Barack Obama will meet with his economic team on Friday and hold his first news conference since becoming U.S. president-elect, aides said, as the country awaited signs of how he might tackle the economic crisis.

Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain face the verdict of U.S. voters on Tuesday after a long and bitter struggle for the White House, with Obama holding a decisive edge in national opinion polls.

Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain raced through the battleground states of Ohio and Pennsylvania on Sunday, with McCain struggling to overtake Obama's lead in the final 48 hours of a gruelling White House campaign.

Democrat Barack Obama's lead over Republican rival John McCain held steady at 7 points as the race for the White House entered its final four days, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Friday.

Republican John McCain questioned Democratic rival Barack Obama's readiness for the White House and Obama issued a prime-time television appeal on Wednesday calling the election "a defining moment" as a bruising presidential campaign hit the final stretch.

The Federal Reserve cut U.S. interest rates by a half-percentage point on Wednesday to the lowest level since June 2004 as it tried to stave off a prolonged recession, and left the door open to further reductions if needed.

Democrat Barack Obama has a steady 5-point national lead over Republican John McCain with six days left in the gruelling race for the White House, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.

U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska was convicted of corruption on Monday, a verdict that could endanger the Republican's political future and help Democrats expand control of the Senate in the November 4 election.

Two white supremacist skinheads were arrested in Tennessee over plans to go on a killing spree and eventually shoot Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, court documents showed on Monday.

Two people were shot and killed and a third wounded on an Arkansas university campus on Sunday night, according to university and hospital officials.

Barack Obama leads John McCain in five of eight crucial battleground states one week before the U.S. presidential election, with McCain ahead in two states and Florida dead even, according to a series of Reuters/Zogby polls released on Monday.

European nations could contribute more to NATO's mission in Afghanistan if Washington poured in more resources itself and provided a compelling strategy, the U.S. ambassador to NATO said on Thursday.

Democrat Barack Obama holds a 10-point lead over Republican rival John McCain in the U.S. presidential race, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Friday.

Democrat Barack Obama's lead over Republican rival John McCain has grown to 12 points in the U.S. presidential race, with crucial independent and women voters increasingly moving to his side, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Thursday.

The Pentagon official overseeing the Guantanamo war crimes court dismissed all charges against five prisoners on Tuesday, including a British resident who says he falsely confessed to a radioactive "dirty bomb" plot while being tortured.

Countries must be bold and act in solidarity to prevent the global financial crisis from turning into a "prolonged human crisis," U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Tuesday.

Democrat Barack Obama has expanded his national lead over Republican John McCain in the U.S. presidential race to 10 points, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.

Democrat Barack Obama will leave the presidential campaign trail to visit his ailing 85-year-old grandmother in Hawaii, whose health has deteriorated in recent weeks, an aide said on Monday.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress on Monday that another wave of government spending may be needed as the economy limps through what could be an extended period of subpar growth.