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Divers Carve Obama, Romney Pumpkins Under the Sea - ABC News

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Superstorm Sandy Touches Down, Wreaks Havoc on East Coast

The "perfect storm" brought devastation overnight as it made landfall.

Superstorm Sandy Storm Surge in New York City

Chris Cuomo reports on the aftermath of the storm in the Big Apple.

Superstorm Sandy: NYU Hospital Evacuated in New York

David Muir reports on s city hospital where the power has failed.

Water Tanker Runs Aground in Sandy Storm

The storm surge moved a 170-foot-long tanker to land in Staten Island, New York.

Superstorm Sandy: Devastation in NYC Boroughs

Josh Elliott reports on the aftermath of the superstorm in the greater New York area.

Hurricane Sandy: Cruise Ships in the Storm

How cruise ships are weathering out the storm that is pounding the Atlantic Coast.

Superstorm Sandy: HMS Bounty Sinks, 14 Rescued from Ship

One person has died and another still missing after the tall ship was caught in rough waters.

Hurricane Sandy Tears Apart Beachside Home

A home in Rodanthe, N.C., is overtaken by the storm surge.

Sandy Floods NYC Subway System

The largest rapid-transit system in the U.S. took a hit from the storm.

TV Reporters Battle Hurricane Sandy

Heavy winds, rain and sea foam weren't enough to deter journalists from covering the story.

Hurricane Sandy Sinks Replica Three-mast Ship

Matt Gutman follows amazing rescue of passengers stranded at sea.

Hurricane Sandy: Reporter, Producer Hit by Storm Wave

Matt Gutman reports from Nags Head, N.C., where he and a producer experience the effects of Sandy.

Hurricane Sandy Storm Surge to Cause Flooding

Many cities on the Eastern Seaboard might become basins with a significant surge of sea water.

Breezy Point: 50 Homes Ablaze in NYC

The six-alarm fire broke out in the flooded borough of Queens.

Hurricane Sandy's Intensity Fluctuates, Threatens East Coast States

Ginger Zee, Matt Gutman track the latest weather across America.

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Ohio Working Class May Offer Key to Obama's Re-election - New York Times

COLUMBUS, Ohio — As President Obama and Mitt Romney enter the closing week of the presidential race, where the 18 electoral votes of Ohio are seen by both sides as critical to victory, Mr. Obama's ability to prevent erosion among working-class voters may be his best path to re-election.

In Ohio, according to the latest poll of likely voters by Quinnipiac University/New York Times/CBS News, Mr. Obama runs nearly even with Mr. Romney among white voters who do not have college degrees.

That helps explain why he appears slightly better positioned there in the closing week of the campaign than in Florida and Virginia, where the polls found that Mr. Romney holds an advantage of about 30 percentage points among those voters.

The presidential contest has become an intense state-by-state fight, with the climate in Ohio shaped by months of efforts by the Obama campaign to portray Mr. Romney as a job killer who opposed the president's decision to bail out the auto industry.

Mr. Obama, who has a 50 percent to 45 percent edge here, also appears to be benefiting from an economic recovery in Ohio that is running ahead of the national recovery.

The poll found that nearly half of all white voters without college degrees here say the economy is improving, and most give Mr. Obama some credit. Only about a quarter of those voters in Virginia and Florida say their economy is getting better.

The polls, along with interviews with strategists and supporters in the three battleground states, illustrate the dynamic facing both campaigns in the final days of the race. The race is essentially tied in Florida and Virginia, the polls found.

The presidential race is now brimming with even more uncertainty as Mr. Obama canceled a trip to Ohio on Wednesday and stays off the campaign trail for a third straight day. Mr. Romney was set to resume his schedule in Florida and Virginia, but he faced a delicate task of campaigning during a natural disaster.

But the campaign is still very much alive here in Ohio, where Mr. Romney and Mr. Obama are locked in a bitter duel over blue-collar voters. A dispute over the Obama administration's 2009 effort to rescue the auto industry boiled over yet again on Tuesday, with the Romney campaign arguing in a new radio commercial that the government's $80 billion assistance plan helped China more than the United States.

The chief executive of Chrysler, Sergio Marchionne, took the rare step of disputing a presidential candidate by calling the assertion "inaccurate." He said production would not be moved from the United States to China, adding: "Jeep is one of our truly global brands with uniquely American roots. This will never change."

The Ohio economy's recovery has complicated Mr. Romney's efforts to portray Mr. Obama as an ineffective leader. The president is seen in a favorable light by 52 percent of likely voters, compared with 46 percent who have a favorable opinion of Mr. Romney.

Yet the poll here showed that the race is tight, with Mr. Obama's five-point edge the same as last week but cut in half from a month ago.

Among the likely voters in Ohio who say they are paying a lot of attention to the race, Mr. Obama's edge narrows to one percentage point, or essentially tied, which underscores the extent to which the race will turn on the get-out-the-vote efforts of each campaign.

"It seems like the economy is on an upswing," Kathleen Foley, a special-education teacher in Dayton, said in a follow-up interview. "I truly believe that in the next few years, our economy is going to see an upswing. I'd like Obama to get some credit for the work he's done."

In the closing stages of the race, Mr. Romney has taken steps to emphasize the moderate elements of his record. His campaign was running a television advertisement here on Tuesday reminding voters that he supports abortion rights in the case of rape, incest or to protect the life of the mother. Democratic groups and the Obama campaign countered with their own ads.

The economy remains the top issue on the minds of voters, the poll found, and the ads were dismissed as not relevant by one poll respondent, Dana Hogan of Cincinnati.

"Do I really think we're going to go back to the point where women won't be able to have abortions or birth control is going to be rationed? That's just silly to even think of," said Ms. Hogan, who works at a small company and spoke in a follow-up interview. "Some women do still get really riled up by that, but I think it's just a scare tactic. Really, you think women are that dumb?"

The presidential race, which has largely played out in nine swing states, is suddenly showing signs of expansion. The Romney campaign and Republican groups announced new investments in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Minnesota, a reflection that the contest was tight across the country and their options in the existing battleground states may not be enough for Mr. Romney to reach the necessary 270 electoral votes.

A nationwide poll of likely voters from The New York Times and CBS News, which was released Tuesday evening, found that more voters now view Mr. Romney as a stronger leader on the economy and Mr. Obama as a better guardian of the middle class. The president was the choice of 48 percent, with 47 percent for Mr. Romney. The poll had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus four percentage points.

But the biggest focal point of the race remains in seven states, particularly Ohio, where Mr. Romney appeared for the last three days. Mr. Obama had been scheduled to make two stops in Ohio on Wednesday before the storm hit the East Coast. Both candidates are set to make multiple trips back to the state before Election Day, aides said.

The Times, in collaboration with Quinnipiac and CBS News, has tracked the presidential race with recurring polls in key battleground states. The three latest surveys, which were conducted Oct. 23 to 28 among likely voters on landlines and cellphones, are the final series in the project.

In Florida, the overall race has narrowed considerably from a month ago, with Mr. Obama now the choice of 48 percent to 47 percent for Mr. Romney. In Virginia, Mr. Obama has 49 percent, with 47 percent for Mr. Romney. The results in each state have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.

In each state, Mr. Obama holds a double-digit lead among female voters, while Mr. Romney does better among men, especially white men. Most voters age 65 and older in each state prefer Mr. Romney, while younger voters support Mr. Obama. Voters who call themselves independents are closely split in Florida and Ohio, the polls found, but support Mr. Romney by a wide margin in Virginia.

The polls offer a window into the intensity of the campaign in these states, with more than three in four likely voters in each state saying they are paying a lot of attention to the election and wide majorities saying they have been contacted by one or both campaigns.

Few voters in each state — just 3 percent in Florida and Virginia, and 4 percent in Ohio — remain undecided. And just 3 percent of voters who support a candidate in Florida, and 4 percent in Ohio and Virginia, say they might change their mind.

In Ohio and Florida, the voting is already well under way. The Ohio poll found an advantage for the Obama campaign in their efforts to get out early voters. Nearly one in four voters in Ohio said they had already cast their ballots, and 6 in 10 of them say it was for Mr. Obama, compared with 34 percent for Mr. Romney.

The poll found a closer race among the one in five voters in Florida who said they had already voted, with 50 percent of them saying they backed Mr. Obama and 44 percent saying they supported Mr. Romney.

Jeff Zeleny reported from Columbus, and Dalia Sussman from New York. Reporting was contributed by Allison Kopicki, Marjorie Connelly and Megan Thee-Brenan in New York, and Craig Duff in Cincinnati.

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East Coast looks to rebuild after Sandy leaves death, destruction in wake ... - Fox News

People in the coastal corridor battered by superstorm Sandy took the first cautious steps to reclaim routines upended by the disaster, even as rescuers combed neighborhoods strewn with debris and scarred by floods and fire.

But while New York City buses returned to darkened streets eerily free of traffic and the New York Stock Exchange prepared to reopen its storied trading floor Wednesday, it became clear that restoring the region to its ordinarily frenetic pace could take days -- and that rebuilding the hardest-hit communities and the transportation networks that link them together could take considerably longer.

