Election over, Obama faces fresh challenge with 'fiscal cliff'

WASHINGTON: Barack Obama won re-election on Tuesday night, but the U.S. president faces a fresh challenge confronting the "fiscal cliff," a mix of tax increases and spending cuts due to extract some $600 billion from the economy barring a deal with Congress.

At stake are two separate issues - individual tax cuts due to expire at year's end and tens of billions of dollars in across-the-board federal spending cuts due to kick in the day after New Year's Day.