bo Xilai for at least a year before he died
In a letter to a British MP on 26 April, William Hague addressed speculation over Neil Heywood, even as he said it was “long established government policy neither to confirm nor deny speculation of this sort”.
“However, given the intense interest in this case it is, exceptionally, appropriate… to confirm that Mr. Heywood was not an employee of the British government in any capacity,” he said.
The newspaper, citing unidentified sources, says this was technically true because Neil Heywood was not paid for his information.
But there are new questions about why, if Neil Heywood was known to Britain’s intelligence services, British officials did not press their Chinese counterparts for a thorough investigation as soon as they knew he had died.
Neil Heywood, 41, had lived in China from the early 1990s, where he learned fluent Mandarin.
The nature of his association with Bo Xilai and his wife Gu Kailai is not clear, but he has been described in some reports as a financial middleman. Chinese state media say Gu Kailai killed him over a business deal that went sour.
The case first came to light when police chief Wang Lijun fled to the US consulate in February, reportedly after falling out with Bo Xilai over the Heywood case.
Chinese officials subsequently ordered that an investigation into Neil Heywood’s death be reopened. Police had originally said he died of over-consumption of alcohol.
Five senior police officers in Chongqing have also been jailed, Chinese state media say, for covering up the case.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov after his ministry was caught up in a corruption scandal.
Anatoly Serdyukov has been replaced with a former emergencies minister and loyal ally to Vladimir Putin, Sergei Shoigu.
Russia’s top investigative agency is investigating the sale of ministry assets at prices below market value.
Vladimir Putin said he had removed Anatoly Serdyukov to create “conditions for an objective investigation”.
Last month, Russian investigators raided the offices of a state-controlled military contractor and began investigating the company on suspicion that it had sold assets to commercial firms at a loss of nearly 3 billion roubles ($100 million).
Oboronservice’s activities include servicing military aircraft and arms and constructing military facilities.
President Vladimir Putin has dismissed Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov after his ministry was caught up in a corruption scandal.
Anatoly Serdyukov was a furniture store executive and head of the Russian tax service before being appointed defense minister in 2007.
In the six years that Anatoly Serdyukov had been minister he had tried to reform Russia’s outdated armed forces by cutting costs and personnel and by boosting efficiency.
But he had made enemies along the way, and fell out with his own father-in-law, the former deputy prime minister Viktor Zubkov.
Anatoly Serdyukov may now face questioning as part of the fraud investigation.
Barack Obama won election in Hart’s Location, one of two tiny New Hampshire villages that get to cast the first votes of the presidential race on Election Day.
Barack Obama won with 23 votes, Mitt Romney received 9 and Libertarian Gary Johnson received 1 vote.
In 2008, Barack Obama received 17 of the 29 votes cast.
Barack Obama won election in Hart’s Location, one of two tiny New Hampshire villages that get to cast the first votes of the presidential race on Election Day
President Obama and Mitt Romney tied in Dixville Notch, the other New Hampshire town that enjoys first-vote status.
Each candidate received five votes – the first tie in Dixville Notch history.
In 2008, Barack Obama received 15 of the 21 votes cast.
The towns have proudly held their first-vote status since 1948.
Tens of millions of Americans head to the polls on Tuesday to decide whether to re-elect President Barack Obama or hand the job to Republican Mitt Romney.
The voting ends a hard-fought race that began nearly two years ago and has cost more than $2 billion.
Polls will begin closing in eastern states at 19:00 EST – a winner could be known by midnight.
Polls show the race is neck and neck, although the president holds a slender polling lead in crucial swing states.
National polls by Washington Post/ABC News and the Pew Research Centre both give Barack Obama a three-point edge over his rival.
As many as 30 million voters have already cast their ballots, with more than 30 states allowing either absentee voting or in-person early voting.
On the stroke of midnight, the first votes were cast and quickly counted in the tiny village of Dixville Notch in New Hampshire. They resulted in a tie with five votes each for Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.
Barack Obama has already voted in his adopted hometown of Chicago, becoming the first sitting presidential candidate ever to vote early. Mitt Romney is expected to cast his own ballot in Belmont, Massachusetts, later on Tuesday.
