From Washington, this is VOA news. I'm David DeForest reporting.

Iraqi troops fired toward Islamic State positions in and around the Iraqi city of Mosul Thursday. The troops did not advance but cleared neighborhoods once dominated by the IS.

The troops are also screening people fleeing Mosul to screen out IS militants trying to sneak out of the city.

Meanwhile, to the east, a spokeswoman says the Syrian Kurdish-led force is close to encircling the Syrian city of Raqqa, the self-styled Islamic State capital.

A Chinese senior public security official is the new head of the International [Criminal Organization] Criminal Police Organization, or Interpol.

Interpol says delegates at its 85th General Assembly in Indonesia elected China's Vice Public Security Minister, Meng Hongwei, as president.

China's official Xinhua news agency reports that Hongwei is the first Chinese to hold the position.

Former Venezuela Soccer Federation President Rafael Esquivel was found guilty Thursday on federal charges resulting from a FIFA corruption scandal.

Esquivel pleaded guilty to seven counts of racketeering, money laundering conspiracy and [fire] wire fraud. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

He had been linked to bribes in awarding sports marketing contracts associated with Copa America.

Millions of Indians stood in line Thursday to exchange high value currency notes which have been scrapped in an effort to loot out graft. Many experts had failed the move as the country's biggest and boldest step to stamp out corruption and flush out tax evaders.

It's believed billions of dollars in cash had been squirreled away.

This is VOA news.

Just two days after his surprise election victory, President-elect Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, went to the White House to meet with President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle.

The president and the president-elect gave brief statements to reporters in the Oval Office after their meeting.

Here is Mr. Obama: "Well, I just had the opportunity to have an excellent conversation with President-elect Trump. It was wide-ranging. We talked about some of the organizational issues in setting up the White House, we talked about foreign policy, we talked about domestic policy."

Trump told reporters the meeting was supposed to last about ten minutes but lasted 90, and that it could have gone on even longer.

Trump's victory in Tuesday's elections is being greeted by protests in several cities.

Immigrants, people of color, refugees and others are among those protesting various positions the next president advocated during the recent campaign.

Trump is reassuring some U.S. allies about security commitments in light of statements he made during the campaign.

Japan's chief cabinet secretary says Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will visit with Trump next week in New York. He says the two spoke by phone Wednesday and that both are committed to continuing U.S.-Japan security cooperation.

Trump reportedly reassured President Park Geun-hye that during his administration, the U.S. won't waver in its support for South Korea.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull of Australia says he spoke to Trump, making the case for the ratification of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement. Trump made opposition to trade agreements, such as the TPP, a cornerstone of his election campaign.

Speaking Thursday in Belgrade, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said the time for overreaction to America's election is over.

"And I may respectfully say to some of my beloved European friends and colleagues that I think it's time we snapped out of the general doom and gloom about the result of this election and the collective 'whinge-o-rama' that seems to be going on in some places."

Johnson said people should focus on the opportunities and not the problems involved with a Trump victory.

President Obama is asking the U.S. Congress for more than $11 billion in additional money for military spending. The funding would include money to fight Islamic State militants, to sustain higher overseas troop levels and to modernize the Afghan military's helicopter fleet.

The request will be considered during a lame duck session that starts next week.

Taking a brief look at market activities, on Wall Street, U.S. stock indexes were mixed at the close of trade today. European markets were down. And on Thursday, Asian markets were up.

From the VOA news center in Washington, I'm David DeForest.

That's the latest world news from VOA.