Washington  - US President Barack Obama called four key leaders in the Middle East on Wednesday, his first full day in office, promising engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process from the start of his term as president.

Obama spoke with Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Jordan's King Abdullah II and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, according to White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.

Jerusalem  - Caretaker Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert commended US President Barack Obama on his inauguration, wishing him success and calling the ceremony "very moving."

Olmert briefed Obama on the situation in Gaza, where a fragile truce has ended a 22-day deadly and destructive Israeli offensive aimed at curbing rocket attacks, and said he oped that US efforts, along with those of Egypt, Europe and Israel itself to prevent weapons smuggling into the strip would help stabilize the ceasefire.

Brasilia  - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva congratulated new US President Barack Obama on Wednesday, and expressed a call for "fluent and profitable" dialogue and a "renewed friendship" between the two countries.

Los Angeles  - At the distinctly un-starlike hour of 5:30 am (1330 GMT) Thursday morning, the Oscar season will officially move into high gear.

That's when Forest Whitaker, who won an Oscar in 2006's The Last King Of Scotland, will unveil the nominations for the 2008 Academy Awards from Hollywood's Samuel Goldwyn Theatre.

Forest, 47, will be reading out the names at the press conference alongside Sid Ganis, who heads the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Ramallah  - US President Barack Obama on Wednesday promised his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas to work for peace in the Middle East, according to Abbas' spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh.

In a statement published on the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, Abu Rudeineh said Obama made his first call to Abbas since Obama assumed office on Tuesday, assuring the Palestinian leader that he and his administration "will do all they can to bring peace to the region."

Brussels - The European Union's top justice official Wednesday welcomed US President Barack Obama's decision to temporarily suspend prosecutions at the US's controversial Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba.

"I am extremely pleased that one of the first actions of President Obama has been to turn the page on this sad episode of the Guantanamo prison," said EU Justice, Freedom and Security Commissioner Jacques Barrot.