UN appeals for DR Congo back-up

The head of UN peacekeeping has asked the UN Security Council for more than 3,000 extra troops to protect civilians in the eastern DR Congo.

Alain Le Roy said current peacekeeper numbers were not enough to protect civilians from violence perpetrated by rebel groups and the Congolese army.

There were only 10 UN soldiers for every 10,000 inhabitants in the east

There are 9,000 UN peacekeepers in the region, out of 17,000 nationwide.

The latest crisis began in August when rebels advanced towards Goma, which is now ringed with refugee camps.

See detailed map of the area

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for a ceasefire to allow aid workers to reach 100,000 refugees cut off in rebel-held areas north of Goma.

Rebel administration

The UN's peacekeeping mission in DR Congo, called Monuc, is its largest in the world, but Mr Le Roy said there were only 10 UN soldiers for every 10,000 inhabitants in eastern DR Congo.

FORCES AROUND GOMA CNDP: Gen Nkunda's Tutsi rebels - 6,000 fighters FDLR: Rwandan Hutus - 6,000-7,000 Mai Mai: pro-government militia - 3,500 Monuc: UN peacekeepers - 5,500 in North Kivu, 3,500 in South Kivu (17,000 nationwide) DRC army - 90,000 (nationwide) Source: UN, military experts

"We consider it's not enough," he said.

Recent fighting between government and rebel troops has displaced 250,000 people in the strife-torn region around Goma, the capital of North Kivu province.

Earlier, the rebel Congolese leader, General Laurent Nkunda, said he had formed an alternative administration in the area of eastern Congo that he controls.

In what observers say is his latest direct challenge to the central government, 12 ministers will take responsibility for a range of functions including police and security.

But the BBC's Mark Doyle in eastern DR Congo says the move appears to be pure propaganda.

Our correspondent says it may annoy the government but is likely to be insignificant unless the rebels follow it up with further military action.

'Looting and raping'

Meanwhile, government troops have faced fresh accusations that they have been ransacking villages and raping civilians.

UN spokesman Lt-Col Jean Paul Dietrich said looting began around Kanyabayonga, 100km (60 miles) north of Goma, on Monday afternoon and continued through the night.

In pictures: DR Congo unrest Face-to-face with Nkunda Send us your comments

He also said that a rare night-time gunbattle had erupted for an hour on Tuesday night between rebels and the army near Kibati, 10km (six miles) north of Goma.

The area is home to 75,000 people who have been repeatedly forced to flee fighting.

Meanwhile, neighbouring Angola said it was mobilising troops to send to Congo, the Associated Press news agency reported, although it was not clear how many or what their mission would be.

Correspondents say there have been a number of recent unconfirmed reports of Angolan troops arriving in DR Congo to assist Congolese troops.

The presence of Angolans in the volatile region could be seen as a provocation by neighbouring Rwanda, raising fears that the fighting could spread.

No negotiations

Rebel leader Gen Nkunda claims to be fighting to protect his Tutsi community from attacks by Rwandan Hutu rebels, who fled to DR Congo after Rwanda's 1994 genocide.

The Congolese government has often promised to stop the Hutu forces from using its territory, but has not done so.

On Monday, Gen Nkunda threatened to take over the whole country if President Joseph Kabila's government continued in its refusal to negotiate with him. But a Congolese official said the government was still unwilling to talk to the rebel leader and accused him of war crimes.

The UN has accused both sides of war crimes during the latest violence.

Mr Kabila was elected president in 2006 in polls that were backed by the UN, and which international observers generally declared to be fair.

US aid worker killed in Pakistan

Gunmen in Pakistan have shot dead an American aid worker and his driver in the north-western city of Peshawar.

The men were killed just outside their office in the University Town area. It is not clear who the attackers were.

Violence has surged in the north-west in recent months with a wave of attacks blamed on Islamist militants.

American aid workers have a strong presence in Pakistan

A number of missile strikes inside Pakistan's tribal areas by US troops based in neighbouring Afghanistan have fuelled anti-American sentiment.

The BBC's Mark Dummett in Islamabad says that the security situation across Pakistan has steadily worsened over the past few years, with Taleban militants holding sway over a large stretch of North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

But our correspondent says attacks of this kind on foreigners in Pakistan are rare. Across the border in Afghanistan aid workers and other foreigners have increasingly been targeted in recent months.

Gunmen attacked the car of a US diplomat in Peshawar in August, but she survived unhurt.

Our correspondent says that it is more common for militants in Pakistan to launch suicide bomb attacks against military or government targets.

'Under investigation'

The US embassy has refused to identify the man until his next of kin are informed.

But an embassy spokesman confirmed that the victim was an American. He said the dead man was not a diplomat nor was he travelling on an official assignment.

Eyewitnesses say the aid worker and his driver were shot by a group of masked gunmen as they drove to their office in University Town, a wealthy suburb of the main city in north-west Pakistan.

The attackers blocked the men's vehicle in a narrow street with their own car before opening fire with automatic weapons, officials said.

"Several bullets hit them, and they died in the vehicle," police official Arshad Khan told the Associated Press.

Bombings

Meanwhile, two Pakistani security officers were killed and several others were injured in a suicide attack in north-western Pakistan, officials said.

Peshawar was hit by a suicide bombing on Tuesday

The suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden car into a temporary security forces camp in Shabqadar area of Charsadda district, 25km north of Peshawar.

Areas close to Peshawar - the biggest city in north-west Pakistan - are known to be Taleban and al-Qaeda strongholds.

The region has been hit by several bombings and suicide attacks recently.

