World Muslim body condemns attacks on Saudi missions in Iran

Yahoo – AFP, January 21, 2016

Secretary General of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Saudi Iyad Ameen
Madani (R) shakes hands with Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi during
an emergency meeting in the Saudi city of Jeddah, on January 21, 2016 (AFP Photo)

Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) (AFP) - A global Muslim body on Thursday condemned the attacks on Saudi missions in Iran earlier this month and denounced Tehran's regional "interference".

Foreign ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, in a statement, said it "condemns the aggressions against the missions of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Tehran and Mashhad".

The statement followed an extraordinary meeting requested by Saudi Arabia after protesters in Iran burned Riyadh's embassy in Tehran and a consulate in the second city of Mashhad.

Such "aggressions" contravene international law as well as the OIC charter, said the communique, which member state Iran rejected.

The violence against Riyadh's missions occurred after the kingdom executed dissident Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, a driving force behind anti-government protests.

Sunni Saudi Arabia and some of its allies cut diplomatic ties with Shiite Iran as a result of the violence against its missions.

Nimr was one of four Shiites put to death on January 2 alongside 43 Sunnis. All were convicted of "terrorism".

The 57-member OIC said it "rejects and condemns Iran's inflammatory statements" over the executions, "considering those statements a blatant interference in the internal affairs" of Saudi Arabia.

It also denounced "Iran's interference in the internal affairs of the states of the region and other member states (including Bahrain, Yemen and Syria and Somalia) and its continued support for terrorism".

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi attended the meeting but his country "declared its rejection of the communique," the document said.

It added that Lebanon also "distances itself" from the meeting's final statement.

The OIC calls itself the collective voice of the Muslim world.

Tensions between the leading Sunni and Shiite nations have caused concern around the globe. China, France and Pakistan have all sought a de-escalation.

Iranian protesters set fire to the Saudi Embassy in Tehran during a demonstration 

against the execution of prominent Shiite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr by Saudi 

authorities, on January 2, 2016 (AFP Photo/Mohammadreza Nadimi)

'Continuous attacks'

At the start of Thursday's meeting, OIC Secretary General Iyad Madani called for "building bridges of understanding and restoring mutual trust" through dialogue.

This will prevent conflicts "that will waste energy and hinder the development of our people," he said.

Tensions between members "distract us from addressing the real challenges", including "terrorism", which threaten members of the organisation, Madani told the group based in the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah.

The final communique underscored the "importance of reinforcing relations of good neighbourliness" among members.

Iran sacked a senior security official over his failure to stop the attack on Riyadh's embassy, while Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday said the attack was against Islam.

But Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir charged at Thursday's meeting that Iran respects neither Islam nor the charter of the OIC.

"The importance of this meeting is in the fact that this aggression is not the first but only a part of a series of continuous attacks that diplomatic missions have been subjected to in Iran for 35 years," Jubeir said.

"It is important to point out that the aggression against the kingdom's missions comes as part of Iran's aggressive policies and its continuous interference in the internal issues of the countries in the region".

Saudi Arabia and Iran support opposite sides in the conflicts in Syria and Yemen. Iran has also consolidated its influence in Iraq and Lebanon.

Riyadh had also called for an emergency meeting of the Arab League after the attack on its missions.

The Cairo-based body on January 10 expressed full support for Saudi Arabia in dealing with the "hostile acts and provocations of Iran".

#UPDATE Iran's return to international stage 'now possible': Hollande https://t.co/VUCefOxkZr pic.twitter.com/LIoQrRldVh

— AFP news agency (@AFP) January 21, 2016

US Supreme Court to review Obama orders on immigrant deportations

Yahoo – AFP, Sébastien Blanc, January 19, 2016

Immigration activists celebrate outside the White House on November 20, 2014
in Washington, DC after US President Barack Obama addressed the nation on
his immigration plan (AFP Photo/Brendan Smialowski)

Washington (AFP) - The US Supreme Court said Tuesday it will review whether President Barack Obama has the authority to protect millions of illegal immigrants from deportation.

The politically charged case -- which comes in an election year -- stems from the administration's appeal of lower court rulings that blocked Obama's efforts to reform immigration policy through executive orders.

More than four million people in the country illegally whose children are legal residents stand to benefit from the president's orders, which would allow them to stay and work in the United States while their legal status is being resolved.

