AFP - Barack Obama on Wednesday put the first building blocks in place for his administration even as rejoicing reverberated around the world after his election as the first black US president.

Reuters - Best-selling U.S. author Michael Crichton, who wrote such novels as "The Andromeda Strain" and "Jurassic Park" and created the popular TV drama "ER," has died unexpectedly of cancer at age 66, his family said on Wednesday.

Reuters - With four razor-close U.S. Senate races yet to be decided, Democrats hoped on Wednesday to further expand their majority in the new Congress and act quickly with President-elect Barack Obama on an ambitious agenda.

Reuters - U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday urged passage of at least $61 billion in new economic stimulus funding this month, but said the future of the legislation requires cooperation from Republicans in the Senate and President George W. Bush.

Reuters - Democrat Barack Obama put aside the victory celebrations on Wednesday and began crafting a White House team to help him lead a country mired in a deep economic crisis and two lingering wars.

AFP - Afghanistan's president said on Wednesday that around 40 villagers died this week in international air strikes targeting militants, as he urged Barack Obama to end civilian casualties in the "war on terror".

AP - Byron Leftwich has already shown the Pittsburgh Steelers he can finish. He may get the chance Sunday to prove he can start. With starter Ben Roethlisberger's status for Sunday's game against the Colts uncertain due to his reinjured right shoulder, the Steelers (6-2) may give Leftwich his first start since last Nov. 18 with Atlanta.

AP - Democratic Sen. Barack Obama and Republican Sen. John McCain battled for the White House on Tuesday in an election that challenged attitudes about race as surely as it gauged sentiments about the battered economy and the war in Iraq.

AP - Lines stretched around buildings and down city blocks as people waited hours to cast ballots in the historic presidential race between Barack Obama and John McCain. Touchscreen voting machines malfunctioned in some precincts, yet voting Tuesday appeared to go smoothly.

AP - John McCain implored voters Tuesday to ignore the polls and pundits and help deliver this battleground state. "America is worth fighting for. Nothing is inevitable here," the GOP nominee told his final rally of a marathon campaign.

AP - A scary economy isn't the only fear voters carried to the polls Tuesday. Two-thirds fret about how to pay for health care and at least as many worry that terrorists will attack the U.S. again.

AP - Israel has launched an airstrike on Gaza after its troops clashed with Hamas along the border and militants fired mortars into Israel, leaving five Palestinians dead. It was the first armed confrontation between the two sides since a June truce took effect.

Reuters - Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain began a nervous wait for results in their fight for the White House on Tuesday, with Obama in clear command as voting began to end in the first two U.S. states.

AP - Democrats counted on solidifying their thin leadership grip on the Senate as voters flocked to the polls Tuesday to fill 35 Senate seats. Embattled Republicans braced for losses but hoped they would be modest ones. Democrats were optimistic that the only two Democratic senators who will lose their Senate seats as a result of the national elections will be Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

AP - Seeking a transcendent victory, Democrat Barack Obama made a final-hour push for Republican-leaning Indiana on Tuesday after casting his own ballot with his young daughters at his side. "It's going to be tight as a tick here in Indiana," Obama told volunteers in Indianapolis trying to get out the vote for the Democratic ticket with only seven hours to go in the area's balloting. "So the question is who wants it more."

AFP - Millions of US voters flooded polling stations Tuesday, looking to elect front-running Democrat Barack Obama the first black president or hand Republican John McCain a shock comeback win in their historic clash.

Reuters - U.S. stocks had their biggest Election Day rally ever on Tuesday as investors looked forward to the end of the uncertainty surrounding the long fight for the White House, while global credit markets showed more signs of a thaw.

AP - A man was convicted of first-degree murder Tuesday for killing his wife and 11-year-old stepson out of anger over the time she spent with members of her church. The jury found Jeremias Bins guilty of two counts of first-degree murder for the 2006 slayings. Superior Court Judge John Lu sentenced Bins to two consecutive life terms in prison.

AP - Ken Mink, a 73-year-old full-time student, scored two points Monday night in Roane State Community College's 93-42 victory over King College's junior varsity. Mink entered the game with about 16 minutes left in the second half and attempted one shot in about three minutes. Seven minutes later, he went back in the game, was fouled and made two free throws.