"We will get through the days ahead by doing what we always do in tough times -- by standing together, shoulder to shoulder, ready to help a neighbor, comfort a stranger and get the city we love back on its feet," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

By late Tuesday, the winds and flooding inflicted by the fast-weakening Sandy had subsided, leaving at least 55 people dead along the Atlantic Coast and splintering beachfront homes and boardwalks from the mid-Atlantic states to southern New England.

The storm later moved across Pennsylvania on a predicted path toward New York State and Canada.

At the height of the disaster, more than 8.2 million lost electricity -- some as far away as Michigan. Nearly a quarter of those without power were in New York, where lower Manhattan's usually bright lights remained dark for a second night.

But, amid the despair, talk of recovery was already beginning.

"It's heartbreaking after being here 37 years," Barry Prezioso of Point Pleasant, N.J., said as he returned to his house in the beachfront community to survey the damage. "You see your home demolished like this, it's tough. But nobody got hurt and the upstairs is still livable, so we can still live upstairs and clean this out. I'm sure there's people that had worse. I feel kind of lucky."

Much of the initial recovery efforts focused on New York City, the region's economic heart. Bloomberg said it could take four or five days before the subway, which suffered the worst damage in its 108-year history, is running again. All 10 of the tunnels that carry commuters under the East River were flooded. But high water prevented inspectors from immediately assessing damage to key equipment, raising the possibility that the nation's largest city could endure an extended shutdown of the system that 5 million people count on to get to work and school each day. The chairman of the state agency that runs the subway, Joseph Lhota, said service might have to resume piecemeal, and experts said the cost of the repairs could be staggering.

Power company Consolidated Edison said it would be four days before the last of the 337,000 customers in Manhattan and Brooklyn who lost power have electricity again and it could take a week to restore outages in the Bronx, Queens, Staten Island and Westchester County. Floodwater led to explosions that disabled a power substation Monday night, contributing to the outages.

Surveying the widespread damage, it was clear much of the recovery and rebuilding will take far longer.

When New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie stopped in Belmar, N.J., during a tour of the devastation, one woman wept openly and 42-year-old Walter Patrickis told him, "Governor, I lost everything."

Christie, who called the shore damage "unthinkable," said a full recovery would take months, at least, and it would likely be a week or more before power is restored to everyone who lost it.

"Now we've got a big task ahead of us that we have to do together. This is the kind of thing New Jerseyans are built for," he said. President Barack Obama is scheduled to visit the state Wednesday to inspect the storm damage.

By sundown Tuesday, however, announcements from officials and scenes on the streets signaled that New York and nearby towns were edging toward a semblance of routine.

First came the reopening of highways in Connecticut and bridges across the Hudson and East rivers, although the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, connecting Brooklyn to Manhattan, and the Holland Tunnel, between New York and New Jersey, remained closed.

A limited number of the white and blue buses that crisscross New York's grid returned Tuesday evening to Broadway and other thoroughfares on a reduced schedule -- but free of charge. Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he hoped there would be full service by Wednesday. Still, school was canceled for a third straight day Wednesday in the city, where many students rely on buses and subways to reach classrooms.

In one bit of good news, officials announced that John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and Newark International Airport in New Jersey would reopen at 7 a.m. Wednesday with limited service. New York's LaGuardia Airport remains closed.

The New York Stock Exchange was again silent Tuesday -- the first weather-related, two-day closure since the 19th century -- but trading was scheduled to resume Wednesday morning with Bloomberg ringing the opening bell.

Amtrak also laid out plans to resume some runs in the Northeast on Wednesday, with modified service between Newark, N.J., and points south. That includes restoring Virginia service to Lynchburg, Richmond and Newport News, Keystone trains in Pennsylvania, and Downeaster service between Boston and Portland, Maine.

But flooding continues to prevent service to and from New York's Penn Station. Amtrak said the amount of water in train tunnels under the Hudson and East rivers is unprecedented. There will be no Northeast Regional service between New York and Boston and no Acela Express service for the entire length of the Northeast Corridor. No date has been set for when it might resume.

But even with the return of some transportation and plans to reopen schools and businesses, the damage and pain inflicted by Sandy continued to unfold, confirming the challenge posed by rebuilding.

In New Jersey, amusement rides that once crowned a pier in Seaside Heights were dumped into the ocean, some homes were smashed, and others were partially buried in sand.

Farther north in Hoboken, across the Hudson from Manhattan, New Jersey National Guard troops arrived Tuesday night with high-wheeled vehicles to reach thousands of flood victims stuck in their homes. They arrived to find a town with live wires dangling in the floodwaters that Mayor Dawn Zimmer said were rapidly mixing with sewage. At nightfall, the city turned almost completely dark.

About 2.1 million homes and businesses remained without power across the state late Tuesday. When Tropical Storm Irene struck last year, it took more than a week to restore power everywhere. The state's largest utility, PSE&G, said it was trying to dry out substations it had to shut down.

Outages in the state's two largest cities, Newark and Jersey City, left traffic signals dark, resulting in numerous fender-benders at intersections where police were not directing traffic. And in one Jersey City supermarket, there were long lines to get bread and a spot at an outlet to charge cellphones.

Trees and power lines were down in every corner of the state. Schools and state government offices were closed for a second day, and many called off classes for Wednesday, too. The governor said the PATH trains connecting northern New Jersey with Manhattan would be out of service for at least seven to 10 days because of flooding. All the New Jersey Transit rail lines were damaged, he said, and it was not clear when the rail lines would be able to open.

In Connecticut, some residents of Fairfield returned home in kayaks and canoes to inspect widespread damage left by retreating floodwaters that kept other homeowners at bay.

"The uncertainty is the worst," said Jessica Levitt, who was told it could be a week before she can enter her house. "Even if we had damage, you just want to be able to do something. We can't even get started."

The storm caused irreparable damage to homes in East Haven, Milford and other shore towns. Still, many were grateful the storm did not deliver a bigger blow, considering the havoc wrought in New York City and New Jersey.

"I feel like we are blessed," said Bertha Weismann, whose garage was flooded in Bridgeport. "It could have been worse."

And in New York, residents of the flooded beachfront neighborhood of Breezy Point in returned home to find fire had taken everything the water had not. A huge blaze destroyed perhaps 100 homes in the close-knit community where many had stayed behind despite being told to evacuate.

John Frawley, 57, acknowledged the mistake. Frawley, who lived about five houses from the fire's edge, said he spent the night terrified "not knowing if the fire was going to jump the boulevard and come up to my house."

"I stayed up all night," he said. "The screams. The fire. It was horrifying."

There were still only hints of the economic impact of the storm.

Forecasting firm IHS Global Insight predicted it will end up causing about $20 billion in damage and $10 billion to $30 billion in lost business. Another firm, AIR Worldwide, estimated losses up to $15 billion -- big numbers probably offset by reconstruction and repairs that will contribute to longer-term growth.

"The biggest problem is not the first few days but the coming months," said Alan Rubin, an expert in natural disaster recovery.

Some of those who lost homes and businesses to Sandy were promising to return and rebuild, but many sounded chastened by their encounter with nature's fury. They included Tom Shalvey of Warwick, R.I., whose 500-square-foot cottage on the beach in South Kingstown was washed away by raging surf, leaving a utility pipe as the only marker of where it once sat.

"We love the beach. We had many great times here," Shalvey said. "We will be back. But it will not be on the front row."

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Reuters Sports News Summary - Chicago Tribune

Reuters

3:00 a.m. CDT, October 31, 2012

Following is a summary of current sports news briefs.

Weakened Mavericks stun new-look Lakers

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The heavily anticipated new era of
Los Angeles Lakers basketball began with a whimper as their
much vaunted team bristling with All-Stars were beaten 99-91 by
an under-strength Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday. Five-time NBA
champion Kobe Bryant had given the Lakers a late boost when he
pronounced himself fit enough to play in the regular season
opener shortly before the game, having struggled with a foot
injury for more than a week.

Rose hoping China success will add up for European race

SHENZHEN, China (Reuters) - After climbing to a career high
fifth in the world rankings and featuring in Europe's Ryder Cup
victory, Justin Rose could be forgiven for resting on his
laurels as the 2012 season draws to a close. Since he has been
mining a rich vein of form in recent months, however, the
Briton has his eye on yet more glory before putting away his
clubs for the year.

Heat ring in new season with win over Celtics

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Cyclone Nilam moves towards landfall, 'heavy damage' likely - Hindustan Times

A water-logged Dr Besant road following heavy rains due to Cyclonic Storm Nilam in Chennai. UNI Photo

Cyclone Nilam over Bay of Bengal is expected to cross between Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh coasts on Wednesday evening, said a weather department official. The cyclone is now around 320 km south-southeast of Chennai and is moving, an official said. "Nilam is expected to cross the coast between Cuddalore (Tamil Nadu) and Nellore (Andhra Pradesh) today (Wednesday) evening," the weather official said.

According to the weatherman, rainfall is expected at most places over coastal Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

Deputy director general, Indian Meteorological Department, YEA Raj on Wednesday told Hindustan Times that the cyclone may not have as severe an intensity as was being anticipated earlier, but this in no way meant that it was not dangerous. It would still have its impact, with wind speed of upto 85 km expected to sweep the north Tamil Nadu.

