Obama calls on Congress to back bipartisan infrastructure plan

[WASHINGTON] President Barack Obama on Tuesday called for the US Congress to pass a bipartisan infrastructure plan to provide modern ports, stronger bridges, faster trains and the fastest Internet connections.

Republicans have made TransCanada Corp's Keystone XL pipeline, which would run from Canada's Alberta oil sands to the US Gulf of Mexico, their first priority of the year. "Let's set our sights higher than a single oil pipeline,"Obama said in his State of the Union address, according to a text released by the White House, saying an infrastructure package could create more than 30 times as many jobs per year.

Obama also said the anti-Semitism that has resurfaced in certain parts of the world is deplorable and rejected "offensive" stereotypes of Muslims.

REUTERS