Rio de Janeiro  - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Thursday that he prays for US President Barack Obama to be successful in his efforts to overcome the ongoing economic and financial crisis.

"I pray for him more than I pray for myself, that he may find a way out for the United States. And who knows whether that may help solve the problem for other countries," Lula said as he opened a hydroelectric plant in the central Brazilian state of Tocantins.

New York  - A commission to investigate the assassination of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto is limited to just six months and cannot carry out criminal proceedings, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday in a letter to the UN Security Council.

"The duty of determining criminal responsibility of the perpetrators of the assassination would remain with the Pakistani authorities," the letter said.

Wiesbaden, Germany  - Roland Koch, a key supporter of Chancellor Angela

Kiev  - Ukraine's embattled government on Thursday survived a parliament motion of no confidence, with the legislative opposition failing to assemble to votes needed to throw out the country's pro- Europe leadership.

A total 203 MPs out of the 450-seat house voted in favour of considering a no confidence motion, almost all from the pro-Russia Regions Ukraine party, or the anti-capitalist Communist Party of Ukraine.

Wellington - New Zealand celebrates 169 years of partnership between its indigenous Maori people and European settlers Friday with relations between the races in a better state than they have been for years.

The development comes despite an attack Thursday on Prime Minister John Key by two dissidents waving a Maori sovereignty flag as he arrived at a meeting house at historic Waitangi in the Bay of Islands for celebrations on the eve of the country's national day.

The protestors claimed that the government was not doing enough for the near-600,000 Maoris, who comprise about 15 per cent of the population, but Key dubbed them "glory seekers" and said, "They were out of step with what the majority of people think."

Riga  - Latvian prime minister Ivars Godmanis survived a vote of no confidence comfortably in the national parliament or Saeima on Wednesday.

The motion against the embattled prime minister was lost by 40 votes to 51 after a debate lasting more than five hours.

"We are in the same situation as much of the rest of the world and it will require a lot of work - a lot," Godmanis told parliamentarians in a powerful address before the vote.