US President Barack Obama signs two 

Presidential Memoranda associated with

his Executive Actions on immigration in his

office on board Air Force One in Las

Vegas, Nevada, November 21, 2014 

(AFP Photo/Jim Watson)

Determined to circumvent Congress, after it failed to pass comprehensive immigration reform, Obama announced the measures in November 2014.

The executive action set off a storm in the US Congress, denounced by Republicans as an abuse of power and tantamount to "amnesty."

Governors of 26 Republican-led states challenged the orders as exceeding the president's executive powers, and federal courts in Texas and Louisiana put them on hold.

The top US court has not scheduled oral arguments in the case, but it is expected to render a decision by mid-June, with the US election season in full swing and less than a month before the Republican and Democratic nominating conventions.

Immigration has dominated the race for the Republican presidential nomination since frontrunner Donald Trump launched his campaign with accusations that Mexico was sending drug dealers and "rapists" to the United States.

The mere fact that the conservative-leaning court has decided to take up the case is seen as a victory for Obama, which argues that immigration policy is the purview of the federal government and that the measures it took do not violate federal law.

"Like millions of families across this country -- immigrants who want to be held accountable, to work on the books, to pay taxes, and to contribute to our society openly and honestly -- we are pleased that the Supreme Court has decided to review the immigration case," said Brandi Hoffine, a White House spokeswoman.

"The policies will make our communities safer. They will make our economy stronger. And they are consistent with the actions taken by presidents of both parties, the laws passed by Congress, and the decisions of the Supreme Court.

"We are confident that the policies will be upheld as lawful," she said.

Separation of powers

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, however, said the Supreme Court's decision to review the case meant it "recognizes the importance of the separation of powers."

"As federal courts have already ruled three times, there are limits to the president's authority, and those limits enacted by Congress were exceeded when the president unilaterally sought to grant 'lawful presence' to more than four million unauthorized aliens who are in this country unlawfully," Paxton said in a statement.

Governor Greg Abbott (C) speaks alongside Senator Ted Cruz (L) and Attorney

 General Ken Paxton on February 18, 2015 about the lawsuit filed by a Texas-led

 coalition of 26 states challenging President Obama's executive action on immigration

(AFP Photo/Erich Schlegel)

Among Texas's complaints is the additional cost to the states of issuing driver's licenses to all those given quasi-legal status if the administration's policy is upheld.

The court decision to review the case was welcomed by Democrats and pro-immigrant lobbying groups, who expressed confidence that the administration's position would be upheld.

"If Republicans are truly interested in fixing our broken immigration system, they should work with Democrats to pass legislation that would render the president's executive actions unnecessary," said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid.

Todd Schulte, the president of the tech industry-funded lobbying group FWD.us, called the review "a promising step in the right direction."

Unfreezing the presidential orders would allow "millions of immigrants to come out of the shadows and positively contribute to our economy, and to our communities," he said.

The outcome of the case also could have a bearing on the 2016 elections if it motivates Hispanics, the largest US minority, to go to the polls in November. In 2012, they voted overwhelmingly for Obama.

Even as Trump has made immigrant-bashing a hallmark of his campaign, other Republicans have argued that the party must attract Hispanics to grow.

It's a sometimes thorny issue for Democrats as well.

Pope hails ties with Jews on landmark synagogue visit

Yahoo – AFP, Jean-Louis de la Vaissiere, January 17, 2016

Pope Francis arrives with chief Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni (C) to Rome's
main Synagogue on January 17, 2016 (AFP Photo/Vincenzo Pinto)

Rome (AFP) - Pope Francis on Sunday made his first visit to a synagogue as pontiff, citing an "unbreakable" bond between Jews and Christians as hundreds of armed security personnel were deployed for the Rome visit.

Francis is the third pope to visit the Great Synagogue in Italy's capital after John-Paul II in 1986 and Benedict XVI in 2010.

Located just across the River Tiber from the Vatican, it stands in an area still known as the Ghetto where under the orders of some of Francis's predecessors, Jews were confined for more than three centuries until their emancipation at the end of the 19th Century.

Evoking "the unbreakable bond between Jews and Christians", the pope delivered a message of peace.

"Violence against men is in contradiction with any religion worthy of the name, and in particular the big monotheist religions," he said, in his first visit to a synagogue since being elected pope in 2013.

