London- Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez will begin talks over a new contract with the club's owners next week.

The Spaniard, whose existing contract expires in 2010, said Friday he would discuss a new deal with Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr.

"I received a phone call from Tom Hicks on behalf of George Gillett also," Benitez said on Liverpool's official website.

"They are talking about a meeting with my advisors and a contract extension. This is very positive news. We decided to meet in the next week and now my advisors are in contact with them.

Athens - The days of cigarette friendly Greece are about to go up in smoke.

The home to Europe's largest population of smokers has just over a year to go before a ban outlaws the habit in all public places, including restaurants, bars and offices, the Greek Health Ministry said Friday.

The ministry submitted the bill to Parliament late Thursday. It foresees the adoption of European Union guidelines designed to protect people from passive smoking as of January 1, 2010.

Amman - Arab stock markets reacted positively but cautiously to the election of Barack Obama as next US president with investors trying to evaluate the choices open to the new administration to deal with the gruelling economic downturn, financial analysts said Friday.

"Markets sighed relief over the election of Obama, because markets have been under the impression that McCain's win could aggravate the global financial crisis," Nizar Taher, chief of brokerage at the Jordan Ahli Bank, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Brussels - The deployment of warships from European Union states against pirates off the coast of Somalia is to begin in December, EU diplomats said Friday.

The final decisions on the matter are to be taken on Monday at a EU foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels.

The operation, to be called Atalanta, is to be led by an admiral from Britain's Northwood naval command, and tasked with protecting freighters against pirate attacks either off the Somali coast or on their way into Mogadishu ports.

Ramallah  - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called Friday on US president-elect Barack Obama not to waste any time in getting involved in the Israel-Palestinian peace process, after the US admitted that a peace deal by the end of the year is unlikely.

Addressing a joint news conference in Ramallah with visiting Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Abbas said Palestinians wanted to continue their efforts to reach a final settlement with Israel.

Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert pledged at last year's Annapolis peace summit to try and reach a peace agreement by the end of 2008.