White House news

• US Acknowledges Rescue Mission in Yemen Last Week to Rescue Luke Somers

  04-12-2014 23:42
  
  The White House and the Pentagon have acknowledged that the U.S. military launched a secret rescue mission in Yemen last week to rescue American Luke Somers who had been kidnapped by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula for almost a year.Somers was not able to be rescued because he had been moved two days before the daring raid from the cave where he and other hostages were being held by their captors. ...
  
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• Google Gets Thousands Of Girls To Program The White House Christmas Tree Lights

  04-12-2014 23:40
  
  The 92nd annual White House Christmas tree lighting ceremony is getting a tech twist this year. Over 300,000 people, mostly young girls, participated in Google’s Made with Code campaign to program the way the lights will dance on the 56 official White House Christmas trees during this evening’s lighting ceremony.We don’t know what...
  
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• Police cases converge to stir national debate

  04-12-2014 22:19
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — From the White House to the streets of some of America's biggest cities, the New York chokehold case converged with the Ferguson shooting and investigations out of South Carolina and Cleveland to stir a national conversation Thursday about racial justice and police use of force.
  
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• Republican-led House blocks Obama immigration plan

  04-12-2014 22:10
  
  In a symbolic rebuke to US President Barack Obama's unilateral action on immigration, the Republican-led House of Representatives voted Thursday to block his plan to shield millions of people from deportation. The bill, which passed 219-197 along party lines, was introduced by conservatives furious with what they consider Obama's abuse of power when he announced his executive order last month. The White House has also threatened a veto. Congressional leaders hope however that the bill
  
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• US calls out Gambia for abusing rights of gays

  04-12-2014 21:41
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is admonishing Gambia for human rights abuses and says it's deeply concerned by the government's failure to protect citizens.
  
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• US military tried to rescue American hostage in Yemen

  04-12-2014 20:47
  
  US and Yemeni forces recently tried unsuccessfully to rescue an American journalist held by Al-Qaeda, which has now threatened to execute him, officials said Thursday. President Barack Obama last month approved the rescue operation to free a number of hostages, including US national Luke Somers, held by Al-Qaeda in Yemen, the White House and the Pentagon said.
  
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• Obama to nominate Pentagon chief Friday

  04-12-2014 20:11
  
  President Barack Obama on Friday will announce his choice to replace Chuck Hagel as Pentagon chief, the White House said. Favored for the post is Ashton Carter, a former deputy defense secretary under Leon Panetta from October 2011 to December 2013. While stopping short of confirming the pick, the White House has hailed Carter's "detailed understanding" of the Pentagon's inner workings, and recalled that the Senate had unanimously confirmed his nomination as the Defense Depar
  
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• Obama to announce Defense secretary pick Friday

  04-12-2014 20:04
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama plans to announce his pick Friday to lead the Pentagon amid the threat from Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq, the White House said.
  
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• Obama to announce nomination of next Pentagon chief on Friday: White House

  04-12-2014 19:22
  
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will announce his pick for the next Secretary of Defense on Friday morning, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters on Thursday. Administration sources said earlier this week that Obama has chosen Ashton Carter, the former deputy defense secretary, for the job, after Chuck Hagel resigned last month. Earnest declined to comment on Obama's choice, saying it was up to Obama to announce the nomination. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton and Jeff Mas
  
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• White House issues veto threat for House immigration measure

  04-12-2014 18:17
  
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House issued a veto threat on Thursday for a bill that would block President Barack Obama's recent executive action to lift the threat of deportation for about 4 million undocumented people. The symbolic measure, sponsored by Republican Representative Ted Yoho from Florida, would allow lawmakers to cast a vote against Obama's immigration move, effectively declaring it illegal. The House vote is scheduled for later on Thursday. (Reporting by Roberta Ramp
  
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• Grand Canyon University Announces STEM Scholars Program During White House Event

  04-12-2014 15:00
  
  PHOENIX, Dec. 4, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Grand Canyon University President Brian Mueller today joins President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama and Vice President Joe Biden at a national education summit where the University's new STEM Scholars program is to be announced. Mueller's announcement comes during the White House College Opportunity Summit in Washington, D.C., which is being attended by hundreds of college presidents and other higher education leaders who are discussing new actions to hel
  
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• Engaging Students for Success: Cengage Learning, Maricopa Corporate College, and Smart Horizons Career Online Education Participate in White House College Opportunity Summit

  04-12-2014 14:00
  
  WASHINGTON, Dec. 4, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- With the crisis of disconnected youth affecting 1 in 7 young people in America, our leading thinkers, innovators and organizations must work together to create ...
  
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• Kaplan Announces Commitment to Expand College Access at White House Event

  04-12-2014 12:00
  
  Today, Kaplan, Inc. Chairman Andrew S. Rosen will join President Obama, the First Lady, and Vice President Biden along with hundreds of college presidents and other higher educatio
  
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• 5 Things: White House Christmas decorations

  04-12-2014 09:17
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Christmas is always an over-the-top event at the White House. Five things to know about how the White House team is going big with this year's festivities:
  
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• US House votes to extend dozens of tax breaks

  04-12-2014 02:05
  
  The US House of Representatives easily approved a sweeping package of tax breaks Wednesday that will allow individuals and corporations to save billions of dollars on their 2014 taxes. Lawmakers passed some 55 so-called tax extenders, deductions that expired at the end of 2013 but will be retroactively restored with the current legislation, by a vote of 378 to 46, setting up a Senate vote for final congressional approval in the waning days of the year. Members hastily crafted the extenders packa
  
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• Obama, Hillary Clinton meet at White House but details are few

  04-12-2014 00:05
  
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama met Hillary Clinton, his former secretary of state, on Wednesday but the White House declined to say whether they discussed her possible presidential candidacy in 2016. A White House official said they informally discussed many issues during a private hour-long meeting in the Oval Office. Clinton, who ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic presidential nomination against Obama in 2008, said in September she would probably decide whether to try ag
  
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• Obama, McConnell hold rare one-on-one meeting

  04-12-2014 00:01
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — In a rare one-on-one meeting, President Barack Obama and incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday sized up the prospects for bipartisan cooperation between a White House and Republican Party that have struggled for years to find common ground.
  
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