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Obama pledges more than $450 million aid to help Colombia peace plan

By Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama said on Thursday he would ask the U.S. Congress for more than $450 million in aid to help Colombia end “half a century of wrenching conflict” and implement a peace accord aimed at ending Latin America's longest war. If approved, the aid would help with security and fighting the drug trade, as well as educating and retraining members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, the leftist rebel group at war with the government since 1964. “After half a century of wrenching conflict, the time has come for peace,” Obama said after meeting with Colombian President Juan Manual Santos.

Obama presses for U.S. funding bill amid Republican disarray

U.S. President Barack Obama urged Congress on Wednesday to avoid shutting down the government starting on Oct. 1, as Republicans in the House of Representatives struggled to get enough votes to pass a bill to fund it. Some conservatives want to punish women's healthcare provider Planned Parenthood by denying the group federal funds. Conservative Republicans are watching how the battle plays out.

Obama administration: 16.4M have gained health insurance

WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 16 million Americans have gained insurance coverage as a result of President Barack Obama’s health care law, the administration said Monday as the White House prepares to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the law’s signing.

Obama budget seeks boost for military, domestic programs

By Jeff Mason PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – President Barack Obama will call for a 7 percent rise in U.S. domestic and military spending in his budget that would end caps known as “sequestration,” the White House said on Thursday, setting up a new conflict with Republicans in Congress. The fiscal 2016 budget, which the administration plans to unveil on Monday, would fund a host of programs that Republicans are unlikely to support. It is the latest salvo by the Democratic president lobbed at a Congress controlled by the opposition party, and follows a defiant State of the Union address last week that critics said betrayed an unwillingness to seek compromise. Obama maintained that tone during remarks to congressional Democrats in Philadelphia, promising not to remain on the sidelines during the last two years of his presidency and urging lawmakers to be unapologetic about backing progressive policies.

Former President Bush, 90, to spend weekend in Houston hospital

(Reuters) – Doctors in Houston will keep former U.S. President George H.W. Bush in the hospital through the weekend since his bout with shortness of breath, though doctors “have begun discussing dates for his discharge,” his office said Saturday. Bush, 90, was taken by ambulance to Houston Methodist Hospital on Tuesday night and admitted for observation after experiencing breathing difficulties earlier that evening, according to his spokesman, Jim McGrath. There has been no word on whether the nation's 41st president is suffering from any particular ailment. …