North Korea has declined President Barack Obama’s offer for nuclear negotiations, Reuters reported.
Barack Obama made the statement during a joint news conference with South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Friday, October 16.
The next day, the North Korean Foreign Ministry declined the opportunity to open negotiations, but it again demanded a peace treaty in place of the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War.
The ministry said in a statement: “No issue in which the countries concerned, including the U.S., are interested can be settled unless a peace treaty is concluded before anything else.
“If the U.S. insists on its hostile policy, it will only see the DPRK’s limitless bolstering of nuclear deterrence and the growth of its revolutionary armed forces.”
Barack Obama and Park Geun-hye Friday reaffirmed the strength of their alliance.
Park Geun-hye called the US-South Korea relationship a “lynchpin of peace and stability” for Asia and the Korean Peninsula where tensions have been high in recent months.
Earlier this year, Kanye West announced his plans to run for the 2020 presidential election and told Vanity Fair magazine that he had received lots of support since he made his ambitions clear.
President Barack Obama has a few political nuggets to pass on for Kanye West’s 2020 bid for the presidency.
Speaking at a fundraising event in San Francisco on October 10, Barack Obama offered some words of advice, including “being cool” dealing with strange characters who behave like they are on a reality TV show.
Barack Obama spoke at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in San Francisco, where Kanye West was due to perform later in the day.
After performing for President Barack Obama at the Democratic National Committee event in San Francisco, Kanye West headed over to where the city’s auditions were being held for the final season of American Idol.
Barack Obama and Raul Castro met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on September 29.
It was the second time Barack Obama and the Cuban president met in person this year after decades of estrangement between the two countries.
They shook hands before beginning private talks.
On September 28, Raul Castro called for an end to US economic sanctions on Cuba.
President Barack Obama had earlier expressed confidence that Congress would lift the embargo.
Raul Castro told the UN that normal relations with the United States would only be possible if the US abolished its trade embargo.
The embargo has been in place since 1960 and remains a contentious issue in relations between Cuba and the US.
In his speech to the UN, President Barack Obama said he was confident Congress would “inevitably lift an embargo that should not be in place anymore”.
On October 27 the UNGA is again scheduled to discuss a resolution condemning the embargo and calling for its abolition.
It is the 24th time the UNGA will vote on the issue, which generally is only opposed by the United States and Israel.
Speculation is already rife about how the US will vote this year after its own president dismissed the embargo as counterproductive and behind the times.
The resolutions are unenforceable, but a US abstention on a resolution critical of US behavior would be unprecedented.
The Republican-controlled US Congress has so far refused to lift the embargo.
Cuban-American Senator and presidential candidate Marco Rubio warned that an abstention would be “putting international popularity ahead of the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States”.
US officials said Raul Castro’s presence at the UN, the first time the Cuban leader spoke there, was a signal “that we’re in a new era”.
In his speech, Raul Castro said the normalization of relations would be “a long and complex process”.
President Vladimir Putin says Russia is considering whether to follow the US and its allies in conducting air strikes against Islamic State (ISIS) targets.
The Russian president spoke after meeting President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly (UNGA).
However, the meeting, and the two presidents’ speeches at the UNGA, also highlighted splits about how to end the Syrian war.
Russia said it would be an “enormous mistake” not to work with Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad to tackle ISIS.
On September 28, the US and France again insisted that Bashar al-Assad must go.
Photo Getty Images
In response, Vladimir Putin said: “They aren’t citizens of Syria and so should not be involved in choosing the leadership of another country.”
Russia would conduct air strikes only if they were approved by the United Nations, Vladimir Putin said, while also ruling out Russian troops taking part in a ground operation in Syria.
Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin met for 90 minutes on the sidelines of the UNGA in talks that the Russian president called “very constructive, business-like and frank”.
It was Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin’s first face-to-face meeting in almost a year, with the Ukraine war also on the agenda.
A senior US government official said neither president was “seeking to score points” in the talks. Both sides agreed to open lines of communication to avoid accidental military conflict in the region, the official added.
In his speech to the UNGA, President Barack Obama said compromise among powers would be essential to ending the Syrian conflict, which has claimed more than 200,000 lives and forced four million people to flee abroad.
“The US is prepared to work with any nation, including Russia and Iran, to resolve the conflict,” he said.
“But we must recognize that there cannot be, after so much bloodshed, so much carnage, a return to the pre-war status quo.”
Vladimir Putin said it was an “enormous mistake to refuse to co-operate with the Syrian government and its armed forces who are valiantly fighting terrorism face-to-face”.
He also called for the creation of a “broad anti-terror coalition” to fight ISIS, comparing it to the international forces that fought against Nazi Germany in World War Two.
Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin have long differed on Syria: the US opposes President Assad remaining in power, while Russia has been a staunch ally of the regime in Damascus and has recently stepped up military support.
Some Western leaders have recently softened their stance towards Bashar al-Assad, conceding that he might be able to stay in power during a political transition.
President Raul Castro has called for the US to lift the trade embargo on Cuba in order to normalize the relations between the two countries.
He told the UN that was also necessary for the US to return the military base at Cuba’s Guantanamo Bay and end anti-communist broadcasts to the island.
President Barack Obama also called for the trade embargo to be lifted.
He said that he was confident that the US Congress would do so soon.
The two leaders are expected to meet on September 29 in New York.
Speaking at the UN General Assembly on September 28, President Barack Obama said he thought the Republican-held Congress would inevitably lift “an embargo that should not be in place anymore” despite its reservations over the administration’s support for it.
He said that while the Cuba policy of the US had “failed to improve the lives of the Cuban people”, human rights remained a concern in relations with Havana.
Barack Obama was applauded by delegates in the 193-nation UN General Assembly.
The embargo has been in place since 1960 and remains a contentious issue in relations between Cuba and the US.
President Raul Castro for his part said that now that diplomatic ties were back in place, the overall normalization of relations “will only be achieved with the end of the economic, commercial and financial blockade against Cuba”.
It was Raul Castro’s first address to the UN since succeeding his brother Fidel in 2006. Like Barack Obama, he received sustained applause.
The White House announced on September 27 that President Barack Obama would hold talks with his Cuban counterpart on September 29 on the sidelines of the General Assembly.
It will be their second meeting following on from their first historic get-together in Panama in April.
The UN General Assembly is set to discuss a new draft resolution criticizing the US embargo at a meeting next month.
The assembly has voted every year since 1982 in support of a resolution calling on the US to end the embargo.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is to hold rare talks with President Barack Obama to outline his proposals on the Syrian conflict which is at the centre of intense diplomatic activity in New York, where world leaders are attending the UN General Assembly.
The Russians are a key ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Western leaders have recently softened their stance towards him – conceding that he might be able to stay on during a political transition.
In his opening remarks at the summit, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for the situation in Syria to be referred to the International Criminal Court, saying there can be no impunity for “atrocious crimes”.
Ban Ki-moon said five countries – Russia, the US, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Iran – were key to finding a political solution, but unless they could compromise it would be “futile” to expect change on the ground.
Earlier, Moscow suggested there were plans to form an international contact group including all the countries Ban Ki-moon mentioned plus Egypt.
The morning session at the UN is hearing from Presidents Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin, as well as Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and French President Francois Hollande, whose country has just carried out its first air strikes against Islamic State (ISIS) militants in Syria.
The threat of ISIS extremists and the flow of Syrian refugees to Europe has added urgency to the search for a deal to end the civil war.
Vladimir Putin has reiterated his support for Bashar al-Assad, who Western countries and the Syrian opposition have said must go.
The Russian president, who has strongly reinforced Russia’s military presence in Syria, has called for a regional “coordinating structure” against ISIS, and said the Syrian president’s troops were “the only legitimate conventional army there”.
Vladimir Putin said Russia would not participate in any troop operations in Syria.
Relations between Russia and the West have been strained over Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula last year and its support for separatist rebels in Ukraine’s east.
Vladimir Putin will also meet Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Cuban President Raul Castro on the sidelines of the assembly, the Kremlin was quoted as saying by Reuters.
President Hassan Rouhani – a key regional ally of Bashar al-Assad – says the government in Damascus “can’t be weakened” if ISIS militants are to be defeated.
Secretary of State John Kerry, however, said the efforts were “not yet coordinate” and the US had “concerns about how we are going to go forward”.
Chinese President Xi Jinping met President Barack Obama at the White House during his trip in the US.
The two presidents have said they will take new steps to address cybercrime.
Speaking at a joint news conference at the White House, Barack Obama said they had agreed that neither country would engage in cyber economic espionage.
The deal covers the theft of trade secrets but not national security information.
Xi Jinping also pledged to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
Barack Obama said any escalation in China’s alleged cybercrimes against the US would prompt sanctions.
“It has to stop,” he said.
“The question is now, are words followed by action?”
Reflecting on the use of sanctions against either individuals, businesses or state-run companies, Barack Obama said: “We will apply those, and whatever other tools we have in our tool kit, to go after cybercriminals either retrospectively or prospectively.”
Both countries deny taking part in the cybertheft of commercial secrets.
Xi Jinping said the two countries would not “knowingly support” such practices and said they would both abide by “norms of behavior” in cyberspace.