He urged rejection of "all forms of anti-Semitism", saying: "we must condemn any abuse, any discrimination and persecution stemming from it."

The pope was greeted with applause as he arrived and was met on the synagogue steps by Rome's chief rabbi Riccardo Di Segni.

Pope Francis listens to chief Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni (R) in Rome's main 

Synagogue on January 17, 2016 (AFP Photo/Vincenzo Pinto)

Francis in turn greeted some 1,500 invited guests who filled the religious site to witness the pontiff's visit.

After the deadly attacks in Paris in November, claimed by the Islamic State group, security for the visit was particularly tight, with basements in the area around the synagogue searched, dustbins sealed and parking banned.

Fears of a Paris-style assault in Rome have seen visitor numbers fall, while soldiers with automatic rifles have become a common sight around the city's historic centre.

On Sunday Francis also welcomed 5,000 migrant worshippers at a special mass at St Peter's to mark the world day of migrants and refugees, urging them to treasure their "culture and precious values".

Centuries of anti-Semitism

Ties between the Christianity and Judaism, which improved under both John-Paul II and Benedict XVI, have become warmer still under Francis, who has a long-standing friendship with Argentinian rabbi Abraham Skorka, with whom he jointly published a book of conversations about issues of ethics, morality and faith.

As part of his visit, the pope was to view two commemorative plaques in the synagogue's gardens, one marking an incident in 1943 when more than 1,000 Jews were rounded up and deported to the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz and the other a 1983 attack on the building that left 37 injured and one dead.

Pope Francis shows a gift at the end of his visit at Rome's main

synagogue on January 17, 2016 (AFP Photo/Vincenzo Pinto)

"Six million people, simply because they belonged to the Hebrew people, were victims of the most inhuman barbarity, perpetrated in the name of an ideology that wanted to put man in God's place," Francis said.

On the final days of his Middle East tour in May 2015, the pontiff said prayers at the Western Wall in Jerusalem -- the holiest site at which Jews are allowed to pray.

A key question that has long blighted relations between the two faiths was addressed in December when senior Catholic theologians said Jews can secure eternal salvation without converting to Christianity.

"Although Jews cannot believe in Jesus Christ as the universal redeemer, they have a part in salvation, because the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable," the report concludes, according to a summary released to the media.

The belief that the only way to salvation is through belief in Christ is a fundamental tenet of every strand of Christianity.

But it has also been blamed for creating an evangelical tendency responsible for some of the darkest periods in the history of religion, notably the anti-Muslim crusades of the Middle Ages and centuries of Christian anti-Semitism.

Pope Francis and other religious leaders at the Vatican. Photograph: AP

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"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“.   New Tolerance

Look for a softening of finger pointing and an awakening of new tolerance. There will remain many systems for different cultures, as traditions and history are important to sustaining the integrity of culture. So there are many in the Middle East who would follow the prophet and they will continue, but with an increase of awareness. It will be the increase of awareness of what the prophet really wanted all along - unity and tolerance. The angel in the cave instructed him to "unify the tribes and give them the God of Israel." You're going to start seeing a softening of intolerance and the beginning of a new way of being.

Eventually, this will create an acknowledgement that says, "You may not believe the way we believe, but we honor you and your God. We honor our prophet and we will love you according to his teachings. We don't have to agree in order to love." How would you like that? The earth is not going to turn into one belief system. It never will, for Humans don't do that. There must be variety, and there must be the beauty of cultural differences. But the systems will slowly update themselves with increased awareness of the truth of a new kind of balance. So that's the first thing. Watch for these changes, dear ones. ...."

"The Humanization of God"–  Jul 16, 2011 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“… The Humanization of God

I'm going to title this channelling so that my partner will not. I don't always title them, for labeling items is something done for 3D reasons. In your reality, you want a label for the message you're about to hear. So I'll give it to you, just as a dichotomous exercise. Its title will be, "The Humanization of God."

My partner sits in a chair. It has taken him 22 years to bring my conceptual thoughts to you. Even though these conceptual thoughts from the other side of the veil are also within each Human, within your Higher-Self, they are not easy to access. This is because they exist in a multidimensional state and not one that a Human relates to. Therefore, it has taken 22 years for my partner to learn to linearize the concepts into a string of words, presented in a language that you will understand.

