White House news

• Obama slows Afghanistan troop withdrawal

  24-03-2015 23:35
  
  President Barack Obama on Tuesday reversed plans to withdraw about 5,000 US troops from war-torn Afghanistan this year, an overture to the country's new reform-minded leader. Hosting Ashraf Ghani at the White House for a first presidential head-to-head, Obama agreed to keep the current level of 9,800 US troops in Afghanistan until the end of 2015. "President Ghani had requested some flexibility on our drawdown timelines," Obama said after an Oval Office meeting aimed at setting as
  
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• Cruz to buy insurance via Obamacare, a law he vows to scrap

  24-03-2015 23:28
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Ted Cruz said Tuesday he is signing up his family for health care coverage through the Affordable Care Act, a law the Republican presidential candidate has vowed to repeal should he win the White House.
  
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• Obama says has 'substantive' dispute with Israeli PM

  24-03-2015 23:12
  
  US President Barack Obama insisted Tuesday that his disagreement with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu represents a substantial policy difference and not a personal vendetta. As the Israeli premier works to build a new coalition government at home, he faces one of the worst confrontations in his stormy relationship with the White House. He has tried to play down declarations he made during his recent victorious election campaign in which he ruled out the creation of a Palestinian
  
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• Obama slows withdrawal of U.S. troops in Afghanistan

  24-03-2015 23:00
  
  By Jeff Mason and Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Tuesday granted Afghan requests to slow the drawdown of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and said he would maintain a force of 9,800 through the end of 2015 while sticking to a 2017 exit plan. Capping a day of VIP treatment for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani at the White House, Obama said the U.S. force would be kept at its current strength to train and assist Afghan forces, who took over responsibility for the fight a
  
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• Israel denies spying on US nuclear talks with Iran

  24-03-2015 22:22
  
  Jerusalem, March 25 (IANS/EFE) The Israeli Government has denied that it spied on the closed-door nuclear negotiations that took place between Iran and Western powers, as revealed by US newspaper, citing official sources from the White House. In an interview with Israel's Army Radio, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Tuesday underlined that the report released by the US publisher is "wrong" and "inaccurate." "Obviously Israel has different security interests than the US and we have a
  
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• Oil Prices Withstand Increased Saudi Production For Now

  24-03-2015 22:08
  
  Oil prices make modest recovery despite increased Saudi output, White House determined to sign deal with Iran, China financing energy projects in Russia
  
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• Obama: Netanyahu dispute substantive, not personal

  24-03-2015 20:51
  
  US President Barack Obama said Tuesday that his disagreement with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over how to pursue a Middle East peace deal was substantive, not personal. Netanyahu's declaration just ahead of his latest election victory that he opposes the creation of a Palestinian state angered the White House, which is still seeking a "two state" solution to the conflict. The Israeli leader has since sought to qualify his remarks, but Obama said they revealed a
  
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• US to slow Afghan withdrawal, keep current 9,800 troops to year end

  24-03-2015 20:12
  
  The United States will slow its troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and keep its current 9,800-strong force there until the end of the year, but still end the mission as planned in 2016, President Barack Obama said Tuesday. At a joint White House news conference with his Afghan counterpart Ashraf Ghani, Obama said Kabul had asked Washington to allow for more flexibility in its planned withdrawal. "The specific trajectory of the 2016 US troop drawdown will be established later in 2015 to enabl
  
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• US To Slow Troop Withdrawal From Afghanistan

  24-03-2015 19:49
  
  President Barack Obama has agreed to slow down the US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, after his first White House talks with the war-torn nation's new leader. Mr Obama agreed to keep the 9,800 US troops currently in Afghanistan until the end of 2015, dropping his original plan to halve that number. As part of his pledge to end America's longest war, Mr Obama had planned to pull US troops out of Afghanistan completely by the end of 2016. Mr Ghani, a former World Bank official who onc
  
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• U.S. to keep 9,800 troops in Afghanistan through end 2015 - White House

  24-03-2015 19:34
  
  The United States will maintain its current 9, 800 troops in Afghanistan through the end of 2015, the White House said in a statement on Tuesday after President Barack Obama met Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. "Based on President Ghani's request for flexibility in the U.S. drawdown timeline, the U.S. will maintain its current posture of 9,800 troops through the end of 2015," the White House said.
  
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• White House: US to slow troop withdrawal from Afghanistan

  24-03-2015 19:32
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House said Tuesday the U.S. will keep its current complement of 9,800 troops in Afghanistan through the end of 2015, instead of cutting the number by about half as originally planned.
  
