Obamas Thank Troops in Christmas Message, GOP Vet Recalls Why He Served

WASHINGTON -- President and first lady Obama gave troops a special message of thanks to U.S. troops in the president's taped weekly radio and Internet address, and urged Americans to to help support military families this holiday season.

Separately, a Republican congressman who served combat tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan offered the GOP message to troops for the holidays.

In a Christmas message released early for the weekend, Obama said serving as commander in chief has been his greatest honor as president. He saluted the "selfless spirit" of those who serve and said he has been "humbled, profoundly" by those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

"So to all our men and women in uniform spending the holidays far from home -- whether it's at a base here in the states, a mess hall in Iraq or a remote outpost in Afghanistan -- know that you are in our thoughts and our prayers," the president said in a message released Thursday.

"And this holiday season -- and every holiday season -- know that we are doing everything in our power to make sure you can succeed in your missions and come home safe to your families."

Given his own Christmas gift of Democratic-led Senate passage of a health insurance overhaul, Obama offered praise for the military before leaving Washington on Thursday. He then took one question in which he said he was sending a holiday wish to reporters.

"I'm on my way right now to call a few of them and wish them merry Christmas and to thank them for their extraordinary service as they're posted in Iraq and Afghanistan," he said.

Mrs. Obama, who doesn't normally appear in the weekly address, recalled her visits with "military spouses doing the parenting of two" to keep their households together.

"But even these strong military families can use a hand, especially during the holidays," she said. "If you live near a military base, you can reach out through your workplaces, your schools, your churches.

"There are so many ways to help -- with child care, with errands, or by just bringing over a home-cooked meal," Michelle Obama said.

For service members on active duty around the world, the president added that kids can send greeting cards and adults can send care packages or prepaid phone cards. He directed listeners to the White House Web site "for more ways to let our troops know you care."

Thousands of Marines left for Afghanistan in the days prior to Christmas, part of the president's surge of 30,000 forces to the region. He has said he wants to set a benchmark of July 2011 to start pulling them out of the embattled country.

California Rep. Duncan Hunter said he knows well the longing to be home for the holidays, and asked Americans to keep in mind those less fortunate and the members of the military .

"Thoughts of home remind us of why we serve: because we're proud to be Americans, because we want to pass on to our children the blessings of liberty that we inherited from our forefathers, and because nothing matters more to us than protecting our homes and our families," he said.

He added that despite the separation of families, "This is not a time for sadness or regret."

Adding some politics into the GOP's weekly radio response, Hunter noted the country's 10 percent unemployment rate and Republican solutions for increasing jobs and reducing government debt.

"I hope we also take a moment this year to reflect on those suffering here at home. For too many families, this will be a difficult Christmas," he said.

"Let's resolve in the new year to end misguided efforts to create new laws that will cost even more jobs, whether it's the 'cap and trade' national energy tax, the government takeover of health care, 'card check' or even more tax increases," Hunter said. "Working together, we can make the next holiday season even brighter for all Americans."

Even in these tough economic times, Obama said, there's still much to celebrate this Christmas, including the birth of Jesus.

"The love family and friends. The bonds of community and country. And the character and courage of our men and women in uniform who are far from home for the holidays, away from their families, risking their lives to protect ours," he added.

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Obama ends benefits for Guinea, Madagascar, Niger

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama said on Wednesday he has terminated trade benefits for Guinea, Madagascar and Niger, three African countries where democratic progress is threatened by political turmoil.

In a statement, Obama said the three countries had failed to make "continual progress" in meeting U.S. requirements for the African Growth and Opportunity Act.

"Each of these countries has experienced an undemocratic transfer of power, which is incompatible with making progress toward establishing the rule of law or political pluralism," said a White House official.

"These circumstances also make it extremely difficult to achieve the progress necessary to satisfy the other AGOA eligibility criteria," the official added.

At the same time, Obama said he was adding Mauritania to the list of sub-Saharan African countries eligible for preferential U.S. tariff treatment under the program.

Separately, the State Department said the United States had suspended non-humanitarian aid to Niger and imposed travel bans on some government officials in response to Niger President Mamadou Tandja's moves to extend his time as leader.

Tandja's original term was to end on December 22.

Earlier this month, Obama sent Tandja a message calling for more democracy in Niger. The United States has also frozen $20 million in aid for Niger under its U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation agreement with the country.

