US-OBAMA: U.S. President-elect Barack Obama and his family get a tour of the White House today (Monday) from President George Bush and first lady Laura Bush.
Mr. Bush and Mr. Obama will also discuss the transition between their administrations.
While the two leaders have struck a tone of cooperation in carrying out
an orderly transition of power, the director of Mr. Obama's transition
team said Sunday the president-elect could move quickly to reverse
President Bush's executive orders on stem cell research, oil drilling
and other matters.
WORLD ECONOMY: Asian stocks are up for the first time in three days after China's
announcement of a 586 billion-dollar stimulus package to boost domestic
demand.
Markets in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai are sharply higher today (Monday),
with the Nikkei index closing up nearly six percent and Hong Kong up
three and a half percent. Crude oil prices also rose on the strength of
China's action and Saudi Arabia's plans to cut December oil deliveries
to Asia by five percent.
European markets also opened higher - on average the indexes in London, Paris and Frankfurt are up nearly three percent.
IRAQ: Iraqi police say at least 28 people have been killed and nearly 70 wounded in a double bomb attack in Baghdad.
Officials say a car bombing today (Monday) in the Adhamiya district in Baghdad was followed by a suicide attack on the crowd that gathered around the car that exploded.
The attacks on a busy street lined with shops and restaurants damaged a
bus carrying girls to school. Women, children and police were among the
casualties.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack -- the deadliest in the Iraqi capital in months.
CHINA-TIBET: Chinese officials say that no progress was made at last week's talks on
the status of Tibet and that Beijing will never accept the Dalai Lama's
calls for greater autonomy.
Zhu Weiqun, executive vice minister of the Communist Party's United Work Front Department, today (Monday)
described the talks in Beijing with the Dalai Lama's representatives as
frank and sincere, but he blamed the Tibetans for the lack of progress.
Envoys of the Indian-based Tibetan government-in-exile have yet to comment on the meeting.
ZIMBABWE TALKS: Zimbabwe's opposition MDC party has rejected a proposal to share control
of the home affairs ministry with the ruling ZANU-PF party of President
Robert Mugabe.
Members of the Southern African Development Community proposed the
power-sharing solution Sunday during an emergency summit in
Johannesburg aimed at resolving Zimbabwe's political impasse.
Audio in Lao.
