Indian Hot Actress Mallika Sherawat's 'date' with USA President Barak Obama

Mallika Sherawat has finally done it. She has got up, close and personal with the US President. The actress was invited for tea with Barack Obama during his campaign stop in the heart of Hollywood.

The topic of discussion was her stay in Los Angeles and she spoke about her upcoming film, Politics of Love, Barack, to which the President commented lightheartedly, "Make sure you invite me to the premiere!"

The star is said to be over-the-moon since the meeting, as its been a dream of hers to meet the US President since his election and her work on the new film, where she learned a lot about the man himself and US politics.

This is one more of her American pursuits for Madam Mallika to tom-tom about.

Obama Launches Task Force to Investigate Gas Prices

President Barack Obama said Thursday that the Justice Department will try to "root out" cases of fraud or manipulation in oil markets, even as Attorney General Eric Holder suggested a variety of legal reasons may be behind gasoline's surge to $4 a gallon.

"We are going to make sure that no one is taking advantage of the American people for their own short-term gain," Obama said at a town-hall style meeting at a renewable energy plant in Reno, Nev.

With the 2012 campaign in mind, theWhite House is anxious to show the public it's taking action to address rising gas prices. The national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline was $3.84 on Thursday, about 30 cents higher than a month ago and almost a dollar higher than a year ago.

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Obama, decrying such levels as yet another hardship "at a time when things were already pretty tough," said Holder was forming the Financial Fraud Enforcement Working Group.

The task force will focus some of its investigation on "the role of traders and speculators" in the oil-price surge, Obama said, and will include several Cabinet department officials, federal regulators and the National Association of Attorneys General.

InWashington, Holder said he would press ahead with the investigation, even though he did not cite any current evidence of intentional manipulation of oil and gas prices or fraud.

"Based upon our work and research to date, it is evident that there are regional differences in gasoline prices, as well as differences in the statutory and other legal tools at the government's disposal," Holder said in a memo accompanying a statement announcing the task force. "It is also clear that there are lawful reasons for increases in gas prices, given supply and demand."

"Nonetheless, where consumers are harmed by unlawful conduct that has the effect of increasing gas prices, state and federal authorities will take swift action," Holder said.

He promised to "be vigilant in monitoring the oil and gas markets for any wrongdoing so that consumers can be confident they are not paying higher prices as a result of illegal activity."

There's not much Obama can do to affect the price of gasoline in short term, something he acknowledged in his remarks. Gas prices have risen steadily as a result of tensions in the Middle East and northern Africa and rising demand from China and other emerging economies.

Given that no evidence has yet surfaced of actual fraud or price manipulation in oil markets, Obama's remarks appeared, at least in part, as more of an attempt to assuage public anger over rising gas prices.

Other presidents have also launched similar inquiries at times of rising oil prices and widespread public suspicions of market manipulation by the oil industry or by speculators.

In an Associated Press-Gfk poll last month, 51 percent of adults said they thought recent increases in gas prices were due to "oil companies that want to boost profits" rather than changes in the global oil market. Nine percent said higher prices stemmed from a combination of both, 37 percent from changes in the market.

Obama renewed his proposal to end roughly $4 billion annually in various government subsidies to oil and gas companies "at a time when they're making record profits and you're paying near record prices at the pump. It has to stop."

Asked by a member of the audience about prospects for advancements in clean energy, Obama predicted that, with time, prices of now-expensive devices such as electric cars would come down.

"Having a flat-screen TV used to be a big deal," Obama said. But he said now such TVs are commonplace because prices have dropped so much.

While acknowledging he doesn't spend much time these days behind the wheel, Obama said, "I've been in one of these Chevy Volts. This is a nice car. It drives well."

He said when such vehicles become more affordable, "those of you out there driving that 8-mile-a-gallon SUV" should consider a purchase. Otherwise, by buying gasoline that likely came from imported oil, Americans "are putting money in the pockets of people who do not like us at all," he said.

FromNevada, Obama flew to Los Angeles, his final stop on a three-day West Coast swing focused heavily on raising money for the president's re-election bid. Obama's six money events, all in California, focused on high-dollar donors and young people, both of whom will be integral to a campaign that could set fundraising records.

Before the Reno event Thursday, Obama told supporters inSan Francisco that he was pressing ahead with his agenda in a difficult political environment and that "change turned out to be a lot tougher than expected."