“Confrontation and friction are not the right choice for both sides,” said Xi Jinping, speaking through a translator.
The cybertheft of intellectual property designed to benefit Chinese industry was described by former National Security Agency Director Keith Alexander as “the greatest transfer of wealth in history”.
US officials have alleged that the Chinese state was behind a massive data security breach of government databases as well as attacks on private firms. That kind of breach is not covered by this deal.
Barack Obama thanked Xi Jinping for introducing a cap-and-trade emissions trading system to limit greenhouse gas production.
The White House on September 25 put out a fact sheet on the US and China’s joint national carbon emissions trading scheme set to launch in 2017.
The “cap-and-trade” scheme would see Chinese companies charged to emit pollutants beyond a certain level.
China said it would commit $3.1 billion to help developing countries reduce carbon emissions, along with other initiatives outlined in the fact sheet that would align China’s climate work with that of the US.
There were also areas of sharp disagreement.
Barack Obama expressed concerns about the growing tensions in the South China Sea and criticized China’s human rights record, saying that preventing lawyers, journalists and others from operating freely is an obstacle to China living up to its potential.
A senior White House staffer, Jake Brewer, has been killed on a charity bike ride.
Jake Brewer, 34, died while taking part in the 150-mile Ride to Conquer Cancer event on September 19.
The senior policy advisor in the chief technology office lost control of his bike and was hit by a vehicle.
President Barack Obama has said he is “heartbroken”, adding: “Jake devoted his life to empowering people and making government work better for them.”
Photo White House
He said Jake Brewer had “a brilliant mind, a big heart, and an insatiable desire to give back”.
“He worked to give citizens a louder voice in our society. He engaged our striving immigrants. He pushed for more transparency in our democracy. And he sought to expand opportunity for all.
“I’ve often said that today’s younger generation is smarter, more determined, and more capable of making a difference than I was as a young man. Jake was proof of that.”
Jake Brewer, from Alexandria, Virginia, reportedly lost control of his bike on a sharp curve in Howard County, Maryland.
His wife, journalist Mary Katharine Ham, posted the news of the death on Instagram.
“I will miss him forever, even more than I can know right now,” she wrote.
President Barack Obama said he and the First Lady would be praying for the Brewer family, adding: “They’ll always have a family here at the White House.”
According to the White House, President Barack Obama has called for the US to prepare to accept “at least” 10,000 Syrian refugees in 2016.
That number is significantly higher than the 1,500 Syrians that have been permitted to re-settle in the US since the start of the conflict.
The 10,000 figure is still much lower than the 340,000 asylum seekers who arrived in Europe this year.
Since the beginning of the conflict the US has given $4 billion in aid.
The increase in accepting refugees displays a “significant scaling up” of US commitment to accept people from conflict zones and help provide for their needs,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said.
Photo Getty Images
Congress would have to make a “significant financial commitment” in order to allow for additional 10,000 refugees to the US, Josh Earnest said.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has registered four million Syrians as refugees, and it has asked governments around the world to resettle 130,000 Syrian refugees by the end of 2016.
In May, 14 Senators penned a letter to President Barack Obama asking him to allow 65,000 Syrian refugees to settle inside the US.
Humanitarian aid money remains the most effective way to fight the problem for the US, Josh Earnest said, and it is “not feasible” for millions of Syrians to come to the country.
Asked at a press briefing why the US was not accepting as many refugees as the UK, as a larger country, Josh Earnest said the US wants to meet the “most urgent, immediate needs” of migrants like basic medical care, food, water and shelter.
The security screening migrants must go through when arriving in the US can take 12 to 18 months, and the “safety and security of the US homeland” comes first, he said.
There have been concerns expressed that terrorists could exploit the refugee system to enter the country and carry out an attack, but experts say that fear is overblown.
Barack Obama will trek through the wilderness in Alaska this week with TV adventurer Bear Grylls, the NBC channel has announced.
The president is due to tape an episode of Running Wild with Bear Grylls to observe the effects of climate change on the area, the channel said.
Barack Obama is the first president to appear on Bear Grylls’ show, to be aired later this year.
The president is on a three-day tour of Alaska aimed at highlighting the pace of climate change.
Photo NBC
It is part of his administration’s efforts to build support for new legislation significantly capping carbon dioxide emissions from power plants in the US, as well as raise attention to the ways climate change has damaged Alaska’s natural landscape.
Barack Obama follows several other high profile figures, including actresses Kate Winslet and Kate Hudson, who have tested their survival skills on the show.
Bear Grylls – a former British special forces soldier – puts celebrities through their paces in remote forests and mountains across the world, “pushing their minds and bodies to the limit to complete their journeys”.
