India as a rising power good for the US: Obama

June 4, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, June 4 (ANI): In witty and often rousing remarks at a Thursday reception hosted by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for her Indian counterpart S M Krishna at the State Department, US President Barack Obama reiterated how central and important India was to the US.

“It””s rising power and a responsible global power. That””s why I firmly believe that the relationship between the United States and India will be a defining partnership in the 21st century,” Obama said.

Obama described the India-United States relationship as “fundamentally unique” because of their common interests and common values,

Washington, he said valued the partnership “not because of where India is on a map, but because of what we share and where we can go together.”

“India is indispensable to the future that we seek – a future of security and prosperity for all nations,” Obama said.

The President was in a particularly jocular vein with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, subtly challenging her hold on the India portfolio and trumping her Mark Twain quote rhapsodizing about India with a Max Mueller observation he dug up about the glory of India.

“So when it comes to the sphere of our work — building a future of greater prosperity, opportunity and security for our people, there is no doubt: I have to go to India. But even more, I am proud to go to India,” Obama said.

Obama, when he makes the trip, will be the sixth American President to visit India after Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and George Bush (43). (ANI)

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At $5 mn, Obama ‘poorest’ US Presidents in 57 yrs

May 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

He may be heading the world’s largest economy, but US President Barack Obama’s personal net worth is just USD five million – the lowest for any American President in five decades.

The last time a US President had a lower net worth than Obama was Harry Truman (1945-53) with less than USD 1 million, as per a list compiled by The Atlantic magazine.

“Obama is the grandson of a goat herder. He is a former constitutional law professor and civil rights attorney. Book royalties constitute most of Obama’s net worth,” the US magazine said.

Till now, the US, whose GDP is USD 13 trillion, has seen 44 Presidents and net worth for each was calculated in “2010 dollar” rate, for the list.

Obama, who took over as the President in 2008, has fortunes to the tune of USD five million. In comparison, George W Bush, who was the President from 2001-08, had a net worth of USD 20 million while his predecessor Bill Clinton’s fortune is estimated to be worth USD 38 million.

As per the analysis, at least 14 former US Presidents had net worth less than USD five million. They include Abraham Lincoln and Woodrow Wilson (both had fortunes less than USD 1 million) and Franklin Pierce (USD 2 million).

This compares to Americans accounting for 40 per cent of the world’s billionaire population (with over 400 billionaires calling US their home)

The Atlantic noted that the first US President George Washington’s net worth is estimated to be USD 525 million at current dollar valuation.

“One of the most important conclusions of this analysis is that the presidency has little to do with wealth. Several brought huge net worths to the job. Many lost most of their fortunes after leaving office. Some never had any money at all,” the publication said.

The analysis took into account hard assets like land, estimated lifetime savings based on work history, inheritance and homes, among others.

“Royalties on books have also been taken into account, along with ownership of companies and yields from family estates,” the magazine said.

According to the magazine, the rise of inherited wealth in the early 20th century contributed to the fortunes of many presidents, including Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D Roosevelt, John F Kennedy, and both of the Bushes.

Pointing out that stigma of making money from being a retired President began to disappear, the report said Bill Clinton made millions of dollars from writing his autobiography.

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Bush was told by wife to choose between fatherhood and booze

May 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, May 26 (ANI): Former American President George W Bush’s new book ‘Decision Points’ starts with an anecdote about his wife trying to convince him to quit drinking and choose fatherhood over alcohol.

The former leader admitted it was the crucial moment that triggered his journey to presidency.

He confessed that he asked himself whether he loved booze more than his wife, Laura.

Speaking at the American Wind Energy Association conference in Dallas, he said that the book focuses on some of the most important decisions he has made in his life.

“The sad thing is you don”t get do-overs. You”ve got to make the calls. I got some right. I got some wrong,” the Telegraph quoted him, as saying.

Bush hopes to place readers in his shoes by sharing his experience as the President.

He added: “I don”t think you can come to a definitive conclusion about a presidency until the passage of time. I want to put you in my position.”

He admitted that life had changed after his exit from the White House.

Recollecting a moment when he was walking his dog Barney through his new neighbourhood in Dallas, he said: “There I was. Former president of the United States, with a plastic bag in my hand, picking up what I had been dodging for eight solid years.”