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• Video of White House Incident Released

  24-03-2015 19:22
  
  Police in the nation’s capital have released surveillance video from a supposed “crash” at the White House involving a U.S. government vehicle earlier this month -- and the video seems to corroborate statements made by the director of the Secret Service that initial reports of the incident were overstated. The video from March 4 shows the government vehicle driving at a slow speed when it pushed aside a plastic barrel standing outside of a White House checkpoint. Testifying before the Hous
  
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• Exclusive - U.S. bets on Brazil, extends new invitation to Rousseff

  24-03-2015 19:11
  
  By Brian Winter SAO PAULO (Reuters) - The Obama administration has again invited Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff for a state visit to Washington, a diplomatic breakthrough that both sides hope will lead over time to greater trade between the two biggest economies in the Americas. Rousseff had originally been scheduled to make a state visit, which involves a black-tie dinner at the White House and is considered the strongest expression of friendly ties between allies, in October 2013. The
  
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• Ben Carson: The Tea Party's Great White House Hope

  24-03-2015 18:56
  Casually branding the president a psychopath is exactly the sort of talk that strikes a chord—and just the thing that has made neurosurgeon Ben Carson a sensation in the GOP.
  
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• Obama and Netanyahu's Week of Hell

  24-03-2015 18:46
  
  It's been one week since the Israeli elections, and rather than simmering down, the tension between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seems even higher than it was then—no small feat, given the still-sore feelings over Netanyahu's speech to Congress at the time. It was an open secret that the White House was rooting for Israeli voters to turn Netanyahu out of office on March 17. Obama took his time placing a congratulatory phone call to Netanyahu, and when
  
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• German Airbus crashes in French Alps with 150 dead, black box found

  24-03-2015 18:27
  
  By Jean-Francois Rosnoblet SEYNE-LES-ALPES, France (Reuters) - An Airbus operated by Lufthansa's Germanwings budget airline crashed in a remote area of the French Alps on Tuesday, killing all 150 people on board including 16 schoolchildren. Germanwings confirmed its flight 4U 9525 from Barcelona to Duesseldorf went down with 144 passengers and six crew on board. One of the plane's black box recorders has been found and will be examined immediately, France's interior minister said.
  
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• US, Afghan leaders discuss troop withdrawal

  24-03-2015 18:01
  
  President Barack Obama held intensive White House talks Tuesday with his Afghan counterpart Ashraf Ghani, who is seeking "flexibility" on the pace of US troop withdrawals from his war-torn nation. Under current White House plans, the number of US troops in Afghanistan would be halved to around 5,000 by the end of this year. Ghani, who took charge six months ago after protracted power sharing negotiations, has embraced US calls for Afghanistan's 350,000 security personnel to lead t
  
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• White House: Germanwings crash doesn't appear to be terror attack

  24-03-2015 17:58
  
  The crash of a Germanwings Airbus plane in a remote area of the French Alps on Tuesday does not appear to have been caused by a terror attack, White House said, adding that U.S. officials stand ready to help investigate. "There is no indication of a nexus to terrorism at this time,” National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said. President Barack Obama has been briefed on the crash and "U.S. officials have been in touch with French, German, and Spanish authorities and have offere
  
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• Obama appoints new senior adviser, chief digital officer

  24-03-2015 17:47
  
  President Barack Obama has selected former journalist Shailagh Murray to serve as his new senior adviser and former Twitter executive Jason Goldman to a new position as Chief Digital Officer, the White House said on Tuesday. Murray has served as Vice President Joe Biden's communications director since 2011 and had also taken on the role of deputy chief of staff. She will replace Dan Pfeiffer, Obama's former senior adviser and one-time communications director, who recently stepped down.
  
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• ‘The View’ Blasts Madonna for Bashing Beyonce and Whining About White House

  24-03-2015 17:46
  
  “Beyonce doesn’t need Jay-Z — all due respect to Jay, and I love him too — but [she] doesn’t need Jay-Z to be invited to the White House,” panelist Rosie Perez said, in response to a quote from Madonna in Us Weekly that suggested she’d get a presidential invite if she was hitched to the rapper. Madonna theorized in her interview with the gossip magazine that President Obama finds her too “shocking” to be invited to the White House. Nicolle Wallace, who served as communications
  
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• Obama briefed on deadly Alps air crash, US offers help

  24-03-2015 17:42
  
  Washington (AFP) - US President Barack Obama was briefed early Tuesday on a plane crash in the French Alps that killed 150 people, the White House said.
  
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• There are 196 people running for president

  24-03-2015 17:37
  
  The race to the White House is getting more...
  
