WikiLeaks' Assange mocks Obama via video at UN event

United Nations: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, speaking via a choppy video feed from his virtual house arrest in London, lashed out at US President Barack Obama on Wednesday for supporting freedom of speech in the Middle East while simultaneously "persecuting" his organization for leaking diplomatic cables.

Assange, who has been holed up in the Ecuadorean Embassy since June to avoid extradition, made the comments at a packed event on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

Assange mocked Obama for defending free speech in the Arab world in an address to the United Nations on Tuesday, pointing to his own experience as evidence that Obama has "done more to criminalize free speech than any other US president."

"It must have come as a surprise to the Egyptian teenagers who washed American teargas out of their eyes (during the Arab Spring) to hear that the US supported change in the Middle East," Assange said.

"It's time for President Obama to keep his word ... and for the US to cease its persecution of WikiLeaks," he said.

Assange's combative comments, plus statements made by Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino and his other allies at the event, suggested no solution is in sight to the diplomatic standoff surrounding the 41-year-old Australian.

British authorities have surrounded the Ecuadorean Embassy and said if Assange sets foot outside, they will arrest him and extradite him to Sweden to face rape and sexual assault allegations.

Assange's lawyers and Ecuador's government fear that could lead in turn to extradition to the United States, where they say he would face "inhumane" prison conditions and even the death penalty.

Assange, who looked to be in good health as he sat at a desk in front of a bookshelf and addressed the 150 or so people at the event, said Britain and Sweden have so far refused to provide guarantees he would not be extradited to the United States.

US and European government sources have countered that the United States has issued no criminal charges or launched any attempts to extradite Assange.

IN BRITAIN'S COURT

Patino is scheduled to meet with British Foreign Secretary William Hague in New York on Thursday to discuss Assange, and he said there are "multiple paths" that could lead out of the standoff. Yet, in an interview with Reuters following the U.N. event, Patino made clear that Ecuador is not willing to cede much ground.

"The ball's in their court right now," Patino said.

Patino held in his hands a mimeographed copy of an 1880 agreement signed between Britain and Ecuador, which he said prohibits extradition in cases such as Assange's. He said he would show the document to Hague on Thursday.

Patino rigorously defended Ecuador's decision to grant political asylum to Assange, expressing disbelief that Britain is "determined" to arrest the former computer hacker even though he said there are no criminal charges against him. "This means you have reason to suspect he's being persecuted," Patino said.

He said Assange is in relatively good spirits but expressed concern his physical and psychological condition could deteriorate.

"I think of myself, how I'd react in that situation, not being able to go outside, being isolated," Patino said. "It's practically like being jailed."

© Thomson Reuters 2012

Former President Pratibha Patil in trouble over gifts

New Delhi: Controversy seems to be following Pratibha Devisingh Patil even after she finished her term as President of India.

Following a Right to Information (RTI) inquiry that revealed Ms Patil had taken several "gifts" given to her when she was President to her hometown Amravati, Rashtrapati Bhawan has acted. In his application, RTI activist Subhash Agarwal has said that the former President must return all the gifts by January 13, 2013.

In reply to the application, Rashtrapati Bhawan has said that all articles should be back by January 13. "It was a decision taken by President Pranab Mukherjee soon after he took office," said the President's Press Secretary.

When contacted by NDTV, the Patil family said that they were yet to receive any intimation from Rashtrapati Bhawan about this.

The gifts include things like a stone box given to Ms Patil as a memento by visiting US president Barack Obama.

Ms Patil's predecessor A P J Abdul Kalam had also moved gifts out of Rashtrapati Bhawan, but they were for display at the Defence Research and Development Organisation, where he used to work.

Conventionally, presidents and other dignitaries who are given these gifts deposit them with the government. 

US envoy killed: Pentagon moves two warships to Libya; suspects attack was planned

Benghazi: The Obama administration, roiled by the first killing of a U.S. ambassador in more than 30 years, is investigating whether the assault on the U.S. Consulate in Libya was a planned terrorist strike to mark the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and not a spontaneous mob enraged over an anti-Islam YouTube video.

