US-POLITICS Summary

Obama faces strains in Japan, first stop in Asia

TOKYO (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama arrived in Tokyo on Friday for a summit where the two allies will seek to put strained security ties on a firmer footing as they adjust to a rising China set to overtake Japan as the world's No. 2 economy. Tokyo is the first stop in a nine-day Asian tour that will take Obama to Singapore for an Asia-Pacific summit, to China for talks on climate change and huge trade imbalances and to South Korea where Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions will be in focus.

U.S. commitment to Afghanistan not open-ended: Gates

OSHKOSH, Wisc. (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Thursday the U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan, currently under presidential review, was not open-ended, putting more pressure on Kabul to improve security and fight corruption. President Barack Obama, in the final stages of a review expected to add tens of thousands more U.S. troops to the stalled campaign, asked his national security team on Wednesday to set a timetable for the Afghan armed forces to assume greater security responsibility, officials said.

White House counsel to resign: reports

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - White House Counsel Gregory Craig, who has tried to lead the closure of the Guantanamo Bay military prison, intends to resign on Friday, the Washington Post and the New York Times reported. Quoting associates and people familiar with the situation, the papers said in their online editions that Craig had decided to resign, ending months of speculation over whether he would stay as President Barack Obama's top lawyer.

Clinton pushes peace deal between Manila, rebels

MANILA (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged the Philippines and the country's largest Muslim rebel group on Friday to strike a peace deal before President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo steps down next June. Clinton said she believed Arroyo, whom she met over dinner on Thursday, was committed to ending the decades-old Muslim conflict in the southern region of Mindanao and was prepared to make tough and unpopular decisions.

Government sued for defunding scandal-hit ACORN

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The scandal-hit liberal grass-roots group ACORN sued the U.S. government on Thursday, saying it did not have the right to cut off ACORN's federal funding because the group had not been convicted of a crime. The U.S. Congress voted in September to cut off federal money to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), after conservative activists secretly filmed employees in several cities giving tax and housing advice to a couple posing as a pimp and a prostitute.

White House says open to using TARP to ease debt

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration is weighing how a $700 billion financial rescue fund could be used to ease the U.S. debt burden, the White House budget director said on Thursday, as data showed the deficit had deepened. "We're reorienting TARP toward assistance for responsible families and lending for small businesses," said Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag.