Washington - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has captured the key states of Michigan and Wisconsin, US networks projected as soon as polls in those states closed Tuesday, while McCain's new wins included North Dakota and Kansas.
Michigan, a state with 17 electoral votes that has severely suffered from the faltering US economy, was once considered a possibility for McCain, but he pulled his campaign operation out of the state in September.
Hanover, Germany - Twenty people died and 13 were injured when a bus caught fire on an autobahn near the north German city of Hanover on Tuesday evening, police said.
The bus was taking pensioners home from a day's outing when it burst into flames at 8:45 pm (1945 GMT).
The driver pulled over to the side of the motorway and more than a dozen passengers managed to escape the inferno, but others were trapped inside and died, police said.
A police spokeswoman said no other vehicle was involved.
Nairobi - In the tiny north-western Kenyan village of El-Hadi, two Gabbra pastoralists prepare to take their herd of bleating sheep and goats out to pasture.
The short rains have just come, and shoots of grass are springing up around the cluster of domed huts being warmed by the early morning sun.
At first glance, the scene seems to embody the pastoral idyll, but it belies serious problems in Kenya's arid north.
Population pressures, exacerbated by climate change, have led to constant armed clashes between tribes fighting for dwindling water sources and pasture.
The residents of El-Hadi, which sits in rocky terrain around 20 kilometres from the Ethiopian border, know all too well about the troubles.
Sydney - Wall Street gave Australian investors their lead at the opening bell Wednesday, propelling the market to an immediate 1.8-per-cent gain.
The ASX 200 added 80 points, or 1.8 per cent, to 4,295 in early trading.
But the rise didn't totally reflect the 3-per-cent gains in the US because of fears that Tuesday's larger-than-expected interest rate cut of 75 basis points signalled a gloomier-than-expected view of economic prospects from the Reserve Bank of Australia.
Hong Kong - Checks were being carried out on lifts in apartment blocks across Hong Kong Wednesday after a lift plunged 14 floors, seconds after the only person inside stepped out.
The woman exited the lift on the 14th floor after hearing "a strange noise" just before seven of its eight steel cables snapped in a public housing block in the city's Tai Po district.
Washington - If the US election in 2008 has proven anything, it's that whoever has the upper hand in using the internet to his or her advantage will probably walk away with a victory.
More than newspapers, television, phone calls, or door-to-door canvassing, the internet has both energised and mobilised voters like never before in the US, and in the process it has proven to be a tool that no candidate can fail to master going forward.
Washington - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has captured the key states of Michigan and Wisconsin, US networks projected as soon as polls in those states closed Tuesday, while McCain's new wins included North Dakota and Kansas.
Hanover, Germany - Twenty people died and 13 were injured when a bus caught fire on an autobahn near the north German city of Hanover on Tuesday evening, police said.
Sydney - Wall Street gave Australian investors their lead at the opening bell Wednesday, propelling the market to an immediate 1.8-per-cent gain.
Hong Kong - Checks were being carried out on lifts in apartment blocks across Hong Kong Wednesday after a lift plunged 14 floors, seconds after the only person inside stepped out.
Washington - If the US election in 2008 has proven anything, it's that whoever has the upper hand in using the internet to his or her advantage will probably walk away with a victory.
