Washington, Israeli President Shimon Peres will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom when he visits the White House in Washington, D.C. later this spring, U.S. President Barack Obama told an audience on Sunday. Obama made the announcement at the American Israel Political Action Committee (AIPAC) Policy Conference, the largest gathering of the pro-Israel movement, in Washington, D.C. He praised Peres, who has led Israel since becoming president in July 2007, as having fought for Israel's independence and for peace and security. "As a member of the Haganah and a member of the Knesset, as a Minister of Defense and Foreign Affairs, as a Prime Minister and as President -- Shimon helped build the nation that thrives today: the Jewish state of Israel," Obama said as he announced the award. "But beyond these extraordinary achievements, he has also been a powerful moral voice that reminds us that right makes might -- not the other way around." Obama said Peres has lived to the story of the Jewish people, recalling the Israeli leader's remarks previously that 'slings, arrows and gas chambers can annihilate man, but cannot destroy human values, dignity, and freedom.' "He has ...
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Washington, President Barack Obama broke into song Tuesday at a White House blues show, as Rolling Stones frontman Barack Obama urged a reluctant US leader to step up and sing a few lines. "Not tonight!" the US leader protested as Jagger and blues legends B.B. King and Buddy Guy invited him to singalong to the classic " Sweet Home Chicago." To cheers from the audience, a smiling Obama sang parts of the tune, an ode to his adopted hometown, originally made famous by the legendary bluesman Robert Johnson. Obama singing soul legend Al Green's "Let's Stay Together" was a sure-fire hit last month, garnering positive coverage on cable news and online -- one of the videos of him crooning "I'm so in love with you," at New York's famed Apollo Theater in Harlem, has been viewed over five million times on YouTube. Earlier Jagger, 68, delivered some bluesy rock in his renowned dancing swagger in the East Room of the US presidential mansion at the "Red, White and Blues" event, singing "I Can't Turn You Loose." He also let loose "Commit a Crime" with fellow British rocker Jeff Beck. As president, Obama told the audience, "some nights when you want to go out and just take a ...
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Washington, The US has confirmed to have participated in three-way talks with the Afghan government and Taliban. According to White House spokesman Jay Carney, the US side "supported an Afghan-led process of reconciliation," and "we are obviously part of this process that is Afghan-led". Speaking to reporters on board the Air Force One, Carney said: "Almost all insurgencies come to an end through a political settlement. We believe that an end to the conflict in Afghanistan will come when there is a reconciliation." Carney also said the US side insist any Taliban who wants to participate in the process "would have to renounce Al-Qaeda, lay down their arms, renounce violence, and pledge allegiance to the Afghan constitution, and its requirement that the rights of minorities and women are respected". Afghan President Hamid Karzai, in an interview published Thursday by The Wall Street Journal, said talks among the US, the Afghan government and the Taliban had taken place in the last month. However, a Taliban spokesman denied that such three-way talks had taken place. On the same day, Defence Secretary Leon Panetta also said Karzai's statement confirms that ...
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Washington, Acclaimed Indian economist and Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen, who is bet known for his work on the causes of famine, was felicitated by US President Barack Obama at the White House on Monday night with the U.S National Medal for Humanities. Acknowledging Sen’s presence, who has earlier been bestowed with the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 1998, Obama said that it’s a very unusual and rare occasion when they have an economist on stage. The White House citation for Sen described him as an economist with ‘philosophical thinking to questions of policy’ with which ‘he has changed how standards of living are measured and led to an increased understanding of how to fight hunger’. The 77-year academician, who is currently the Professor at Thomas W. Lamont University and Professor of Economics and Philosophy at Harvard University, was felicitated with this award ‘for his insights into the causes of poverty, famine, and injustice’. The award has been typically awarded to US nationals through its 16-year history and Amartya has become the first Indian to be felicitated with this honor. The basic objective behind presenting this award is to honor ...
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Washington, Obama's Indian origin first U.S. chief technology officer Aneesh Chopra is leaving the White House, an administration official has said. The White House has confirmed that February 8 will be the last day of Chopra's tenure. Chopra has been a supporter of integrating government and technology to create new products and services. He was one of three authors of the White House blog post, and had criticized the controversial copyright legislation, the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Senate's PROTECT IP Act. Chopra joined the administration in May 2009. He previously had been managing director at The Advisory Board Co., a publicly traded health care think tank. It was unclear what Chopra would do after leaving the White House but sources said he has been rumored to be mulling a political career. US President Barack Obama thanked Chopra for his service in a statement. 'As the federal government's first chief technology officer, Aneesh Chopra did groundbreaking work to bring our government into the 21st century. Aneesh found countless ways to engage the American people using technology, from electronic health records for veterans, to expanding access ...
