The United States will not push for sanctions against Iran in Thursday's multi-lateral talks on its nuclear program in Geneva and is prepared to talk one-on-one with Iranian negotiations if such engagement appears "useful," senior administration officials said Wednesday.

The officials also said that while gaining access to inspect Iran's uranium enrichment facility near Qom is "critically important," the US won't walk away from negotiations if Iran refuses.

"Tomorrow is the negotiations track and that is the thrust," a senior official said. "The thrust is dealing with this nuclear program and trying to get a process underway to address the growing international concern. These will not be easy talks."

If the leader of the US delegation, William Burns, decides direct talks with Iran would move US objectives forward, he's authorized to do so. This amounts to a huge shift in US willingness to negotiate with Iran. The last time the US attended the so-called P5 +1 talks (the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany) it did so merely as an observer.

"If it is useful, if it serves a purpose in the negotiations, there will be an opportunity for bi-lateral talks," one official said. "We may in fact engage (Iran) in a bi-lateral negotiation if it would move the negotiation along." Keep Reading ...

The Department of Education has put out the following statements today regarding a 1988 incident involving Kevin Jennings, who was named Assistant Deputy Secretary or Safe and Drug-Free Schools in July. The incident is detailed in his book, "One Teacher In 10," and details how as a young teacher in Concord, MA, he did not go to school authorities after an underage student, "Brewster", told him that he had been involved with an older man. Thie is what Jennings wrote in his book, One Teacher in 10, "Brewster squirmed at the prospect of telling, and we sat silently for a short while. On a hunch, I suddenly asked 'What's his name?' Brewster's eyes widened briefly, and then out spilled a story about his involvement with an older man he had met in Boston. I listened, sympathized, and offered advice. He left my office with a smile on his face that I would see every time I saw him on the campus for the next two years, until he graduated."

STATEMENT FROM KEVIN JENNINGS

"Twenty-one years later I can see how I should have handled this situation differently. I should have asked for more information and consulted legal or medical authorities. Teachers back then had little training and guidance about this kind of thing. All teachers should have a basic level of preparedness. I would like to see the office of Safe & Drug Free Schools play a bigger role in helping to prepare teachers. "

STATEMENT FROM DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION SECRETARY ARNE DUNCAN

"Kevin Jennings has dedicated his professional career to promoting school safety. He is uniquely qualified for his job and I'm honored to have him on our team. "

(WH Photo)

Thank you, everybody. So, as my husband would say, we are fired up and ready to go in here. (Applause.) It's a good thing. Well, first let me begin by thanking my dear friend, my chit-chat buddy, Oprah Winfrey. She talks about me coming here without hesitation. This is a woman who's got a pretty busy schedule - taping shows, traveling across the globe, a woman with a full plate. I think that folks out there should understand how Chicagoans, even those who weren't born and raised here, feel a passion about the city, so much so that we dropped everything - dropped everything - to be a part of this team. So I want to give Ms. Winfrey a round of applause as well. (Applause.)

One reporter asked me in a press briefing, "So, what do you think Oprah adds to the team?" I said, "Oprah is Oprah." (Laughter.) What more do you have to say? I said every single city who's bidding wishes they had Oprah on their team, and we have her, and we are grateful that she is a part of this endeavor. (Applause.)

It is so nice to see so many familiar faces. I mean, we really do miss Chicago. We've made a wonderful home in D.C. The girls are great; Grandma is good. Bo is no longer a puppy; he's a big dog now. (Laughter.) But it's wonderful to reconnect to my hometown.

When I looked at the bid initially, I was overwhelmed by what a beautiful concept was presented. You know, everything about this bid speaks to what the city has to offer. Having the Games right along that beautiful, glorious lakefront; using the existing park structure to ensure that we're making the kinds of investments and we'll have the kind of wonderful leave-behinds that will benefit the city over the long run; the notion that Olympic athletes who visit the city will live centrally, they'll be 15 minutes from any competition site, that they'll be able to walk, ride or bus to some of the greatest cultural offerings that this nation, that this world has to offer - it will be an athlete's paradise in so many ways, and we will have it at a time in the city's climate that will actually be nice. (Laughter.) The lake won't be frozen over.

So I am thrilled. I am proud of our bid, and I am proud of this team. And I have to ask you, are we ready to go with this, right? You ready to go? (Applause.) Keep Reading ...

The Obama White House endorsed, in general terms, the new call from NATO's Secretary General that Afghanistan's government sign a new anti-corruption "contract" with international donors before they send more financial aid to the war-ravaged country.

Secretary General Ander Fogh Rasmussen first floated the idea in an exclusive interview Tuesday with Fox.

"We need a strengthened fight against corruption," Rasmussen said. "Therefore, I support to organize an international conference before the end of this year with the aim to establish a new contract between the international community on the one side and the Afghan government on the other side and make sure they understand that it is a prerequisite for continued international (financial) commitments that they actually deliver on their promises."

Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the White House shares Rasmussen's desire to link future aid to reduced corruption in Afghanistan - no matter who leads the government. President Hamid Karzai's re-election is in doubt amid accusations of rampant vote fraud.Karzai's government has developed a notorious reputation in the West for entrenched, virtually systematic financial and political corruption.