Obama addressed about 200 people who paid up to $35,800 apiece for the fundraiser at San Francisco's St. Regis Hotel, the first of four for the day.

Obama was interrupted by a small group among the paying guests who protested the detention ofBradley Manning, an Army private accused of leaking secret documents to the WikiLeaks website.

"We paid our dues, where's our change?" the protesters sang to the president.

"We'll vote for you in 2012, yes that's true. Look at theRepublicans — what else can we do?"

Obama paused while security removed some of the protesters, then joked, "That's a nice song. You guys have much better voices than I do."

Manning, suspected of illegally passing U.S. government secrets to the WikiLeaks while serving as an Army intelligence analyst in Iraq, was transferred this week to an Army prison inKansas from the Marine brig in Quantico, Va., where he has spent the last nine months.

Between his California events, Obama went to the Electra Therm Co. in Reno, speaking in front of a machine that produces renewable energy from low-temperature heat waste.

Obama's West Coast visit — his most extensive travel since announcing his re-election bid two weeks ago — offered a glimpse of how he will seek to re-energize the independents and first-time voters who carried him to victory in 2008. Obama argues that more work must be done to make the vision of America he promised a reality and that he is the only one who can see those hopes through.

Budget battle came down to 3 men and their weaknesses

House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) entered budget negotiations at the head of a rambunctious Republican majority. Quietly, though, he worried that conservative lawmakers might desert him if the deal he struck didn’t meet their expectations.

President Obama had his own problem: He was trying to change his public image in midstream, from America’s top Democrat to a chief executive immune from partisan squabbling.

Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) had watched his party lose its momentum. For all his power, his job had shrunk to defending Democrats’ past gains.

Last week, their first big public fight since Republicans took over in November played out in 3 a.m. meetings, angry press conferences and tense sessions at the White House — which hit their boiling point late Thursday night when Vice President Joe Biden lost his temper at Boehner. It ended with a late-night handshake at the Capitol and Republican cheers in a crowded basement.

The detailed story of that week — relayed Saturday by aides invested in portraying their man as the hero — shows that all three were trying to camouflage weaknesses with bluffing and public confidence. They settled only in the face of a shutdown — the one thing they feared more than giving in.

In the end, Boehner got the huge budget cut conservatives wanted. Obama got to take credit for bringing the sides together. And Reid got a chance — in a dispute over funding for women’s health groups — to rally a beleaguered Democratic base.

Outside the White House and Capitol, their long staredown had a serious cost.

For days, a city had been creakily, and expensively, preparing to shut itself down. And a country had watched in amazement: Was the U.S. government really fighting over whether to reauthorize itself?

Boehner’s problem

For Boehner, last week was a chance to prove his toughness, and conservative bona fides, to the fractious Republicans he leads.

His problem had been made clear a month ago. The House was set to vote on a stopgap budget to keep the country running, but 54 members of his caucus pressed the red button for “no.” The bill passed, but they sent Boehner a message: He didn’t have the unqualified support of all 241 House Republicans.

“If you don’t have 218, you’re not speaker,” one of Boehner’s close friends said, adding that they “cut his legs off.”

The roots of Boehner’s problem stretched back to last fall’s elections, which propelled him to power. On the campaign trail, Republicans promised that they would cut INR 4,397.33 billion from Obama’s budget proposal.

Now, there were 87 new freshmen in the Capitol, and many of them believed that would happen.

But it was a promise Boehner couldn’t keep. Democrats in the Senate rejected it out of hand.

As the last week began, Boehner was determined not to seem wobbly. In private meetings with Democrats, he repeated a mantra: “Nothing will be agreed to, until everything is agreed to.”

And so, nothing was.

Who’s essential?

As a shutdown drew closer, Office of Management and Budget employees began to work late nights, scarfing Five Guys burgers and cold, wilted french fries. The questions came in: Will I be paid? Can I still use my BlackBerry if I can’t come to work?

Unclear, they said. And no.

Other agencies began an awkward sorting process. Who was “essential,” and would work in a shutdown?

“Any furlough is not a reflection on you or your performance,” Labor Secretary Hilda Solis wrote in a memo, hinting at the sting of being “nonessential” in a town that defines people by their work. “I value every single one of you and the work you do.”

Outside Washington, the assignments seemed even more surreal. At Mojave National Preserve in California, workers warned visitors they’d have to leave within 48 hours of a shutdown.

Not that anyone would notice.

