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The U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources (HHS) has hired more than 1,600 new employees in the aftermath of Obamacare’s passage.
The new employees include just two described as “consumer safety” officers, but 86 tasked with “criminal investigating” – indicating that the agency is building an army of detectives to sleuth out violations of a law that many in Congress who supported it still find confusing.
On the day President Barack Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law in 2010, HHS received authority from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to make as many as 1,814 new hires under an emergency “Direct Hiring Authority” order.
The Obama administration ordered that employment expansion despite a government-wide hiring freeze.
A total of 1,684 of those positions were filled and the new employees’ salaries alone cost the U.S. at least $138.8 million every year.
The HHS has hired more than 1,600 new employees in the aftermath of Obamacare’s passage
The hiring began in May 2010 and continued through June 2013, making the later hires eligible for higher salaries as a result of annual cost-of-living increases.
The difference between what HHS spent on new Obamacare-related employees and what it was authorized to spend is explained by its failure to hire most of the 261 “consumer safety officers” it was authorized to bring aboard. Only two such employees were hired.
But while OPM authorized HHS Deputy Assistant Secretary for Human Resources Denise Carter – later renamed Denise Wells – to hire 50 criminal investigators, the agency increased that number to 86 on its own.
The lowest salary on the list was for a single contracting officer at Grade 7, Step 1, an annual rate of about $42,350, including a so-called “differential” payments. Those increases are given to all federal employees in order to adjust for regional cost-of-living differences.
The highest salary in 2010 dollars, including that differential payment, was about $161,450, earned by a total of 29 new employee. They include health insurance administrators, contracting officers and information technology managers.
The fleet of 86 new criminal investigators are earning a range of compensation between $51,800 and $89,350, according to the 2010 salary tables and differential payment guidelines.
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The Missouri State Fair has banned for life a rodeo clown who donned a mask bearing the likeness of President Barack Obama for a mocking comedy act.
The clown’s act on Saturday night – during which fans were asked whether they wanted to see “Obama run down by a bull” – drew swift denunciation.
The Missouri State Fair organizers said on Monday the act was “inappropriate” and apologized for the “unconscionable stunt”.
A spokesman for Gov Jay Nixon said the clown’s act was “deplorable”.
Rodeo clowns are an established part of the sport in the US.
In addition to entertaining the fans with comedy sketches between bull riding and other competitive feats, they distract the bulls once they have thrown their riders, in order to give the cowboys a chance to escape.
The unidentified rodeo clown sparked outrage after impersonating Barack Obama at the Missouri State Fair
The most popular rodeo clowns can take in $2,000 per night at the largest events, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In amateur video taken of the event in Sedalia, Missouri, a performer wearing what appears to be a toothy Barack Obama fright mask, jacket, and straw cowboy hat can be seen standing in the middle of the rodeo arena.
The announcer is heard calling attention to him, at which point a voice cries over the public address system: “I know I’m a clown, he’s just running around acting like one, doesn’t know he is one.”
The unidentified clown’s numerous detractors have insisted rodeo is a competitive sport and a brand of family entertainment, not a political platform.
“All members of the Missouri Rodeo Cowboy Association are very proud of our country and our president,” the association’s board of directors said in a statement.
“This type of behavior will not be tolerated.”
State Representative Steve Webb, like Barack Obama a Democrat, suggested the act had “racial overtones”, in an interview with the Kansas City Star.
In 2012, Barack Obama lost the state of Missouri in the US Midwest 54% to 44%. But in 2008, he lost the state by fewer than 4,000 votes.
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Kris Jenner fired back at Barack Obama after he criticized Kim Kardashian and Kanye West for their opulent lifestyles.
Kris Jenner, 57, during her Kris show on Friday said she disagreed with President Obama that Kim and Kanye have been influencing the younger generation to be obsessed with wealth and money.
Barack Obama, 52, in a recent Kindle Singles interview bemoaned the “change in culture” that has warped the American Dream and referenced the E! network’s popular Keeping Up With The Kardashians show.
“There was not that window into the lifestyles of the rich and famous,” Barack Obama said of his time growing up.
“Kids weren’t monitoring every day what Kim Kardashian was wearing, or where Kanye West was going on vacation, and thinking that somehow that was the mark of success,” said the president, who has twice referred to Kanye West in the past as a jackass.
Kris Jenner countered that she thought it was admirable that people, including a high school graduate such as herself, aspired to obtain great jobs.
“But, I wasn’t aware that you could only set the bar so high and that we could only dream so big,” Kris Jenner told the sympathetic studio audience.
Kris Jenner fired back at Barack Obama after he criticized Kim Kardashian and Kanye West for their opulent lifestyles
Kris Jenner chided the Columbia University and Harvard Law School graduate for pointing out that Kim Kardashian and Kanye West live in a 10,000-square-foot house.
“I bet the President has some friends with 10,000 square foot houses and he probably wouldn’t mind going over there when asking them to have a party for campaigning for dollars to run for president,” Kris Jenner said.
Kris Jenner also thought it was strange that Barack Obama was singling out Kim Kardashian and Kanye West.
“I find it so odd that he’s picking on Kim Kardashian and Kanye West. Well, Kanye West, first of all, doesn’t go on vacation. Ever,” Kris Jenner said.
“And Kim Kardashian is the hardest-working young lady in the world. She never sleeps, she never stops, she never slows down and works so hard for what she’s got,” she added.
Kris Jenner also drew a comparison between Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s 10,000-square-foot mansion, noting that Barack Obama, “if she’s not mistaken”, lives in the 55,000-square-foot White House.
She also defended the Keeping Up With The Kardashians empire for employing hundreds of workers on the reality show.
It’s not the first time that Barack Obama has hard harsh words for Kanye West.
After the singer upstaged Taylor Swift at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, Barack Obama famously called him a jackass in an interview.
In the May issue of The Atlantic, Barack Obama said he prefers rapper Jay-Z over Kanye.
The president acknowledged liking Kanye West and the singer’s Chicago roots, but stood by his earlier characterization.
“He is a jackass,” Barack Obama said.
“But he’s talented.”
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The First Family departed The Disabled American Veteran National Convention in Florida for their annual eight-day vacation on Martha’s Vineyard, where they are staying at a $7.6 million vacation home with views of the Atlantic.
Getting on the plane from Orlando the family sported a smart look with the President Barack Obama donning a suit and Michelle Obama meticulously attired with pearls and a belt around her sun dress.
However, when the first couple disembarked in Martha’s Vineyard they were ready for their vacation to start, as Barack Obama had changed into a pair of chinos and Michelle ditched the pearls and belt.
The First Family have been vacationing on the Vineyard for years, but this is the first time they will stay at the luxury four-bedroom Chilmark House designed by architect Rick Sundberg.
With wall-to-ceiling windows, the 5,000sq ft home has stunning views over the ocean, as well as an infinity pool, tennis courts and a half basketball court.
The First Family departed The Disabled American Veteran National Convention in Florida for their annual eight-day vacation on Martha’s Vineyard
Half the cost of the President’s holiday is met by the taxpayer, and the Obamas pay for the remainder, although they have met the full cost of the vacation home, which is owned by private equity expert David Schulte, according to Bloomberg.
David Schulte contributed to both of Barack Obama’s election campaigns and his run for the Senate.
It is not known how much the Obamas paid to stay at the house, which was found for them by their broker who specializes in finding vacation homes for prominent politicians and royalty who have specific security needs.
He has previously found rentals for the Clintons and also found the Blue Heron Farm where the Obamas previously stayed for years, until it was sold to a British architect for $22.4 million.
