Washington - President-elect Barack Obama was on Monday to meet with the man whose role he will fill in January, as he and wife Michelle come to the White House for talks with President George W Bush and First Lady Laura Bush.

Bush was a much-reviled figure on the campaign trail, as Obama attacked the unpopular president's handling of the economy and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan while accusing Republican rival John McCain of seeking to continue those policies.

Los Angeles - Pressured by the lo

Moscow - Russia welcomed the EU's decision Monday to re-start partnership talks frozen over Russia's war with Georgia in August.

"We have long been ready to re-start talks," an official with the government headed by Vladimir Putin said on condition of anonymity as Russia has not officially been informed.

EU leaders suspended talks on a new accord that governs its relations with the EU in protest of Russia's occupation of Georgia.

Prague - Zentiva, the largest Czech drug maker, boosted third-quarter net profit by 11.9 per cent, helped by strong sales in Turkey, the company said Monday.

Net profit rose to 258.9 million koruny (13.2 million dollars) from 231.5 million koruny in the July-September period in 2007.

Company's sales however dropped 3 per cent to 4.825 billion koruny (245.4 million dollars) in the third quarter, from 4.976 billion koruny in the same period a year ago.

Damascus - Syria and Lebanon agreed on Monday to form a committee to fight terrorism and control its borders, days after Syria blamed suspects linked to a Lebanese group with a bomb attack in Damascus.

The decision came during a visit of Lebanese Minister of Interior Zaid Baroud to Damascus, the first by an interior minister since the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minster Rafik Hariri, which some groups in Lebanon blame on Syria.

Riga - A government bailout of Latvia's largest indigenous bank, Parex Banka, was set to be finalized Monday after the European Commission (EC) signalled it would not block the deal.

Latvian Finance Ministry spokesperson Diana Berzina told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that an "unofficial okay" had been received from the EC along with their comments on the deal.

She added that final confirmation from the EC was likely one or two days after the legal document was due to be signed in a closed meeting on Monday night.