New York rises to voting challenge

VOTING in a the US presidential election is the latest challenge for the hundreds of thousands of people in the New York-New Jersey area still affected by Superstorm Sandy.

The campaigns of both President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney have long assumed that the heavily Democratic region would support Obama, but voters were taking special election shuttles from storm-hit areas and voting by affidavit from any polling place they could reach after officials put emergency measures in place.

Early turnout at dawn appeared high, despite the hurdles.

"No matter what happens - hurricanes, tornados - it's our day to vote," said Agim Coma, a 25-year-old construction worker who lost his apartment and car to the storm but was first in line to vote in one New Jersey town.

Tens of thousands of people along the Atlantic coast, many of them in public housing projects, continued to scramble for housing options a week after the storm as nighttime temperatures remained near freezing and power had not yet returned. A few desperate people burned their furniture.

And officials despaired at the news of yet another storm approaching the region on Wednesday, smaller than Sandy but with the potential for more power outages, rising waters, heavy rain and gusts of up to 96 km/h.

But housing was the most pressing problem.

"It's not going to be a simple task. It's going to be one of the most complicated and long-term recovery efforts in US history," said Mark Merritt, president of Witt Associates, a Washington crisis management consulting firm founded by former Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) director James Lee Witt.

FEMA said it has already dispensed close to $US200 million ($A193.90 million) in emergency housing assistance and had put 34,000 people in New York and New Jersey up in hotels and motels. But local, state and federal officials have yet to lay out a specific, comprehensive plan for finding them long-term places to live in an already densely developed region around the largest US city.

Officials had yet to even establish the magnitude of the problem.

In New Jersey, state officials said they were still trying to figure out how many people will need long-term housing. At least 4000 residents were in New Jersey shelters.

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Moody's downgrades ArcelorMittal one notch

MOODY'S has downgraded ArcelorMittal's long-term credit rating by one notch to BA1, putting it into speculative or "junk" territory.

Moody's says the deterioration in steel markets means the company can no longer reduce its debt enough to keep an investment-grade mark.

"The downgrade reflects the deterioration in global steel markets over the last six months," said Moody's, pointing to the company posting its worst performance in three years last quarter.

ArcelorMittal, the world's top steelmaker, had an operating loss and its gross debt rose in the third quarter.

"As a result, the amount of debt reduction the company must realise in order to hold a BAA3 rating is so large as to be unachievable..." said Steve Oman, senior vice president and lead analyst for the EMEA steel industry at Moody's.

The BAA3 rating is the lowest investment-grade rating at Moody's.

If ArcelorMittal tried to reduce its debt ratio by asset disposals Moody's said that would materially impact the core operations and earnings of the company.

"We see challenging conditions continuing for ArcelorMittal over several quarters with its operating environment more likely to get worse before it gets better," added Oman.

Moody's also warned ArcelorMittal was at risk of breaking covenants on its revolving credit facilities that limit its debt to its operating profit, although it said planned debt reduction should relieve concerns.

However Moody's said the announced measures by the company to preserve cash and reduce leverage, including a dividend cut, have been modest.

Last month ArcelorMittal reported a third quarter net loss of $US709 million ($A687.38 million) and said that cutting debt was now a priority.

The company said it anticipates an operating profit of about $7.0 billion for all of 2012, while its net debt was expected to rise to $22.0 billion at the end of the year.

The board recommended a cut in the dividend from next year to 0.20 US cents per share from 0.75 cents.

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Americans cast their first ballots

FROM a New England hamlet to a critical swing state neighbouring Washington's halls of power to the storm-scarred streets of New York, Americans are lining up to cast ballots for Barack Obama or Mitt Romney.

Many were patient as voting got under way on Tuesday. Some were jittery and still others - those still enduring power outages and the mountainous mess and wreckage left by superstorm Sandy last week - were a bit cranky.

For some a palpable sense of excitement hung over what they saw as a crossroads for deeply divided and economically struggling America.

Up and down the East Coast, voters braved very cold weather in the pre-dawn darkness as they waited to bring the curtain down on one of the hardest-fought and most expensive election campaigns ever.

Facing them was a choice between two men with very different visions of how to get the country firmly back on its feet.

"It's very exciting, I love the turnout," said Obama supporter Cal Alde, who works in publishing. He sported a cartoonish star-spangled top hat and a "Keep Obama and carry on" T-shirt and expressed confidence in an Obama win.

Alde spoke as he breakfasted on a bagel at a Starbucks in Falls Church, a Washington suburb in key swing state Virginia, after casting his vote.

"But we're biased," added colleague Will Farnam, wearing a pro-Obama badge. "There are a lot of Romney people out there... It's going to be tight."

Election fever permeated unlikely places. On one rush-hour bus rolling down 16th Street in downtown Washington - just a few blocks straight ahead lay the pillared, majestic White House itself - the driver urged people to vote.

