Washington - President-elect Barack Obama said Monday he will work to strengthen relations with Mexico and efforts to cooperate on drug trafficking, security and immigration.

Obama met with Mexican President Felipe Calderon at the Mexican Cultural Institute in Washington, upholding the pre-inaugural tradition of sitting down with the leader of the United States' southern neighbour.

"My administration is going to be ready on day one to work to build a stronger relationship with Mexico," Obama said.

The two men also discussed the ongoing financial crisis and how they can work together to pull their economies through the downturn. Global warming and energy security were also topics.

Washington, Jan 12 : While people might be making a fortune by selling Obama-branded can openers, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate bars, those thriving on the sales of such merchandise might land in jail from January 20 onwards.

In a bid to prevent the commercial exploitation of Obama's name, Gregory B. Craig, the would be White House counsel for President-elect Barack Obama will have to take action to prevent the selling of Obama merchandise.

Washington, Jan. 12 : US President-elect Barack Obama has reiterated his promise to close the American military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where hundreds of detainees have been held for years without trial or even being charged with a crime.

But he could not promise that it would be done quickly.

Obama, who has been receiving daily national security briefings since his election in November, acknowledged that his campaign pledge to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay would be more of a challenge than he anticipated.

Washington, Jan. 12 : Carol M. Browner, US President-elect Barack Obama''s global warming czar-designate, was listed as one of 14 leaders of a socialist group''s Commission for a Sustainable World Society, which calls for "global governance" and says rich countries must shrink their economies to address climate change.

Browner''s name and biography has since been removed from Socialist International''s Web page, though a photo of her speaking June 30 to the group''s congress in Greece was still available.

Washington, January 12 : U. S. President-elect Barack Obama has revealed that his family will be owning either a labradoodle or a Portuguese water hound.

He said that it was really tough to decide on which dog to keep as pet, in order to fulfil a key campaign promise he made to his daughters Malia and Sasha.

Earlier, Obama had revealed that the family wanted a rescue dog, but also needed a hypoallergenic puppy because of Malia''s allergies.

According to him, they have finally narrowed their choices to the two medium-sized breeds.