Obama, Romney tied in first returns
DIXVILLE-NOTCH, N.H., Nov. 6 (UPI) -- The tiny New Hampshire hamlet of Dixville-Notch reported the voting evenly split between President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney Tuesday.
The hamlet, which votes at midnight, reported five votes each for the president and his GOP challenger, the first time in the community's history presidential candidates have tied.
In 2004, Obama received 15 of the 21 votes cast.
In Hart's Location, N.H., whose population of 41 is nearly four times Dixville Notch's 12, Obama won with 23 votes, Romney received 9 and Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson got 1 vote.
Obama held a thin lead in swing-state polls on Election Day, and Mitt Romney planned to return to Pennsylvania and Ohio even as voters went to the polls.
A majority of voters said in a United Press International poll they thought the president would win the election Tuesday, even though UPI-CVoter voter preference polls indicated the two were in a dead heat, separated by 1 percentage point, less than the polls' margins of error.
A Washington Post-ABC News poll showed Obama at 50 percent to Republican presidential nominee Romney's 47 percent. That poll's 2.5-point error margin was almost the same as the 3-point preference separation.
Elsewhere, fresh polls showed the president up by small margins in battleground states Ohio, Virginia and New Hampshire.
Special voting for storm-tossed residents
NEW YORK, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- New York and New Jersey residents uprooted by Hurricane Sandy were told they could vote at any state polling place Tuesday, as a new storm threatened the area.
"Just because you're displaced doesn't mean you should be disenfranchised," New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in announcing he signed an executive order letting residents cast provisional ballots at any polling place in the state.
The provisional, or affidavit, ballots would be counted after election officials confirmed the voter's eligibility.
But those ballots would, in many cases, let residents vote only for president and statewide offices, officials said. The ballots could not be used in local and congressional races because different districts have different local races. Some of those local and congressional races were expected to be far more competitive than the presidential race, where President Barack Obama is heavily favored in both states, The New York Times said.
New Jersey offered similar voting options, but went further than New York after Gov. Chris Christie let displaced residents vote by fax or email.
Anyone using this method would have to give up ballot secrecy, Christie's directive said. The faxed or emailed votes would also not be safeguarded by witnesses.
Ballot-integrity advocates warned the New Jersey process raised risks of fraud by hackers or mischief by partisan local officials, the Times said.
Syrian Parliament speaker's brother killed
DOHA, Qatar, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- The brother of the speaker of Parliament in Syria was assassinated Tuesday by anti-government rebels, state-run news agency SANA reported.
The assassination of Mohammad Osama al-Laham came as clashes between the government and the opposition wracked most major cities, The New York Times reported. At least 162 people were killed Monday in Idlib province and Damascus and its suburbs.
Laham was the brother of Jihad Laham, the speaker of the People's Assembly. Laham held a doctorate in agriculture and the Syrian Arab News Agency blamed his death on anti-government rebels who are attempting to eliminate people with skills the country needs.
Laham's death took place the same day Syria's main opposition bloc voted to add activists and political groups from inside Syria amid U.S. pressure for a more representative and cohesive leadership.
The Syrian National Council "agreed to a restructuring plan and to reduce the number of [existing] members of the general secretariat to accommodate 200 new members representing 13 political groups and independents," SNC spokesman Ahmad Kamel said on the second day of a four-day meeting in Doha, Qatar.
U.K. said to mull move to counter Iran
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- Britain is considering an expansion of its Persian Gulf military presence to counter a growing Iranian nuclear threat, The Daily Telegraph reported Tuesday.
The plan being considered would possibly redeploy troops being pulled out of Afghanistan and move them to the United Arab Emirates, a British ally sharing a sea border with Iran, government officials told the British newspaper.
"Of course" Britain is looking at contingency planning if the nuclear crisis in Iran worsens, an unidentified official said. "That is why it is sensible to look at what allies we have in the gulf region."
Britain has about 70 servicemen and women in the UAE to service jet fighters flying between Britain and Afghanistan in the war against the Taliban Islamic fundamentalist militant movement.
Britain has about 9,500 troops in Afghanistan, the second-largest foreign force in the country after the United States. It plans to withdraw 500 soldiers by the end of the year and an undetermined number next year, Prime Minister David Cameron has said.
Putin fires defense minister
MOSCOW, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Tuesday he fired his defense minister amid one of the biggest corruption cases the country has seen.
Putin relieved Anatoly Serdyukov of his duties and replaced him with Sergei Shoigu, RIA Novosti reported.
"Taking into consideration the situation that has emerged regarding the Defense Ministry, in order to create the requisite conditions for an objective investigation of all the issues, I made the decision to relieve Defense Minister Serdyukov of his duties," Putin said.
The firing allows Russia's Investigation Committee to question Serdyukov about alleged real estate scams involving nearly $100 million.