On Tuesday, a suicide bomber walked up to the gate of a stadium in Peshawar and blew himself up.

The attack happened as the governor of North West Frontier Province left after a sports tournament.

He was unhurt but at least one man was killed and three people were injured.

Obama 'to curb role of lobbyists'

US President-elect Barack Obama will introduce rules to restrict the role of lobbyists as he shapes his administration, says a senior official.

Transition chief John Podesta said Mr Obama would introduce "the strictest and most far reaching ethics rules of any transition team in history".

He promised the "most open and transparent" ever handover of power.

Mr Obama's defeated Republican rival John McCain, meanwhile, cracked jokes about his defeat on a US talk show.

Mr Obama marked Veterans Day in Chicago

In his first post-election TV interview, Arizona Senator McCain said that since being trounced by Mr Obama in last week's election he had been "sleeping like a baby".

"I sleep two hours, wake up and cry," he added, repeating a gag he made after losing to George W Bush during the Republican primaries in 2000.

Appearing on NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Mr McCain ruled out another run for the presidency, saying: "I wouldn't think so, my friend. It's been a great experience and we're going to have another generation of leaders come along."

He also said his running mate Sarah Palin inspired people and predicted she "would play a big role in the future of this country".

Both Mr Obama, who takes office on 20 January, and Sen McCain railed against lobbyists during the election campaign, accusing them of peddling favours and influence to sway Capitol Hill lawmakers in a culture of corruption.

At a briefing in Washington, Mr Podesta told reporters Mr Obama had "pledged to change the way Washington works and curb the influence of lobbyists".

Interest groups have been offering recommendations on cabinet-level appointments to the Obama transition team.

But Mr Podesta gave no indication of when the key posts of treasury secretary and secretary of state would be filled.

'Mixed emotions'

Under the new measures, Mr Obama will not allow lobbyists actively petitioning the federal government to work with the transition, said Mr Podesta.

The guidelines will also prevent anyone who has acted as a lobbyist over the last 12 months from working on any policy area in the transition in which they had been active.

He added that anyone who works on the transition and then becomes a lobbyist will be barred from approaching the administration for 12 months in the area in which they worked.

New details emerged, meanwhile, in Mr Bush's first post-election interview, of Monday's visit by Mr Obama and his wife Michelle to the White House to meet the outgoing president and first lady.

Mr Bush told CNN that after their policy discussion, his successor had wanted to check out the future bedrooms of his two daughters.

"It was interesting to watch him go upstairs, and he wanted to see where his little girls were going to sleep," Mr Bush said.

Mr Bush also told CNN: "I know I'll miss certain things about the presidency. I also know I'm looking forward to getting home, so I've got mixed emotions."

Meanwhile the Associated Press news agency reported First Lady Laura Bush was in the early stages of talks with publishers about penning a memoir on her time in the White House.

Obama assembles White House team

Barack Obama has started forming his administration by asking Rahm Emanuel, a former adviser to President Clinton, to be his chief-of-staff.

US President-elect Obama is next expected to appoint a treasury secretary to tackle the country's economic crisis.

He has until his inauguration on 20 January to select his senior officials.

Illinois congressman Rahm Emanuel (L) was an adviser to President Clinton

Mr Obama was elected the first black US president on Tuesday with a resounding win over Republican rival John McCain.

Mr Obama's transition team is to be run by John Podesta, a former chief-of-staff to President Bill Clinton; Pete Rouse, who was Mr Obama's Senate chief-of-staff; and close friend Valerie Jarrett.

No briefings or announcements are expected on Thursday, but Mr Obama's staff said that he would address the media by the end of the week.

CIA briefings

Mr Emanuel is an Illinois congressman and tough Washington insider who has been strongly criticised by some Republicans for being too partisan, says the BBC's Jane O'Brien in Washington.

Although he has not formally accepted the job yet, if he does become chief-of-staff, he would be responsible for much of the internal management of the new administration.

But critics say his appointment could accentuate party divides, rather than heal them, as Mr Obama has pledged to do.

With the country in the throes of an economic slowdown and part of the global financial crisis, the post of treasury secretary will be a key post.

Likely contenders reportedly include former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, and Timothy Geithner, the current head of the New York Federal Reserve.

Current Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has pledged to work with Mr Obama to ensure a smooth transition, and is said to have already set up desks and telephone lines at the department where Mr Obama's incoming team can work between now and the inauguration.

There has been speculation Mr Obama will ask Defence Secretary Robert Gates to remain in his post.

Mr Gates is broadly respected by both parties and would reflect a more bipartisan administration, our correspondent says.

With the business of preparing for government under way, Mr Obama will from Thursday start receiving the president's daily CIA briefings, which will include updates on covert operations.

In another sign of the changing of the guard, Michelle Obama spoke by telephone with First Lady Laura Bush, who invited her to visit the White House.

Mr Podesta was a key figure in the Clinton administration

Projected results from Tuesday's election have yet to be announced for the states of North Carolina and Missouri, which are believed to be too close to call.

But with most precincts tallied, Mr Obama's share of the popular vote stands at 52.4%, compared with Mr McCain's 46.3%.

Turnout was reported to be extremely high - in some places "unprecedented" in what many Americans said they felt was a historic election.

The entire US House of Representatives and a third of US Senate seats were also contested in Tuesday's elections.

The Democrats increased their Senate majority by five seats to 56, including two independents, but fell short of the 60 needed to stop blocking tactics by Republicans. A further four seats are too close to call.

The Democrats also increased their majority in the House of Representatives, gaining 19 seats to give a total 254, leaving the Republicans with 173.