World Tunes in To Obama's Speech

SYDNEY, (AFP) - From the bars of London to the small Japanese town of Obama, it seemed like the whole world tuned in Wednesday to see Barack Obama win one of the most anticipated US presidential races for decades.

Parties spilled onto the streets, share traders were glued to their screens and expat Americans joined election-day rallies in cities around the globe as Obama beat the Republican John McCain to the White House.

For the tens of millions more without a direct share in the vote, it was a chance also to see Obama make history as the first black US leader.

In Obama, an ancient fishing town on the Sea of Japan, residents dressed in Hawaiian skirts and did a hula dance in celebration, embracing Hawaiian-born Obama as one of their own.

People follow the results of the US presidential election during an event organized in Beijing

"I'm so excited because Obama shares our town's name. But even if the town was called McCain I would still support Barack Obama," said 44-year-old dancer Masayo Ishibashi.

In London, Americans clutching hot dogs and swigging bottled beer crowded the Democrat-dominated Yates bar in the nightclub quarter, the second largest party in town after a bash at the US embassy.

"It would be nice to have a president who is celebrated when he goes abroad and his effigy is not burned," said David Grey, who runs a male salon.

There were similar scenes across western Europe. In Berlin, CNN and German media giant Bertelsmann threw a party with mini hamburgers and chicken nuggets on the Unter den Linden