New Delhi, Feb 19: Former Indian cricket captain Mohammad Azharuddin is all set to join the Congress Party.

The All India Congress Committee (AICC) General Secretary Veerrappa Moily, in an interview to Times Now declared on Thursday that Azharuddin would be given primary membership in the party.

However, they are still to decide the constituency from where he will contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Hong Kong - Hong Kong's leading English-language newspaper was protesting Thursday to officials in neighbouring Macau after one of its photographers was refused entry to the territory.

Felix Wong of the South China Morning Post was detained and then sent back on a ferry to Hong Kong when he attempted to travel to Macau to cover a corruption case involving a former transport secretary.

Wong had been given a Macau government permit to cover the trial but claims he was sent back to Hong Kong after being made to sign papers saying he had been denied entry under internal security laws.

Warsaw  - Poland has begun talks with the European Central Bank (ECB) on entering the first stage of adopting the euro currency, the head of the ruling Civic Platform party said on Wednesday.

"Official talks with the ECB on entering ERM-2 (Exchange Rate Mechanism) have been ongoing since several days ago," Zbigniew Chlebowski told the Polish Press Agency PAP.

The ECB and Poland's Ministry of Finance did not comment.

Jerusalem  - Setting in motion the process of forming Israel's next government, President Shimon Peres met Wednesday night with representatives of the Kadima party, to hear their views on whom to charge with the task of building a coalition.

Under Israeli law, the president has to meet with all factions which won Knesset seats in an election, to hear who they recommend for the premiership. He can then task any legislator with the job, but gives the nod to the one who has the best chance of forming a coalition.

Prague - Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek said Wednesday that his government's stimulus plan is to give the Czech economy a boost amounting to 4.7 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), or nearly 180 billion koruny (7.8 billion dollars).

The stimulus is to cost taxpayers some 73.5 billion koruny, or 1.9 per cent of GDP, and expand country's budget gap accordingly, Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek said.

The budget deficit is expected this year to exceed 3 per cent, a limit the European Union requires for adopting the euro.

Washington  - US President Barack Obama said Wednesday he hopes to keep between 7 and 9 million homeowners out of foreclosure, using 75 billion dollars to stabilize a housing crisis that is at the heart of the country's deepening recession.

Obama unveiled plans offering aid to homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages, to relax rules on mortgage refinancing and to help neighbourhoods raise property values by renovating already foreclosed properties.