.. US President-elect Barack Obama says he wants his economic team to find ways to generate 2.5 million new jobs during his first two years in office..  .. Ali Ashtari, an Iranian, was convicted in June of spying for Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency. A video said to be of his confession was broadcast on TV..  .. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has defended the security pact with the US, saying it preserves Iraqi sovereignty..  .. The Venezuelan government says President Hugo Chavez's public approval rate is as high as 70%..  .. The increase in piracy prompted senior officials from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Yemen and Somalia's government to gather for a private meeting in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.