“If we were furloughed, we wouldn’t have the staff to find them anyway,” park employee Danette Woo said.

‘This is it’

As the stalemate dragged on into Thursday night, President Obama summoned both Reid and Boehner to the White House. All week, Obama had sought to appear as Washington’s peacemaker, not as a partisan warrior on the Democratic side.

But there was a problem: Boehner wouldn’t give in and make peace.

With almost 24 hours to go until the government shut down, Obama gave Boehner an ultimatum on the speaker’s push to include abortion-related restrictions in the bill.

“John, I will give you D.C. abortion. I am not happy about it,” Obama said, according to a Democrat and Republican in the Oval Office. Boehner had been pushing to include both the restriction of government funding on abortions in the District of Columbia and a provision that would have placed limits on funds going to nonprofit groups that provide abortion services nationwide, including Planned Parenthood.

With the D.C. provision in hand, Boehner continued to push the president, aides said.

“Nope, zero,” Obama told Boehner. “Nope, zero. John, this is it.”

And that was it — for a little while. Later, White House aides said, Boehner returned to the issue. Evidently, he had pushed Biden too far.

If Republicans didn’t buckle on this provision, an angry Biden warned, “We’re going to have to take it to the American people.”

Nonetheless, they were close to agreeing to a dollar amount, or so the White House thought. By the next morning, though, White House aides said Boehner’s staff appeared to be asking for more cuts.

Obama Demands Budget Deal to Avert Government Shutdown

President Barack Obama said he hopes lawmakers can reach a last-minute deal today to avert a government shutdown after a third round of talks with congressional leaders last night failed to end an impasse over the federal budget.

After meeting with House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Obama said issues remained unresolved and he hoped for a breakthrough that would prevent a shutdown, set to begin at midnight tonight.

“I’m not yet prepared to express wild optimism but I think we are further along,” he told reporters. “My hope is, is that I’ll be able to announce to the American people sometime relatively early in the day that a shutdown has been averted.”

The president canceled a scheduled trip to Indianapolis, where he was to promote his energy policies. He had met with Reid and Boehner earlier yesterday and late on April 6 in an effort to reach an accord.

Without an agreement, the government would begin shutting down for the first time in 15 years. Roughly 800,000 “non- essential” federal employees would be furloughed, affecting a host of government services. National parks would close, those filing paper tax returns wouldn’t receive refunds, government permits would be unavailable, and most passport applications would go unprocessed.
‘Extremely Narrow’

Neither Obama nor Reid identified the outstanding issues. Reid said they were “extremely, extremely narrow,” yet “the sad part about it, we keep never quite getting to the finish line.” He said he is “not really confident” that a deal will be reached, though “I’m very, very hopeful.”

Boehner said in a statement with Reid that they had “narrowed the issues” and would “continue to work through the night to attempt to resolve our remaining differences.”

Concern that an impasse over the federal budget may lead to a shutdown helped push down stocks yesterday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 17.26 points, or 0.1 percent, to 12,409.49 at 4 p.m. in New York and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index dropped 0.2 percent.

Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, the chamber’s second- ranking Democrat, said yesterday that lawmakers are divided by provisions, known as policy riders, woven into a bill funding the government for the rest of this year. They would change administration policies on environmental regulations as well as funding for Planned Parenthood, which provides abortions among other health services.
‘Policy Questions’

“It appears that the debate is no longer over deficit reduction,” Durbin said. “It has really devolved into a debate over policy questions that have nothing to do directly, maybe even indirectly, with the budget deficit that we face or the money we’re going to spend.”

Lawmakers had also been debating about $40 billion in cuts from the government’s $3.7 trillion annual budget.

Yesterday, the administration threatened to veto a House- approved measure that would keep the government open for business until April 15, cut $12 billion in spending and fund the Pentagon through Sept. 30, the end of the 2011 fiscal year. The administration called the measure a “distraction from the real work” of forging a compromise.

“Non-essential” federal workers face the prospect of going without pay during the impasse. Representative Jim Moran, a Virginia Democrat, is advising federal workers living in his district just outside Washington to conserve cash, warning a shutdown could stretch into next week. With so much concern over the budget deficit, he said, lawmakers may not agree to provide federal workers with back pay as they have in the past.
‘Conserve Their Money’

“They’re going to have to conserve their money to make their mortgage and car payments -- they’re going to have to determine what are the essentials,” Moran said. He estimated that 100,000 workers in the Washington area may be furloughed.