Not all of you here and reading this will understand what I'm teaching today. I am aware of that, for Spirit does not speak to Human Beings with words in this fashion. Instead, the language of Spirit speaks in that what you call intuitive flashes, outside of linear time, and all at once. That is how you get your best information. Yet many of you feel you have God all figured out.

Examples of the Linear

As I sit here, perhaps an individual who may be here for the very first time asks the question, "Who are you, Kryon, and where are you from?" Now those two questions may absolutely be logical and normal to every single Human Being who hears and reads this message, but I will tell you that the questions themselves betray biased linear thinking. For Kryon is not a who and is from nowhere. How can that be? The only way I can explain this is to give you metaphors. I know that metaphors don't hold up under full examination, since no analogy is perfect. So consider it only a close example to get you to begin the understanding process.

Let's say you feel incredible love in your life for another Human, or for an animal, for instance, or for your child. Let us say that it is overwhelming and perhaps even has you weep with joy, so strong it is! Now, when you feel this way, do you look around and say, "Who are you, really? Who is there?" Would you address that love emotion as though it had a body and ask, "Where are you from?" You would not! Instead, you'd simply accept it and say, "I know it's coming from me, but it really doesn't feel part of me."

There's something about love. It comes from everywhere. It permeates the soul of the Human Being. You feel it so strongly. You are not aware of it being sent to you, or pulled to you; it just is. But it's unusual and profound, almost like it's part of something else, something bigger. Perhaps it's the God part of you, expanding? You'd be right about that. Love is not singular. You don't segment it into parts, or put a body on it and give it a name either. It's a concept that affects every cell of your body and all your body functions. It sometimes even takes over! This is the beauty of love.

I'm not a who. You hear me within this voice, coming from a singular body of a Human Being. So you understandably want to know who's talking. But the only thing singular here is the Human who I come through. I am best identified as that which is the collection of the confluence of the creative energy source in the Universe. I am uncountable and am not isolated and singular. You can't notate me (define me with attributes in 3D). Twenty-two years ago, I identified myself and said, "I am, that I am." And then I said, "And so are you!" I told you that at the center of the atom is where I am. I told you that the space between the electron haze and the nucleus is filled with love. I told you that the benevolent, creative source energy that is part of you is part of me. It is all things together. You'll find it in a tree, in the dirt and in the grass. You'll find it in the air and you can't ask who because we are not singular. You can't count the flavor in the soup, or identify "where is the salt?" It just "is" the soup.

God does not have the mind of a Human Being with the consciousness of a Human Being. God is not a collection of many separate consciousness parts either, and this is difficult for you to understand. God can talk to every single Human - all 6, 7 billion of them - at the same time. God can carry on a loving, healing conversation, being personal all at once with every single one of you. Think of that! That's not a who. That's the creator of the Universe. That's a divine, intelligent, loving energy. Don't humanize this source! It's not like you.

The Linear Thinker

Humans want to make everything separate and individual. You want to separate, identify, and quantify. This is Human nature, for every living thing you come into contact with is separate and singular - a Human, an animal, a bug, a tree. They all have this in common. Each one is a closed life system and is ONE thing. So placing God in this box makes you feel better. Because only then can you grasp how you're supposed to act and react to Spirit. Linearizing God helps you to feel what you're supposed to do and when you're supposed to do it. All of the survival attributes that you've learned all your life go into this, and we call it the Human linear bias. God is better understood if it's a man with a beard and a low voice - the authority figure. But Spirit is not like that.

God is not an authority figure, either! Yet many of you will not accept that. "You mean the creator of the Universe is not in charge?" I didn't say that. I said that God is not an authority figure. God is family. If there is any authority energy, then you share it with God, for God is in you. Therefore, YOU are the authority figure.

There is no protocol, either! Did you hear me? There is no generic protocol! Thousands of years of religion have created thousands of "rules" of how to "get God's favor." What if none of that is so? Let me ask you something: If you wanted to talk to your own body's cellular structure, what's the protocol? If it's you with you, how do you start? Should you dress up a bit, kneel, prepare yourself? Do you invent something, some framework of motions, so it will work better? Or do you simply go inside with your mind, talk to that which you own, and work the puzzle out? Do you see what I mean? Humans never consider God in them. Instead, they wish to separate God. They wish to elevate God and put Spirit on the altar where they can face it and perhaps even create a statue so they can visualize who to talk to. That is humanizing God.  …”

