Tag: Obama

United States President, Barack Obama, has promised to bypass a fractured Congress to tackle economic inequality in his annual State of the Union address.
He pledged to “take steps without legislation” wherever possible, announcing a rise in the minimum wage for new federal contract staff.
On Iran, he said he would veto any new sanctions that risked derailing talks.
BBC reports that the Democratic president is facing some of his lowest approval ratings since first taking office in 2009.
“Let’s make this a year of action,” Mr. Obama said.
Noting that inequality has deepened and upward mobility stalled, he would offer “a set of concrete, practical proposals to speed up growth, strengthen the middle class, and build new ladders of opportunity into the middle class.”
“America does not stand still – and neither will I,” he said. “So wherever and whenever I can take steps without legislation to expand opportunity for more American families, that’s what I’m going to do.”
Just over a year after his re-election, Mr. Obama must contend with determined opposition from the Republican Party, which controls the House of Representatives and has the numbers in the Senate to block his agenda.

More than a million Americans will lose their unemployment benefits after an emergency federal programme expired on Saturday, BBC reports.

Lawmakers failed to agree on an extension of the scheme before the United States Congress began its winter recess.

Former President George W. Bush introduced the assistance plan in 2008 at the start of the recession.

Under the programme, jobless people received an average monthly stipend of $1,166 for up to 73 weeks.

The White House said the benefits have kept millions of families out of poverty, but many Republicans argued that the scheme’s annual $25bn price tag is too expensive.

The stalemate comes two months after a budget fight in the U.S Congress led to the partial shutdown of the government.

President Barack Obama has vowed to push for the renewal of the expired programme when Congress reconvenes in early January.

“The president said his administration would, as it has for several weeks now, push Congress to act promptly and in bipartisan fashion to address this urgent economic priority,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.

An estimated 1.3 million people will initially be cut off with the end of the “emergency unemployment compensation, “U.S officials said.

Millions more could be affected next year after they lose state benefits, which in many states expire after six months.

United States President, Barack Obama, has warned that South Sudan is on the “precipice” of a civil war, after clashes in the capital Juba spread around the country.

He said 45 military personnel had been deployed to South Sudan on Wednesday to protect American citizens and property.

At least 500 people are believed to have died since last weekend, when President Salva Kiir accused his ex-deputy Riek Machar of a failed coup.

BBC reports that an estimated 34,000 people have taken refuge at United Nations compounds.

Three Indian peacekeepers were killed on Thursday when a UN base sheltering refugees came under attack near South Sudan’s eastern border with Ethiopia.

Sudan suffered a 22-year civil war that left more than a million people dead before the South became independent in 2011.

The recent unrest has pitted gangs from the Nuer ethnic group of Mr. Machar against Dinkas – the majority group to which Mr. Kiir belongs.

“South Sudan stands at the precipice. Recent fighting threatens to plunge South Sudan back into the dark days of its past,” President Obama said in a letter to Congress.

“Inflammatory rhetoric and targeted violence must cease. All sides must listen to the wise counsel of their neighbours, commit to dialogue and take immediate steps to urge calm and support reconciliation,” he stated.

United States President, Barack Obama, will nominate Federal Reserve Vice-Chair Janet Yellen to be the next head of the U.S central bank on Wednesday, according to a White House official.

If confirmed by the U.S Senate, Ms Yellen would replace Ben Bernanke, who has held the post for eight years.

She has been his deputy for the last two years, and would become the first woman to head the Federal Reserve.

BBC reports that Ms Yellen and Mr. Bernanke are due to appear with the president on Wednesday.

She has taught at Harvard University and the London School of Economics, as well as holding a series of senior administrative positions in the U.S.

Ms Yellen, like Mr. Bernanke, is seen as a “dove,” meaning she prefers to prioritise boosting employment by keeping rates low rather than worrying about inflation.

Her nomination has been widely expected after former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers withdrew his candidature.

One senior U.S senator, Democrat Charles Schumer, said Ms Yellen had the backing of politicians and would win Senate confirmation “by a wide margin.”

The chairman of the U.S Senate Banking Committee, Tim Johnson, said she had “a depth of experience that is second to none.”

“I have no doubt she will be an excellent Federal Reserve chairman,” he added.