Britain's Prince William to Visit Obama at White House

Britain's Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, talks with guests during the Tusk Conservation awards in London on Nov. 25, 2014. /AP

President Barack Obama will meet with Britain's Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, in the Oval Office on Monday, during the prince's first visit to Washington.

The prince is traveling to the United States with his wife, Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, although she is not scheduled to join him at the White House.

William is coming to Washington to speak at the World Bank about illegal wildlife trafficking. The White House said Obama welcomes the prince's work on an issue that is "both a national security threat and a devastating environmental problem."

In Washington, the prince will also meet with Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill.?

Obama has met previously with the royal couple during a visit to London.

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Obama Nominates Ashton Carter as Defense Secretary

President Barack Obama has nominated former deputy Pentagon chief Ashton Carter to become the next secretary of defense. Obama announced the choice Friday at the White House.

Carter, a physicist and high-tech weapons expert, served as deputy defense secretary from 2011 to 2013. Prior to that, he was the Pentagon's top weapons buyer for two years.

Calling him by his nickname "Ash," Obama said Carter brings "a unique blend of strategic perspective and technical know how."

He is said to hold bipartisan support in Washington, and if confirmed by the Senate, will replace Chuck Hagel, who resigned under pressure last month after just two years on the job.

Appearing alongside President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden Friday, Carter said if confirmed, he pledges to give Obama his most "candid" strategic and military advice. He also addressed the nation's military personnel, saying he promises to serve the nation with "the same unflinching dedication" they demonstrate every day.

President Obama announces that Ashton Carter (left) is his nominee for U.S. Defense Secretary as Vice President Biden looks on.

Hagel did not appear at the White House for the announcement, with a U.S. defense official saying he did not want to distract from the focus on Carter.

But the official said Hagel looks forward to working to ensure a speedy confirmation process for Carter and a successful transition at the Pentagon.?

White House officials have publicly denied forcing Hagel to resign, but other officials have said off the record that was the case.

Hagel was the only Republican in Obama's Cabinet. He is the first Cabinet member to leave office since the Republicans won the Senate in November, giving the party control of both houses of Congress in January.

Carter was seen as the frontrunner for the Pentagon chief position after several others removed themselves from consideration, including Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, Senator Jack Reed and ex-Pentagon official Michele Flournoy.

Unlike Hagel and every other Pentagon leader in the past three decades, Carter has never served in the military or Congress. The last defense secretary without experience in uniform or politics was Harold Brown, who led the Pentagon from 1977 to 1981 under President Jimmy Carter.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Carter is "somebody that certainly deserves and has demonstrated strong bipartisan support for his previous service in government."

As Hagel's deputy, he oversaw a $600 billion budget and 2.4 million civilian and military personnel.

Earlier, from 2009 to 2011, Carter served as undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics. In the 1990s, he served under President Bill Clinton as assistant defense secretary for international security policy.

Carter earned bachelor's degrees in physics and medieval history from Yale University and received his doctorate in theoretical physics from Oxford University.

Some information for this report comes from AP, AFP and Reuters.

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17 States Sue Obama Administration Over Order on Immigration

A coalition of 17 U.S. states sued the Obama administration Wednesday, saying it acted illegally by issuing an executive order to ease the threat of deportation for millions of immigrants who are in the country without the proper documents.

The case, being led by Texas and filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, said the executive order announced by President Barack Obama last month violated constitutional limits on presidential powers. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, a Republican and the Texas governor-elect, said the lawsuit was not asking for monetary damages but was seeking to have the order declared illegal.

The White House has said the executive order falls within presidential powers and has argued that the ultimate answer is for Congress to pass meaningful immigration reform.

Obama's plan would let up to 4.7 million of the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States stay without threat of deportation, including some 4.4 million who are parents of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents.

"The president is abdicating his responsibility to faithfully enforce laws that were duly enacted by Congress and attempting to rewrite immigration laws, which he has no authority to do,'' Abbott said.

Many of the states in the coalition are Republican strongholds. They include Alabama, Idaho, Mississippi and Utah.

North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory, a Republican, said his state joined the legal effort because "the president has exceeded the balance of power provisions clearly laid out in the U.S. Constitution.''

Abbott said that as a border state, Texas has sustained millions of dollars in costs related to illegal immigration.

Separately, some conservative Republicans in Congress are hoping to thwart Obama's immigration action by tying it to a must-pass government spending bill, although the Republican leadership wants to avert a government shutdown over the issue.

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Obama Lunches With Hollywood Powerhouses

President Barack Obama arrived in Hollywood on Friday for two Democratic National Committee fundraisers at the Santa Monica home of media mogul Peter Chernin. As the fundraiser was underway, there were reports of a shooting at nearby Santa Monica College at which three people were hurt.

Read the whole story at www.thewrap.com

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