Brussels/Paris, Nov. 14 : U. S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has accused Russia of engaging in Cold War brinkmanship through its threats to position nuclear weapons on its European border.

Gates claimed that the Kremlin was trying to intimidate President-elect Barack Obama into dropping American plans for a new missile defence system based in Eastern Europe.

New York, Nov 14 : New York Senator Hillary Clinton, who lost to US President elect Barack Obama in Democrat primary race, would have won the White House by a bigger margin.

Barack Obama won big on Election Day, but Hillary Clinton would have won bigger, the Daily News reported.

London, Nov 14 : Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has urged US president elect Barack Obama to take the initiative on issues from climate change to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a way to heal the divisions between America and Europe.

In an interview with the Guardian during a visit to Rwanda, the former prime minister said Obama''s election as US president opened up "an era of real possibility".

London, Nov 14 : President-elect Barack Obama has been given his secret service code name – Renegade.

Obama had a say in choosing the rebellious name used by his elite protection team. He was given the choice of several names starting with the letter R, The Sun reported.

And in keeping with the tradition of having all family members’ code names start with the same letter, future first lady Michelle Obama is Renaissance, and daughters Sasha and Malia are known as Rosebud and Radiance, respectively.

Islamabad, Nov 14 : Pakistan High Commissioner to India Shahid Malik has reportedly said that his country was “not averse” to US President-elect Barack Obama using his good offices to settle the Kashmir issue between India and Pakistan.

He said Pakistan had no objection to a third party’s involvement in resolution of the Kashmir dispute.

Washington, Nov 14: President-elect Barack Obama will resign from the Senate effective from Sunday.

As he steps down, Obama tells his constituents “it has been one of the highest honors and privileges of my life to have served the people of Illinois in the United States Senate.”

In the statement, the Illinois senator said “his four-year term has been one of the highest honors and privileges of my life,” FOX News reported