According to a property expert in the town of Vineyard Haven, Chilmark House would “likely run in the $40,000 to $60,000 range for the eight-day stay”.
It is estimated the cost of the entire vacation, including the 75 rooms booked at a nearby hotel for staff and security, could reach $2 million.
The Obamas’ vacation home is on the south coast of the Massachusetts elite playground, which is favored for visitors who need extra security.
At the entrance of the home, which was built in 1961 and renovated in 2006, is a giant bolder left by a retreating glacier in the Ice Age, according to Sundberg Kennedy Ly-Au Young Architects.
A guest house set in its nine and a half acres of gardens could be used by secret service agents, who will accompany the family.
With Barack Obama’s approval rating at 46%, according to Gallup, there has been criticism that his decision to vacation in such an elite spot is insensitive, according to the Huffington Post.
When he was seeking reelection last year, Barack Obama skipped the family’s usual vacation, but this year he plans to play golf with friends and relax with Michelle and his daughters.
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Movie star Matt Damon says he no longer has a crush on President Barack Obama.
“He broke up with me,” Matt Damon said in an interview published online Thursday.
Matt Damon told BET that he and the president “no longer see eye-to-eye”.
“There are a lot of things that I really question, specifically about the Obama administration’s national security posture.”
“The legality of the drone strikes,” Matt Damon said, “and these NSA revelations are – like, you know – Jimmy Carter came out and said we don’t live in a democracy. That’s a little intense when an ex-president says that. So you know, he’s got some explaining to do, particularly for a constitutional law professor.”
Barack Obama has come under fire for presiding over an NSA with a mandate for domestic spying. The agency’s biggest secrets are now exposed publicly since contractor Edward Snowden leaked them to the press and fled to Russia.
And the president has faced growing outrage from Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky and other libertarian-minded Republicans, following his Department of Justice’s longtime refusal to guarantee that it won’t use drones to surveil Americans – an assurance it gave only in the face of an embarrassing Senate filibuster.
Matt Damon no longer has a crush on President Barack Obama
The White House continues to use unmanned drones as first-strike weapons against terrorism targets overseas.
Matt Damon campaigned aggressively for then-Senator Obama during the 2008 election season. Nine days before the 2008 election, Matt Damon told a room full of volunteers in Florida that they should work hard to “make sure Barack wins”.
But in the president’s second term, the bloom is clearly off the rose.
Matt Damon told reporters in August 2011 that he was “really dissatisfied” with Barack Obama “doubling down” on George W. Bush’s “bad ideas” for education.
Three months later in an interview with Elle magazine Matt Damon said: “I’ve talked to a lot of people who worked for Obama at the grassroots level. One of them said to me, <<Never again. I will never be fooled again by a politician>>.”
“You know, a one-term president with some balls who actually got stuff done would have been, in the long run of the country, much better.”
Matt Damon’s criticism of Barack Obama began in late 2010, and by April 2011 the president was ready to fire back, albeit in good fun.
“It’s fair to say that when it comes to my presidency, the honeymoon is over,” Barack Obama said at the White House Correspondents Dinner.
“Matt Damon said he was disappointed in my performance. Well Matt, I just saw The Adjustment Bureau so right back atcha buddy.”
Matt Damon has come under fire this week following revelations that despite his long-term advocacy for improving public education, he sends his own children to a private school.
“I pay for a private education and I’m trying to get the one that most matches the public education that I had,” he told The Guardian, “but that kind of progressive education no longer exists in the public system. It’s unfair.”
During a 2011 rally in Washington D.C., Matt Damon told a crowd of teachers that he would not trade his own public school education “for anything”.
Matt Damon’s upcoming film Elysium, which opens Friday, has been panned by conservatives for arguing for a socialist utopia as an alternative to a future world of haves and have-nots.
The Occupy Wall Street-inspired plot line involves a wealthy elite class that has abandoned an overcrowded Earth for a luxury space station, leaving the rest of humanity in crime-ridden and poverty-stricken squalor.
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President Barack Obama has vowed “appropriate reforms” to guarantee greater oversight of controversial US surveillance programmes.
At a White House news conference, Barack Obama proposed “safeguards against abuse”, including amending legislation on the collection of telephone data.
The president also urged allowing a lawyer to challenge decisions by the nation’s secretive surveillance court.
He has been defending the programmes since they were leaked in June.
Barack Obama said on Friday that the US “can and must be more transparent” about its snooping on phone and internet data.
“Given the history of abuse by governments, it’s right to ask questions about surveillance, particularly as technology is reshaping every aspect of our lives,” he told reporters.
“It’s not enough for me as president to have confidence in these programmes,” Barack Obama added.
“The American people need to have confidence as well.”
Barack Obama has vowed appropriate reforms to guarantee greater oversight of controversial US surveillance programmes
Barack Obama unveiled four steps aimed at reassuring Americans about the surveillance:
- He said he would work with Congress to reform Section 215 of the Bush-era Patriot Act, which governs the programme that collects telephone records
- He directed justice officials to make public the legal rationale for the government’s phone-data collection activities, under Section 215
- He proposed allowing a lawyer to check the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which is accused of essentially rubber-stamping government requests to scour electronic records
- He announced the formation of a group of external experts to review all US government intelligence and communications technologies
In response to a question about Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who revealed details of the secretive surveillance programmes to media, Barack Obama said: “No, I don’t think Mr. Snowden was a patriot.”
The president went on to criticize Russia, two days after he cancelled a planned summit with President Vladimir Putin next month in Moscow.
Barack Obama said there had been more anti-American rhetoric since Vladimir Putin returned to the Russian presidency, which “played into some of the old stereotypes about the Cold War contest”.
“I’ve encouraged Mr. Putin to think forward as opposed to backwards on those issues, with mixed success,” Barack Obama told reporters, who held the news conference just before going on holiday at Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.
He said that during his photocalls with Vladimir Putin, the Russian leader “has got that kind of slouch, looking like he’s the bored kid in the back of the classroom”. But he said their discussions in private had been constructive.
Barack Obama also said he would not consider it “appropriate” to boycott Russia’s Winter Olympics next year, despite calls by gay rights activists to shun the games because of a recently passed law in that country banning “homosexual propaganda”.
Earlier on Friday, Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel held talks with their Russian counterparts in Washington DC.
John Kerry conceded the US-Russia relationship had been complicated by “the occasional collision” and “challenging moments”.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also acknowledged problems, but said Moscow preferred to handle their differences like “grown-ups”.
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Barack Obama has canceled a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin after Russia’s decision to grant asylum to Edward Snowden, the White House said.
But President Barack Obama will still attend the G20 economic talks in St Petersburg.
A White House aide said Edward Snowden’s asylum had deepened the pre-existing tension between the two countries.
The Kremlin said it was disappointed by the move and that the invitation to bilateral talks remained in force.
Edward Snowden, a former intelligence contractor, has admitted leaking information about US surveillance programmes to the media.
The decision to cancel the talks, announced during a trip by the president to Los Angeles, comes the morning after Barack Obama said he was “disappointed” with Russia’s decision to offer Edward Snowden asylum for a year.
“We have reached the conclusion that there is not enough recent progress in our bilateral agenda with Russia to hold a US-Russia Summit,” the White House said in a statement.
Barack Obama has canceled a meeting with Vladimir Putin after Russia’s decision to grant asylum to Edward Snow
In addition to Russia’s “disappointing decision” to grant Edward Snowden temporary asylum, the White House cited a lack of progress on issues ranging from missile defense to human rights.
“We believe it would be more constructive to postpone the summit until we have more results from our shared agenda,” the White House said.