The book is set due to be out in November. (ANI)

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To avoid Obama”s visit, South African police chief wants US knocked out of WC

May 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, May 8 (ANI): South African police chief General Bheki Cele in order to avoid a visit by President Barack Obama to the country during the World Cup, is ”praying” that the US football team is knocked out of the tournament.

Briefing on senators on security, General Bheki Cele said that a visit by the US President, which could happen if the team makes the knockout stage, would be a nightmare.

Cele was briefing lawmakers on South Africa”s security plan for the World Cup, which has met with approval from Interpol, the global police agency, and security authorities of the 31 visitor teams.

“Our famous prayer is that they don”t make the second round. They get eliminated and they go home because we are told that if they go to the second or third stage, the American president might come,” The Telegraph quoted him as saying to the Parliamentary Police Committee.

The United States is one of 31 visitor nations competing for the World Cup in South Africa.

So far 43 heads of state have provisionally confirmed their attendance in the first World Cup on African soil, but General Cele said the presence of the US leader would double security requirements for the event

“That 43 will be equal to this one operation,” he said.

The United States is in Group C with England, Slovenia and Algeria. (ANI)

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Civil rights bastion appeals to Obama for help

April 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment

A small town in Alabama is making a personal appeal to US president Barack Obama for help.

The town of Selma wants Mr Obama to release some of the trillion-dollar stimulus package to help it recover from the worst recession since the 1930s.

Selma’s mayor says the nation’s first African-American president should not forget a town which was at the forefront of the civil rights struggle.

In Selma you can walk in the footsteps of history across the Edmund Pettus bridge to a spot where police confronted civil rights protesters in 1965.

Sam Walker, a tour guide at the National Voting Rights Museum, says protesters on the bridge refused to back down.

“Nobody still didn’t turn around, so the next thing the other state troopers moved forward. [It's] now known as Bloody Sunday. Bleeding all over this highway,” he said.

Selma’s mayor, George Evans, says this part of Alabama is known as the “black belt” and includes some of the poorest counties in the country.

“The black belt is suffering dearly. We just need some help. It’s tough,” he said.

The mayor says unemployment in Selma is 21 per cent.

He has applied for $US34 million from the Obama administration’s stimulus package to help kick-start projects.

But, with a tinge of disappointment, he reveals that so far Selma has received just $US1.5 million.

He says Mr Obama should realise that Selma’s special place in history means it deserves more.

“What about giving something back to Selma for the world?” he said.

Mayor Evans also sees some parallels between the tensions of the 1960s and the vitriol being hurled at the president in the wake of his healthcare reforms.

“You get the impression [that it's] because he’s black. I would hope that’s not the issue,” he said.

Sam Walker knows Mr Obama is being criticised for not doing enough to help African-Americans and he feels that is a little unfair.

“You can’t change it for small groups. [You] can’t just say you want to make things better for the black people, you’ve got to change it for the masses,” he said.

At the voting rights museum there is now an exhibit about the first African-American president.

Selma’s mayor just wants Mr Obama and his family to visit the town which helped set that history in motion.

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Nicolas Sarkozy carries lectern to stand tall during keynote speech!

March 31, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, March 31 (ANI): Nicolas Sarkozy has finally found a way to stand tall – the 5ft 5in French President carried a custom-built wooden stand with him as he flew to the US to make a keynote speech.

The lectern was specially designed to make Sarkozy “look authoritative and statesman-like” when he spoke before academics and students at Columbia University, New York.

“The President wanted to make sure that he was completely comfortable when making this important speech, and that was the reason for bringing his own lectern,” the Daily Express quoted a French diplomatic source, as saying.

Sarkozy is notoriously famous for being sensitive about his height.

In 2009 he attracted much media attention when he used a six-inch footstool to stand taller than American President Barack Obama, 6ft2in, and Britain’s Premier Gordon Brown, 5ft11in, during D-Day commemorations in Normandy. (ANI)

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Israel’s Netanyahu rejects “Obama disaster” headline

March 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected on Sunday a description of President Barack Obama as Israel’s “greatest disaster”, a phrase a best-selling newspaper attributed to an anonymous confidant of the premier.