GUINEA'S JUNTA BLAMED FOR DEATHS

A United Nations report on Monday blamed Guinea's junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara for the September 28 killings of more than 150 pro-democracy marchers by security forces.

Guinea, the world's top exporter of bauxite and a pivotal country for the security of West Africa, has been on the brink of chaos since the massacre and a botched assassination attempt against Camara on December 3 by his former aide de camp.

Madagascar's security forces on Tuesday fired teargas at opposition leaders and hundreds of their supporters outside parliament as political tensions escalated on the Indian Ocean island.

The brief flare-up happened near the national assembly where the opposition plans to form a new parliament, a process President Andry Rajoelina says is illegitimate.

The United States provides duty-free treatment for nearly 6,400 eligible items such as clothing, cocoa, wood, leather, processed foods and cut flowers under the African Growth and Opportunity Act. However, the biggest single import under the program is oil.

To be eligible, countries must at least be making continual progress toward establishing the rule of law and political pluralism, the protection of human rights and workers rights and efforts to fight corruption.

The United States imported $324.3 million worth of goods from Madagascar, $106.4 million from Guinea and $44.3 million from Niger in 2008.

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Obama picks Schmidt as cyber-security chief

Schmidt is president of the Information Security Forum, a nonprofit consortium of 300 large corporations and public-sector organizations working on cybersecurity issues.

Schmidt, a cyber-adviser in President George W. Bush's administration, will be based in the National Security Council. He will report to the national security adviser to coordinate federal government cybersecurity policy for both military and civilian agencies.

"Howard will have regular access to the President and serve as a key member of his National Security Staff," John Brennan, assistant to the president for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, said in an email announcing the appointment.

He said Schmidt will also work closely with Obama's economic team.

A veteran of the U.S. Air Force and FBI, Schmidt earlier in his career served as chief security officer at Microsoft Corp and as chief information security officer at eBay, The Washington Post reported.

He has some 40 years experience in government, business and law enforcement, the White House said.

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Cuba President Raul Castro lashes out at Barack Obama

Cuban President Raul Castro has lashed out at the US, accusing Barack Obama's administration of endorsing efforts to undermine the communist regime.

In his annual address, Mr Castro said the US had sent a government contractor to supply dissidents. The unnamed US citizen was detained two weeks ago.

Speaking during his annual address, he said "the enemy is as active as ever".

The comments came as US band Kool and the Gang performed in Havana, in what some saw a sign of improving ties.

The concert, performed to an audience of thousands on Sunday, forms part of a series of recent cultural exchanges between Cuba and the US.

Mr Castro's comments were the first to acknowledge the detention of the US citizen, who works for a Maryland-based development organisation which regularly carries out work for the US government's agency for international development.

The contractor is reported to have been detained while distributing mobile phones and laptops. The US has made repeated requests for access to him.

'Sophisticated methods'

"In the last few weeks we have witnessed the stepping up of the new administration's efforts in this area," Raul Castro told parliament.

"They are giving new breath to open and undercover subversion against Cuba."

He said the US citizen was working illegally in the country, distributing "sophisticated methods of communication to members of the civil society which they hope to form against our people".

Raul Castro said the US had allocated some $55m (38m euros; £34m) "to support a supposed democracy, the defence of human rights and aggression by radio and television against Cuba", apparently referring to the Marti network, which broadcasts to Cuba from US-run territory.

US President Barack Obama has made efforts to warm relations between the two states - easing the 47-year-old US trade embargo against Cuba, loosening travel restrictions for Americans wanting to visit Cuba and indicating he would be open to dialogue with Cuba's leaders.

In September, a senior US diplomat held high-level talks with the Cuban government during a visit to Havana, in the highest-level contact between the two sides in years.

But Mr Obama has said that, like previous American presidents, he will only consider a full lifting of the embargo once Cuba's communist government makes significant moves such as the holding of democratic election.

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Florida man sentenced for threat to kill Obama

MIAMI - A federal court judge sentenced a Florida man to three years in prison on Friday for threatening to kill President Barack Obama in an email that said "The blood of Obama will run down the streets."

Nathan Wine, 21, admitted to the judge in Tampa, Florida, in August that he sent the threatening email to the U.S. Army Recruiting Command on November 5, 2008, the day after Obama won the presidential election.

Wine, who had faced up to five years in prison, acknowledged in his guilty plea that he had meant the email as a death threat, although he did not reveal a motive.

In his poorly spelled email message, Wine said he would "not mind going behind bars for being a trigger man on this tyrant."

