FORMER US senate majority Leader Tom Daschle has accepted President-elect Barack Obama’s offer to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, Democratic officials said Wednesday.

Barack Obama was poised to reach a major milestone in the Kentucky and Oregon primaries today – a majority of the elected delegates offered in the Democratic presidential contest.

DEMOCRATIC Senator John Kerry conceded defeat in a hard-fought US presidential election yesterday saying he had offered President George Bush congratulations on his victory but that the nation needed healing.

REPUBLICANS expanded their hold on US Congress in Tuesday's elections and Democrat Tom Daschle became the first senate leader in half a century to be voted out of office.

Democratic Senator John Kerry conceded defeat in a hard-fought US presidential election today saying he had offered President George Bush congratulations on his victory but that the nation needed healing.

US President George Bush today won a second term in office from a divided and anxious nation, his promise of steady, strong wartime leadership trumping John Kerry’s fresh-start approach to Iraq and joblessness.

Republicans tightened their grip on the US Senate today, capturing a string of Democratic seats while extending their decade-long hold on Congress.

President George Bush prepared to declare re-election victory today even though Democratic rival John Kerry refused to concede as results in the key state of Ohio remained uncertain.

In a political seismic shock, US Senate minority leader Tom Daschle was beaten today.

Republicans have retained control of the House of Representatives, extending their 10-year hold on the chamber.

The US senate has scuppered a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, in a defeat to “deeply disappointed” President George Bush.

Preliminary tests of a white powder discovered in a US Senate office building in Washington were positive for the potentially deadly poison ricin, police said.

President Bush’s national security adviser has admitted that intelligence given to the administration before the Iraq war was probably flawed.

Democrats challenged the buoyant picture of the US presented in President George W Bush’s State of the Union address, saying it belied a darker reality of lost jobs, rising deficits and mounting casualties in Iraq.

President George W Bush, wrapping the themes of his re-election campaign in his State of the Union address, asserted that the US is strengthening its economy and successfully combating terrorism.

Postal workers have begun moving back into Washington’s main mail centre, more than two years after anthrax-laced letters killed two workers.

US Democrats pressed for deeper investigation of pre-war US intelligence efforts after top security officials admitted President George W Bush was wrong when he said Iraq had tried to buy uranium in Africa.

THE US has announced a $15 billion plan to tackle the global crisis of AIDS and has called on the rest of the world to follow its lead.

A MAIL distribution centre was evacuated in Tacoma, Washington, and four workers hospitalised, after powder found on a sorting table tested positive for biotoxins, officials said yesterday.

THE US unshackled the full fury of its military, unleashing a fearsome ‘shock and awe’ air campaign on Iraq, with the fate of Saddam Hussein still a mystery.

US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld last night said an offensive more powerful than anything seen before was coming to Iraq and urged Saddam Hussein’s defenders to disobey orders and give up.

US lawmakers have drafted a resolution thanking Tony Blair for backing America in the war against Iraq.

US President George W Bush, confronting an ailing economy and the prospect of war in Iraq, declared he would “rally the American people to some great causes” in last night’s State of the Union address.

The Bush administration today moved steadily toward a military showdown with Iraq and suggested a decision could come as early as next week after UN inspectors credited Iraq with only limited cooperation in the search for weapons.

Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle will not run for US president, saying today his passion 'lies here in the Senate'.

US Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, a first-term Democrat, said yesterday he plans to run for the White House in 2004.

THE Democratic Party has been left without a clear candidate to challenge George W Bush for the White House in 2004, after former US Vice President Al Gore's surprise decision not to run.

Former US Vice President Al Gore, who came agonisingly close to winning the presidency two years ago, has said he will not run for the White House in 2004.

EXULTANT Republicans, who won control of the Senate, House and White House yesterday, plan to use their famous victory to bolster President George Bush's re-election chances with further tax cuts and ratification of his judicial nominees.

TOP US officials said yesterday authorities were investigating but had found no evidence to link a string of deadly sniper attacks in the Washington area to international terror groups.

The US Congress today voted solidly to give President George Bush the broad authority he sought to use military force to confront Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, handing him a crucial national security policy victory

US president George Bush gained important new Democratic support for his war resolution, bolstering his expected margin of victory in Congress for broad authority to use force against Iraq.

CIA DIRECTOR George Tenet has told politicians Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, if provoked

THE White House yesterday opposed an alternative congressional resolution authorising force against Iraq, saying it does too little to disarm President Saddam Hussein.

The White House today opposed an alternative congressional resolution authorising force against Iraq, saying it does too little to disarm President Saddam Hussein.

US President George W Bush said today that Congress, guided by leaders of both parties, was nearing agreement on a resolution authorising the use of force against Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH said he is close to a deal with Congress to “speak with one voice” against Saddam Hussein.

Britain and the US have reached agreement on a tough UN resolution on Iraq and will present a proposed text to Russia, France and China, the other permanent members of the Security Council, a senior White House official said tonight.

President George Bush today pressed a campaign to swing Russia behind the tough American stance against Saddam Hussein as Congress promised a quick vote on using military force against Iraq.

The Bush administration has stepped up pressure for a new UN Security Council disarmament resolution for Iraq and disclosed plans for moving B-2 bombers closer to Baghdad, preparing for possible war to remove President Saddam Hussein.

Iraq’s United Nations ambassador sent a defiant message to George Bush after the US president urged world leaders to confront the "grave and gathering danger" of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq - or stand aside as the United States acted.

President George Bush, answering demands to know his intentions toward Iraq, has invited the congressional leadership to a White House briefing today.

The FBI has asked US Senators to take lie detector tests as part of a probe into leaks of classified September 11 information, it emerged today.