Washington, Mar 26 : President Barack Obama’s decision to deploy an additional 17,000 troops in Afghanistan is part of a strategy to shift the centre of gravity in favour of the Americans.

The United States is taking unabashed ownership of the Afghan war after years cooperation with NATO and resentment over unequal burden sharing, the Washington Post reports.

Obama’s decision to deploy an additional 17,000 troops to Afghanistan this year will bring the number of foreign troops there to nearly 90,000, more than two-thirds of them Americans.

Washington  - US President Barack Obama headed to Congress Wednesday for a meeting with his fellow Democratic Party lawmakers, some of whom have been skeptical of the administration's massive spending plans to help end the country's recession.

His visit came as the budget committees of both chambers in Congress began debating Obama's 2010 budget proposals - the first step in what is likely to be a prolonged battle over the president's spending priorities.

Washington  - US President Barack Obama said Wednesday he backs the expansion of NATO to European countries aspiring to join the alliance but pledged to work towards reinvigorating US-Russian relations.

Obama, meeting with NATO Secretary General Jaap De Hoop Scheffer just a week before the alliance summit in Germany and France, also said he will present his administration's strategic review of the mission in Afghanistan to other members.

"We expect to share that with our NATO counterparts," Obama said.

Washington, Mar. 25 : President Barack Obama has asked Americans to be patient while his administration tries to deal with the recession by bailing out the financial institutions despite the fact that they are being widely criticized for creating the economic crisis.

Obama said he already sees "signs of progress" in the economy and promised a recovery from recession.

Washington, Mar. 25: In quite a departure from his first press conference on February 9, President Barack Obama avoided taking questions from the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal or USA Today, and according to experts, this may not sit well with the already insecure newspaper industry.

Obama opened things up to a wider variety of outlets, including Spanish-language television, a military news outlet, and black-oriented media. It''s another example of the White House going over the typical Washington press corps "filter."

London, Mar 25 : Music mogul Simon Cowell had turned down US President Barack Obama's dinner invite - because he "wasn't available".

In an interview to US chat show host Jay Leno, the X-Factor judge revealed that he rejected a dinner invite Obama because he was too busy.

"He wanted to have dinner and our diaries didn't quite match," the Sun quoted him as saying.

"We just didn't quite connect," he added.