President Barack Obama declared in a White House appearance that the U.S. would "work with the Libyan government to bring to justice" those who killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. The attack on the Benghazi consulate was "a planned, coordinated, well-executed military style event," House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers said.

In a show of force, the Pentagon moved two warships to the Libyan coast. Officials said one destroyer, the USS Laboon, moved to a position off the coast Wednesday, and the destroyer USS McFaul was en route and should be stationed off the coast within days, increasing the number of Navy destroyers in the Mediterranean from four to five.

Officials said the ships, which carry Tomahawk cruise missiles, do not have a specific mission. But they give commanders flexibility to respond to any mission ordered by the president.

Pentagon spokesman George Little said, "Without commenting on specific ship movements, the United States military regularly takes precautionary steps when potential contingencies might arise in a given situation. That's not only logical in certain circumstances, it's the prudent thing to do."

At the same time, some 50 U.S. Marines headed to Libya to reinforce security at U.S. diplomatic facilities, initially at the American embassy in Tripoli, not Benghazi.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss troop movements.

White House press secretary Jay Carney said it was too early to judge whether the Benghazi attack was planned.

"I know that this is being investigated, and we're working with the Libyan government to investigate the incident. I would not want to speculate on that at this time," he said. Several Libyan security guards also were killed.

Rogers, R-Mich., said U.S. intelligence had not yet determined who was responsible, but added, "Our list is narrowing."

"When you see (such an attack), it wasn't some folks who had some guns in their garage and said let's shoot up the consulate," Rogers said in an interview Wednesday.

The FBI was sending evidence teams to Libya, said a law enforcement official.

Analysts are working on several different scenarios based on intelligence that could lead to a motive for the attack. Some concern the possibility of targeting high-ranking officials, according to a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation. But none of the intelligence has suggested terrorists would specifically target Stevens, said the official who also spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the investigation.

The attack in Libya, which came hours after a mob stormed the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and tore down the U.S. flag, was presumed to have been triggered by a movie, whose trailer has gone viral on YouTube, depicting the Islamic prophet Muhammad in disrespectful ways. In an extraordinary move, Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called anti-Islamic preacher Terry Jones and asked him to stop promoting the film. A spokeswoman said the church would not show the film Wednesday evening.

"Make no mistake. Justice will be done," a somber Obama pledged at the White House, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at his side.

He ordered increased security at U.S. diplomatic missions overseas, particularly in Libya, and said he condemned "in the strongest possible terms the outrageous and shocking" attack. Clinton said she was particularly appalled that the attack took place in Benghazi, which the U.S. had helped liberate from dictator Moammar Gadhafi during the Arab Spring revolution in Libya last year.

Three Americans were wounded, U.S. officials said.

The aftermath of the two attacks also stirred the U.S. presidential campaign, where until Wednesday, foreign policy had taken a back seat to the struggling economy.

The Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, criticized the administration for statements issued before and after the Cairo attacks that expressed sympathy for those insulted by the video. But he in turn was criticized for turning a tragedy too quickly into political fodder, and getting key details wrong. And his account didn't mesh completely with events in Cairo.

The embassy statement that he referred to as akin to an apology was issued at midday on Tuesday in Cairo at a time the embassy staff was aware of still-peaceful demonstrations in the area nearby. It was four or five hours later when the mob breached the compound's walls and tried to burn a U.S. flag.

Obama told CBS' "60 Minutes" that Romney "seems to have a tendency to shoot first and aim later."

Obama and Clinton made a rare joint visit to the State Department, where grieving colleagues of Stevens and the other three Americans killed in Benghazi gathered in a courtyard. The president also ordered U.S. flags to be flown at half-staff at government and military buildings and vessels around the world until sunset on Sept. 16. Flags had already been lowered in many places to commemorate the victims of the 9/11 attacks.

Clinton denounced those who might kill over an insulting movie.

"There is no justification for this," Clinton said. "None. Violence like this is no way to honor religion or faith and as long as there are those who would take innocent life in the name of God, the world will never know a true and lasting peace."

