Barack Obama makes campaign stop in St. Louis

CHICAGO, Dec. 5 (UPI) -- Oprah Winfrey says she would have liked to have interviewed Sarah Palin after the election, but the former U.S. vice presidential candidate wasn't interested.

RICHMOND, Va., Dec. 5 (UPI) -- Virginia Gov. Timothy Kaine says he would not consider a Cabinet position before the end of his term in 2010.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 (UPI) -- U.S. President-elect Barack Obama raised nearly $750 million in his presidential campaign, Federal Election Commission reports show.

DES MOINES, Iowa, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- Congress has until the end of 2009 to pass healthcare reform, or lose its opportunity until after the 2010 election, U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa., said.

BERLIN, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- A U.S. soldier who deserted the Army to avoid returning to Iraq and an artist who fled Switzerland's military draft are dominating headlines with their political asylum cases in Germany.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- The Bush administration has repeatedly cautioned the European Union about its growing dependency on Russian energy imports. Closer to home, however, Gazprom is establishing an office in Rio de Janeiro from where it plans to enter the Latin American market.

NEW YORK, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- Alicia Keys admits she is excited about rumors claiming she will sing at U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's inaugural ball but says nothing is confirmed yet.

ELIZABETH, N.J., Dec. 4 (UPI) -- U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff said Thursday at New Jersey's Kean University his department should not be divided into smaller parts.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- A Florida congresswoman, certain she was the victim of a joke, hung up on President-elect Barack Obama -- not once, but twice.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- The heads of America's Big Three automakers -- General Motors, Ford and Chrysler -- descended on Washington Thursday in a convoy of hybrid and flex-fuel vehicles seeking $34 billion in loans to save the floundering U.S. auto industry. They look certain to get the bailout, but U.S. public opinion, even in the Midwest heartland where the industry is based, remains surprisingly lukewarm, even hostile.