"I will not rest until this tyrant of America is gunned down," he said. "The blood of Obama will run down the streets of D.C."

Wine was indicted in the federal case in January after surrendering to police on a local warrant charging him with stealing a gun.

His sentence on Friday was announced in a statement from A. Brian Albritton, the U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Florida.

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Congress must resist health insurance lobby -Obama

WASHINGTON, Dec 19 - President Barack Obama warned on Saturday the country's powerful insurance industry was determined to thwart a dramatic improvement in patients' rights as it lobbies against his signature healthcare reforms.

"They want to preserve a system that works better for the insurance industry than it does for the American people," Obama said in his weekly Internet and radio address.

Arguing that measures incorporated in healthcare bills now before Congress add up to a "Patient's Bill of Rights" that has been a long-sought ambition of reformers, Obama urged senators to stop obstructing progress toward this goal.

"Let's bring this long and vigorous debate to an end. Let's deliver on the promise of health insurance reforms that will make our people healthier, our economy stronger, and our future more secure," Obama said.

Obama has asked the Senate to finish by year's-end to prevent the issue from spilling into the campaign for November 2010 congressional elections. Opinion polls show the bill losing public support, with majorities now opposed to it.

Senate Democratic leaders are fighting to line up the 60 votes that they need to overcome delaying tactics by their Republican opponents and get a vote on their version of the healthcare reform bill.

This move would allow the process to advance to a "conference" to reconcile it with a proposal already passed by the House of Representatives, after which both chambers would vote again to make it law.

The healthcare bills would significantly expand coverage for currently uninsured Americans, and would also prevent insurance companies from denying coverage to people on the basis of pre-existing health conditions.

Opponents of reform say it will drive up the costs of coverage for many Americans and represents an unwelcome government intrusion into the private sector.

Obama said that healthcare reform would cut costs and shield patients from corporate abuse.

"The protections currently included in both the health insurance reform bill passed by the House and the version currently on the Senate floor would represent the toughest measures we've ever taken to hold the insurance industry accountable," Obama said.

"The insurance industry knows all this. That's why they're at it again, using their muscle in Washington to try to block a vote they know they will lose," he said.

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World leaders try to rescue climate deal

COPENHAGEN - World leaders tried to rescue a global climate agreement on Friday but the failure of leading greenhouse gas emitters China and the United States to come up with new proposals blocked chances of an ambitious deal.

U.S. President Barack Obama and other leaders are trying to reach consensus on carbon emissions cuts, financial aid to poor nations, temperature caps and international scrutiny of emissions curbs. There has been progress in some areas, but gaps remain over emissions targets and monitoring, delegates said.

"We are ready to get this done today but there has to be movement on all sides, to recognize that it is better for us to act than talk," Obama told the conference.

"These international discussions have essentially taken place now for almost two decades and we have very little to show for it other than an increase, an acceleration of the climate change phenomenon. The time for talk is over."

At stake is an agreement for coordinated global action to avert climate changes including more floods and droughts. Two weeks of talks in Copenhagen have battled suspicion between rich and poor countries over how to share out emissions cuts.

Developing countries, among them some of the most vulnerable to climate change, say rich nations have a historic responsibility to take the lead.

The environment minister of EU president Sweden, Andreas Carlgren, said the United States and China held the key to a deal. The United States had come late to the table with commitments to tackle climate change, he said. China's resistance to monitoring was a serious obstacle.

"And the great victims of this is the big group of developing countries. The EU really wanted to reach out to the big group of developing countries. That was made impossible because of the great powers," Carlgren said.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Copenhagen on Thursday with a promise that the United States would join efforts to mobilize $100 billion a year to help poor nations cope with climate change, provided there was a deal.

But there were no such new gestures from Obama.

He stuck to the target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent by 2020 from 2005 levels. That works out at 3-4 percent versus 1990, compared with an EU target of 20 percent.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao also reiterated existing targets, although he said the world's top carbon emitter may exceed them.

"We will honor our word with real action," Wen said.

"Whatever outcome this conference may produce, we will be fully committed to achieving and even exceeding the target."

'NOT GREAT'

Speaking after Obama's speech a British official said: "The prospects for a deal are not great. A number of key countries are holding out against the overall package and time is now running short."

Negotiators failed in overnight talks to agree on carbon cuts. Obama and other leaders failed to achieve a breakthrough in talks on Friday morning.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Chinese resistance to monitoring of emissions was a sticking point. "The good news is that the talks are continuing, the bad news is they haven't reached a conclusion," he said.

