Obama insured against crocodiles in Oz

US President Barack Obama is expected to receive a warm welcome in Australia on Wednesday, but just in case the reception is wilder than expected a firm has offered him insurance against crocodiles. Obama will be the fifth US president to visit close ally Australia, and his flying two-day visit will take in the staid capital Canberra as well as the Northern Territory town of Darwin, in the heart of "Crocodile Dundee" country.

Local firm TIO has snapped up the opportunity to insure the high-profile visitor, issuing a him with a Crocodile Attack Insurance policy which will pay out Aus$50,000 (US$50,870) if the president is fatally attacked by a reptile.

"It's a unique product for a unique environment and we're excited to be issuing one of these policies for Obama as a memento of his time in the Territory," chief executive Richard Harding said.

The company, which has been providing crocodile cover for more than 20 years, hopes to present a framed copy of the policy -- which features a menacing photo of the deadly predator -- to Obama in Darwin on Thursday.

An average of two people are killed each year in Australia by salt water crocodiles, known locally as "salties", which can grow up to seven metres (23 feet) long and weigh more than a tonne.

In June, park rangers harpooned a monster 4.5 metre croc at a waterhole northeast of Darwin where it had been terrorising fishermen.

It was one of nearly 200 of the man-eaters trapped in the territory in the first half of the year.

'Qaeda would find 9/11-style strike difficult'

US President Barack Obama on Tuesday said that it would be "very difficult" over the next two years for al-Qaida to stage a spectacular terror attack on the scale of the September 11 strikes in 2001.

Obama said that given America's open society, it would always be vulnerable, but argued that as a result of a stepped-up US campaign which had "decimated" al-Qaida's leadership, the country was safer.

`"But for them to be able to mount something that is a big project with a lot of financing, that is very difficult for them to do now," Obama said in an interview.

"They are still dangerous, they are still our number one enemy, we have got to make sure that we don't let up.

"But I think we are in a position over the next couple of years, if we stay on it, it is going to be very difficult for them to mount the kinds of spectacular attacks that we saw on 9/11."

Obama spoke days after a top al-Qaida suspect, US-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaqi, was killed in a suspected US drone strike in Yemen, becoming the latest member of the group to die in a volley of intensified US attacks.

Administration officials confided on Friday that at least 23 senior extremist Islamic leadership figures had been killed or captured, in US or allied operations in Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen and elsewhere since August 2009.

The most spectacular coup for the campaign was the killing of al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden in a US special forces raid on his hideout inside Pakistan in May.

Palestinian UN bid: Obama to meet Israeli PM

US President Barack Obama will urge his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas to drop a bid for UN recognition of statehood later on today.

Mr Obama will also meet Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu amid frantic diplomacy aimed at averting a crisis.

The US president has vowed to veto the bid, backing Israel's view that direct talks offer the only route to peace.

But efforts by US, European, Russian and UN mediators have yet to produce guidelines for the resumption of talks.

The last round of talks broke down a year ago.

Mr Abbas is set to launch the statehood bid on Friday, after his address to the United Nations General Assembly, with a written request to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

But Mr Obama will ask him not to push for a vote in the Security Council, where the US has promised a veto, to give the "quartet" of mediators time to produce a statement that would be the basis for resumed peace negotiations.

"With both the Israelis and the Palestinians, the president will be able to say very directly why we believe action at the United Nations is not the way ... to achieve a (Palestinian) state," deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes told.

The quartet aims to give the two sides a year to reach a framework agreement, based on Mr Obama's vision of borders fashioned from Israel's pre-1967 boundary, with agreed land swaps.

The statement would also endorse the idea of "two states for two peoples, Jewish and Palestinian", according to the news agency.

However, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague acknowledged there had as yet been no progress.

And Mr Obama's stance has come under fire from Republican opponents.

Texas Governor Rick Perry said: "The Obama policy of moral equivalency, which gives equal standing to the grievances of Israelis and Palestinians, including the orchestrators of terrorism, is a dangerous insult."

Both Mr Netanyahu and Mr Abbas have said they are prepared to engage in direct talks. But Mr Abbas has so far appeared determined to press ahead with the statehood bid.

If his request is approved by Mr Ban, the Security Council would then examine and vote on it. In order to pass, the request must get the votes of nine out of 15 council members, with no vetoes from the permanent members. The US has said it will use its veto.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki said he thought the bid could win the backing of nine council members.

"We hope the United States will revise its position and be on the side of the majority of nations or countries who want to support the Palestinian right to have self determination and independence," Reuters news agency reported him as saying.

However, before leaving for New York, Mr Netanyahu told members of his Likud party the path to peace was "through dialogue and not through unilateral declarations".

