White House news

• Sonic Continues Prioritizing Protection of Customer Rights and Privacy

  25-03-2015 23:45
  
  SANTA ROSA, Calif., March 25, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Bay Area-based independent ISP, Sonic, has been viewed as a leader in consumer privacy and customer rights since the company's start in 1994. Today, Sonic joins 43 other advocates, companies and organizations in urging the White House and Congress to move forward with reform around the National Security Agency's methods for bulk collection of data. Sonic CEO and Co-Founder, Dane Jasper says, "Protection of customer privacy is one of our core va
  
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• Obama highlights benefits of trade on small businesses

  25-03-2015 23:00
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is meeting with mayors and business owners at the White House to highlight the benefits of trade on a broad swath of the economy.
  
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• Republicans ask White House about Clinton's broken charity donors promise

  25-03-2015 22:10
  
  By Jonathan Allen NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Republican Party chairman asked U.S. President Barack Obama's administration on Wednesday to disclose when it first learned that Hillary Clinton's pledge to disclose all donors to her family's charities had been "repeatedly violated." Clinton, the front-runner to become the 2016 Democratic nominee for president, signed on to the transparency agreement with Obama's incoming administration in late 2008 before becoming secreta
  
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• White House Will End Bulk Phone Spying If Congress Lets The Patriot Act Expire

  25-03-2015 21:38
  
  The White House will not use a legal loophole to let the National Security Agency continue collecting the phone records of millions of Americans if Congress lets the Patriot Act expire in June. Section 215, which authorizes the NSA to collect metadata on virtually all domestic landline phone calls, including numbers and call durations, will expire on June 1. Without a renewal by Congress, which lawmakers within and on both sides of the aisle are divided over, the agency will lose that authority.
  
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• 6 Reasons Why Mellie Would Make a Great President on Scandal

  25-03-2015 21:21
  
  When the election rolls around, make sure to vote Mellie Grant. Scandal's incumbent First Lady has big White House dreams and hit deploy on her grand plan last week when she announced her plan to run for senator of Virginia. The Oval Office is still a long way away for Mellie (Bellamy Young), but if ... Read More > Other Links From TVGuide.com Scandal Bellamy Young
  
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• Obama ready to sign bipartisan fix for Medicare doctor payments

  25-03-2015 21:16
  
  By Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Wednesday that he was ready to sign bipartisan legislation to change the formula for reimbursing Medicare physicians, signaling support for a bipartisan effort by U.S. House of Representatives leaders. "Congress is working to fix the Medicare physician payment system. I’ve got my pen ready to sign a good, bipartisan bill," Obama, a Democrat, said at the White House, adding that this would be "really exciting. ...
  
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• Netanyahu gets go-ahead to form Israel's next government

  25-03-2015 20:25
  
  By Jeffrey Heller JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, grappling with fierce White House disapproval, won consent from Israel's president on Wednesday to try to form a new coalition government. The surprise victor of a March 17 election, Netanyahu looks well set to assemble a heavily right-leaning cabinet that will control 67 of parliament's 120 seats - a large majority in a country where no one party has ever been able to rule by itself. President Reuven Rivlin had
  
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• Kaiser Permanente Commits to Sharing Its Value-Based Care Expertise and Support White House Kick Off of Health Care Payment and Learning Action Network

  25-03-2015 20:10
  
  OAKLAND, Calif., March 25, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Chairman and CEO Bernard J. Tyson today joined President Obama, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell, and other business leaders for the White House launch of the Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network. The Network intends to further the framework established by the Affordable Care Act to move the U.S. health care system away from a payment model based on the quantity of care provided and towards one based on
  
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• White House seeks tangible, specific commitments from Iran

  25-03-2015 20:02
  
  The United States is seeking concrete commitments from Iran in order to reach a nuclear deal that can be shown to the US Congress and public, the White House said Wednesday. "We certainly would want, and expect, that if a deal is completed, it will include tangible, specific commitments that have been made by the Iranians," White House press secretary Josh Earnest said. His comments followed a New York Times report that Iran is resisting a formal "framework" agreement and pre
  
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• Afghan leader vows new chapter in US ties

  25-03-2015 19:47
  
  Afghan President Ashraf Ghani professed deep gratitude to the American people Wednesday for their service and sacrifice in a protracted war in Afghanistan, but warned of extremism's persistent threat in a speech to US lawmakers. Addressing a rare joint meeting of Congress one day after President Barack Obama hosted him in the White House, Ghani expressed a revitalized optimism about the US-Afghan relationship. "We owe a profound debt to the 2,315 servicemen and women killed and the mor
  
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• Senate Democrats push White House on oil train safety

  25-03-2015 19:47
  
  U.S. Senate Democrats on Wednesday urged the White House to implement national oil train safety standards and to do more to control the volatility of crude moving in those shipments. The Obama administration is expected to demand that future oil train tankers are toughened with added steel and have advanced braking systems to prevent derailments from becoming a disaster like the 2013 Lac-Megantic tragedy, when a runaway oil train killed 47 people in the Canadian town. Senator Maria Cantwell intr
  
