BERLIN - US President Barack Obama, on a farewell visit to Europe, said Thursday he hoped Donald Trump would "stand up" to Russia but added he was "cautiously optimistic" about his successor in the White House. Despite adopting a sombre tone during his sixth and last visit to Germany as US president, Obama said he was nevertheless "cautiously optimistic about my successor and the shift from campaign mode to governance". During eight years in office, Obama has relied on Merkel's strength in Europe on several fronts, including staying in contact with Putin to seek to defuse the Ukraine conflict and taking in hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees. In the three-day visit to Berlin, Obama dined with Merkel at his hotel late Wednesday, before a meeting Friday including the leaders of Britain, France, Italy and Spain. Obama praised Merkel as a leader who had shown "her integrity, her truthfulness, her thoughtfulness".

Source: Bangkok Post November 17, 2016 19:45 UTC