Should the Palestinian bid fail, Mr Abbas could ask for a vote of the General Assembly for enhanced observer status, which is enjoyed by others such as the Vatican, in which case no veto would be possible.

While UN recognition would have largely symbolic value, the Palestinians argue that it would strengthen their hands in peace talks with Israel, especially on the final issues that divide them.

These are the precise location of the border, the status of Jerusalem, the right of return of Palestinian refugees, water, and security.

Report:Obama to propose $300 billion jobs package

President Barack Obama, facing waning confidence among Americans in his economic stewardship, plans to lay out a USD 300 billion job-creation package on Thursday, reported, citing Democratic sources.

The proposed new spending, to be announced by Obama in a nationally televised speech to Congress, would be offset by budget cuts, the report said, signaling that the Democratic president hopes to mollify the concerns of Republican fiscal hawks resistant to his jobs ideas.

There was no immediate comment from the White House.

Obama's aides have refused to go public with the estimated cost of Obama's package or provide many specifics in advance, except to say that the proposals will have a "quick and positive" impact on boosting jobs at a time of stubbornly high US unemployment.

Confidence in Obama's management of the economy has been hit by months of bad economic news and several polls on Tuesday showed fresh declines in his job approval ratings.

Obama hopes to start reversing this trend in an address to a joint session of Congress on Thursday, in which he will try to convince voters that he has a better economic recovery plan than his Republican opponents.

"We need to do things that will have a direct impact in the short-term to grow the economy and create jobs and the president will put forward proposals that will do just that," White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

Obama fought Republicans all summer to lift the US debt ceiling in a bitter debate that saw rating agency Standard & Poor's cut the US AAA credit rating, and he must now get lawmakers to back additional spending that many oppose.

However, the president is seeking congressional support at a time when his own prospects of re-election have worsened.

A third survey by Politico and George Washington University found that 72 percent of voters believe the country is either strongly or somewhat headed in the wrong direction, a jump of 12 percent since last May.

Obama must get unemployment down from levels currently above 9 percent to improve his chances of winning a second White House term in the November 2012 election.

The president has already touched on a various steps Congress could take to lift growth and hiring, including infrastructure spending, business tax breaks, and extending a payroll tax cut and aid for the long-term unemployed.

Carney declined to lay out any specifics but said the measures Obama would recommend would yield a "direct, quick and positive impact" on the US economy if they were enacted by Congress.

Republicans criticized Obama for not including them in discussions on the package before his big speech and indicated any jobs bills could face tough passage through Congress, where they control the US House of Representatives.

"I have no doubt the president will propose many things on Thursday that, when looked at individually, sound pretty good, or that he'll call them all bipartisan. I'm equally certain that, taken as whole, they'll represent more of the same failed approach," said the top Senate Republican, Mitch McConnell.

Republican House leaders separately wrote to Obama urging him to repeal "excessive, job-destroying regulations" and laying out possible areas of common ground, including reforms to the unemployment system and free trade agreements.

Obama declares September as Childhood Obesity Awareness Month

US President Barack Obama has declared September as the National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month as part of his administration`s efforts to address the challenge of a "dramatic rise" in obesity among American children.

"Since the 1970s, the rate of childhood obesity in our country has tripled, and today a third of American children are overweight or obese. This dramatic rise threatens to have far-reaching, long-term effects on our children`s health, livelihoods, and futures," Obama said in his proclamation in this regard.

He said, "Without major changes, a third of children born in the year 2000 will develop Type 2 diabetes during their lifetimes, and many others will face obesity-related problems like heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer, and asthma,"

As a nation, Obama said, the greatest responsibility is to ensure the well-being of American children. "By taking action to address the issue of childhood obesity, we can help America`s next generation reach their full potential."

Taking the lead, First Lady Michelle Obama has also launched a series of steps to fight increasing obesity among children and promote healthy food.

"Together, we can stop this epidemic in its tracks. Over the last year and a half, the First Lady`s Let`s Move! initiative has brought together Federal agencies and some of the biggest corporations and nonprofits from across our country, working to meet our national goal of solving the problem of childhood obesity within a generation.

"Let`s Move! aims to help ensure we can make healthy choices about the foods we eat and how much exercise we get, while building the habits necessary to tackle one of the most urgent health issues we face in this country," Obama said.

The US President said everyone has a role to play in preventing and reversing the tide of childhood obesity. "This year, we announced groundbreaking partnerships with grocery stores and other retailers to increase access to healthy food in under-served areas."

The stores have pledged to increase their fruit and vegetable offerings and to open new locations in communities where nutritious food is limited or unavailable, he said.