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The Environmental Protection Agency, the White House and other federal departments announced Friday that they are expanding a program for restoring and improving urban waterways nationwide.

A bamboo bicycle valued at $1,060 from The Philippines ... a golf bag price priced at $7,750 from then-French President Nicolas Sarkozy ... a number of shirts, pens, sculptures and rugs. Foreign gifts to President Obama and his family totaled $243,970.96 in 2011, according to a Yahoo News analysis of a report from the State Department.

The White House has backed away from its push for mandatory cybersecurity standards in favor of an approach that would combine voluntary measures with incentives for companies to comply with them. That approach reflects recognition of the political reality of a divided Congress that makes mandated standards difficult to push through, and a belief that an executive order President Obama signed in February could improve companies’ cybersecurity.

White House press secretary Jay Carney on Tuesday criticized three Senate Republicans who have threatened to filibuster Senate gun control legislation. Carney said a filibuster would be “unfortunate” and would send the wrong message to the families of gun violence victims.

The White House says the U.S. is fully capable of defending itself after a North Korean ballistic missile attack. White House spokesman Jay Carney was responding to the North's vow to launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike against the U.S. That threat came in retaliation for tough new U.N. sanctions against Pyongyang for its recent nuclear test.

The White House has agreed to give lawmakers access to the complete set of secret Justice Department memos on the targeted killing of terrorism suspects overseas, documents that the Obama administration had previously refused to share.

White House press secretary Jay Carney on Monday denounced Dennis Rodman's trip to North Korea, calling the former NBA player's appearance a publicity stunt by the Hermit Kingdom's oppressive regime.

Congress and the White House have just begun exploring policies that would revamp the country’s immigration laws. A bipartisan group of senators have proposed a new pathway to citizenship Monday and, later Tuesday, President Obama is expected to unveil his own reform plan.

The White House says a House Republican bill to extend the government's borrowing authority for three months still faces concerns in Congress but press secretary Jay Carney says that if it reaches President Barack Obama's desk, "he would not stand in the way of the bill becoming law.

Hours before President Barack Obama's official swearing-in to a second term, top Democrats predicted a victory for the broadest component of the White House's push to change the nation's gun laws.