Obama says US restoring ties with Cuba (five decades after diplomatic relations were severed)

The United States will restore full diplomatic relations with Cuba more than 50 years after they were severed, US President Barack Obama has said, just hours after Havana announced it had released a US aid worker who had been jailed for five years in Cuba.

US President Raises Tibetan Rights Issue with Xi Jinping

DHARAMSHALA: President Barack Obama raised the Tibet issue during a joint press conference in Beijing on Wednesday with Chinese president Xi Jinping, the Daily Mail reported.
‘We are not in favor of independence,’ President Obama said at the press conference.

‘But we did encourage Chinese authorities to take steps to preserve the unique cultural, religious and linguistic identity of the Tibetan people,’ he said.

Obama takes midterm hit (Result will not impact continuity in Sino-US ties)

The Republicans achieved sweeping midterm election wins on Tuesday, seizing control of the US Senate in a blow to President Barack Obama that will limit his political influence and curb his legislative agenda in his last two years in office, said analysts.

Republicans won in places where Democrats were favored, like a Senate race in North Carolina, pulled out victories where the going was tough, like a Senate battle in Kansas, and swept a number of governors' races in states where Democrats were favored, like Obama's home state of Illinois.

US-led airstrikes fail to deter ISIS advance

US-led coalition air raids targeted areas in Syria controlled by the Islamic State (IS) group Monday, but the group continue to advance on the strategic town of Kobani.

Washington and its Arab allies opened their air assault against the Islamic State extremist group last week, going after its military facilities, training camps, heavy weapons and oil installations. The campaign expands upon the airstrikes the United States has been conducting against the militants in Iraq since early August.

Obama vows more strikes on ISIL in Syria. (the US is not fighting alone)

US President Barack Obama has said that the participation of five Arab nations in Syria airstrikes against Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) fighters "makes it clear to the world this is not America's fight alone".
In a short statement on Tuesday, hours after the first US-led airstrikes hit the group's headquarters in eastern Syria, Obama vowed to continue the fight, which he said was vital to the security of the United States, the Middle East and the world.

Obama warns Iraq operation could take time

U.S. President Barack Obama said on Saturday U.S. airstrikes have destroyed arms and equipment that Islamic State insurgents could have used to attack Erbil, the Iraqi Kurdish capital, but warned the current operation in Iraq could take some time.

“I don’t think we’re going to solve this problem in weeks. This is going to take some time,” Obama told reporters.
“This is going to be a long-term project,” he said during a brief news conference before leaving Washington for a two-week vacation in Massachusetts.

Obama: Iraq has to solve its own problems

President says US troops will not be sent back to Iraq, but his administration is reviewing options to assist Baghdad....

President Barack Obama has said that the United States will not be sending its troops back to Iraq, but is reviewing other options to assist the Iraqi government threatened by an advancing armed group.
"We will not be sending US troops back into combat in Iraq, but I have asked my national security team to prepare a range of other options that could help support Iraqi security forces," Obama said on Friday.

Obama warns Putin to work with Ukraine or face new sanctions

BRUSSELS - President Barack Obama said on Thursday Russian President Vladimir Putin must recognize and work with Ukraine's new government and stop "provocations" along its border, or face tougher sanctions from members of the G7 group of nations.

Full Obama Statement on Prisoner Release

President Barack Obama broke the news Saturday that Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl's was released by his Taliban captors in Afghanistan. Here is the president's statement, as released by the White House:


Statement by the President on Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl:"Today the American people are pleased that we will be able to welcome home Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, held captive for nearly five years.

Obama's spokesman Jay Carney unexpectedly resigns

United States President Barack Obama announced Friday afternoon that he’s accepted the resignation of White House press secretary Jay Carney.

Josh Earnest, the White House special assistant to the president and principal deputy press secretary, will assume Carney’s role, Obama said during a surprise appearance from the commander-in-chief during a scheduled briefing Friday afternoon.

Obama makes defiant defense of US restraint. Terrorism remains biggest threat to US

US President Barack Obama mounted a defiant defense of his global leadership Wednesday, rebuking critics who see him as weak but warning that not every global threat justifies a US military response.

In a major speech at the West Point military academy, Obama denied US power had ebbed under his watch, after he withdrew troops from Iraq and is doing the same in Afghanistan.

He also pledged to ramp up support for Syrian rebels, vowed to stand up to Russia over Ukraine and promised to make drone strikes against terror suspects more transparent.

NATO Secretary General and US President stress commitment to collective defence

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and US President Barack Obama stressed the Alliance’s strong commitment to collective defence during talks in Brussels on Wednesday (26 March 2014). “Our commitment to the defence of our Allies is unbreakable,” said the Secretary General.

Mr. Fogh Rasmussen expressed his strong appreciation for the leadership role the United States plays in the Alliance during his meeting with President Obama. The talks focused on the crisis in Ukraine, relations with Russia and implications of the crisis on the preparations for this September’s NATO Summit in Wales.

White House: Obama calls 6 world leaders about Ukraine crisis

KEY LARGO, Florida - President Barack Obama made a series of phone calls on Saturday to world leaders about the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, including British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Francois Hollande, and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi the White House said.
He also held a conference call about the situation with the presidents of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said in a statement.

Obama: Crimea Referendum Violates International Law

President Barack Obama says new sanctions will "impose a cost" on Russia for its military move into Crimea and that a planned referendum on whether the peninsula should join Russia violates international law and Ukraine's constitution.

Mr. Obama told reporters at the White House an executive order he signed Thursday authorizes sanctions, including visa restrictions, on those who violate Ukraine's territorial integrity or steal the assets of the Ukrainian people.

He said that the steps were taken in "close coordination" with America's European allies, adding that he was "pleased that our international unity is on display at this critical moment."

Obama, Putin chat — for 15 seconds (video R)/"Le monde de la guerre froide était très différent d'aujourd'hui"

Putin greets Obama at G20 summit από reuters

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President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin shared a brief, 15-second greeting Thursday at the G-20 summit in St. Petersburg, Russia. It was the first face-to-face interaction between the leaders after a summer of high-profile spats over Syria, Edward Snowden and gay rights.

According to the White House pool report, the pair shook hands and chatted briefly, with President Obama at one point flashing a big grin. Reporters could not hear what the pair discussed.

Carla del Ponte: Syrian Chemical Weapons Attack Carried Out by Rebels. -May 2013 (VIDEO YT 27/8/13)

As the Syrian revolt continues to tear the country apart, the international community has been eager to condemn Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, even as it became clear that the rebels do not, in fact, represent a popular uprising against the oppression of the Assad regime. According to UN diplomat Carla del Ponte, however, it appears that the recent chemical weapons attack was carried out by the Syrian rebels and not the regime, as it had been widely assumed. Speaking to a Swiss television channel, del Ponte said that there were “strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof,” that rebels had carried out the attack. She also said UN investigators had seen no evidence of the Syrian army using chemical weapons, but that further investigation was needed (May 2013***).