After a frantic final four-state swing, President Obama has spent this last day before the elections in the White House, recording radio interviews and rallying volunteers by phone. Up and down the country, the airwaves are heavy with blast and counter-blast from candidates who have outspent any that have come before them. One non-partisan group estimates that the final spend on this election will be $4billion.

President Barack Obama has renewed American sanctions against Sudan for another year in an effort to keep the pressure on Khartoum to resolve the conflicts in the country. But a spokesman said the US would reconsider its approach if there was progress in resolving a bitter North-South dispute and improve the humanitarian situation in Darfur.

The electoral commission in Ivory Coast has said the turnout in Sunday’s presidential election was about 80%, a figure it called “historic”. The election, the first in ten years, is aimed at bringing an end to a civil war which left Ivory Coast divided for several years. John James reports from Abidjan.

So far only results for Ivorians who voted outside the country have been partially published. They suggest a second round between current President Laurent Gbagbo and former International Monetary Fund economist Alassane Ouattara. But these results represent a tiny percentage of the overall electorate. A large proportion of the country’s 5.7 million voters came out to cast their ballots on Sunday, creating long queues in front of many of the voting centres. The head of UN peacekeeping mission said the turnout was one of the highest-ever in Africa.