Both leaders are locked in a deep disagreement over Israeli settlement in occupied territory in and near Jerusalem. Analysts have described as a humiliating snub Obama’s low-profile White House talks with Netanyahu on Tuesday.

In a banner headline, Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth, quoted an unidentified Netanyahu confidant as saying: “We’ve got a real problem. You could say that Obama is the greatest disaster for Israel — a strategic disaster.”

A statement issued by Netanyahu’s office said: “The prime minister emphatically rejects the anonymous quotes about President Obama that a newspaper attributed to one of his confidants, and he condemns them.”

Netanyahu was at pains to hammer home the message, telling reporters at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting: “I have heard over recent days anonymous and improper remarks in the media about the U.S. administration and American president.”

“I want to say clearly, these comments are unacceptable to me. They do not come from anyone representing me. The relations between Israel and the United States are those of allies and friends, and are based on tradition spanning many years.”

Netanyahu gave no indication in his public remarks at the session that he intended to curb settlement in East Jerusalem, an issue that has angered Palestinians and delayed the start of indirect, U.S.-mediated peace talks.

But the statement — distributed to correspondents by text message, and followed by two telephone calls from a Netanyahu spokesman to check it was being published — appeared to signal the Israeli leader’s wish not to worsen tensions with Obama.

The Obama-Netanyahu meeting at the White House was held without the usual trappings of an on-camera handshake or a joint statement.

“There were areas in which there was swift agreement,” Netanyahu told the cabinet about the talks.

“In areas where there was disagreement, we tried to take, and we did take, certain steps to narrow the gaps in order to move the (peace) process forward,” he said, without elaborating.

U.S. PRESSURE

Resisting U.S. pressure, Netanyahu has said Israel would not stop building in West Bank territory it annexed to East Jerusalem after capturing the two areas in a 1967 war.

Netanyahu has vowed to find a way out of the faceoff, but a Friday meeting of senior cabinet members to discuss measures that might persuade the Palestinians to resume peace talks adjourned without any breakthrough.

“I think we will continue these efforts. We are continuing them today and in the coming days,” Netanyahu said at the cabinet meeting.

Netanyahu’s government is dominated by pro-settler parties, including his own, and meeting any U.S. demands on settlements — after a 10-month partial construction freeze he announced in November — could endanger his coalition.

Citing historical and Biblical links, Israel considers all of Jerusalem its capital, a claim that is not recognised internationally. Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of a state they seek in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

(Additional reporting by Joseph Nasr)

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Israel’s Netanyahu rejects “Obama disaster” headline

March 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected on Sunday a description of President Barack Obama as Israel’s “greatest disaster,” a phrase a best-selling newspaper attributed to an anonymous confidant of the premier.

World

Both leaders are locked in a deep disagreement over Israeli settlement in occupied territory in and near Jerusalem. Analysts have described as a humiliating snub Obama’s low-profile White House talks with Netanyahu on Tuesday.

In a banner headline, Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth, quoted an unidentified Netanyahu confidant as saying: “We’ve got a real problem. You could say that Obama is the greatest disaster for Israel — a strategic disaster.”

A statement issued by Netanyahu’s office said: “The prime minister emphatically rejects the anonymous quotes about President Obama that a newspaper attributed to one of his confidants, and he condemns them.”

Netanyahu was at pains to hammer home the message, telling reporters at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting: “I have heard over recent days anonymous and improper remarks in the media about the U.S. administration and American president.”

“I want to say clearly, these comments are unacceptable to me. They do not come from anyone representing me. The relations between Israel and the United States are those of allies and friends, and are based on tradition spanning many years.”

Netanyahu gave no indication in his public remarks at the session that he intended to curb settlement in East Jerusalem, an issue that has angered Palestinians and delayed the start of indirect, U.S.-mediated peace talks.

But the statement — distributed to correspondents by text message, and followed by two telephone calls from a Netanyahu spokesman to check it was being published — appeared to signal the Israeli leader’s wish not to worsen tensions with Obama.

The Obama-Netanyahu meeting at the White House was held without the usual trappings of an on-camera handshake or a joint statement.

