Abuse scandal sidelines BBC news chief

BBC employees arrive for work at New Broadcasting House in central London, after the BBC's director of news, Helen Boaden has stepped aside. Picture: AFP Source: AFP

THE BBC's news chief and her deputy have been temporarily replaced while the broadcaster deals with the fallout from coverage of a child abuse scandal that forced its director general to resign, the broadcaster says.

Helen Boaden, the BBC's director of news and current affairs, and her deputy, Stephen Mitchell, have handed over their responsibilities to others for the time being "to address the lack of clarity around the editorial chain of command," the corporation said on Monday.

"Consideration is now being given to the extent to which individuals should be asked to account further for their actions and if appropriate, disciplinary action will be taken," the statement said.

The BBC, meanwhile, faced criticism for agreeing to a 450,000 pounds ($689,000) payoff - a year's salary - for George Entwistle, who resigned as director general on Saturday after a BBC news program bungled reports that powerful Britons sexually abused children.

Prime Minister David Cameron's spokesman on Monday criticised the payoff for Mr Entwistle, who led the BBC for just 54 days.

"Clearly, it is hard to justify a sizeable payoff of that sort," spokesman Steve Field told reporters, but added it was for the BBC to justify the decision.

However, the prime minister gave his support to Chris Patten, the embattled chairman of the BBC Trust, the corporation's governing body.

"The important thing is for Chris Patten to lead the BBC out of its present difficulties," Mr Field told reporters.

The multi-faceted crisis stems from allegations that the late Jimmy Savile, a BBC entertainment star, was a serial sexual abuser of underage girls. Newsnight, a BBC news program, was working on an investigation which was shelved last year by an editor, and the BBC subsequently went ahead with a year-end tribute program to Savile.

Earlier this month, the same news program wrongly implicated a British politician in sex-abuse claims. The program did not identify the politician but the name quickly became known.

The BBC said it wanted "to make it absolutely clear that neither Helen Boaden nor Stephen Mitchell had anything at all to do with the failed 'Newsnight' investigation" which linked a politician to allegations of sexual abuse.

The statement suggested that both were too busy dealing with various inquiries to give full attention to their jobs.

Following the conclusion of a review of BBC management's role in the failed Newsnight investigation, Boaden and Mitchell "expect to then return to their positions," the BBC said.

Iain Overton, who was involved in preparing the Newsnight story about the politician, resigned on Monday as editor of the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. The organisation said the story had been "strictly contrary to the fundamental principles and standards of the bureau."

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Woman admits Petraeus 'friendship'

FORMER CIA director David Petraeus' wife Holly is said to be more than "furious" over his extramarital affair, according to a friend and former colleague.

Meanwhile, Jill Kelley, the woman who received harassing emails from Petraeus' girlfriend, is acknowledging her friendship with the former CIA director and asking for privacy.

Mr Petraeus began an affair with his biographer in 2011, two months after he became CIA director, a friend and former top aide said Monday. The case has brewed an uproar in Congress over FBI investigative tactics and the fact lawmakers weren't told soon enough about the probe rocking the intelligence and law enforcement establishment.

As the general was married and had the nations' highest security clearance, the affair was deemed a national security risk and investigated further as it potentially exposed the CIA head to blackmail.

Mr Petraeus, who resigned last week as the nation's head spy, and his family are said to be devastated over the affair, especially his wife Holly, who "is not exactly pleased right now," said Steve Boylan, a friend and former Petraeus spokesman who spoke to Mr Petraeus over the weekend.

"Furious would be an understatement," Mr Boylan told ABC's "Good Morning America." He said Mr Petraeus ended the affair four months ago.

CIA Director David Petraeus has resigned from his post, citing an extramarital affair.

Mr Boylan said Monday that Mr Petraeus is keenly aware that he has injured his family while losing "one of the best jobs he ever had. He's devastated."

The affair with Mrs Broadwell started about two months after Petraeus took the CIA post, Mr Boylan said. Mr Petraeus became CIA director in September 2011.