'Implementation Day' for Iran nuclear deal as prisoners freed

Yahoo – AFP, Simon Sturdee with Arthur MacMillan in Tehran, January 16, 2016

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (L) and EU foreign policy chief
 Federica Mogherini hold a joint press conference during the E3/EU+3 and Iran talks
 at the International Atomic Energy Agency headquarters in Vienna on January 16,
2016 (AFP Photo/Joe Klamar)

Vienna (AFP) - The historic nuclear accord between Iran and major powers entered into force Saturday as the UN confirmed that Tehran has shrunk its atomic programme and as painful sanctions were lifted on the Islamic republic.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said its "inspectors on the ground verified that Iran has carried out all measures" agreed under the July 14 agreement.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, representing the six powers, said that as a result "multilateral and national economic and financial sanctions related to Iran's nuclear programme are lifted".

US Secretary of State John Kerry 

holds a press conference in Vienna 

on January 16, 2016 (AFP Photo/

Joe Klamar)

"All sides remain firmly convinced that this historic deal is both strong and fair, and that it meets the requirements of all," Mogherini said in Vienna in a joint statement with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

"This achievement clearly demonstrates that with political will, perseverance, and through multilateral diplomacy, we can solve the most difficult issues and find practical solutions that are effectively implemented," they said.

The so-called "Implementation Day" for the accord also followed news of a prisoner swap between Iran and the United States in another sign of thawing relations between the two foes since the July 14 agreement.

The steps taken by Iran, combined with ultra-close IAEA inspections, extend to at least a year -- from a few months previously -- how long Iran would need to make one nuclear bomb's worth of fissile material.

They include slashing by two-thirds its uranium centrifuges, reducing its stockpile of uranium -- enough before the deal for several bombs -- and removing the core of the Arak reactor which could have given Iran weapons-grade plutonium.

Iran has always denied wanting nuclear weapons, saying its activities are exclusively for peaceful purposes such as power generation.

In what was hailed as a momentous diplomatic breakthrough, the Vienna agreement was nailed down after two years of rollercoaster negotiations following the June 2013 election of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

The highly complex deal drew a line under a standoff dating back to 2002 marked by failed diplomatic initiatives, ever-tighter sanctions, defiant nuclear expansion by Iran and threats of military action.

In addition it put Iran and the United States on the road to better relations some 35 years after the Islamic revolution that toppled the US-backed shah, and at a particularly explosive time in the Middle East.

The four Iranian-American detainees to be freed by Iran included Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian and Saeed Abedini, a pastor from Idaho, a senior US official said Saturday.

The others were Amir Hekmati and Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari, Washington said. A fifth American, identified as Matthew Trevitick, was also to be released as part of a different process.

In exchange Washington said it had granted clemency to seven Iranians, six of whom were dual US-Iranian citizens, and dropped charges against 14 more.

Daggers drawn

The agreement, heralded as US President Barack Obama's biggest major foreign policy triumph, has by no means been universally cheered, however.

Obama's Republican opponents charge that it fails to do enough to ensure Iran will never get the bomb, a complaint shared by Israel, Iran's arch foe widely assumed to have nuclear weapons itself.

Sunni Saudi Arabia, Iran's other great regional rival, is also alarmed at the prospect of warmer US-Iran ties and of predominantly Shiite Iran, newly flush with oil revenues, increasing its influence.

Already Saudi Arabia and Iran, fighting a proxy war in Yemen and key players in the Syrian conflict, are at daggers drawn following Saudi Arabia's execution of a Shiite cleric in early January and the subsequent ransacking of the Saudi embassy in Tehran.

Iran's imminent return to the oil market has also contributed to the sharp slide in the price of crude to 12-year lows of under $30 per barrel this week, putting Saudi Arabia's public finances under strain.

The lifting of sanctions on Iran is "going to put 500,000 barrels per day more on the market", said James Williams of WTRG Economics. Some analysts believe $20 oil is on the horizon.

Bumpy road

The deal has more than a decade to run, which is likely to be a bumpy road, experts say, not least if more hardline governments take power in Tehran or Washington.

FM #Steinmeier on #IranDeal #ImplementationDay: „Historic success for diplomacy.“ #IranTalks #JCPOA pic: archive pic.twitter.com/sB7W3PwoBn

— GermanForeignOffice (@GermanyDiplo) January 16, 2016

#ImplementationDay--I thank God for this blessing & bow to the greatness of the patient nation of Iran. Congrats on this glorious victory!