This week Barack Obama will become the first sitting US president to visit the Alaskan Arctic, where he is due to address foreign ministers from Arctic nations at a conference on climate change.
Barack Obama is also scheduled to visit glaciers and meet fishermen and native leaders to discuss rising sea levels, shrinking glaciers and melting permafrost in Alaska.
Before he departed for Alaska, Barack Obama announced he was changing the name of Mount McKinley, the tallest mountain in North America, to its original native Alaskan, Denali.
Earlier this month, President Barack Obama unveiled plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions from US power stations by nearly a third within 15 years.
The name of Alaska’s Mount McKinley, the tallest mountain in North America, has been changed back to its original native Alaskan, Denali, President Barack Obama announced.
The mount’s name change comes after decades of controversy.
Denali translates to High One and is used widely by locals.
The 20,237ft (6,168m) peak was named by a gold prospector in 1896 after he heard that William McKinley had been nominated to become the US president.
Photo AP
Barack Obama announced the change ahead of a three-day visit to Alaska to highlight climate change.
“With our own sense of reverence for this place, we are officially renaming the mountain Denali in recognition of the traditions of Alaska Natives and the strong support of the people of Alaska,” Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said in a statement announcing the change.
The statement went on to note that McKinley had never set foot in Alaska.
Alaska has been attempting to change the name to Denali for decades. However, its attempts to change it at a federal level have been blocked by Ohio, William McKinley’s home state.
It is unclear if Ohio will attempt to stop this name change.
William McKinley was the 25th president of the United States. He was assassinated early in his second term in 1901.
President Barack Obama apologized to Japan after WikiLeaks claimed Washington had spied on Japanese politicians, a government spokesman said.
Barack Obama held a telephone conversation with Japan’s PM Shinzo Abe on August 26, spokesman Yoshihide Suga said, adding that the pair agreed to work together on global economic issues in the wake of a stock market meltdown sparked by fears over China.
“President Obama said he was very sorry… as the case caused a big debate in Japan,” Yoshihide Suga told a regular news conference, without confirming the spying claims.
He added that PM Shinzo Abe reiterated his “serious concern” over the case.
“Prime Minister Abe told [Barack Obama] that, if the Japanese people concerned were subject to these activities, it would risk jeopardizing trusting relations between allies,” Yoshihide Suga said.
In an earlier conversation with VP Joe Biden, Shinzo Abe voiced similar concerns if the spying claims were confirmed.
Last month, WikiLeaks said it had intercepts revealing years-long espionage by the US National Security Agency (NSA) on Japanese officials and major companies.
Tokyo’s response has been widely seen as muted compared to the anger expressed in France and Germany following similar NSA spying allegations.
Japan is one of Washington’s key allies in the Asia-Pacific region and they regularly consult on defense, economic and trade issues.
President Barack Obama will unveil the revised Clean Power Plan on Monday, August 3.
The new plan’s objective is to cut greenhouse gas emissions from US power stations by nearly a third within 15 years.
The measures will place significant emphasis on wind and solar power and other renewable energy sources.
However, opponents in the energy industry have vowed to fight the plan.
They say Barack Obama has declared “a war on coal”. Power plants fired by coal provide more than a third of the US electricity supply.
The revised plan will aim to cut carbon emissions from the power sector by 32% by 2030, compared with 2005 levels.
Each US state will have an emission-cutting goal assigned to it and must submit a proposal to the Environmental Protection Agency on how it will meet the target.
Photo EPA
The measures would give the president the moral authority he needs to argue for global reductions in greenhouse gases at a major conference in Paris later this year.
However, several state governors are already saying they will simply ignore the plans.
In face of the criticism, the White House said the release of the plan was “the starting gun for an all-out climate push” by the president and his cabinet.
In a video released by the White House, Barack Obama said the new limits were backed up by decades of data showing that without action the world faced more extreme weather and escalating health problems.
“Climate change is not a problem for another generation. Not anymore,” the president said.
“My administration will release the final version of America’s Clean Power Plan, the biggest, most important step we have ever taken to combat climate change.”
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said she would defend the plan if she was elected to replace Barack Obama.
“It will need defending. Because Republican doubters and defeatists – including every Republican candidate for president – won’t offer any credible solution,” she said.
“The truth is, they don’t want one.”
One Republican presidential candidate, Marco Rubio, said the plan would be “catastrophic,” while another, former Florida governor Jeb Bush, said the plan was “irresponsible and over-reaching”.
Correspondents say the emphasis on renewable energy sources marks a significant shift from the earlier version of the plan that sought to speed up a transition from coal-fired power to natural gas plants, which emit less carbon dioxide.
