Washington, Nov. 4 : Absentee and early voting could make it difficult to forecast preliminary results in the presidential polls on Tuesday evening.

Some political observers predict early and absentee voters will make up about 30 percent of the total votes on Election Day -- which could approach a record 130 million to 140 million.

And state-by-state statistics consistently show Democrats dominating Republicans in early turnout. That means exit polls based on Tuesday-only voting could trend more toward John McCain over Barack Obama.

Sunday was the lucky day for West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Union Steel Minister Ram Vilas Pawan. They narrowly escaped a powerful explosion on their way to Kalaichandi in Paschim Medinipur district. Police raised fingers on Maoists for the explosion.

Both leaders were returning from Salboni to Kolkata. They were in the town to attend foundation laying function of a mega steel plant established by Jindal Steel.

Hanoi - Floods and heavy rains in Vietnam have killed three more people and left two missing, disaster centres reported Tuesday, bringing the toll of dead and missing since the current round of storms began October 24 to at least 86.

The National Committee for Storm and Flood Control said the worst flooding in almost three decades has left at least 20 people dead and two missing in Hanoi since November 3. Up to 835 millimeters of rain fell on the city between Friday and Tuesday morning.

Victims have drowned or been struck by falling trees and collapsing buildings. Several were electrocuted by live power lines.

Seoul - Shares surged more than 2 per cent Tuesday on the Seoul stock exchange led by construction and bank stocks that are expected to benefit from recent government measures to stimulate the econ

Lahore, Nov 4: The Pakistan cricket team suffered a jolt last evening when its star batsman Muhammad Yousuf announced that he would be joining the Indian Cricket League (ICL) promoted by a business house.

PCB Director (Cricket Operations) Zakir Khan confirmed that Yousuf had joined the ICL.

“We went to Yousuf’s residence and his wife told us that he had left for India to play in the ICL. We are waiting for facts before taking any action against him,” the Daily Times quoted Zakir as saying.

But, the ICL is yet to make an official announcement in this regard.

Earlier Yousuf was named in a squad to play three one-day matches against West Indies in Abu Dhabi this month.

Researchers have found that patients with fibromyalgia have characteristic changes in the brain, which don’t show up on images and scans of muscles and bones, can be seen in single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) scans. Patients suffering from fibromyalgia have often been dubbed hypochondriacs and left to deal with the pain characteristic of the disease.