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• Germanwings crash doesn't appear to be terror attack, White House: Fox News

  24-03-2015 17:29
  
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The crash of a Germanwings Airbus in a remote area of the French Alps on Tuesday does not appear to have been caused by a terror attack, the White House said, according to a report by Fox News. "There is no indication of a nexus to terrorism at this time," the cable network quoted White House National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan as saying. (Reporting by Timothy Ahmann)
  
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• Obama, Afghan president to finalize plan for US troop exit

  24-03-2015 17:20
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama welcomed Afghanistan's new president to the Oval Office on Tuesday for their first White House meeting, as the U.S. military firmed up plans to slow its departure from the country.
  
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• Obama taps top Biden aide to be senior White House adviser

  24-03-2015 16:53
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has chosen one of Vice President Joe Biden's top aides to be his new senior adviser.
  
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• New police video shows Secret Service SUV nudge barrier

  24-03-2015 16:10
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Police surveillance video shown publicly for the first time Tuesday shows Secret Service agents in their government vehicle driving through the secured area and nudging a temporary barrier at low speed as it drove toward a checkpoint. The incident occurred as on-duty officers and agents investigated a suspicious item thrown near the White House on March 4.
  
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• Video shows Secret Service vehicle bumping into barrier

  24-03-2015 15:52
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are showing for the first time surveillance video of a March 4 incident at the White House involving Secret Service agents. The video shows a government vehicle driving through a secured area at the White House and nudging a temporary barrier while on-duty agents and officers were investigating a suspicious item left in the area.
  
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• Key crises in US-Israel ties

  24-03-2015 15:27
  
  The current diplomatic crisis between Israel and the United States is the most vicious and public yet among only a handful of crises that have marred the close, long-running relationship. US President Barack Obama's frosty relationship with Benjamin Netanyahu hit new lows during the Israeli premier's reelection bid this month, with the White House criticising inflammatory and racist remarks he made on election day. The bad blood between Obama and Netanyahu is "unprecedented,"
  
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• Israel: 'Not True' We Spied On US-Iran Talks

  24-03-2015 15:17
  
  Israel has denied a claim that it spied on US-led nuclear talks with Iran in order to undermine support for a deal. A Wall Street Journal report, quoting current and former US officials, said the Israelis had eavesdropped on the negotiations. The White House was said to be especially angry because Israel had shared its inside information with US lawmakers to brief against a nuclear accord. "It is one thing for the US and Israel to spy on each other," the Journal quoted a senior US offi
  
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• There's a bizarre mystery involving the White House florist, and the rumor is it 'comes from the top'

  24-03-2015 15:09
  
  The smell of intrigue is lingering in the air...
  
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• There's a bizarre mystery involving the White House florist, and the rumor is it 'absolutely comes from the top'

  24-03-2015 15:09
  
  The smell of intrigue is lingering in the air...
  
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• Ted Cruz: US presidential candidate praying to God and Ronald Reagan for White House success

  24-03-2015 14:08
  
  Rafael Edward 'Ted' Cruz, a first-term senator from Texas who wants to be president, has a simple plan: Be Christian – and talk about it a lot – and channel Ronald Reagan. Cruz, 44, polling right now in the low single digits in presidential polls, did both on Monday when he announced he is running for the White House. "There are people who wonder if faith is real," Cruz said at Liberty University. 'The Tea Party's power lies in a new breed of politician, underfu
  
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• Obama White House accuses Israel of spying to undermine Iran talks

  24-03-2015 13:40
  
  The already strained relationship between the White House and the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took a nosedive after the Israeli leader spoke to Congress on Iran, a move the White House felt was designed to undermine the president's efforts. Obama's frustration can now be seen in a greater willingness to place stories critical of Israel in the press. Unnamed White House officials, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, say Israeli spies eavesdropped on the Iran nuclear
  
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• U.S. security adviser: U.S. committed to political transition in Syria

  24-03-2015 13:30
  
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice, in Monday meeting with Moaz Alkhatib, the former head of Syria's opposition group, said the United States remains committed to a negotiated political transition in Syria, the White House said. "Rice stressed that Bashar al-Assad has lost all legitimacy to govern and must go," the White House said in a statement released on Tuesday about the meeting, referring to the Syrian president (Reporting by Washington Newsroom; Editing by Bi
  
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• Independent Living Systems’ VP Participates in White House Regional Forum

  24-03-2015 13:00
  
  Josefina Carbonell, Vice President of Long-Term Care & Nutrition for Independent Living Systems , traveled to Tampa, Fla. for the first regional forum of the 2015 White House Conference on Aging.
  
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• Israel denies White House accusations it spied on negotiations between Iran and the US

  24-03-2015 12:05
  
  White House officials have revealed that Israel spied on international negotiations that began in 2014 to halt Iran's nuclear programme.
  
