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

U.S. President Barack Obama leaves Monday on his final foreign trip as president.

Mr. Obama's advisers expect President-elect Donald Trump to be the primary topic of discussion with world leaders. The president's itinerary includes stops in Greece, Germany and Peru.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel hosts Mr. Obama for talks Thursday. The leaders of Britain, France, Italy and Spain will be in Berlin for meetings Friday.

Before leaving Monday, the president held his first White House news conference since last Tuesday's election. Mr. Obama said he believes President-elect Donald Trump is not as ideological as people think and that he will be a pragmatic leader as long as he is surrounded by good people.

He said he is determined to help with the transition.

"I remember what it was like when I came in eight years ago. It is a big challenge. This office is bigger than any one person and that's why ensuring a smooth transition is so important." :President Obama.

Pakistan says overnight shelling by Indian forces across the disputed Kashmir frontier has killed seven Pakistani troops.

The military says the incident occurred in the Bhimber sector along the "Line of Control," which separates Pakistani and Indian portions of the divided Himalayan region. Pakistani troops retaliated.

The government in New Delhi did not immediately respond to the report.

The United Nations says more than 54,000 people have been displaced in Mosul, where an Iraqi military operation is underway to free the city from Islamic State militants.

A U.N. spokesman says the number of displaced people has increased by 6,600 since Friday, with most of them fleeing to displaced persons' camps.

Iraqi special forces say they are checking all displaced people for suspected links to IS.

This is VOA news.

A suicide bomber killed six people and wounded six others Monday in the southern Iraqi city of Karbala.

The country's Interior Ministry said security forces killed five other attackers, and that the suicide bomber blew himself up inside a house after being surrounded.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

China's president has offered the U.S. president-elect congratulations on his recent win at the polls.

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said Xi Jinping and Donald Trump agreed on Monday to meet "at an early date" to discuss the relationship between the two countries.

And Russian President Vladimir Putin telephoned congratulations to Trump Monday and said Russia is ready for a "partner-like dialogue" with the United States.

Trump's office said the two talked about a range of issues.

Protests continued Monday in the United States against the election of Donald Trump.

Hundreds of students walked out of classes at a high school in Los Angeles and in another in suburban Washington DC, following a night of protests in major U.S. cities.

The size of the demonstrations [are] is diminishing.

A Swedish prosecutor was allowed to enter Ecuador's embassy in London Monday and question WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on a rape allegation.

Assange has been taking refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in order to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faces charges of sexually assaulting a woman. He denies the charge.

One of his lawyers, Jennifer Robinson, questioned the conditions of his exile in the embassy. "... six years in which he's been held under house arrest, he's been held inside the Ecuadorian embassy, in circumstances the U.N. has said amount to inhuman and degrading treatment, in circumstances the U.N. has found to be arbitrary detention, this has gone on far too long."

The questioning is scheduled to continue for several days.

The military court martial of U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl has been delayed until May 15. The delay came after prosecutors requested more time to retrieve classified evidence that was requested by Bergdahl's defense team.

Bergdahl was captured by the militant Haqqani Network and held captive for five years.

He is accused of deserting his post in Afghanistan and misbehavior before the enemy. He faces life in prison.

A U.S. judge in Minnesota is sending three Somali-Americans to prison. The three were found guilty of conspiring to provide material support to the Islamic State group.

Judge Michael Davis gave two of the men lighter sentences because they cooperated with the government.

The harshest sentence was given to Zacharia Abdurahman, who got 10 years in prison. Abdurahman was stopped at a New York airport in 2014 while attempting to travel to Greece on his way to Syria to join the Islamic State group.

Looking at markets, on Wall Street, U.S. stock indexes were mixed at the close of trade on Monday.

In Washington, I'm David DeForest.

That's the latest world news from VOA.