Budapest  - Hungary's Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany on Monday expressed concern over the ongoing rapid weakening of Hungary's currency, the forint, after signalling that euro adoption is now a matter of urgency.

"The government is distinctly worried by the rapid fall in the value of the forint, and the fact that it is very difficult for businesses and individuals to get credit from banks," Gyurcsany said on Monday.

Herzliyya, Israel  - The coming Israeli elections are about peace, and Israel must decide whether to say yes or not to it, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who is running at the head of the centrist Kadima party, said Monday.

"The choice facing Israel in eight days time concerns peace, and the country can say yes to peace or no to peace," she told an international conference in the Israeli city of Herzliyya, north of Tel Aviv.

Berlin

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.