Underscoring the administration's frustration, Clinton wondered aloud about the attack in Benghazi, which Gadhafi had once threatened to destroy.

"This is not easy," she said. "Today, many Americans are asking, indeed I asked myself, how could this happen? How could this happen in a country we helped liberate, in a city we helped save from destruction? This question reflects just how complicated and, at times, just how confounding, the world can be."

"But we must be clear-eyed in our grief," she said, saying the attack was carried out by a "small and savage group" not representative of the Libyan people. She noted that Libyan security guards had tried to fight off the attackers, had carried Stevens' body to the hospital and led other consulate employees to safety.

Stevens, a 52-year-old career diplomat, was killed after he became separated from other American officials during the consulate attack. It's unclear when he died: He was taken by Libyans to a hospital, and his remains were delivered hours later to U.S. officials at the Benghazi airport.

Stevens is the first U.S. ambassador to be killed in an attack since 1979, when Ambassador Adolph Dubs was killed in Afghanistan.

Three other Americans were also killed and the State Department identified one of them as Sean Smith, an Air Force veteran who had worked as an information management officer for 10 years in posts such as Brussels, Baghdad and Pretoria. Smith was also well-known in the video game community.

The identities of the others were being withheld pending notification of relatives.

"The mission that drew Chris and Sean and their colleagues to Libya is both noble and necessary, and we and the people of Libya honor their memory by carrying it forward," Clinton said.

Stevens spoke Arabic and French and had already served two tours in Libya, including running the office in Benghazi during the revolt against Gadhafi. He was confirmed as ambassador to Libya by the Senate earlier this year. 

I have become an antique piece: Pranab Mukherjee

New Delhi: "I have become an antique piece" President Pranab Mukherjee joked about his transition from an active political life to the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

"....of course, it (being the President) has the other side of the picture that perhaps I have become an antique piece in the theatre of the Indian economic activities...,"

Mukerjee, who was elected President in July after he resigned as the country's Finance Minister, said at a felicitation programme organised by CII in his honour.

Observers wondered whether Mukherjee was alluding to the government move to review his controversial retrospective tax proposals.

"I am addressing in a different capacity where I have one advantage and one great disadvantage. Advantage is that I can speak freely in the form of advice but disadvantage is I cannot implement what I speak and what I believe should be done," Mukherjee said.

The President also showed shades of his much-appreciated sense of humour when he recalled his last speech in Parliament as the Finance Minister.

"... In the last speech in Lok Sabha, I did not contemplate that perhaps it will become the last speech in Lok Sabha because I will be debarred from that premises...," Mukherjee said, amid laughter and applause.

Mukherjee also maintained that it is time for the younger generation to take over in politics.

"The older generation (in politics)- those who we are- still occupying the space... perhaps some of us should vacate the space for the younger people...," he said.

From: NDTV

France's Francois Hollande outlines sweeping new taxes for recovery

Paris: France's Socialist President Francois Hollande Sunday pledged 30 billion euros in new taxes and savings to balance the budget and fund a turnaround in two years and rejected criticism of dragging his feet.

Hollande, whose popularity ratings have taken a dive less than four months after he took office amid mounting discontent over the flagging economy and job cuts, also said a 75-percent wealth tax on incomes over one million euros ($1.28 million) would not be diluted.

"The course is the recovery of France," he said in a television interview on the TF1 channel.

"I have to set the course and the rhythm" to combat "high joblessness, falling competitiveness and serious deficits," he said. "My mission is a recovery plan and the timeframe is two years."

"The government has not lost time," he added. "It has reacted swiftly."

Hollande -- who has famously said he does not "like the rich" -- said 10 billion dollars would come from additional taxes on households "especially the well-heeled", 10 billion more from businesses and 10 billion from savings in government spending.

It would be the biggest hike in three decades.

"We will not spend one euro more in 2013 than what we did in 2012", he said.

He also vowed to curb unemployment, currently pegged at over three million, in a year's time.

