President Barack Obama easily elected to a second and finalfour-year term despite a sluggish economy and a tight race that went down tothe wire, beating Republican Mitt Romney.
World leaders welcome Obama's re-election, pledge deepercooperation to fight global economic slump and maintain security across theglobe.
US Congress remains unchanged and divided: Democratsretained control of the Senate, and Republicans still in charge in the House ofRepresentatives.
Three states -- Maine, Maryland and Washington -- become thefirst to approve same-sex marriage in a referendum. They join six others andWashington, DC, the US capital, in giving full legal status to such unions.
Marijuana use for recreational purposes -- not just medicalones -- is legalized for the first time in the United States, in the states ofColorado and Washington, but voted down in Oregon.
Democrats win back icon Ted Kennedy's old seat as Massachusettsvoters elect their first female senator, Elizabeth Warren, in the marqueecongressional race. She defeated Republican incumbent Scott Brown.
Two conservative Republican Senate candidates widelycondemned for pre-election remarks about rape and abortion lose their bids.
Todd Akin failed to unseat the Democratic incumbent inMissouri and Richard Mourdock, who Romney had championed before hiscontroversial comment in a video endorsement, was unseated in a big Republicansetback in Indiana.
Congress once again boasts a member of the Kennedy politicaldynasty. He is Joseph Kennedy III, 32, also from Massachusetts. He is agrandson of the late Robert F. Kennedy.
The Taliban note Obama's re-election saying he should pullall US troops out of Afghanistan now, ahead of schedule, and admit defeat inthe war.
