Reuters Politics

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and his advisers do not favor second stimulus package now to cut the highest U.S. unemployment rate in nearly 26 years, Vice President Joe Biden said in an interview aired on Sunday. Looking back to January when Obama took office, Biden said: "The truth is, we and everybody else misread the economy ... We misread just how bad the economy was." "So the second question becomes, did the economic package we put in place, including the Recovery Act, is it the right package given the circumstances we're in? And we believe it is the right package," Biden told ... Read Full Story

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Saturday Iraq faced difficult days ahead after taking control of its towns and cities from U.S. forces but he pledged to remain a strong partner on behalf of the country's security and prosperity. Speaking at a U.S. Independence Day celebration at the White House just days after U.S. troops withdrew from Iraq's towns and cities into rural bases, Obama said Iraq's future was now up to its own citizens. "Because of your brave efforts American troops this week transferred control of Iraqi cities and towns ... to Iraqi security forces," Obama said in remarks to military ... Read Full Story

NAIROBI (Reuters) - The United States hopes President Barack Obama's decision to visit Ghana this month will spur other African governments to try and emulate the West African country's democratic record. Ghana won independence from colonial rule in 1957. A bloody chapter of military coups followed, but since Jerry Rawlings introduced multi-party democracy in the 1990s, opposition parties have twice won power through successful elections. "(Obama) believes strongly in the rule of law, democratic constitutional rule and the principles that underpin it," U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson told reporters during a visit to Kenya. "We hope that his support ... Read Full Story

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia and the United States will sign deals on military cooperation when U.S. President Barack Obama visits Moscow next month, Russia's top general said on Friday. "We have outlined the main issues of military cooperation for 2009 and beyond," the head of the Russian general staff, General Nikolai Makarov, said after a 90-minute meeting in Moscow with his U.S. counterpart, Admiral Michael Mullen. "Our intention is that those documents should be signed when U.S. President Barack Obama arrives here in Moscow in July," Makarov said. Mullen, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, made no mention of any military ... Read Full Story

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden met U.S. troops preparing to mark their Independence Day holiday on Saturday, on the third day of a visit he has used to urge Iraqi politicians to do more to reconcile rival factions. Biden, who U.S. President Barack Obama has asked to take a leading role in coordinating U.S. Iraq policy, also presided over a naturalization ceremony for 237 soldiers from 59 countries taking an oath of U.S. citizenship. Baghdad remained cloaked in a sandstorm that grounded flights and forced Biden to scrap a planned trip to Iraq's largely autonomous Kurdistan region to meet Iraqi President ... Read Full Story