Hit by the eurozone debt crisis, France's economy just avoided entering a recession in the second quarter.

Amid a decline in his popularity, Hollande has had the onerous task of preparing a 2013 budget that must save more than 30 billion euros to meet European Union deficit reduction rules.

Accused by critics of procrastinating and not adequately spelling out how he will fund his tax-and-spend programme, Hollande said he could not perform miracles.

"I cannot do in four months what my predecessors could not do in five years or 10 years," he said, referring to his immediate hyperactive, right-wing predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy, whose personal style and functioning were vastly different from Hollande, whose aim is to be a "normal" president.

-- 'Appeal to patriotism'--

Hollande also took a swipe at France's richest man, LVMH boss Bernard Arnault, who has sought Belgian nationality but denied wanting to become a tax exile.

"He must weigh up what it means to seek another nationality because we are proud to be French," Hollande said, adding that there would be no exceptions in a 75-percent tax on incomes above one million euros .

"One has to appeal to patriotism during this period," he said.

Arnault said on Sunday he was not becoming a tax exile, despite seeking Belgian nationality.

"I am and will remain a tax resident in France and in this regard I will, like all French people, fulfil my fiscal obligations," the world's fourth-richest man told AFP.

"Our country must count on everyone to do their bit to face a deep economic crisis amid strict budgetary constraints," Arnault said, adding that the bid for dual nationality was "linked to personal reasons" and began several months ago.

An informed source told AFP that Arnault's move, news of which was broken by Belgian daily La Libre Belgique, was linked to a "sensitive" investment project that could be eased if he acquired Belgian nationality.

Despite his sweeping election victory, Hollande's approval ratings have dropped remarkably since May.

An Ifop poll published in the Journal du Dimanche showed only 48 percent thought Hollande would fulfil his campaign pledges of which the 75 percent tax on the rich was a key plank.

Another survey conducted by BVA for Le Parisien newspaer revealed that nearly 60 percent were dissatisfied with his performance uptil now.

In an another poll by OpinionWay for the freesheet Metro due to appear on Monday, only 46 percent pronounced themselves happy with Hollande.

The end of France's traditional August holiday period will also see the start of a fraught season of job cuts at major companies including carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen, whose announcement last month it was slashing 8,000 jobs shocked the country.

French unions have warned they will not take the cuts lying down and France could be set for a return to labour unrest. 

Barack Obama accepts party's nomination for second term

Charlotte, North Carolina: His re-election in doubt, President Barack Obama conceded only halting progress Thursday night toward fixing the nation's stubborn economic woes, but vowed in a Democratic National Convention finale, "Our problems can be solved, our challenges can be met."

"Yes, our path is harder - but it leads to a better place," he declared in a prime-time speech to convention delegates and the nation that blended resolve about the challenges ahead with stinging criticism of Republican rival Mitt Romney's proposals to repair the economy.

He acknowledged "my own failings" as he asked for a second term, four years after taking office as the nation's first black president.

"Four more years," delegates chanted over and over as the 51-year-old Obama stepped to the podium, noticeably grayer than four years ago when he was a history-making candidate for the White House.

The president's speech was the final act of a pair of highly scripted national political conventions in as many weeks, and the opening salvo of a two-month drive toward Election Day that pits Obama against Republican rival Romney. The contest is ever tighter for the White House in a dreary season of economic struggle for millions.

Vice President Joe Biden preceded Obama at the convention podium and proclaimed, "America has turned the corner" after experiencing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

Obama didn't go that far in his own remarks, but he said firmly, "We are not going back, we are moving forward, America."

With unemployment at 8.3 percent, the president said the task of recovering from the economic disaster of 2008 is exceeded in American history only by the challenge Franklin Delano Roosevelt faced when he took office in 1933.

"It will require common effort, shared responsibility and the kind of bold persistent experimentation" that FDR employed, Obama said.

In an appeal to independent voters who might be considering a vote for Romney, he added that those who carry on Roosevelt's legacy "should remember that not every problem can be remedied with another government program or dictate from Washington.