Some riders wore stickers on their lapels showing they already had.

Before dawn, more than 100 people were already patiently waiting in line at a Falls Church community centre for more than half an hour when the basement gymnasium turned polling station threw open its doors at precisely 6am (2200 AEDT).

"The polls are open! Go on in!" the polling station manager declared.

Blue tape on the footpath marked the line that Democratic and Republican campaign workers could not cross to solicit votes at the Falls Church facility. Two dogs sat patiently for their owners to return from doing their civic duty.

Virginia, which helped put Obama into the White House in 2008 after favouring Republicans for years, is a battleground state where the contest is so tight it could swing the final national outcome.

Within 20 minutes of polls opening, dozens of voters were seen by AFP reporters waiting outside voting stations in northern Virginia, an early sign of enthusiasm in the race between Obama and Romney.

"It's going to be a higher than normal turnout for sure," said Romney campaigner Chris Redder as he distributed sample ballots to arriving voters in Falls Church indicating which Republican boxes they should tick.

"I consider this an important election," he said. "It's two visions of America -- more personal responsibility versus more intrusive government, and pro-life versus what I'd say pro-abortion."

If Obama is re-elected, Redder told AFP, his policies would "damage the country" in ways that would take years to recover from.

Tuesday's very first ballots were cast just after midnight in the New Hampshire mountain hamlet of Dixville Notch, where they were immediately counted. For the first time ever, it was a tie: five for Obama, five for Romney.

In New Jersey, one of the states hardest hit by last week's superstorm Sandy, people waited in line impatiently amid rubble and rotting rubbish left by the horrendous storm.

In Hoboken, one makeshift polling station was 40 minutes late in opening, drawing complaints from the 60 people in line.

When the doors finally did open, a volunteer came out and told the grumbling crowd: "Please excuse the appearance of this place, two days ago it was under two feet (0.61 metres) of water."

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Sleepless night for Obama's ancestral home

PEOPLE in Barack Obama's ancestral home are preparing for a sleepless night as they watch the US elections.

Reporters have descended on the small village in western Kenya, nestled in the hills about 60 kilometres from the blue waters of Lake Victoria.

Draped over the road that connects the village to Kisumu, the main town of the region, a banner offers tickets for an all-night screening of the election.

"Watch the American presidential election 2012 on big screen" the advert reads, and, despite even the cheapest ticket costing some $US12 ($A11.63) - about a week's wages for a casual labourer - that has not dampened enthusiasm.

"I'm going to watch the election all night long... it's expensive but I'll manage," said Mary Manyala Ohito, a health worker.

In the courtyard of the nearby primary school - renamed after Obama following a visit in 2006 when he was a senator - a giant screen will also be set up, with free access for the local residents.

Sarah Obama - 90 this year, and the third wife of the paternal grandfather of Barack Obama - still lives in Kogelo. While the president shares no blood with Mama Sarah, he has said he regards her as his grandmother.

Mama Sarah ventured outside her house for a few minutes to pray for the reelection of her grandson.

"I pray for him, for God to help him," she said during an improvised press conference at her garden.

"It is a tough race so I have prayed for him. If this is his turn (to win again), God will let him triumph," she added in her native Dholuo language.

Another family member speaks of the family's expectations on the outcome of the vote.

"We'll be staying together with the family watching it together until the result is announced," said Said Hussein Obama, an uncle of the president. "We expect he's going to win."

Obama has raised the profile of the village.

"He has put Kogelo on the world map," said the uncle.

Some are a little disappointed not to have seen the president since his election, with Ohito wistfully saying she hopes "he will come".

During his four years in office, Obama has not visited Kenya.

"Maybe if he's re-elected he will tour Africa," his uncle says. "I don't say he is going to come to Kogelo, but Kenya will be one of those countries he's going to visit."

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Mammoth skeleton found near Paris

A NEAR-COMPLETE skeleton of a mammoth which lived between 200,000 and 500,000 years ago has been found near Paris, the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research said on Tuesday.

The remains were discovered at Changis-sur-Marne, northeast of Paris. They included a femur, a complete pelvis, jawbones and four connected vertebrae.

The mammoth, named "Helmut" by the team that found it, is estimated to have been between 20 and 30 years old.

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Instagram expands to the web

INSTAGRAM, the photo-sharing app that was created for mobile phones, is expanding to the web.

The service will launch Instagram profiles on the web over the next few days. Previously, users' profiles existed only on Instagram's mobile applications accessed on the iPhone or Android devices.

Now, users will have a website with a profile photo, bio and a selection of the snapshots they've recently shared on Instagram.

Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, made its announcement in a blog post on Monday.

The layout of the web profiles is reminiscent of Facebook timelines, except with little text and no ads. Users will have a large cover image that's a collage of their old Instagram shots. Their profile photo is on the right side and their snapshots cascade down the page.

