US mid-terms: Republicans win control of the Senate

Republicans have won control of the Senate in the US mid-term elections, increasing their power in the final two years of Barack Obama’s presidency. The party won in Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Montana, North Carolina, South Dakota and West Virginia. And it is expected to post more gains as votes are counted in other states. Republican Senator Mitch McConnell, poised to lead the chamber, said the result was a vote against “a government that people can no longer trust”. In the mid-terms, so-called because they fell half way into Mr Obama’s second four-year term in office, about one-third of the Senate, the entire House of Representatives, 36 of 50 state governors, and countless state and local offices were up for election. Throughout the campaign, Republicans focused on voter dissatisfaction with Mr Obama, a Democrat, describing the vote as a referendum on his presidency. As the first results came in late on Tuesday, it became clear they had made convincing gains in the chamber. – BBC Online