Barack Obama concluded his two-day visit to Japan – the first country he visited on his nine-day Asian tour.

Courtesy: Yahoo! News

Speaking in front 1,500 people in Tokyo Concert Hall, Obama promised an ‘unshakable’ commitment to Asian security and re-affirmed the alliance between Japan and the United States.

During his speech, Barack Obama touched some lighter topics as well; he shared with the audiences his memories of a childhood visit to Japan and recalled being rather interested in consuming ‘matcha’ – green tea ice cream. He also sent his greetings to the small Japanese fishing town Obama, which was actively supporting his candidacy during the presidential campaign and which now enjoys a booming industry thanks to its famous namesake.

Obama also congratulated the Emperor on the 20th anniversary of his accession to the Throne.

Following his speech, the President had lunch with Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. Upon arrival, Obama showed his respect for the Emperor with a deep bow, which will no doubt be warmly received in a country where bows are sign of great respect and regard.

The bow however proved controversial outside Japan, where a lot of English-language newspaper sported similar headlines – “How low can he go?” President Obama has already been in a centre of similar controversy, when he allegedly bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia, which the White House denied.

Watch the video of Obama being welcomed by Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko

Marsel Japanese Royals Bowing & Curtseying, Emperor Akihito, Empress Michiko, Official Visit, President Obama, United States of America

Click at the image to read the official announcement

Today the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced that the Nobel Peace Prize 2009 goes to US President Barack Obama. He recieves the prize “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples”.

You can read the official announcement here: Nobel Peace Prize 2009.

The Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony will take place in Norway’s capital Oslo on December 10th. The prize is annually handed out by King Harald V of Norway. The award ceremony is attended by all members of the Royal House of Norway.

A thread in the Norwegian Forums can be found here: Nobel Peace Prize 2009.

Her_Majesty Norwegian Royals Harald V, Nobel Prize, President Obama, United States of America

 An audience with HM the Queen of Denmark. That is how US President Barack Obama and his wife, First Lady Michelle, ended their visit to Copenhagen yesterday, October 2nd.

Click to see the Berlingske gallery

The duo first met with Queen Margrethe II and HRH the Prince Consort at Christiansborg Palace, before the President was presented with a guard of honour by the Royal Danish Life Guard. President and First Lady Obama were then introduced to TRH Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary. The meeting took place in the Palace’s Banquet Hall, which is home to the ‘Dronningens Gobeliner’, or the Queen’s Tapestries.

The seventeen 300m2 tapestries, created by Bjørn Nørgaard and presented to the Queen as a gift for her 50th birthday, stunned the President, who was greatly impressed by the pieces. Queen Margrethe wasted little time, pointing out various features of the tapestries and explaining their meanings to her guests. The Obamas spent approximately fifteen minutes in the Banquet Hall with the royals, Michelle was seen chatting with the Prince Consort and Princess Mary. View a video of the Obamas’ arrival and inital meeting here.

From there, the President went on to an audience with Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen. Here, there was a press conference where Obama thanked the royal family and the people of Denmark as a whole. “I would like to thank the Danish Royal Family for their extraordinary hospitality during our visit,” he said. The Prime Minister also thanked President Obama for coming to Copenhagen, saying everyone was delighted by their trip and hoped they would visit again soon, and wished the Chicago 2016 Summer Olympic Games bid well.

Click to see the image at Daylife

Luck was not with the Obamas and the Chicago delegation, which also included Oprah Winfrey, though as they were eliminated in the first round of the voting. Coming down to Madrid and Rio de Janiero, IOC President Jacques Rogge announced that the Brazillian capital would be the first South American city to host an Olympic Games, sending joy and jubilee throughout the Rio delegation and in the city itself.

The 121st IOC Congress continues until October 9th. View the Congress thread here.

JessRulz Danish Royals Audience, IOC, Margrethe II, Michelle Obama, President Obama, Prime Minister Rasmussen, Prince Frederik, Prince Henrik the Prince Consort, Princess Mary, Rio 2016

TRH the Prince of Orange and Princess Máxima have concluded their week-long visit to New York City, in celebration of the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s voyage aboard the Half Moon which discovered the city.

Click to see the image at NY400.nl

After their incredibly busy Tuesday and Wednesday schedules, Thursday was a relatively quiet day for the royal couple. The pair had seperate meetings on water management and micro-finance, the Prince and Princess’ pet areas respectively, at the United Nations Headquarters. Prince Willem-Alexander and Princess Máxima then visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where they were shown around the Johannes Vermeer exhibition – Vermeer’s Masterpiece The Milkmaid – by the Met’s curator Walter Liedtke.

The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam has loaned the Met Vermeer’s most famous painting, The Milkmaid, to be apart of the exhibition, while there are also a further five Vermeer pieces on show. Liedtke said that the Prince and Princess showed particular interest in the Vermeer paintings, before they moved on to the New York Stock Exchange, where they were treated to a dinner. At the Stock Exchange, the Prince and Princess were briefed on the economic crisis.

Friday, September 11th, began as a solemn day on the royal couple’s program. Read more…

JessRulz Dutch Royals 9/11, Exhibition, Four Freedom Awards, Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, Official Visit, President Obama, Prince of Orange, Prince Willem-Alexander, Princess Máxima, United States of America

 After writing yesterday that Jordan’s King Abdullah was serious about finding a solution to the Israeli – Palestinian conflict, I was disappointed today to read that King Abdullah is putting the onus on the USA to head a solution to the conflict.