“There were areas in which there was swift agreement,” Netanyahu told the cabinet about the talks.

“In areas where there was disagreement, we tried to take, and we did take, certain steps to narrow the gaps in order to move the (peace) process forward,” he said, without elaborating.

U.S. PRESSURE

Resisting U.S. pressure, Netanyahu has said Israel would not stop building in West Bank territory it annexed to East Jerusalem after capturing the two areas in a 1967 war.

Netanyahu has vowed to find a way out of the faceoff, but a Friday meeting of senior cabinet members to discuss measures that might persuade the Palestinians to resume peace talks adjourned without any breakthrough.

“I think we will continue these efforts. We are continuing them today and in the coming days,” Netanyahu said at the cabinet meeting.

Netanyahu’s government is dominated by pro-settler parties, including his own, and meeting any U.S. demands on settlements — after a 10-month partial construction freeze he announced in November — could endanger his coalition.

Citing historical and Biblical links, Israel considers all of Jerusalem its capital, a claim that is not recognized internationally. Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of a state they seek in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

(Additional reporting by Joseph Nasr)

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Steven Spielberg, Robert Redford to go head to head with Lincoln biopics

September 17, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Sept 16 (ANI): Steven Spielberg will continue work on his new movie based on the life of Abraham Lincoln, even as Robert Redford is making another biopic on the former American President.

Spielberg insists his film will be quite different from Redford’s version.

It is reported that Spielberg’s film tilled Lincoln will have the American Civil War as its plot, while Redford’s The Conspirator will deal with the events leading up to the former President’s assassination in 1865.

Contactmusic quoted Spielberg as telling Daily Variety: “We are very happy that Redford will be doing this Lincoln movie.

“It is completely different from what our DreamWorks Lincoln movie will be, and we believe that it will add to the commercial potential of our film. Lincoln as a subject is inexhaustible.”

The Jaw’s director had announced Lincoln earlier this year but the project has been delayed due to funding problems and changes in script. (ANI)

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US officials stepping up pressure on Netanyahu to cut deal on Israeli settlements

September 2, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Sep 2 (ANI): US officials are stepping up pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to cut a deal on curtailing Israeli settlements, and they’re holding out a prize that both Netanyahu and President Barack Obama badly want: strong ties between both leaders.

Both sides said the US and Israel are near an agreement to halt expansion of Israeli settlements on disputed territory.

If Netanyahu approves, US officials said it could reopen direct negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian leaders on Middle East peace for the first time since before Israeli’s invasion of Gaza last winter, Politico reported.

But the Israeli premier and the American president have gotten off on an uncertain footing, with neither proving willing to make early compromises as the other expected.

The relationship is important to both leaders’ domestic politics, and now US officials say the settlement negotiations give Netanyahu a way to show he’s committed to the Middle East peace process.

“Netanyahu’s at a pivotal moment. Depending on what he decides, he could wind up with a very strong relationship with President Obama and potentially become a historic figure in Israel,” said a senior US official.

“It could very well hinge on what he decides in the next couple of weeks,” said the official.

Another senior US official held out a similar carrot for Netanyahu: This moment offers the opportunity to “forge a very important and positive relationship between Netanyahu and the president,” the official said.

Netanyahu spokesman Ron Dermer declined to comment on the Americans’ characterization, but Israel has been reluctant to cast settlements as a central question in the peace process, and another senior Israeli government official downplayed the importance of a deal this month. (ANI)

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Naomi Campbell accuses firms of using ‘recession’ excuse to drop black models

August 30, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, Aug 30 (ANI): Naomi Campbell has slammed advertising companies for dropping black models from promoting their products on the pretext of recession.

“This year, we have gone back all the way that we had advanced. I don’t see any black woman, or of any other race, in big advertising campaigns,” the Telegraph quoted her as saying.

The supermodel referred to a special edition of Italian Vogue last year, which only included non-white models.

She added: “That made some noise, but, unfortunately, we are the same as before. People, in the panic of the recession, don’t dare to put a girl of colour in their campaign, full stop. Nor of any other race. It’s a shame. It’s very sad.”

Campbell has been pretty vocal about racism in the fashion industry in the past too.

