Full text: Barack Obama's farewell speech

Democracy is the idea that we rise or fall as one, said Barack Obama

Latest News : It’s good to be home. My fellow Americans, Michelle and I have been so touched by all the well-wishes we’ve received over the past few weeks. But tonight it’s my turn to say thanks. Whether we’ve seen eye-to-eye or rarely agreed at all, my conversations with you, the American people – in living rooms and schools; at farms and on factory floors; at diners and on distant outposts – are what have kept me honest, kept me inspired, and kept me going. Every day, I learned from you. Barack Obama Farewell Speech You made me a better President, and you made me a better man.

I first came to Chicago when I was in my early twenties, still trying to figure out who I was; still searching for a purpose to my life. It was in neighborhoods not far from here where I began working with church groups in the shadows of closed steel mills. It was on these streets where I witnessed the power of faith, and the quiet dignity of working people in the face of struggle and loss. This is where I learned that change only happens when ordinary people get involved, get engaged, and come together to demand it.

After eight years as your President, I still believe that. And it’s not just my belief. It’s the beating heart of our American idea – our bold experiment in self-government. It’s the conviction that we are all created equal, endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Read More

US Election Live: Who will be the next President of the US?

US Election Live: Who will be the next President of the US?

Will Democrat Hillary Clinton win the race the White House? Or will industrialist and Republican candidate Donald Trump trump career politician Clinton? Track the live action here Read More

Donald Trump's paid maternity leave plan gets Hillary Clinton rejoinder

Donald Trump's paid maternity leave plan gets Hillary Clinton rejoinder

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has introduced an unorthodox childcare plan, becoming a rareRepublican calling for paid maternity leave.

Introduced on Tuesday by his daughter Ivanka, who asserted that childcare issues were at the "root of wage inequality by disproportionately affecting women", Trump tried to soften his image at an event held in Pennsylvania, a former stronghold for moderate Republicans that has trended Democratic in recent years, the Guardianreported.

Trump also asserted that "my opponent has no childcare plan". Clinton has in fact made a number of detailed proposals on childcare.

Clinton in June last year first outlined a programme for universal pre-kindergarten and in May this year proposed to cap childcare costs at ten per cent of household income and to introduce 12 weeks of paid family leave.

Maya Harris, a senior policy adviser to Clinton, described Trump's plan as "half-baked and completely out of touch". read full story >>>

Donald Trump wants allies to share burden of security

Donald Trump wants allies to share burden of security

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has said that if elected he would ensure that America's European and Asian allies meet the NATO obligation of spending two per cent of their GDP on defence.

"Only five of the 28 member NATO countries meet their obligations to spend two per cent of GDP on defence. I will convene a summit of our European and Asian allies to make sure everyone is sharing in the burden of security. We are paying tremendous amounts of money to secure other nations, to protect and defend other nations," Trump said at an election rally in Iowa.

"We are going to be made whole. We have no choice. This isn't 30 years ago. This isn't 40 years ago. And I believe properly asked, we'll be in a very good position and they will be very nice about it," he said as he slammed the foreign policy of the Obama Administration in particular that of the former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is now the Democratic presidential nominee.

"Whether it's her e-mails, her disasters in Iraq, Libya and Syria, or her failures on the economy, of which it's been disastrous, Hillary Clinton lacks the judgement, temperament and moral character to lead this country. She does. You know it. Everybody knows it," he said amidst applause from the cheering audience. read full story >>>

Barack Obama cancels Rodrigo Duterte talks after insult

Barack Obama cancels meeting with new Philippine President Duterte

US President Barack Obama has cancelled what would have been his first meeting with Rodrigo Duterte, according to a White House spokesman, hours after the Philippine leader described his American counterpart in vulgar terms.

Duterte called Obama a "son of a whore", saying that he would not be lectured by the US leader on human rights, according to AFP news agency.

Inside Story - Can Rodrigo Duterte win the war on illegal drugs?

Duterte's tirade came as he bristled at warnings he would face questioning by the US president at their scheduled meeting over his war against drugs in the Philippines, which has claimed more than 2,400 lives in just over two months.

"You must be respectful. Do not just throw away questions and statements. Son of a whore, I will curse you in that forum," Duterte told a news conference shortly before flying to Laos to attend a summit on Monday.

"We will be wallowing in the mud like pigs if you do that to me," he said.

However, a statement released by the Philippine president on Tuesday expressed regret for the tirade against his US counterpart.

"While the immediate cause was my strong comments to certain press questions that elicited concern and distress, we also regret it came across as a personal attack on the US president," the statement said.

Duterte was due to hold a bilateral meeting with Obama on Tuesday afternoon on the sidelines of a gathering of global leaders hosted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Vientiane, the capital of the Laos.