It is believed the revised plan will aim to keep the share of natural gas in US power generation at current levels.
Power stations are the largest source of greenhouse gases in the US and account for about one third of all such US emissions.
President Barack Obama has called for criminal justice reforms including curbing the use of solitary confinement and voting rights for felons.
The president said lengthy mandatory minimum sentences should be reduced – or thrown out entirely.
“Mass incarceration makes our entire country worse off, and we need to do something about it,” he said.
Barack Obama urged Congress to pass a sentencing reform bill by the end of 2015.
On July 16, Barack Obama will be the first sitting president to visit a federal prison – part of week-long focus by the White House on the criminal justice system.
Speaking to a gathering of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in Philadelphia, Barack Obama discussed investments in education, alternatives to trials and prison job training programs.
US Attorney General Loretta Lynch has been tasked with reviewing the overuse of solitary confinement, Barack Obama said.
“Do we think it makes sense to lock people up in tiny cells for 23 hours a day? It won’t make us safer and stronger.”
The US should not be tolerating overcrowding in prisons, gang activity or rape, which Barack Obama called “unacceptable”.
Criminal justice reforms have been a subject of rare agreement between Republicans and Democrats in Congress.
He noted that African Americans and Latinos disproportionately make up most of the prison population.
On July 13, Barack Obama commuted the sentences of 46 prisoners, many of whom were serving time for non-violent drug offences.
“If you’re a low-level drug dealer, or you violate your parole, you owe some debt to society … but you don’t owe 20 years,” Barack Obama said.
The president said for what the US spends on keeping people in prison per year, $80 billion, there could be universal pre-school, doubled salaries for high school teachers or free tuition at US public colleges or universities.
This week’s focus on criminal justice signals a renewed bid by Barack Obama’s administration to tackle what he sees as a lack of fairness in the system.
“Communities that give our young people every shot at success, tough but fair courts and prisons that seek to prepare returning citizens to get that second chance…That’s what we’re here to build,” he said.
The last significant changes to the criminal justice system in the US came in 2013 when Attorney General Eric Holder dropped mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenders.
Six world powers – the US, UK, France, China, Russia and Germany – have reached a historic deal with Iran in Vienna on limiting its nuclear activity in return for the lifting of international economic sanctions.
President Barack Obama said that with the deal, “every pathway to a nuclear weapon is cut off” for Iran.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said it opened a “new chapter” in Iran’s relations with the world.
Negotiations between Iran and six world powers began in 2006.
The so-called P5+1 want Iran to scale back its sensitive nuclear activities to ensure that it cannot build a nuclear weapon.
Iran, which wants crippling international sanctions lifted, has always insisted that its nuclear work is peaceful.
In a televised address, President Barack Obama said the deal would make the world “safer and more secure”, and provided for a rigorous verification regime.
“This deal is not built on trust – it is built on verification,” he said.
Immediately afterwards, Hassan Rouhani gave his own televised address, in which he said the prayers of Iranians had “come true”.
He said the deal would lead to the removal of all sanctions, adding: “The sanctions regime was never successful, but at the same time it had affected people’s lives.”
After 12 years, world powers had finally “recognized the nuclear activities of Iran”, he said.
Both Hassan Rouhani and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif referred to the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program as an “unnecessary crisis”.
Earlier, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said the agreement was “a sign of hope for the entire world”.
“It is a decision that can open the way to a new chapter in international relations,” she said.
Javad Zarif said the deal was “not perfect for anybody”, but that it was the “best achievement possible that could be reached”.
President barack Obama, who is trying to persuade a skeptical US Congress of the benefits, said it would oblige Iran to:
remove two-thirds of installed centrifuges and store them under international supervision
get rid of 98% of its enriched uranium
accept that sanctions would be rapidly restored if the deal was violated
permanently give the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) access “where necessary when necessary”
Sanctions relief would be gradual, Barack Obama said, with an arms embargo remaining in place for five years and an embargo on missiles for eight years.
Separately, the IAEA and Iran said they had signed a roadmap to resolve outstanding issues.
IAEA head Yukiya Amano told reporters in Vienna, Austria, that his organization had signed a roadmap “for the clarification of past and present outstanding issues regarding Iran’s nuclear program”.
He called the agreement a “significant step forward”, saying it would allow the agency to “make an assessment of issues relating to possible military dimensions to Iran’s nuclear program by the end of 2015”.
There has been stiff resistance to a deal from conservatives both in Iran and the US. The US Congress has 60 days in which to consider the deal, though Barack Obama said he would veto any attempt to block it.