The decision to cancel the US-Russia summit comes the day after Barack Obama appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, in which he condemned a newly enacted anti-gay law in Russia.
But the White House reaffirmed Barack Obama’s commitment to attending an upcoming round of G20 economic talks, which take place on 5-6 September in the Russian city of St Petersburg.
In the wake of the announcement, Vladimir Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said it was clear the US had canceled the meeting over the Snowden affair.
In a conference call on Wednesday, Yuri Ushakov added the Kremlin was disappointed by the move and that the invitation for talks remained open.
“Russian representatives are ready to continue working together with American partners on all key issues on the bilateral and multilateral agenda,” he said.
Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin last met in June, on the sidelines of the G8 summit in Northern Ireland.
Edward Snowden, an American former National Security Agency (NSA) technical contractor and CIA worker, in June leaked to the Guardian and Washington Post newspapers documents and details relating to NSA programmes that gather data on telephone calls and emails.
Edward Snowden, 30, fled his home in Hawaii, where he worked at a small NSA installation, to Hong Kong, and subsequently to Russia. He faces espionage charges in the US.
He spent about a month in a transit area of the Moscow airport as the US pressured other countries to deny him asylum.
On August 1st, Edward Snowden left the airport after the Russian government said it would give him asylum there for a year.
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Barack Obama made his first comments about Edward Snowden since Russia granted him a temporary asylum last week during an interview with NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
President Barack Obama said on Tuesday that he was “disappointed” that Russia granted temporary asylum to National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, defying his administration’s demands that the former government contractor be sent back to the U.S. to face espionage charges.
“There have been times where they slip back into Cold War thinking and a Cold War mentality,” Barack Obama said.
Edward Snowden, a 30-year-old ex-NSA systems analyst, is accused of leaking details about highly-secretive government surveillance programs.
He spent several weeks in the transit zone of a Moscow airport before being granted asylum for a year.
Russia’s decision has pushed the White House to reconsider Barack Obama’s plans to travel to Russia in September. He said he would attend an international summit in St. Petersburg, saying it was important for the U.S. to be represented at talks among global economic powers.
But the president did not say whether he planned to attend separate meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
The White House has said it was evaluating the “utility” of the Putin meetings.
Barack Obama also criticized a new Russian law cracking down on gay rights activism.
Russia has said it will enforce the law when it hosts the 2014 Winter Olympics. Asked whether the law would impact the games, Barack Obama said he believes Vladimir Putin and Russia have “a big stake in making sure the Olympics work”.
President Barack Obama giving Jay Leno a replica of his limo The Beast on The Tonight Show
“I think they understand that for most of the countries that participate in the Olympics, we wouldn’t tolerate gays and lesbians being treated differently,” the president said.
In a wide-ranging interview, Barack Obama touched on the closure of 19 embassies in the wake of the al-Qaeda terror alert.
He said that the U.S. was not overreacting with its decision and that Americans can still take their vacation in a “prudent way” by checking on State Department websites for up-to-day information before making plans.
Barack Obama added: “The odds of dying in a terrorist attack are a lot lower than they are of dying in a car accident, unfortunately.”
The administration was earlier today accused of behaving “like a bunch of cowards” following the embassy closures.
Louis Gohmert, a Republican congressman from Texas, recalled the September 11, 2012, terror attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
Barack Obama also lauded two of his former political rivals: former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Senator John McCain, R-Ariz.
Once bitter adversaries, Barack Obama and John McCain have deepened their ties in recent months. The Republican senator helped usher a White House-backed overhaul of U.S. immigration law through the Senate and most recently negotiated a plan to clear the way for votes on several stalled Obama nominees.
The president said that while he and John McCain still have significant policy differences, the Republican senator is “a person of integrity”.
But Barack Obama said jokingly that it’s probably not good for John McCain if the Democratic president compliments him on television.
The president also discussed his recent lunch with Hillary Clinton, his rival in the 2008 Democratic primaries.
Hillary Clinton, who left the State Department earlier this year, had a post-administration “glow”, Barack Obama said.
But he sidestepped questions about whether she was measuring the curtains in the White House for a possible 2016 presidential bid.
“Keep in mind, she’s been there before,” Barack Obama said.
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US officials say they will go ahead with high-level talks with Russia on Friday despite Moscow’s decision to grant asylum to Edward Snowden.
Some members of Edward Snowden’s family are applying for visas to visit him in Russia, his lawyer says.
Edward Snowden was granted asylum by Russia despite repeated requests from the US that he be returned to America.
He leaked details about a secret data-gathering programme.
The US state department said Secretary of State John Kerry and US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel would hold talks on pressing bilateral and global issues with their Russian counterparts in Washington, including Syria and Iran’s nuclear programme.
The two sides were also to discuss Edward Snowden, it added.
President Barack Obama has meanwhile said he is “disappointed” that Russia granted asylum to Edward Snowden.
US will go ahead with high-level talks with Russia despite Moscow’s decision to grant asylum to Edward Snowden
Speaking during an interview for Tuesday’s broadcast of The Tonight Show on NBC, Barack Obama accused Moscow of occasionally adopting a “Cold War mentality”.
Barack Obama said: “What I say to President [Vladimir] Putin is, that’s the past and… we’ve got to think about the future. And there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to cooperate more effectively than we do.”
Edward Snowden’s whereabouts in Russia are not publicly known after he slipped away from Moscow’s international airport last week.
But his lawyer says he has now registered an address within Russian territory and his father, Lon Snowden, is waiting for a visa to visit him.
He said Edward Snowden wanted his father’s advice on what to do with his new life.
“We do not have a set date yet, but we have been working closely with Anatoly Kucherena, Ed Snowden’s attorney, on setting a definitive date which will be some time in August,” Mattie Fein, a representative for Lon Snowden, told the Reuters news agency.
Russia’s decision to grant temporary asylum to the former intelligence analyst has strained relations between Moscow and the US.
Edward Snowden leaked details of the National Security Agency’s electronic surveillance programme which gathers data about emails and phone calls made by American citizens.
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President Barack Obama, who turns 52 on August 4, celebrated his birthday in a quiet yet somewhat predictable way, by playing a round of golf with friends before jetting off to Camp David.
Barack Obama left the White House unusually early Saturday morning for the half-hour trip by motorcade to Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland to squeeze in some golf before the celebration was to shift to the presidential retreat.
Before leaving, officials said Barack Obama’s counterterrorism adviser updated him on a potential al-Qaeda threat that led the State Department on Friday to issue a global travel warning to Americans and order the weekend closure of 21 embassies and consulates across the Muslim world.
The White House said there were three golfing foursomes, which included some of Barack Obama’s friends from Hawaii, where he grew up, and Chicago, where he lived before becoming president, as well as current and former aides.
Barack Obama celebrated his 52nd birthday with family and friends during a quiet weekend at Camp David
Among them were childhood friends Bobby Titcomb and Mike Ramos, and Chicago pals Marty Nesbitt and Eric Whitaker. White House aides Marvin Nicholson and Sam Kass, an assistant chef, rounded out the group, along with Reggie Love, who for years had been Barack Obama’s personal assistant, or “body man”, and basketball buddy until he left the White House in late 2011 to finish the course work for an MBA.
His week ahead included travel to the West Coast to discuss plans to help homeowners, appear on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and visit with troops at Camp Pendleton.
Barack Obama also has a White House meeting Thursday with the prime minister of Greece.
House Democrats presented Barack Obama with a birthday cake when he went up to the Capitol this week, and American Legion youth members sang “Happy Birthday” to him during a White House visit late last month.