Mr Petraeus resigned on Friday after admitting to an extramarital affair with Mrs Broadwell. He has been married 38 years to Holly Petraeus, with whom he has two adult children, including a son who led an infantry platoon in Afghanistan as an Army lieutenant.

Mrs Broadwell, a 40-year-old graduate of the U.S. Military Academy and an Army Reserve officer, is married with two young sons.

The FBI learned of the affair as it was investigating emails sent by Mrs Broadwell to Ms Kelley, who serves as an unpaid social liaison to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa.

In this January 30, 201 photo, Natalie Khawam, left, General David Petraeus, Scott and Jill Kelley, and Holly Petraeus watch the Gasparilla parade from the comfort of a tent on the Kelley's front lawn in Tampa, Florida. Picture: AP

Mrs Broadwell told Ms Kelley to "stay away from my guy" after believing he had found a new lover.

Ms Kelley says she and her family "have been friends with General Petraeus and his family for more than five years."

The Washington Post reports that Ms Kelley was so scared she called the FBI who were concerned that the CIA director's personal e-mail account had been hacked and that national security had been threatened.

But after interviews with Mr Petraeus and Mrs Broadwell it was discovered that Mr Petraeus, one of America's most decorated soldiers and its spy boss was secretly having an affair with the pretty biographer.

While in his account, the FBI discovered sexually explicit emails between Mr Petraeus and Mrs Broadwell - reportedly including one which made references to engaging in sex under a desk - other reports suggest Mrs Broadwell split from Mr Petraeus in 2011, and that the general continued to pursue her with hundreds of emails during the past year.

Davis Petraeus, left, shakes hands with his biographer Paula Broadwell, co-author of All In: The Education of General David Petraeus, pictured together in July 2011.

The emails involved in the matter were in most instances sent from the personal account, not his CIA one.

The retired four-star general was a leading commander in both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars following 9/11. He was credited with the counter-offensive surge strategy that tamed the Iraq insurgency.

Known as a straight shooter, he was highly regarded on both sides of the political aisle. Republicans touted him as a potential presidential candidate, while President Barack Obama made him part of his cabinet.

The president will likely have to replace not only departing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, but also Defence Secretary Leon Panetta and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.

One name being floated as a possible Petraeus replacement is John Brennan, the White House counter-terrorism adviser and a CIA veteran who has played an instrumental role in Obama's drone war against al-Qaeda militants.

The most celebrated military officer of his generation, Petraeus took over at the CIA a little more than a year ago.

Mrs Broadwell, who lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with her radiologist husband Dr Scott Broadwell and their two young sons Lucien and Lando, was embedded with Mr Petraeus in Afghanistan.

Petraeus had been scheduled to appear before congressional committees on Thursday to testify about the September 11 attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens. Morell was expected to testify in place of Petraeus, and lawmakers said he should have the answers to their questions.

But Feinstein and others didn't rule out the possibility that Congress will compel Petraeus to testify about Benghazi at a later date, even though he's relinquished his job.

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Massacre 'too big for lone soldier'

A courtroom sketch of  US Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, centre. Bales faces a possible court martial over the massacre of 16 civilians in Afghanistan in March. Source: AP

A LONE shooter could not have committed the massacre of 16 Afghan villagers blamed on a US soldier, a witness testified late Sunday, stressing the scale of the atrocity.

The defence witness said the extent of the carnage, wrought overnight in two villages near a US army base in March, was too great for it to be the work of only Sergeant Robert Bales, facing a possible court martial.

"One person cannot do this work," said Khudai Dad of the Afghan Uniform Police, who searched the scene of the killings the next morning. "One person doesn't have the courage to go from one village to another in the night."

Bales, balding with close-cropped blond hair and wearing standard army combat uniform, showed no emotion as he watched the testimony on a small monitor placed in front of him.