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• US promises financial aid for post-war Afghanistan

  24-03-2015 10:40
  
  Washington, March 24 (IANS) The US has promised to finance a large contingent of Afghan security forces at least until 2017 and provide up to $800 million to foster economic development in the country in its post-war scenario. A day before his meeting with US President Barack Obama at the White House, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani held talks with Secretary of State John Kerry and Pentagon head Ashton Carter, together with Afghanisan's Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah on Monday, Efe news
  
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• Ted Cruz, presidential bids, and why being 1st is worst

  24-03-2015 10:00
  
  U.S. presidential history has not favoured the likes of declared Republican candidate Ted Cruz. Historically, Washington strategists say, the Texas senator may have doomed his chances to assume the Oval Office because he belongs to that class of unenviable keeners: viable candidates who were the first to declare their bid for the White House. The stats look bad, said Mercedes Schlapp, a Republican strategist and a former spokesperson for president George H.W. Bush. No Republican candidate on rec
  
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• Obama, Afghan leader to finalize plan for US troop pullout

  24-03-2015 06:33
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama welcomes Afghanistan's new president to the White House on Tuesday with a fraught question staring them in the face: Will the U.S. slow its departure from Afghanistan — and for how long?
  
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• Obama praises Indian-American kids, extols 'power of ideas'

  24-03-2015 05:02
  
  Washington, March 24 (IANS) President Barack Obama praised the work of young Indian-Americans as he exhorted budding American scientists to "keep exploring...keep dreaming" and use the power of their ideas to change the world. Don't settle for what you already know," he said as he welcomed young scientists and engineers from across the country to showcase their inventions, robots, and discoveries at the 2015 White House Science Fair Monday. "Never stop believing in the power of your ideas, your
  
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• Obama Talks Brainstorming With Cape-Clad Kid Scientists

  24-03-2015 03:41
  
  The 6-year-old inventors at today’s White House Science Fair are “better brainstormers” than Obama -- at least that’s what the president thinks. The page-turning device -- embellished with multicolored bricks and Lego people -- was “working really well, although you gotta read kind of fast,” Obama observed. “It's a prototype! It will get refined later,” Obama said with a laugh. “Have you ever had a brainstorming session yourself?” one of the girls asked POTUS.
  
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• Einstein's Favorite Female Mathematician Just Scored Major Props from Google

  24-03-2015 02:01
  
  In the early 20th century, Emmy Noether pioneered revolutionary theories in algebra and physics. "Noether was passionate about math, despite living in an era where women were often excluded from these subjects," wrote illustrator Sophie Diao, who came up with the concept for the Google Doodle. The Google Doodle coincides with Monday's 5th annual White House Science Fair, which boasted a majority of women scientists for the second year in a row, according to the White House blog.
  
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• Israel's Netanyahu mired in post-vote crisis with US

  24-03-2015 01:57
  
  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was on Tuesday facing one of Israel's worst-ever confrontations with the White House, which has shown absolutely no sign of accepting his post-election attempts at contrition. Just a week after winning a shock election victory, earning a third consecutive term in office, he remains mired in a diplomatic crisis with US President Barack Obama's administration. Since the March 17 election, not a day has passed without a US comment, official or otherwise,
  
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• Christie says Cruz's announcement won't affect timetable

  24-03-2015 01:54
  
  NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says he is in no rush to make up his mind about whether to run for the White House, despite Texas Senator Ted Cruz's entry into the race.
  
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• US says call data sifting to end unless Congress acts

  24-03-2015 01:04
  
  The White House on Monday said a controversial program exposed by whistleblower Edward Snowden that covertly collects masses of telephone data will end if Congress does not expressly reauthorize it. The program -- which secretly tracks when telephone calls are made, to whom and for how long -- was introduced after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. It had been secret until Snowden, a National Security Agency contractor, revealed the government was asking compa
  
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• U.S. pledges to keep funding Afghans amid calls for slower pullout

  24-03-2015 00:57
  
  By Phil Stewart CAMP DAVID, Md. (Reuters) - The United States assured Afghanistan's leaders on Monday it would keep funding Afghan security forces at a targeted peak level of 352,000 personnel at least into 2017 to provide stability as foreign troops withdraw from the country. The announcement by U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter came ahead of talks at the White House on Tuesday at which Afghan President Ashraf Ghani is expected to press his case for a slowing of the withdrawal of U.S. forc
  
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• No Surprises: Obama’s Fracking Rules Upset Everyone

  24-03-2015 00:22
  
  The latest fracking regulations released by the White House have both industry and environmentalists up in arms for being either too invasive or not strict enough
  
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