For last year’s birthday, which fell during his heated campaign for re-election, Barack Obama also celebrated with a round of golf and quiet time at Camp David, proving that he is a creature of habit. But he later held several birthday-themed campaign fundraisers in Chicago, including one at his family’s South Side home.
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The US National Security Agency (NSA) began collecting Americans’ phone records in 2001, as part of far-reaching surveillance programmes launched by then-President George W. Bush in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
However, the scope of the practice, continued under President Barack Obama, only became apparent in June when ex-CIA contractor Edward Snowden leaked classified US surveillance files.
A US secret court had ordered phone company Verizon to hand over to the NSA the phone records of tens of millions of American customers
It emerged that a US secret court had ordered phone company Verizon to hand over to the NSA the phone records of tens of millions of American customers.
This information, known as metadata, includes the numbers of the originating and receiving phone, the call’s duration, time, date and location – for mobiles, determined by which mobile signal towers relayed the call or text.
The contents of the conversation itself, however, are not covered. The surveillance applies to calls placed within the US, and calls between the US and abroad.
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Protests are under way across the US, a week after George Zimmerman was cleared of murdering unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin.
Demonstrators want federal charges to be brought against George Zimmerman, 29, over the February 2012 incident.
A Florida jury agreed that the neighborhood watch volunteer killed 17 year-old Trayvon Martin in self-defense.
In his first comments, President Barack Obama admitted many black men in the US experienced racial profiling.
The protests against the court’s decision are being led by the National Action Network, headed by civil rights activist the Reverend Al Sharpton.
Thousands are gathering for “Justice for Trayvon” rallies outside federal court buildings in Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and New York.
Al Sharpton told supporters on Saturday morning in Manhattan that he wanted to see the scrapping of “stand your ground” self-defense laws, such as that in force in Florida.
“We are trying to change laws so that this never, ever happens again,” he said.
Trayvon Martin’s mother, Sybrina Fulton, told the crowd: “Today it was my son. Tomorrow it might be yours.”
Jay Z and Beyonce appeared on stage at the New York rally.
Protests are under way across the US, a week after George Zimmerman was cleared of murdering unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin
In Miami, Trayvon Martin’s father, Tracy Martin, was among those who gathered to the words of the civil rights song We Shall Overcome.
In an unexpected press call on Friday, President Barack Obama said very few black men in the US had not experienced racial profiling.
Barack Obama said the pain that African-Americans felt around the case came from the fact that they viewed it through “a set of experiences and a history that doesn’t go away”.
He said African Americans were also keenly aware of racial disparities in the application of criminal laws.
“That all contributes to a sense that if a white male teen was involved in the same kind of scenario, both the outcome and the aftermath might have been different,” Barack Obama said.
“When Trayvon Martin was first shot, I said that this could have been my son. Another way of saying that is Trayvon Martin could have been me, 35 years ago.”
He shared his experiences of being racially profiled in the past, such as being followed while out shopping.
“There are very few African-American men who haven’t had the experience of walking across the street and hearing the locks click on the doors of cars.
“There are very few African-Americans who haven’t had the experience of getting on an elevator and a woman clutching her purse nervously and holding her breath until she has a chance to get off,” he said.
Barack Obama called for the protests to remain peaceful, saying any violence “dishonors what happened to Trayvon Martin”.
He said that although criminal matters and law enforcement were traditionally dealt with on a state and not a federal level, it would be useful to examine some state and local laws to see if they encourage confrontation in certain situations.
On Wednesday, US Attorney General Eric Holder cited the case as he urged a nationwide review of the “stand your ground” laws, which permit the use of deadly force if a person feels seriously threatened.
The issue was never raised during the trial, though the judge included a provision about the law in her instructions to the jury, allowing it to be considered as a legitimate defense.
Trayvon Martin was shot dead by George Zimmerman after an altercation in a gated community in Sanford, Florida.
Last Saturday, the all-female jury of six found George Zimmerman not guilty of second-degree murder and manslaughter.
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President Barack Obama has made his first comments on Trayvon Martin case since last week’s acquittal of George Zimmerman.
The president said: “Trayvon Martin could have been me, 35 years ago.”
The unarmed black 17-year-old was shot and killed in Florida in February 2012.
George Zimmerman, 29, said he opened fire on the teenager in self-defense and was acquitted of murder by a Florida court last week.
In an unexpected press call, Barack Obama said very few black men in the US had not experienced racial profiling.
Barack Obama said the pain that African-Americans felt around the case came from the fact that they viewed it through “a set of experiences and a history that doesn’t go away”.
He said African Americans were also keenly aware of racial disparities in the application of criminal laws.
“That all contributes to a sense that if a white male teen was involved in the same kind of scenario, both the outcome and the aftermath might have been different,” Barack Obama said.
President Barack Obama has made his first comments on Trayvon Martin case since last week’s acquittal of George Zimmerman
He shared his experiences of being racially profiled in the past, such as being followed while out shopping.
“There are very few African-American men who haven’t had the experience of walking across the street and hearing the locks click on the doors of cars.
“There are very few African-Americans who haven’t had the experience of getting on an elevator and a woman clutching her purse nervously and holding her breath until she has a chance to get off.”
Barack Obama also hailed the “incredible grace and dignity” of Trayvon Martin’s parents in the way they reacted to the verdict.
Calling for “soul-searching” from Americans on issues of race, Barack Obama also sounded a hopeful note, saying that race relations were improving with each generation.
Saturday’s not guilty verdict for George Zimmerman from the all-female jury of six prompted nationwide protests, with further demonstrations planned for this weekend.
Barack Obama called for the protests to remain peaceful, saying any violence “dishonors what happened to Trayvon Martin”.
He said that although criminal matters and law enforcement were traditionally dealt with on a state and not a federal level, it would be useful to examine some state and local laws to see if they encourage confrontation in certain situations.
On Wednesday, US Attorney General Eric Holder cited the case as he urged a nationwide review of “stand your ground” laws, such as those in place in Florida, which permit the use of deadly force if a person feels seriously threatened.
The issue was never raised during the trial, though the judge included a provision about the law in her instructions to the jury, allowing it to be considered as a legitimate defense.
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President Barack Obama has called on Americans to spend time in “calm reflection” after neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman was cleared of murdering black teenager Trayvon Martin.
Barack Obama said Trayvon Martin’s death was a tragedy for America, but that it was “a nation of laws and a jury has spoken”.
The president also called for a renewed debate about gun violence.
Trayvon Martin case case sparked a fierce debate in the US about racial profiling.
George Zimmerman, 29, had been facing possible conviction for second-degree murder or manslaughter, but on Saturday he was cleared of all charges at his trial in Sanford, Florida.
Prosecutors had argued that George Zimmerman shot Trayvon Martin dead on February 26, 2012, because he had racially profiled him as he walked through his neighborhood wearing a hooded sweatshirt in the rain.
Trayvon Martin was African-American. George Zimmerman identifies himself as Hispanic.
But the defense said he had killed Trayvon Martin in self defense after the teenager punched their client, slammed his head into the pavement and reached for George Zimmerman’s gun.
The verdict sparked an angry reaction from many in the US.
Protest marches were staged in US cities including San Francisco, Philadelphia, Chicago, Washington and Atlanta. In Oakland, California, some protesters started small fires and smashed windows.
In his statement, Barack Obama said the death of Trayvon Martin “was a tragedy. Not just for his family, or for any one community, but for America”.
He added: “I know this case has elicited strong passions. And in the wake of the verdict, I know those passions may be running even higher.
President Barack Obama has called on Americans to spend time in “calm reflection” after neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman was cleared of murdering black teenager Trayvon Martin
“But we are a nation of laws, and a jury has spoken.”
