Presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney won primary ballots in Oregon and Nebraska on Tuesday, partial results showed, moving him a step closer to winning his party's formal White House nomination.

Romney won 73 percent of the vote in Oregon against 12.2 percent for Ron Paul, who suspended active campaigning this week, and 5.7 percent for Newt Gingrich, according to results from nearly two thirds of precincts.

Just days after U.S. President Barack Obama came out in favor of gay marriage, another supporter of homosexual unions emerged in Japan: Mickey Mouse.

Despite their having no legal status, same sex couples are able to hold fairytale wedding ceremonies at hotels inside the popular Tokyo Disney Resort, including at the Cinderella Castle, a company spokeswoman said Tuesday.

Newsweek made no apologies Monday for anointing Barack Obama as "the first gay president" on its cover this week, matching its rival Time in terms of online buzz.

It depicted Obama with an angelic rainbow halo just days after Obama became the first sitting president of the United States ever to come out in favor of same-sex marriage.

Eight NATO protesters were arrested Monday ahead of a weekend summit when they refused to leave the Chicago office tower which houses President Barack Obama's campaign headquarters, police said.

"They're starting early," Officer Robert Perez of the Chicago police department told Agence France Presse.

U.S. President Barack Obama welcomed the Kabul government's move Sunday to have local forces take control of security in a large new slice of the country as an "important step forward."

In the third phase of a five-tranche military transition process to bring NATO closer to getting out of the Afghan war, 122 more districts throughout Afghanistan will come under local command, putting Afghan forces in control of security for 75 percent of the population.

Russia's recently inaugurated President Vladimir Putin and French president-elect Francois Hollande have discussed plans to meet in the near future, the Kremlin said Saturday.

"Vladimir Putin and Francois Hollande continued an exchange of opinions on issues of cooperation in a constructive spirit and discussed plans of personal contacts in the near future," the Kremlin said. No concrete dates were released.

Betty White says she usually keeps her political views private but in this presidential election strongly favors one candidate.

As she prepares to visit the Smithsonian Institution and National Zoo next week, White told The Associated Press she "very, very much favors" President Barack Obama in the election.

U.S. President Barack Obama called on members of Congress Saturday to pass several initiatives designed to stimulate the U.S. economy and create much-needed jobs.

"There are things we can do - right now - to help create jobs and restore some of the financial security that so many families have lost," Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address.

U.S. President Barack Obama met with NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Wednesday ahead of the upcoming NATO summit to agree to focus on the Afghan conflict at the meeting, the White House said.

At an Oval Office meeting, Obama and Rasmussem agreed the summit would be a time "reaffirm allied commitment to the transition framework" and a move from a combat role to support for "sufficient and sustainable Afghan forces."

U.S. President Barack Obama took a calculated gamble and stepped into the political unknown Wednesday with his firm public backing for gay marriage, after a long period of personal soul searching.

Obama's move, in an interview with ABC News, sent seismic waves through pre-election politics and sparked immediate speculation as to whether he had hindered his chances of winning a second term in November.