Many government programs would continue during a shutdown, said Jeff Zients, deputy director of the White House budget office.

Social Security checks will continue to flow, the postal service will continue to deliver the mail, military operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya will continue and the air traffic control system will continue to operate, Zients said.

“Generally speaking, services that are critical to safety of life and protection of property are excepted from a shutdown,” he told reporters. So too, he said, are programs that don’t rely on the budget bill being debated for their funding.
Getting Their Paychecks

Elected officials, including Obama, Boehner and Reid, would be paid as usual during a shutdown unless Congress changes the law. Democratic Senators Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Joe Manchin of West Virginia all announced they would forgo their paychecks during a shutdown.

Soldiers, law enforcement officials and others whose jobs are deemed essential would continue to work, yet wouldn’t get paychecks until the budget impasse is resolved.

Obama said the dispute “could severely hamper the recovery and job growth.”

“We’ve been working very hard over the last two years to get this economy back on its feet,” he said. “For us to go backwards because Washington couldn’t get its act together is unacceptable.”

Obama pledges $200 million to Central America drug fight

President Barack Obama pledged $200 million on Tuesday to Central America's anti-drug fight on the final leg of a regional tour to bolster U.S. tieswith southern neighbors who have often felt neglected by Washington.
Obama unveiled the aid plan as aides announced he would cut short his El Salvador visit slightly on Wednesday and head back to Washington, where the political debate over the U.S. military role in air assaults against Libya's Muammar Gaddafi was gathering momentum.
Shifting to tiny, impoverished El Salvador after visiting economically thriving Brazil and Chile, Obama arrived with his attention split as he faced questions and criticism at home and abroad over U.S. goals in the U.N.-approved Libya campaign.
The final visit of Obama's Latin American tour marked a change inemphasis from issues of trade andinvestment that dominated his first stops, which were aimed at reasserting U.S. interests in countries where China poses growing competition.
Talks with President Mauricio Funes, a moderate leftist the White House sees as an emerging partner, focused on reassuring him of cooperation on drug enforcement and searching for common ground on volatile immigration matters. Both issues resonate loudly with Washington'sneighbors and among U.S. voters.
At a joint news conference, Obama offered $200 million fresh funding to governments combating drug traffickers and street gangs in Central America, which has suffered a spillover of drug violence from Mexico's powerful narcotics cartels.

"We are launching a new effort against gangs in Central America to support efforts here in the region ... including the social and economic forces that drive young people towards criminality," Obama said. He said it would help train security forces, strengthen courts and tackle underlying poverty.
Funes welcomed the new initiativeand praised Obama for acknowledging the need for greater U.S. efforts to curb U.S. demand for illegal drugs, which countries in the region see as theroot of the problem. U.S. drug consumption and gun-running have been a particular source of tension with Mexico.
RE-ENGAGING
The El Salvador visit will wrap up a five-day mission to re-engage with a region where Washington's approach has ranged from heavy-handed use of power for much of the 20th century to one of neglect in recent years.
Obama's trip is seen to have helped reinforce hemispheric ties but the Libya attacks do not go down well with most of Latin America and he has delivered no major breakthroughs on long-promised trade pacts or keytrade disputes. The trip was also judged to have done little to counter China's inroads.
Obama's travels were dogged by concern over the Western air campaign over Libya. He is struggling to balance handling world crises with his domestic priorities of jobs and economic recovery, considered crucial to his2012 re-election chances.
He mostly stuck to his travel plans even as aides scrambled to keep him up to speed on Libyan developments and unrest in the Arab world.
Obama's visit to San Salvador's cathedral to pay homage at the tomb of slain Archbishop Oscar Romero was shifted from Wednesday to Tuesday, and the White House said a tour of Mayanruins set for Wednesday was scrapped to let him hold a call with Libya advisers in the morningand then fly out about 2 1/2hours early.
In San Salvador, Obama repeated his commitment to reform the U.S.immigration system but did not say when he would seek legislation. There is disappointment in the region overhis failure to act on immigration and he is given little chance of digging into the hot-button issue ahead of the 2012 election.
Despite that, Obama's visit carriedpolitical symbolism. Funes won the presidency in 2009 as head of a coalition led by a former leftist guerrilla movement that was opposed by the United States during El Salvador's long civil war. He is the country's first left-of-center president since the conflict.