Barack Obama said all Americans should respect the call for calm reflection from the Martin family, and that “as we do, we should ask ourselves if we’re doing all we can to widen the circle of compassion and understanding in our own communities.
“We should ask ourselves if we’re doing all we can to stem the tide of gun violence that claims too many lives across this country on a daily basis.
“We should ask ourselves, as individuals and as a society, how we can prevent future tragedies like this.
“As citizens, that’s a job for all of us. That’s the way to honor Trayvon Martin.”
Barack Obama had commented on the Zimmerman case in March last year, saying: “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.”
Civil rights groups in the US have also called for calm, though have expressed their dismay at the verdict.
Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson told CNN on Sunday: “I remain stunned at the decision. The department of justice must intervene to take this to another level.”
He said “the American legal system has once again failed justice”.
But he also appealed for calm, saying anyone seeking to “compound our pain with street justice” would do “damage to the innocent blood and legacy of Trayvon Martin”.
Rights activist Al Sharpton said the verdict was “a slap in the face to the American people”.
He compared the case to the beating of African-American man Rodney King by police in 1991, which sparked widespread rioting.
A petition launched by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), demanding that the department of justice open a civil rights case against George Zimmerman, had received more than 350,000 signatures by midday on Sunday.
Meanwhile George Zimmerman’s family and representatives have said they are afraid he could fall victim to revenge attacks.
His brother, Robert, said he had received frequent threats on social media and there was “more reason now than ever to think that people are trying to kill him”.
“He’s going to be looking over his shoulder the rest of his life,” he said.
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President Barack Obama has declared on Wednesday that his favorite food is broccoli after nearly 25 years since President George H. W. Bush divided the nation saying that he hated the nutritious green veggie.
One Republican commenter went so far as to say the comment shows that President Barack Obama is elitist.
Comedy Central‘s political blog mocked the answer and said the president must be lying.
“Obama tells kid journalist his favorite food is broccoli. And his favorite activity is lying to children,” tweeted “Indecision”.
Barack Obama made the comment as he addressed student reporters at the White House Kids’ State Dinner on Tuesday.
The White House event was part of First Lady Michelle Obama’s push to get kids to eat healthier.
Twitter and the Beltway gossip crowd almost immediately began to froth at the mouth.
President Barack Obama has declared that his favorite food is broccoli after nearly 25 years since President George H. W. Bush said that he hated the nutritious green veggie
“What kind of POTUS says his fav food is Broccoli?” CNN commentator Ari Fleischer, who worked as George W. Bush’s press secretary, tweeted.
“Same one who in 2008 complained about the price of arugula at Whole Foods.”
Numerous serious journalists chimed in on the scandal, which was quickly deemed “broccoli-gate”.
“Everyone CALM DOWN! We have charts about broccoli,” Ezra Klein of the Washington Post tweeted.
BuzzFeed‘s Andrew Kaczynski soon after tweeted a Photoshopped picture of Obama as a head of broccoli.
The mostly-humorous debate threatened to turn serious when Breitbart.com wrote that Andrew Kaczynski was an “Obama-sycophant”.
The site claimed the story was actually an Obama spin machine attempt to make liberal news outlets look like they were criticizing the president.
In 1990, President George H.W. Bush famously denounced the veggie and banned it from being served at White House dinners.
“I do not like broccoli, and I haven’t liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I’m president of the United States, and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli!” he said.
Furious broccoli farmers sent truckloads of their produce to Washington to protest the denigration of their beloved crop.
Barack Obama could be on the winning side of history with this answer – whether it is to be believed or not.
It is prized as a healthy food – one cup of steamed broccoli contains just 51 calories, one gram of fat and 5 grams of fiber, as well as high levels of vitamin C, vitamin A, calcium, iron and protein.
The vegetable’s popularity has soared since President H.W. Bush maligned it in 1990. Consumption of broccoli has more than tripled in the last 30 years to nearly 5 and a half pounds per person per year in America.
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Troubled actress Amanda Bynes has moved on from judging her fellow celebrities to insulting President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama.
Amanda Bynes, 27, took to Twitter on Monday with a post slamming Barack and Michelle Obama as “ugly”.
The new tweet comes after three months of erratic and often offensive behavior on the social media site.
Amanda Bynes has moved on from judging her fellow celebrities to insulting President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama
Amanda Bynes wrote, in what appeared to be a plea for attention: “Barack Obama and Michelle Obama are ugly!”
The verbal jab is consistent with her erratic insults, often directed at some of Hollywood’s most attractive stars.
The Obamas are widely regarded to be the most attractive first family in American history with Michelle Obama gracing the covers of some of the nation’s most glamorous magazines.
Amanda Bynes did also declare herself less than perfect on Monday once again tweeting she needed more plastic surgery.
But the insult is par for the course for the Hollywood actress, who has self-destructed in the last three months.
Previously, Amanda Bynes has taken to Twitter to criticize celebrities including Drake, Rihanna and even her own mother and sister Jillian.
President Barack Obama ended his Africa tour by visiting Tanzania, after trips to Senegal and South Africa.
Earlier Barack Obama laid a wreath for the victims of the 1998 US embassy bombing in the Tanzanian city of Dar es Salaam.
Eleven people were killed in the al-Qaeda attack, which coincided with a bombing in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, which left hundreds dead.
President Barack Obama was joined for the ceremony by predecessor George W. Bush.
George W. Bush was in Dar es Salaam for a conference on African women sponsored by the George W. Bush Institute.
While the former president and Barack Obama attended the ceremony at the US embassy memorial, their wives took part in the African First Ladies Summit.
Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete walked Barack Obama and his wife down a red carpet to the Air Force One at the international airport in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday.
A guard of honor saluted and marching bands played as the couple boarded the plane.
Barack Obama laid a wreath for the victims of the 1998 US embassy bombing in the Tanzanian city of Dar es Salaam
President Barack Obama had arrived in Tanzania on Monday.
During his stay, he also visited a US-owned power plant, following his announcement over the weekend of a multi-billion-dollar electricity initiative.
The $7 billion five-year initiative is intended to double access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa, in partnership with African countries and the private sector.
“We’re starting with countries that are making progress already with reforms in the energy sector – Tanzania, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, Mozambique and Liberia,” Barack Obama told a business leaders forum in Dar es Salaam.
“And with a focus on cleaner energy, we will initially add 10,000 megawatts of new electricity generation, which expands electricity to 20 million homes and businesses.”
At the same forum on Monday evening, Barack Obama launched a programme helping Africa’s eastern nations of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda trade both with each other and with the US.
“We’ll work with the countries involved to modernize customs, move to single more efficient border crossings, reduce bottlenecks, reduce the roadblocks that stymie the flow of goods to market,” he said.
Barack Obama’s second tour to sub-Saharan Africa since becoming president began in Senegal where he called on African governments to give gay people equal rights.
President Barack Obama excluded from his week-long itinerary Kenya, where his father was born, and Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil producer which has been hit by an Islamist insurgency.
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Edward Snowden accuses President Barack Obama of deception and taking away his basic rights as an American in a letter released by WikiLeaks.
The letter says Barack Obama – despite his public denials that he’d been “wheeling and dealing” with international parties over Edward Snowden – has dispatched Vice President Joe Biden to pressurize governments where the 30-year-old has sought asylum.
WikiLeaks today revealed they have applied to 21 countries in total on Edward Snowden’s behalf. The list includes Austria, Bolivia, Brazil, Cuba, Finland, France, Spain, Germany and Ireland.
It comes as Ecuador’s president Rafael Correa appeared to wash his hands of Edward Snowden saying his country is not considering his asylum request and that the former CIA analyst is Russia’s problem now.