The election is decided by the electoral college. Each state is given a number of electoral votes in rough proportion to its population. The candidate who wins 270 electoral votes – by prevailing in the mostly winner-take-all state contests – becomes president.
Tens of millions of Americans head to the polls on Tuesday to decide whether to re-elect President Barack Obama or hand the job to Republican Mitt Romney
Also on Tuesday’s ballot are a handful of state governors, one third of the seats in the 100-member US Senate and all 435 seats in the House of Representatives.
Republicans are expected to keep control of the House, while Democrats were tipped to do the same in the Senate.
The presidential candidates spent Monday frantically criss-crossing the crucial battleground states including Ohio, Florida, Iowa and Virginia, making final appeals to voters. Their task: Push their own supporters to the polls while persuading the sliver of undecided voters to back them.
In speeches, Mitt Romney kept up his attack on Barack Obama’s record, reciting a litany of statistics he says illustrate the president has failed to lift the US economy out of the worst downturn since the Great Depression that followed the stock market crash of 1929.
“If you believe we can do better, if you believe America should be on a better course, if you’re tired of being tired… then I ask you to vote for real change,” Mitt Romney told a rally in a Virginia suburb of the capital, Washington DC.
The president appeared at rallies with singer Bruce Springsteen and rapper Jay-Z. He acknowledged frustration with the still-lagging economy but told voters “our work is not done yet”.
“We’ve come too far to turn back now,” the president said in Ohio.
“We’ve come too far to let our hearts grow faint… We’ll finish what we started. We’ll renew those ties that bind us together and reaffirm the spirit that makes the United States of America the greatest nation on Earth.”
With observers anticipating a close race, both sides have readied teams of lawyers for possible legal fights, especially in the critical battleground state of Ohio.
Some analysts fear the election will not be decided on Tuesday night if the state’s vote becomes mired in legal battles.
On Tuesday Mitt Romney is to hit the campaign trail again with events in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Cleveland, Ohio, before holding an election night rally in Boston.
Barack Obama will hold his own election night rally at a convention centre in Chicago.
Volunteers armed with drums and whistles are being used under a new scheme to shame people going to the toilet in public in the western Indian state of Rajasthan, officials say.
The scheme was launched on Monday in 34 villages in Jhunjhunu district.
Four to five people will “shout, beat drums or blow a whistle” if they see anyone urinating or defecating in the open, said an official.
Repeat offenders may even be asked to pay a fine, he said.
Nearly half of India’s 1.2 billion people have no toilet at home and they defecate in the open.
Correspondents say spitting, urinating and defecating in public are a common sight across India, and in rural areas many people continue to go out in the open even when they have toilets at home because they prefer the outdoors.
But the authorities in Jhunjhunu now want to change that behavior.
“Nearly 80% [of] villagers in the district have toilets at home and we’re trying to motivate the remaining 20% to build toilets at home,” said Ramniwas Jat, head of Jhunjhunu district council.
“We are also giving financial assistance of 9,100 rupees [$166] to people who wish to construct a toilet. We want people to not defecate in the open,” he said.
Spitting, urinating and defecating in public are a common sight across India
Officials say cultural and traditional factors, a lack of education and too few toilets are the prime reasons why millions of Indians defecate in the open.
Those with no access to toilets have to go to farms and fields and women have to go before dawn or after dark in order to preserve their modesty.
Last year, in Madhya Pradesh a newly-wed woman left her husband’s home two days after her marriage because the house had no toilet.
Defecating in the open is also blamed for the spread of a number of diseases such as tapeworm.
Diseases spread by human waste
Ascariasis: An intestinal infection from a large roundworm (growing up to 30 cm) whose eggs are found in contaminated soil. Kills 60,000 a year
Cholera: A global public health threat with up to five million cases a year, it results in profuse diarrhoea/vomiting and can kill within hours
Dysentery: Highly contagious bacterial infection. Outbreaks are likely in areas where poor hygiene practices exist
Typhoid fever: An infection of the intestine and bloodstream causing fever, headache and diarrhoea. 17 million cases a year
Trachoma: Infection which turns the eyelid inwards, causing eyelashes to rub and scar the eyeball. An estimated six million worldwide are blind due to the disease
Conservatives feared SEAL Team Six, the film about the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound, was an underhanded propaganda ploy by President Barack Obama’s supporters.
