Puppy for Obama's daughters

CHICAGO - OK, dad won the presidency, but the election victory yielded a special bonus for Mr Barack Obama's two daughters.

'I love you both so much, and you have earned the new puppy that's coming with us to the White House', Mr Obama told Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, during his victory speech.

The good news for his daughters came as Mr Obama acknowledged his family's contributions to his campaign.

The news prompted even bigger smiles as they surrounded him. He did not go into details about a name or breed for the new White House pet, who will follow in the steps of the Bush family's Scottish terriers, Barney and Miss Beazley.

'An awesome night'

WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush has telephoned Barack Obama to congratulate him on winning the presidency.

The two-term Republican president told the Illinois senator upon his historic win: 'What an awesome night for you, your family and your supporters.'

Mr Bush promised Mr Obama a smooth transition to the White House.

Bush spokesman Dana Perino said the president told Mr Obama: 'You are about to go on one of the great journeys of life. Congratulations and go enjoy yourself.' -- AP

Obama, Japan ecstatic for accidental namesake

OBAMA (Japan) - WITH hula dancers, ecstatic chanting and some rock 'n' roll, a Japanese town named Obama rejoiced on Wednesday as its accidental namesake was elected president of the United States.

An ocean away from the United States, this ancient fishing town of 32,000 people - Obama means 'small shore' in Japanese - adopted Democrat Barack Obama as one of its own and put on a party to match.

'I'm so excited because Obama shares our town's name. But even if the town was called McCain, I would still support Barack Obama,' said dancer Masayo Ishibashi, 44, wearing a Hawaiian skirt.

Also toasting Mr Obama was a local band called Anyone Brothers Band, who blared an electrical guitar for a song with the refrain 'Obama is Beautiful World'.

The band's lead singer Akihiko Mukohama voiced admiration that the United States elected its first non-white leader. 'I hope the world is changing', he said. -- AFP

Obama's Kenyan relatives cheer win

KOGELO (Kenya) - MR BARACK Obama's Kenyan family erupted in cheers on Wednesday, singing 'We are going to the White House!' as Mr Obama became the first African-American elected president in the United States.

In the western village of Kogelo, where the Democratic candidate's late father was born, police had tightened security to prevent hordes of media and others from entering the rural homestead of Mr Obama's step-grandmother, Sarah.

But the elderly woman and several other relatives came outside on Wednesday to cheer for Mr Obama in a country where the Democrat is seen as a 'son of the soil'. -- AP

'Obama wins', pronounce Indon 6th-graders

JAKARTA - STUDENTS at US presidential candidate Barack Obama's old primary school in Indonesia were prematurely celebrating his election win on Wednesday, and looking forward to his first presidential visit.

'Obama wins! McCain loses!' chanted the crows of about 250 excited children at the Menteng One primary school in the affluent central Jakarta suburb of Menteng, as they watched coverage on local television.

Deputy principal Akahmad Solikhin won rapturous applause when he announced to the children that Mr Obama would be visiting them soon. 'If Obama wins he'll visit our school,' he said.

A son of a white American mother and a black Kenyan father, Mr Obama was raised in Hawaii and moved to Indonesia when he was six after his divorced mother remarried an Indonesian.

He went to school in Menteng in the late 1960s, and in his memoirs recalled his time here as the 'bounty of a young man's life'.

Mr Solikhin said that with the Democrat senator appearing set to become the first black US president and the most powerful man in the world, he was having a powerful new influence on his old school on the other side of the planet.

'We're using Obama as a tool to motivate the students to be successful. There is an emotional connection between the students and Obama', he said, adding that enrollments had increased 5.0-10 per cent over last year.

Sixth-grader Farhan Ashardi, 11, said he now believed he could be president of Indonesia one day.

'If Obama can do it so can I', he said.

Biden wins Senate seat, unlikely to serve

WASHINGTON - DEMOCRATIC vice presidential candidate Joe Biden on Tuesday easily won re-election to his Senate seat in the northeastern state of Delaware, according to voting results.

However if Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama wins the presidential election, Mr Biden is likely to resign his Senate seat and allow the state's democratic governor to appoint a successor.

Mr Biden, 65, was challenged for the Senate seat by Republican Christine O'Connell, who captured less than a third of votes, according to exit polls.

Mr Biden, was unveiled as Mr Obama's choice for running mate in late August.

He has served in the US Senate for 36 years.

US troops on front lines of war track election

MOSUL (Iraq) - US SOLDIERS on the front lines tuned in Tuesday to CNN and the Internet to track the presidential election that will decide the future of their mission.

Troops in the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan mailed in absentee ballots long ago - if they voted. So by the time election day arrived back home, there was nothing for them to do but await the results.

It was hard to tell, however, whether soldiers were pleased with the outcome of the race.

One soldier, Sgt James Fowler, 27, of Fresno, California, volunteered that he voted for Mr Obama but 'I am outnumbered 10-to-one, especially among officers' and senior non-commissioned officers who support Mr McCain.

'Everyone is looking forward to McCain,' said Sgt Fowler, from the 94th Engineer Battalion. 'But I believe it's time for change and Obama has promised that. At least he has given us a timeline' for withdrawing from Iraq. -- AP

Empire State Building lights up in red and blue

NEW YORK - THE Empire State Building is divided, politically.

The iconic skyscraper in New York City illuminated its tower in Democratic blue and Republican red on Tuesday night, representing respectively, Mr Barack Obama and Mr John McCain.

The winner's color will light the tower on Wednesday night. The red-blue split will stay if the result isn't known by then.

The tower lights frequently are themed. The first election lighting signalled Franklin D. Roosevelt's win in 1932. -- AP

US voters wait for hours to cast ballots

NEW YORK - Lines stretched around buildings and down city blocks as people waited hours to cast ballots in the historic presidential race between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain.

Touchscreen voting machines malfunctioned in some precincts,yet voting Tuesday appeared to go smoothly.

The biggest trouble was big crowds. But folks seemed to take it in stride.

What was uncommon about Tuesday's contest was the sheer number of voters expected to descend on more than 7,000 election jurisdictions across the country.

Voter registration numbers are up 7.3 per cent from the last presidential election.

Turnout rates as high as 80 per cent were expected in Virginia and California, the country's most populous state and the one with the most electoral votes. -- AP

Thousands stream in to Obama's election party

CHICAGO - THOUSANDS of people began pouring in to Chicago's Grant Park Tuesday for White House hopeful Barack Obama's election night party, sprinting to the front to get a ringside seat as history unfolds.

A total of 65,000 supporters received coveted tickets to attend the party, passing through lengthy security checks to gain access to the event site where six searchlights arced into an unusually balmy autumn night above the stage.

Up to a million more were expected to throng the streets around the lakeside park with tens of thousands already milling around as states on the US east coast started to report their election returns. -- AFP

McCain has plane scare

ALBUQUERQUE - JOHN McCain had a hair-raising moment aboard his plane on Tuesday in the final hours of campaigning when his pilot had to abort a landing in New Mexico at the last minute.

As the 'Straight Talk Air' campaign plane came in to land at a hilltop airport in Albuquerque on a final campaign stop, the Boeing 737 suddenly pulled up sharply and accelerated around 90 metres from the ground.

It then circled the airport before coming back in to land safely a second time, an AFP reporter on board said.

The pilot explained afterwards that the first landing attempt had been aborted because of traffic on the runway.

Passengers travelling on the plane made light of the incident, laughing and joking as the jet veered upwards to halt its landing. When it eventually landed journalists and staff broke into applause.

Republican candidate McCain, a former Navy pilot, was finishing election day in the city of Phoenix in his home state of Arizona. -- AFP