White House news

• President Obama moves to end conversion therapies for LGBT youth

  09-04-2015 23:38
  
  In a move that further solidifies the White House’s stance on gay marriage and LGBTQ civil liberties, President Obama is calling for an end to what’s known as gay and transgender conversion therapies. This comes just a few months after a 17-year-old transgender teen, Lellah Alcorn, took her own life after writing an online suicide note, which included references to how religious therapists attempted to change her back to being a boy.
  
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• State-by-state battle waged over 'conversion therapy' bans

  09-04-2015 23:19
  
  NEW YORK (AP) — There have been several setbacks this year for a state-by-state campaign to ban so-called conversion therapy for gay, lesbian and transgender youth. But the White House is now officially an ally, and activists are hopeful of long-term success as they make a case that such treatments can have devastating consequences.
  
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• White House opens first gender-neutral restroom

  09-04-2015 23:17
  
  By Maria Caspani NEW YORK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The White House has opened its first gender-neutral restroom in what is seen as a symbolic step by President Barack Obama to protect the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in the workplace. White House spokesman Jeff Tiller said the "all-gender restroom" is in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building where many employees have meetings and offices and is next door to the West Wing which houses the presiden
  
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• Calls mount for US police to wear body cameras

  09-04-2015 22:50
  
  From the White House to local communities, Americans are pushing for more police to wear body cameras after an officer shot dead an unarmed man running away from a traffic infraction. The killing of Walter Scott, a 50-year-old black man, shot in the back by a white officer on Saturday in South Carolina and filmed on a cell phone, shocked America and shocked the world. US officers are rarely indicted in shootings, but Michael Slager, 33, was charged with murder, sacked and faces up to life in pri
  
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• Will White House's gender-neutral restroom start a national trend?

  09-04-2015 21:17
  
  The next battleground for LGBT rights may be the public restroom. The White House recently opened its first gender-neutral bathroom, it announced Wednesday, a symbolic step by the Obama administration to raise awareness of issues within the LGBT community. Located in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, next to the West Wing, the "all-gender restroom" is one of numerous gestures President Obama has taken in the last year or so to raise the profile of gay and lesbian rights – and it may si
  
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• Islamic State assault was catalyst for Iraqi unity, Biden says

  09-04-2015 21:04
  By Doina Chiacu WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Islamic State's assault on northern Iraq last summer galvanized the country's rival factions to fight a common enemy and halt the militant group's momentum, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said on Thursday. In an upbeat assessment before a White House meeting next week between U.S. President Barack Obama and Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi, Biden said Iraq has gained the upper hand against the radical Sunni group since it seized territ
  
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• Activists press South Carolina for police body cameras after shooting

  09-04-2015 20:34
  
  By Harriet McLeod NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (Reuters) - Civil rights leaders urged lawmakers on Thursday to require all police officers in South Carolina to wear body cameras after a bystander filmed the death of a black man who was shot in the back by a white police officer as he ran away. Dot Scott, president of the Charleston chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said it was unlikely the officer would have been arrested on a murder charge had the shooting of
  
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• Phillips Lytle LLP To Host Educational Summit Addressing Sexual Assault On College And University Campuses

  09-04-2015 20:30
  
  NEW YORK, April 9, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Phillips Lytle LLP, a premier regional law firm that is recognized nationally for its legal excellence, will present an educational summit on "Sexual Assault on College and University Campuses," featuring Liz Seccuro, victim's rights advocate, author, and activist. The day-long summit will be held at the Harvard Club of New York City, 35 West 44th Street, in New York on Tuesday, April 21, 2015. "With the White House initiative and the recent media coverag
  
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• WHITE HOUSE NOTEBOOK: Nuttin' but love for Obama in Jamaica

  09-04-2015 20:27
  
  KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — President Barack Obama's supporters often shout at him, "I love you!"
  
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• InZero Systems offers simple solution to White House breach (and for Secretary Clinton, too)

  09-04-2015 20:12
  
  HERNDON, Va., April 9, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- InZero Systems announced that its WorkPlay Technology thwarts the type of cyber attack that hacked the White House.  InZero Chairman Lou Hughes, responding to ...
  