She had said earlier this year: “You know, the American president may be black, but, as a black woman, I am still an exception in this business. I always have to work harder to be treated equally.”

Fashion designer Bruce Oldfield also agrees with Campell who is a friend of Nelson Mandela.

The designer told Mandrake. “It’s absolutely true that black models will be not as popular for advertising companies and magazine covers as white girls. In a recession, it’s probably doubly difficult for black girls to get a booking.”

Campbell became the first black woman to be the cover girl of French Vogue in 1988 and also the first to be on the cover of British Vogue. (ANI)

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Obama’s Ghana visit, signal US won’t play second fiddle to China in Africa: Experts

July 11, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Accra, July 11 (ANI): Barack Obama’s choice to visit Ghana after his successful diplomatic tours to Italy and Russia indicate that the US President wants to send a message that Washington won’t take a back seat to China, which has been increasing its role in Africa through growing trade and aid arrangements.

“Some experts on African affairs are of the opinion that President Obama’s presence on the continent, first in Egypt and now in Ghana, will help in showing that the U.S. and other major Western nations are not ready to let China have a ‘free ride’ in friendship and economic benefits on the African continent,” Indiana University experts Assensoh and Alex-Assensoh wrote in a release.

Obama’s choice of Ghana for the visit suggests that his administration will tie increasing aid for Africa to improved governance for African nations.

“Historians and experts on African politics feel that it makes a lot of sense for the young but very knowledgeable American president to visit Ghana,” Assensoh and Alex-Assensoh said.

Ghana, which became an independent nation in 1957, has been a leader in Africa in achieving peaceful democracy, with the two major parties alternately winning the presidency.

Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama and their daughters Sasha and Malia will be in Ghana Friday and Saturday.

The Obamas will visit Ghana’s capital Accra, and a former British fort at Cape Coast that was used to keep slaves before they were transported to the New World. (ANI)

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Obama not to visit father’s undemocratic Kenya

July 4, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, July 4 (ANI): US President Barack Obama’s first trip to Sub-Saharan Africa won’t include a stop in his father’s Kenyan homeland because the violence-plagued country’s leaders “do not seem to be moving into a permanent reconciliation that would allow the country to move forward.”

Obama will make a stop in Ghana next week at the end of a trip to Russia and Italy.

In an interview with allafrica.com, President Obama said he chose to visit Ghana because the country “has now undergone a couple of successful elections in which power was transferred peacefully.”

Fox News quoted Obama, as saying that he intends to highlight the idea that “countries that are governed well, that are stable, where leadership recognizes that they are accountable to the people, have a track record of producing results for the people.”

Obama went on to say “there is a practical, pragmatic consequence to political instability and corruption when it comes to whether people can feed their families and educate their children.”

The United States’ first African-American president has only invited two African leaders to the White House so far: Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete and Zimbabwe’s opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

Experts disagree about whether Obama should be engaging more leaders.

Dr. Jendayi Frazer, former assistant secretary of state for African affairs in the George W. Bush administration, it’s a “mistake to only engage with the good leaders” in Africa.

She says President Obama’s decision to visit Russia despite its flaws and to consider talks with Iran suggest he may meet with a broad range of African leaders.

Other experts say President Obama is right to follow former President Bush’s success in making sure U.S. aid to Africa isn’t siphoned off by corrupt officials, with a focus on democratic reforms.

President Obama says he’d like his legacy in Africa to be putting the continent on a trajectory to be integrated into the global economy. He says he’d like the U.S. to be “an effective partner…in building the kinds of institutions, political, civil, economic, that allowed for improving standards of living and greater security for the people of Africa.” (ANI)

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“Waxed” Obama almost melts under Eiffel tower’s scorching sun!

June 30, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, June 30 (ANI): US President Barack Obama with newly acquired grey hair travelled to the Eiffel tower in wax form along with two bodyguards.

After visiting France’s most famous monument on Monday, the statue travelled to Paris’ Musée Grevin wax museum, where it will stand alongside the likenesses of Nicolas Sarkozy, Angela Merkel and Vladimir Putin.

Eric Saint Chaffray, the sculptor, had never seen the American president in person.

“The main difficulty is making it without meeting him, from press photos,” he said, as the statue was unveiled on Monday.

