Washington - President-elect Barack Obama met with Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Monday, keeping with the pre- inaugural tradition of sitting down with the leader of the United States' sout

Washington - US President George W Bush asked Congress Monday to sign off on the remaining 350 billion dollars of the finance bailout package after receiving a request to release the funds from president-elect Barack Obama.

Bush had said earlier Monday that he was willing to do so if Obama, who takes office in eight days, asked the president to move forward on the next phase of the
700-billion-dollar bailout for the embattled financial industry.

"President Bush agreed to the president-elect's request," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said in a statement.

"We will continue our consultations with the president-elect's transition team, and with Congress, on how best to proceed in accordance with the requirements of the statute," she said.

Gaza City  - Israeli ground troops fought heavy battles with Palestinian militants on Gaza City's outskirts Monday, as Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said only Israel would decide when it would stop its offensive in Gaza and Hamas leader Ismail Haniya said the movement's fighters had an "appointment with victory."

Athens/Nicosia  - Rival leaders seeking a solution to reunify the divided Mediterranean island of Cyprus will soon embark upon the complex legal issue of settlement and property disputes, where thousands of individuals stake a claim on property seized decades ago, UN officials said Monday

Greek Cypriot leader Dimitris Chistofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat discussed relations between a federal government and the constituent states during peace talks on Monday.

Cairo  - A Hamas delegation and a senior Turkish foreign policy advisor returned to Cairo from Damascus Monday, airport sources told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Ahmet Davotoglu, chief foreign policy advisor to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was in Damascus for talks with Hamas in Damascus and with the Syrian authorities. He returned to Cairo Monday evening by private plane, airport sources said.

Berlin  - The crown prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, voiced Arab anger over the Gaza crisis on Monday in Berlin to Chancellor Angela Merkel and other German officials.

Merkel's spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said she and the crown prince had "an extensive discussion." Both had been "very concerned" at the continuing fighting between Hamas and Israel and the humanitarian crisis.