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• Obama touts clean energy in bid to restore U.S. leadership in Caribbean

  09-04-2015 20:05
  
  By Matt Spetalnick KINGSTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama met with Jamaica's prime minister on Thursday, announcing a major clean energy partnership ahead of a Caribbean summit where he hopes to reassert U.S. leadership in the region at time when oil-producing Venezuela's economic clout may be receding. The White House used the occasion to announce a major step towards healing its five-decades-old rift with Cuba, saying the State Department has completed a review of whether to rem
  
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• Islamic State brought Iraq leaders together in common fight: Biden

  09-04-2015 19:38
  
  The Islamic State brought Iraqi leaders together in a common fight since the militant group declared a "caliphate" in northern Iraq last summer, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said on Thursday. Biden gave an upbeat assessment of Iraq's progress against the Sunni group in an address to the National Defense University before a White House meeting next week between U.S. President Barack Obama and Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi.
  
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• Senate seen waiting for Obama until Fed nominee hearing called: sources

  09-04-2015 19:09
  
  By Michael Flaherty and Emily Stephenson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate Banking Committee is expected to wait to hold a hearing for the nomination of a community banker to the Federal Reserve until the White House moves to fill the central bank's other open seat, according to people familiar with the matter. Waiting gives committee Chairman Richard Shelby more time and options to put his stamp on the central bank, as the Fed still has a seventh empty board seat to fill. Another vacancy a
  
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• Who Hacked the White House? Putin Says, ‘Not Us’

  09-04-2015 18:43
  
  A top Kremlin spokesman on Wednesday ridiculed reports by U.S. news media that computer hackers based in Russia had gained access to an unclassified White House computer system. The comments by Dimitry Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, came after CNN reported on the alleged intrusions Wednesday.
  
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• Obama: no decision yet on removing Cuba from terror sponsor list

  09-04-2015 18:21
  
  KINGSTON, JAMAICA (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Thursday that the U.S. State Department had completed its review of whether to remove Cuba from the list of countries that sponsor terrorism but that he had not received a recommendation yet from his advisers. Speaking in Jamaica, where he is on a short visit, Obama said he would not announce a Cuba decision on Thursday. He said he would wait to get recommendations from White House advisers before doing so. (Reporting by Matt Spetalnic
  
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• Bobby Flay and Stephanie March Separate After 10 Years of Marriage

  09-04-2015 18:10
  
  Bobby Flay and his wife have called it quits. The celebrity chef and Stephanie March have been separated for three weeks, sources confirm to ET. The same sources confirm that divorce is imminent for Flay, 50, and the Law & Order: SVU actress, 40. Flay and March married 10 years ago on Feb. 20, 2005. They dated for four years before they married. WATCH: Robert Irvine Talks 'Food Network Star' Twist March is Bobby's third marriage. He was previously married to chef Debra Ponzek
  
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• Senate expected to wait to hold Fed nominee hearing: sources

  09-04-2015 18:09
  
  The Senate Banking Committee is expected to wait to hold a hearing for the nomination of a community banker to the Federal Reserve until the White House moves to fill the central bank's final open seat, according to people familiar with the matter. The White House in January named Allan Landon, former chief executive of the Bank of Hawaii, as a nominee to fill the sixth of seven Fed board seats.
  
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• Former Rhode Island Governor Chafee mulls White House run

  09-04-2015 17:08
  
  (Reuters) - Former Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee said on Thursday he was mulling a run for the White House, becoming the first Democrat to publicly challenge presumed front-runner and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Chafee served eight years in the U.S. Senate as a Republican, then changed his party affiliation to independent when he ran for governor of Rhode Island in 2010. In 2013, his last year in office, he changed his party affiliation to Democrat.
  
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• Barack Obama calls for end to gay 'conversion' therapies

  09-04-2015 16:33
  
  US President Barack Obama is calling for an end to so-called conversion therapies that seek to change sexual or gender orientation of young homosexuals or transgenders. The call is in response to a petition on the White House website that was launched after the death of 17-year-old Leelah Alcorn, a transgender youth who committed suicide in December. In a note posted online before her death, Alcorn wrote about being forced to undergo conversion therapy by her parents.
  
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• U.S. liberal groups push congressional Democrats on Iran nuclear bills

  09-04-2015 16:16
  
  By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. progressive groups rallied on Thursday to persuade Democratic senators not to support a bill giving Congress a vote on a nuclear deal with Iran, echoing the White House's insistence that the measure could blow up delicate negotiations. Five groups - CREDO, Daily Kos, Democracy for America, MoveOn.org Political Action and USAction - sent a letter warning Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, Minority Whip Richard Durbin and seven other Democratic U.S.
  