But the made-for-TV movie, released two days before the elections, was a flop. When it debuted on Sunday, it was panned by TV critics as a “dim and simple-minded work of fiction” – incapable of swaying even the most ambivalent voters.
SEAL Team Six was produced by one of Barack Obama’s biggest backers in Hollywood, Harvey Weinstein, who rushed it forward to ensure it debuted before November 6.
Harvey Weinstein also oversaw editing changes that played up Barack Obama’s role in ordering the May 2011 commando assault into Pakistan that killed the al-Qaeda leader.
Fact-checkers also point out several inaccuracies in the movie – including the idea that then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates opposed going after Osama bin Laden.
SEAL Team Six: The Raid on Osama Bin Laden was billed as a political game-changer – released just a two days before the dead-even election between Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney, conservatives feared it would give the president free propaganda and unfairly sway voters at a critical time.
Barack Obama has campaigned on his role in the death of the 9/11 mastermind – frequently touting: “GM is alive and Osama bin Laden is dead.”
The film casts the president as an “edited-in-costar”, writes Ken Tucker, an Entertainment Weekly film critic.
Baltimore Sun critic David Zurawick panned the movie as suffering the same flaws as most made-for-TV docu-dramas – but he said the film had a clear political objective.
“<<SEAL Team Six>> feels more like propaganda at times than it does prime-time entertainment. Yet it will still leave you with a feel-good surge, if not a lump in your throat, at the end when the team returns from its mission. And that visceral response makes you want to believe even more in the heroic actions you just witnessed. One of those heroes is President Barack Obama,” he wrote.
SEAL Team Six was produced by one of Barack Obama’s biggest backers in Hollywood, Harvey Weinstein, who rushed it forward to ensure it debuted before November 6
It splices in several pieces of real-life footage of the president at the time – including footage of him cracking jokes at the White House Correspondents dinner on the eve of the raid, as well as his remarks to the country after Osama bin Laden’s death.
But TV critics say the movie, which aired on National Geographic, fizzled.
“As either propaganda or realist fiction <<SEAL Team Six>> is ineffective. It’s on the level of those <<The army is just like a character-building video game!>> enlistment ads you see before movies, simple-minded and, at most, superficially rousing. Barack Obama probably isn’t wild about help this dim,” writes Willa Paskin of Salon.com.
Ken Tucker said the cheesy banter between the actors playing Navy SEALS sounded like it had been “checked out from a well-preserved World War II supply closet”.
Example: “In this world you don’t get to live free without working for it. You gotta earn it every day, and that day we did,” a commando named Cherry, played by Anson Mount, declares.
Among the other sins in the movie is its unhealthy blend of fact and fiction, critics say. It even gets several key points dead wrong.
It portrays Defense Secretary Robert Gates as opposed to the raid – a role that makes Barack Obama’s decision to attack even more heroic.
However, Robert Gates was initially skeptical of sending commandos into Pakistan because he wasn’t certain bin Laden was actually at the compound in Abbottabad. He later changed his position when it was confirmed the terrorist leader was inside.
The movie also shows a dramatic firefight in the building where Osama bin Laden was killed. Most accounts of the raid say that the only exchange was fire was in a guest house when Osama bin Laden’s courier shot at the SEALs.
Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have spent the day before the election visiting key swing states and making final pitches to voters.
Mitt Romney went to Florida, where polls suggest he has the edge, and then to Virginia, New Hampshire and Ohio.
President Barack Obama appeared in Iowa, Wisconsin and Ohio, joined at rallies by Bruce Springsteen and rapper Jay-Z.
The election will be decided in just a handful of states, with Ohio in particular seen as crucial to victory.
Barack Obama closed his re-election campaign in Des Moines, Iowa, – the city where his bid for the presidency began in early 2007.
At a late-night rally, he told the crowd that Iowa had started “a movement that spread across the country”.
Mitt Romney, meanwhile, was due to end his campaign with a late-night rally in New Hampshire but made the surprise announcement that he would extend campaigning into election day itself – visiting Ohio and Pennsylvania on Tuesday.
Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are running almost neck-and-neck in national polls, in a campaign that has cost more than $2 billion.