The hot summer sun at the Eiffel Tower threatened to melt the model’s face, prompting helpers to shade it with an umbrella, The Telegraph reports.

Saint Chaffray, who has created the statue of the US President, has been creating wax statues for the museum for the past 20 years.

Dressed in a dark suit, the wax statue of Obama wears a serious expression. “We’re presenting Barack Obama at the Musée Grevin as part of a gathering of heads of state, which is why he has kind of an official attitude, a little bit stiff,” Saint Chaffray said.

The resemblance was so uncanny down to the grey hair that Obama is said to have acquired since the beginning of his presidential campaign,that some tourists stopped for a photo opportunity.(ANI)

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Obama’s Father’s Day essay reveals his primary aim is to be a good dad

June 20, 2009 By Leave a Comment

New York, June 19 (ANI): American President Barack Obama’s primary goal is to be a good father, reveals a gripping Father’s Day essay he has written.

The essay will be published by Parade magazine on Sunday.

Obama, , the son of father from Kenya and a mother from Kansas, has written in the write-up that he observes Father’s Day not just as a dad grateful for his two precious daughters, but also as a son who grew up without a father in his life.

The President apparently knows first-hand the pain of paternal abandonment because he was raised by his mother and maternal grandparents. His father is now dead.

“In many ways, I came to understand the importance of fatherhood through its absence-both in my life and in the lives of others,” the New York Daily News quoted Obama as having written in his first Father’s Day essay as the country’s 44th President.

“I came to understand that the hole a man leaves when he abandons his responsibility to his children is one that no government can fill.

We can do everything possible to provide good jobs and good schools and safe streets for our kids, but it will never be enough to fully make up the difference,” he writes.

Obama also urges fathers to be accountable for raising and caring for their children.

“We need fathers to step up, to realize that their job does not end at conception; that what makes you a man is not the ability to have a child but the courage to raise one,” he writes.

He even admits being an “imperfect father” who has made mistakes and allowed the demands of work to interfere with his paternal duties, citing the recent campaign trial as the prime example.

“There were many days out on the campaign trail when I felt like my family was a million miles away, and I knew I was missing moments of my daughters’ lives that I’d never get back. It is a loss I will never fully accept,” he writes.

“On this Father’s Day, I think about the pledge I made to Malia the day she was born: that I would give her what I never had-that if I could be anything in life, I would be a good father,” he adds. (ANI)

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Just like Obama, Lincoln too had an encounter with a fly

June 19, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Just like Obama, Lincoln too had an encounter with a flyWashington, June 19 : American President Barack Obama has once again been likened to Abraham Lincoln, with reports now claiming that the latter too had an encounter with a fly.

Daniel Weinberg, the owner of the Abraham Lincoln Book Shop in Chicago, is in possession of a picture showing Lincoln with a housefly on him.

He, however, does not know whether Lincoln also killed the fly or not.

It may be recalled that Obama swatted a fly during a television interview earlier this week, and killed it in just one attempt.

Weinberg jokily said that Lincoln might have let the fly off scot-free, and thus would not have left the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) upset.

Activists attached with the animal rights group have announced they are sending Obama a contraption that traps but does not kill bugs, apparently as a token of their protest.

“He (Lincoln) was the great pardoner,” Fox News quoted Weinberg as pointing out.

He revealed that the picture was clicked in Alexander Gardner”s Washington, D. C. photo studio, when Lincoln went there to sit for a photographic portrait in August of 1863.

Weinberg thinks that Lincoln would have remained absolutely still for such a picture at the time-if he had moved to swat the fly, it would have caused the photo to blur.

Thus, he believes that Lincoln would have kept his hands where they were so as to have a quality photograph, and would not have done what Obama did.

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Obama’s Father”s Day essay reveals his primary aim is to be a good dad

June 19, 2009 By Leave a Comment

New York, June 19 : American President Barack Obama’s primary goal is to be a good father, reveals a gripping Father”s Day essay he has written.

The essay will be published by Parade magazine on Sunday.

Obama, , the son of father from Kenya and a mother from Kansas, has written in the write-up that he observes Father”s Day not just as a dad grateful for his two precious daughters, but also as a son who grew up without a father in his life.

