Washington - Republican John McCa

Sydney - The United Nations on Wednesday threw its weight behind a German doctor ordered out of Australia because of the cost to the taxpayer of looking after his 
13-year-old disabled son.

Bernhard Moeller, who has been on a temporary visa since arriving in 2005 to fill an internationally advertised vacancy at the small hospital in rural Horsham, was last week denied permanent residency because his son Lukas has Down's syndrome, which "is likely to result in costs to the Australian community that are significant."

Washington - Polling stations closed Tuesday in a broad swathe of eastern states including key battlegrounds Pennsylvania, Florida, Missouri and New Hampshire, all of which were heavily contested in the presidential race between Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama.

The eastern state Pennsylvania is McCain's best hope of capturing a typically Democratic stronghold. Missouri is considered a bellwether state that has voted in favour of the winning candidate in every election but one since 1900.

Sydney - Economic growth is to slow, the government's budget surplus is to shrink and job queues are to lengthen amid the global financial crisis, the Australian government forecast Wednesday.

Over the fiscal year that began in July, the government expected growth in the gross domestic product (GDP) to come in at 2 per cent, down from a previous forecast of 
2.75 per cent. For the next fiscal year, GDP growth should be 2.25 per cent, down from the earlier projection of 3 per cent, it said.

Washington - As election results come in, the major US news networks have begun projecting the winners in the presidential election in each state.

Washington -