But surveys of the nine or so battleground states that will determine the election show Barack Obama narrowly ahead.
On the stroke of midnight, the first votes were cast and quickly counted in the tiny village of Dixville Notch in New Hampshire. They resulted in a tie with five votes each for Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.
The race has been most intense in Ohio – no Republican has ever made it to the White House without winning there.
Mitt Romney would become the first Mormon president of the US if he wins on Tuesday.
Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have spent the day before the election visiting key swing states and making final pitches to voters
In Fairfax, Virginia just outside Washington DC, the former Massachusetts governor said the president had failed to make good on the promise of his 2008 campaign and it was time for a new direction.
“Look at the record,” he exhorted supporters.
“Talk is cheap, but a record is real and it’s earned with effort. When the president promised change, you can look and see what happened. Four years ago then-candidate Obama promised to do so very much but he’s done so very little.”
He summed up his pitch to voters: “Do you want four more years like the last four years? Or do you want real change?”
In Ohio, Bruce Springsteen and rapper Jay-Z helped warm up a crowd for Barack Obama before the president appeared.
“I’ve got a lot of fight left in me and I hope you do,” Barack Obama told the rally, his voice hoarse from nearly non-stop campaigning.
“The folks at the very top in Washington don’t need another champion. They’ll always have a seat at the table. The people who need a champion are the people whose letters I read every day.
“We’ve come too far to turn back now. We’ve come too far to let our hearts grow faint.”
Thirty million Americans have already cast their ballot through early voting across 34 states. In the 2008 presidential election, 130 million people voted.
With the election expected to be decided by a razor-thin margin, both sides are readying teams of lawyers for legal fights.
Democrats in Florida have filed a legal case demanding an extension of time available for early voting, citing unprecedented demand after voters reportedly queued up for hours on Sunday,
In Ohio, Republican election officials were going to court on Monday to defend an 11th-hour directive to local election officials that tightens requirements needed for provisional ballots to be counted.
In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo has signed an order allowing residents to vote at any polling place, not just the one to which they had been assigned.
The city and surrounding areas were devastated by super-storm Sandy last week. Many residents remain without power and many polling places were damaged.
Activists have been stepping up efforts across the crucial swing states.
In Wisconsin, student volunteers have been putting in 14-hour days in an effort to deliver the state for Barack Obama.
Average of national opinion polls shows Barack Obama heading into election day with a single-point lead among likely voters, 49% to 48%.
Mitt Romney remains favored among whites, older people and evangelical Christians; Barack Obama among women, non-whites and young adults.
In the crucial swing state of Ohio, a RealClearPolitics.com average of polls shows Barack Obama leading Mitt Romney 49.6% to 46.6%.
The election is decided by the electoral college. Each state is given a number of electoral votes in rough proportion to its population. The candidate who wins 270 electoral votes becomes president.
A handful of governors, the entire House of Representatives and one-third of the Senate are also up for election on Tuesday.
Republicans are expected to keep control of the House, while Democrats were tipped to do the same in the Senate.
A new study has revealed that some of the earliest signs of Alzheimer’s disease have been found in the brain, more than two decades before the first symptoms usually appear.
Treating the disease early is thought to be vital in order to prevent damage to memory and thinking.
A study, published in the Lancet Neurology, found differences in the brains of people destined to develop an early form of Alzheimer’s.
Experts said the US study may give doctors more time to treat people.
Alzheimer’s disease starts long before anyone would notice; previous studies have shown an effect on the brain 10-15 years before symptoms.
It is only after enough brain cells have died that the signs of dementia begin to appear – some regions of the brain will have lost up to 20% of their brain cells before the disease becomes noticeable.
However, doctors fear so much of the brain will have degenerated by this time that it will be too late to treat patients. The failure of recent trials to prevent further cognitive decline in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease has been partly put down to timing.
A team at the Banner Alzheimer’s Institute in Arizona looked at a group of patients who have familial Alzheimer’s. A genetic mutation means they nearly always get the disease in their 40s. Alzheimer’s normally becomes apparent after the age of 75.
Brain scans of 20 people with the mutation, aged between 18 and 26, already showed differences compared with those from 24 people who were not destined to develop early Alzheimer’s.
