US President Barack Obama said that China has understood his "blunt" warnings against cyber-hacking as he credited new leader Xi Jinping with accepting more global responsibility for Beijing. "We've had very blunt conversations about this. They understand, I think, that this can adversely affect the fundamentals of the US-China relationship," Obama told "The Charlie Rose Show" in an interview broadcast late Monday.

By Richard Cowan and Caren Bohan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A small group of Republican senators worked Monday on a possible border security compromise that would make a sweeping immigration bill more acceptable to some otherwise reluctant conservatives. The proposal is aimed at a satisfying calls by Republicans for further steps to secure the U.S.-Mexico border as part of the legislation currently being debated in the U.S. Senate that would grant legal status to millions of undocumented immigrants already in the United States.

By Sam Cage DUBLIN (Reuters) - With the president locked in high-level meetings at a secluded hotel in Northern Ireland, first lady Michelle Obama and her daughters took the chance to investigate their Irish roots. After arriving in Belfast with her husband on Monday, Obama crossed the border to Dublin to speak to university experts on the president's ancestors, attend a show of traditional Riverdance step dancing and visit the nearby Wicklow mountains.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Monday she was surprised by revelations of mass US online surveillance and that she would call for "transparency" on its scope in talks with President Barack Obama this week. Merkel confirmed in an interview with commercial broadcaster RTL that she would discuss with Obama an issue which has caused deep unease in Germany, where memories of the East German Stasi's spying on citizens are still raw. "I will call for more transparency," said Merkel, who grew up in the communist East.