Areas surrounding the landfall area may witnesses heavy damage, he said, advocating caution and preparedness to meet the situation.

"It is slower than expected," Raj said of the velocity with which the Cyclone Nilam was seen moving on Wednesday morning. But even then, by the time it makes landfall, between Cuddalore and Chennai, wind speeds upto 80 kmph to 85 kmph can be expected, the DDG said and added that periodic updates would be issued by the met department.

Rain has been forecast in the coastal districts of north Tamil Nadu and South Andhra Pradesh, and fishermen in these areas have been advised to stay off sea. Sea condition would be rough along and off North Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, and South Andhra Prasdesh coasts during the next 36 hours. Low lying areas of Chennai, Kanchipuram, Tiruvallur districts would be inundated as also in Nellore in Andhra Pradesh as storm surge is likely to see waves of 1 meter to 1.5 meter high.

But, Raj said, "we are not expecting it to be a severe storm," Raj said adding the movement of the Cyclone was slow and it had become stationary too for some time.

A more definitive prediction of the site of landfall could be expected by late afternoon or evening, he said.

The sea condition will be rough along and off north Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and south Andhra Pradesh coasts during the next 36 hour.

Storm surge of about 1 to 1.5 metre over the astronomical tide is likely to inundate the low lying areas of Chennai, Kanchipuram and Tiruvallur districts in Tamil Nadu and Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh.

Standing crops - paddy, groundnut and maize - in coastal districts of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh are likely to be damaged, said a weather bulletin.

The Tamil Nadu government has announced holiday for schools and colleges in the coastal districts.

Fishing boats are anchored at the Bay of Bengal coast in Chennai. AP Photo

Authorities were put on high alert after a deep depression lying 500km south east of Chennai intensified into a cyclonic storm and is expected to cross the coast between Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu and Nellore in Andhra Pradesh on Wednesday, bringing in torrential rains in the region.

Districts along the Bay of Bengal coast in Andhra Pradesh have been put on high alert as the deep depression that lay centred between Chennai and Nagapattinam is expected to turn into a cyclone on Wednesday evening.

Heavy winds with a speed ranging from 45-55 kmph are expected under the impact.

Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, who was on a tour of Medak district in Telangana, directed revenue minister N
Raghuveera Reddy and chief secretary Minnie Mathew over phone to closely monitor the situation and take all precautionary measures.

He asked them to take up rescue and relief operations wherever necessary, a release from CMO said.

A third warning signal has been issued in Krishnapatnam, Vadarevu, Machilipatnam and Nizampatnam ports while fishermen have been warned not to venture into sea.

Control rooms have been opened in the coastal districts, particularly SPS Nellore and Prakasam that are expected to have major impact of the cyclone.

Nellore district Collector B Sridhar said revenue staff in 23 tehsils in the coastal region have been put on alert to handle any eventuality.

In Krishna, which is a high cyclone-prone district, Collector Buddha Prakash Jyothi opened control rooms in coastal areas and got a campaign conducted asking fishermen to stay away from the sea.

"We are ready to meet any eventuality," Buddha said.

In Singarayakonda area in Prakasam district, high tides were witnessed this morning causing alarm among people.

However, no damage has been reported so far.

The disaster management commissioner has asked the district collectors to keep a close watch on the situation and take appropriate precautionary and preventive measures.

Meanwhile, rainfall has been reported from Nellore, neighbouring Chennai and other districts. An official of Nellore district said revenue officials have been told to set up cyclone shelters.

According to official sources, the cyclonic storm 'Nilam' lay centred over south west Bay of Bengal south east of Chennai. It would move north westward and cross north Tamil Nadu – south coastal Andhra Pradesh between Nagapattinam and Nellore on Wednesday afternoon.

Isolated heavy rain would occur in the districts of Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam and Nellore and Rayalaseema in the next 48 hours, the sources added.

The storm, named Nilam, as suggested by Pakistan under the cyclone naming procedure, would move northwestwards and cross the coast between Nagapattinam and Nellore by tomorrow afternoon/evening.

Under the influence of the storm, rainfall at most places, with isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall, would occur over coastal Tamil Nadu and Puducherry during next 12 hours, a bulletin issued by Area Cyclone Warning Centre at 1pm said.

A water-logged road following heavy rains due to Cyclonic Storm Nilam in Chennai. Agency Photo

It forecast heavy to very heavy rainfall and isolated extremely heavy rainfall (25 cm or more) in the region during the subsequent 36 hours.

Control rooms have been opened in the coastal districts, particularly SPS Nellore and Prakasam that are expected to face a major impact of the cyclone.

Windspeeds can reach upto 90 km in Chennai and there could be some disruption in communication lines, the bulletin said.

Danger signals ranging from five to seven have been hoisted at Chennai, Ennore, Cuddalore, Nagapattinam and Puducherry ports.

The port handles about 10% of traffic passing through the country's major ports, covering a variety of cargoes including crude oil, petroleum products and agricultural commodities.

The Meteorological Department said cyclonic storm Nilam was about 450 kilometres south-southeast of Chennai at 2:30pm local time.

The IMD said the system was expected to move north-northwest and cross the coast near Chennai by the evening of October 31.

The port official said so far two of the 10 vessels waiting for loading or discharge of cargoes have been moved outside to ensure the port's safety and the others would be moved gradually.

Cargo operations were suspended from about 1330 local time and the suspension could continue to Wednesday afternoon or evening, he added.

Krishnapatnam port, which handles around 15 million tonnes of cargo a year including coal, fertilisers and agricultural products, also halted cargo operations, a port official said.

"Just doing this for safety reasons," the official said, adding there were 9 vessels at berth in the port, which is also on the east coast.

The north Indian Ocean usually sees about five cyclones a year, about 5-6% of all cyclones, with October-November and May-June seeing the most severe ones.

Chennai handled just over 27 million tonnes of traffic in April-September, according to the shipping ministry.

The weather office will issue its next bulletin on the storm at 1500 GMT.

Control rooms have been opened in the coastal districts, particularly SPS Nellore and Prakasam that are expected to face a major impact of the cyclone.

(With HT inputs)

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Disney Buys 'Star Wars' Producer Lucasfilm for $4.05 Billion - San Francisco Chronicle

(Updates with Disney CEO's comment in fourth paragraph.)

Oct. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Walt Disney Co. agreed to buy George Lucas's Lucasfilm Ltd. for $4.05 billion in cash and stock, adding "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" to a roster of film hits including "The Avengers" and "Finding Nemo."

Lucas, 68, the sole owner, will receive half in cash and the balance in stock, becoming a major investor in the film, theme-park and TV company, according to a statement today from Burbank, California-based Disney. The first of a new trilogy of "Star Wars" films will be released in 2015, Disney said.

The deal brings Disney, which paid a combined $11 billion for Pixar and Marvel in the past decade, two of Hollywood's most lucrative franchises. The "Star Wars" films have generated $4.54 billion in worldwide ticket sales, second to Warner Bros.' "Harry Potter," according to Box Office Mojo. "Indiana Jones" pictures have collected $1.95 billion.

"Dating all the way back to Walt Disney's day, we learned the value of great content, characters, storytelling and great imaginary worlds," Chief Executive Officer Robert Iger said in an interview.

The acquisition complements Iger's focus on sequels and film franchises, fitting the same profile as the Marvel purchase three years ago.

"If Disney is really trying to focus on the tent-pole, event pictures, and given that this is something that has huge carryover value in the parks and merchandise business, it certainly makes sense," said Matthew Harrigan, an analyst at Wunderlich Securities in Denver. "This is just the paradigm of the sustainable Hollywood franchise."

Creative Consultant

Disney fell 0.4 percent to $50.05 on Oct. 26, the last trading day before Hurricane Sandy forced markets to shut down. The stock has gained 34 percent this year.

Lucas, who will be a creative consultant on "Star Wars" films, will receive about 40 million Disney shares, becoming the second-largest non-institutional shareholder with about 2.2 percent of the company, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The largest is the trust of late Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs, who sold Pixar to Disney in 2006.

Talks between Disney and Lucas began a year and a half ago, Iger said today on a conference call.

"It's his intent to retire," Iger said.

Kathleen Kennedy, co-chairman of Lucasfilm with its founder, will become president of Lucasfilm, reporting to Walt Disney Studios Chairman Alan Horn, according to the statement. Disney has no plans to develop Lucas films other than "Star Wars," executives said on a conference call.

Living On

"It's now time for me to pass 'Star Wars' on to a new generation of filmmakers," Lucas said in the statement. "I've always believed that 'Star Wars' could live beyond me, and I thought it was important to set up the transition during my lifetime." Lucasfilm was advised by the law firm Latham & Watkins.

With the acquisition, Disney also obtains Lucas's Industrial Light & Magic, the pioneering shop that gave "Star Wars" its dramatic visual appeal and made advanced special effects a must-have feature in adventure films. On the call, Iger said he intends to keep the business.

The purchase may boost Disney's money-losing interactive unit by adding LucasArts, home to video-game titles including "Lego Star Wars," "Star Wars: The Force Unleashed" and "Star Wars: Battlefront." The company recently announced a collaboration on an "Angry Birds: Star Wars" game with Rovio Entertainment Oy.