He faces 16 counts of murder, six of attempted murder, seven of assault, two of using drugs and one of drinking alcohol. Seventeen of the 22 victims were women or children and almost all were shot in the head.

The 39-year-old allegedly left his base in the Panjwayi district of Kandahar province on the night of March 11 to commit the killings, which included nine children. He allegedly set several of their bodies on fire.

Prosecutors at a pre-trial hearing, held on an army base south of Seattle, have alleged that Bales left the base twice to carry out the killings, returning in between and even telling a colleague what he had done.

For the last three nights it has heard testimony by video link from southern Afghanistan - held at night to allow witnesses to give their accounts during the daytime.

Dad, the last witness to appear by video link, said he believed the two attacks must have happened simultaneously.

He said he went first to the US base, then to what was described as the first crime scene. Although the Afghan National Army (ANA) were only supposed to secure the scene until he arrived, some shell casings were missing.

"The ANA was there before I (arrived). They picked up all the shell casings, all the rounds," he said, adding that he himself had found a total of 13 shells.

In one house, "there was blood in the entrance when the woman came to the front door and was shot," said Dad, slight man with a mustache and spectacles,

After searching three homes in the two villages involved, he said he was struck by the impression that more than one person would have had to be involved.

"I was thinking this is not a thing that one person can do," he said, while adding that he believed the attacks occurred at the same time as each other, somewhere between midnight and 3am.

Bales was flown from Afghanistan back to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas shortly after the alleged massacre, before being moved back to Fort Lewis-McChord recently, home base of the US 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment.

His wife and two children were moved to the sprawling military base south of Seattle for their own security, and to shield them from the glare of the media in the wake of the killings.

Before the hearings, Bales' wife reiterated her belief that he was innocent, saying he did not remember the shootings and was shocked when he was told details of the allegations against him.

The massacre is thought to be the deadliest crime by a US soldier during the decade-long conflict and tested Washington and Kabul's already tense relationship to the limit.

The so-called Article 32 pre-trial hearing, to decide whether Bales should face a court martial, started on November 5 and is expected to wrap up this week, in theory on Tuesday.

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A man walks into a barometer...

New York comedian Dave Attell told Conan O'Brien he had a simple solution to the city's post-Hurricane-Sandy blackout: get the marathon runners onto treadmills to generate power. Picture: YouTube/TeamCoco Source: Supplied

COMEDIAN Dave Attell told a packed house at the Comedy Cellar that New York after Superstorm Sandy had a familiar feel. "It was dark. Toilets were backing up. ... It was pretty much like it always was."

Another comic, Paul Mecurio, told the same crowd that he got so many calls from worried family members that he started making things up about how bad it was.

"I'm drinking my own urine to survive," he joked.

New York's comedy clubs, some of which had to shut down or go on generator power in the aftermath of the storm, dealt with a bad situation like they always have - by turning Sandy into a running punchline.

"If they're going to do jokes on September 12 about September 11, then this thing isn't going to slow us down," said Vic Henley, the emcee of a show on October 28 at Gotham Comedy Club.

Sean Flynn, Gotham's operating manager, said comics were including the storm in their acts but had to be careful nonetheless not to make people feel worse than they already did.

"There's the old adage that tragedy plus time equals comedy. The variable is the time," he said. Still, he added: "You can't ignore the subject. That's what comedy's all about."

The Comedy Cellar, a regular stop for decades for the country's most notable comedians, was closed from October 28 through to November 1, but reopened on November 2 after a generator was brought in at a cost of several thousand dollars. Power didn't return until the next day, and the crowds came with it.

Everyone has a bad case of cabin fever," said Valerie Scott, the club's manager.

Mecurio said he thought the joke was on him when he got a call from the Comedy Cellar saying the club was going ahead with its show even though there was no power in the West Village. He headed downtown from the Upper East Side, hitting dark streets after midtown.

"It's pitch dark," he said. "And there's a room packed with people laughing. It was so surreal. ... I'm calling it the generator show. It was a really cool thing."

