Obama calls economic crisis ‘disaster’

September 30th, 2009 Disaster declaration issued for American SamoaWASHINGTON — The White House has declared a major disaster in American Samoa following a deadly tsunami. Early reports say towering waves spawned by an earthquake have flattened villages and killed several people in American Samoa.

September 30th, 2009 Obama declares major disaster for American SamoaWASHINGTON — President Barack Obama says his deepest sympathies are with the people of American Samoa and Samoa who lost loved ones after an earthquake sent a massive tsunami toward the Pacific islands. Obama has declared a major disaster for American Samoa and says the Federal Emergency Management Agency is working with emergency responders in the region.

August 9th, 2009 WASHINGTON - President Obama, it seems, wants to be seen as presidential and not a partisan combatant, but there are times when exceptions can be made. At a campaign fundraiser Thursday evening for Virginia gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds, Obama shed the cloak of bipartisanship and fired a verbal barrage at Republican critics and opponents of his economic policies.

June 16th, 2009 Obama promises to close regulatory gapsWASHINGTON — As the Obama administration prepares to unveil an overhaul of the way financial institutions are regulated, President Barack Obama says the goal will be to fill a "series of regulatory gaps." Obama told reporters Tuesday there's been a "lack of oversight" that allowed what he termed "wild risk-taking." He says it led to conditions that have been "very dangerous" for the American people. Obama says rather than adding another layer of regulatory agencies, his approach will be to streamline and consolidate, and to add protections for consumers and investors.

May 9th, 2009 President approves disaster aid for Ala. countiesWASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has declared a major disaster for Alabama counties affected by severe storms, flooding, tornadoes and straight-line winds in mid-April.

March 27th, 2009 LONDON - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who last year referred to Barack Obama as "sun-tanned", has returned to the same subject after he claimed the difference between their leadership styles was that he is 'paler'. The 72-year-old made the comment to a reporter who compared the two leaders and their handling of the economic crisis.

March 15th, 2009 WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama said his country has lot to learn from Brazil in the field of renewable energy and would utilise that opportunity to build close ties with other Latin American countries. Obama has promised to redouble his country's efforts to use clean energy during talks with his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at the White House Saturday, EFE reported.

March 12th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The US will push for aggressive action to halt the global economic slide at an international financial summit next month, President Barack Obama said Wednesday, emphasizing the interconnectedness of the global economy and again warning against protectionist moves. Ahead of April's Group of 20 (G20) gathering of the world's leading economies, Obama acknowledged that developing countries were being 'hard hit' by the fallout from an economic crisis that largely began in the United States.

February 18th, 2009 WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama said Wednesday he hopes to keep between seven and nine million homeowners out of foreclosure, using $75 billion to stabilize a housing crisis that is at the heart of the country's deepening recession. Obama unveiled plans offering aid to homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages, to relax rules on mortgage refinancing and to help neighbourhoods raise property values by renovating already foreclosed properties.

February 6th, 2009 WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama Friday created a new bipartisan advisory board to develop solutions to the country's economic crisis as he warned lawmakers that immediate action was critical to pulling the US out of a serious recession. The 17-member board, led by former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker, includes conservative and left-leaning economists from academia, labour unions and business.

January 30th, 2009 WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao agreed during a telephone conversation Friday to closely work together to the fight off the global financial crisis, the White House said. Obama also stressed the need to correct global trade imbalances and to take steps to get credit markets moving again, the White House said.

January 30th, 2009 WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama, in his weekly radio address Saturday, said the current financial crisis was 'devastating' and that measures to prevent a downward spiral should be implemented without delay. Obama's comments came as the US Senate prepares to debate his massive economic stimulus package, unprecedented at over $800 billion.

January 26th, 2009 WASHINGTON - US President Barack Obama Monday telephoned French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to discuss the global economic crisis, the Middle East and improving bilateral relations. These were the latest in a long list of telephone calls to foreign leaders that Obama has made since his inauguration Jan 20.

January 23rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - In his first weekly address, US President Barack Obama Saturday called for fast action on his economic stimulus plan and warned that 'a bad situation could become dramatically worse ... if we do not act boldly and swiftly.' Obama said he is hoping to get his $825-billion economic stimulus package through Congress 'in less than a month', an expectation he drove home Friday at his meeting with Republican and Democratic lawmakers at the White House.

January 8th, 2009 WASHINGTON - US president-elect Barack Obama is expected to call for drastic measures to revive the ailing US economy Thursday, even if that means tipping the US deficit over $1 trillion. In prepared comments for a speech scheduled for 1600 GMT, Obama said the economic situation could deteriorate further and a recession last for years without government intervention.