He said, "The truth is, it will take more than a few years for us to solve challenges that have built up over the decades."

In the run-up to Obama's speech, delegates erupted in tumultuous cheers when former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, grievously wounded in a 2011 assassination attempt, walked onstage to lead the Pledge of Allegiance. The hall grew louder when she blew kisses to the crowd.

And louder still when huge video screens inside the hall showed the face of Osama bin Laden, the terrorist mastermind killed in a daring raid on his Pakistani hideout by U.S. special operations forces" on a mission approved by the current commander in chief.

The hall was filled to capacity long before Obama stepped to the podium, and officials shut off the entrances because of a fear of overcrowding for a speech that the campaign had originally slated for the 74,000-seat football stadium nearby. Aides said weather concerns prompted the move to the convention arena, capacity 15,000 or so.

Obama's campaign said the president would ask the country to rally around a "real achievable plan that will create jobs, expand opportunity and ensure an economy built to last."

He added, "The truth is it will take more than a few years for us to solve challenges that have built up over a decade."

In convention parlance, both Obama and Biden were delivering acceptance speeches before delegates who nominated them for new terms in office.

But the political significance went far beyond that - the moment when the general election campaign begins in earnest even though Obama and Romney have been pointing toward a Nov. 6 showdown for months.

To the cheers of delegates, Obama retraced his steps to halt the economic slide, including the auto bailout that Romney opposed.

"After a decade of decline, this country created over a half million manufacturing jobs in the last two and a half years," he said.

Turning to national security, he said he had promised to end the war in Iraq, and had done so.

"We've blunted the Taliban's momentum in Afghanistan, and in 2014 our longest war will be over," he said.

"A new tower rises above the New York skyline, al-Qaida is on the path to defeat and Osama bin Laden is dead," he declared, one of the night's repeated references to the special operations forces raid that resulted in the terrorist mastermind's demise more than a year ago.

He lampooned Romney's own economic proposals.

"Have a surplus? Try a tax cut. Deficit too high? Try another. Feel a cold coming on? Take two tax cuts, roll back some regulations and call us in the morning," he said.

Mocking Romney for his overseas trip earlier this summer, Obama said, "You might not be ready for diplomacy with Beijing if you can't visit the Olympics without insulting our closest ally." That was a reference to a verbal gaffe the former Massachusetts governor committed while visiting London.

The hall was filled to capacity long before Obama stepped to the podium, and officials shut off the entrances because of a fear of overcrowding for a speech that the campaign had originally slated for the 74,000-seat football stadium nearby. Aides said weather concerns prompted the move to the convention arena, capacity 15,000 or so.

Obama's campaign said the president would ask the country to rally around a "real achievable plan that will create jobs, expand opportunity and ensure an economy built to last."

Biden told the convention in his own speech that he had watched as Obama "made one gutsy decision after another" to stop an economic free-fall after they took office in 2009.

Now, he said, "we're on a mission to move this nation forward" from doubt and downturn to promise and prosperity. ... America has turned the corner."

Delegates who packed into their convention hall were serenaded by singer James Taylor and rocked by R&B blues artist Mary J. Blige as they awaited Obama's speech.

There was no end to the jabs aimed at Romney and the Republicans.

"Ask Osama bin Laden if he's better off than four years ago," said Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, who lost the 2004 election in a close contest with President George W. Bush. It was a mocking answer to the Republicans' repeated question of whether Americans are better off than when Obama took office.

The campaign focus was shifting quickly " to politically sensitive monthly unemployment figures due out Friday morning and the first presidential debate on Oct. 3 in Denver. Wall Street hit a four-year high a few hours before Obama's speech after the European Central Bank laid out a concrete plan to support the region's struggling countries.

The economy is by far the dominant issue in the campaign, and the differences between Obama and his challenger could hardly be more pronounced.

Romney wants to extend all tax cuts that are due to expire on Dec. 31 with an additional 20 percent reduction in rates across the board, arguing that job growth would result. He also favors deep cuts in domestic programs ranging from education to parks, repeal of the health care legislation that Obama pushed through Congress and landmark changes in Medicare, the program that provides health care to seniors.