Admitting Ecuador made a “mistake” in helping Edward Snowden flee Hong Kong in the first place, Rafael Correa appeared to backtrack on previous suggestions he was welcome, adding: “Are we responsible for getting him to Ecuador? It’s not logical. The country that has to give him a safe conduct document is Russia.”
Asked if he would like to meet Edward Snowden, Rafael Correa added: “Not particularly. He’s a very complicated person. Strictly speaking, Mr. Snowden spied for some time.”
His comments are in direct contrast to the open letter of thanks Edward Snowden issued hours earlier, before Rafael Correa’s views had been published.
“I remain free and able to publish information that serves the public interest,” Edward Snowden said in an undated Spanish-language letter sent to President Rafael Correa.
“No matter how many more days my life contains, I remain dedicated to the fight for justice in this unequal world. If any of those days ahead realize a contribution to the common good, the world will have the principles of Ecuador to thank.”
Hours after Rafael Correa’s comments, Finland became the first of today’s new list of potential safe havens to reject his plea for asylum saying such a request has to be made from inside the country.
WikiLeaks legal adviser Sarah Harrison is said to have led the petitions for asylum also made to India, Italy, Norway, Venezuela and Switzerland.
Edward Snowden accuses President Barack Obama of deception and taking away his basic rights as an American in a letter released by WikiLeaks
She also claims to have handled his current application in Russia and his previous request for assistance to China while he was hiding out in Hong Kong.
The long list suggests options are thin on the ground for the former NSA contractor and it appears – from his letter – that he is frustrated by the global community’s refusal to shelter him.
In it Edward Snowden complains that the US is illegally pursuing him for an act that was in the public interest.
“While the public has cried out support of my shining a light on this secret system of injustice, the Government of the United States of America responded with an extrajudicial man-hunt costing me my family, my freedom to travel, and my right to live peacefully without fear of illegal aggression,” it states.
Many critics seized on the letter’s syntax last night to claim it was a fake, written by someone in Britain.
Specifically, those doubting the letter’s authenticity pointed to this phrase: “For decades the United States of America have been one of the strongest defenders of the human right to seek asylum.”
An American English speaker would use the singular form, has, in relation to the United States.
After the internet erupted in a flurry of doubt, the word “have” was changed to “has” on the official statement on the WikiLeaks site.
Full text of letter released by WikiLeaks it claims is from Edward Snowden
“One week ago I left Hong Kong after it became clear that my freedom and safety were under threat for revealing the truth. My continued liberty has been owed to the efforts of friends new and old, family, and others who I have never met and probably never will. I trusted them with my life and they returned that trust with a faith in me for which I will always be thankful.
On Thursday, President Obama declared before the world that he would not permit any diplomatic “wheeling and dealing” over my case. Yet now it is being reported that after promising not to do so, the President ordered his Vice President to pressure the leaders of nations from which I have requested protection to deny my asylum petitions.
This kind of deception from a world leader is not justice, and neither is the extralegal penalty of exile. These are the old, bad tools of political aggression. Their purpose is to frighten, not me, but those who would come after me.
For decades the United States of America have been one of the strongest defenders of the human right to seek asylum. Sadly, this right, laid out and voted for by the U.S. in Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is now being rejected by the current government of my country. The Obama administration has now adopted the strategy of using citizenship as a weapon. Although I am convicted of nothing, it has unilaterally revoked my passport, leaving me a stateless person. Without any judicial order, the administration now seeks to stop me exercising a basic right. A right that belongs to everybody. The right to seek asylum.
In the end the Obama administration is not afraid of whistleblowers like me, Bradley Manning or Thomas Drake. We are stateless, imprisoned, or powerless. No, the Obama administration is afraid of you. It is afraid of an informed, angry public demanding the constitutional government it was promised — and it should be.
I am unbowed in my convictions and impressed at the efforts taken by so many.
Edward Joseph Snowden
Monday 1st July 2013”
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President Vladimir Putin has told fugitive Edward Snowden to stop leaking US secrets if he wants to remain in Russia.
Vladimir Putin said Moscow had never extradited anyone before and “has no intention to do so”, adding Edward Snowden was free to go if granted asylum elsewhere.
Edward Snowden, 30, is believed to be holed up in a Moscow airport hotel.
The US wants to prosecute him over the leaking of thousands of classified intelligence documents.
The leaks have led to revelations that the US is systematically seizing vast amounts of phone and web data.
This weekend, Germany’s Der Spiegel newspaper and Britain’s The Guardian newspaper publicized allegations that the US has been spying on its EU allies.
The revelations have angered many EU countries which are demanding a response from Washington.
France’s President Francois Hollande has warned that negotiations over a major EU-US trade deal planned for next week could be threatened unless Washington can guarantee the spying stops “immediately”.
“Russia never hands over anybody anywhere and has no intention to do so,” Vladimir Putin told a news conference in Moscow.
Vladimir Putin has told fugitive Edward Snowden to stop leaking US secrets if he wants to remain in Russia
“If he [Edward Snowden] wants to remain here there is one condition – he should stop his work aimed at inflicting damage on our American partners no matter how strange this may sound coming from me.”
It appears President Vladimir Putin is keen to avoid damaging relations with Washington over the Snowden case.
The Russian president also stressed Edward Snowden “is not our agent and does not co-operate with us”, and Russian secret services “never worked with him and are not working with him now”.
Earlier, senior Russian official Nikolai Patrushev said both President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart, Barack Obama, had told the chiefs of their security services to seek a resolution to the stand-off over Edward Snowden.
Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of Russia’s Security Council, told Russian media that the FSB and the FBI had been told to “keep in contact and find solutions”, but warned there was no simple solution to the situation. The FBI refused to comment.
Vladimir Putin was speaking at the same time President Barack Obama confirmed to reporters that Washington had held “high level” discussions with Russia about Edward Snowden.
“We don’t have an extradition treaty with Russia,” he told reporters while on a visit to Tanzania.
“On the other hand, Mr. Snowden, we understand, has travelled there without a valid passport and legal papers. And we are hopeful the Russian government makes decisions based on the normal procedures regarding international travel and the normal interactions law enforcement have.”
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President Barack Obama has toured South Africa’s Robben Island – the jail in which Nelson Mandela was kept for 18 years.
Barack Obama said he and his family were “deeply humbled” to visit the prison once inhabited by Nelson Mandela – who remains critically ill in hospital.
The US president went on to give a speech at the University of Cape Town and launch a multi-billion-dollar electricity initiative.
Barack Obama did not visit Nelson Mandela, but met the Mandela family in private.
Security is likely to have been strengthened during this final Cape Town leg of his time in South Africa following clashes on Saturday between riot police and anti-Obama protesters in Soweto.
Barack Obama and the first family visited Nelson Mandela’s bleak cell as well as the lime quarry – overlooked by a concrete watchtower – where anti-apartheid fighters including Mandela were forced to undertake hours of back-breaking labor.
Nelson Mandela was at the prison for 18 years and his long history of lung problems can be traced to the tuberculosis he contracted there – which he attributed to the dampness of his cell.
President Barack Obama has toured South Africa’s Robben Island, the jail in which Nelson Mandela was kept for 18 years
Later, Barack Obama wrote in the guest book in the prison courtyard: “On behalf of our family, we’re deeply humbled to stand where men of such courage faced down injustice and refused to yield.
“The world is grateful for the heroes of Robben Island, who remind us that no shackles or cells can match the strength of the human spirit.”
Barack Obama also visited a community project before delivering a keynote address at the University of Cape Town.