READ MORE: The Philippines, where bodies pile up, but no one talks

'No to Trump, yes to Hillary': Indian diaspora in the US tells New Delhi

'No to Trump, yes to Hillary': Indian diaspora in the US tells New Delhi

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), given its recent anti-immigrants election campaign in Assam and the perception that the Republican administrations have been friendlier towards India, should have found an alter ego in Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. But the Indian diaspora in the United States, even its more prosperous sections, have conveyed to the BJP’s overseas arm that they were unlikely to support Trump in the US presidential elections due in November.

Overseas friends of BJP chief Vijay Chauthaiwale was in the US in the latter half of June. He travelled across the US to meet representatives of Indian diaspora associations. There are literally dozens of associations of each linguistic group. The Rockefeller Foundation — Aspen Institute Diaspora Programme (RAD) survey in July 2014 — had identified 224 important diaspora associations of Indian linguistic, regional and religious groups.

Chauthaiwale also had a meeting with Thomas Shannon, the Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs in the Barack Obama administration. Shannon was on a four day visit to India in end-June and early July and met Indian political leaders, diplomats and academics.

The feedback, from talking to American politicians and Indian diaspora, was unanimous. That Donald Trump, despite the upswing in India-US relations during the Republic administration of George W Bush from 2000 to 2008, cannot be supported because of his anti-immigration stance and xenophobic statements.

In contrast, Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton is familiar with India and has visited the country several times. Former US President Bill Clinton met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the funeral of Singapore leader Lee Kuan Yew. The Clintons had a 45-minute meeting with the PM during his maiden US visit in September 2014. India-US relations had improved during the second term of Bill Clinton, with him visiting India during the tenure of Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2000. Read More

NSG to take up Pakistan, India's membership requests this week

NSG to take up Pakistan, India's membership requests this week

The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) 2016 annual plenary, which begins in Seoul on Monday, will take up membership requests from both India and Pakistan on June 23-24.

According to Dawn, Pakistan submitted its membership application on May 19, a week after India, which applied on May 12.

With massive global support, India stands as a favourite to join the 48-nation group, with an active support from the United States, Russia, Britain, France and other world powers.

China, however, stands as an obstacle to India's application, arguing that it would enhance a nuclear competition in South Asia by isolating Pakistan.

China wants NSG to admit Pakistan as well, pointing out that both India and Pakistan possessed nuclear weapons and had not signed the NPT.

While China may not force the NSG to admit Pakistan, it can block India as new members are admitted with a consensus of the existing members.

Pakistan reportedly fears that joining the NSG would increase India's access to nuclear technology, which could also enhance its weapons programme, even if indirectly.

After a June 7 meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House, US President Barack Obama welcomed India's application to join NSG, and re-affirmed that New Delhi was ready for membership.

Earlier, US Secretary of State John Kerry sent a letter to the NSG members, saying they should "agree not to block consensus on Indian admission".

India, though not a member, enjoys the benefits of membership under a 2008 exemption to NSG rules for its atomic cooperation deal with the US.

The NSG is one of the main tools for controlling the exports and proliferation of materials that could potentially be used in making weapons of mass destruction. Read More

Obama in Orlando to console grieving families

Obama in Orlando to console grieving families

President Barack Obama arrived in Orlando, where he will console loved ones devastated by a shooting rampage that has fueled America's culture wars and a fresh push for gun controls.

Air Force One touched down shortly before 1:00 p.m. (1700 GMT) in Florida, where Obama will call for national unity and meet families whose lives have been ripped apart by a tragedy of national proportions.

The massacre of 49 people at the Pulse nightclub last Sunday was the deadliest mass shooting in the history of a country that is depressingly familiar with such events. Another 53 people were wounded.

"This will be, I think, an emotional trip," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.

In a rare symbolic show of bipartisanship, Obama arrived with Republican one-time presidential hopeful Marco Rubio and was greeted on the tarmac by Republican Florida governor Rick Scott and Vice President Joe Biden.

Obama and Biden are slated to meet emergency medical crews and hospital staff who laboured to save lives in the chaotic hours after the massacre by gunman Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old Muslim American of Afghan descent.

Mateen was killed in a police raid, but his motivation and how he came to possess an special forces assault rifle remain deeply contentious.

Mateen pledged allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State group in a 911 call during the attack.

The IS group then claimed responsibility for the shooting, and FBI agents believe that Mateen was radicalised by following extremist propaganda online.

That has prompted Republicans to call for tougher counterterrorism measures and for the Obama administration to do more to fight the Islamic State group.

The White House says coalition forces and allies are making gains against the group's strongholds in Syria, Iraq and Libya.

But Republican arguments were given credence by Obama's own CIA director John Brennan, who warned the group retains the ability to conduct attacks around the world.

