Russia said Monday it expected "common sense" to prevail in a burgeoning diplomatic row with Washington that could result in tit-for-tat travel restrictions between the two Cold War rivals.

"I would like to believe that common sense will prevail," Russian news agencies quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying.

No one wanted to be president less than Mitt Romney, his son said in an interview out Sunday that raises new questions about the candidacy of the losing Republican nominee.

In an interview with the Boston Globe examining what went wrong with the Romney campaign, his eldest son Tagg explains that his father had been a reluctant candidate from the start.

Democrat and Republican lawmakers mulled their next move Saturday after leaving Washington for the Christmas holidays without reaching agreement on averting a year-end fiscal crisis that threatens Americans with stiff tax hikes and drastic budget cuts.

On Friday, U.S. President Barack Obama urged lawmakers to pass a scaled-down tax package to avert the so-call fiscal cliff.

A major $633-billion defense spending bill was awaiting President Barack Obama's signature Saturday after the US Senate gave it its stamp of approval, tightening penalties on Iran, funding the war in Afghanistan and boosting security at U.S. missions worldwide.

The legislation passed the Senate 81-14 Friday, despite furious opposition from Republican Senator Rand Paul, who criticized removal of an amendment that would have provided Americans with protection against indefinite military detention.

President Barack Obama Wednesday set up a task force to frame "concrete proposals" on ending mass shootings by next month and called for new laws, but denied he had been on "vacation" on gun control.

With trauma still raw after the Connecticut school massacre last week, Obama put Vice President Joe Biden in charge of an inter-agency effort on gun control and mental health, saying America had a "deep obligation" to act.

President Barack Obama on Tuesday threw his weight behind a bill to reintroduce a ban on civilians owning assault weapons, in the wake of a gun massacre in an elementary school that shocked the nation.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said the president would support a law proposed by Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein to prohibit the arms, defined as certain types of semi-automatic firearm with removable magazines.

The official, final votes in the 2012 presidential election were cast Monday by members of the Electoral College, a constitutional formality in President Barack Obama's march to a second term.

The rite playing in state capitols dates back centuries, to a time in early American history when only elected representatives could vote for president. It's now ceremonial, and involves party luminaries and tireless activists carrying out the will of each state's voters. The popular vote from state-to-state dictates whether Democratic or Republican electors get the honor, but the outcome is not in doubt.

U.S. President Barack Obama vowed Sunday to use all his power to stop gun massacres like the slaughter of 20 little children at a Connecticut school, saying "these tragedies must end."

Obama vented passion and anger as he told the grief-stricken community of Newtown, reeling from the unspeakable horror of Friday's rampage, that he was consoling victims of the fourth mass shooting of his presidency.

President Barack Obama was due in the small Connecticut community of Newtown on Sunday to join in vigils for the 20 small children and seven adults slaughtered by a young gunman.

The president's visit comes two days after the heavily armed 20-year-old, Adam Lanza, stalked into the Sandy Hook elementary school and raked students, teachers and administrators with gunfire, after first killing his mother in their home -- in one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history.

President Barack Obama has chosen Senator John Kerry to succeed Hillary Clinton as U.S. secretary of state, news networks CNN and ABC reported Saturday.

CNN cited a Democratic source who had spoken to Kerry, while ABC mentioned unnamed sources.