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Oil spill threatens to roil US-British relations

WASHINGTON — The leaking oil that has tainted the Gulf of Mexico is also threatening the political shores on both sides of the Atlantic, with a British company the villain.

President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron planned to discuss the environmental catastrophe over the telephone on Saturday, hoping to ease what has become a growing rift over the criticism of the well’s owner, BP PLC.

Obama has sharpened his criticism of BP as the company struggles to halt the gushing oil at the bottom of the Gulf. Cameron is under pressure at home to get Obama to tone it down amid complaints that the heated rhetoric will have severe implications the company and its investors.

The State Department has said American anger over BP’s handling of the disaster wouldn’t affect the relationship between the U.S. and Britain.

Obama has he would have fired BP’s top executive if he were in charge. He embraced the idea that the oil company suspend its quarterly dividend. He reproached BP for spending money on a public relations campaign. This past week, he said in a television interview, “I don’t sit around just talking to experts because this is a college seminar; we talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers — so I know whose ass to kick.”

He occasionally refers to “British Petroleum,” although the company years ago began using only its initials and is a far-reaching international corporation with extensive holdings in the United States, including a Texas refinery and a share of the Alaska oil pipeline.

The angry words from Washington have produced a backlash in Britain, where BP is viewed as a corporate pillars. Millions of British retirees depend on BP dividends since pension funds are heavily invested in the oil company, the world’s third-largest.

Cameron has tried to find a middle ground. He has said he shares with Americans the “frustration” about not being able to halt the spill and concern about the environmental damage caused by the thousands of barrels of oil gushing from the BP well. But Cameron also views BP “as an economically important company” not only in the United Kingdom but also the United States and other countries, according to his office.

“It is in everyone’s interests that BP continues to be a financially strong and stable company,” Cameron has said.

British Treasury chief George Osborne, after meeting with BP executives, said Friday that his government understands U.S. concerns, but that Cameron “is also clear that we need constructive solutions and that we remember the economic value BP brings to people in Britain and America.”

BP’s stock has dropped by 40 percent since the oil rig fire on April 20 that unleashed the country’s worst oil spill. But stocks have rebounded somewhat in recent days. BP shares rose $1.19, or 3.6 percent, to close at $33.97 in New York on Friday.

The company’s board is expected to meet Monday to discuss deferring its second-quarter dividend and putting the money into escrow until the company’s liabilities from the spill are known.

BP’s chairman, Carl-Henric Svanberg, who has faced criticism for not being more visible in BP’s response to the Gulf spill, is to meet with Obama at the White House on Wednesday. Probably joining him will be accompanied by CEO Tony Hayward and other BP executives. It will be the first time Obama has met with BP officials since the crisis began.

Hayward will testify at a House hearing on Thursday.

Israel Attacks Aid Ship "Flotilla"

Israel attacks in gruesome manner and killed 16 peace activists on board the aid ship “Flotilla”. The attacked was planned as they did not want any aid to reach Gaza. This is one of the most worst massacre carried out by a army on an unarmed Aid Ship. Israeli naval commandos stormed a flotilla of ships carrying aid and hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists to the blockaded Gaza Strip on Monday, killing nine passengers in a botched raid that provoked international outrage and a diplomatic crisis.

President Barack Obama voiced “deep regret” over the raid and “expressed the importance of learning all the facts and circumstances” surrounding the incident.

The activists were headed to Gaza to draw attention to the blockade, which Israel and Egypt imposed after the militant Hamas group seized the territory of 1.5 million Palestinians in 2007.

There were conflicting accounts of what happened early Monday, with activists claiming the Israelis opened fire without provocation and Israel insisting its forces fired in self defense.

The killing took place in international waters. Among the injured, leader of the Islamic Movement’s northern branch in the occupied territories Sheikh Raed Salah whose injuries are serious, according to reports.

Israeli marine commandos had opened fire as they stormed one of the ships the (Mavi Marmara). Israeli television justified the commandos’ massacre claiming that the soldiers were attacked with knives and axes, but did not elaborate. The Israeli censor blocks all reports on the activists murdered on the flotilla.

According to a reporter on one of the ships, the Israeli occupation army raided all vessels from the sea and air at the same time and informed all of the passengers that they were under arrest.

The Israeli vessels, the report said, attacked the flotilla in international waters with aerial reinforcement, using gas. A Qatari television channel broadcast live the dramatic images from the ships, with Hamas spokespeople giving interviews and vowing to punish Israel for “the new crime”.

The images showed Commando soldiers with their faces covered. A fighter in uniform, wearing a gas mask, tried to block the camera with his hand, while more and more troops raided the ship after sliding down from a helicopter using a rope.

One of the passengers on the ship called out to the Navy vessels, “Don’t attack us. We are unarmed civilians. There are injured people onboard.”

The calls were first made in English, and were later joined by Knesset Member Hanin Zuabi (Balad), who called out to the ships in Hebrew.

