New York  - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday sent his "warmest congratulations" to president-elect Barack Obama, vowing to work closely with him to resolve global issues.

"These are profound challenges that require collaboration and cooperation," Ban said in the first message to Obama's historic election victory to become the 44th US president.

"Today, Senator Barack Obama is America's choice, I look forward to working with the new administration to fulfil our common goals and objectives," Ban said.

New York - Major US stock indices fell on opening Wednesday after the election of Democrat Barack Obama as the next president of the United States.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.4 per cent at 1508 GMT, while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 fell 1.19 per cent. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 1.23 per cent.

Obama celebrated a resounding victory over Republican John McCain Tuesday night after an election campaign that was dominated by concerns over the credit crisis and faltering US economy.

Damascus  - Syria hopes that the new US president would change the US foreign policy, said Syrian Minister of Information said on Wednesday.

"We hope that the US drop its policies of wars and boycott and would adopt diplomacy and dialogue," reported the Syrian news agency SANA quoting Hohsen Belal.

Belal added that he would wish for more peace in the Middle East.

The US has raided a Syrian village a couple of weeks ago killing eight civilians, according to Syria. The event has escalated tensions between the two countries.

Amman - The Islamic Action Front (IAF), Jordan's largest political party, on Wednesday expressed guarded optimism over the election of Barak Obama as the next US president and said they considered his win an "apology" from the American people to the peoples of Iraq and Afghanistan.

"We welcome Obama's election and believe that his win represents a clear message inside as well as outside America," IAF Secretary General Zaki Bani Ershaid told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

London - The political leaders of Northern Ireland Wednesday hailed the election of Barack Obama as the next US president and said they wished to continue their "mutual beneficial relationship" with the United States.

Peter Robinson, the Protestant leader of Northern Ireland's power- sharing government, said he was looking forward to working with an Obama administration and to continuing the "mutually beneficial relationship that Northern Ireland has developed with the United States over the years."

Buenos Aires - The triumph of Democratic can