The fluid which bathes the brain and spinal cord also had higher levels of a protein called beta-amyloid.
The researchers said differences could be detected “more than two decades before” symptoms would appear in these high-risk patients.
Dr. Eric Reiman, one of the scientists involved, said: “These findings suggest that brain changes begin many years before the clinical onset of Alzheimer’s disease.
“They raise new questions about the earliest brain changes involved in the predisposition to Alzheimer’s and the extent to which they could be targeted by future prevention therapies.”
Prof. Nick Fox, from the Institute of Neurology at University College London, said some of his patients had lost a fifth of some parts of their brain by the time they arrived at the clinic.
He said: “I don’t think this pushes us forwards in terms of early diagnosis, we already have markers of the disease.
“The key thing this does is open up the window of early intervention before people take a clinical and cognitive hit.”
However, he said this raised the question of how early people would need to be treated – if drugs could be found.
Greece is braced for a 48-hour general strike across public and private sectors in protest at a proposed new wave of spending cuts.
Protest marches – which regularly end in running battles with police – are planned for the centre of Athens.
The action coincides with a debate in parliament on the austerity measures, with a vote by MPs due on Wednesday.
Greece must back the measures, and the 2013 budget, to receive the next part of a bailout and avoid bankruptcy.
The latest strike starting on Tuesday includes public transport workers, lawyers, air traffic controllers, taxi drivers, journalists and hospital staff.
Some transport and media workers downed tools on Monday as well.
With proposals for a fifth consecutive cut to pensions, an increase in the retirement age and reductions to salaries, benefits and healthcare, the fury among Greece’s population is growing.
Greek ministers say the package should save a total of 13.5 billion euros ($17 billion) by 2016.
Approving the tough reforms and passing the 2013 budget are key to receiving a 31.5 billion-euro installment from the International Monetary Fund and European Union that has been on hold for months.
However, the Democratic Left Party which is the junior member of the three-party governing coalition, is refusing to back the package.
The second biggest coalition party, the socialist Pasok, is also facing a rebellion by some MPs.
Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has tried to reassure the public, who have endured repeated rounds of austerity and a five-year recession.
“These will be the last cuts in wages and pensions,” he said on Sunday.
“We promised to avert the country’s exit from the euro and this is what we are doing. We have given absolute priority to this because if we do not achieve this everything else will be meaningless.”
Claudio Sciarpelletti, a computer technician, has gone on trial in the Vatican City charged with aiding and abetting Pope’s former butler, Paolo Gabriele, in stealing papal documents.
Claudio Sciarpelletti has been accused of helping Paolo Gabriele leak the confidential documents while working in the Vatican’s Secretariat of State.
His lawyer argued that his client has no case to answer and the trial should be dropped.
Paolo Gabriele was given an 18-month prison sentence by the same court last month.
He admitted passing documents to a journalist, but said he did it out of love for the church and the Pope.
Paolo Gabriele is serving his sentence in a special detention room inside the Vatican’s police station, amid talk that he may be pardoned by Pope Benedict XVI.
Claudio Sciarpelletti, 48, handled secret communications in the Vatican’s Secretariat of State, the nerve centre of the Roman Catholic church.
His lawyer said an anonymous tip-off led Vatican police to search Claudio Sciarpelletti’s desk last May – finding an envelope addressed to Paolo Gabriele containing copies of sensitive documentation that had been leaked to the Italian media.
Claudio Sciarpelletti has been accused of helping Paolo Gabriele leak the confidential documents while working in the Vatican’s Secretariat of State
During his brief arrest, he is said to have given confused and contradictory explanations to investigators.
Defence lawyer Gianluca Benedetti denied the claims that the former butler and Claudio Sciarpelletti had been good friends, and said his client had been in an “emotional state” in his interviews with investigators.
The Vatican has since said he played a “marginal” role in the scandal.
Senior Vatican communications officer, Greg Burke, said that although Claudio Sciarpelletti was being charged with aiding and abetting Paolo Gabriele, it was “more like an obstruction charge” relating to his contradictory testimony, the Associated Press reports.
