Obama plunges into full agenda

US President Barack Obama, acting swiftly on his first full day in office, plunged into Middle East peace diplomacy and summoned his economic and national security teams yesterday to confront the financial crisis and the unpopular Iraq war.

The new US President, in one of his first actions in office, said he was putting in place a pay freeze for senior White House staff and tightening up rules concerning former lobbyists who work in government.

"Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency," Mr Obama said during a meeting with his top staff.

Mr Obama, who before taking office vowed a bolder pursuit of Israeli-Palestinian peace than his predecessor George W. Bush, phoned Israeli and Arab leaders to commit to "active engagement" in resolving the long-running conflict and to help consolidate the Gaza ceasefire.

"He pledged that the United States would do its part to make these efforts successful, working closely with the international community and these partners as they fulfil their responsibilities as well," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

It was the strongest signal yet that Mr Obama, sworn in on Tuesday, was determined to make a clean break with Mr Bush on policies at home and abroad.

Critics had faulted Mr Bush for taking a largely hands-off approach to Middle East peacemaking for much of his eight years in office.

Mr Obama spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah not long after he stepped into the Oval Office for the first time since his historic inauguration as the first black US President.

He is expected to name a Middle East envoy soon.

Mr Obama, who has vowed strong action to deal with the worst US economic crisis in decades and to hammer out an exit strategy from the unpopular war in Iraq, held separate meetings in the late afternoon with economic advisers as well as with his national security team.

Hours after taking office, Mr Obama ordered military prosecutors in the Guantanamo war crimes tribunals to ask for a 120-day halt in all pending cases. The Bush administration's harsh treatment of terrorism suspects held at the detention centre drew international condemnation.

Mr Obama, who made government ethics reform and transparency major themes of his campaign, said he was putting in place strict new rules on former lobbyists who work in government.

He said he had set an order that would prohibit people who worked in the private sector as lobbyists from working on matters they previously lobbied on.

Mr Obama also put in place a ban on gifts from lobbyists and promised much greater access for the public to government documents that are sensitive because of national security or privacy issues. When Mr Obama entered the Oval office yesterday, he found a note left for him by Mr Bush that was in an envelope marked "To:#44, From: #43."

Meanwhile late yesterday Hillary Clinton won US Senate approval as secretary of state despite renewed Republican concerns about potential conflicts of interest created by her husband's foreign fundraising.

The Senate easily approved Mrs Clinton's nomination by President Barack Obama to be the top US diplomat. She replaces former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.