A draft text seen by Reuters called for a "goal" of $100 billion a year by 2020 to help poor nations cope with climate change. It also supported $30 billion for the least developed countries from 2010-2012, and said the world "ought to" limit warming to 2 degrees Celsius versus pre-industrial levels.

Scientists say a 2 degrees limit is the minimum to avoid some of the worst impacts of climate change including several meters sea level rise, extinctions and crop failures.

The aim of the two weeks of talks in Copenhagen is to agree a climate deal which countries will convert into a full legally binding treaty next year, to succeed the Kyoto Protocol whose present round ends in 2012. The United States never ratified Kyoto, and the pact doesn't bind developing nations.

Friday's draft text foresees "continuing negotiations" to agree one or more new legal treaties no later than end 2010.

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Obama Writes Letter to Kim Jong Il

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama wrote a personal letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in an intense effort to attract the cloud the nation back to negotiations on nuclear disarmament, a senior Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.

The letter was delivered to North Korean officials last week by Obama's special envoy to North Korea, Stephen Bosworth, during a visit to Pyongyang aimed at resuming negotiations stalled, officials said.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of sensitive diplomacy, would not describe the contents of the letter, but said that they are consistent with the general message Bosworth.

"North Koreans have a choice: to continue and further isolation or benefits to return to six-party talks and the settlement of their nuclear weapons program," the official said.

The official did not know if Kim has responded to the Obama missive. Visit Bosworth does not include a meeting with North Korean leader.

The existence of this letter was arranged in close association with the administration of encouraging its partners in the disarmament negotiations with North Korea that it is not publicly discussed, according to the Washington Post, which said Tuesday evening that the letter had been delivered.

Bosworth talks were Obama administration first high level contact with North Korea. He said after leaving the north Thursday, the two sides reached a common understanding "about the need to restart the nuclear talks involving the two Koreas, China, Japan, USA and Russia. Negotiations aimed at denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.

Bosworth, who has visited the capitals of these countries last week and this, to brief journalists scheduled presentation of his trip Wednesday at the State Department.

After his return to Washington from Moscow Tuesday Bosworth held behind closed doors negotiations with the Minister Hillary Rodham Clinton to discuss her visit to North Korea, his first in the country's current position.

President George W. Bush and Bill Clinton also sent personal letters to Kim, but not so early in their time as Obama. Kim Bush, wrote in December 2007, raising the prospect of normalized relations if the North Korean leader fully informed of its nuclear programs by year's end. Bush's letter was seen as a time for a president who had dominated the communist regime part of an "axis of evil" with Iran and Iraq before the war.

Clinton wrote to Kim in October 1994, promised to arrange for financing of a nuclear power 4 billion dollars to replace equipment which is suspected of making plutonium for nuclear weapons if the North has kept its new agreement to waive equipment. As Ambassador-at-Large Robert Gallucci told reporters the letter was addressed "to the Head of the DPRK - Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The Washington Post's early efforts in the Bush presidency to send a letter has been thwarted by an intense debate about whether to use an honors as "His Excellency" on Kim. GM Hot News

Obama Statue Slammed by Facebook Critics

Jakarta, Indonesia - A statue of President Barack Obama as a boy Nestled in a park in Jakarta have been addressed in a Facebook campaign by thousands of people who think it should be deleted.

Facebook group called "Take Down The statue of Barack Obama in Taman Menteng Park has attracted over 10,000 members on Tuesday, when the statue of 43 inches from the 10-year-old Obama was wearing shorts and a T-shirt was unveiled at the Park Center on Thursday last week.

Heru Nugroho, creator of the group, said it would use with this popular site for social networking require that Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo remove the statue.

"Everyone knows that Obama is leading in the world, but it is not our national hero who deserves to be awarded a statue," Nugroho said.

"It has undermined our national pride, because there are many Indonesian figures have rendered service worthy of this nation, but no statue has been built for them," he added.

Many Indonesians are proud of the fact that Obama lived in Jakarta from 1967 to 1971 with his American mother, his Indonesian stepfather and his half-sister.

He went under the name "Barry" attended the local primary school near where his statue stands today, and owner of a monkey.

Ron Mueller Jakarta resident, who had the idea of the statue and raised funds for it, saying it aimed to inspire children in the region to pursue their dreams.

