Chicago, Nov. 26 : US President-elect Barack Obama has said ''captains of industry'' are out of touch with what''s going on in Middle America, and said they should be ready to make sacrifices to get the country’s depressed economy back on track.

In an interview with ABC''s Barbara Walters, Obama said bank executives should forgo their bonuses this year as an example of taking responsibility in tough times. Executives should make sacrifices because so many other people are struggling, he added.

Washington  - Two weeks after his November 4 election as the next president of the United States, Barack Obama addressed a conference of US governors on climate change.

The president-elect promised a "new chapter" in US leadership. He said the science was "beyond dispute," pledged drastic cuts in greenhouse-gas emissions back home and promised to "engage vigorously" in international negotiations aimed at coming up with a new deal to cut global emissions.

New York, Nov 26 : John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate who lost to Barack Obama in the Nov 4 poll, has said that he would work in tandem with the President-elect in helping the country getting out of the economic recession at the earliest.

According to the New York Daily News, McCain last evening pledged to work with Obama on the economy and other issues.

According to the paper, McCain said he would visit Iraq and Afghanistan, then work with Obama to pass an economic rescue plan, and maybe even immigration reforms.

Vienna  - When UN talks on a new climate-saving pact resume in Poland next week, the global economic crisis will loom large.

Resistance to the cost of fighting global warming has grown, notably in Europe, which has traditionally set the pace in international efforts to cut fossil fuel use.

Now, countries like Italy and Poland say ambitious EU plans are too expensive.

Washington  - US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has agreed to stay in the job for at least one year of president-elect Barack Obama's administration, ABC News and Politico reported Tuesday, citing unnamed officials.

With Gates staying at the helm, Obama keeps in place a key architect of the troop buildup in Iraq that contributed to the sharp decrease in violence during the past 15 months. It will also help Obama fulfill a pledge to have a bipartisan cabinet.

Gates is a registered independent but has served in numerous Republican administrations. He replaced Donald Rumsfeld as Pentagon chief in December 2006.