Washington  - The world's largest construction equipment manufacturer, Caterpillar Inc, said Monday it would slash 20,000 jobs and lowered profit estimates, despite record revenues in 2008, amid the widening recession.

The job cuts included 12,000 employees and 8,000 contractors, the Peoria, Illinois-based company said, as it attempted to combat lower demand and cancelled orders in the fourth quarter.

New York  - The new US administration under President Barack Obama pledged Monday to work with the United Nations, which newly appointed US Ambassador Susan Rice described as a "vitally important institution" with great potential.

Rice presented her credentials to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at UN headquarters in New York on her first day at work and spent 45 minutes in discussions with Ban on a range of topics from climate change to the crisis in the Middle East.

Baghdad  - Four US soldiers and four Iraqis were killed on Monday, while 21 were injured in separate attacks in Baghdad, Mosul and Diyala provinces, raising fears for security in Iraq's January 31 provincial elections.

The four US soldiers died when two helicopters crashed in northern Iraq.

"Four coalition forces members were killed when two aircraft went down in Salah al-Din governorate, in northern Iraq, at approximately 2:15 am (2315 GMT)," US army spokesman al-Meqdad Jebrael told Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency.

Islamabad - The United States has deducted 55 million dollars out of the 156 million dolalrs bill sent by Pakistan for rendering its military services to fight against Taliban and Al-Qaeda in volatile bordering tribal areas adjacent to war-torn Afghanistan.

Shaukat Tarin, a financial advisor in the prime minister's office, said the US had "changed the format" for money released under the Coalition Support Fund (CSF) for Islamabad, resulting in a "massive" deduction.

New York - The global financial crisis didn't stop fast-food giant McDonald's from bringing in more customers, the company announced Monday as it released its fourth quarter and full year results for 2008.

Chief executive officer Jim Skinner said the average number of customers served per day increased to 58 million people in 2008.

For the quarter, the company posted profits of 985.3 million dollars on sales of 5.6 billion dollars. For the year, the company posted 4.3 billion dollars in profits on sales of
23.5 billion dollars.