"It's ridiculous. I'm shocked, "Mueller, president of the local Friends of the Foundation apolitical Obama, calls the movement towards political act.

Müller cons failure to a disagreement about whether Obama won the Nobel Prize for peace. Obama has accepted the award in Oslo on the same day that his statue was unveiled by Mayor Sylviana Murni Jakarta.

Murni excluded moving the statue, says it has been entered correctly approvals and without political motive.

"Everyone in this country can express their opinions freely and to give prizes like statues at all freely," Murni said. The governor was overseas on a business trip and was unavailable Tuesday.

The cost of the statue more than $ 10,000. The money was given by eight Indonesian clients, a TV station and a charity relief.

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Obama sees Senate healthcare passage by December 25

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama said he expects the U.S. Senate to pass by the end of next week legislation to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system, but the top Senate Republican scoffed on Sunday that Obama's Democrats were too divided to do so.

"I think it's going to pass out of the Senate before Christmas (December 25)," Obama, who has made healthcare reform legislation his top domestic priority, said in an interview aired on CBS's "60 Minutes."

The U.S. House of Representatives passed its version of healthcare legislation on November 7. If the Senate passes its bill, lawmakers would have to iron out differences between the two versions. Congress then would have to pass that compromise bill before sending it to Obama to sign into law.

Obama noted that seven previous U.S. presidents had tried and failed to make extensive changes to the U.S. healthcare system, but lawmakers are now close to getting the job done.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said, however, that members of Obama's Democratic Party are too divided to muster the votes.

"There are more Democratic positions than you'd find in a stack of newspapers," McConnell said on the CBS program "Face the Nation."

"I think they're in serious trouble on this, and the core problem is the American people do not want us to pass it," McConnell said.

A MAJOR GOAL FOR OBAMA

Overhauling the $2.5 trillion U.S. healthcare system and extending medical coverage to millions of uninsured Americans are major goals for Obama. But the Democratic leadership's push to pass a bill in the Senate by the end of the year has run into opposition by minority Republicans and some Democrats.

The United States spends more on healthcare than any other country. Healthcare costs devour 16 percent of the U.S. economy -- burdening states and the federal government while also hurting the competitiveness of U.S. businesses.

Also appearing on "Face the Nation," Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller said he saw momentum building to pass the bill.

"But when everything is filibustered, you have to get 60 votes, it's very, very hard," Rockefeller said.

Democrats control 60 seats in the 100-seat Senate -- the precise number needed to overcome legislative obstacles by the chamber's 40 Republicans, as long as no Democrats stray.

The Senate has been debating healthcare reform legislation for the past two weeks.

Democratic negotiators thought they had made progress last week when, in a bid to boost the bill's chances of approval, they agreed to drop a controversial plan for a new government-run health insurance program. The proposed new program, often called the "public option," is intended to reduce the number of Americans with no medical insurance and make coverage more affordable.

The tentative deal also would allow people ages 55 to 64 to join Medicare, the government's health insurance program for people 65 or older and the disabled.

But Senator Joe Lieberman, an independent who often votes with Democrats, said on Sunday that opposition has been growing to this "Medicare buy-in" part of the plan.

Lieberman, who has vowed to oppose any bill with a public option, said he also would not vote for the Medicare expansion because it has the same problems.

He told "Face the Nation" that parts of the bill could get 60 votes, "but we've got to stop adding to the bill. We've got to start subtracting some controversial things."

"You've got to take out the Medicare buy-in. You've got to forget about the public option," Lieberman said.

McConnell said Medicare already is unsustainable, and "the Medicare buy-in would create even more problems."

The bill passed by the House last month includes a public option, an idea strongly favored by liberal Democrats.

Rockefeller said he still thinks a public option would be the best way to promote competition in the insurance industry. Pressed if he would vote against a bill that does not include one, he said, "I'd have to look at the whole thing."

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Obama argues for strong financial watchdog agency

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama defended on Saturday a consumer watchdog agency the financial industry wants to weaken or strip from legislation that would strengthen the regulation of Wall Street.

The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives on Friday approved the biggest changes in financial regulation since the Great Depression -- a much-needed victory for Obama, whose job approval rating has fallen below 50 percent.

He and his fellow Democrats want to impose steps that would avoid a repeat of the meltdown that put the U.S. economy on the brink of collapse a year ago, and he used his weekly radio and Internet address to argue for "common-sense reforms."

