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I credit Obama with great and varied accomplishments, from the passage of the Affordable Care Act to our military exit from Iraq, the end of "don't ask don't tell," to the killing of Osama bin Laden.

Moreover, I believe that partisan obstructionism has upended too many efforts to push our nation forward: immigration reform, a public option for health care, and closing the base at Guantanamo Bay, among others.

But, after the countless times in which I have found myself defending the Obama administration to colleagues and peers, I've reached a limit to the explanations that I can provide.

I've reached a point of political despair.

Republican obstructionism cannot explain allowing the bugging of foreign leaders, nor having drones strike innocent children overseas.

It cannot explain having the National Security Agency collect data on the private lives of Americans, nor prosecuting whistle-blowers who reveal government wrongdoing.

It cannot account for assassinating Anwar al-Awlaki, an American citizen, without a trial, nor shirking public funding and spending limits during presidential campaigns.

It cannot justify the findings of a report that says the White House's efforts to silence the media are the "most aggressive ... since the Nixon Administration."

And, most recently, it cannot excuse the failure to design a simple website more than three years since the Affordable Care Act was signed into law.

I don't know if this is what I should have expected.

If, at 18 years old, I was supposed to figure out that governance may contradict the political campaigns that precede it.

Obviously, elective office isn't a predictable course, as the opposing political party and random events, such as the Newtown massacre, will shape our public conversation.

Yet, of all of the examples that I have listed above, they largely seem to be of the administration's own choosing.

That is what troubles me most of all.

I voted for Obama again in 2012, but not because I was excited by his candidacy.

Mitt Romney presented a confusing and unrefined alternative who could not seem to lock down his policies or his positions.

I felt that a second term for Obama, free from the pressures of future elections, would fulfill the hope that we had heard of for so long.

Still, as Obama's approval rating sank below 45% this week, returning to 2008 through that book has become that much harder.

It makes me yearn for the many promises that disappeared.

This week I was reading the portion of the book describing how Obama suffered a huge loss to Clinton in the Pennsylvania primary.

At a post-mortem campaign meeting, he told his staff that they needed to get back on track and stay true to the purpose of their cause.

I want us to get our mojo back, he said.

We've got to remember who we are.'

It's five years later, Mr. President, and I couldn't agree with you more.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Nathaniel Morris.

Clive Palmer claims PM Tony Abbott has conflict of interest over parental leave scheme

Billionaire MP Clive Palmer says Prime Minister Tony Abbott has a conflict of interest over his parental leave scheme because his daughters might get pregnant and benefit from it.

The mining magnate, who is in a dispute about paying a $6 million carbon tax bill, made the claim as he tried to brush off questions about whether he had a conflict.

The Palmer United Party could control up to four votes in the Senate that may be crucial in deciding if the carbon and mining taxes are axed.

But Mr Palmer claimed it was only ministers who could have a conflict of interest and said Mr Abbott's daughters stood to personally benefit from policies.

He's got a major conflict of interest when it comes to paid parental leave because if any of those daughters get pregnant, he'll have a direct interest whether they get leave or not, Mr Palmer said.

Two months after the election, the electoral commission officially declared Mr Palmer the winner of the Sunshine Coast seat of Fairfax by 53 votes, after a recount.

Mr Palmer called for overhaul of election counting to speed up the process.

Tony Abbott's daughters Frances and Bridget.

Should this election be decided two months after we stopped voting?

We need to have a better system, he said.

Why is it that we shouldn't have a system where you can walk in, punch your details into a computer, vote immediately and have a result at 6.30 that night?

Mr Palmer also criticised the use of pencils to mark ballots.

Is it because they can rub out the result if someone doesn't like it?

In this day and age having a pencil seems extraordinary.

The Electoral Commission has been studying options for electronic voting and recently released a joint discussion paper with New Zealand.

Mr Palmer, 59, said his policies included an international airport for the Sunshine Coast and he would take "very seriously" his new job.

Public office is about public service.

We seek no reward, except the reward of history that we can at a critical time serve this community, he said.

Because of this the plaintiffs had to suffer.

Addressing those gathered for the occasion, the Bar Association President, Ramesh Singh Negi, expressed strong indignation at the deteriorating law and order situation in the state.

He said that the growing number of attacks on the advocates and their families shows that the criminals have become fearless.

They are not afraid of the police and administration system any more.

Citing various such attacks taking place at different places he said that, if the lawyers themselves are not safe, then we can surely understand how much less safe is the general pubic.

RBS suspends two forex traders

Royal Bank of Scotland has suspended two traders in its foreign exchange division according to two people familiar with the situation, in another sign that the global probe by regulators into the suspected manipulation of the currency market is rapidly gaining traction.

Some of the world's largest banks, including UBS, Barclays, Deutsche Bank and RBS, have confirmed they are co-operating with regulators in investigations into the world's largest financial market, where $5.3tn changes hands each day.