Characters, Stories

Iger, 61, is reinventing Disney's film business through acquisitions of popular animated and live-action characters, starting with the May 2006 purchase of Jobs's Pixar for $7 billion and Marvel Entertainment in 2009 for $4.2 billion.

"Marvel's The Avengers," the first film from that acquisition to be marketed by Disney, is the top movie of the year worldwide, with $1.51 billion in ticket sales, according to Box Office Mojo. The picture, Disney's biggest ever, led to a 24 percent jump in profit in the quarter ended June 30.

Iger is also using Pixar and Marvel characters as fodder for theme-park improvements, such as the Cars Land attraction that opened this year at the company's California Adventure park in Anaheim, California. Disney parks also feature "Star Tours" and "Indiana Jones" rides.

"The question is, could Lucafilm have the same earnings power as Marvel," said Brett Harriss, an analyst with Gabelli & Co., in Rye, New York, who has a hold rating on the stock. "It's not a stretch to think that Lucasfilm could be as productive as Marvel."

Toys, Games

Lucasfilm will generate 25 percent of its revenue this year from its film library and a slightly higher percentage from consumer-products licensing, Jay Rasulo, Disney's chief financial officer, said on the conference call. The balance comes from the company's games and technology businesses.

In 2005, when Lucasfilm released the last "Star Wars" picture, the company generated $550 million in operating income, Rasulo said. The acquisition will dilute Disney's earnings per share by "low-single digit percentage points" in the current fiscal 2013 and 2014 and add to profit the following year when the new picture is released, he said.

Lucasfilm's consumer-products revenue this year will be comparable to the $215 million Marvel generated in 2009, when Disney acquired it, Rasulo said, suggesting 2012 sales of about $860 million for all of Lucasfilm. Disney seeks to expand "Star Wars" merchandise beyond toys and sees international markets, now 40 percent of consumer-product revenue, as a growth opportunity, he said.

Hasbro Inc. which holds the main license for "Star Wars" toys, sells about $140 million a year in related products, according to Sean McGowan, an analyst at Needham & Co. in New York. A hit film in 2015 could triple that, he said.

"The 'Star Wars' universe is immense," McGowan said in an e-mail. "And the franchise has the potential be the biggest ever."

--With assistance from Cliff Edwards in San Francisco. Editors: Anthony Palazzo, Rob Golum

To contact the reporters on this story: Christopher Palmeri in Los Angeles at cpalmeri1@bloomberg.net; Michael White in Los Angeles at mwhite8@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Rob Golum at rgolum@bloomberg.net

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Divers Carve Obama, Romney Pumpkins Under the Sea - ABC News

Written By Unknown on Selasa, 30 Oktober 2012 | 16.14

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Hurricane Sandy: Super Storm Slams East Coast States

The Extreme Weather Team with the latest on the storm's impact.

Hurricane Sandy: A Once-in-a-Generation Storm

Sam Champion explains what makes this hurricane so unique.

Hurricane Sandy: Video of Explosion at NYC Con Edison Plant

Parts of lower Manhattan lose power after explosion at power station.

Hurricane Sandy: Cruise Ships in the Storm

How cruise ships are weathering out the storm that is pounding the Atlantic Coast.

Hurricane Sandy Storm Surge to Cause Flooding

Many cities on the Eastern Seaboard might become basins with a significant surge of sea water.

Hurricane Sandy Rescue Efforts: New York Scuba Crew on Standby

Diane Sawyer talks to Terrance Sullivan about scuba response team.

Hurricane Sandy: New York City Endures Storm's Wrath

Chris Cuomo reports the impact of the storm's high winds.

Hurricane Sandy Sinks Replica Three-mast Ship

Matt Gutman follows amazing rescue of passengers stranded at sea.

Hurricane Sandy Update: Superstorm

Watch live coverage from ABC News for updates on Hurricane Sandy.

Hurricane Sandy: Reporter, Producer Hit by Storm Wave

Matt Gutman reports from Nags Head, N.C., where he and a producer experience the effects of Sandy.

Hurricane Sandy Tears Apart Beachside Home

A home in Rodanthe, N.C., is overtaken by the storm surge.

NYU Medical Center Evacuated After Power Generator Fails

Patients were evacuated by medical workers due to outage caused by Tropical Storm Sandy.

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Sandy continues to strengthen; Winds now at 90 mph - KPHO Phoenix

ROCKY HILL, CT (WFSB) -

Latest Storm Information: Location: 37.5 N 71.5 WWinds: 90 mph Direction: NNW 18 mph

Hurricane Sandy gained strength Monday and winds are now measured at 90 mph.

A life-threatening storm surge is still predicted for Long Island Sound as Sandy continues her trek north, closer to New England.

Hurricane Sandy is expected to continue her northward movement before being expected to make an abrupt turn to the northwest, bringing the massive storm back to the United States and impacting millions of people.

SPECIAL SECTION: Hurricane Sandy

Officials from the National Hurricane Center in Miami said Sandy is located about 265 miles from Cape Hatteras, NC, and about 310 miles from New York City.

The massive storm has hurricane force winds (74 mph or greater) that extend up to 175 miles from the storm's center, and tropical storm force winds (39 mph or greater) extend a whopping 485 miles from the storm's center.

MORE INFORMATION: Weather Technical Discussion

NHC officials said gale force winds are expected to begin along the mid-Atlantic, Long Island and southern New England, including Connecticut, by Monday afternoon.

In addition, NHC officials said, hurricane force winds could be felt along the coast later in the day.

Officials from the NHC said a life-threatening storm surge is predicted for Long Island Sound.

A storm surge in Long Island Sound, Raritan Bay and New York Harbor of 6 to 11 feet can be expected. In addition, a storm surge from Ocean City, MD, to the Connecticut/Rhode Island border is expected to be 4 to 8 feet.

From the Connecticut/Rhode Island border north to the South Shore of Cape Cod, including Buzzards Bay and Narragansett Bay can be anywhere from 3 to 6 feet, and from Cap Cod north of the Massachusetts/New Hampshire border, including Cape Cod Bay can be anywhere from 2 to 4 feet.

Gov. Dannel Malloy declared a state of emergency Saturday ahead of Hurricane Sandy, and warned residents to brace for the possibility that power will be out for an extended period of time when the storm blasts the state for anywhere from 36 to 40 hours.

Keep with WFSB and WFSB.com for the latest information on Hurricane Sandy.

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Air raids, bombs rock Damascus after truce failure - Ahram Online

Air raids, bombs rock Damascus after truce failure

Explosions shake Syria's capital as warplanes launch their heaviest air raids yet, with UN-Arab League peace envoy saying conflict is going from bad to worse

AFP , Tuesday 30 Oct 2012

Smoke rises from what activists say was missile fired by Syrian Air Force fighter jet loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-Assad at Erbeen, near Damascus, Monday (Photo: Reuters)

Air raid blasts which hit Damascus Monday, heard coming from several outlying districts, rattled windows in the city centre and were among the most intense in Damascus since the beginning of Syria's 19-month conflict, an AFP correspondent said.

They were followed by two car bombings in and around the capital.

The first struck the predominantly Christian and Druze area of Jaramana, just outside Damascus, killing 11 people, according to state news agency SANA.

The second hit several hours later in the southern Al-Hajar Al-Aswad district, which has seen heavy fighting, causing an unknown number of casualties, state television reported.

The violence came as world powers looked to pick up the pieces of a failed effort for a Muslim holiday ceasefire, with envoy Lakhdar Brahimi in Moscow and due in China on Tuesday as he prepares to present new ideas to the UN Security Council.

"I have said and it bears repeating again and again that the Syrian crisis is very very dangerous, the situation is bad and getting worse," Brahimi said after talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

On Monday, the final day of the four-day Eid al-Adha holiday, the Syrian military launched more than 60 air strikes around the country, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

"These are the heaviest air strikes since warplanes were first deployed over the summer," the watchdog's director, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP.

"The regime is looking to make real gains. There are battles in all of these areas being hit," he said.

Warplanes struck targets around Damascus, the Observatory said, with attacks focused on rebel positions in a northeastern belt where President Bashar al-Assad's regime has been battling to take opposition strongholds.

Dozens of soldiers were wounded and 11 killed in fighting in the area, it said.

The Observatory reported other air raids on villages and towns across the northwestern province of Idlib, where regime forces and rebels have been locked in fierce fighting over the Wadi Deif military base.

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50 homes destroyed as six-alarm blaze rips through Queens - NBCNews.com

About 170 firefighters were called to the scene in Breezy Point, Queens, where at least 50 homes have caught fire. MSNBC's Chris Jansing reports.

By NBCNewYork.com

Updated at 4:33 a.m. ET: NEW YORK -- At least 50 homes were destroyed in the New York City borough of Queens early Tuesday as crews battled a six-alarm fire.

Officials said the fire was reported at about 11 p.m. ET on Monday in a flooded Zone A area.

In a tweet, the FDNY said:

More stories from NBCNewYork.com

A fire department spokesman said that almost 200 firefighters were at the scene in the Breezy Point section of the Rockaway peninsula in Queens. Fire officials would not confirm any injuries.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known.

