The turnover of top White House officials is set to continue with the imminent departure of Barack Obama's chief of staff. The consequences depend not just on the replacements but on the president's understanding of how his administration needs to change

Barack Obama ushered in a revolution in America's response to global warming yesterday when he appointed one of the world's leading climate change experts as his administration's chief scientist. The president-elect's decision to make Harvard physicist John Holdren director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy reveals a new determination to draw a line und...

5 March 2009 Climate change A new era of global cooperation on tackling climate change is possible under Barack Obama, the energy secretary said. Ed Miliband, who has just returned from Washington, said there was an "important shared agenda" with the Obama administration. In a swipe at George Bush, Obama's predecessor, he added: "We can now genuinely say there is US leadership on climate chan...

US President-elect Barack Obama underscored his intent to push initiatives on climate change by naming John Holdren, an energy and climate specialist, as the new White House science adviser

Barack Obama kept up the hectic pace of his transition, moving to fill key positions in his White House and preparing to announce the most senior economic job in his administration

I see that the Obama administration is indicating some flexibility on its climate change plans. Specifically, it might be willing to delay forcing businesses affected by a future cap and trade system to pay for carbon permits. Instead, an auction system would be phased in over time. I used to think to accept anything less than a 100 percent auction of carbon permits was scandalous. As FP noted in ...

Visiting the White House on Friday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has criticised US President Barack Obama's economic stimulus plan, praised US efforts to fight global warming and said a bill passed by Congress would help advance international talks on climate change later this year.

It is worth having a look at the new look White House web site. It shows how well prepared the Obama administration is. At 12.01 yesterday, two minutes before Obama was actually "sworn in", the website was switched completely. It is possible that they are trying to be a bit too clever though. On the website we are told that "President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and their families

Hollywood has come to the White House. The latest celeb to be granted an audience with President Barack Obama is Brad Pitt, who was smuggled into the White House yesterday for talks about "green housing" in New Orleans. A couple of weeks back, it was George Clooney who met President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden in the White House to discuss Darfur. Afterwards, Clooney told reporters t...

While Barack Obama and John McCain have been trading blows over who would be the best commander-in-chief, the White House has been working with both campaigns to ensure that the winner of Tuesday's election will be prepared for the first change in presidential power since the 2001 terror attacks on the US.