The bill would create an inter-agency council to police systemic risk in the economy, crack down on hedge funds and credit rating agencies, set up a financial consumer watchdog agency, and expose Federal Reserve monetary policy to unprecedented congressional scrutiny, among other reforms.

Republicans and lobbyists for banks and Wall Street firms, whose profits could be threatened, have fought for months to weaken and delay reforms, criticizing what they call an unneeded and costly intrusion on business.

The battle will continue for months in the Senate, which is expected to push for more modest legislation.

Obama said the new Consumer Financial Protection Agency that would be established would have the power "to put an end to misleading and dishonest practices of banks and institutions" regarding credit and debit cards or mortgage, auto and payday loans.

Critics of the new agency charge that it would create more government bureaucracy, stifle innovation and lead to less consumer choice -- claims Obama rejected.

"Americans don't choose to be victimized by mysterious fees, changing terms, and pages and pages of fine print. And while innovation should be encouraged, risky schemes that threaten our entire economy should not," he said.

Obama, who is under strong political pressure to create jobs and reduce the country's 10 percent jobless rate, said it appeared the economy was turning the corner.

"These are good signs for the future but little comfort to all of our neighbors who remain out of a job," he said.

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Obama Accepts Nobel Peace Prize, Defends Expansion of Afghanistan War

President Obama, accepting the Nobel Peace Prize Thursday just days after expanding the Afghanistan war, acknowledged the controversy behind the award but vigorously defended his use of military force as a tool of "global security."

The president accepted the award in Oslo, Norway, with "deep gratitude and great humility." Addressing those who believe the prize was premature for a president who had not quite finished his first year in office, Obama conceded that his own accomplishments are "slight" compared with those of past recipients like Nelson Mandela.

"I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the considerable controversy that your generous decision has generated. In part, this is because I am at the beginning, and not the end, of my labors on the world stage," Obama said.

From there, he launched into a lengthy defense of the war in Afghanistan, to which he ordered 30,000 more U.S. troops last week.

"I face the world as it is, and cannot stand idle in the face of threats to the American people," Obama said. "For make no mistake -- evil does exist in the world."

He highlighted his efforts to close Guantanamo Bay and ban the use of torture in the prosecution of that war, and called for more international cooperation. Obama said he was carrying out the war with great sensitivity, but ultimately defended its purpose.

"Perhaps the most profound issue surrounding my receipt of this prize is the fact that I am the commander-in-chief of the military of a nation in the midst of two wars. ... Some will kill. Some will be killed," Obama said. He added: "To say that force may sometimes be necessary is not a call to cynicism -- it is a recognition of history, the imperfections of man and the limits of reason. ... The belief that peace is desirable is rarely enough to achieve it."

Obama became the first sitting U.S. president in 90 years and the third ever to win the peace prize. Obama earlier said that criticism of his Nobel prize as premature might recede if he advances goals such as a nuclear-free world and tackling climate change.

But, he added, proving doubters wrong is "not really my concern."

"If I'm not successful, then all the praise in the world won't disguise that fact," he said.

The Nobel committee announced Obama had won the prize in October, when he wasn't even nine months on the job, recognizing his aspirations to reshape the way the U.S. deals with the world much more than his actual achievements. "It was a great surprise to me," Obama said after meeting with Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg. "I have no doubt that there are others who may be more deserving."

Obama announced just days before coming here to formally accept it that he is ordering 30,000 more American troops into war in Afghanistan. This did not go unnoticed: The president's motorcade arrived at Oslo's high-rise government complex to a few dozen anti-war protesters gathered behind wire fences nearby. Dressed in black hoods and waving banners, the demonstrators banged drums and chanted anti-war slogans. "The Afghan people are paying the price," some shouted.

Greenpeace and anti-war activists planned larger demonstrations later that were expected to draw several thousand people. Protesters have plastered posters around the city, featuring an Obama campaign poster altered with skepticism to say, "Change?"

Stoltenberg defended Obama as a Nobel laureate.

"I cannot think about anyone else who has done more for peace during the last year than Barack Obama," Stoltenberg said at Obama's side. "I think it's a very bold and important decision."

In awarding the prize to Obama, the Nobel panel cited his call for a world free of nuclear weapons, for a more engaged U.S. role in combating global warming, for his support of the United Nations and multilateral diplomacy and for broadly capturing the attention of the world and giving its people "hope."

But the list of Nobel peace laureates over the last 100 years includes transformative figures and giants on the world stage. They include heroes of the president, such as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Mandela and others he has long admired, like George Marshall, who launched a postwar recovery plan for Europe.