Facebook has insisted since it bought Instagram this year that it will keep it running as a separate service. That still appears to be the case. The Instagram web pages don't link to Facebook and don't ask users to log in using their Facebook accounts.

Instagram's privacy settings are like Twitter's. Users can either choose to be fully public, so that anyone can see and comment on their photos, or private, such that photos can be seen only to pre-approved followers. Unlike with Facebook's complex, granular privacy controls, there is nothing in between.

Facebook, which is based in Menlo Park, California, agreed to buy Instagram in a deal valued at $US1 billion ($A969.51 million) in April, before its May initial public offering of stock.

Upon closing on August 31, the deal was worth $US715.3 million because of Facebook's fallen stock price.

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Gaza police catch crocodile after 2 years

IT took an internet search, shark nets and two weeks of floating in a sewage pond, but Gaza policemen have finally captured a crocodile that was terrifying residents.

The 1.75-metre crocodile fled his zoo enclosure two years ago and crawled about a kilometre to a large sewage pit near the northern Gaza Strip town of Umm al-Naser, said Lieutenant Colonel Samih al-Sultan, who led the hunt.

"He had a lot of spirit in him. He wanted to be free," al-Sultan said, watching the crocodile in its new home in a pond with four other crocodiles in a zoo under construction in nearby Beit Lahiya.

"We hope he lives a good life here with his wives," he said on Tuesday.

Residents said they didn't leave their houses in the evenings, fearing the scary reptile they say ate their ducks and goats.

"We were afraid he would eat us," said farmer Hassan Mohammed of Umm al-Nasser.

Wastewater workers discovered the crocodile in the pit about two months ago, al-Sultan said.

Lacking experience in crocodile hunting, he said he went to the internet to see how to catch the reluctant reptile. Fishing nets were recommended.

So a team of six policemen and fishermen sat in a boat in the sewage pit for eight hours a day for two weeks, trying to catch the crocodile with the nets.

After several failed attempts, they drained the pond, leaving the croc with nowhere to hide. Then they used tougher shark nets to snare him.

Al-Sultan said he grew to like and respect the reptile. He named him "sakher," Arabic for "rock," in praise of his stubborn attempt to remain free.

The crocodile was brought drugged into blockaded Gaza through a smuggling tunnel under the Egypt-Gaza border four years ago, said zoo worker Emad al-Qanoua. It wasn't clear how it managed to escape from the zoo in the first place.

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Thousands mourn N Ireland prison guard

THOUSANDS of mourners have lined the main street of a central Northern Ireland town to bid farewell to a prison officer slain by Irish Republican Army militants, the first killing of a guard in nearly two decades.

David Black, 52, was shot several times from a passing car as he drove to work at Northern Ireland's main prison. His car went off the road and landed in a ravine.

No group claimed responsibility, but police and politicians have pinned it to an IRA splinter group based in the nearby town of Lurgan. That faction has been blamed for dozens of shootings and bombings since the 2007 formation of Northern Ireland's unity government - the central achievement of a two-decade peace process.

Although that coalition of British Protestants and Irish Catholics has thrived, Northern Ireland at grass-roots level remains a bitterly divided land.

Black's family asked politicians from the major Catholic-backed party, Sinn Fein, to stay away from Tuesday's Protestant service. Sinn Fein for decades was the public face of the Provisional IRA, the major anti-British paramilitary group that killed nearly 1800 people, many of them from the province's Protestant majority, before renouncing violence and disarming in 2005.

An honour guard of prison officers in dark-blue uniforms carried Black's coffin down the broad main street of Cookstown. Family members then carried it into a small Presbyterian church, accompanied by a bagpiper's lament. The casket was covered in a Union Jack flag and topped by Black's service cap and a single white rose.

Inside, his teenage children paid tribute to their father. His 17-year-old daughter Kyra offered a tearful poem, his 21-year-old son Kyle a personal tribute - and a message to his killers.

"They can take Daddy from us. They can deprive Mummy of a loving husband," Kyle Black said, "but they can never take away the love that we have in our hearts and the memories that we will all cherish." He said his father was honest, hard-working and devoted to his family, "the characteristics of the perfect daddy."

For 30 years Black worked as a guard in Northern Ireland prisons, keeping tabs on some of the world's most notorious gunmen and bombers. It was a much more dangerous job to have when outside the prison walls, because the Provisional IRA made off-duty guards a high-priority target, killing more than two dozen, often in front of their families.

No guard had been killed since 1993, the year Northern Ireland's peace process started in earnest with secret talks involving Sinn Fein.

Several small IRA splinter groups seek to maintain the Provisionals' campaign with sporadic attacks, though they rarely succeed, last killing in April 2011 when a booby-trap bomb hidden under a car blew up a policeman in his driveway.

The British and Irish governments have vowed to hunt down Black's killers. But three suspected IRA militants arrested on Friday - two in Lurgan, one across the border in the Republic of Ireland - were released without charge.

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