
The 700 billion US dollars bail-out package has already clearly helped stabilise the financial system, US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said on Wednesday but he also warned there were still many challenges ahead and market turbulence was likely to continue for some time.

No major changes or initiatives, but a change in tone” - that is the commonly-held view of Washington analysts on Barack Obama's likely policies towards Latin America.
US president-elect Barack Obama, vowed on Friday to confront the current economic crisis head on in his first news conference since his victory in Tuesday's election.
The world is sinking into a major global slowdown, likely to be the worst in a quarter-century, perhaps since the Great Depression. This crisis was made in America, in more than one sense.

US President-elect Barack Obama has appointed a team of high-level advisers including billionaire investor Warren Buffett and Google chief executive Eric Schmidt to guide his thoughts on the economy ahead of taking office on January 20.

Barack Obama has started forming his administration by asking Rahm Emanuel, a former adviser to President Clinton, to be his chief-of-staff. US President-elect Obama is expected to appoint a new treasury secretary soon.

A United States federal court in Miami has found a Venezuelan businessman guilty of acting as an illegal foreign agent in US territory to cover up a political scandal involving Argentina.
Brazilian leader Lula da Silva said that if Barack Obama if finally elected as the next president of the United States, it would be something extraordinary, comparable to his won victory or that of Bolivia's Evo Morales, the first indigenous president, plus a spark of joy for the expectant world.

Aiming for a last-minute upset, Republican John McCain embarked on a grueling odyssey through seven swing states Monday while Democrat Barack Obama was headed toward three longtime GOP bastions that have become Democratic-leaning battlegrounds in the historic presidential contest.

Sarah Palin unwittingly took a prank call Saturday from a Canadian comedian posing as French President Nicolas Sarkozy and telling her she would make a good president someday. Maybe in eight years, replies a laughing Palin.