Washington  - US president-elect Barack Obama and his former opponent, Senator John McCain, met on Monday for the first time since the election, pledging to work together to meet the country's challenges.

Obama hosted McCain at his transition team headquarters in Chicago to have a "good conversation about how we can work together to fix up the country," the president-elect said.

Moscow  - Works by William Turner, one of Britain's most prized artists, went on display Monday at Moscow's Pushkin Museum, the first time the artists' works have been exhibited in Russia in 33 years.

The show, which borrows the works from London's Tate Britain gallery, is entirely sponsored by Russian metals tycoon Alisher Usmanov, the largest shareholder in the London-based Arsenal football team. It comes despite the current financial crisis and diplomatic relations between the two capitals that have been on eggshells in recent years.

Washington  - The United States was cautiously optimistic that an agreement establishing the legal basis for US troops in Iraq will be approved by the parliament in Baghdad, with the White House saying challenges remain in finalizing the deal.

"We're nearly there, but there are a couple more hurdles that we have to get through," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Monday, a day after Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's cabinet approved the agreement.

New York  - Bank of America Corp said Monday it would almost double its stake in China Construction Bank Corp, ending speculation that it would dump its investment as a result of the widening global financial crisis.

Bank of America is increasing its stake to 19.1 per cent, or 44.7 billion shares, from 10.8 per cent. The shares can't be sold until August 29, 2011, without the Chinese bank's consent.

Kampala  - A British man, distraught after learning that his wife had left him for another man in London, threw himself into a river over the weekend and was mauled by waiting crocodiles, police officials in Uganda confirmed Monday.

Stephen Morgan, 51, left a suicide note before jumping to death into the Murchison Falls of the river Nile, about 260 kilometres from the Ugandan capital Kampala, District Police Commander Alex Twebaze said by telephone Monday evening.

Cairo  - British actress Julia Ormond talked like an Egyptian on Monday at a press conference held in Cairo on the sidelines of the Cairo International Film Festival
(CIFF) which kicks off late on Tuesday.

"Shukran, sabahul khair ya Masr (Thank you, good morning Egypt)," said Ormond after CIFF president Ezat Abu Ouf presented her to media professionals attending the conference.

Ormond admitted she knew nothing about the Egyptian and Arab cinema industry as a whole, adding that her trip to Egypt has been "illuminating."