"You could feel there was something special about the show," he said. "The audiences were tempered in their mood. You could tell something was up, something was in the air. I knew it was cathartic for people."

He said a woman approached him after the show to thank him, saying: "You kind of brightened my day."

Sometimes, comics used the storm to get a laugh at the expense of the crowd, like when Mark Normand looked down from the Comedy Cellar stage at a man with a thin beard.

"I like the beard," he told him. "Is that because of Sandy? You couldn't get your razor working?"

And Attell used Sandy to mock a heckler, telling him: "You must have been a load of laughs without power."

At another point, Attell looked for positives in the storm.

"There's nothing better than Doomsday sex," he said.

Mecurio said he has made a point of including the storm and the havoc it caused whenever he takes the stage.

"I feel like as a comedian in the spirit of social satire, it's what we're supposed to do," he said. "It's the elephant in the room. How do you not do it?"

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Bin Laden pal Abu Qatada wins appeal

The extremist cleric Abu Qatada has been described as among Europe's leading al-Qaida operatives. Picture: AP Source: AP

RADICAL Muslim preacher Abu Qatada has won his appeal against deportation from Britain to Jordan to face terrorism charges.

The decision represents a setback to the British government, which has been trying to get Abu Qatada removed from British soil for years.

Home Office officials say they strongly disagree with the ruling and planned to appeal.

The Special Immigration Appeals Commission blocked the deportation, saying it was not convinced by the government's assurances that no evidence obtained through torture would be used against Abu Qatada in Jordan.

The judges said that the British government "has not satisfied us that ...there is no real risk" that statements obtained under torture would not be used at a trial of the suspected terrorist in Jordan.

The Palestinian-born Jordanian cleric, whose real name is Omar Mahmoud Mohammed Othman, has been convicted in absentia in Jordan over bomb plots and faces retrial if extradited.

Britain has signed an agreement with Jordan which it says ensures the preacher will not face ill-treatment, but Abu Qatada's lawyers convinced the judges the deal does not offer sufficient protection.

Abu Qatada, who has been described in British and Spanish courts as a senior al-Qaida figure in Europe with close ties to the late Osama bin Laden, has fought attempts to extradite him from Britain since 2001. He is currently in prison.

Earlier this year, he was denied permission to take his case to a European court, but he triumphed in the Special Immigration Appeals Commission, a semi-secret court that handles deportation and national security cases.

Home Secretary Theresa May was expected to speak in Parliament on the setback later today.
 

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Teen arrested over burning poppy pic

Not amused: A digital montage featuring a Facebook picture of a burning poppy which led to a man being arrested, on a day when Britain's public and royalty paid their respects to the war dead. Picture: Facebook / AFP Source: AFP

A FREE speech row has erupted after British police arrested a 19-year old who allegedly posted a photo of a burning poppy on Facebook on Remembrance Sunday.

Kent police said they were alerted about the offensive picture on Sunday afternoon, and arrested a 19 year-old "on suspicion of an offence under the malicious communications act".

The police said the picture was accompanied by an offensive comment, which the Daily Mail newspaper said was "How about that you squadey c***s".

On Monday a photo started circulating on social media identifying the young man as Linford House.

However the arrest has sparked outrage, with free speech advocates saying the prosecution of people for making offensive remarks has gone too far.

The Communications Act was previously used to prosecute 'Twitter joker' Paul Chambers, who won an appeal against his conviction for a flippant comment on social media about "blowing up" an airport.

Earlier this year Matthew Woods was jailed for 12 weeks for a joke on Facebook about missing child April Jones, and another man was sentenced to 80 hours' unpaid labour for referring to a local councillor as a "c***".

A #poppycock hashtag has sprung up on Twitter for people to vent their frustrations - including noted journalist and lawyer David Allen Green.

Australian comedian Tim Minchin, who lives in London, also expressed his disapproval of the arrest, though he said he would personally never burn a poppy on Remembrance Day.

