US election: Mitt Romney challenges Harry Reid to 'put up or shut up'

Mitt Romney ordered Harry Reid, one of America's most powerful Democrats, to "put up or shut up" after he was accused of being scared to publish his tax returns because he avoided paying any for a decade.

The Republican presidential candidate accused Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, of conspiring with Obama's White House. Mr Reid claims that an investor in Bain Capital, the private equity firm where Mr Romney made his fortune, had explained the candidate's reluctance to disclose tax returns predating 2010.

"'Harry, he didn't pay any taxes for 10 years'," Mr Reid said the source had told him. "Now, do I know that that's true? Well, I'm not certain,". "But obviously he can't release those tax returns. How would it look?"
3rd August 2012

Obama to end deportation for young undocumented migrants – as it happened

The political day has just been eclipsed by a major announcement by the Obama administration: by executive order, the president will end the deportation of certain young undocumented immigrants – making an estimated 800,000 young people now safe. The order will stop the deportation of undocumented immigrants under 30 years old who came to the US before their 16th birthdays.

To benefit from the protection, they must have lived in the US continuously for five years, have no criminal record or have graduated from high school or served in the military.

They are eligible for two-year work permits, renewable indefinitely. The act does not provide a path to citizenship.

• Immigrants 30 and under who arrived before age 16 affected
• Two-year work permits would be indefinitely renewable
• Mitt Romney launches bus tour in New Hampshire

Congress passes bill to keep student loan interest rates from doubling

US students were handed an eleventh hour reprieve from higher loan rates on Friday as Congress passed a bill nixing the scheduled hike.

The doubling of interest payable on college loans was due to come into force on Sunday, with President Barack Obama blaming inaction in Washington for threatening an increase that would have put the squeeze on some 7.4 million young Americans.

But as the clock ran down on lawmakers to reach a deal, both sides in Congress back away from demands that looked set to scupper the bill being passed.

A new legislative wrap was proposed, taking in the anchoring of low student loan rates alongside a commitment to spend more than $100bn on transport programmes and provisions that extend the existing help for flood risk homebuyers.

It cleared the House in a 373-52 vote. The Senate later approved the bill by a 74-19 margin. It will now go to the White House to be signed off by the president.

The package will prevent federal loan interest rates for students doubling to 6.8% on Sunday in a one-year, $6bn deal.

Alongside shielding millions of students from further belt-tightening, the measures are expected to protect some 2.8m jobs in regard to transportation programmes.
29th June 2011

Democrats to include support for gay marriage in official policy platform

The Democratic Party is moving to include support for gay marriage in the official party policy statement for the first time, a Democratic official said Monday, marking a key milestone for advocates of same-sex unions.

The party's platform drafting committee voted to include language backing gay marriage during a weekend meeting in Minneapolis, the official said.

Democratic delegates will formally approve the platform during the party convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, in early September.

The Democratic platform committee's move was first reported by the Washington Blade, a lesbian and gay newspaper.

President Obama will officially accept his party's nomination at the convention. Rival Mitt Romney will get the Republican nomination a week earlier during his party's convention in Tampa, Florida.

Seeking to ramp up enthusiasm among Democrats, party officials said on Sunday that former President Bill Clinton will deliver the nominating speech on Wednesday night of the convention. Obama and vice-president Joe Biden are to speak on Thursday, the convention's final night.

US economy added 163,000 jobs in July as Obama handed major election boost

The US added 163,000 new jobs in July, ahead of economists' expectations and offering some relief for President Obama as the economy emerges as the key battleground of the 2012 election.

Private companies added 172,000 jobs last month, while governments shed 9,000 positions. The US added just 64,000 jobs in June.

Payroll figures are the highest in five months but were not enough to bring down 8.3% unemployment rate.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney called the figures "a hammer blow to struggling middle-class families".

"President Obama doesn't have a plan and believes that the private sector is 'doing fine'. Obviously, that is not the case. We've now gone 42 consecutive months with the unemployment rate above 8%. Middle-class Americans deserve better, and I believe America can do better," he said in a statement.

Faucher senior economist at PNC Financial Services said the slight rise in unemployment was disappointing but said the household survey, from which the number is derived, was volatile. "One month's figure doesn't tell us much but it is something we will have to watch," he said.
3rd August 2012

Barack Obama refuses to apologise for Mitt Romney accusation

The US presidential race has taken a turn in the past week as the wealthy Republican candidate endures a Democratic onslaught over the Bain issue and for squirrelling many of his millions away in offshore tax havens.

Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, called for an apology on Friday for the intensifying character assassination by the Obama campaign and said personal attacks against him were "beneath the dignity of the presidency."