AFP - UN chief Ban Ki-moon said he would personally mediate in the crisis in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo where new clashes broke out Tuesday, threatening a week-old ceasefire.

Reuters - Democrat Barack Obama leads Republican John McCain in five of eight key battleground states as Americans prepare to vote in the White House race, according to a series of Reuters/Zogby polls released on Tuesday.

Reuters - Some of the earliest returns in Tuesday's presidential election could provide big clues about the outcome.

Reuters - Riding a wave of resentment against Republican President George W. Bush, Democrats headed toward winning possibly their biggest majorities in the U.S. Congress in decades in Tuesday's elections, polls showed.

AP - Authorities said Monday they have positively identified some of Steve Fossett's remains: two large bones found a half-mile from where the adventurer's plane crashed in California's Sierra Nevada.

AP - U.S. auto sales dropped to their lowest level in more than 17 years last month as consumers frightened by Wall Street turmoil stayed away from showrooms, prompting some auto company executives to predict dire consequences if the market doesn't improve.

Reuters - The grandmother who helped raise Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama and whom he had credited with shaping his values has died of cancer, he said in a statement on Monday.

Reuters - Genetic tests on two bones found near the wreckage of Steve Fossett's airplane in the California mountains confirm the missing multimillionaire adventurer is dead, local authorities said on Monday.

Reuters - Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed a term-limit extension law on Monday that will allow him to run for a third term next year and earn a chance to guide New York City through the global financial crisis.

Reuters - Democrat Barack Obama leads Republican John McCain in six of eight key battleground states one day before the U.S. election, including the big prizes of Florida and Ohio, according to a series of Reuters/Zogby polls released on Monday.

AFP - White House front-runner Barack Obama and his comeback-seeking rival John McCain charged through decisive states in a frenetic final blitz Monday, on the eve of historic US elections.

AP - Barack Obama radiated confidence and John McCain displayed the grit of an underdog Monday as the presidential rivals reached for the finish line of a two-year marathon with a burst of campaigning across battlegrounds from the Atlantic Coast to Arizona.

AP - Election watchers won't have to wait for polls to close in the West to know how things are going. The first clues will come early, when voting ends in Georgia, Indiana and Virginia. If Democrat Barack Obama wins any of the three, he could be on his way to a big victory, maybe even a landslide.

AP - Barack Obama's grandmother, whose personality and bearing shaped much of the life of the Democratic presidential contender, has died, Obama announced Monday, one day before the election. Madelyn Payne Dunham was 86.

AP - Two surfers have pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor battery charges for allegedly throwing a photographer into the water as he tried to shoot pictures of Matthew McConaughey on the waves.

Reuters - Corporate results and outlooks darkened on Monday, and automotive companies from Japan to Italy to Detroit said October sales were the weakest in about 20 years as economies weakened and consumer credit dried up.

AP - A video maker for Osama bin Laden who vowed that al-Qaida will never stop fighting America was sentenced to life in prison Monday for encouraging terrorist attacks.

Reuters - Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain took their final shots at each other and swept across battleground states on Monday to wrap up a U.S. presidential campaign in which Obama was leading but McCain hoped to pull off a historic upset.

AFP - Rebel forces in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo accused the government Monday of having "launched the war on its people" by refusing to negotiate with them.

Reuters - Factory activity contracted sharply in October, falling to its lowest in 26 years as the financial crisis ravaged the world's largest economy and its trading partners around the globe.

Reuters - Iranians marked the 1979 seizure of the U.S. embassy on Monday, a day before Americans elect a new president, with some demonstrators indifferent to the U.S. vote and a few wondering if it could help rebuild ties.

AFP - White House front-runner Barack Obama Sunday hurtled into the last 48 hours of his epic campaign against Republican John McCain pledging to remake America as he presented a loving tableau of his youthful family.

AP - Barack Obama and John McCain uncorked massive get-out-the-vote operations in more than a dozen battleground states Sunday, millions of telephone calls, mailings and door-knockings in a frenzied, fitting climax to a record-shattering $1 billion campaign. Together, they'll spend about $8 per presidential vote.

AP - Iraq expects an American response to requested changes in a draft security pact soon after this week's U.S. presidential election, an aide to the prime minister said Sunday.