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HMS Bounty crew member dies and captain missing in stormy seas - The Guardian

When the Bounty set sail last week, the captain running the ship made famous in Hollywood adventure films believed he could navigate around hurricane Sandy and weather the storm. After two days in rough seas, he realised his journey would be far more difficult.

"I think we are going to be into this for several days," Robin Walbridge said in a message posted on Sunday on the vessel's Facebook site, which reads like a ship's log of its activities. "We are just going to keep trying to go fast."

By Monday morning, the vessel had started taking on water, its engines failed and the crew of the stately craft had to abandon ship as it went down in the immense waves. One crew member died and Walbridge was still missing.

Most of the sailors were plucked from life rafts shortly after the ship went down, but Claudene Christian was found hours later, unresponsive and floating in the water. She was pronounced dead after being taken to a hospital, coastguard David Weydert said.

The rest of the crew was in good condition.

By the time the first rescue helicopter arrived, all that was visible of the replica 18th century sailing vessel was a strobe light atop the ship's submerged masts. The roiling Atlantic Ocean had claimed the rest.

The final hours of the HMS Bounty, as it was officially named, were as dramatic as the movies it starred in.

"When a crew decides it's safer in an inflatable than it is on deck, then you know she's [the ship's] in peril," said Bill Foster, mayor of St Petersburg, Florida, a frequent winter port for the ship and where it had been expected to arrive in November.

The ship was originally built for the 1962 film Mutiny on the Bounty starring Marlon Brando, and it was featured in several other films over the years, including one of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

Rochelle Smith, 44, met Christian this summer when they sailed the HMS Bounty in Nova Scotia.

"She loved the Bounty. She absolutely loved it. She was so happy to be on it and doing something that she found that she loved to do," said Smith, a medical transcriptionist who lives in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada.

The vessel left Connecticut on Thursday with a crew of 11 men and five women, ranging in age from 20 to 66. Everyone aboard knew the journey could be treacherous.

"This will be a tough voyage for Bounty," read a posting on the ship's Facebook page that showed a map of its coordinates and satellite images of the storm. Photos showed the vessel plying deep blue waters and the crew working in the rigging or keeping watch on the wood-planked deck.

As Sandy's massive size became more apparent, a post on Saturday tried to soothe any worried supporters: "Rest assured that the Bounty is safe and in very capable hands. Bounty's current voyage is a calculated decision ... NOT AT ALL ... irresponsible or with a lack of foresight as some have suggested. The fact of the matter is ... A SHIP IS SAFER AT SEA THAN IN PORT!"

But as the storm gathered strength, the Facebook posts grew grimmer. By mid-morning Monday, the last update was short and ominous: "Please bear with us ... There are so many conflicting stories going on now. We are waiting for some confirmation."

Tracie Simonin, director of the HMS Bounty organisation, said the ship tried to stay clear of Sandy's power.

"It was something that we and the captain of the ship were aware of," Simonin said.

Coastguard video of the rescue showed crew members being loaded one by one into a basket before the basket was hoisted into the helicopter.

When they returned to the mainland, some were wrapped in blankets, still wearing the red survival suits they put on to stay warm in the chilly waters.

"It's one of the biggest seas I've ever been in. It was huge out there," said coastguard rescue swimmer Randy Haba, who helped pluck four crew members off one of the canopied life rafts and a fifth who was bobbing alone in the waves.

A helicopter pilot said the waves appeared to be 30ft (9m) high during the rescue. The US Coast Guard said in a news release that waves in many places topped out around 18 feet (5.4m).

The survivors received medical attention and were to be interviewed for a coastguard investigation Gary Farber was watching crewman Doug Faunt's house while his friend sailed. He hasn't heard from Faunt directly, but made sure he relayed Faunt's Facebook postings he made as the ship went down, including: "The ship sank beneath us, but we swam free and mostly got into two rafts."

"Doug is a jack-of-all-trades, but I am surprised he was able to get his cellphone and send messages as the ship went down," Farber said by telephone of his friend.

The mother of another crew member, 20-year-old Anna Sprague, said her daughter had been aboard the Bounty since May.

Mary Ellen Sprague, of Savannah, Georgia, said she had spoken with her daughter twice but didn't know many details because her daughter, normally talkative and outgoing, was being uncharacteristically quiet.

"She's very upset," Sprague said by telephone.

The crew was eager to return to St Petersburg – and to calmer waters.

"I know they were very much looking forward to being here," said Carol Everson, general manager of the pier where the vessel docks. "They were very excited about coming down."

The Bounty's captain was from St Petersburg, she said.

Wallbridge learned to sail at age 10, according to his biography on the Bounty's website. Prior to the Bounty, he served as first mate on the HMS Rose – the Bounty's sister ship.

"The ship was almost like his home," said Smith, who met Walbridge in 2010 when she sailed the Bounty. "That's where he spent most of his time was aboard the ship. He was so full of history and so interesting to talk to. And he knew his sailing stuff."

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Superstorm Sandy slams Northeast - CBS News

Updated at 3:48 a.m. ET

NEW YORK Superstorm Sandy slammed into the New Jersey coastline with 80 mph winds Monday night and hurled an unprecedented 13-foot surge of seawater at New York City, flooding its tunnels, subway stations and the electrical system that powers Wall Street. At least 16 U.S. deaths were blamed on the storm, which brought the presidential campaign to a halt a week before Election Day.

For New York City at least, Sandy was not the dayslong onslaught many had feared, and the wind and rain that sent water sloshing into Manhattan from three sides began dying down within hours.

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Two large explosions heard from NYC power sub station

Still, the power was out for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers and an estimated 6.2 million people altogether across the East. The full extent of the storm's damage across the region was unclear, and unlikely to be known until daybreak.

Stock trading will be closed in the U.S. for a second day Tuesday — the first time the New York Stock Exchange will be closed for two consecutive days due to weather since 1888, when a blizzard struck the city.

75 Photos

Hurricane Sandy slams Northeast

Heavy rain and further flooding remain major threats for the next couple of days as the storm makes its way into Pennsylvania and up into New York State. The center of the storm was just outside Philadelphia near midnight, and its winds were down to 75 mph, just barely hurricane strength.

"It was nerve-racking for a while, before the storm hit. Everything was rattling," said Don Schweikert, who owns a bed-and-breakfast in Cape May, N.J., near where Sandy roared ashore. "I don't see anything wrong, but I won't see everything until morning."

As the storm closed in, it converged with a cold-weather system that turned it into a superstorm, a monstrous hybrid consisting not only of rain and high wind but snow in West Virginia and other mountainous areas inland.

It smacked the boarded-up big cities of the Northeast corridor — Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and Boston — with stinging rain and gusts of more than 85 mph.

Just before Sandy reached land, forecasters stripped it of hurricane status, but the distinction was purely technical, based on its shape and internal temperature. It still packed hurricane-force wind, and forecasters were careful to say it was still dangerous to the tens of millions in its path.

Sandy made landfall at 8 p.m. near Atlantic City, which was already mostly under water and saw an old, 50-foot piece of its world-famous Boardwalk washed away earlier in the day.

Play Video

Watch: Brooklyn Battery Tunnel flooded

Authorities reported a record surge 13 feet high at the Battery at the southern tip of Manhattan, from the storm and high tide combined.

In an attempt to lessen damage from saltwater to the subway system and the electrical network beneath the city's financial district, New York City's main utility cut power to about 6,500 customers in lower Manhattan. But a far wider swath of the city was hit with blackouts caused by flooding and transformer explosions.

More than 612,000 customers were without power early Tuesday in the city and suburban Westchester County.

"This will be one for the record books," said John Miksad, senior vice president for electric operations at ConEdison. "This will be the largest storm-related outage in our history."

Play Video

Hurricane Sandy: NYC fearing corrosive salt water storm surge

New York's transit agency said water surged into two major commuter tunnels, the Queens Midtown and the Brooklyn-Battery, and it cut power to some subway tunnels in lower Manhattan after water flowed into the stations and onto the tracks.

The subway system was shut down Sunday night, and the stock markets never opened Monday and are likely to be closed Tuesday as well. Schools were closed and Broadway theaters were dark.

"We knew that this was going to be a very dangerous storm, and the storm has met our expectations," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. "This is a once-in-a-long-time storm."

More than 200 patients — including 20 infants from neonatal intensive care — were moved from New York University's Tisch Hospital after its power went out and a backup generator failed. The patients, some on respirators operating on battery power, were taken to other hospitals.

Play Video

Crane dangles 75 stories over Manhattan

Play Video

Sandy forces NYC building facade to collapse

A construction crane atop a luxury high-rise collapsed in the high winds and dangled precariously 74 floors above the street. Forecasters said the wind at the top the building may have been close to 95 mph.

The facade of a four-story building in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood crumbled and collapsed, leaving the lights, couches, cabinets and desks inside visible from the street. No one was hurt.

As the storm approached the Northeast over the weekend, airlines canceled more than 12,000 flights in the region.

Storm damage was projected at $10 billion to $20 billion, meaning it could prove to be one of the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history.

Sixteen deaths were reported in New Jersey, New York, Maryland, North Carolina, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. Some of the victims were killed by falling trees. At least one death was blamed on the storm in Canada.