The President apparently knows first-hand the pain of paternal abandonment because he was raised by his mother and maternal grandparents. His father is now dead.

“In many ways, I came to understand the importance of fatherhood through its absence — both in my life and in the lives of others,” the New York Daily News quoted Obama as having written in his first Father”s Day essay as the country’s 44th President.

“I came to understand that the hole a man leaves when he abandons his responsibility to his children is one that no government can fill. We can do everything possible to provide good jobs and good schools and safe streets for our kids, but it will never be enough to fully make up the difference,” he writes.

Obama also urges fathers to be accountable for raising and caring for their children.

“We need fathers to step up, to realize that their job does not end at conception; that what makes you a man is not the ability to have a child but the courage to raise one,” he writes.

He even admits being an “imperfect father” who has made mistakes and allowed the demands of work to interfere with his paternal duties, citing the recent campaign trial as the prime example.

“There were many days out on the campaign trail when I felt like my family was a million miles away, and I knew I was missing moments of my daughters” lives that I”d never get back. It is a loss I will never fully accept,” he writes.

“On this Father”s Day, I think about the pledge I made to Malia the day she was born: that I would give her what I never had-that if I could be anything in life, I would be a good father,” he adds.

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Bob Dylan delighted to be an ‘honorary Texan’

May 25, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, May 25 (ANI): Folk musician Bob Dylan says that he is delighted to have received the title of an honorary Texan from former American President George W. Bush.

Bush honoured Bob with the title just few days before he had taken the presidency.

“I think you really have to be a Texan to appreciate the vastness of (the state) and the emptiness of it. But I’m an honourary Texan. George Bush, when he was governor, gave me a proclamation that says I’m an honourary Texan. As if anybody needed proof. It’s no small thing. I take it as a high honour,” Contactmusic quoted Bob as saying.

Bob also declared that the former American President was not to be condemned for the country’s current economic difficulties.

“None of us really knew what was happening in the economy. It changed so quickly into a true nightmare of horror. As far as blaming the last president, think of it this way: the same folks who held him in such high regard came to despise him. People are fickle,” he said. (ANI)

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Piers Morgan ready to pucker ‘never been kissed’ Susan Boyle

May 23, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, May 23 (ANI): Britain’s Got Talent star Susan Boyle may get her first kiss ever from judge Piers Morgan – on TV.

The 48-year-old, who turned into an overnight celebrity with her jaw-dropping performance of the Les Miserables song ‘I Dreamed a Dream’ on the talent show, had claimed she was a virgin and had “never been kissed”.

And Piers, 44, reckons he can do the honours when the church volunteer from Scotland turns up for the forthcoming semi-finals.

“After Susan auditioned for the show and said she’d never been kissed and never had a boyfriend, I did say that I would break her ‘kissing duck’,” The Daily Star quoted him as saying.

“That offer still stands. I have not seen her since the auditions. So when we meet again, if Susan asks for a kiss, I’ll do it… on TV,” he added.

Susan, since her stunning performance, has won fans all over the globe, including US President Barack Obama and Hollywood couple Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher.

The amateur singer gathered up a record 200million hits on YouTube and has been interviewed by chat queen Oprah Winfrey.

She has had name checks on cartoon shows The Simpsons and South Park, was invited to meet the American president, and has even had a doll modelled after her. (ANI)

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Macca urges Obama to re-establish peace in Middle East

May 16, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, May 16 (ANI): Former Beatle member Paul McCartney has asked American president Barack Obama to support an organization which aims to re-establish peace in the war-torn Middle East.

The peace organization called ‘OneVoice’ has more than 650,000 followers, and aims to end the conflict between Israel and Palestine.

McCartney has officially joined OneVoice’s international board of advisers, which includes Hollywood star Danny DeVito and ex-boxing legend Muhammad Ali.

He is hoping that Barack Obama will lend his political support to OneVoice, which is working towards making voices from the two States are heard and acted upon to a achieve a peaceful end.

“I hope President Obama looks into this organisation and feels that OneVoice could be part of a peaceful solution,” Sky News quoted McCartney as saying.

Meanwhile, while performing in Tel Aviv, McCartney attempted to bring people together using music. (ANI)

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