Obama salary 400,000 dollars a year

Guess how much does United States President Barack Obama earn? A cool salary of $400,000 a year in cash, a new list has revealed.

Well his staffers are also doing well with almost half the presidential income. In fact, the list sent to US Congress has revealed the salaries of 487 White House Office employees, capped at $172,200, the Chicago Sun Times reported.

The $172,200 earners from Chicago are senior adviser David chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, senior adviser Valerie Jarrett and Susan Sher, chief of staff to the First Lady Michelle Obama.

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Obama seeks a new beginning with Islam

Quoting from the Quran for emphasis, US President Barack Obama on Thursday called for a “new beginning between the United States and Muslims” and said that together, they could confront violent extremism across the globe and advance the timeless search for peace in West Asia.

“This cycle of suspicion and discord must end,” Mr Obama said in a widely anticipated speech in one of the world’s largest Muslim countries, an address designed to reframe relations after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the US-led war in Iraq.

The White House said Mr Obama’s speech contained no new policy proposals on West Asia. He said American ties with Israel are unbreakable, yet issued a firm, even handed call to the Jewish state and Palestinians alike to live up to their international obligations.

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1 more tests H1NI positive

Another case of H1N1 flu was reported in the country on Wednesday with a person testing positive for H1N1 while five others were quarantined with suspected symptoms.

With Wednesday’s case, the number of persons who have tested positive for the flu reached four. The latest is that of a person who visited the US and Canada and arrived in Hyderabad via London on May 30. His samples tested positive and he has been put on Oseltamivir, health ministry officials said.

One more posi tive case of H1N1 influenza virus has been found in the country, taking the number of positive cases in the country to four. Health authorities on Wednesday said a passenger, who had visited US and Canada, arrived at Hyderabad transiting London, on May 30 and reportedly complaint of flu symptoms a day later.

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One lakh Indians to return from United States in next 3-5 years

As many as 100,000 Indians and an equal number of Chinese will return to their native countries in the next three to five years, a move that will greatly boost their economies and undermine technological innovation in America, a new US study warns.

The study on immigration by a team at Duke, Harvard and Berkeley universities led by Vivek Wadhwa, an Indian-American technology entrepreneur turned academic, says “America’s loss is the world’s gain”.

There are no hard numbers available on how many have returned, but anecdotal evidence shows that this is in the tens of thousands, says Mr Wadhwa, executive-in residence for the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University and fellow at the Labour and Worklife Programme at Harvard Law School.

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United States to send 17,000 troops to Afghan

US President Barack Obama approved adding some 17,000 American troops for the flagging war in Afghanistan, his first significant move to change the course of a conflict that his closest military advisers have warned the US is not winning.

"This increase is necessary to stabilise a deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, which has not received the strategic attention, direction and resources it urgently requires," Mr Obama said in a statement.

That was a slap at his predecessor, Mr George W. Bush, whom Mr Obama has accused of slighting urgent national security needs in Afghanistan in favour of war in Iraq. "There is no more solemn duty as President than the decision to deploy our armed forces into harm’s way," Mr Obama said.

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Bush will sign United States nuke deal law today

US President George W. Bush is scheduled to sign the India-US Civil Nuclear Cooperation Bill on Thursday. New Delhi expects its misgivings on certain provisions will be cleared in a presidential statement when Mr Bush signs the legislation.

The “US-India Nuclear Cooperation Approval and Nonproliferation Enhancement Act, HR 7081” is due to be signed into law at 2.50 pm Washington time Wednesday (12.20 am Thursday IST).

The Indo-US 123 Agreement, to operationalise the nuclear deal, could not be signed last week during US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice’s visit to New Delhi as India insisted it would do so only after seeing Mr Bush’s signing statement. India wants the US President to clarify matters such as US fuel supply assurances.

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Everything in 123 not binding on United States: Envoy

Everything in the 123 Agreement is not binding on Washington, US ambassador to India David C. Mulford said here Thursday shortly after the Senate vote.