The two traders would be the first RBS employees to be suspended in the widening probe that echoes the Libor interbank lending manipulation scandal.

The bank, which declined to comment on the suspensions, confirmed this month that it has received requests for information from regulators.

Our ongoing inquiry into this matter continues and we are co-operating fully with the FCA and our other regulators, the bank said two weeks ago.

Last month, people close to the situation said that RBS had turned over records of emails and instant messages to the UK regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, sent to and from a former trader.

This trader, Richard Usher, left RBS in 2010 and is understand to have be given leave from his current position as European head of forex spot trading at JPMorgan.

Rohan Ramchandani, head of European spot trading at Citi, went on leave this week, while Matt Gardiner, a former senior currencies trader at Barclays and UBS, was suspended by Standard Chartered this week.

None of these traders have been accused of any wrongdoing.

Mr Usher's instant message group included bankers at Barclays and Citigroup, people close to the situation said.

UBS said this week it had taken action against some of its employees after the Swiss regulator, Finma, said it was investigating suspected manipulation of the foreign exchange market at a number of Swiss banks.

At least six authorities globally - the European Commission, Finma, Switzerland's competition authority Weko, the FCA, the Department of Justice in the US and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority - are looking at allegations that bankers colluded to move the currencies market.

HSBC, Citigroup, JPMorgan and Credit Suisse have also launched internal probes or received requests for information from regulators, said people familiar with the situation.

Banks are scouring through years" worth of instant messages and emails to search for instances of wrongdoing.

News about the probes has rattled traders in an area that has been one of the bigger profit drivers of investment banks' trading units in past years but which has been challenged this year as low volatility in currencies cuts opportunities for speculators.

Some bankers have tried to play down the affair by saying the vast and highly liquid foreign exchange market is almost impossible to manipulate, but senior traders are saying this is not necessarily true.

A senior trader said that despite the huge volume of daily foreign exchange trading, the fragmentation of liquidity between different trading platforms and banks" increasing use of their own internal platforms meant that "you can start to get an impact on the market at quite small ticket prices."

The news came on the same day as Credit Suisse announced it had dismissed a trader at its London exchange traded funds desk this week after he had caused a nearly $6m loss late last year.

The bank promptly notified the relevant authorities and has been co-operating with its regulators.

We are confident the trader acted alone and that the matter has been contained, Credit Suisse said.

The students studying various courses, including technical and administrative courses, will be able to exercise their right to vote.

The University Vice-Chancellor wrote to the governor seeking permission to hold elections.

The University Students' Union had demanded to begin the election process.

They also organised a petition to support the campaign and make their voices heard by the university administration and college management.

The students enrolling in over two dozen courses including B.Tech, MBA, Pharmacy, Biotechnology, Bioscience, Tourism Management and Paramedical Science held on the campus, will be able to elect their representative.

More than six thousand students will be getting their first opportunity to exercise their franchise.

The Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Ashok Kumar, said that the university has sought permission from the Governor for the election.

Once approval is obtained the election date will be announced.

He said it is the responsibility of the college administration to hold elections in other colleges.

Many colleges do not want to hold Student Union elections in their campus.

However, due to the lack of unity among the students, elections were not being held.

The Union organised a petition for elections.

Akash Jaiswal, Division Organiser ABVP

After Diwali permission will be sought from the district administration to hold elections in colleges.

The unclear views of various colleges is also making it difficult to hold elections.

People purchased a lot of utensils as well as gold and silver on the occasion of Dhanteras in the capital.

Sales have increased by 20 to 30% since last year.

People crowded the jewellery shops in Simla.

The utensil shops set up in lower Bajar to Maal road were crowded.

Although inflation had plagued these items, people did not seem to be penny-pinching while purchasing on this auspicious occasion.

The auspicious times for purchases on Friday were from 7:52 am to 10:12 am, 1:56 pm to 3:37 pm and 6:17 pm to 8:12 pm.

Large crowds gathered in shops on all the three auspicious times in Simla and the suburbs.

There wasn't even a place to stand for people in the lower bazaar in Simla.

Every shop, large and small, was crowded.

When the thirteenth day of the Kartik month is celebrated as Dhanteras it is considered to be a sign of a Happy Diwali.

Supreme Court upholds Obama health care law

In a major victory for the Obama administration, the US Supreme Court today ruled Barack Obama's signature health care law is constitutional.

By a 5-4 vote, the justices ruled the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act's individual mandate - which requires citizens to buy health insurance by 2014 or else pay a penalty - was constitutional under the taxing power of the government.

Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the four more liberal members of the court while Justices Scalia, Thomas, Alito and Kennedy dissented.

The court also upheld the remaining sections of the 2700 page law, and further held that the health care law's requirement that states increase Medicaid eligibility or else lose all federal Medicaid funding is not unconstitutionally coercive.