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As Barack Obama looks through papers, his eight-year-old daughter, Sasha, spies on him from behind a sofa.

The photograph, released by the White House, was taken by Peter Souza, whose brief is to document the Obama presidency.

Mr Obama has said that one of the greatest benefits of working in the White House is having his family living in the same building.

Despite its spontaneous feel, the image evokes obvious – and possibly intentional - comparisons with famous pictures of a three-year-old John F Kennedy Jr playing under the same desk as his father sat working at it.

The photographs were taken a month before President Kennedy's assassination in November 1963.

Earlier this year, the White House released pictures showing Mr Obama, watched on by Caroline Kennedy, peering into the same section of the desk from which her young brother looked out 46 years ago.

The boy would often play under the desk – presented by Queen Victoria to President Rutherford Hayes – and liked to pretend that its kneehole panel was a secret door.

Mr Obama has said that one of the greatest benefits of working in the White House is having his family living in the same building.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Guinea protests 'will continue'

A leading Guinean opposition leader has said protests will continue in the country to get rid of what he called the "criminal" military regime.

Alpha Conde, head of the Rally of the People of Guinea party, said he would return there to "mobilise the people".

Rights groups say at least 157 people were shot dead by troops on Monday and that woman have been publically raped.

But the interior ministry said 57 people died in the protests. Officials denied knowledge of sexual assaults.

"We can't fight and then draw back, we fought for change so we can't retreat now," Mr Conde, speaking from New York, told the BBC.

"We want free and democratic elections, but considering what happened yesterday, we now want the government to go and for it to be replaced by a national government that can organise elections."

Mr Conde said the government had been "discredited" by the violence, which he said had been "planned and were directed by the president's own advisor".

Guinean soldiers used tear gas, baton charges and fired live ammunition on Monday to break up demonstrations in the capital, Conakry.

About 50,000 people were protesting over rumours that Junta head Capt Moussa Dadis Camara intends to run for president in an election scheduled for next January.

The Guinean Organisation for Defence of Human Rights put the toll at 157 people killed and more than 1,200 wounded.

Guinea's interior ministry told the BBC that a total of 57 people died during the violence.

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