Obama "has said interesting things, and I hope he'll follow through on them," Chavez said, citing Obama's promise to close Guantanamo as a center to detain terrorist suspects and to pull out U.S. troops from Iraq.

Chavez proposed that Obama work with the Venezuelan leader "against the ills of the world: hunger, AIDS, poverty and malnutrition."

Chavez has been the United States' biggest headache in Latin America. He regularly rails against Bush, free-trade and capitalism.

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Chinese and U.S. business executives gathered at a Beijing hotel to watch U.S. election returns voiced hope that an Obama administration would consult closely with China on economic matters.

"The United States and China more than ever need to have a positive partnership," said James M. Zimmerman, chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, referring to the economic links between the countries.

Already, global financial turmoil is throwing Chinese out of work, and businessmen want the new U.S. administration to take strong action to stabilize markets and investments.

"The election was decided by the financial crisis," said Thomas Yin, executive director of United China Consultants, adding that Obama's lack of major management experience makes him nervous.

"He has to do something to save the economy, to save the (American) middle class," Yin said. "Some small factories here, such as toy manufacturers, have already gone bankrupt because they don't get any more orders from America."

Zhang Nan, a journalist from Beijing Today newspaper, said she has one major hope for an Obama administration: "Not so many wars. A more peaceful environment."

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Election-night parties were held in homes, bars and pubs across Europe. Given the time difference with America (Britain is five hours ahead of the U.S. East Coast, and continental Europe is six hours ahead), the election result wasn't known until the early morning hours, but that didn't stop crowds of American expatriates and Europeans alike from staying up all night.

In London, home to the largest American community outside North America, hundreds of Obama fans held parties across the city. A mob crowded into The Hoop and Toy, a pub in South Kensington, to watch the night unfold on big-screen televisions. Cheers went up from the crowd each time key state victories were announced, and there was a champagne toast to victory. The event didn't break up until 6 a.m. when many had to start thinking about going to work.

Duane Mitchell, 45, was one of the American expats who stayed up all night in his London home watching the results roll in.

"I'm surprised and I'm really pleased by the result," said Mitchell, who is chief information officer of a law firm in London, originally hails from Philadelphia. "It was an amazing, amazing event." He voted by absentee ballot, as did many Americans abroad.

Britons, too, stayed up to see the conclusion of a campaign that has been closely followed for months.

"The scenes I saw on the telly last night from America were extraordinary," said Simon Haymer, 45, who is managing director of an advertising agency in London and looked rather glassy-eyed as he waited for a bus near Trafalgar Square this morning. "It was like someone had won a war." The only similar displays of emotion he could recall in Britain were royal weddings or "when we do half decent at the Olympics." Haymer, who said he follows American politics closely, said "the best man won." He added "but the best thing is Bush won't be there."

Somit Prasad, a 31-year-old dentist, was snatching a cigarette outside London's Paddington train station during the morning rush hour. "I'm very pleased," he said with typical British understatement. "I've followed the race quite closely, and this is quite historic." He referred to Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks. "Barack Obama is eloquent and very sincere, and I expect world relations will be much better with America."

Even passengers flying across the Atlantic were anxious to hear the news. When a British Airways flight from Boston to London landed at Heathrow, Europe's busiest airport, shortly after 5 a.m. British time, the pilot announced that Obama was the winner and applause broke out among the passengers. "Sweet," said Ramatsu Sowe, a 66-year-old grandmother with several missing teeth and a gold cap in the middle of her crooked smile, who was on the flight to visit her children in Britain. "I can't believe it." Originally from Sierra Leone, she moved to Massachusetts in 1996. This was the first time she was eligible to vote in a U.S. election, and she did so before boarding the flight. "Obama will be great," she said. Although she is looking forward to her visit in Britain she added that "I'm going back for the inauguration in America."

Despite polls across Europe in recent months showing Obama as the heavy favorite, there was some caution this morning, too. "I think the world's still going to be pretty skeptical about America, especially the fear that it might become isolationist," Haymer said. "There's going to be a huge anticlimax" for Obama, Prasad predicted. "He's inheriting so many problems."

Britain's prime minister, Gordon Brown, and the opposition Conservative leader David Cameron both met Obama during his European tour in July and issued statements on the election result. Brown said Obama ran "an inspirational campaign, energizing politics with his progressive values and his vision for the future." Cameron called Obama "the first of a new generation of world leaders."

Perhaps the most surprising praise came from France, long a thorn in America's side. President Nicolas Sarkozy, who met Obama when he visited Paris a few months ago, called the result "brilliant."

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(Reporting from Tim Johnson in Beijing; Shashank Bengali in Kisumu, Kenya, and Munene Kilongi in Nairobi; Alla Burakovskaya in Moscow; Dion Nissembaum and Cliff Churgin in Jerusalem; Mohammed Ali in Beirut; Julie Sell in London; Tyler Bridges in Rio de Janeiro, Leila Fadel, Corinne Reilly and Mohammed al-Dulaimy in Baghdad.)

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(c) 2008, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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