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

The two men shook hands, while their wives exchanged a quick hug, before posing for pictures outside the executive mansion.

Bush then guided Obama to the Oval Office for private talks that likely included the faltering economy, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and terrorist threats.

Washington (dpa) - The US has cancelled the diplomatic visas of Venezuelan diplomats at the consulate in Houston after the South American country moved its Texas offices without proper authorization from the US State Department, a deputy spokesman said Monday.

The Venezuelan government had requested authorization to move its consulate in Houston to new office space, but proceeded to move into the space before getting the okay from the US government, deputy State Department spokesman Robert Wood said.

Wellington - Some voters on welfare rang police emergency numbers and counselling hotlines on New Zealand's election night fearing that the winning conservative party would slash their benefits, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The National Party won Saturday's election, ending nine years of Labour-led government that raised welfare benefits and pensions.

Addiction of internet among youngsters has become a matter of concern for Chinese government. According to statistics, China has the world's largest online population at 253 million people. 

A top Chinese legislator said that about 10 percent of China's Web users under the age of 18, or four million people, were addicted to the Internet, mainly to "unhealthy" online games. 

35 fresh cases of dengue were reported in Ludhiana. These new cases revealed that despite the various steps taken by government authorities to prevent dengue, fresh cases of dengue are pouring in at various hospitals across the city everyday. 

The overall number of cases has touched the 3,500 mark with over 400 cases put in the suspected cases category and over 1,000 patients being treated at the hospitals in the city hailing from other parts of the state.

A recent study showed that regeneration of damaged nerves due to brain or spinal cord is possible by silencing natural growth inhibitors.

Researchers at the Children's Hospital Boston removed the two key inhibitory regulators of the mTOR pathway known as PTEN and TSC1. Found in the brain cells of mice, these regulators are known to be active in cells during growth and development, but eventually slow down in control once neurons have matured.