Warsaw - Polish President Lech Kaczynski vetoed a bill on Monday that would cut early retirement for 750,000 people amid pressure from trade unions.

The lower house of parliament approved the bill last month, which would reduce the number of people eligible for early pensions from more than 1 million to some 250,000.

"On the basis of arbitrary criteria ... for some it gives early pensions while not for others," Kaczynski said, calling the bill "unjust."

Geneva  - A ruling body of the World Trade Organization has issued a recommendation Monday that China change its tariffs on importing car parts into the country, so that policy falls more in the line with free trade principles.

The United States, European Union and Canada had appealed against China's laws, saying they were unfair according to WTO rules since they taxed imported parts by
25 per cent in certain cases.

The US said the practice ended up deterring automobile manufacturers in China from using imported auto parts in the assembly of vehicles

Washington  - While he may have been elected by US voters back in November, the process of formally naming president-elect Barack Obama to the post only began Monday.

State representatives from around the country gathered to cast their ballots under the country's complex Electoral College system.

Some 538 electoral votes are divided among the 50 US states according to their population size. Each presidential candidate is awarded a portion of those votes based on the results of the November 4 election.

Beirut- The Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah on Monday defended the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at US president George W Bush on Sunday.

"This is a goodbye kiss on behalf of the widows and orphans and people who have been killed in Iraq," a statement issued by Hezbollah read.

The statement echoed the words of Montasser al-Zaidi, 28, the reporter with the Cairo-based satellite broadcaster al-Baghdadiyia who threw his shoes at Bush in protest. As al-Zaidi threw his shoes, he said "this is a goodbye kiss, dog."

Beirut  - French president Nicolas Sarkozy is expected to visit Lebanon but will not visit neighboring Syria, Lebanese governmental sources said Monday.

Sarkozy's visit would include a single meeting with President Michel Suleiman and a trip to meet with the French contingent in UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, on New Year's day.

London  - Britain is to boost the number of troops serving in Afghanistan by around 300 to an overall force of 8,300, Prime Minister Gordon Brown told parliament Monday.

Brown, who paid a flying visit to Afghanistan, Indian and Pakistan over the weekend, confirmed to parliament that the extra troops would be deployed until August on a "temporary basis."

British troops have suffered increasing losses in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province in recent months, where 132 British soldiers have so far died.