Los Angeles  - The American Film Institute has named its top 10 US movies of the year, including critical favourites like The Dark Knight, Iron Man, Wall-E and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

But it snubbed other movies considered top contenders for the Oscars like Doubt, The Reader, Revolutionary Road, Vicky Cristina Barcelona and The Visitor. Slumdog Millionaire, frequently mentioned as an awards season contender, wasn't cited because it is a foreign production.

Buenos Aires  - Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner announced Monday a short- and medium-term public works plan worth more than 32.2 billion dollars, aimed at generating employment and economic activity at a time of global economic crisis.

The plan's execution is to be decentralized, and provincial and town governments will be in charge of its implementation. It will include the building of new homes, hospitals, schools, roads, railroads and gas and power distribution networks.

New York  - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was scheduled to brief the UN Security Council later Monday on the deterioration of living conditions in Zimbabwe, where a cholera epidemic has killed more than 900 people.

The 15-nation council was to hear Ban behind closed doors as is the normal practice for sensitive issues. Last week, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called on the council to take "meaningful action" against Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe for his leadership in the worsening situation.

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.