Last year three Irish teenagers were charged with incitement to hatred for posting a photograph on Facebook of themselves burning a poppy.

And in 2010 Muslim extremists burned a giant poppy in London during two minutes' silence for war heroes, reportedly chanting "British soldiers burn in hell".

One of the extremists Emdadur Choudhury, was found guilty last year of a 'calculated and deliberate' insult to the war dead and those who mourn them, for burning the replica poppies on Remembrance Day. He was fined 50 pounds ($76).

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Israel claims 'direct hits' on Syria

Israeli troops and UN peacekeepers inspect the area where three mortar shells fired from Syria landed in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Picture: Jalaa Marey Source: AFP

ISRAELI troops fired tank shells into Syria on Monday, confirming "direct hits" on the source of a mortar round that struck the Golan Heights as tensions flared along the ceasefire line.

The exchange marked the second straight day that Israeli troops have been drawn into the Syrian conflict and came just hours after an appeal for restraint from all sides by UN chief Ban Ki-moon.

On Sunday, Israeli troops fired a warning shot across the UN-monitored ceasefire line in response to Syrian fire, in the first instance of Israeli fire directed at the Syrian military in the Golan Heights since the 1973 war.

Monday's firing took place shortly after a Syrian mortar shell struck near an army post in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, the military said, warning that any further shooting would be answered with "severity."

A military statement said that a mortar shell hit an open area near an army post in the central Golan Heights, causing no damage or injuries.

"In response, IDF (Israel Defence Forces) soldiers fired tank shells towards the source of the fire, confirming direct hits," it said.

"Syrian mobile artillery was directly hit," a military source added, without giving further details.

The military statement warned that any further shooting from Syria "will not be tolerated and shall be responded to with severity."

The earlier incident on Sunday, which came after a Syrian mortar round hit an Israeli army position, drew a warning from Defence Minister Ehud Barak that Israel would take "tougher" action in response to any new fire.

"Syria has been in the midst of a brutal civil war for over a year, and the IDF has been instructed to prevent the battles from spilling over," he said in a statement.

"Additional shelling into Israel from Syria will elicit a tougher response, exacting a higher price from Syria," he warned.

After the exchange, Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky said the UN chief was "deeply concerned by the potential for escalation."

"He calls for the utmost restraint" and urges both sides to uphold the 1974 accord which set up the ceasefire line and surrounding demilitarised zone.

Fears of a spillover of the conflict, which has ravaged Syria for the past 20 months, leaving tens of thousands dead, have widened as violence has spread to Syria's borders with Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq.

On Thursday, three stray mortar rounds from Syria hit the Golan, which Israel seized from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in 1981 in a move never recognised by the international community.

And on Monday, an Israeli military vehicle patrolling the buffer zone was hit by stray Syrian gunfire.

Israel complained to the United Nations Security Council over the incident, and an earlier one, in which three Syrian tanks entered Bir Ajam village, five kilometres southeast of Quneitra, in the demilitarised zone.

Since Israel and Syria signed the 1974 agreement, a 1,200-strong unarmed UN force has patrolled the buffer zone.

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Smacking kids 'may cause cancer'

A new study has found a link between smacking and insulting children, and their developing cancer or heart disease later in life. Source: HWT Image Library

SMACKING and insulting your children may increase their risk of cancer and heart disease later in life, a controversial new study has found.

Scientists from the school of psychology at Plymouth University surveyed cancer and cardiac patients aged 40-60 in Saudia Arabia, where "the use of beating and insults is an acceptable parenting style," the researchers said.

"More frequent beating (once or more per month) and insults were associated with a significantly increased risk for cancer, cardiac disease and asthma," they said in the Journal of Behavioural Medicine, which published the study.

Those who had cancer were 70 per cent more likely to have been beaten as a child compared to a healthy group, and those with cardiac disease were 30 per cent more likely to have been beaten.

The researchers speculated that the disease risk was increased because this type of parenting causes stress in the child.