Turkey summoned the Israeli ambassador to the Turkish foreign ministry Monday. “The ambassador (Gabby Levy) was summoned to the foreign ministry. We will convey our reaction in the strongest terms,” the diplomat, who asked not to be named, told AFP.

Nine victims from today are from Turkey while the rest from various countries. Israel upon its  crime closed all Gaza crossings while the boats are being taken to Haifa port.

The heinous crime perpetrated today reminds us of the USS liberty June 8, 1967. In that action dozens of American soldiers were killed as Israel attacked their naval boat.

American President Barack Obama  has  driven from  normal to great  heights that a person can ever get. Right from the election campaign he started and  till now in his president  office ,  he has made the entire  world  speak on him

To say he has been a center of speech from people to  politicians across the globe. Some claim  he has  done a  extraordinary job and some  call him  worst than previous office held.

Well here is what the Nobel committee has decided, Mr. Obama has won the Nobel prize for  peace  for his  extraordinary effect to thwart the Nuclear  Weapons and   continuous effects on his part to increase  peace particularly  religional peace around the world.

One thing if for  sure now,  he is now being criticized  more. Few  who believe  he doesnt really  deserve the  Nobel prize has come out in open in  American News Paper and giving their  own  views on this  award. Huffingtonpost.com  has gone to an extend of getting a poll survey from their  online visitors to know what people think. I think that is a good option, People view is all that counts

Obama's School Speech

I am sure all of you are interested in knowing what US President Barack Obama has said to the students. For those of you who missed it. Here are the highlights. Well, in short he wanted the children to stay in the school. He also students have to be careful of what they are posting in the internet as they can be misused. Moreover, he wanted the students to stay focused on studies. He went far enough to say that students who drop-out of school are actually in a sense betraying their country cause they won’t be able to serve it in an intellectual way.

Overall, the speech is good. I didn’t find anything wrong with it. But lets wait for the critics to make their call. I am sure they are busy right now finding mistakes. Just a lot of advices to the children so that they grow up to become something useful for the country rather than a burden.

Anyways, here is the video from CNN.

UPDATE : COMPLETE 18 Mins Video of the speech available on Youtube.com,
Part 1:

Part 2:

President Barack Obama

President Obama has planned to give a speed addressing the students in school via television. Some districts has already decided not to air it. Reason ? Well, the parents are not feeling safe. They think the speech might contain something that they might find objectionable.

Districts throughout the suburbs have been hit with complaints from parents who are worried about their children hearing a message from Obama that they won’t have a chance to preview.

Farmington Public Schools is encouraging parents to pull them from class if they are uncomfortable with the speech.

Districts that have addressed the speech on their Web sites include Oxford Community Schools, Rochester Public Schools and Van Dyke Public Schools in Warren.

The districts acknowledge that the message is intended to stress the importance of education and taking responsibility for learning. Some parents say the uproar is much ado about nothing.

“I think it’s great that somebody as high up and respected in our country is addressing our kids,” said Tom Bejma, father of two South River Elementary School students in Harrison Township.

U.S. Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, a Livonia Republican, and U.S. Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., are asking Obama to release the text of the speech in advance.

Mike Reno, a member of the Rochester Board of Education, said the idea behind the message is noble, but the timing is bad because of the politically charged climate.

Lets see how the mood changes after the speech…

Telling Barack Obama that “Hillary Clinton called” might land one in trouble, for this is one of the 21 things that the White House staff is barred from saying to the U.S. President.

According to the Politico, a list of 21 things the staff were not allowed to say to the President was circulated in the White House.

The 21 Things You Cannot Say to the President after a News Conference are:

1. Hey, we hear the Golf Channel is going to carry it next time. Well, actually, only the Golf Channel is going to carry it next time.

2. Don’t worry. We’ll get ‘em next year.

3. Professor Gates called. He can’t find his house keys.

4. You want to take a mulligan on this one?

5. We did try to plant a question about Bo, but nobody would go for it.

6. Saying, “I don’t know all the facts … but the police acted stupidly” is a little like saying, “I don’t know if there are weapons of mass destruction … but let’s invade Iraq anyway.”

7. We’ve decided to call the whole news conference a “teachable moment.”

8. You want a cigarette?

9. Biden called.

10. William Henry “Bill” Gates is the Microsoft guy. Robert Michael Gates is the secretary of defense guy. Henry Louis Gates Jr. is the Harvard professor. They are not related and have never performed in Vegas together. Gibbs will walk this back in the gaggle. 1. Tape it over? But, Mr. President, these press conferences are live.

12. The reason we can’t put the questions on the teleprompter is because we aren’t supposed to know the questions in advance.

13. Those bunched-up clothes in the bed turned out not to be Douglas Elmendorf.

14. That reporter wasn’t from North Carolina; he was from North Korea.

15. Hillary called.

16. You want a blue pill?

17. We checked: After six months, they can’t fire you.

18. If nobody blogs about it, we think you’ll be OK.

19. Now, is somebody willing to rehearse more and play golf less?

20. The only poll that counts is the one on Election Day.

21. Rahm wants to see you in his office immediately