"Unfortunately, despite all our progress against ISIL on the battlefield and in the financial realm, our efforts have not reduced the group's terrorism capability and global reach," he told senior US lawmakers. Read More

Obama meets Dalai Lama at White House

Obama meets Dalai Lama at White House

US President Barack Obama met Tibetan Spiritual Leader the Dalai Lama at the White House, his spokesman said, underlining the meeting between the two Noble laureates does not change America's stand on Tibet.

"This is actually the fourth opportunity that President Obama has had to meet with the Dalai Lama at the White House over the last eight years," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters at his daily news conference.

"And I would just reiterate once again that the US's position, as it relates to Tibet has not changed. Tibet, per US policy, is considered part of the People's Republic of China. And the United States has not articulated our support for Tibetan independence," Earnest said.

Obama met the 80-year-old spiritual leader in the historicMap Room of theWhite House. The meeting was closed for the press.

The Tibetan spiritual leader did not speak to the battery of reporters waiting inside.

"Just to give you a sense of the meeting, the President thanked the Dalai Lama for his expression of condolences about the terrorist attack in Orlando over the weekend," Earnest said. Read More

From tackling terror to NSG inclusion, Modi - Obama make headway on a range of issues

From tackling terror to NSG inclusion, Modi - Obama make headway on a range of issues

After Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s discussion on Tuesday with US President Barack Obama in Washington, a joint statement described what it billed as their “third major bilateral summit”, after earlier meetings in September 2014 and January 2015.

The statement noted a new military logistics agreement, made common cause in the South China Sea, revealed growing American involvement in helping India build an indigenous aircraft carrier, and announced additional co-development projects for defence equipment. There is a new agreement for sharing terrorist-related information. India will be buying six 1,000 MW nuclear power plants from Toshiba-Westinghouse, with the contract to be signed in 2017. And Washington has thrown its full weight behind India’s candidature for membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

Asia-Pacific cooperation

US officials privately lament New Delhi’s poor follow-up of strategic agreements. This joint statement pins India down to specific action, announcing “a roadmap for cooperation under the 2015 US-India Joint Strategic Vision for the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean Region, which will serve as a guide for collaboration in the years to come.”

In a subtly-worded statement that takes the US-India partnership beyond the 2014 Vision Statement and 2015 Declaration of Friendship, Modi and Obama “resolved that the United States and India should look to each other as priority partners in the Asia-Pacific and the Indian Ocean region.”Read more

Modi, Obama have forged close working relationship: think-tank

Modi, Obama have forged close working relationship: think-tank

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has gone from somebody who was basically a "pariah" to someone who is now going to be celebrated in the course of just two years, a top American think-tank has said ahead of his meeting with US PresidentBarack Obama at the White House next week.

"This would probably be the Prime Minister's seventh meeting with the President since he took office which probably is a record both for Modi and for the President with respect to meeting a head of government from a country which is not a formal ally of the United States," Ashley Tellis of the Carnegie Endowment forInternational Peace said yesterday.

"This speaks to the personal relationship that the two have developed over the last two years and also the surprising quality of it, given the history that Modi had with the United States," Tellis said ahead of the Obama-Modi meeting on June 7 at the White House.

During his US visit, the Prime Minister will also address a joint meeting of the US Congress on June 8.

"The close personal relationship that has now developed between Modi and Obama is one of the surprises of the last two years," Tellis said.

Echoing Tellis, Milan Vaishnav of Carnegie said the personal transformation that Modi has undergone is nothing short of remarkable.

"In the course of just two years, Modi has gone from just who could not step foot on American soil as a legal matter to addressing a joint meeting of the US Congress. He has gone from somebody who was basically a pariah to someone who is now going to be celebrated by Washington.Read more.

Video showing Hillary Clinton 'lying for 13 mins straight' goes viral

Video showing Hillary Clinton 'lying for 13 mins straight' goes viral

Democratic presidential front- runner Hillary Clinton has come under fire in a new viral video that purports to show her lying or changing her stance on various topics "for 13 minutes straight" with the set of clips notching up over 7 million hits online.

The video is a long highlight reel of Clinton contradicting herself or saying things that turned out not to be true on issues from gay marriage and Wall Street to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and her private email server.

The video, posted by a YouTube user, entitled "Hillary Clinton lying for 13 minutes straight", could exacerbate her low polling numbers.

The video showing at the start makes it clear that the project, which has been viewed almost 7.5 million times, was not a "pro-Trump video" and the Republican presumptive nominee would be the next target.

On gay marriage, the video shows Clinton backing a traditional view of marriage in 2004 and 2010, before changing to support gay marriage in 2013 and then accusing an NPR radio host in 2014 of "playing with my words" when the host accuses her of changing her tune. Read More