WASHINGTON D.C. (BNO NEWS) – Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Bill Burns will travel to Lebanon, Syria, Turkey and Azerbaijan from February 16 to 19, a spokesman said on Friday.

Under Secretary Burns will visit Lebanon first on February 16. He will meet with President Sleiman, Prime Minister Hariri and other leaders in a continued demonstration of support to the sovereignty and independence of Lebanon.

President Obama called Prime Minister Hariri on early Friday and expressed his support on the eve of the anniversary of the assassination of Former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. He also commented on his desire to meet Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri.

In Syria, Under Secretary Burns will meet President Assad in an effort to furthering the dialogue between both nations.

On February 18, Turkey will receive Under Secretary Burns to discuss the 2006 Shared Vision framework in a series of meetings with senior officials. Finally, he will visit Azerbaijan for a meeting with President Aliyev to reinforce the bilateral relations with the Asian country on February 19.

WASHINGTON D.C. (BNO NEWS) – The second U.S. Science Envoy, Dr. Elias Zerhouni, began a ten-day trip to France, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait last Wednesday, U.S. Department of State announced on Friday.

The purpose of this trip is to seek areas for cooperation on health, technology, education and science issues. In order to complete this objective, Dr. Zarhouni will meet with heads of state, ministers and representatives in the different countries. There are also plans to visit North Africa.

The U.S. Science Envoy program is dedicated to a global engagement in science and technology. When presented, three envoys were announced, Dr. Zerhouni, Dr. Ahmed Zerwail and Dr. Bruce Alberts. Dr. Zerwail has already deployed to Egypt and Turkey while Dr. Alberts plans to visit Indonesia this spring.

WASHINGTON D.C. (BNO NEWS) – President Barack Obama spoke on early Friday with Lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad Hariri about the upcoming anniversary of the assassination of Former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, the White House informed.

On February 14, 2005, PM Rafiq Hariri was killed by an explosion that caught his motorcade in Beirut. His second son Saad Hariri took on his father’s political path.

“The American people admire and appreciate the Prime Minister’s commitment to carrying on his father’s work,” said President Obama.

The U.S. President also showed his support for Lebanon’s sovereignty and independence as well as to bring into justice those responsible for Hariri’s murder.

Prime Minister Hariri and President Obama also discussed the U.S. support for the Lebanese Armed Forces in order to advance peace in the region.

President Obama finished by saying that he looks forward to meeting with Prime Minister Hariri.

WASHINGTON D.C. (BNO NEWS) – Nearly $1 billion in Recovery Act awards to advance the adoption and use of health information technology and train workers for health care jobs were announced on Friday by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Department of Labor (DOL) Secretary Hilda Solis.

This Recovery Act investment will help the emerging health information technology (IT) industry by facilitating it to over 100,000 hospitals and supporting tens of thousands of jobs.

The HHS grant awards total over $750 million and are part of a federal initiative for the meaningful use of health IT. The awards will help health care providers to adopt and use electronic health records in an efficient way to improve the quality and efficiency of the health care system.

In order to accomplish this goal $386 million will be used to facilitate health information exchange at state and regional level. The rest will be managed by non-profit organizations to support the development of regional extension centers that will aid health professionals in using and implementing health IT. By 2014 it is expected to have this goal fulfilled.

More than $225 million awarded by the DOL will be used in training 15,000 people for developing the required skills for a health care career as well as IT or high growth fields. The DOL expects that in two years a rough estimate of 10,000 job opportunities will open in areas like nursing, pharmacy technology and information technology.

“The investments announced today will ensure thousands of workers across the nation can receive high-quality training and employment services, which will lead to good jobs in healthcare and other industries offering career-track employment and good pay and benefits,” said Labor Secretary Solis.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (BNO NEWS) – Dulles International airport and Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday announced that there will be no flights operating at either airport due to the blizzard conditions.

The airports have shut down after a blizzard hit Washington, D.C. and much of the north east on Tuesday, and the storm is forecast to cover the area in 12 to 18 inches of snow. The stylized Second North American blizzard of 2010 hit just three days after the First North American blizzard of 2010 that affected the same regions.

Passengers were advised to contact their airlines to confirm their flights before coming to the airport on Thursday.

The National Weather Service issued blizzard warnings from Washington, D.C. to Long Island, including all of New Jersey and New York City, as well as the entire Philadelphia metro area and the entire states of Maryland and Delaware. Winter storm warnings are present from Illinois to Massachusetts.