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• U.S.-led coalition planning to carry out Tikrit strikes - source

  25-03-2015 19:16
  
  The U.S.-led coalition is planning to carry out air strikes in support of Iraqi operations against the Islamic State in the city of Tikrit, a U.S. official told Reuters on Wednesday, speaking on condition of anonymity to confirm comments by Iraq's president. The Pentagon and the White House earlier on Wednesday declined to comment on Iraqi President Fouad Massoum's prediction, in an interview with Reuters, that the coalition would soon carry out strikes in Tikrit, the birthplace of former Iraqi
  
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• Suicide bomber hits Kabul as Taliban warn on US troop pullout

  25-03-2015 19:11
  
  A suicide car bomber killed seven people in Kabul Wednesday as the Taliban warned that Washington's decision to slow the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan will hamper peace efforts. US President Barack Obama on Tuesday reversed plans to withdraw around 5,000 US troops from Afghanistan this year, an overture to the country's new reform-minded leader, President Ashraf Ghani. Hosting Ghani at the White House for their first presidential head-to-head, Obama agreed to keep the curren
  
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• U.S. supporting operations in Tikrit - White House

  25-03-2015 18:12
  
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is providing intelligence and surveillance support for operations in Tikrit against Islamic State militants, the White House said on Wednesday. White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters he had no comment on additional policy decisions related to operations there. Iraqi President Fouad Massoum on Wednesday said he expected the U.S.-led coalition would soon carry out air strikes in Tikrit. ...
  
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• White House calls on Houthi militias to stop fomenting instability in Yemen

  25-03-2015 18:06
  
  The White House on Wednesday called on Houthi militia forces to stop fomenting instability in Yemen and said it could not confirm the whereabouts of Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. "We would call on them to stop that instability and that violence and cooperate with this UN-led process to resolve the difference among all the sides," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters in a daily briefing.
  
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• Google Meets with White House Officials Once a Week on Average

  25-03-2015 16:18
  Those meetings also took place in the final weeks before the commission settled with Google, backing away from what would have been the biggest antitrust lawsuit since the Justice Department took on Microsoft in the 1990s. In fact, Jennifer Friedman, a White House spokeswoman, told the Journal that the administration is “cognizant that it is inappropriate to discuss issues relating to regulatory enforcement.” However, the documents help illustrate how Google has become a lobbying powerhouse
  
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• Netanyahu set for go-ahead to form Israel's next government

  25-03-2015 14:04
  
  By Jeffrey Heller JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, grappling with fierce White House disapproval, was poised to win the nod from Israel's president on Wednesday to try to form a new coalition government. The surprise victor of a March 17 election, Netanyahu looks well set to assemble a heavily right-leaning cabinet that will control 67 of parliament's 120 seats -- a large majority in a country where no one party has ever been able to rule by itself. Netanyahu wi
  
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• Hannover Marketing und Tourismus GmbH: Hannover to Welcome the USA

  25-03-2015 14:00
  
  The United States of America will be the partner country for the HANNOVER MESSE 2016 trade show. This was officially announced by the White House on the evening of March 23. It will be the first time that the USA has been in the role of partner to the world’s largest and most important industrial fair, which has been held in Lower Saxony’s state capital since 1947.
  
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• Germany says no sign any third party involved in Germanwings crash

  25-03-2015 13:15
  
  The German government has no reason to suspect foul play in the crash of a Germanwings airliner in France on Tuesday that killed all 150 passengers and crew, Germany's interior minister said. "There is no concrete evidence that third parties were involved in the causes of the crash," Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere told reporters, though he added that investigations would pursue all possible angles. The White House said on Tuesday that it had "no indication of a nexus to terrorism" in the c
  
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• A bunch of 6-year-old Girl Scouts charmed President Obama when they asked him if he ever has brainstorming sessions

  25-03-2015 13:00
  YouTube This is pretty cute. President Obama strolled the floors at the annual White House Science Fair and was stopped by a group of adorable 6-year-old Girl Scouts wearing capes. The girls had designed “a mechanical Lego contraption that can turn pages, to help patients with mobility issues read books,” Mother Jones reports. They were the youngest inventors invited to present their product at the fair. Obama had a lot of questions. “Are you able to slow it down and speed it up?” Obama
  
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• Humana Discloses Results to Date in Ongoing Initiatives To Improve Quality and Reduce Costs for America’s Seniors

  25-03-2015 13:00
  
  In conjunction with the White House launch event this morning for the Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network, Humana disclosed today its results to date from various initi
  
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• Madge picks ex Dennis Rodman over Vanilla Ice to be marooned with on deserted island

  25-03-2015 11:06
  
  Washington, Mar 25 (ANI): Madonna would pick former lover Dennis Rodman over her another former lover Robert Matthew Van Winkle, better known as Vanilla Ice, if she had to choose the partner she would prefer to be marooned with on a deserted island. The 'Living for Love' singer took a shot at Ice and saying that her secret beauty ritual was to put ice on her eyes each morning saying "Ice, ice baby", referring to his song. Madonna also disclosed her desire to meet President Obama, adding that if
  
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• Evolent Health Joins Department of Health and Human Services in Launch of Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network

  25-03-2015 11:00
  
  Evolent Health, the leader in helping progressive health care systems build and own the path to value-based care, today joins the Department of Health and Human Services at both the White House and HHS' ...
  
