Barack Obama enjoyed a “relaxed and friendly” meeting with President George Bush as he visited the White House for the first time since becoming US president-elect.

Barack Obama spent two hours having private talks with President George Bush today as he visited the White House for the first time since becoming US president-elect.

Australia’s prime minister-elect today said he would pull his country’s combat troops out of Iraq by mid-2008 – setting a timetable for the withdrawal he has promised previously.

Tanzania’s Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, who won a landslide victory in the country’s third election since the return of multiparty politics in 1992, will be sworn-in today as the country’s fourth head of state.

Charlie McCreevy was today named as the EU’s next commissioner for the internal market and financial markets.

Spanish prime minister-elect Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, whose Socialist party won Spain’s general elections, said today he will recall 1,300 peacekeeping troops in Iraq by June 30.