— Hassan Rouhani (@HassanRouhani) January 16, 2016

"First, yesterday marked a milestone in preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon." —@POTUS #IranDeal https://t.co/YPpOVULMt2

— The Iran Deal (@TheIranDeal) January 17, 2016

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US Secretary of State John Kerry speaks to journalists about his negotiations

 with Iran upon his arrival from Vienna at Joint Base Andrews on January 17,

2016 (AFP Photo/Kevin Lamarque)

Obama tells anxious US to embrace change

Yahoo – AFP, Andrew Beatty, January 13, 2016

US President Barack Obama hailed a period of "extraordinary change" laden
with both opportunity and the risk of wider inequality (AFP Photo/Saul Loeb)

Washington (AFP) - President Barack Obama told Americans nervous about terror and a changing economy that they should not fear the future, in a farewell State of the Union address that drew sharp contrast with Republicans.

In a primetime address that bubbled with 2016 election politics, Obama assailed Republicans for talking up the threat posed by the Islamic State group and talking down the American economy.

US First Lady Michelle Obama listens

 to the State of the Union address sitting

 next to a chair "left empty for the victims

 of gun violence who no longer have a

 voice," the White House said (AFP 

Photo/Nicholas Kamm)

A self-assured and optimistic Obama cast himself as the foil of foes who warn the country is going in the wrong direction because of his seven years in office.

Hailing an epoch of "extraordinary change" laden with risk and opportunity, Obama called for a new "moonshot" to cure cancer, a shift away from dirty energy to power the world's biggest economy and for a thaw in the last remnants of the Cold War by ending the embargo on Cuba.

Obama insisted "America has been through big changes before," as he took thinly veiled shots at Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and other leading Republican presidential candidates.

"Each time, there have been those who told us to fear the future, who claimed we could slam the brakes on change, promising to restore past glory if we just got some group or idea that was threatening America under control. And each time, we overcame those fears."

With less than three weeks until the Iowa caucuses -- the first votes cast in the process to replace him -- Obama berated Republican economic rhetoric, saying "anyone claiming that America's economy is in decline is peddling fiction."

But some of his toughest words were for Republican statements over the rise of the Islamic State group.

He painted the jihadists as "masses of fighters on the back of pickup trucks, twisted souls plotting in apartments or garages."

While vowing to work to find a cure for cancer, accelerate the shift away

 from "dirty energy" and end the last remnants of the Cold War by engaging

 with Cuba, President Barack Obama said "America has been through big 

changes before" (AFP Photo/Evan Vucci)

He admitted that the extremists, who have overrun large areas of Syria and Iraq, pose an "enormous danger," but made clear: "They do not threaten our national existence."

"Our answer needs to be more than tough talk or calls to carpet-bomb civilians. That may work as a TV sound bite, but it doesn't pass muster on the world's stage," he said pointedly.

"Over-the-top claims that this is World War III just play into their hands."

And in a volley clearly aimed at Trump, Obama warned that "when politicians insult Muslims... that's not telling it like it is. It's just wrong. It diminishes us in the eyes of the world."

The Republican frontrunner Trump was not impressed, describing the speech on Twitter as "really boring, slow, lethargic - very hard to watch!"

Last chance?

Tuesday's address was arguably Obama's last big opportunity to sway a national audience and frame the 2016 White House race.

Around 30 million viewers were expected to watch live, a nationwide audience that may only be matched in political terms during the Democratic nominating convention later this year.

The primetime address was perhaps US President Barack Obama's last

 big opportunity to sway a national audience and frame the 2016 election race

(AFP Photo/Saul Loeb)

But it risked being overshadowed by news that 10 US Navy personnel had been taken to an Iranian naval base in the Gulf.

Senior US officials said they had received assurances the crews would sail onwards come first light, but Republicans held up the crisis up as evidence that Obama was naive to engage Tehran.

Overall, it was an unorthodox speech that eschewed the typical laundry list of legislative priorities as Obama tried to lift the country's gaze beyond the next year, and beyond his presidency.

But he also tacitly, and explicitly, admitted mistakes.

There was no mention of the racial tensions that have dogged the tenure of the first black president.

There was only a fleeting reference, and a symbolic empty seat in the chamber, to gun control and the awful toll of American gun violence.

