Mexico City - Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Thursday attended the funeral of some of the victims of Tuesday's airplane crash that killed 14 people, and promised a thorough investigation into the accident.

Mexican Interior Minister Juan Camilo Mourino, 37, died in the crash, along with 13 others.

Calderon - a close friend of Mourino's - and his entire cabinet attended the burial ceremony in the Campo Marte military facility in Mexico City, not far from the site where the Lear Jet 45 crashed.

Washington - President-elect Barack Obama has made his first White House appointment - picking Illinois Congressman Rahm Emanuel as his chief of staff, and will meet with President George W Bush to discuss the transition phase on Monday.

Emanuel, a close friend of Obama's who served as a senior advisor in former president Bill Clinton's White House in the 1990s, accepted the job on Thursday, a Democratic Party aide confirmed to Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Sacramento - California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday proposed several stringent measures to curb spending and increase taxes in order to deal with a budget shortfall, this office said.

The proposals include a steep increase in state sales tax, a five cent tax on every alcoholic drink sold and an estimated 4.5 billion dollars in welfare and other budget cuts.

The moves are meant to close a projected budget shortfall of 24 billion dollars by the middle of 2010.

New York - United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday urged warring parties in the Democratic Republic of Congo to end hostilities, as he prepared to meet with African Union leaders to discuss the situation there.

The fighting in eastern Congo between government troops and a mixed militia group of the Coalition of Patriots in the Congolese Resistance (PARECO)/Mayi-Mayi and the National Congress in Defence of the People (CNDP) in the Rutshuru area marred a ceasefire agreement from August.

Hamburg - German Bundesliga club VfB Stuttgart and Serie A team Udinese on Thursday stayed on course for a place in the knockout stage of the UEFA Cup with victories in their group games.

Udinese won 2-1 at Spartak Moscow to register their second win from two games and move to the top of Group D with six points, while Stuttgart, who lost their first Group C game in Sevilla, bounced back with a 2-0 win against Partizan Belgrade.

Both goals for the home side were scored by Germany striker Mario Gomez late in the game.

Washington - President-elect Barack Obama has made his first White House appointment - picking Illinois Congressman Rahm Emanuel as his chief of staff, and will meet with President George W Bush to discuss the transition phase on Monday.

Emanuel, a close friend of Obama's who served as a senior advisor in former president Bill Clinton's White House in the 1990s, accepted the job on Thursday, a Democratic Party aide confirmed to Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.