Comments from Republican lawmakers on Sunday presaged a fierce confirmation battle for the man U.S. President Barack Obama is reportedly about to nominate as his defense secretary: Chuck Hagel.

Obama has decided he wants the 66-year-old former Republican senator to succeed Leon Panetta at the Pentagon and will make his announcement as early as Monday, U.S. media, including CNN and Washington specialists Politico, said.

President Barack Obama has signed into law a contentious compromise bill hammered out in Congress that narrowly averted the U.S. 'fiscal cliff of tax hikes and drastic, immediate cuts in spending, the White House said early Thursday.

In a statement, the White House said that Obama late on Wednesday signed the "American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012," raising taxes on households earning above $450,000 and delaying spending decisions for two months.

President Barack Obama said Tuesday he had fulfilled a campaign promise to make the U.S. tax system fairer with a deal to avert the fiscal cliff crisis that passed after a fierce duel in Congress.

"The one thing that I think hopefully in the New Year we'll focus on is seeing if we can put a package like this together with a little bit less drama, a little bit less brinksmanship, not scare the heck out of folks quite as much," he said.

U.S. President Barack Obama expressed "deep concern" Thursday over the recent deadly political protests in Egypt, in a call to his counterpart Mohammed Morsi, the White House said.

Obama also told Morsi that it was "essential for Egyptian leaders across the political spectrum to put aside their differences and come together to agree on a path that will move Egypt forward," the White House said in a statement.

The White House denied Saturday having heavily edited talking points to UN Ambassador Susan Rice about the deadly attacks on a U.S. mission in Libya to remove references to terrorism.

"The only edit that was made by the White House and also by the State Department was to change the word 'consulate' to the word 'diplomatic facility,' since the facility in Benghazi was not formally a consulate," Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters aboard Air Force One.

As Americans head to the polls on Tuesday, the tight White House race between President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney has narrowed to a fight over less than 10 states.

Obama's strategy is to solidify his last line of defense in the industrial Midwest, and to try to pluck away several insurance states from Romney's target list elsewhere.

Residents of the tiny northeastern town of Dixville Notch cast the first ballots of the White House race on Tuesday, with Barack Obama and Mitt Romney each receiving five votes.

The first-in-the-nation vote, held shortly after midnight, was tied for the first time in its history, another indication of the knife's edge separating the two candidates in a race that should be decided by the end of the day.

U.S. celebrities weighed in on the race for the White House on election eve Monday, endorsing their favorite candidates on Twitter or making last-ditch pleas for their followers to get out and vote.

Rapper Snoop Dogg endorsed the Democratic incumbent Barack Obama, tweeting: "Make sure u all vote 2morrow!! @BarackObama @MichelleObama."

Barack Obama on Thursday accepted his party's nomination for president with a prime-time convention address that asked Americans to give him four more years at the White House.

"On every issue, the choice you face won't be just between two candidates or two parties," Obama said, making his case for re-election. "It will be a choice between two different paths for America."

White House hopeful Mitt Romney on Sunday held top-level talks in Israel about how to handle fears over Iran's nuclear ambitions, on a visit aimed at burnishing his foreign policy credentials.

"Like you, we are very concerned about the development of nuclear capabilities on the part of Iran and feel it is unacceptable for Iran to become a nuclear armed nation," Romney told reporters on meeting President Shimon Peres.