Obama wants to renew the tax cuts except on incomes higher than $250,000, saying that millionaires should contribute to an overall attack on federal deficits. He also criticizes the spending cuts Romney advocates, saying they would fall unfairly on the poor, lower-income college students and others. He argues that Republicans would "end Medicare as we know it" and saddle seniors with ever-rising costs.

After two weeks of back-to-back conventions, the impact on the race remained to be determined.

You're not going to see big bounces in this election," said David Plouffe, a senior White House adviser. "For the next 61 days, it's going to remain tight as a tick."

Romney wrapped up several days of debate rehearsals with close aides in Vermont and is expected to resume full-time campaigning in the next day or two.

In a brief stop to talk with veterans on Thursday, he defended his decision to omit mention of the war in Afghanistan when he delivered his acceptance speech last week at the Republican National Convention. He noted he had spoken to the American Legion only one day before.

Romney's campaign released its first new television ad since the convention season began.

It shows Clinton sharply questioning Obama's credibility on the Iraq War in 2008, saying "Give me a break, this whole thing is the biggest fairy tale I've ever seen." Obama was running against Hillary Rodham Clinton at the time for the Democratic nomination.

It will likely be a week or more before the two campaigns can fully digest post-convention polls and adjust their strategies for the fall.

Based on the volume of campaign appearances to date and the hundreds of millions of dollars spent already on television advertising, the election appears likely to be decided in a small number of battleground states. The list includes New Hampshire, Virginia, Ohio, Colorado, Nevada and Iowa, as well as Florida and North Carolina, the states where first Republicans and then Democrats held their conventions. Those states hold 100 electoral votes among them, out of 270 needed to win the White House.

Money has become an ever-present concern for the Democrats, an irony given the overwhelming advantage Obama held over John McCain in the 2008 campaign.

This time, Romney is outpacing him, and independent groups seeking the Republican's election are pouring tens of millions of dollars into television advertising, far exceeding what Obama's supporters can afford.

From: NDTV

On eve of Democratic Convention, Obama consoles storm victims

LaPlace: President Barack Obama consoled victims of Hurricane Isaac along the Gulf Coast on Monday and stoked the enthusiasm of union voters in the industrial heartland, blending a hard political sell with a softer show of sympathy on the eve of the Democratic National Convention.

At times like these, "nobody's a Democrat or a Republican, we're all just Americans looking out for one another," the president said after inspecting damage inflicted by the storm and hugging some of its victims. He was flanked by local and state officials of both parties as he spoke.

There was nothing nonpartisan about his earlier appearance in Toledo, Ohio. There, the president said Republican challenger Mitt Romney should be penalized for "unnecessary roughness" on the middle class and accused him in a ringing labor Day speech of backing higher taxes for millions after opposing the 2009 auto industry bailout.

Obama's trip to LaPlace, La., was a televised interlude in the rough and tumble of the political campaign, four days after Romney accepted his party's presidential nomination at the GOP Convention in Tampa, Fla., and three days before the president is nominated by Democratic delegates in Charlotte.

Unlike Obama, Romney made no mention of federal aid in his own trip to Louisiana last Friday showing concern and support.

First lady Michelle Obama was already in the Democratic convention city as her husband spent his day blending the work of president and candidate.

He doesn't arrive in North Carolina until later in the week, after concluding a slow circuit of campaign stops in battleground states and the trip to Louisiana.

In LaPlace, Obama went from yard to yard, shaking hands, embracing residents, sometimes posing for photos they snapped. "I know it's a mess," he said of the damage, "but we're here to help."

He said he had promised local residents "we're going to make sure at the federal level, we are getting on the case very quickly about figuring out what exactly happened here, what can we do to make sure that it doesn't happen again and expediting some of the decisions that may need to be made to ensure that we have the infrastructure in place to protect people's property and to protect people's lives."

The federal government spent more than $10 billion to strengthen the levee system around New Orleans after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina seven years ago.