“The language is intended to indicate the 123 Agreement is law, but not every single thing... is binding because it can’t be. It’s not possible for the US to compel its companies to do things [offer technology; supply fuel at a certain price] which may in fact be against our law,” he said at a press conference.

In response to a question on India’s concerns over fuel supply in the absence of a legally-binding commitment, Mr Mulford elaborated on what he thought was a “simple and well-understood point”, that “the US cannot compel other governments to provide services or to undertake certain action. The world doesn’t work that way.” The assurances, he added, were a “presidential commitment” which will “no doubt be honoured in the future”.

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New Orleans a ghost town

Hurricane Gustav barged ashore on the US Gulf Coast west of New Orleans on Monday, hammering the city devastated by Katrina in 2005 with surging floodwaters that threatened its rebuilt levees.

The storm was weaker than feared. But waves splashed over flood walls containing the New Orleans industrial canal, triggering a tense watch over the barrier system that failed three years ago. Water rose in the Fifth District, west of the canal, and the US Army prepared to evacuate residents who stayed behind.

Nearly two million people fled the Gulf Coast, and over 11 million residents in five US states were threatened.

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India deal is main focus of United States policy

As India and the US work overtime to get a clean NSG waiver, the Bush administration said the Indo-US atomic deal was currently the “principal focus” of its nuclear policy and given a priority over a similar pact with Russia.

Asked whether developments in Georgia will affect the US-Russia civilian nuclear deal, US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice said that the present focus of America’s nuclear commerce policy was the India deal and not the one with Russia.

“Our principal focus right now has been on the India civil nuclear deal, having worked through the IAEA, now working through the NSG, and still trying to get into a position to make the appropriate presidential determinations in early September. So that’s our focus right now on the civil nuclear side,” Ms Rice told reporters on her way to Tel Aviv.

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Obama wins, makes history

After making history by capturing the Democratic nomination, Barack Obama turns on Wednesday to unifying a fractured party for a five month battle for the White House against Republican John McCain.

Mr Obama rocketed from political obscurity to become the first black American to win the presidential nomination of a major US party. The Illinois senator on Tuesday locked up the 2,118 delegates he needs for victory at the August convention.

Rival Hillary Clinton, the former First Lady who entered the race 17 months ago as a heavy favourite, said she would consult party leaders and supporters about her next move.

Mr Obama will be crowned the Democratic nominee at the convention in August and faces Mr McCain in November to choose a successor to President George W. Bush.

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Google invites Congress, BJP to campaign via YouTube

The presidential election campaign in the United States this time is being fought as much in the party primaries as on YouTube, the enormously popular Google-owned site where anyone can post a video free of cost. In the run-up to the next general elections in India, we may see a similar online video war between the Congress and the BJP.

Google announced the launch of YouTube's India operations on Wednesday. However, it has already broached the use of YouTube with the BJP and the Congress in their campaigns for the coming general elections.

"We will provide space to the parties for telecasting video campaigns. We can also create customised interactive platforms for them," says Google India managing director Shailesh Rao.

YouTube could become the quickest and cheapest mass based electronic means of reaching out to young urban voters in this country.

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Left pushes for a Third Front

The four major Left parties on Sunday stressed the need to create and present a third alternative before the people.

Leaders of the Communist Party of India, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Revolutionary Socialist Party and the All India Forward Bloc came together on the occasion of the 20th party congress of the CPI held here.

Delivering the inaugural address, CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan, said every effort should be made to build a Left democratic alternative to the Congress as well as the BJP."We should present an alternative programme," he said.

Mr Bardhan also warned that the controversial Indo-US nuclear deal was an attempt to cap a strategic partnership with the United States. "We have no problems with the India-specific safeguards agreement (with the IAEA), our opposition is to the Indo-US nuclear agreement as such," he said.

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