President Barack Obama, presiding over “the most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression,” has returned to the United States from the most recent of many international journeys with a message: Confidence that the U.S. “will weather this storm.”
In an Op-ed essay appearing in newspapers today, the president says this of the $787-billion economic stimulus plan enacted in February: “The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was not expected to restore the economy to full health on its own but to provide the boost necessary to stop the free fall.
“So far, it has done that. It was, from the start, a two-year program, and it will steadily save and create jobs as it ramps up over this summer and fall. We must let it work the way it’s supposed to, with the understanding that in any recession, unemployment tends to recover more slowly than other measures of economic activity.”
Yet something is missing in this piece, the most recent of a series of Op-ed articles that Obama has signed since his inauguration, the way the Senate minority leader’s office sees it: Read the rest
United States President Barack Obama says it is going to be a long road to recovery on the back of dire unemployment figures.
Almost another half a million jobs in the US economy were lost in the month of June, pushing the unemployment rate to 9.5 per cent – the highest in 26 years and still growing.
Mr Obama says he was deeply concerned as American families with jobs now wonder if they are next in line to lose theirs.
“Obviously we are deeply concerned about the employment rate. What we are still seeing is too many jobs lost – too many families who are worried about whether they are going to be next,” he said.
A US unemployment rate of 12 per cent by the year’s end or early next year is not out of the question, according to some economists who were shocked by today’s much worse-than-expected monthly job loss figure.
Certainly an 11 per cent unemployment rate by the end of the first quarter of next year is a distinct possibility. Read the rest
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has rejected criticism from US President Barack Obama that his thinking is still influenced by Cold War attitudes.
Mr Obama makes his first visit to Moscow as president on Monday, with talks scheduled with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev and Mr Putin.
The US President has used an Associated Press interview to say it is important that Mr Putin understands a Cold War approach to US-Russia relations is outdated.
“I think Putin has one foot in the old ways of doing business and one foot in the new,” Mr Obama said.
In response, Mr Putin told journalists that Russia “stands firmly on [its] feet and always looks to the future”.
Mr Putin says Moscow is waiting for Mr Obama’s visit “with very warm feelings”.
South Korean police are investigating a series of cyber attacks which disabled major websites, including those of the president and the Defence Ministry.
Unknown hackers attacked 25 South Korean websites, shutting them down for several hours.
The Defence Ministry says websites were flooded by traffic at the same time, which overwhelmed the server.
South Korean media is reporting that this type of cyber attack is commonly used by Chinese hackers.
The country’s cyber terrorism response centre has been called in to investigate the attack.
The White House, State Department and Pentagon websites were among those targeted in a coordinated cyber-attack which also crippled sites in South Korea, computer security experts said.
The Department of Homeland Security confirmed that US government and private sector websites had come under so-called “distributed denial of service” (DDoS) attack, but declined to identify any of the targeted sites.
A DDoS attack attempts to paralyse a website by overwhelming it with traffic from an army of malware-infected computers known as a “botnet”, but does not involve any theft of data.
The chief technology officer for the private SANS Internet Storm Centre, Johannes Ullrich, said the internet assault, which began over the weekend, was “a pretty massive attack”.
“Nothing really terribly sophisticated. It just floods the websites,” he said. Read the rest
US President Barack Obama has promised the Pope that he will try to reduce the number of abortions in the United States.
President Barack Obama has had his first meeting with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican.
A Vatican spokesman says they discussed the “defence and the promotion of life” and that the President has promised the Pope he will try to limit the number of abortions in America.
They also discussed sensitive bioethics matters, Middle East peace and the situation in Honduras and Cuba.
First Lady Michelle Obama and the two Obama daughters also spent time with the Pope.
In a surprise move, the pontiff gave Mr Obama a booklet explaining Vatican opposition to practices such as abortion and embryonic stem cell research, which Mr Obama supports.
“Mr Obama told the pope of his commitment to reduce the number of abortions and of his attention and respect for the positions of the Catholic Church,” Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said.
Mr Obama supports abortion rights and says his policy is to change economic and social conditions so as to put more women in situations where they do not feel they have to have an abortion.
The British government has defended its strategy in Afghanistan, a day after eight British soldiers were killed there.
A total of 184 British troops have now been killed in Afghanistan since the start of the war in 2002.
British foreign secretary David Miliband has rejected claims that British forces do not have the right equipment and says Britain must stay in Afghanistan to stop the country becoming an incubator of international terrorism.
“Al Qaeda is a global movement, but its place of choice is the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan – everybody agrees on that,” he said.
“So the mission is absolutely clear, is to back our own security.
“The strategy to deliver that is first to build up the Afghan security forces so that they’re able to defend their own country rather than being rolled over by the Taliban.
“Second, to build up Afghan governance which is a critical element.” Read the rest
The Australian Crime Commission has won access to the medical records of eight Indigenous female patients under the age of 16 despite concerns by a health service that it breaches confidentiality.
As part of the federal intervention in the Northern Territory, the Crime Commission was seeking access to the detailed health records of eight underage girls, including their sexual health history, as part of investigations relating to child sex abuse.
But last year the remote Aboriginal health service holding the records successfully argued that providing that information would breach patient confidentiality.
The organisation, which has only been identified as “NTD8″ in court proceedings, said handing over the files could also stop other young women from seeking medical advice and treatment.
“The material before the primary judge [in previous proceedings] showed that there was a concern that, if the notice had to be complied with, the police might interview the young girls and their families,” the Federal Court said as part of background to its judgement today.
The commission appealed the earlier decision to refuse access to the files.
The Federal Court today found in favour of the commission and set aside the earlier decision, thereby allowing the commission to access the records.
The Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory says it is seeking legal clarification about the impacts of the ruling on the Aboriginal health sector. Read the rest
I am honored to be in the timeless city of Cairo, and to be hosted by two remarkable institutions. For over a thousand years, Al-Azhar has stood as a beacon of Islamic learning, and for over a century, Cairo University has been a source of Egypt’s advancement.
Together, you represent the harmony between tradition and progress. I am grateful for your hospitality, and the hospitality of the people of Egypt. I am also proud to carry with me the goodwill of the American people, and a greeting of peace from Muslim communities in my country: assalaamu alaykum.
We meet at a time of tension between the United States and Muslims around the world – tension rooted in historical forces that go beyond any current policy debate. The relationship between Islam and the West includes centuries of co-existence and cooperation, but also conflict and religious wars. Read the rest
On the eve of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday celebration and the approach of his own historic swearing-in as president, Barack Obama stood Sunday in front of the Lincoln Memorial, evoked the country’s heroes and heritage and told the nation that “the dream of our founders will live on in time.”
Obama spoke during an afternoon celebration of his historic election, featuring musicians led by Bruce Springsteen and Beyonce as well as famous actors, all entertaining an estimated half-million people on the National Mall with songs and readings aimed at capturing the gravity of the moment.
Obama, the first African-American to be elected president, looked out at the sea of people and told them, “What gives me hope is what I see when I look out across this mall. For in these monuments are chiseled those unlikely stories that affirm our unyielding faith _ a faith that anything is possible in America.”
He gazed fleetingly at the Washington Monument in the distance. “Rising before us stands a memorial to a man who led a small band of farmers and shopkeepers in revolution against the army of an empire, all for the sake of an idea,” he said. Read the rest
The Australian Crime Commission has won access to the medical records of eight Indigenous female patients under the age of 16 despite concerns by a health service that it breaches confidentiality.
