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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.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Indonesia earthquake: 15 dead as thousands evacuate Java News By Telegraph

The 7.0 magnitude quake, as recorded by the US Geological Survey, shook buildings in the capital Jakarta and flattened homes in villages closer to the epicentre in West Java.

The health ministry said it was sending medical teams to Tasikmalaya, near the epicentre of the quake in West Java.

"Many houses are flattened to the ground," said Edi Sapuan in Margamukti village, not far from Tasikmalaya. "Only the wooden houses remain standing. Many villagers are injured, covered in blood."

The quake was felt as far away as Surabaya, Indonesia's second-largest city, about 300 miles northeast of Tasikmalaya, and on the resort island of Bali, about 435 miles to the east.

At least 27 people were injured in Jakarta, a health ministry official said.

Hundreds of people sheltered in a military base in Tasikmalaya, fearing that the initial powerful quake would be followed by aftershocks, an official at the disaster management agency said.

Indonesia's main power, oil and gas, steel, and mining companies with operations in West and Central Java island closest to the quake's epicentre said they had not been affected and suffered no damage.

Local tsunami warnings were issued for coastal areas within several hundred miles of the epicentre soon after it struck, but were withdrawn about half an hour later.

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