Los Angeles - Barack Obama's 30 minute infomercial was watched by some 30 million viewers Wednesday night and beat the normal ratings of the networks on which it was screened, according to preliminary ratings released Thursday by Nielsen.

The viewing figures showed that for the six networks that aired the programme simultaneously, the spot had a household rating of 21.7 per cent, meaning that 21.7 percent of all households watching television were tuned to the spot. The total of network viewers was 26.3 million viewers, with millions more watching on cable channels which also aired the ad.

Washington - The top US envoy for Africa arrived in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday for talks aimed at ending the violence that has embroiled the country.

Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer was in Kinshasa to meet with President Joseph Kabila and has tentative plans to visit neighbouring Rwanda for talks with President Paul Kagame, deputy State Department spokesman Robert Wood said.

"She is there to try to promote a peaceful solution to the conflict," Wood said.

Berlin - Key industrial employers in Germany offered 800,000 workers in and near the carmaking city of Stuttgart a wage rise of 2.1 per cent Thursday as pay bargaining hung in the balance.

The militant IG Metall trade union announced weeks ago that it was seeking a hike of 8 per cent, prompting an indirect rebuke from the European Central Bank, which said it feared a wage-price spiral.

San Salvador, El Salvador

Moscow - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev named a new acting president of the Ingushetia region Thursday as news services reported that the old regional president had been dismissed from office.

Murat Zyazikov, 51, a former officer in the Soviet KGB secret police who was elected president of Ingushetia in 2002 with the Kremlin's backing, said Thursday he tendered his resignation in anticipation of a new job in Moscow.

Cairo - Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Seniora denied on Thursday any Egyptian mediation to resume negotiations between Lebanon and Israel on the lines of Turkey's role in Syrian-Israeli talks.

Seniora, who was speaking at a joint press conference with Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa in Cairo, said that "no such thing is taking place."