However, the judge refused Gianluca Benedetti’s request to drop the trial, and said the next hearing would be scheduled for Saturday. Analysts say his trial is likely to be shorter than Paolo Gabriele’s which lasted for a week.
Interest in the case centres on who the witnesses called to give evidence may be, correspondents say. A senior cleric and two top Vatican security officials are expected to be called, as well as Paolo Gabriele himself.
It is thought the trial may shine a light on the extent to which other Vatican employees, including clerics, may have been involved.
Much of the stolen information ended up in a best-selling book by journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi about corruption, scandals and infighting at the Vatican.
Paolo Gabriele confessed to taking the papers, but said he believed the Pope was being manipulated, and that he hoped to reveal alleged corruption at the Vatican.
The Vatican authorities have limited press access to Claudio Sciarpelletti’s trial and no TV cameras were allowed in court.
Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher had to be pretty enamored with Ampersand in Sydney’s Paddington neighborhood to visit the place two days in a row.
The lovebirds hit up the cafe and bookstore first on Friday, which prompted the chef to excitedly announce that he’d cooked for the Hollywood pair.
In response to questions about what they ate, the chef said: “Mila had our Mediterranean poached eggs & Ashton had muesli, fruit, yoghurt & creamed rice.”
The Mediterranean eggs were accompanied by spinach, halloumi cheese, tomatoes and sourdough bread, suggesting that Mila Kunis, 29, has a healthy appetite… especially for a Hollywood siren.
Ashton Kutcher’s eclectic breakfast is more of a bafflement.
Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher had to be pretty enamored with Ampersand in Sydney’s Paddington neighborhood to visit the place two days in a row
Ashton Kutcher, 34, opted to mix business with pleasure by taking his girlfriend along on a work related trip to Australia.
So far he’s held a dinner to celebrate his successful business investment Airbnb, that was attended by Spice Girl Mel B and Brian McFadden.
In their downtime, Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher have been spotted in the seaside suburb of Bondi and later walked along the scenic coastline to the neighboring Bronte beach.
They put on an affectionate show during the stroll, holding hands and later walking arm in arm.
Mitt Romney’s chances of winning presidential election were boosted today by two polls which gave him a slender lead over Barack Obama.
Polls by Gallup and Rasmussen both gave Mitt Romney 49% of the national vote, ahead of Barack Obama on 48%, flying in the face of other polls which had appeared to show the President in the driving seat over the weekend.
The slim advantage could allow Mitt Romney to snatch victory in the key swing states which he needs to win in order to carry him to the White House.
The odds had appeared to be stacking up against Mitt Romney winning on Tuesday. Among political journalists, campaign reporters and most pollsters, there was a congealing conventional wisdom that President Barack Obama was about to be re-elected, particularly after Hurricane Sandy.
On Sunday, a raft of new national polls from Pew put Barack Obama up three, and NBC/Wall Street Journal, which gave him a one-point advantage. Fox, GWU/Politico and ABC/Washington Post found a tie nationally.
Rasmussen poll released on Monday
The Gallup poll, released at lunchtime on Monday, was the first since the firm suspended operations during Sandy, and showed a small swing to Obama. Its last poll before the hurricane gave Mitt Romney 51% of the vote with the President on 46%.
Both candidates were plunged into frantic activity on the last full day of campaigning before Tuesday’s election.
Gallup poll released on Monday
Barack Obama scheduled appearances in Wisconsin, Ohio and Iowa alongside A-list celebrities including Bruce Springsteen and Jay-Z, while Romney planned a whistle-stop tour of four different swing states – Florida, Virginia, Ohio and New Hampshire.
The fact that both men included Ohio on their itineraries shows the crucial importance of the state, which both campaigns consider almost indispensable to their victory hopes.
Barack Obama is counting on former President Bill Clinton and Bruce Springsteen, top surrogates for his campaign, to carry his message.
But he also has enlisted an army of A-list performers and public figures – from Lady Gaga to Billie Jean King, from Jay-Z to Crosby, Stills and Nash – to promote his re-election.
The Obama campaign provided a who’s-who of 181 actors, musicians, authors, athletes, mayors, Congress members, and more that fit any and all demographic groups in the president’s target zone.
All are being deployed to carry his message to television and radio in the waning days of a nip-and-tuck campaign.