Play Video

Sandy to complicate presidential campaigns

President Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney canceled their campaign appearances at the very height of the race, with just over a week to go before Election Day. The president pledged the government's help and made a direct plea from the White House to those in the storm's path.

"When they tell you to evacuate, you need to evacuate," he said. "Don't delay, don't pause, don't question the instructions that are being given, because this is a powerful storm."

Sandy, which killed 69 people in the Caribbean before making its way up the Atlantic, began to hook left at midday toward the New Jersey coast.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said people were stranded in Atlantic City, which sits on a barrier island. He accused the mayor of allowing them to stay there. With the hurricane roaring through, Christie warned it was no longer safe for rescuers, and advised people who didn't evacuate the coast to "hunker down" until morning.

While the hurricane's 90 mph winds registered as only a Category 1 on a scale of five, it packed "astoundingly low" barometric pressure, giving it terrific energy to push water inland, said Kerry Emanuel, a professor of meteorology at MIT.

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Divers Carve Obama, Romney Pumpkins Under the Sea - ABC News

Written By Unknown on Senin, 29 Oktober 2012 | 16.14

Home > Video > Most Popular

Divers Carve Obama, Romney Pumpkins Under the Sea

Florida Keys Divers carve presidential pumpkins ahead of the debate.

Global Warming Like Putting 'Weather on Steroids'

Climate scientists say small rise in greenhouse gases matters.

Hurricane Sandy: When Storms Collide

Ginger Zee, Sam Champion on what happens when storms become what's been called a "frankenstorm."

Hurricane Sandy: New York Issues State of Emergency

Dan Harris reviews the state-issued warning, New York City's preparations.

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Economic hardship argument is tough sell for Ryan in Ohio - Reuters

Sat Oct 27, 2012 7:15pm EDT

* Presidential race could hinge on Ohio

* Republican governor touts economic gains

By Samuel P. Jacobs

NEW PHILADELPHIA, Ohio, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan told an Ohio rally on Saturday about a friend's financial hardship, but his party's narrative that President Barack Obama has failed on the U.S. economy may be a difficult sell in the crucial battleground state.

"I've got a buddy who was making 25 (dollars) an hour who went to make 9 dollars an hour as a cashier at a gas station temporarily with no benefits. That's the story of the American economy right now," Ryan told a crowd of 1,000 people at an excavator factory.

With the tight presidential race potentially coming down to a contest over Ohio and its prize of 18 electoral votes, the question of whether the state is in good shape economically is vital.

The Midwestern manufacturing state, where latest polls show Obama holding a slim lead over Republican challenger Mitt Romney before the Nov. 6 election, has an unemployment rate of 7 percent, below the national average of 7.8 percent.

In Tuscarawas County, where New Philadelphia is located, the jobless rate in September was 5.9 percent, down two 2 points from September 2011. Obama beat Republican presidential candidate John McCain in the county four years ago.

Appearing in Zanesville on Saturday afternoon, Ryan's argument about the sputtering economy was given a partial rebuke from a surprising source: Ohio's Republican governor, John Kasich.

"You know the situation here in our state, as you know, we're doing better," Kasich said in his introduction to Ryan, at the start of a two-day, eight-stop bus tour of Ohio.

Like Florida and Virginia, Ohio is a battleground state home to a Republican governor eager to offer sunny economic news that occasionally sounds different from the picture painted by the Romney campaign.

Kasich outlined the economic success in Ohio since he took office in early 2011. Hundreds of thousands of job losses, he said, had turned into job gains, balanced budgets and a growing government surplus. Kasich said Ohio had become the No. 4 job creator in the country and led all other states in the Midwest.

"Not bad, huh?" he asked.

Kasich did join Ryan in saying the federal government under Obama had hindered, rather than helped that success. Throughout the campaign, Obama has insisted that the decision to inject taxpayer dollars to bail out General Motors and Chrysler saved jobs in Ohio where 850,000 people work in the automobile industry.

Listening to Ryan, who held a rally for 500 people at the Zanesville High School on Saturday afternoon, was Bob Kessler, 61, a small-business owner, who said he had seen those economic gains first-hand.

Kessler, who employs 60 people through his electric sign and outdoor advertising company, said business "is good because we made it good."

"It's better this year, a lot better. We've hired people," Kessler said.

While Kessler said he had not voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since he cast a ballot in 1976 for Jimmy Carter ("the last mistake I made in politics"), the challenge for the Romney campaign as it scrambles to win Ohio is whether economic recovery in the state will work against Republicans.

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Sandy menaces US coast, closing schools, markets, businesses - Reuters

1 of 16. People pull their luggage at Times Square as Hurricane Sandy approaches New York October 28, 2012.

Credit: Reuters/Eduardo Munoz

By Michael Erman and John McCrank

Mon Oct 29, 2012 2:56am EDT

(Reuters) - Hurricane Sandy, a mammoth storm menacing the East Coast, took aim at the most densely populated U.S. region on Monday, forcing hundreds of thousands to seek higher ground, halting public transport and closing schools, businesses and government departments.

About 50 million people from the Mid-Atlantic to Canada were in the path of the storm, which forecasters say could be the largest ever to hit the U.S. mainland. It is expected to topple trees, damage buildings and cause widespread power outages over the next few days.

Sandy, which killed 66 people in the Caribbean and has brought lashing rains to coastal areas and snow at higher elevations, will cause extensive flooding when it moves inland, forecasters said.

The websites of forecasting services indicated early Monday the storm will strike the New Jersey shore near Atlantic City Monday night.

While Sandy does not pack the punch of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans in 2005, its winds stretch some 520 miles from its eye, meteorologists said.

New York and other cities and towns closed their transit systems and schools and ordered mass evacuations from low-lying areas ahead of a storm surge that could reach as high as 11 feet.

All U.S. stock markets will be closed on Monday and possibly Tuesday, the operator of the New York Stock Exchange said late on Sunday, reversing an earlier plan that would have kept electronic trading going on Monday.

Sandy forced President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney to cancel some campaign stops and fueled fears that it could disrupt early voting - encouraged by the candidates this year more than ever - before the November 6 election.

The United Nations, Broadway theaters, New Jersey casinos, schools up and down the Eastern Seaboard, and myriad corporate events are also being shut down.

'DON'T BE STUPID'

Officials ordered people in coastal towns and low-lying areas to evacuate, often telling them they would put emergency workers' lives at risk if they stayed.

"Don't be stupid, get out, and go to higher, safer ground," New Jersey Governor Chris Christie told a news conference.

Forecasters said Sandy was a rare, hybrid "super storm" created by an Arctic jet stream wrapping itself around a tropical storm, possibly causing up to 12 inches of rain in some areas, as well as up to 3 feet of snowfall in the Appalachian Mountains from West Virginia to Kentucky.

At 2 a.m. (0600 GMT), the National Hurricane Center said Sandy was centered about 425 miles south southeast of New York City. The storm was turning toward the coast and moving at 14 mph and would bring a "life-threatening" surge, hurricane-force winds and heavy snows in the Appalachian mountains.

Worried residents in the hurricane's path packed stores, searching for generators, flashlights, batteries, food and other supplies in anticipation of power outages. Nearly 284,000 residential properties valued at $88 billion are at risk for damage, risk analysts at CoreLogic said.

Transportation is grinding to a halt, with airlines cancelling flights, bridges and tunnels closing, and Amtrak scrapping nearly all of its passenger rail service on the East Coast. The federal government told non-emergency workers in Washington D.C. to stay home.

"This is a serious and big storm," Obama said after a briefing at the federal government's storm response center in Washington. "We don't yet know where it's going to hit, where we're going to see the biggest impacts.

Utilities from the Carolinas to Maine reported late Sunday that a combined 14,000 customers were already without power.

The second-largest oil refinery on the East Coast, Phillips 66's 238,000 barrel per day (bpd) Bayway plant in Linden, New Jersey, was shutting down and three other plants cut output as the storm affected operations at two-thirds of the region's plants.

Oil prices slipped on Monday, with Brent near $109 a barrel. "With refineries cutting runs, we're likely to see a build-up in crude stocks which could be driving bearish prices at the moment," said Michael Creed, an economist at National Australia Bank in Melbourne.

EVACUATION ORDERS

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered the evacuation of some 375,000 people from low-lying areas of the city, from upscale parts of lower Manhattan to waterfront housing projects in the outer boroughs.

While Sandy's 75 mph winds were not overwhelming for a hurricane, its exceptional size means the winds will last as long as two days, bringing down trees and damaging buildings.

"This is not a typical storm," said Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett. "It could very well be historic in nature and in scope, and in magnitude because of the widespread anticipated power outages, and the potential major wind damage."

Even with all the warnings, some people tried to carry on with their plans.

"I just don't buy into the hype," said Kate Sullivan, a 40-year-old computer specialist from Alexandria, Virginia, who was headed to Baltimore-Washington International airport for a planned flight to Los Angeles. "I'm pretty sure I'm going to end up in LA by the end of the night."

