Obama foreign team begins work

George Mitchell, who won plaudits for his role in helping secure the province's Good Friday Agreement, is the new administration's Middle East envoy.

He will spearhead US efforts to negotiate a settlement between Israel and the Palestinians.

And former United Nations ambassador Richard Holbrooke has been appointed special envoy to Afghanistan, whose situation the new president described as "perilous".

The announcements came on Thursday night as Mr Obama vowed to "refocus attention and resources" on Afghanistan and Pakistan.

In what is being seen as a major break with the previous Bush regime, he also signed orders to close Guantanamo Bay and ban the use of torture.

The controversial detention camp will be shut within a year, Mr Obama decreed, while the "waterboarding" of terror suspects - a technique which simulates the sensation of drowning - will be outlawed.

Attention also turned to the US economy, with the president receiving the first of what will now become a daily briefing on the deepening financial crisis.

Former senator Mr Mitchell, 75, said he did not underestimate the difficulty of his new assignment, but added there was "no such thing" as a conflict that could not be ended.

Unveiling Mr Holbrooke, Mr Obama gave a bleak assessment of the situation in Afghanistan. He said: "The American people and the international community must understand that the situation is perilous and that progress will take time."