POLITICS-US: Vets See Hope for a Broken System

Thirty-three-year-old Walter Williams was among the thousands of revelers who flooded into the streets of Oakland on Nov. 4 to celebrate Barack Obama's election as the 44th president of the United States.

RIGHTS-US: Activists Seek Executive Order Banning Torture

Shutting down the infamous detention centre at Guantanamo Bay is just one of a series of measures to reform U.S. counterterrorism practices being urged by the watchdog organisation Human Rights Watch (HRW).

U.S.: Obama Advised to Forgo More Threats to Iran

A strategy of threats and "provocations" against Iran by the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama is likely to be counter-productive, according to a new report released here Friday by a group of 20 former top U.S. diplomats and regional experts.

JAPAN/US: Obama’s Election Unlikely to Disturb Ties – Analysts

While Barack Obama’s election as president of the United States is expected to shake up international relations it may not bring any change in Washington’s special ties with this country.

INDIA: Uneasy About Obama Victory

Unlike the rest of the world, which has welcomed the election of Barack Obama as president of the United States, Indian policymakers have misgivings, rooted in his campaign statements on Kashmir, nuclear non-proliferation and business process outsourcing from the U.S. to India.

POLITICS-US: Feminists Say the Work Has Just Begun

Women's right activists see an open door to the White House of President-elect Barack Obama, and they plan to walk right in and take a seat.

POLITICS-US: Obama Pressured to Back Off Iraq Withdrawal

The promotion of Robert M. Gates as President-elect Barack Obama's secretary of defence appears to be the key element in a broad campaign by military officials and their supporters in the political elite and the news media to pressure Obama into dropping his plan to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq in as little as 16 months.

U.S.: First, Close Guantanamo, Say Rights Groups

President-elect Barack Obama should make the closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility a top priority when he takes office Jan. 20, U.S. and international human rights groups said Monday.

POLITICS-US: The Day Character Finally Eclipsed Colour

Last Tuesday's ascension of Democratic Sen. Barack Obama to the presidency of the United States - the first African American in history to command the White House - sent a shock wave around the world that a political change of such magnitude could happen in a nation often traumatised by racism.

U.S.: Obama Foreign Policy May Not Require a Clean Break

While much of the world and many of his U.S. supporters are expecting a sharp break with his predecessor's foreign policy after President-elect Barack Obama takes office Jan. 20, they may be surprised by the degree of continuity between the two administrations.

AUSTRALIA/US: Afghanistan – Potential Sticking Point For Obama

While change may have come to the United States - as professed by president-elect Barack Obama following his election victory, a result largely welcomed here - Australia’s alliance with the superpower is likely to remain strong.

POLITICS-US: Election Day in a Colorado Steel Town

Interstate 70 in western Colorado heads east towards Denver along the upper reaches of the Colorado River.

US: Don't Be Afraid to Spend, Economists Tell Obama

President-elect Barack Obama will inherit an ailing economy and the way to help right it is to spend - and spend some more, independent economists say.

SOUTH PACIFIC: Obama Win Inspirational

Washington’s policy in the South Pacific is unlikely to change much with Barack Obama’s win in the U.S. presidential elections, but the historic victory should serve as an inspiration for the region, say commentators.

SOUTH-EAST ASIA: Obama Victory Spells Renewed US Interest

In Indonesia, many know him as ‘’Barry’’. To others U.S. president-elect Barack Obama is the ‘’Menteng Kid’’ for the primary school he attended while living in South-east Asia’s largest country.

POLITICS-US: Obama Rode the Crest of a New Coalition

Ahead of Tuesday's presidential election in the U.S., many critics were questioning the Democratic strategy. Spending money outside of the usual battleground states and relying heavily on new voters whose appearance at polling places is usually unreliable were bold ideas with unproven results, much like the Democratic candidate himself.

POLITICS-US: Religious Right Down but Not Out

The election of Sen. Barack Obama as the first African American president of the United States will not mark the end of the religious right.

POLITICS-US: Nevada Exemplifies New Electoral Map

To drive from the City of Angels to Sin City, you take Interstate 15, two thin strips of asphalt across the Mojave Desert.

PAKISTAN/US: ‘Obama’s Muslim Heritage Will Help’

The most watched polls ever in the world had their share of attention in Pakistan, complete with news updates, TV talk shows, call-ins from Pakistanis living in the United States and speeches by President-elect Barack Hussein Obama.

CHINA: In No Mood For Criticism From New US Gov’t

While China appears to have succumbed to the euphoria unleashed by the election of Barack Obama as U.S. President, analysts warn of an assertive approach by Beijing to the new dispensation.

U.S.: Obama to Seek Global Re-engagement, But How Much?

While a President Barack Hussein Obama will present a strikingly different face of the United States to the rest of the world, how different his actual foreign policy will be remains unclear.