Obama noted that last week's flooding was in a different region, leaving open the question of what the government might do to prevent a recurrence.

A few hundred miles away in Charlotte, the conversion of the Time Warner Cable Arena into a political convention hall was nearly complete. Democrats convene there on Tuesday.

Nearby, union members staged a Labor Day march through downtown. Though supporting Obama, they also expressed frustration that he and the Democrats chose to hold their convention in a state that bans collective bargaining for teachers and other public employees.

There was disagreement among the ranks of the marchers. "I understand their frustration ... but do they really think they're going to be better off with Romney?" asked Phil Wheeler, 70, a delegate from Connecticut and a retired member of United Auto Workers Local 376 in Hartford.

Democrats chose the state to underscore their determination to contest it in the fall campaign. Obama carried North Carolina by 14,000 votes in 2008, but he faces a tough challenge this time given statewide unemployment of 9.6 percent in the most recent tabulation.

Romney relaxed at his lakeside home in New Hampshire with his family as Obama and running mate Joe Biden sought to motivate union voters to support them in difficult economic times. The Republican challenger took a mid-morning boat ride, pulling up to a dock to fuel up his 29-foot Sea Ray and pick up a jet ski that had been in for repairs.

In a Labor Day statement emailed to reporters before he left his house, the businessman-turned-political candidate said: "For far too many Americans, today is another day of worrying when their next paycheck will come."

Campaigning on Saturday in Cincinnati, Romney had likened Obama to a football coach with a record of 0 and 23 million, a reference to the number of unemployed and underemployed Americans.

Obama rebutted him 48 hours later - and play by play.

"On first down he hikes taxes by nearly $2,000 on the average family with kids in order to pay for massive tax cuts for multimillionaires. ... Sounds like unnecessary roughness to me," he said.

"On second down he calls an audible and undoes reforms that are there to prevent another financial crisis and bank bailout. ...

"And then on third down, he calls for a hail Mary, ending Medicare as we know it by giving seniors a voucher that leaves them to pay any additional cost out of their pockets. But there's a flag on the play: Loss of up to an additional $6,400 a year for the same benefits you get now."

Romney denies that his plan to help the economy and reduce federal deficits will result in higher taxes for the middle class. But he has yet to provide enough detail to refute the claim, and Obama's assertion rests on a study by the non-partisan Tax Policy Center.

As for the auto bailout that he backed and Romney opposed, Obama told the audience, "Three years later, the American auto industry has come roaring back. Nearly 250,000 new jobs."

Obama's new campaign commercial said that under Romney's "a middle class family will pay an average of up to $2,000 more a year taxes, while at the same time giving multimillionaires like himself a $250,000 tax cut."

Aides said it would air in Colorado, Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio and Virginia, the by-now familiar list of battleground states where the 2012 race for the White House is likely to be decided.

The president and aides have acknowledged for weeks that they and the groups supporting them are likely to be outspent by Romney, and recent figures say that has been the case in television advertising in the battleground states for much of the past two months.

Republican strategists contend that they have used the advantage to begin to erode Obama's job favorability ratings, but declined to provide any polling results to support the assertion.

At the same time, reports by firms that track advertising show that Republicans hope to expand the campaign battleground into Wisconsin, Michigan and possibly Pennsylvania and Minnesota. An effective ad campaign there in such states could force Obama to divert resources from other states to defend turf he has long assumed would be his with relative ease.

Republicans ramped up their counter-programming as the opening of the Democrats' convention approached.

"People are not better off than they were four years ago. After another four years of this, who knows what it'll look like then," said Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan, campaigning in Greenville, N.C. "We're not going to let that happen." Obama's top campaign surrogates had flinched from saying on Sunday that the average American is better off than four years ago, but they - and Biden - hastily recalibrated their response overnight.

"You want to know whether we're better off? I've got a little bumper sticker for you: 'Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive,'" Biden told a campaign crowd in Detroit, the city that for generations has been synonymous with the American auto industry.

