Munich's Jews get a new central synagogue, 68 years after the Nazis destroyed its predecessor.

Man Utd are negotiating a two-week trial for American teenager Freddy Adu, contrary to an earlier statement from the club.

Nine oil workers walk for 12 hours to escape a pumping station overrun by militants in southern Nigeria.

Thousands of mourners fill the streets of Beit Hanoun to bury 18 Palestinians killed by Israeli tank fire.

The question of which party will control the Senate could be cleared up as early as Thursday, with an ongoing canvass of votes in Virginia showing no significant changes in the razor-thin lead held by Democratic challenger Jim Webb, sources tell CNN.

Thailand's coup leaders face criticism for allegedly taking extra payments that effectively double their pay.

A further $4bn is needed to combat water-borne diseases, one of the worst killers for the world's poor, says the UNDP.

The dust had barely settled when clear winners and losers began to emerge from the Democrats' dramatic capture of the House and maybe even the Senate. (That won't be known until a recount is completed weeks from now in the deadlocked Senate race in Virginia.) We decided to take a look at who's up and who's down now that so many familiar GOP faces will be taking their last government-paid shuttle back home at the end of this year and fresh leaders will emerge. From winners like the new most powerful woman in the United States (sorry, Hillary and Condi, but you'll have to get in line behind Nancy) to losers like the president's "stay the course" strategy in Iraq, the new world order is looking very interesting indeed.

With President Bush nominating former CIA Director Robert Gates to replace Donald Rumsfeld as secretary of defense, Washington is scrambling to figure out what the change might mean for policy in Iraq. For one thing, it is the first clear signal that Bush is looking for a new path. Gates has been serving on the Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan panel headed by former Secretary of State James Baker and former Congressman Lee Hamilton, which is due to release its new strategy for Iraq in the coming weeks.

Robert Gates, Bush's recommended Rumsfeld replacement, has filled the shoes of a big-footed predecessor before. In October 2002, he replaced Ray Bowen as president of Texas A&M University, taking on not just the legacy of the eight-term president but also his Vision 2020 plan to make Texas A&M a top 10 public university by the year 2020. Not everyone has liked Gates's bold moves: One student argued Gates's pitch for change was "out of touch" with the student body in a 2004 opinion piece. But many have supported Gates. After holding listening sessions with students and appointing a student representative to a dean search committee, Gates was praised for his "commitment to students".

He was born Sept. 24, 1943, in Wichita, Kan. In 1965, he graduated from the College of William and Mary, where he was named the graduate "who has made the greatest contribution to his fellow man." He holds a master's degree in history from Indiana University and a doctorate in Russian and Soviet history from Georgetown University. He attained the rank of Eagle Scout, received the Distinguished Eagle Scout award, and is president of the National Eagle Scout Association. In November 1991, he became CIA director after a lengthy nomination process tainted by the Iran-contra affair. He is the only career officer in CIA history to rise from entry-level employee to director. During his confirmation hearing, he told the Senate committee, "I arrived in Washington 25 years ago … with everything I owned in the back of a 1965 Mustang and no money." He served as director until Jan. 20, 1993. In 1996, he published his memoir, From the Shadows: the Ultimate Insider's Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War. He assumed the presidency of Texas A&M University in 2002. In early 2005, he turned down a request from the White House to become the first director of national intelligence. John Negroponte took the job. In December 2005, he was elected chairman of the Independent Trustees of the Fidelity Funds. Gates said that he has missed only one meeting since he was named to the board in 1997. It was held the weekend that Texas A&M dedicated a memorial to students who had died in a bonfire accident. In March 2006, he joined a bipartisan group responsible for assessing the Bush administration's Iraq policies. Friends and coworkers have described him as tenacious and driven, with tremendous powers of concentration and an ability to distill vast amounts of information.

The departure of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld gives the Bush administration some breathing room as it tries to rebuild public support for the Iraq war in the wake of Democratic gains in yesterday's congressional elections.

Apocryphal story: the late Morris Udall, standing up at the podium on election night after finishing second in the fifth presidential primary in a row.