Munich  - Criminals wasted no time in integrating Barack Obama's inauguration into the latest wave of spam mail seeking to lure hapless surfers.

The latest scam e-mail messages claim ostensibly to bear news of Obama's surprise resignation. But the messages are, in fact, intended solely to lure users to websites infected with malware, warns antivirus laboratory Sophos. Under no circumstances should you click on any link in such a message.

Washington  - US President Barack Obama, in his weekly radio address on Saturday, said the current financial crisis was "devastating" and that measures to prevent a downward spiral should be implemented without delay.

Obama's comments came as the US Senate prepares to debate his massive economic stimulus package, unprecedented at over 800 billion dollars.

Obama also announced a new strategy to revive the US financial system, with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to provide details "soon."

Washington  - of the centre-left Democratic Party, is in discussions to pick a senator of the centre- right Republican Party as his secretary of trade, the influential Washington Post reported Saturday.

According to the report, the appointment of senator Judd Gregg would both be a conciliatory gesture to the opposition Republican Party as well as open the door create a solid Democratic majority in the Senate upper house of Congress, as Gregg's vacant seat from the US state of New Hampshire would be appointed by that state's Democratic Party governor.

Nairobi  - Pres

Washington, Jan. 31 : It took four years for Google to address the "Google bomb" that was lobbed at former President Bush, but just a few days to defuse the same attack on President Obama.

Four years versus a few days ... Some Googlers are asking why.

In 2003, President Bush''s detractors successfully gamed the Google search engine by arranging to have countless Web sites link the words "miserable failure" to Bush''s official biography on the White House Web site.