So the choice of Obama was such a surprise, and derided so loudly by some critics as premature, that the Nobel committee took the unusual step of defending itself. Obama seemed Thursday to try to distance himself from that debate.

Obama's first stop in Oslo was the Norwegian Nobel Institute, where the Nobel committee meets to decide who gets the prestigious prize.

After signing the guest book at the Institute with a lengthy passage, Obama told reporters he had penned thanks to the committee members and noted the pictures of former winners filling the wall, saying that many gave "voice to the voiceless."

Obama's quick trip reflects a White House that sees little value in trumpeting an honor for peace just nine days after Obama announced he was sending more troops off to war.

The Nobel honor comes with a $1.4 million prize. The White House says Obama will give that to charities but has not yet decided which ones.

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Barack Obama set for Oslo Nobel Peace Prize ceremony

The U. S. President Barack Obama due to collecting the Nobel Peace Prize at a ceremony in the Norwegian capital, Oslo.

The prize was awarded to Mr Obama in October for his "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between the communities".

The ceremony comes a day after Mr. Obama announced he was sending 30,000 additional U.S. troops to the war in Afghanistan.

U.S. officials that he was aware of "assimilation" and referring to the U.S. wars in his acceptance speech.

There was mixed reaction when Mr. Obama was nominated as the award winner for 2009.

Many said it was inappropriate that he might go to the Commander-in-chief country involved in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Mr. Obama understands "and again will also recognize that it belongs in the same debate that [Nelson] Mandela and Mother Theresa", the former Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

He said that Mr Obama would use his speech to take to "address directly the idea that many wondered - is the juxtaposition of time on the Nobel Peace Prize, and a commitment to the troops be greater. "

A senior official told Reuters that Mr. Obama "sees peace prize with a long tradition of recognizing the achievements of people who worked to spread peace in different ways."

Not "He believes that some of the reasons it won this award which was directly under it, is the fact that worldwide hunger for positive U.S. leadership and this is confirming it," said the unnamed officer.

'Vision to achieve

Security is high in Oslo for the event and anti-war protesters gathered outside the hotel where the ceremony takes place.

"We objected against him because he is going to get the price and do not think a man of peace," one demonstrator, Anna Carraro, said the AFP news agency.

The Nobel Prizes for chemistry, literature, medicine, physics and economics to present as well, with each winner receiving a diploma, medal and the 10m kronor ($ 1.4m: £ 865,000), in part to make joint winners.

Coinciding with the Nobel ceremony, Indonesia has a disclosure by statue of Mr Obama as a young boy.

It will be in the park in the capital, Jakarta, close to where the President lived between 1967 and 1971 and described as aged 10 dressed in shorts and a butterfly on a finger.

Central Jakarta Mayor Sylviana Murni said that the statue was intended to encourage Indonesian children.

"The message by the young Obama ruled that each and every child from any background to achieve their dreams if they are fighting for the ongoing," the agency under the auspices of the Press news mentioned as saying.

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Iran rules out Turkey's mediation on nuclear row

The Tehran - Iran on Tuesday ruled out taking Turkey as a mediator of two dispute resolution between Tehran and major powers over the country's nuclear program, What is the West fears the two bombs to take cover.

U.S. President Barack Obama, who is seeking to engage Iran in two interviews on its nuclear activities since taking office, said on Monday that Turkey could become a player "important" in resolving the nuclear row with the clerical establishment.

Turkey says it is ready to help find a diplomatic solution on the Iran nuclear issue.

But Iran's Foreign Ministry rejected the idea spokesman.

"Obviously we have expressed our views on the nuclear issue ... Turkey wants role in resolving the nuclear issue," Ramin customs Mehmanparast weekly news conference.

"But we can not consider our views need to be transparent and to demonstrate to other countries."

Was President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ruled out any talks with major powers over the Disputed Iran's nuclear program, What it says is Tehran aims to generate electricity.

Obama and the European allies said the clock had run out for two to respond to Tehran UN Nuclear Fuel Deal drafted, warning Tehran of fresh UN sanctions if the country defied the deal by the end of the year.

The United States, China, Russia, France, Britain and Germany, two in Iran offered to low-enriched uranium (LEU) and processing it into fuel abroad for civilian reactor.

Iran has supported out of the deal, refusing to send two of its 75 per cent LEU abroad.

