- Brazil's top court takes on regulation of social media
- Thousands still queuing to vote after Namibia polls close
- Trump taps retired general for key Ukraine conflict role
- Canadian fund drops bid for Spanish pharma firm Grifols
- Argentine ex-president Fernandez gives statement in corruption case
- Mexico says Trump tariffs would cost 400,000 US jobs
- Car-centric Saudi to open first part of Riyadh Metro
- Brussels, not Paris, will decide EU-Mercosur trade deal: Lula
- Faeces, vomit offer clues to how dinosaurs rose to rule Earth
- Ruby slippers from 'The Wizard of Oz' up for auction
- Spain factory explosion kills three, injures seven
- US Fed's favored inflation gauge ticks up in October
- Defence lawyers plead to judges in French mass rape trial
- US says China releases three 'wrongfully detained' Americans
- New clashes in Mozambique as two reported killed
- Romania officials to meet over 'cyber risks' to elections
- Chelsea visit next stop in Heidenheim's 'unthinkable' rise
- Former England prop Marler announces retirement from rugby
- Kumara gives Sri Lanka edge on rain-hit day against South Africa
- Namibia votes with ruling party facing toughest race yet
- Spurs goalkeeper Vicario out for 'months' with broken ankle
- Moscow expels German journalists, Berlin denies closing Russia TV bureau
- Spain govt defends flood response and offers new aid
- France says Netanyahu has 'immunity' from ICC warrants
- Nigerian state visit signals shift in France's Africa strategy
- Stock markets waver as traders weigh Trump tariffs, inflation
- Tens of thousands in Lebanon head home as Israel-Hezbollah truce takes hold
- Opposition candidates killed in Tanzania local election
- Amorim eyes victory in first Man Utd home game to kickstart new era
- Fresh fury as Mozambique police mow down protester
- Defeat at Liverpool could end Man City title hopes, says Gundogan
- Indonesians vote in regional election seen as test for Prabowo
- Guardiola says no intent to 'make light' of self harm in post-match comments
- New EU commission gets green light to launch defence, economy push
- Opposition figures killed as Tanzania holds local election
- Taiwan Olympic boxing champion quits event after gender questions
- European stocks drop on Trump trade war worries
- Volkswagen to sell operations in China's Xinjiang
- FA probes referee David Coote over betting claim
- Serbia gripped by TV series about murder of prime minister
- Putin seeks to shore up ties on visit to 'friendly' Kazakhstan
- New EU commission pushes for defence and economy spending
- Plastic pollution talks must speed up, chair warns
- Pakistan web controls quash dissent and potential
- 1,000 Pakistan protesters arrested in pro-Khan capital march
- ICC prosecutor seeks arrest warrant for Myanmar junta chief
- Philippine VP's bodyguards swapped out amid investigation
- EasyJet annual profit rises 40% on package holidays
- Ukraine sees influx of Western war tourists
- Greeks finally get Thessaloniki metro after two-decade wait
Harris or Trump? US election heads for cliffhanger
Americans faced a long night of agonizing suspense Tuesday as Kamala Harris and Donald Trump's historically close battle for the White House went down to the wire.
Republican former president Trump won strongholds including Florida and Texas, while Democratic vice president Harris took several eastern states including New York as results started to flow in.
But there were no major surprises or breakthroughs, leaving the seven crucial battleground states likely to determine who becomes the 47th US president.
A final result could still take hours or even days to materialize if the margins in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona and the other swing states come down to a few thousand votes at a time.
Millions of Americans lined up throughout Election Day -- and millions more voted early -- in a race with momentous consequences for the United States and the world.
The anxiously awaited outcome will either make Harris the first woman in the world's most powerful job or hand a historic comeback to Trump and his right-wing "America First" agenda.
In a stark reminder of the tension -- and fears of outright violence -- dozens of bomb threats were made against polling stations in the swing states of Georgia and Pennsylvania.
The FBI said the threats appeared to originate in Russia, which is accused by Washington of trying to meddle in the election.
The threats were all hoaxes but succeeded in disrupting proceedings.
Voting was temporarily suspended at five locations in the majority Black, Democratic stronghold of Fulton County in Georgia -- a key bastion for Harris. In Pennsylvania, Governor Josh Shapiro said that "thus far, there is no credible threat to the public."
- 'Big victory' -
Trump -- who has still refused to accept his 2020 election loss, after which his supporters attacked the US Capitol -- added as the first results came in that "we're going to have a big victory tonight."
Harris urged people to vote as she spent the day in Washington doing interviews with radio stations and taking a few calls personally at a phone bank for voters.
"We've got to get it done. Today is voting day, and people need to get out and be active," Harris told Atlanta station WVEE-FM.
Trump had an early lead, partly thanks to projected wins in reliably Republican Florida, Texas and Ohio, giving him 201 electoral votes to Harris's early haul of 90.
She was likely to get a big boost when the country's biggest and reliably Democratic state, California, comes in. However in the end, all will depend on the battlegrounds: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
In a possible preview of coming election challenges, Trump took to social media to say there is "talk about massive cheating" in Philadelphia, the Democratic stronghold of vital Pennsylvania.
City officials rejected the charge.
There were also fears of violence if Trump loses and numerous buildings in central Washington were boarded up on Tuesday.
Polls for weeks have shown a knife-edge race between Harris and Trump, who at 78 would be the oldest ever president at the time of inauguration, the first felon president, and only the second in history to serve non-consecutive terms.
Harris, 60, would also be only the second Black and first person of South Asian descent to be president.
She made a dramatic entrance into the race when Biden dropped out in July, while Trump -- twice impeached while president -- has since ridden out two assassination attempts and a criminal conviction.
- 'Super excited' -
Casting a ballot in Arizona, Trump backer Camille Kroskey, 62, said she was voting in person due to concerns about voting fraud.
"I want to make sure I drop my ballot where it's going to actually land somewhere," she told AFP.
Harris will hold her watch party later at Howard University in Washington, a historically Black college that she attended as a student.
"I'm a black woman. I'm an American. I'm super excited about the possibility of her becoming president," a tearful Camille Franklin, who also went to the college, told AFP.
Trump has vowed an unprecedented deportation campaign of millions of undocumented immigrants, in a campaign full of dark rhetoric.
Harris has hammered home her opposition to Trump-backed abortion bans -- a vote-winning position with women.
The election was meanwhile being watched closely around the world including in the war zones of Ukraine and the Middle East, anxious to see how the next Oval Office occupant deals with the conflicts.
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K.Thomson--BTB