King Abdullah, in speaking with US President Barack Obama today, told the US President that the US must take a more forceful role in spurring the peace process. What this blogger does not understand is why King Abdullah is turning to the US to help solve a problem in his backyard. It would seem that he would be far better equipped to deal with and understand the conflict than the leader of a nation stretched to the breaking point with other problems. Not to get too political, but it would stand to reason that instead of turning to those that might not understand the why’s and reasons behind the conflict enough to make an educated decision, those that do understand should be at the head of any peace process.

While the USA might understand the political reasons behind the conflict, at least to some degree, I doubt that they can truly understand the importance of the land in the middle of the dispute as well as those that live in and around the region. Given that King Abdullah’s wife is of Palestinian descent, he should have a unique outlook on the situation. King Abdullah seems to desire peace, and hopefully he will be at the forefront of any peace process that could possibly come about.

Empress Jordanian Royals Abdullah II, President Obama, United States of America, Working Visit

Click to see the image at the Daily Telegraph

 After several months of finger-pointing by the press and the governments involved, it was decided that the Queen would not attend the 65th-anniversary commemoration of D-Day in France, but that the Prince of Wales would represent her (see this blog). President Obama, President Sarkozy, Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada, and Prime Minister Gordon Brown also attended.

As reportedly planned by President Sarkozy, the commemoration was largely a Franco-American affair, with the contributions of the British and Canadian troops downplayed.

At the official commemoration at the Normandy American cemetary near Colleville-sur-Mer (Omaha Beach), speeches were made by Presidents Sarkozy and Obama and Prime Ministers Brown and Harper, but not by the Prince, whose only official action was to lay a wreath.

Earlier, the Prince had visited Arromanches, where many of the British troops landed on D-Day, and met with the veterans at the Commonwealth Cemetary. He also attended a memorial service arranged by the Royal British Legion at Bayeux Cathedral. Some of the veterans reportedly wanted to know why the Queen was not there, but they seemed pleased that a member of the royal family had travelled to France to join them in commemorating their fallen comrades.

Lucia-mia British Royals D-Day, Elizabeth II, France, President Obama, President Sarkozy, Prime Minister Brown, Prime Minister Harper, Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, World War II

Click image to view picture gallery

 The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud met with U.S. President Barack Obama at the king Abdullah’s ranch at Al-Janadriyah. King Abdullah and President Obama discussed regional and international developments topped by the Palestinian issue and Saudi-US cooperation in all fields as well as the world financial crisis.

Saudi King Abdullah thanked President Obama by saying “I thank the president for this visit and for this complement. This is not strange to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the US because the US is a friend of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia since the time of King Abdulaziz and President Roosevelt. My greetings to the friendly US people represented by a person who deserves this position and thank you.”

dazzling Saudi Royals King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, President Obama

Click to see the photo at the Daily Mail

 There has been a circus surrounding the preparations for the D-Day 65th anniversary this weekend, as no member of the British Royal Family was invited; and the situation has received media coverage globally. The anniversary will be attended by Presidents Sarkozy and Obama, but questions were raised when no member of the British Royal Family was announced as attending. The royal household initially stated that no royal was attending as none had been invited; the response from the French was that the British had been invited, but it was up to them to decide exactly who would represent them. Gordon Brown’s attendance had previously been confirmed.

Rumours that the anniversary was intended to be low-key in Britain are swirling, and the suggestion that this is why the Prime Minister accepted the invitation followed.

Click to see the article at the Daily Mail

White House spokesmanRobert Gibbs stated on camera that President Obama felt that the Queen should receive an official invitation, and suggested that Obama had communicated this. It is unclear whether he was referring to France or Britain here, however media reports suggest that Clarence House had no knowledge of this.

The resolution to the matter has recently been announced, with The Prince of Wales attending, representing his mother the Queen. This comes following an invitation from the French Ambassador in London.

The irony of this resolution however, is that it appears that there was never any suggestion that the Queen would attend the anniversary, but the intention was always that Charles would go! HM has only attended the 50th and 60th anniversaries to date, not the 55th…

It is expected that the Queen will spend Saturday at the Epsom Derby, as is her tradition. She is the head of Britain’s Armed Forces.

marmi British Royals D-Day, Elizabeth II, France, President Obama, President Sarkozy, Prime Minister Brown, Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, World War II

 White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said on Tuesday that President Obama will be heading to Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh to hold talks with the Saudi King Abdullah Al-Saud on June 3. The two leaders are to talk about the Middle East peace and nuclear standoff with Iran. President Obama will have no public events in Riyadh except a private dinner with the Saudi king. Preseident Obama will be in Saudi for one day before heading to Egypt, Germany and France.

dazzling Saudi Royals King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, President Obama

Click to view image on yahoo news

 His Majesty King Abdullah and US President Barack Obama held talks on Tuesday at the oval office in the white house. The two leaders discussed about a comprehensive peace in the Middle East and resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on the basis of the two-state solution. King Abdullah and Obama underlined the need to continue coordination and consultation at the highest levels to support efforts to move forward towards peace with all involved parties and agreed on the need to take effective steps to end the conflict to bring peace in the region.

“We are both committed to bringing peace and stability to our part of the world. The president again reaffirmed the need for a two-state solution and to move both parties to good negotiations as quickly as possible,” the Monarch said.

This is the first meeting for Obama with an Arab leader.

King Abdullah is currently on a working visit to the United States with Queen Rania.

Read more about the meeting on Jordan Times and for a discussion, news and pictures, visit the thread here.

dazzling Jordanian Royals Abdullah II, President Obama, United States of America, Working Visit