It was the same venue where 47 years ago, US Senator Robert Kennedy gave his famed “ripple of hope” speech, which gave inspiration to those fighting the racially divisive policies of apartheid rule and linked their struggle with that of the US civil rights movement.
Barack Obama paid tribute to South Africa’s achievements over the past two decades but urged young Africans to fulfill Nelson Mandela’s legacy.
“Nelson Mandela showed us that one man’s courage can move the world,” he said.
More needed to be done to tackle poverty and disease, he said, adding that fear too often prevailed in Africa. For as long as war raged, democracy and economic opportunity could not take hold, he said.
Barack Obama also announced a $7 billion five-year initiative to double access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa, in partnership with African countries and the private sector.
He arrived in South Africa from Senegal on Friday evening. On Monday, he will continue his African tour in Tanzania.
Nelson Mandela’s family heir, Mandla, has said he will oppose a court action brought by the rest of the family, seeking to exhume the bodies of his father, Makgatho, two of Mandela’s daughters and two other relatives.
The rest of the family want the remains to be reburied in Qunu, where the former South African president wants to be laid to rest, while Mandla, an ANC MP, wants them to stay in the nearby village of Mvezo, Nelson Mandela’s birthplace, where he is building a museum dedicated to his grandfather.
South Africa’s Sunday Times newspaper quotes local chiefs in the area as saying that Madiba, as Nelson Mandela is known in the country, will not be at peace until this issue is resolved.
On Friday, a court granted an interim action saying the bodies could be exhumed and reburied but Mandla Mandela says he was not aware of the case until it was reported in the media and he is now opposing it.
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Protesters are gathering in Cairo’s Tahrir Square on the eve of a mass rally to demand the resignation of Egypt’s President Mohammed Morsi.
As darkness fell, thousands of people could be seen milling in the square, focus of the protests which brought down his predecessor, Hosni Mubarak.
Sunday is the first anniversary of Mohamed Morsi’s inauguration as president.
Tensions has been high ahead of rally. At least three people – including a US citizen – died in unrest on Friday.
Washington has warned Americans not to travel to Egypt.
Protesters are unhappy with the policies of the Islamist president and his Muslim Brotherhood allies.
Egyptian protesters are unhappy with the policies of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood allies
Thousands of supporters of Mohamed Morsi, who was elected by a small margin, rallied in the capital on Saturday.
President Barack Obama has said America is “looking with concern” at the situation.
Opposition activists say more than 22 million people have signed a petition seeking a snap election. They have urged the signatories to come out on Tahrir on Sunday.
Flags and tents form a base camp on the square from where protesters plan to march President Mohamed Morsi’s office.
Amr Riad, 26, told Reuters news agency: “We’re peaceful but if those who come at us are violent we’ll defend ourselves.”
Speaking in South Africa, Barack Obama urged “all parties to make sure they are not engaging in violence and that police and military are showing appropriate restraint”.
“We would like to see the opposition and President Morsi engage in a more constructive conversation about [how] to move their country forward,” he said.
Reports say that Cairo International Airport has been unusually busy as both expatriates and Egyptians leave the country.
On Friday, US national Andrew Pochter and another man were killed in the northern Egyptian city of Alexandria as protesters stormed an office of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Andrew Pochter, who was in the country to teach English to children and improve his own Arabic, was killed apparently while using a mobile phone to take pictures.
His family said in a statement that he had been stabbed by a protester while observing demonstrations.
The other fatality in Alexandria on Friday was an Egyptian man who was shot dead, according to medical sources.
Another man, said to be a journalist, was killed by an explosion in Port Said and five other people were injured.
President Mohamed Morsi earlier this week offered a dialogue – a move rejected by his opponents.
Mohamed Morsi, who hails from the Muslim Brotherhood, became Egypt’s first Islamist president on 30 June 2012, after winning an election considered free and fair.
His first year as president has been marred by constant political unrest and a sinking economy.
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President Barack Obama has praised Nelson Mandela as “an inspiration to the world”, during his visit to South Africa.
Barack Obama was speaking in the executive capital, Pretoria, after talks with President Jacob Zuma.
Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first black president, has been critically ill for nearly a week.
Earlier, Barack Obama said he would not visit the 94-year-old in hospital, but would meet his family in private.
The White House said the decision had been made “out of deference to Nelson Mandela’s peace and comfort and the family’s wishes”, but that Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama would offer the Mandela family “their thoughts and prayers at this difficult time”.
President Jacob Zuma said the former leader remained “stable but critical”, but said he had “every hope that he will be out of hospital soon”.
In Pretoria, Barack Obama said Nelson Mandela’s example of “the power of principle, of people standing up for what’s right continues to shine as a beacon”.
“The outpouring of love that we’ve seen in recent days shows that the triumph of Nelson Mandela and his nation speaks to something very deep in the human spirit; the yearning for justice and dignity that transcends boundaries of race and class and faith and country,” he said.
Barack Obama was speaking in the executive capital, Pretoria, after talks with President Jacob Zuma
Jacob Zuma said that as the first black leaders of their respective countries, Barack Obama and Nelson Mandela were “bound by history” and so “carry the dreams of millions of people in Africa and in the diaspora who were previously oppressed”.
The two leaders addressed a wide range of issues in their conversations, including trade and industry, conflicts in the region, efforts to tackle HIV/Aids and foreign affairs.
Jacob Zuma said Barack Obama’s visit was “well timed” to take advantage of a growing market in South Africa, and called for greater US investment.
He also said he believed the Africa National Congress (ANC), which he leads and which was founded by Nelson Mandela, was still “moving in the footsteps” of the former leader.
“I have no doubt that what we have been doing is part of what Mandela would be doing if he was here,” he said.
When asked whether the US felt threatened by the increasing influence of other countries, particularly China, in Africa, Barack Obama said he believed it was a good thing for the development of the continent, but cautioned South Africa to ensure that foreign companies were employing local workers and investing back into the country.
Barack Obama, who is travelling with his family, arrived in South Africa from Senegal on Friday evening.
During his weekend trip, the US president will visit Robben Island off Cape Town, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 18 years. On Monday, he will continue his African tour in Tanzania.
Nelson Mandela is revered for leading the fight against white minority rule in South Africa and then preaching reconciliation despite being imprisoned for 27 years.
He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 and was elected president the following year. He left office in 1999 after a single term.
Nelson Mandela retired from public life in 2004 and has rarely been seen at official events since.
He has a long history of lung problems, and was diagnosed with tuberculosis in the 1980s while he was a prisoner on Robben Island.
After his release, Nelson Mandela said that the tuberculosis was probably caused by dampness in his prison cell.
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President Barack Obama has landed in South Africa, the second stop in his three-country tour of Africa, amid vigils for Nelson Mandela.
Barack Obama said earlier he did not expect to see former President Nelson Mandela, who is critically ill in hospital.
Leaving Senegal, Barack Obama told reporters on board Air Force One: “I don’t need a photo op.”
Meanwhile, Nelson Mandela’s ex-wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela said the former leader had made “a great improvement” in recent days, but was “still unwell”.
Correspondents say security is tight in the streets near Mediclinic Heart Hospital in the capital, Pretoria, where the 94-year old is being treated for a lung infection.
Ministers, politicians, Nelson Mandela’s physician and family members were among those visiting the ex-leader on Friday, his 21st day in hospital.
Barack Obama’s plane landed at a military airbase near Pretoria on Friday evening. He has meetings scheduled in the capital on Saturday morning.
But Barack Obama said earlier he did not expect to see the ailing ex-leader during his visit to South Africa.