Israel’s government has also warned against an agreement.
PM Benjamin Netanyahu said it was a “historic mistake” that would provide Iran with “hundreds of billions of dollars with which it can fuel its terror machine and its expansion and aggression throughout the Middle East and across the globe”.
The United States and Cuba are to announce the opening of embassies in each other’s capitals, a senior US official has said.
The embassies opening is a major step in re-establishing diplomatic ties between the US and Cuba which were severed in 1961.
Relations had been frozen since the early 1960s when the US broke links and imposed a trade embargo with Cuba.
The US and Cuba agreed to normalize relations at the end of 2014.
Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro held historic talks in April 2015.
Since 1977, the US and Cuba have operated diplomatic missions called “interests sections” in each other’s capitals under the legal protection of Switzerland. However, they do not enjoy the same status as full embassies.
Photo Reuters
US officials said President Barack Obama would make a formal announcement from the White House on July 1.
It is still not clear exactly what the date will be for opening the embassies, but it is likely to be in mid-July.
The US State Department must give Congress two weeks’ warning before the embassy can open.
It is the latest major milestone in a thawing process between the two countries’ relations, which started with secret negotiations and was announced last December.
In April, Barack Obama and Raul Castro met for the first formal talks between the two countries’ leaders in more than half a century.
A month later, the US removed Cuba from its list of state sponsors of terrorism. Plans to resume ferry and air services between the US and Cuba were also announced.
Despite the new transport links, a Cuba travel ban is still in place for US citizens.
Cuba is also still subject to a US arms embargo which has been in place since 1962, though President Barack Obama has urged Congress to lift it.
The US broke off diplomatic relations with Cuba in 1959 after Fidel Castro and his brother Raul led a revolution toppling US-backed President Fulgencio Batista. The Castro brothers established a revolutionary socialist state with close ties to the Soviet Union.
In December 2014, Barack Obama and Raul Castro made a surprise announcement saying they would seek to re-establish diplomatic ties, ending more than 50 years of ill-will.
A key portion of ObamaCare has been upheld by the US Supreme Court in a 6-3 decision.
The Supreme Court (SCOTUS) ruled President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care act as a whole made subsidies available for people in all 50 states, not just those who bought insurance through a state exchange.
The high court case was the second major challenge to the healthcare law since its passage.
The decision is major victory for the Obama administration.
“Congress passed the Affordable Care act to improve health insurance markets, not to destroy them,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the opinion.
If the law was overturned, 6.4 million Americans would have been at risk of losing aid.
The 2010 ObamaCare set up a federally run insurance exchange where Americans who were not covered by employers or other governmental could buy health insurance.
Opponents argue that a phrase included in the law, “established by the state,” demonstrated that the healthcare subsidies should have only been available for people in states that set up exchanges.
However, most Americans receiving subsidies purchase healthcare through the federal exchange after many states decided not to set up their own marketplaces.
The Obama administration argued that was a too-narrow reading of the law, which spans near 1,000 pages, and the rest of the legislation makes clear subsidies are intended for those who meet income requirements, regardless of which exchange insurance was purchased from.
Justice John Roberts voted with liberal colleagues in support of the law. He was also the key vote to uphold it in a 2012 case. Justice Anthony Kennedy dissented in 2012, but sided with the majority on June 25.
Justice Anthony Scalia’s wrote in his dissent that the Supreme Court is setting a precedent of favoring some laws over others.
“We should start calling this law SCOTUScare” Justice Anthony Scalia’s wrote.
“Today’s interpretation is not merely unnatural; it is unheard of.”
The upholding of the Affordable Care Act cements President Barack Obama’s biggest legislative victory.
Outside the Supreme Court on June 25, people were celebratory and joyful, chanting “ACA is here to stay!” and “If you’re covered and you know it clap your hands.”
President Barack Obama has used the “n-word” during an interview to argue that the US has yet to overcome its issues with racism.
“Racism, we are not cured of it,” the president said.
“And it’s not just a matter of it not being polite to say n***er in public.”
The radio interview came days after a mass shooting in South Carolina which police believe was racially motivated.
Barack Obama will deliver a eulogy at the funeral of one of the men killed.
Clementa Pinckney, a personal friend of the president, was state senator and pastor of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston where the attack took place.
In the interview, Barack Obama also lamented Congress’ lack of will to enact stricter gun controls.
“It’s not just a matter of overt discrimination,” he told comedian Marc Maron in a podcast.
“Societies don’t, overnight, completely erase everything that happened 200 to 300 years prior.”
Barack Obama acknowledged that attitudes about race in the US have improved since his childhood, but he said that America’s history of enslaving black people “casts a long shadow and that’s still part of our DNA that’s passed on”.