"The administration shares strongly the notion that, for whatever tactics you choose, whatever resources you put in, there is no doubt -- without the accompaniment of a willing partner that is able to provide some of that security, that is able to conduct a basic level of governance without that -- without corruption and with transparency is -- is something that is going to have to be had."

Gibbs added that US patience with Afghanistan on this issue is not limitless.

"That's what I mean when I say we can't be there forever. We won't be there forever. And at some point, it is going to be incumbent upon the Afghans to be able to administer, again, that base level of government without corruption, with transparency, and do so in a way that provides the security that their people need."

"Michelle and I send our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives in the earthquake and tsunami in American Samoa and the region. I am closely monitoring these tragic events, and have declared a major disaster for American Samoa, which will provide the tools necessary for a full, swift and aggressive response. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is in close and constant contact with emergency responders, and the U.S. Coast Guard is fully supporting the deployment of resources to those areas in need of immediate assistance. We also stand ready to help our friends in Samoa and the region. Going forward, we will continue to provide the resources necessary to respond to this catastrophe, and we will keep those who have lost so much in our thoughts and prayers."

We've got a few clips from Major Garrett's exclusive interview with NATO Secretary General Rasmussen. Check them out - first one is below and more to follow...

UPDATE:

Prepared Obama remarks:

“We know that this kind of investment will also lead to new jobs: tens of thousands of jobs conducting research, manufacturing and supplying medical equipment, and building and modernizing laboratories and research facilities. I’ve long said, the goal of the Recovery Act was not to create make-work jobs, but jobs making a difference for our future. There is no better example than the jobs we will produce or preserve through the grants we are announcing this morning.”

According to the White House release, the NIH grant awards will support the full spectrum of medical research—from basic research to clinical and translational studies. The Recovery Act funded NIH grants are in several areas including heart disease, autism, HIV-AIDS, H1N1 Flu and cancer.

More from the White House: More than $1 billion of the grant funding is dedicated to research applying the technology produced by the Human Genome Project between 1990 and 2003. This new funding will allow researchers to make quantum leaps forward in studying the genomic changes linked to cancer, heart, lung, and blood disease and autism– potentially leading to new treatments and cures. The investment includes $175 million for The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) to collect more than 20,000 tissue samples from more than 20 cancers, and determine in detail all of the genetic changes in thousands of these tumor samples. TCGA involves more than 150 scientists at dozens of institutions around the country. All data will be rapidly deposited in databases accessible to the worldwide research community.

“We are about to see a quantum leap in our understanding of cancer,” said NIH Director Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D. “Cancer is a disease of DNA—it occurs when glitches in the DNA cause a good cell to go bad. This ambitious effort promises to open new windows into the biology of all cancers, transform approaches to cancer research and raise the curtain on a more personalized era of cancer care. This is an excellent example of how the Recovery Act is fueling discoveries that will fundamentally change the way we fight disease and improve our lives.”

Pickup original post here:

President Obama will announce $5 billion in new research grants funded by the $787 billion, two-year stimulus law at a ceremony today at the National Institutes of Health in nearby Bethesda, MD.

The institutes of health spends more than $30 billion a year on medical research. For a deeper look at what it spends where, see here:

This is the president's only public event of the day. He convenes a massive array of military and diplomatic advisers at 3 p.m. for the first of five strategy sessions on Afghanistan.

Obama will appear with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Dr. Francis Collins and Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The doctors will join Obama on a tour of the lab facility on the NIH campus.

The White House says the grants will create "tens of thousands of jobs" in teaching, research and database management. It released no specific figures on the number of  jobs created and at what cost.

Meanwhile, a survey of private sector employers showed 254,000 private sector jobs were lost in September.

Read the Reuters report on the private sector jobs data here:

On a conference call with the nation's governors on Sept. 24, Vice President Joe Biden called the stimulus an unqualified success.

"In my wildest dreams I never thought it would work this well," Biden said.

Governors on the call - 20 Democrats and 10 Republicans - were urged to collect and submit quarterly numbers of the numbers of jobs created and saved through stimulus spending. Importantly, the governors were not required to distinguish between jobs saved and created. That data must be submitted by Oct. 10.

Biden told the governors the stimulus has sent "$150 billion bucks" to the states and $97 billion remains to be obligated

The White House tracks stimulus funds here:

Critics of the stimulus spending say it will create a raft of programs that will take on a legislative and fiscal life of their own,  morphing from one-time initiatives into permanent parts of the federal budget.

The conservative think tank Heritage Foundation found numbers in Congressional Budget Office analysis suggesting the stimulus price tag could balloon over the years. Read that take here:

 9:30AM THE PRESIDENT receives the Presidential Daily Briefing - Oval Office - Closed Press

10:25AM THE PRESIDENT and Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius tour a laboratory at the National Institutes of Health - Bethesda, MD

11:00AM THE PRESIDENT makes a major announcement regarding the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act - Bethesda, MD

12:00PM THE PRESIDENT meets with senior advisors - Oval Office - Closed Press

1:00PM Briefing by Press Secretary Robert Gibbs

1:30PM THE PRESIDENT signs the Arnold Palmer Gold Medal Act - Oval Office - Closed Press

1:50PM THE PRESIDENT receives the Economic Daily Briefing - Oval Office - Closed Press

3:00PM THE PRESIDENT meets with his national security team on Afghanistan - Situation Room - Closed Press