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• Other past and future presidential candidates and birthplace issues

  25-03-2015 10:46
  
  The debate over Senator Ted Cruz’s birthplace has raised some interesting questions about other folks who sought, or make seek, the White House, with parents who were born outside the United States.
  
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• US slowing Afghan troop withdrawal damages peace prospects: Taliban

  25-03-2015 10:45
  
  US President Barack Obama's decision to slow the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan will hamper peace efforts, the Taliban said Wednesday, vowing to continue fighting. Obama on Tuesday reversed plans to withdraw around 5,000 US troops from Afghanistan this year, an overture to the country's new reform-minded leader, President Ashraf Ghani. Hosting Ghani at the White House for their first presidential head-to-head, Obama agreed to keep the current level of 9,800 US troops in
  
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• Obama calls prospects of peace, two-state solution between Israel, Palestine 'dim'

  25-03-2015 06:17
  
  London, March 25 (ANI): United States President Barack Obama has said that prospects of peace and a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine are "dim" following Israeli's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's vow to oppose a Palestinian state. According to BBC, Netanyahu's remarks angered the White House. The US President rejected Netanyahu's remarks rejecting creation of a Palestinian state.
  
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• Ashraf Ghani visit: US agrees to slow troop withdrawal from Afghanistan

  25-03-2015 06:17
  
  London, March 25 (ANI): Heeding to demands made by Afghanistan, the United States has reportedly agreed to keep at least 10,000 troops in Afghanistan throughout 2015, the White House said. U.S. President Barack Obama and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani made the announcement at a press conference in Washington, reported the BBC.
  
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• PRESS DIGEST - Wall Street Journal - March 25

  25-03-2015 06:11
  
  The following are the top stories in the Wall Street Journal. * As the federal government was wrapping up its antitrust investigation of Google Inc, company executives had a flurry of meetings with top officials at the White House and Federal Trade Commission, the agency running the probe. * With Morgan Stanley's current finance chief Ruth Porat announcing Tuesday that she was leaving for Google Inc, chief executive James Gorman selected as her successor Jonathan Pruzan, a 46-year-old investment
  
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• IMF 'Plan B' on reforms could slash US power

  25-03-2015 05:23
  
  Washington's block on crucial IMF reforms has pushed the crisis lender into discussions of other options, with one proposal potentially slashing US voting power nearly in half, AFP learned. Talks on "Plan B" have emerged because patience has run out with the US Congress' failure to ratify the 2010 reforms originally strongly supported by the White House. The reforms would both realign the power of members on the IMF executive board, boosting emerging countries like China and
  
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• Alps plane crash heartbreaking, Obama says

  25-03-2015 01:35
  
  All 150 passengers and crew died when the Germanwings airliner came down in a remote area -- victims included 16 German teenagers on a school trip. "It's heartbreaking because it apparently includes the loss of so many children, some of them infants," Obama said, adding that he had called Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel. Obama also called Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, offering US assistance. "The president conveyed his condolences and those of the American peo
  
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• Cruz eyes insurance via Obamacare, a law he vows to scrap

  25-03-2015 01:13
  
  Sen. Ted Cruz could soon be buying his family's health care coverage through the Affordable Care Act, a law the Republican presidential candidate has vowed to repeal should he win the White House. Cruz ...
  
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• Why hundreds of people on Twitter thought Chinua Achebe died this week when he actually died 2 years ago

  25-03-2015 01:13
  
  Associated Press Chinua Achebe has passed away.  In fact, he passed away two years ago, on March 21, 2013. But his obituary resurfaced on the internet this week, and some shared it as somewhat of a breaking news item: Chinua Achebe is dead. Fast Company’s Chris Gayomali took a look at what seemed to have happened: Here’s what I’ve been able to glean so far: A link to Achebe’s  New York Times obituary (dated: March 22, 2013) appears to have been making the rounds on Facebook and Twit
  
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• How Israeli spying on Iran nuclear talks might have backfired

  25-03-2015 00:39
  
  Indeed, the US learned of the Israeli spying as a result of its own spying on Israel. Rather, it’s the lengths to which the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went in its attempts to influence Congress to kill an emerging nuclear deal with Iran. Mr. Netanyahu and Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer essentially treated Congress as home turf, with their aggressive actions suggesting that they appeared to think of Washington as their domestic political landscape. With a Republican-
  
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• U.S., Lebanon discuss efforts to defeat Islamic State

  25-03-2015 00:01
  
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - White House counter terrorism adviser Lisa Monaco met with Lebanese Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk on Tuesday to discuss security concerns in the region and ongoing efforts to defeat the Islamic State, the White House said in a statement. Monaco reiterated the need for all Lebanese parties to "implement the policy of dissociation" from the Syrian conflict. (Reporting By Julia Edwards; Editing by Sandra Maler)
  
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