"A stress-inducing parenting style, even when (socially acceptable), has long term adverse health consequences," they concluded.

However the researchers said that, because they mostly came together, it was impossibly to say whether the beating or the insults were most to blame.

They also acknowledged that other factors may be at work such as wealth and education, which could be the root cause of both the parenting style and the bad health.

Other experts warned against reading too much into the study.

Dr Andrea Danese, from King's College London, told the London Daily Telegraph that the data could be biased by the memory of those surveyed for the study.

"Ill people may be more likely to report unhappy childhood," she said.

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One day to win or lose America

Barack Obama and Mitt Romney remained in a tie in the polls released just days before the election.

ONE day left in their stubbornly deadlocked race, President Barack Obama and challenger Mitt Romney are storming through a final exhaustive campaign push that won't end until the wee hours of Election Day in pursuit of every possible vote.

Both candidates say the winner will be determined by which of their operations can get the most supporters to the polls. "This is going to be a turnout election," the president declared in an interview airing on Monday morning as he pleaded with urban radio listeners to get to the polls.

"We have one job left," and that's getting people out to vote, Mr Romney told more than a thousand people just off the tarmac at the airport in Sanford, Florida. The crowd chanted "One more day!"

With national polls showing a neck-and-neck race, the final day's schedule showed where the two campaigns believe the race will be decided. Mr Romney was in Florida, Virginia, and New Hampshire, while Mr Obama was trying to protect Wisconsin from an eleventh-hour challenge from the GOP before heading to Iowa.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney holds a baby as he greets supporters during a campaign rally in Sanford, Florida.

And in an indication of just how all-important Ohio was once again to the future occupancy of the White House, both candidates planned to be on the ground in Columbus on Monday evening for dueling rallies seven miles apart.

Whoever wins Ohio has a simpler path to amass the 270 electoral votes needed to claim the presidency. With Mr Obama showing a lead in most polls of the state's likely voters, Mr Romney voiced guarded optimism on Sunday in Cleveland, saying Mr Obama's re-election is "possible, but not likely."

Mr Obama also raised the possibility of defeat as he pleaded with listeners of The Rickey Smiley Morning Show to get to the polls. "If we don't turn out the vote, we could lose a lot of the gains we've already made," Mr Obama said.

US President Barack Obama speaks during a campaign rally in Aurora, Colorado. Mr Obama and Republican rival Mitt Romney are both showing signs of exhaustion as they dart from swing state to swing state in a last-ditch effort to fire up enthusiasm.

It was one of two of the president's radio interviews airing on Monday aimed at turning out minority voters, the other with a Spanish-language station in Ohio. The president is relying on black and Hispanic voters to help offset Mr Romney's lead with white men in particular, but the risk for him is that some of those key supporters aren't as motivated to vote as they were in 2008.

"Four years ago, we had incredible turnout and I know people were excited and energized about the prospect of making history," Mr Obama said. "We have to preserve the gains we've made and keep moving forward."

Both candidates will also benefit from some star power. Rock legend Bruce Springsteen is joining Mr Obama at all three campaign rallies, and rapper Jay-Z will join him in Columbus. Mr Romney planned a final rally in the last hour of election eve in New Hampshire with Kid Rock while country rock performers The Marshall Tucker Band was joining him in Columbus.

With one day to go until election day, Mitt Romney is making one final push throughout swing states.

A final national NBC/Wall Street Journal Poll showed Mr Obama getting the support of 48 per cent of likely voters, with Mr Romney receiving 47 per cent. A Washington Post-ABC News tracking poll had Mr Obama at 49 and Mr Romney at 48. A Pew Research Centre poll released on Sunday showed Mr Obama with a 3-point-point edge over Mr Romney, 48 per cent to 45 per cent among likely voters.