The president has publicly used the n-word before but not as president. He used the word several times in his book Dreams from my Father.
Nine black worshippers were killed by gunman Dylann Roof during a bible study group at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston.
Dylann Roof has been pictured holding the Confederate flag, a symbol used by southern states in the civil war when they tried to break away to prevent the abolition of slavery.
The shooting has restarted a debate over a Confederate flag that flies on the grounds of the South Carolina state capitol.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and others have called for the flag to be removed, calling it a symbol of racism.
President Barack Obama did not reference the flag in the interview, but he said on June 19 that the flag belongs in a museum and should not be flown.
President Barack Obama has condemned racism as “a blight” on the American society after white supremacist Dylann Roof killed nine African-Americans in a South Carolina church.
Police are treating the killings at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston on June 17 as a hate crime.
Dylann Roof, 21, appeared in court on June 19 to face nine murder charges.
He showed no emotion as relatives of the victims addressed him directly.
“I forgive you” said one victim’s daughter, fighting back tears.
Speaking in at the US Conference of Mayors in San Francisco, President Barack Obama said: “The apparent motivations of the shooter remind us that racism remains a blight that we have to combat together.
“We have made great progress, but we have to be vigilant because it still lingers.
“And when it’s poisoning the minds of young people, it betrays our ideals and tears our democracy apart.”
The president also praised the families of the victims for the forgiveness they had shown.
Barack Obama said it was “an expression of faith that is unimaginable but that reflects the goodness of the American people”.
He also called for a new debate on gun control, and pushed Congress to follow public opinion.
“It’s not enough for us to express sympathy; we have to take action,” the president said.
A previous proposed bill banning assault weapons failed to win backing in the Senate.
At a Charleston sports arena, thousands gathered on June 19 to remember the victims with prayers. They joined hands to sing We Shall Overcome.
Ahead of the vigil, Charleston Mayor Joseph Riley said: “A hateful person came to this community with some crazy idea he’d be able to divide, but all he did was unite us and make us love each other even more.”
A steady stream of people also brought flowers to place at a memorial in front of the church.
Dylann Roof family earlier released a statement through their lawyer.
“Words cannot express our shock, grief and disbelief as to what happened that night. We are devastated and saddened by what occurred,” the family wrote.
“We have all been touched by the moving words from the victims’ families offering God’s forgiveness and love in the face of such horrible suffering.”
In court in Charleston on June 19, Dylann Roof spoke to confirm his name, age and address and said he was unemployed.
Then relatives were invited by the judge to come forward and speak.
At a news conference in Germany, President Barack Obama has revealed the US does not yet have a “complete strategy” for helping Iraq regain territory from Islamic State (ISIS).
He said the Pentagon was reviewing ways to help Iraq train and equip its forces.
However, Barack Obama said a full commitment to the process was needed by the Iraqis themselves.
The president had earlier met Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Germany.
ISIS has recently made gains in Iraq despite US-led coalition air strikes.
In May the militants seized Ramadi, the capital of Anbar, Iraq’s largest province, as well as the Syrian town of Tadmur and the neighboring ancient ruins of Palmyra.
US officials cited a lack of training as a major factor in the fall of Ramadi.
However, Barack Obama said that the 3,000 US service personnel in Iraq sometimes found themselves with “more training capacity than we’ve got recruits”.
“We don’t have, yet, a complete strategy, because it requires commitments on the part of Iraqis as well about how recruitment takes place, how that training takes place,” Barack Obama told a news conference.
“We want to get more Iraqi security forces trained, fresh, well-equipped and focused and [Haider al-] Abadi wants the same thing so we’re reviewing a range of plans for how we might do that.”
President Barack Obama said he was “absolutely confident” ISIS would be driven out of Iraq if Haider al-Abadi has the support of the international coalition as well as a government that represents all the Iraqi people.
The president said all countries in the coalition were ready to do more to help train Iraqi security forces.
Iraq has become increasingly reliant on Iranian-backed Shia militias to take on ISIS in recent months.
President Barack Obama has delivered an emotional eulogy at the funeral of Beau Biden, the son of Vice-President Joe Biden.
Former Delaware Attorney-General Beau Biden died on May 30 from brain cancer at the age of 46.
Beau Biden was seen as a rising star of US politics but suffered from health problems in recent years.
He had intended to run for Delaware state governor in 2016.
Barack Obama said: “Beau Biden was an original. He was a good man. A man of character. A man who loved deeply and was loved in return.”
About 1,000 people – including Bill and Hillary Clinton and numerous other top politicians – attended the funeral at a Roman Catholic church in Wilmington, the largest city in the state of Delaware.