(Additional reporting by Edith Honan, Caroline Humer, Paul Thomasch and Janet McGurty in New York, Barbara Goldberg in New Jersey, Gene Cherry in North Carolina, Dave Warner in Philadelphia, Tom Hals in Milford, Delaware, Mary Ellen Clark and Ebong Udoma in Connecticut, Matt Spetalnick in Washington. Writing by Philip Barbara; Editing by John Stonestreet)

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Syrian air force jets bomb Damascus as ceasefire lays in tatters - Telegraph.co.uk

Meanwhile in Douma itself, rebels wrested three positions from regime forces, including an unfinished high-rise building that had been used by regime snipers.

Intense fighting remains in the suburb, with the government claiming repeated bombings by what it terms "militant terrorists" and activists claiming repeated atrocities by government forces.

Mousab Azzawi, of the London-based Syrian Network of Human Rights, claimed members of a pro-Assad militia had started to dump the bodies of up to 200 men who had disappeared from the district of Modamiat al-Sham in the last week on roadsides. There was no independent verification of the claim.

Fighting was also reported yesterday near Maaret al-Numan, a town along the Aleppo-Damascus highway that rebels seized earlier this month.

On Saturday, the second day of the ceasefire, the death toll across the country was estimated at between 91 and 114, including five women and six children, and around 40 of which were in Damascus.

Those figures are lower than those in the worst days of the fighting in the last two months but still give no sign of hope of its being extended or becoming the basis of a longer-term peace settlement, the ambition of Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN envoy who negotiated the truce, the first in six months.

Mr Brahimi is now expected to return for further talks with the UN security council, which voted unanimously to support the ceasefire, but it is not clear what proposals he can make that would persuade either the regime or the rebels to give up what both sides claim is a winning position.

Some of the more radical rebel groups, such as the militant Islamist Jabhat al-Nusra, had rejected the ceasefire out of hand, and these groups are becoming stronger in the fighting.

Jabhat al-Nusra has been accused of being part of a rebel attack on Kurdish and Christian quarters of Aleppo on Thursday, which led to bloody clashes lasting until late on Friday night.

There was more fighting between Kurds and Free Syrian Army units yesterday, including the northern storm brigade which controls the Bab al-Salama border crossing with Turkey, with reports of several dead.

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Sandy turns in march toward East Coast - CBS News

NEW YORK A superstorm that threatened 50 million people in the most heavily populated corridor in the nation started turning Monday, forecasters said.

Hurricane Sandy was expected to hook inland during the day, colliding with a wintry storm moving in from the west and cold air streaming down from the Arctic.

The National Hurricane Center said early Monday that the Category 1 hurricane has top sustained winds of 75 mph, with higher gusts. It is moving toward the north at 14 mph after moving northeast Sunday night. Hurricane-force winds extend up to 175 miles from the storm's center. Gale force winds were reported over coastal North Carolina, southeastern Virginia, the Delmarva Peninsula and coastal New Jersey.

Sandy is about 425 miles southeast of New York City and the center of the storm is expected to be near the mid-Atlantic coast on Monday night.

From Washington to Boston, big cities and small towns were buttoned up against the onslaught of Sandy, with forecasters warning that the New York area could get the worst of it — an 11-foot wall of water.

"The time for preparing and talking is about over," Federal Emergency Management Administrator Craig Fugate said Sunday as Hurricane Sandy made its way up the Atlantic on a collision course with two other weather systems that could turn it into one of the most fearsome storms on record in the U.S. "People need to be acting now."

Play Video

People from coastal towns escaping the storm

Forecasters said the hurricane could blow ashore Monday night or early Tuesday along the New Jersey coast, then cut across into Pennsylvania and travel up through New York State on Wednesday.

Airlines canceled more than 7,200 flights and Amtrak began suspending train service across the Northeast. New York, Philadelphia, Washington and Baltimore moved to shut down their subways, buses and trains and said schools would be closed on Monday. Boston also called off school. And all non-essential government offices closed in the nation's capital.

The New York Stock Exchange said it will be shut down Monday, including electronic trading. Nasdaq is shutting the Nasdaq Stock Market and other U.S. exchanges and markets it owns, although its exchanges outside the U.S. will operate as scheduled.

63 Photos

U.S. prepares for Hurricane Sandy

As rain from the leading edges of the monster hurricane began to fall over the Northeast, hundreds of thousands of people from Maryland to Connecticut were ordered to evacuate low-lying coastal areas, including 375,000 in lower Manhattan and other parts of New York City, 50,000 in Delaware and 30,000 in Atlantic City, N.J., where the city's 12 casinos were forced to shut down for only the fourth time ever.

"We were told to get the heck out. I was going to stay, but it's better to be safe than sorry," said Hugh Phillips, who was one of the first in line when a Red Cross shelter in Lewes, Del., opened at noon.

"I think this one's going to do us in," said Mark Palazzolo, who boarded up his bait-and-tackle shop in Point Pleasant Beach, N.J., with the same wood he used in past storms, crossing out the names of Hurricanes Isaac and Irene and spray-painting "Sandy" next to them. "I got a call from a friend of mine from Florida last night who said, 'Mark, get out! If it's not the storm, it'll be the aftermath. People are going to be fighting in the streets over gasoline and food.'"

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Last year Ocean City got lucky with Hurricane Irene

However, CBS News correspondent Chip Reid reports, some, like Ocean City, Md., surfer Brian Dean, said they have decided to stay.

"We've got everything pretty well situated, bunkered down, generators, [we'll] hang out, ride it out. We rode out Irene last year, it wasn't that bad," he said.

Authorities warned that the nation's biggest city could get hit with a surge of seawater that could swamp parts of lower Manhattan, flood subway tunnels and cripple the network of electrical and communications lines that are vital to the nation's financial center.

Sandy was blamed for 65 deaths in the Caribbean before it began traveling northward, parallel to the Eastern Seaboard.

Forecasters said the combination of it with the storm from the west and the cold air from the Arctic could bring close to a foot of rain in places, a potentially lethal storm surge of 4 to 11 feet across much of the region, and punishing winds that could cause widespread power outages that last for days. The storm could also dump up to 2 feet of snow in Kentucky, North Carolina and West Virginia.

Louis Uccellini, environmental prediction chief for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told The Associated Press that given Sandy's east-to-west track into New Jersey, the worst of the storm surge could be just to the north, in New York City, on Long Island and in northern New Jersey.

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Ryan: Pray for "fellow Americans" in hurricane's path

Forecasters said that because of giant waves and high tides made worse by a full moon, the metropolitan area of about 20 million people could get hit with an 11-foot wall of water. Reid reports from Ocean City that sea levels could rise 8 feet above normal - enough to flood much of the city.

"This is the worst-case scenario," Uccellini said.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg warned: "If you don't evacuate, you are not only endangering your life, you are also endangering the lives of the first responders who are going in to rescue you. This is a serious and dangerous storm."

New Jersey's famously blunt Gov. Chris Christie was less polite: "Don't be stupid. Get out."

New York called off school Monday for the city's 1.1 million students and shut down all train, bus and subway service Sunday night. More than 5 million riders a day depend on the transit system.

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Obama warns Americans to take Hurricane Sandy seriously

Officials also postponed Monday's reopening of the Statue of Liberty, which had been closed for a year for $30 million in renovations. The United Nations said it would close Monday and canceled all meetings at its headquarters.

In Washington, President Obama promised the government would "respond big and respond fast" after the storm hits.

"My message to the governors as well as to the mayors is anything they need, we will be there, and we will cut through red tape. We are not going to get bogged down with a lot of rules," he said.

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World Series MVP Sandoval makes clutch play with glove to limit damage from ... - Washington Post

DETROIT — World Series MVP Pablo Sandoval used his feet, glove and arm — not his bat — to make a clutch play that helped the San Francisco Giants beat the Detroit Tigers 4-3 in 10 innings Sunday night to finish off a sweep.

The third baseman charged Quintin Berry's bunt — barely avoided colliding with pitcher Matt Cain — with one man on base and made an off-balance throw to get the speedy Berry out at first for the second out of the third inning.

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Divers Carve Obama, Romney Pumpkins Under the Sea - ABC News

Written By Unknown on Minggu, 28 Oktober 2012 | 16.14

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Hurricane Sandy looms over 10-day sprint to election - Reuters

1 of 10. U.S. President Barack Obama greets children outside the Common Man restaurant in Merrimack, New Hampshire October 27, 2012.

Credit: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst

By Lisa Lambert and Sam Youngman

NASHUA, N.H./KISSIMMEE, Florida | Sat Oct 27, 2012 11:50pm EDT

NASHUA, N.H./KISSIMMEE, Florida (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney campaigned feverishly in closely contested battleground states on Saturday but changed travel plans to avoid Hurricane Sandy, the massive storm approaching the U.S. East Coast.

With just 10 days before Election Day and polls showing the national race a dead heat, Romney held three rallies in Florida, whose 29 electoral votes are the biggest prize among states considered too close to call.

Romney told supporters in Pensacola that Obama was focusing his campaign on small things, and vowed to win the election, to chants of "10 more days, 10 more days."

"Look into the future and see the debt that's being amassed and say, 'What is right for America?' This is a time of big choices, of big consequence. It's a big election," Romney said.

Romney's events in Florida came on the first day of in-person early voting in the state. In 2008, Obama benefited from the strong turnout of Democrats in early voting. Republicans have made a push to get Romney supporters to vote early in 2012.