'Angriest voices'

Obama did take some blame for Washington's hyperpartisan politics.

"It's one of the few regrets of my presidency -- that the rancor and suspicion between the parties has gotten worse instead of better," he said in a moment of personal candor.

"There's no doubt a president with the gifts of Lincoln or Roosevelt might have better bridged the divide, and I guarantee I'll keep trying to be better so long as I hold this office."

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley said in the traditional Republican rebuttal of Obama's address that "the president's record has often fallen far short of his soaring words."

Related Article:

President Barack Obama calls on US leaders to 'fix our politics' during final annual address

Obama hopes to stoke optimism in farewell union address

Yahoo – AFP, Andrew Beatty,  January 10, 2016

US President Barack Obama delivers the State of The Union address on
January 20, 2015, at the US Capitol in Washington, DC (AFP Photo/Mandel Ngan)

Washington (AFP) - Barack Obama will use his final State of the Union address Tuesday, one of the last grandstand occasions of his presidency, to define his legacy and make the case for optimism amid an angst-ridden election race.

Seven years ago, a youthful President Obama's first address to Congress surprised some with gloomy talk of shaken confidence, a weakened economy and uncertain times ahead.

His farewell State of the Union address may surprise for its optimism.

Senior White House officials promise an unorthodox speech. Obama will ditch the traditional hour-long laundry list of the year's legislative priorities and instead look beyond his presidency.

US President Barack Obama delivers a

 statement on executive actions to reduce

 gun violence on January 5, 2016 at

 the White House in Washington, 

DC (AFP Photo/Jim Watson)

For a president who has leaned heavily -- critics say too heavily -- on dazzling rhetorical skills to push his agenda, it will be one of the last chances to define his presidency before a national audience.

Around 30 million viewers are expected to watch live, an audience that may only be matched during the Democratic nominating convention later this year, when he passes the torch to the next presidential hopeful.

To reach the broadest audience, Obama's aides will amplify his message across print, television and innovative digital platforms like Medium and Genius.

Obama will list his administration’s achievements, from healthcare reform to gay rights to a nuclear deal with Iran to a pending trans-Pacific trade deal.

But he will also stress the distance traveled since the throes of the Great Recession and speak to a present he will portray as rich in promise.

"It's about the power of possibility," said a senior White House official. "It's looking beyond his time in office," in an attempt to "elevate the country."

The speech, under construction since the autumn, will also challenge Americans to address unfinished business, from dealing with racial tensions to gun violence to drug abuse.

White House officials admit it is a risky strategy.

For a president with a year left in the Oval Office, misjudging the nation's mood could make him look cripplingly out of touch.

The political backdrop is a shrill and hyper-partisan 2016 election campaign that has tapped into fears about terrorism, as well as middle-class malaise spurred by a lost decade of wage growth.

Obama is unlikely to dwell on the 2016 election race directly, but in embracing optimism, the White House hopes to draw a sharp contrast with Republicans.

"We think that there is a lot of noise coming from one party," said one aide, insisting the negativity of the campaign trail does not represent the broader nation.

If Obama manages to kindle a sense of optimism, supporters hope it could help define a political epoch, much as Lyndon Johnson did when declaring a "war on poverty" or when John F. Kennedy announced the moonshot.

A hostile Congress

Obama has long thought of his presidency in such historic terms. But the broad sweep of his speech is also born of necessity.

He faces a hostile Republican Congress, united only in its disdain for him and his agenda.

Obama can expect some bipartisan support for a call to enact criminal justice reform, but efforts to close the notorious prison at Guantanamo Bay or improve ties with Cuba will require unilateral executive action.

He will rely on symbolism and the bully pulpit to press for tighter gun-control laws, which Republicans fiercely oppose.

The White House says one seat in the First Lady's guest box will be left vacant for "victims of gun violence who no longer have a voice – because they need the rest of us to speak for them."

Republican criticism is likely to focus on Obama's handling of foreign policy, in particular the rise of the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq.

Offering a preview of the Republican response, House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan accused Obama of "doubling down on the same failed foreign policies that have made the world a more dangerous place."

"The president of the United States should be an optimist," said Danielle Pletka of the conservative American Enterprise Institute. "Don't slam him for wanting great things for our country."

"Slam him for not talking about how the last seven years have seen an almost unprecedented decline not simply in our nation's security, but in our ability to combat enemies near and far."