Joe Biden led a procession into the church with his family at the beginning of the service.
Photo AP
Mourners heard Barack Obama describing Beau Biden as a public servant who learned through early tragedy what mattered most and as a result decided upon living “a life of meaning” that would inspire those around him.
“He was a scion of an incredible family, who brushed away the possibility of privilege for the harder, better reward of earning his own way,” the president said.
Barack Obama described Beau Biden as a son, a father, a soldier and a politician who refused to take short cuts in his determination to serve his country and others.
He said that a “cruel twist of fate” killed Beau Biden’s mother and infant sister in a car crash four decades ago and left Beau – three years old at the time – and his younger brother Hunter in hospital.
Coldplay singer Chris Martin was a soloist at the service – he volunteered to perform after hearing that Beau Biden liked the band.
Beau Biden was diagnosed with brain cancer in August 2013 and underwent treatment that was initially successful. However, the cancer recurred earlier this year.
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives has voted to keep restrictions on American citizens travelling to Cuba, despite a recent thaw in relations.
The chamber rejected proposals to allow regular scheduled flights to Cuba.
The House also said a rule should remain requiring US citizens to get a special license before going to Cuba.
It was voting on a transport funding bill which has provisions related to Cuba.
President Barack Obama has threatened to veto the bill.
New rules issued by the Obama administration in January were aimed at easing travel restrictions to Cuba and allowing scheduled flights for the first time.
Republican Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart said the White House was wrong to lift the restrictions.
Mario Diaz-Balart, a Cuban-American, said it would mean flights landing at an airport that was partially owned by US interests when it was seized by the Cuban government.
“What you are saying is, <<It’s OK to do business on property that was stolen from Americans>>,” said Mario Diaz-Balart.
The thaw in relations between the US and Cuba was announced at the end of 2014 in simultaneous televised speeches by President Obama and his Cuban counterpart, Raul Castro.
President Barack Obama used his executive powers to ease the embargo that has existed for more than 50 years, defying hardline critics.
However, the issue is caught in a battle between Republicans who control Congress and the White House.
Caitlyn Jenner has set a new Twitter record after gaining more than a million followers in four hours, Guinness World Records has confirmed.
Bruce Jenner as a woman has beaten President Barack Obama, who held the title for two weeks.
Barack Obama reached the one million mark in five hours.
Caitlyn Jenner launched her Twitter account at the same time as a Vanity Fair magazine cover was released, showing former Olympian Bruce Jenner as a transgender woman and revealing the name she will now be using.
She tweeted: “Another Jenner world record, and at 65? Who’da thought! Humbled & honored to have reached 1M followers in 4 hrs. Thank you for your support.”
At the time of writing, Caitlyn Jenner had reached a total of 1.8 million followers, although that figure is still rising.
Guinness World Records tweeted: “4 hrs and 3 mins! @Caitlyn_Jenner just set a new record for fastest time to reach 1 million followers on @Twitter.”
The cover photograph, shot by Annie Leibovitz, is part of a wider special where Caitlyn Jenner talks about her gender transition and how her family’s reacted.
Stepdaughter Kim Kardashian has shared her support for Caitlyn Jenner, tweeting: “Caitlyn Jenner for Vanity Fair Annie Leibovitz! How beautiful! Be happy, be proud, live life YOUR way!”
The temporary hold on President Barack Obama’s plans to shield almost five million illegal immigrants from deportation has been backed by an federal court.
The hold was imposed after 26 states launched a legal challenge against the executive action, alleging it was unconstitutional.
The appeals court has now denied a government request to overturn it.
The White House said the action was essential to fix a “broken immigration system”.
Under the plans, announced in 2014, people who entered the US illegally as children and parents of children who are US citizens would be offered temporary protection from deportation.
Aside from arguing President Barack Obama acted outside his authority, the states say the move forces them to invest more in law enforcement, health care and education.
The 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling keeps the plans on hold while the states’ legal challenge proceeds.
It is not clear yet whether the Obama administration will appeal.
The Republican governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, who has been a persistent critic of the president’s immigration policies, tweeted: “The constitution wins.”
TV mogul Byron Allen slammed President Barack Obama for not acting like a black man.
Byron Allen told TMZ that black people have fallen further behind during Barack Obama’s presidency.
The host of Comics Unleashed and Entertainers With Byron Allen went on to say: “President Obama is, at this point, a white president in blackface. Black America would have done much better with a white president.”
Byron Allen, founder of television production company Entertainment Studios, asked Barack Obama to “stand up” to injustices against black people, saying: “President Obama, you have let us down tremendously.”
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