Republican Senator Marco Rubio, traveling with Romney in Florida, told reporters on the campaign plane that the Republican get-out-the-vote effort in his state was much better than in 2008.

"The best way to put it is, in Florida, I'd rather be us than them," said Rubio, who later left the campaign trail after his 12-year-old daughter was injured in an accident in Miami.

Obama spent Saturday in New Hampshire, whose four electoral votes could make a difference in the tight race.

"Ten days, New Hampshire, 10 days and you'll be stepping into a voting booth and making a defining choice about the future of our country," the Democratic president told about 8,500 people in a speech criticizing Romney's record on taxes and fees as governor of Massachusetts.

New Hampshire is known for its low taxes. Many of its residents moved away from Massachusetts to cut their tax bills.

Both campaigns were keeping a wary eye on Hurricane Sandy, which threatened to slam into the eastern third of the country on Monday or Tuesday with torrential rains, high winds, major flooding and power outages.

In Kissimmee, Romney told the crowd to keep those in the path of the storm "in your mind and in your hearts. You know how tough hurricanes can be."

CHANGE OF PLANS

Romney canceled a trip to Virginia scheduled for Sunday, when the state is expected to begin feeling the impact of the approaching storm. A Washington Post poll on Saturday showed Obama leading Romney by 51 percent to 47 percent among likely voters in Virginia, just above its margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.

Romney will go instead to Ohio for appearances with Paul Ryan, his vice presidential running mate. Most polls give Obama a slim lead in Ohio, which has 18 electoral votes.

Obama canceled a campaign stop with former President Bill Clinton in Virginia on Monday as well as a trip to Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Tuesday because of the impending storm.

"The president is being regularly updated on the storm and ongoing preparations, and he has directed his team to continue to bring all available resources to bear as state and local partners continue to prepare for the storm," White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement.

With widespread concern that power blackouts in Sandy's wake could interfere with early balloting, lines at early voting stations stretched for blocks at some polling stations in Maryland, which began early voting on Saturday.

Polling sites in Virginia were also busy.

Eager to avoid any complaints that campaigning distracts from handling a potential natural disaster, the White House pointed out that Obama was briefed about Hurricane Sandy on board Air Force One as he traveled to New Hampshire.

"This is an example yet again of the president having to put his responsibilities as commander in chief and as leader of the country first while at the same time he pursues his responsibilities as candidate for election," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters.

In such a close election, Obama does not want to be seen mishandling Sandy. White House officials are keenly aware of the severe criticism that President George W. Bush received for failing to react quickly to Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Obama and Romney are in a late sprint to ensure that their supporters get out to the polls and to win over the dwindling pool of undecided voters in the eight or so battleground states where the election will be decided.

They remained in a statistical dead heat on Saturday in the daily Reuters/Ipsos online tracking poll. Obama led Romney by 47 percent to 45 percent, within the survey's credibility interval.

The poll also showed that support for the candidates was solidifying. Almost nine out of 10 of registered voters now say they will definitely vote for their candidate, leaving just 12 percent who say they could change their minds.

In contrast, an average of about 15 percent last week said they might still switch.

But more and more voters have already taken advantage of early voting programs and cast their ballots. Eighteen percent of respondents in the Reuters/Ipsos poll said their votes were in.

The U.S. election is not a true national poll, but a state-by-state contest in which 538 electoral votes are divided among the 50 states and Washington, D.C., roughly according to population.

With the majority of states solidly either Republican or Democratic, the fight for the "swing states" not firmly tied to either party is hugely important.

This year, there is a possibility one candidate could take enough states to win the electoral vote - and thus the White House - while trailing in the nationwide popular vote.

That last happened in the bitterly contested election of 2000, when Democrat Al Gore won half a million more votes nationally than Bush, but the Republican won the presidency because he ended up with more electoral votes.

(Additional reporting by Patricia Zengerle in McLean, Virginia and Jeff Mason in Washington, Writing by Patricia Zengerle and Deborah Charles; Editing by Alistair Bell and Peter Cooney)

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Israel kills Hamas gunman, Gaza salvo hits Israeli city - Reuters

GAZA | Sun Oct 28, 2012 2:30am EDT

GAZA (Reuters) - Israel killed a Hamas gunman it accused of preparing to fire a rocket from the Gaza Strip on Sunday and a separate Palestinian salvo struck a southern Israeli city, causing no damage.

The incidents followed a three-day lull since an upsurge in violence last week in which Israel killed at least four Gaza militants as dozens of rockets were fired at Israeli towns, damaging some homes and wounding several agricultural workers.

An Israeli air strike before dawn on Sunday struck two gunmen from the Palestinian enclave's governing Hamas movement as they rode a motorcycle near the central town of Khan Younis, local officials said. One man was killed and the other wounded.

An Israeli military spokesman said the air force had targeted a squad preparing to fire a rocket into Israel.

Hamas said its gunmen had fired mortar rounds at Israeli ground forces who had penetrated the coastal territory nearby. The military said those soldiers, who were unhurt, had been carrying out "routine work along the boundary fence".

Separately, two Palestinian rockets fired from Gaza struck Beersheba, a city 40 km (25 miles) away, causing no damage, the military spokesman said. Beersheba sounded air raid sirens and shuttered its schools as a precaution against further attacks.

The Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), one of several smaller Palestinian factions in Gaza that often operate independently of Hamas, said it had launched one of the Beersheba rockets. There was no immediate claim for the second.

Though Islamist Hamas is hostile to the Jewish state, it has recently sought to avoid cross-border confrontations as it tries to shore up its rule of Gaza in the face of more radical challengers and to build relations with potential allies abroad.

Israel's policy is to hold Hamas responsible for any attack emanating from Gaza.

(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Writing by Allyn Fisher-Ilan; Editing by Peter Cooney and Andrew Osborn)

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Big quake hits western Canada, sparks Hawaii tsunami warning - NBCNews.com

By NBC News staff and news wires

Updated at 5 a.m. ET: Hawaii was bracing itself for a tsunami on Saturday night after an official warning was issued, prompting the evacuation of all low-lying areas in the island state, after a 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Canada's British Columbia.

"This is obviously a very very dangerous situation," Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle told Hawaii News Now, urging residents to move away from the coastline immediately.

Governor Neil Abercrombie issued an emergency proclamation for the state.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued the alert, saying the first tsunami wave could strike the islands at 10:28 p.m. Hawaii Standard Time (4:28 a.m. ET).

People were told to stay away from the coast, although a live feed from Hawaii News Now showed people milling around on beaches in Honolulu.

External link: List of evacuation centers on Oahu, Hawaii

Vindell Hsu, a geophysicist at the Tsunami Warning Center said an estimated 100,000 to 150,000 people who live in Hawaii's coastal zones had been urged to move to higher ground until after 10:30 p.m.

The tsunami center cautioned that wave height could not be predicted and that the first wave "may not be the largest."

It said: "All shores are at risk no matter which direction they face."

The warnings followed a powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 7.7 that hit Canada's Pacific coastal province of British Columbia late on Saturday.

External link: Pacific Tsunami Warning Center

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was centered 123 miles south-southwest of Prince Rupert at a depth of 6.2 miles.

The National Weather Service also issued a tsunami warning for coastal areas of British Columbia and southern Alaska. The first wave of the small tsunami, about four inches, hit the southeast Alaska coastal community of Craig.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake hit the Queen Charlotte Islands just after 8 p.m. local time (11 p.m. ET) Saturday at a depth of about 3 miles and was centered 96 miles south of Masset, British Columbia. It was one of the biggest earthquakes around Canada in decades and was felt across a wide area around British Columbia.

Dennis Sinnott of the Canadian Institute of Ocean Science said a 69 centimeter wave was recorded off Langara Island on the northeast tip of Haida Gwaii, formerly called the Queen Charlotte Islands. Another 55 centimeter wave hit Winter Harbour on the northeast coast of Vancouver Island.

External link: Live video feed from Hawaii News Now

"It appears to be settling down," he said. "It does not mean we won't get another small wave coming through."

The Earthquakes Canada agency said the quake in the Haida Gwaii region was followed by numerous aftershocks as large as 4.6 and that a small tsunami has been recorded by a deep-ocean pressure sensor.

Hawaii sirens
In Hawaii, tsunami warning sirens could be heard blaring out across Honolulu, the state capital on Oahu, the state's most populous island, prompting an immediate crush of traffic, with many motorists stopping first at service stations to top up with petrol.

At movie theaters, films were halted in mid-screening as announcements were made urging patrons to return to their homes.

Scientists convicted for not predicting quake

The last time Oahu had a tsunami warning was after the devastating Japanese earthquake of March 2011.

On Waikiki Beach, residents of high-rise buildings were told to move to the third floor or higher for safety.

Tsunami Warning Center Geophysicist Gerard Fryer said the tsunami danger had caught scientists by surprise.

"We thought that the earthquake was on land and when we learned that it was deeper undersea and we gathered more information, we had no choice but to issue a warning," he said.

As residents scrambled to reach higher ground on Oahu, at least four major road accidents were reported by the state Emergency Medical Services. More accidents were also reported on the outer islands.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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