"We won't be apologising," Mr Obama said, according to the transcript of an interview with a local Virginia TV station airing on Sunday.

"Mr Romney claims he's Mr Fix-It for the economy because of his business experience, so I think voters entirely, legitimately want to know what is exactly his business experience."
16th July 2012

Colorado shooting: Barack Obama weighs in on gun law

Barack Obama has called for tighter background checks on US gun-owners, making his first foray into the politically charged gun control debate since the Colorado shooting.

"I believe that a lot of gun owners would agree that AK-47s belong in the hands of soldiers, not in the hands of criminals. That they belong on the battlefield of war, not on the streets of our cities," Obama told a civil-rights group in New Orleans.
The remarks come less than a week after the shootings and follow calls from prominent gun control advocates, including the New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, for the two presidential candidates to have an open an honest debate over guns.

Both Mr Obama and his opponent Mitt Romney have supported curbs on assault rifles in the past, but have been wary of challenging national public opinion polls that show waning support for tougher gun laws in recent years.

"Every day and a half the number of young people we lose to violence is about the same as the number of people we lost in that movie theatre," Mr Obama added in remarks to the National Urban League.
26th July 2012

Tax cheat, felon, murderer: meet Mitt Romney, if Barack Obama's backers are to be believed

Tax cheat. Felon. Murderer.

Not exactly the inspiring words one would expect to describe the man who seeks to lead a purportedly civilised nation, but those are the charges being thrown at Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney by supporters of President Barack Obama.

They are ludicrous insinuations on which the administration and Democratic leadership have been uniformly and appallingly silent.

Politics bring out the ugliest in America. Sadly, the once promised "hope" and "change" of the historic 2008 presidential campaign have been forgotten; hypocrisy now rules.
11th August 2012

Barack Obama plumbs to 'new low' in campaign tactics

Barack Obama was accused of plumbing a "new low" in campaign tactics, as allies suggested Mitt Romney was partly to blame for a woman's death.

A campaign group backing Obama released an advertisement in which a steelworker said his wife died from cancer with no health insurance after his factory was closed by Bain Capital, the private equity firm where Mr Romney made his $250 million (£160 million) fortune.
"Mitt Romney and Bain closed the plant, I lost my health care and my family lost their health care," said Joe Soptic, of Missouri. "And a short time after that, my wife became ill." Priorities USA Action, a so-called "Super PAC", is led by a former senior White House aide to Mr Obama.

Republicans said the clip was "dishonest" as it emerged that Mrs Soptic died in 2006, several years after both the factory's closure and Mr Romney's departure from Bain.
Matt Mackowiak, a Republican strategist, described the advertisement as "absolutely deplorable" and urged Mr Romney to demand that Mr Obama publicly denounce it.
7th August 2012

US Election: Paul Ryan announced as Mitt Romney's running mate

Mitt Romney has taken a rare political gamble in an attempt to change the direction of the US presidential campaign, unveiling Paul Ryan, a radically conservative young congressman, as his running mate.

The Republican challenger for the White House announced Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the 42-year-old author of the party's drastic plan to slash public spending, as his prospective vice president.

Appearing together at a rally in Norfolk, Virginia, the pair attacked Barack Obama's "record of failure" and claimed that they were "America's comeback team".

Standing in front of USS Wisconsin, a Second World War battleship, Mr Romney hailed Mr Ryan as "an intellectual leader of the Republican Party", adding: "He appeals to the better angels of our nature".
"He understands the fiscal challenges facing America: our exploding deficits and crushing debt, and the fiscal catastrophe that awaits us if we don't change course," he told 2,000 cheering supporters.

Amid a sea of flags and placards on the dock, Mr Ryan warned the US was "running out of time" to fix its economy and said: "It is our duty to save the American dream for our children and theirs".
11th August 2012

Polish President accuses Obama of betraying Poland

Obamas decision to cancel a promised missile defence system has angered Polish President Bronislaw

Komoroswki who now wants Poland to build its own missile shield to ensure national defence.
"Our mistake was that by accepting the American offer of a shield we failed to take into account the political risk associated with a change of president,"

"We paid a high political price. We do not want to make the same mistake again. We must have a missile system as an element of our defences."

The Republican candidate has accused President Obama of "abandoning Poland" by cancelling the missile defence plan in order to aid his much-criticised attempt to "reset" relations with Moscow.

Mr Obama's decision to scrap George W Bush's original missile shield dismayed the Polish government, especially as many Poles saw it as an attempt to appease Russia, Poland's historical and Cold War foe.
6th August 2012