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WASHINGTON: The White House was locked down on Wednesday for more than an hour after a "smoke bomb" landed inside the compound of the United States president's residence, breaching the high security cordon around the building. The incident took place on Tuesday night when an estimated 1,000 people of the Occupy Wall Street movement were protesting outside the White House. Panic struck the Secret Service - the federal agency responsible for security of the US president - when they saw a smoke bomb landed inside the high secure ground of the White House. The White House was temporarily locked down and streets around the area were cordoned off. The protesters were peacefully dispersed and the White House was all clear. President Obama, and First Lady Michelle were not at home when the incident occurred. Obama had taken Michelle to a restaurant for a dinner on the occasion of her 48th birthday. The First Couple have since returned to the White House without any difficulty . Secret Service spokesman George Ogilvie said there were no arrests and the agency was investigating the incident. The journalists who were travelling with the president on return were prevented from ...
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Washington, A smoke bomb was hurled inside the White House complex, prompting the Secret Service to deploy a robot to check it out. President Barack Obama and his wife were not at home, media reports said. A "smoking object" was thrown over the White House fence late Tuesday, and authorities were investigating it, CNN quoted US Secret Service spokesman George Ogilvie as saying. The president and his wife Michelle Obama were not in the White House as they were celebrating her birthday at a restaurant a few blocks away. Ogilvie said the unidentified object was thrown during a protest. Occupy protesters rallied at the White House, Capitol Hill and at the Supreme Court Tuesday. Fox News reported that one or more smoke bombs may have been thrown over into the heavily-guarded White House. The Secret Service also deployed a robot to check out the devices on the North Lawn. The Occupy movement began in September seeking action against unequal distribution of wealth. ...
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Washington, One of Hollywood's most famous couples, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Wednesday met with US President Barack Obama at the White House, the Huffington Post reported. Photographers and journalists, waiting outside for the president to take off for a trip to Chicago, spotted Pitt and Jolie in the Oval Office chatting with Obama. The White House later confirmed that Obama met with the famous stars so that he could talk with Jolie about "her work on preventing mass atrocities and combating sexual violence against women", the daily said. Jolie and Pitt are currently in Washington D.C. for the screening of Jolie's movie about Bosnian war crimes "In the Land of Blood and Honey" that will be showed at the Holocaust Museum. It is Jolie's debut as a film ...
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Washington, White House Chief of Staff William Daley is stepping down, US President Barack Obama said Monday. The president named Jacob Lew, who heads the White House Office of Management and Budget, as his replacement, Xinhua reported. Obama thanked Daley for his "extraordinary" service. He said Daley is resigning to spend more time with his family. The president said Daley was intimately involved in every decision made in the White House in the past year, including decisions related to ending Iraq war, payroll tax cut fight, debt ceiling debate, and free trade agreements. Obama said Lew was the clear choice to replace ...
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Washington, The US House of Representatives has passed a legislation to freeze some Pakistan aid, slap harsh new sanctions on Iran, and endorse indefinite imprisonment of suspected terrorists. Acting shortly after the White House dropped a threat to veto the bill, the Republican-led chamber voted 283-136 to approve the 662 billion dollars Defense Authorization Bill, which also sets high hurdles for closing Guantanamo Bay. The Democratic-held Senate is expected to vote on the same bill as early as today. US President Barack Obama, who had threatened to veto earlier versions of the yearly measure, will sign it when it reaches his desk despite lingering misgivings, spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement before the vote. “However, if in the process of implementing this law we determine that it will negatively impact our counterterrorism professionals and undercut our commitment to the rule of law, we expect that the authors of these provisions will work quickly and tirelessly to correct these problems,” the Express Tribune quoted Carney, as saying. The legislation requires that Al-Qaeda fighters who plot or carry out attacks on US targets be held in military, not ...
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Washington, US House of Representatives Wednesday passed a massive defence budget, after making changes that the White House called would not constrain the administration's counterterrorism efforts. The bill, passed with a 283-136 vote, was $662 billion in size. It was ammended at the last minute to include language that the White House demanded, Xinhua reported. The change came after the White House waved veto threat for two weeks. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said in a statement Wednesday that after the changes, the bill's "language does not challenge or constrain the president's ability to collect intelligence, incapacitate dangerous terrorists, and protect the American people, and the president's senior advisors will not recommend a veto." The White House had previously threatened to veto the bill over requirements for terrorism suspects to be detained in military installations, calling it a "legally controversial restriction of the president's authority." The Senate was expected to approve the measure later this week before sending it to President Barack Obama for his ...
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Washington, The White House Monday said that the NATO strike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers was a "tragedy", and vowed to carry out a probe into the incident. "The events that took those lives was a tragedy," White House spokesman Jay Carney said at a regular press briefing. The attack took place last Saturday when NATO aircraft bombed two Pakistani border posts in Mohmand tribal region, killing 24 soldiers and injuring 13 others. "We take this matter very seriously," Carney told reporters, vowing that the US will investigate the matter and is "very keen "on finding out what exactly happened, Xinhua reported. It is not the first time that Pakistani soldiers became the victims of NATO cross-border attacks. A Pakistani army spokesman Monday said that 72 Pakistani troops were killed in similar attacks over the past three years. In response, Pakistan has ordered to close the NATO supply lines with immediate effect and asked the US to vacate a key air base in southwest Balochistan province within 15 ...
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