Washington - President-elect Barack Obama filled out his cabinet on Friday by naming his picks for trade, labour and transport, completing a process that moved faster than any modern US president.

Obama promised to have a "strong, robust" trade policy as he named former Dallas mayor Ron Kirk as the US trade representative. But he also vowed to protect the interests of US workers as he nominated US congresswoman Hilda Solis to head the Department of Labour.

Brussels  - The scandal over the sale of Belgium's troubled Fortis bank prompted Prime Minister Yves Leterme to propose the entire government resign Friday, the Belga news agency said.

The proposal came after Leterme called a crisis session of ministers following the resignation of Justice Minister Jo Vandeuzen, who also acts as Belgium's minister for institutional reform.

The latest moves followed accusations that the government had tried to influence a December 12 court ruling over the sale of Fortis to BNP Paribas.

Berlin - Germany's upper chamber of parliament Thursday approved a revised version of a bill on police powers that it rejected last month, clearing the way for it to become law.

The bill authorizes police to use computer viruses to hunt terrorists.

The upper house, the Bundesrat, approved the bill by a vote of 35- 34, a day after the lower house backed the new version, following mediation by a committee of both chambers of parliament.

The bill reforms the federal police and includes powers to break into personal computers during preventive inquiries into terrorism and other serious crime.

New Delhi - India's Minority Affairs Minister Abdul Rahman Antulay has offered his resignation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh amid controversy over his remarks on the death of a top police officer during the Mumbai terrorist attacks, media reports said Friday.

Antulay had indicated that the death of Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare could be linked to bombings in the Muslim-dominated Malegaon town.

Karkare was investigating the bombings and members of radical Hindu groups were the main suspects.

Washington - "Deep Throat," the secret source who helped bring down US president Richard Nixon, has died at 95, The New York Times reported early Friday.

The source, W Mark Felt, was a top FBI official who confirmed the reporting by Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein on the Watergate affair.

The scandal involved political dirty tricks to undo Nixon's opponents and resulted in Nixon stepping down from office in 1974 as he faced impeachment and removal by Congress.

Bangkok - Thailand will run an ethical foreign policy untainted by personal business interests, the likely new foreign minister, former diplomat Kasit Piromya, said Friday.

Kasit said foreign policy moves made by the previous governments controlled by fugitive billionaire businessman Thaksin Shinawatra were compromised by his personal interests.

"From now on there will be no personal business dealings on the side. This government will not mix business and politics," Kasit told an academic conference.

Former prime minister Thaksin was frequently accused of using official state trips to promote his family's sprawling telecoms empire, before it was sold two years ago.