Berlin  - German Chancellor Angela Merkel promised Saturday to support Colombian efforts to strengthen the country's democracy, during a visit to Berlin by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.

Uribe told Merkel at the meeting of significant Colombian achievements in recent years, especially with regards to security.

He said the murder rate had reached its lowest rate in 30 years, and kidnappings were at a 25-year low. The country is welcoming the highest number of tourists in 20 years, and seeing rising rates of investment, Uribe said.

Moscow  - Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, has assured the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that his government remains fully committed to financing the
2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi despite the global economic crisis.

Putin said Saturday at a meeting with the Games' IOC coordinator Jean-Claude Killy in Sochi that the financing of the Games was secured in the State budget.

Washington  - US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao agreed during a telephone conversation Friday to closely work together to the fight off the global financial crisis, the White House said.

Obama also stressed the need to correct global trade imbalances and to take steps to get credit markets moving again, the White House said. The credit freeze is seen as the main culprit in the economic crisis.

Obama and the Democrats traditionally take stronger stands than Republicans over trade deficits suspected of hurting workers in the United States.

Washington  - The Republicans on Friday elected Michael Steele, an African American and former lieutenant governor of Maryland, chairman of the party's national committee.

Steele, 50, becomes the first African American to hold the job in the party of Abraham Lincoln, the Republican president who freed the slaves.

"This is awesome," Steele said.

Maryland voters elected Steele as lieutenant governor in 2002, making him the first black to hold statewide office there. Steele ran unsuccessfully for the US Senate in 2006.

Cairo  - Egypt will host an international conference on March 2 to raise funds for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip recovering from the destruction caused by a
22-day Israeli offensive, Egypt's foreign ministry said Friday.

"The ministry has started intensive diplomatic contacts to convene the conference," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said.

The foreign ministers meeting will tackle means to secure funds for rebuilding the enclave, as well as securing urgent humanitarian aid for the Palestinian territory.