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Afghan Troop Withdrawal to Be Gradual

President Barack Obama's adviser for national security, said the United States would not withdraw all its military forces from Afghanistan in 2011, a timetable requires the President to withdraw from the country "with ramps" and "not rock."

"We are here to ensure that Afghanistan succeed. We do not want this any more than the Afghans do," retired Gen. James Jones, said the State "on the European CNN." "We will be in the area for a long time,"

Obama last week announced that it required at least 30,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan - a plan to withdraw started in July 2011 - in an effort to change the gains of the Taliban and helping to build the government in Kabul.

Republicans many statement that criticized the timetable on the arbitrary, and said it could potentially benefit the American enemies, giving them an indication of how long they would last before the American troops on left.

General Jones, to respond to the criticism, saying the planned ramps-up of forces in Afghanistan will be "very, very positive impact on any momentum the Taliban claim to have."

Not "rock 2011, it has ramps," he said. "It is ... we will be able to see progress in a much more visible and to be able to make a change."

Gen Jones did not, specify how long a withdrawal may last.

The Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press," said: "We are not talking about exit strategy or drop-dead deadline," What we are talking about is that we assessed .. May. initiated transfer, the transfer of responsibility to hand out on the Afghan forces. "

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who spoke on "this week," said he was not thinking of the President of Afghanistan notice "exit strategy" but "the transfer".

He said the President was not coincidental time, but based on what "I believe our military leaders will give us time to realize that our strategy is working."

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Obama vows steps to restart job growth

Washington - President Barack Obama Saturday promised to do everything he could to reignite growth in U.S. jobs as it protected its handling of the economy is facing Republican attacks.

With the U.S. unemployment at 10 percent and growing economic problems, Obama's approval ratings slipped under item 50 percent.

Some Americans to call into question their decision to push for strong domestic agenda, including major reform of health services after taking office in January in the middle of the worst recession since the Great Depression 1930í.

Republican aims to stimulate the economy 787 billion dollars, says the failure to create jobs, as promised, Obama and exacerbated by the rising U.S. budget deficit.

But in a weekly radio and Internet address, Obama noted that job losses are substantially reduced since the depth of the recession when the economy was hemorrhaging jobs at 700,000 per month.

"It is true that we as a country is in a much different place than we were when 2009 began," said Obama, says there were signs of a trend in "positive" in the November employment report released on Fridays.

The report showed that immerse the U.S. unemployment rate last month to 10 percent from 10.2 percent. The pace of job losses in late November to 11,000 from 111,000 in October.

But welcomes the improvement tips, Obama said he recognized that for the millions who lost their jobs, not "it's good enough."

"The people who looked for work for several months without success, and in some cases years can not wait any longer," he said. "To them, I am determined to do everything I can to accelerate our development, we take their jobs back."

Obama plans a speech on Tuesday, at the Brookings Institution, where he plans to outline a series of proposals to stimulate the horizontal high employment growth.

Among the measures under consideration Homeowners tax incentives to improve energy efficiency in their homes, pressure banks to make more loans to small businesses and tax incentives to encourage businesses to hire new employees.

Expect fellow Democrats on the economy Obama to be the top issue in next year's Congressional elections, and acknowledges that if it improves, the job itself may be involved.

While face pressure to support the economy, Obama also must contend with skyrocketing budget deficit, which hit $ 1.4 trillion in 2009, recently completed financial year. The administration is reluctant to consider new measures that will contribute significantly to a large public debt.

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Barack Obama

Barack Obama is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office, as well as the first president born in Hawaii. Obama previously served as the junior United States Senator from Illinois from January 2005 until he resigned after his election to the presidency in November 2008.

Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was the president of the Harvard Law Review. He was a community organizer in Chicago before earning his law degree. He worked as a civil rights attorney in Chicago and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004.

Obama served three terms in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004. Following an unsuccessful bid for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2000, he ran for United States Senate in 2004. During the campaign, several events brought him to national attention, such as his victory in the March 2004 Democratic primary election for the United States Senator from Illinois as well as his prime-time televised keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004. He won election to the U.S. Senate in November 2004.

Obama began his run for the presidency in February 2007. After a close campaign in the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries against Hillary Clinton, he won his party's nomination. In the 2008 general election, he defeated Republican nominee John McCain and was inaugurated as president on January 20, 2009. On October 9, 2009, he was awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.

Tracking the life of Barack Obama, President of United State of America, know his work, his news and everything interest him here.

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