Defying the odds, Mr Romney drew one of his largest crowds on Sunday in Pennsylvania, a state where Mr Obama was holding onto a lead but where Mr Romney aides said they detected soft support for the president. Despite a delayed arrival, Mr Romney rallied thousands on a farm in a Philadelphia suburb on a cold night, taking the podium as loudspeakers blared the theme from "Rocky." The sign of energy in a key swing area of the state was only tempered by some early exits by supporters seeking to escape the cold.

Mr Obama dispatched former President Bill Clinton to Pennsylvania on Monday for an eleventh-hour bid to keep the state in his column.

Mr Obama greets supporters at a rally in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he told voters he needed their support to win a tight election.

Meanwhile, about 30 million people have already voted in 34 states and the District of Columbia, either by mail or in person, although none will be counted until Election Day on Tuesday. More than 4 million of the ballots were cast in Florida, where Democrats filed a lawsuit demanding an extension of available time. A judge granted their request in one county where an early voting site was shut down for several hours on Saturday because of a bomb scare.

Both men were spending the final days of the campaign presenting themselves as can-do leaders willing to break partisan logjams in Washington.

The former Massachusetts governor warned that a second Obama term would threaten the American economy because of the president's inability to work with Congress. "He's ignored them, he's attacked them, he's blamed them," Mr Romney said.

 Mitt Romney speaks during a campaign rally in Newport News, Virginia.

Mr Obama cited bipartisan work on middle-class tax cuts and on ending the Pentagon's don't-ask-don't-tell policy, but warned that he would not compromise away his priorities, such as health care. "I'm not willing to pay that price," he said.

As aides for both candidates looked for early marks of success, there were signs for the superstitious. Since 1936, with only one exception, whenever the Washington Redskins won on the Sunday before the election, the incumbent party would retain the White House. On Sunday, the Redskins lost to the Carolina Panthers, giving hope to Republicans.

But the Obama camp often compares this election to 2004, when President George W. Bush held the White House in his race against Democrat John Kerry. That year was the exception to the rule; the Redskins lost, and so did Kerry.

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Great Wall blizzard kills three tourists

A Chinese man walks in the snow in Yanqing county near Beijing. A blizzard that hit the Great Wall has killed three tourists. Picture: AP Source: AP

THREE elderly Japanese tourists died after being trapped in sudden heavy snowstorms during a visit to the Great Wall of China, officials in Beijing and Tokyo said on Monday.

The bodies of two women, aged 62 and 68, were found on Sunday evening while the body of a 76-year-old man was retrieved on Monday afternoon.

The Japanese man, named by Chinese state media as Shunichiro Yanai, was found by rescuers searching a snow-covered mountain near the wall in the northern province of Hebei.

Another Japanese tourist and a Chinese guide who works for a Japanese tour agency were receiving medical treatment at a local clinic.

The Japanese foreign ministry confirmed the deaths but said it could not give names of the victims until families had been notified.

The group started to climb the mountain from the Beijing side as part of a tour of the Great Wall on Saturday morning, state news agency Xinhua said.

They were trapped overnight after reaching a mountainous region in Huailai county in Hebei.

Tour guide Ming Pingming said he stayed with Yanai until the Japanese tourist lost his pulse at 10 am Sunday, Xinhua reported.

China's foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said authorities would continue to follow the case closely, treat the injured and handle follow-up work related to the victims.

In Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said Japan was working with China and would provide all necessary assistance for Japanese nationals.

"We are grateful for the Chinese cooperation," he told reporters.

Heavy snowstorms swept across northern China over the weekend, with the most extreme weather hitting Beijing, Hebei and the Inner Mongolia region on Saturday night.

Beijing was forced to issue its second-highest blizzard alert on Sunday after the Chinese capital was hit by an unusually early snowstorm.

In the 24 hours until Sunday morning the city saw 5.8cm of precipitation - rain and snow combined - Xinhua said.

Hundreds of cars were stuck in the snow across China's capital over the weekend.

Authorities activated Beijing's public heating ahead of the planned November 15 date, the China Daily said.

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