Bill Clinton made racist remarks about Barack Obama in 2008: Report

New York: Former US President Bill Clinton had taken a racial jibe at Barack Obama in 2008, saying "this guy would have been carrying our bags", a report claimed on Monday.

Mr Clinton allegedly made the racially insensitive remark to Senator Ted Kennedy as he tried to convince the liberal to endorse his wife, Hillary Clinton, Mr Obama's rival, for the Democratic nomination, according to The New Yorker.

Only days before he will nominate President Obama for re-election in the November 6 presidential polls, the report claimed that in 2008 the former President had reportedly said: "A few years ago, this guy would have been carrying our bags."

The reported comment was similar to the one attributed to Mr Clinton in a 2010 book.

"A few years ago, this guy would have been getting us coffee," Mr Clinton was quoted as saying in Game Change, by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin.

Mr Clinton's speech to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte isn't until Wednesday night, but the former President is getting attention for remarks he has already made, the New York Post reported.

Mr Clinton has, for example, on earlier occasions called Mr Obama "incompetent" and "an amateur" who has no clue about how the world operates, according to an article in Sunday's Post by Edward Klein, author of The Amateur: Barack Obama in the White House.

"Obama doesn't know how to be president," Mr Clinton told friends and political advisers last year, the article added.

"He doesn't know how the world works," Mr Clinton had said. Mr Klein said Mr Clinton had convened a meeting at his Chappaqua, Westchester, home to urge his wife to challenge Mr Obama for the 2012 nomination.

Hillary Rodham Clinton, Mr Obama's Secretary of State, rejected the advice, Mr Klein said.

Bill Clinton has not commented on the issue. Mr Obama advisers had tried to keep the former president off the big stage this week, according to Mr Klein, wanting to relegate him to a minor, non prime-time speaking role. But Bill Clinton threatened to boycott the convention unless he was given a prominent role.

Mr Obama's chief political strategist, David Axelrod, argued that Mr Obama needed Mr Clinton more than Mr Clinton needed him, according to Mr Klein.

From: NDTV

West Bengal government to honour President Pranab Mukherjee with 'civic reception'

Kolkata: The West Bengal government has decided to hounour President Pranab Mukherjee with a "civic reception" next month, a senior Trinamool Congress MP said on Thursday.

"Civic reception for honorable President Pranab Mukherjee by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee... (on) 14th September at Netaji Indoor stadium," Trinamool Congress MP Kunal Ghosh tweeted.

The relationship between two political stalwarts from West Bengal had reached an all-time low after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee opposed Mr Mukherjee's candidature for the presidential poll.

Ms Banerjee instead proposed former president APJ Abdul Kalam's name for the post. However, after Mr Kalam decided against contesting, Ms Banerjee said she would extend her support to the former Finance Minister, adding that she wishes she "could have voted for Mr Mukherjee with a smile on her face, but that is not the case."

From: NDTV

Pranab dials Advani after At Home row

A day after President Pranab Mukherjee's 'At Home' function on August 15 generated controversy with BJP leaders claiming LK Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley were ignored at the venue, Mukherjee called up the disgruntled leaders.

"The President telephoned all the three leaders and assured them that their views will be considered for future functions," President's press secretary Venu Rajamony said.

"The officials at the Rashtrapati Bhawan only followed the past practice."

BJP leaders were in an enclosure along with cabinet ministers, diplomats and judges besides senior bureaucrats. While the VVIP enclosure included Vice-President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.

"They were initially not even given chairs to sit and were standing in a queue," complained a BJP leader.

A BJP leader said, "Even if we don't consider this a deliberate insult, it shows utter inefficiency. There isn't just a policy paralysis in the government; there is a total paralysis of every kind."

This is not the first time that BJP patriarch LK Advani has felt getting rubbed up the wrong way in the recent times.  

At the recent swearing in of the Vice-President, Advani was made to sit in the third row, after which Union ministers Rajeev Shukla and V Narayanasami ushered him to the front row.

JD(U) leader Shivanand Tiwari said it was he who complained against the protocol violation.