“I don’t need a photo op,” the president said aboard Air Force One after leaving Senegal.
President Barack Obama has landed in South Africa amid vigils for Nelson Mandela
“The last thing I want to do is to be in any way obtrusive at a time when the family is concerned with Nelson Mandela’s condition.”
He went on to say: “I think the main message we’ll want to deliver is not directly to him, but to his family – is simply profound gratitude for his leadership all these years, and that the thoughts and prayers of the American people are with him, his family and his country.”
Barack Obama met Nelson Mandela in 2005 when he was still a US senator. Both men became the first black presidents of their nations and have received the Nobel Peace Prize.
The US president has described Nelson Mandela as a “hero for the world”, whose “legacy will linger on through the ages”, and who had inspired his own activism as a student.
Earlier on Friday, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela told reporters outside Nelson Mandela’s former home in Soweto: “I’m not a doctor but I can say that from what he was a few days ago there is great improvement, but clinically he is still unwell.”
She also thanked domestic and international media for their coverage, but added that some of the reports had caused the family distress.
“We had no idea of the love for us out there,” she said.
“There may be problems here and there when some of you get carried away and talk about our father in the past tense,” she said.
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela added: “If sometimes we sound bitter, it is because we are dealing with a difficult situation.”
Earlier this week, Nelson Mandela’s eldest daughter criticized the international media camped outside the Mediclinic Heart Hospital, calling them “vultures”.
People in South Africa are anxious about Nelson Mandela’s health but also want to express their pride in the man many consider the father of the nation.
South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) said it would hold vigils each day that the former leader remained in hospital, and the distinctive black, green and gold colors of the party are much in evidence.
But the party denied it was exploiting the occasion to canvas for votes ahead of next year’s elections.
“We love our ANC regalia and we have every right to wish Madiba well,” party spokesman Jackson Mthembu said.
Meanwhile, a court in the Eastern Cape has granted an application brought by the Mandela family to exhume three of his children and two other relatives and rebury them in the family cemetery in Qunu, which is where the former leader wants to be buried, their lawyers say.
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The US Senate has passed a broad immigration reform bill that includes a path to citizenship for an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants.
The 68-32 vote comes after months of debate and a recent deal to boost border security spending significantly.
But the legislation faces a tough road in the more conservative House.
House Speaker John Boehner has said he will not advance legislation that lacks support of most of his fellow Republicans, who remain resistant.
After the bill’s passage on Thursday, President Barack Obama said the vote brought the US “a critical step closer to fixing our broken immigration system once and for all”.
“Today, the Senate did its job,” Barack Obama said in a statement.
“It’s now up to the House to do the same.”
Barack Obama has made immigration a top priority for his second term, asking Congress to deliver a bill for him to sign by autumn.
As the vote was held on Thursday afternoon, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, made the rare request of asking all 99 of his colleagues to be present and to vote from their desks.
“This is not a vote where people should be straggling in,” Harry Reid said.
The US Senate has passed a broad immigration reform bill that includes a path to citizenship for an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants.
After the vote, members of the bipartisan group that negotiated the original bill, known as the Gang of Eight, thanked the broad coalition that had backed immigration reform efforts.
One member of the group, Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, said the voices of young undocumented immigrants “had made a difference”.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said the bill’s border security measures had “exceeded every expectation I had”, and said the bill had “practically militarized the border”.
Forward movement on the bill comes shortly after two Republican senators this week brokered a compromise to increase the bill’s funding of border security measures. An amendment that added an additional 20,000 border security agents was passed on Wednesday.
Earlier, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimated the legislation, without the increased border funds, would reduce the US budget deficit by $175 billion over 10 years and boost economic growth.
And analysts say many Republicans acknowledge reforming the immigration system will be key for their election prospects in the future as Hispanics become an increasingly important voter bloc.
On Thursday, John Boehner, the Republican House speaker, said the House would not take up the Senate bill directly.
“We’re going to do our own bill… that reflects the will of our majority and the will of the American people,” he said.
John Boehner’s comments cast doubt on the chances legislation will quickly reach Barack Obama’s desk, and could portend failure for immigration reform entirely, analysts say.
Separate bills designed by House Republicans include stricter border and interior security measures, employment checks and most significantly, no path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
Some Republicans believe such a programme rewards those who broke the law by immigrating to the country illegally.
Senator Chuck Grassley, who voted against the Senate bill, said he was counting on the House to pass legislation that is “much more tough”.
What’s in the Senate immigration bill?
- Path to citizenship for immigrants who arrived illegally before 31 December 2011
- Billions in funding for border security, including 20,000 new Border Patrol agents, and 700 miles of fencing
- Requirement border security and fencing goals be met before these immigrants can become permanent residents
- A start-up visa for foreign entrepreneurs; new visa programmes for low-skilled workers and the agricultural sector
- All employers must use E-Verify, a programme to verify electronically each employee’s legal status within four years
See Full Bill Text
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President Barack Obama has said there will be no “wheeling and dealing” as part of extradition attempts against whistleblower Edward Snowden.
Speaking on a visit to the West African nation of Senegal, Barack Obama said the case would be handled through routine legal channels.
“I am not going to be scrambling jets to get a 29-year-old hacker,” the president added.
Edward Snowden, who faces espionage charges, flew to Moscow last weekend and requested asylum in Ecuador.
Barack Obama said on Thursday that he had not called China and Russia’s presidents about the case, adding: “I shouldn’t have to.”
He told a news conference in the Senegalese capital Dakar: “I’m not going to have one case of a suspect who we’re trying to extradite suddenly being elevated to the point where I’ve got to start doing wheeling and dealing and trading on a whole host of other issues.”
The president added: “My continued expectation is that Russia or other countries that have talked about potentially providing Mr. Snowden asylum recognize that they are a part of an international community and they should be abiding by international law.”
The US has accused Russia and China of helping Edward Snowden, which both deny.
President Barack Obama has said there will be no “wheeling and dealing” as part of extradition attempts against whistleblower Edward Snowden
Edward Obama said the leak highlighted significant vulnerabilities at the National Security Agency (NSA), the US electronic spying organization where Edward Snowden worked as a contractor until last month.
“In terms of US interests, the damage was done with respect to the initial leaks,” he said.
Ecuador said on Thursday it had not processed Edward Snowden’s asylum request because he had not reached any of its diplomatic premises.
The country also renounced its multi-million dollar trade relationship with the US, saying its forthcoming renewal would not influence any decision on Edward Snowden’s case.
“Ecuador will not accept pressures or threats from anyone, and it does not traffic in its values or allow them to be subjugated to mercantile interests,” said government spokesman Fernando Alvarado.
He also made an apparently tongue-in-cheek offer of economic aid to the US for human rights training.
The remarks come a day after the chairman of the US Senate foreign relations committee, Robert Menendez, suggested punishing Ecuador economically if it offered asylum to Edward Snowden.
The American is wanted for leaking to media that the US is systematically seizing vast amounts of phone and web data under a surveillance programme known as PRISM.
On Thursday, Beijing accused the US of “double standards” on cybersecurity.
China’s defense ministry said the Prism programme “has revealed the concerned country’s true face and hypocritical behavior”.
Edward Snowden, now 30, fled to Hong Kong on May 20 before flying to Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport on Sunday, where Russian authorities say he remains in transit.
Although Russia has no extradition treaty with the US, Washington says it wants Moscow to extradite him without delay.
Russia denies reports its secret police have questioned Edward Snowden, whose US passport has been revoked.
Hong Kong officials said he had been allowed out of the territory because of a mistake in the middle name given on US arrest documents.
The US justice department dismissed that as a “pretext for not acting”.
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