On Saturday, Stevie Wonder played an unannounced concert for voters waiting in line to vote early in Cleveland.
Stevie Wonder opened a rally for Barack Obama by rocking the arena at the University of Cincinnati with a rendition of Keep on Running.
Stevie Wonder opened a rally for Barack Obama by rocking the arena at the University of Cincinnati with a rendition of Keep on Running
Songwriter John Legend, actor Laurence Fishburne, and congressman and civil rights hero John Lewis from Georgia were among those who went to Ohio to lead a Souls to the Polls effort with local churches.
The list includes some of Hollywood’s big names – Samuel L. Jackson, Anne Hathaway, and Scarlett Johansson – who were talking to Top 40 radio stations.
Samuel L. Jackson and comedian Chris Rock were on stations with primarily African American audiences urging voters to go to the polls Tuesday.
Danny DeVito and members of the FX sitcom It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia have canvassed neighborhoods in Wisconsin, made phone calls and visited colleges in the state.
A new research has found that people who walk with a slouched body posture are more likely to feel depressed.
A study from San Francisco State University found that a slouched or despondent body posture can lead to decreased energy and feelings of depression.
But researchers found that mood and energy levels can be increased simply by changing the body posture to an upright position.
Professor of Health Education Erik Peper, writing in the journal Biofeedback, said: “When you choose to put your body in a different mode, it’s harder to drop into depression.”
Previous research has found that exercise and movement can increase energy and happiness. But Erik Peper said these feelings can also be achieved by people sitting in more upright body positions.
He said if people start introducing more body movements into their daily life, it can boost energy levels and improve quality of life.
“It’s very similar to the principle of <<fake it till you make it>> – you can convince your body to have more energy.”
A total of 110 students were asked to walk down a hallway in a slouched position and then skip down the hallway.
Following the exercise, the students were asked to rate their energy levels.
The entire group found that walking in a slouched position decreased energy levels but skipping increased energy.
Students also answered questionnaires to rate how depressed they felt.
Those who felt more depressed reported lower energy levels after slouched walking than those who did not feel depressed.
Slouching has also been linked to causing career problems. Those who walk slouched are perceived as being not vital, reports NBC News.
It is also linked to an increased risk of death and disease, making people look heavier, cutting off circulation and stressing people out.
New York’s Attorney General has launched an investigation into hundreds of complaints of prices being increased in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.
Eric Schneiderman said the largest number of complaints concerned increased fuel prices, but other emergency supplies were also affected.
“Price gouging” of essential consumer goods is forbidden under New York law.
More than one million people in New Jersey and New York are still without power a week after the storm hit.
Although fuel supplies are reaching petrol stations across the region, around one-quarter are still closed in metropolitan New York.
At the weekend, long queues of cars and people carrying red canisters built up at petrol stations.
As a result of the storm, 8.5 million homes and businesses were left without power, prompting a surge in demand for generators and hotel rooms. Tens of thousands of people have been displaced.
Eric Schneiderman said that consumers had contacted him to report “possible gouging for emergency supplies like generators, hotels raising rates due to ‘high demand’, as well as increased prices for food and water”.
New York’s Attorney General has launched an investigation into hundreds of complaints of prices being increased in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy
In a statement, the attorney general said that under New York state law, retailers were not allowed to charge “unconscionably excessive prices” for goods required for personal, family or household purposes when there was an abnormal disruption of the market.
He pledged to do “everything we can to stop to stop unscrupulous individuals from taking advantage of New Yorkers trying to rebuild their lives”.
Transport authorities opened more subway lines on Monday, as more commuters returned to work and one million students returned to school for the first time since the storm.
But platforms were teeming with travelers, trains were overcrowded and limited bus services struggled to meet the demand for services into New York City.
Hundreds of people joined queues early on Monday for the Jersey City ferry service to New York.
As overnight temperatures fell close to freezing, forecasters warned of a new storm approaching the US east coast.
According to the National Weather Service, the coastal storm could reach South and North Carolina late on Tuesday before spreading northwards, strengthening as it moves up towards New Jersey with gusts of up to 50 mph (80 km/h) by Thursday.
“Prepare for more outages,” Weather Service meteorologist Joe Pollina told Associated Press.