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WASHINGTON D.C. (BNO NEWS) – President Barack Obama gave his remarks on Monday about the all-time high $3.8T 2011 budget that was delivered earlier to the Congress and said that controlling the nation’s deficit and encouraging an economic recovery are the main goals.

“Our economy has lost over 7 million jobs on the past two years”, President Obama said at the White House. He also pointed out that the current nation’s deficit is $1.3 trillion and it´s projected to be $8 trillion over the next decade.

The budget proposes tax cuts and credits for small businesses as well as an increase investment in scientific research and in clean energy. The other significant increase is on education. “In the 21st century there is no better anti-poverty program than a world-class education”, Obama said.

On the other hand there will be many budget cuts, mainly in the US project to take humans to the Moon as well as in other programs that President Obama labeled as “just common sense”.

The Budget includes a proposal for a three-year freezing in government spending for discretionary government programs. This freezing won’t apply for programs like Social Security and National Security. “The Department of Defense is exempt from the budget freeze but not form budget common sense”, said the President.

A bipartisan fiscal commission was proposed in order to hammer out concrete deficit reduction proposals over the medium and long term. It would be a panel of Democrats and Republicans that would come up with answers by a certain deadline.

The pay-as-you-go rule is being restored, the president said. This is a simple rule that indicates that “the Congress can’t spend a dime without cutting it from elsewhere,” Obama remarked.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (BNO NEWS) – President Obama met with former President George W. Bush and former President Bill Clinton Saturday to discuss the effort to lead the Haitian Relief Fund.

Former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton were tapped to lead a relief effort to aid the Haiti people and government in light of the devastating disaster that struck the region a few days prior. After a meeting in the Oval Office, the two ex-Presidents and President Obama spoke to the American people in the Rose Garden.

President Obama told Haitians that “[…] sustained help is on the way.”

President Obama lauded the former President’s willingness to ensure the continued effort and attention on Haiti. Each President thanked the others for their commitment. President Bush and President Clinton both guaranteed the American people that they were to serve as guarantors that the money will be well spent.

President Obama said that Americans have always come together to “lend a hand, serve others and do what’s right.”

Bush spoke second, urging “I know a lot of people want to send blankets or water. Just send your cash. […] One of the things President Clinton and I will make sure is your money is spent wisely.”

“We want to stay with this over the long run,” Clinton said.

People are urged to go to a new web site – www.clintonbushhaitifund.org – to make donations.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (BNO NEWS) – President Obama met with numerous CEOs at a White House Forum Thursday to discuss a platform to modernize the U.S. Government.

President Obama organized the forum to hear from those “[…] on the frontlines – from those far removed from Washington – who are using technology to save money and improve performance.” The White House stated that “[…] information technology transformed how the private sector operates by revolutionizing the ease, convenience, and effectiveness by which it serves its customers. The government has a lot to learn from the private sector.”

“I want us to ask ourselves every day, how are we using technology to make a real difference in people’s lives,” said President Obama. “Improving the technology our government uses isn’t about having the fanciest bells and whistles on our websites – it’s about how we use the American people’s hard-earned tax dollars to make government work better for them.”

A specifically cited source of ineffective and inefficient government function that separates the public and private sectors by wasting billions of dollars is slow and inadequate customer service, and a lack of transparency about how tax payers’ money is spent.

“Twenty years ago, people who came to work in the federal government had better technology at work than at home. Now, that’s no longer the case,” White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Peter Orszag explained. “The American people deserve better service from their government, and better return for their tax dollars. It’s time to bring government into the 21st century.”

The White House Forum on Modernizing Government will begin with statements and remarks by the President, and then the CEOs, government and labor officials, and government leaders will split up into smaller discussion groups organized around numerous topics including: streamlining government operations, improving customer service, and maximizing return on IT investments.
The forum is a part of a larger effort to streamline solutions in the federal government and weed out ideas that don’t work. Last year, the President launched an effort to save $40 billion by ending wasteful contracting practices and ordered a line-by-line review of the budget to make sure the administration invests in what works.

Among those who attended the forum are Shantanu Narayen of Adobe Technology, Steve Ballmer of Microsoft, Craig Newmark of Craigslist, John Riccitello of Electronic Arts, Inc., Chris Hughes of Facebook, and a handful of others.

President Obama first proposed the idea for the forum in his weekly address on April 25, 2009.