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• Obama Wants End To LGBT Conversion Therapy

  09-04-2015 13:45
  
  Barack Obama has called for an end to psychiatric therapies that seek to change the sexual orientation of gay, lesbian and transgender youth. The White House put out a statement in response to a petition calling for Mr Obama to back a law to ban conversion therapy, which is supported by some socially conservative organizations and religious doctors. The petition was started following the suicide in December of 17-year-old transgender youth Leelah Alcorn, who died after her parents forced her to
  
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• Obama calls for end to gay 'conversions'

  09-04-2015 09:15
  
  The White House says the controversial practice of gay conversion therapy is medically and ethically inappropriate.
  
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• Video of white cop shooting black man sparks outrage in US

  09-04-2015 06:32
  
  Washington, April 9 (IANS) Angry protests swept the US as a horrifying video showing a white police officer shooting eight times a black person running away from him led to the officer being charged with murder and fired. Protests began within hours of the murder charge against white South Carolina police officer Michael Thomas Slager, who claimed he shot 50-year-old Walter Scott in self-defence North Charleston mayor Keith Summey announced that he had ordered body cameras to be worn by every si
  
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• Photos of the day - April 6, 2015

  09-04-2015 04:38
  A large American flag is unfurled on the field before a baseball game between the Washington Nationals and the New York Mets on opening day at at Nationals Park, President Barack Obama delivers opening remarks from the Truman Balcony as a person dressed as the Easter Bunny stands behind him during the White House Easter Egg Roll and the full moon sets behind the Swiss Alps mountains, in Charrat, Canton of Valais, Switzerland, at dawn are some of the photos of the day. (AP/EPA/Getty/Reuters) Find
  
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• Surprise! Utah man dons polo shirt, ends at table with Obama

  09-04-2015 03:07
  
  SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Last week, 26-year-old Lance Futch donned a white polo shirt and drove to Hill Air Force Base for what he believed was a chance to be in the audience during a news conference with a "senior White House official."
  
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• Obama calls for end to conversion therapy for LGBT youth

  09-04-2015 02:54
  
  U.S. President Barack Obama called on Wednesday for an end to psychiatric therapies that seek to change the sexual orientation of gay, lesbian and transgender youth, the White House said. The White House statement, written by senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, is in response to a petition calling for Obama to back a law to ban conversion therapy, which is supported by some socially conservative organizations and religious doctors. The petition was started following the suicide in December of 17-yea
  
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• Obama calls for end to conversion therapies for LGBT youth

  09-04-2015 02:21
  
  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama called on Wednesday for an end to psychiatric therapies that seek to change the sexual orientation of gay, lesbian and transgender youth, the White House said. Conversion therapy is supported by some socially conservative organizations and religious doctors. (Reporting by Eric Beech; Editing by Sandra Maler)
  
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• Surprise! Utah guardsman dons polo, ends at table with Obama

  09-04-2015 02:18
  
  SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Last week, 26-year-old Lance Futch donned a white polo and drove to Hill Air Force Base for what he believed was a chance to be in the audience during a press conference with a "senior White House official."
  
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• President Obama plays tennis with Caroline Wozniacki

  09-04-2015 01:41
  Thousands of children gathered at the White House for the annual Easter Egg Roll. This year tennis star Caroline Wozniacki was invited to the event where she played a friendly game of tennis with President Obama. Check out photos from the fun-filled afternoon in the nation's capital.
  
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• Utah man surprised by meeting with President Obama

  09-04-2015 01:29
  
  SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Last week, 26-year-old Lance Futch donned a white polo shirt and drove to Hill Air Force Base for what he believed was a chance to be in the audience during a news conference with a "senior White House official."
  
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• UConn women's basketball team returns home with 10th trophy

  09-04-2015 01:19
  
  UConn President Susan Herbst calls the school's basketball teams the university's front porch - it's the first thing the outside world sees. The women's team added some decoration to that porch Wednesday, bringing its third straight NCAA championship trophy back to campus after Tuesday night's 63-53 win over Notre Dame in Tampa, Florida. It is the program's 10th title and the 14th for UConn, which also has won four men's championships. President Barack Obama ph
  
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• Inside the Presidential Suite

  09-04-2015 01:17
  Let?s take you inside the three-bedroom, three-and-a-half marble-bathroom suite with master boudoir that has accommodated eight decades of U.S. presidents. When not reserved for heads of state or diplomats, movie stars, millionaires, corporate executives and other individuals occupy the Presidential Suite. Decorated to resemble the White House, with furniture reflecting a traditional Georgian style, it is home to the personal desk of General Douglas MacArthur and one of President John F. Kennedy
  
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