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President Obama has no scheduled public events on Friday, after returning home Thursday afternoon from an 8-day trip to four countries in Asia.

Coverage of Obama's Visit to Asia:

Photo Essays
Photo Essay: Obama at the Great Wall of China
Photo Essay: Obama in China
Photo Essay: Obama in South Korea
Photo Essay: Obama in Japan

Stories and Blog Posts
CBS News Interview with Obama in China
Obama Returns Home After 4-Nation, 20,898-Mile Trip
Obama's Trip Lacked Notable Achievements
Obama, Lee Seek Nuke Bargain with N. Korea
In Asia, Obama Talks Tough on Iran
Obama Calls Great Wall "Magical"
Obama Reunites with Half-Brother in China
Obama Stresses Cooperation With Hu, China
Obama Takes in the Sights of Beijing
U.S., China Fuel Each Other's Bad Habits

President Obama is in Korea where his Thursday will begin on Wednesday night in the U.S. On Thursday morning in Seoul, he will begin his day by visiting United States Embassy staff and their families.

He then participates in an arrival ceremony at the Blue House, the presidential compound in Northern Seoul. Following the ceremony, the president will meet with President Lee Myung-bak of South Korea. In the afternoon, the leaders will hold a joint press conference at the Blue House. Following the joint press conference, they will participate in a working lunch.

Mr. Obama will also deliver remarks at event with service members while in South Korea. He then departs Seoul on route back to Washington, with a stopover in Alaska.

Here's the full schedule from the White House (all times Eastern):

Wednesday, Nov. 18

8:10PM: President Obama visits United States Embassy staff and their families

9:00PM: President Obama arrives at the Blue House and participates in an arrival ceremony.

9:15PM: President Obama and President Lee Myung-bak of South Korea hold a bilateral meeting.

9:50PM: President Obama and President Lee Myung-bak of South Korea hold an expanded bilateral meeting.

10:30PM: President Obama and President Lee Myung-bak of South Korea hold a joint press conference.

11:10PM: President Obama and President Lee Myung-bak participate in a working lunch.

Thursday, Nov. 19

1:20AM: President Obama delivers remarks at event with service members.

2:05AM: President Obama departs South Korea en route Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska.

9:40AM: President Obama arrives in Anchorage, Alaska.

11:40AM: President Obama departs Anchorage, Alaska en route Washington, DC.

6:05PM: President Obama arrives at Andrews Air Force Base

6:25PM: President Obama departs Fort McNair en route The White House

On Tuesday morning in China, President Obama will participate in a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People. He will then hold a bilateral meeting and an expanded bilateral meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao in the Great Hall of the People. Following the meetings, the presidents will deliver joint statements to the press.

In the afternoon, the president will tour the Forbidden City. Upon conclusion of the tour, Mr. Obama will sign the guest book at the Gate of Loyal Obedience.

Later, Mr. Obama will visit United States Embassy employees and their families in the atrium of the U.S. Embassy. He will then hold a bilateral meeting with Chairman Wu Bangguo.

In the evening, Mr. Obama will attend a State Dinner in the Great Hall of the People.

Here's a full schedule from the White House (all times Eastern):

Monday, November 16

8:45PM: President Obama participates in welcome ceremony

9:00PM: President Obama and President Hu Jintao of China hold a bilateral meeting

9:45PM: President Obama and President Hu Jintao of China hold an expanded bilateral meeting

11:15PM: President Obama and President Hu Jintao of China make joint press statements

Tuesday, November 17

12:20AM: President Obama tours the Forbidden City

1:55AM: President Obama visits United States Embassy employees and their families

4:55AM: President Obama and Chairman Wu Bangguo hold a bilateral meeting

5:30AM: President Obama attends State Dinner

On Thursday morning, President Obama will make a brief statement to the press on the economy in the Diplomatic Reception Room. The president will then depart Washington and travel to Elmendorf Air Force Base near Anchorage, Alaska, where he will meet with service members and deliver remarks.

The president will then depart Elmendorf Air Force Base and travel to Tokyo, Japan. He will arrive at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on Friday afternoon. In the evening, the president and Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama will hold a bilateral meeting and an expanded bilateral meeting at the Kantei, the principal workplace of the Prime Minister of Japan. The president and the prime minister will then hold a joint press conference before having dinner.

Mr. Obama will spend the night in Tokyo.

Here's the full schedule from the White House (all times Eastern):

9:15AM: President Obama makes a brief statement to the press on the economy

9:30AM: President Obama departs The White House en route Andrews Air Force Base

9:50AM: President Obama departs Andrews Air Force Base en route Anchorage, Alaska


4:50PM: President Obama arrives in Anchorage, Alaska

5:10PM: President Obama meets with service members

5:30PM: President Obama delivers remarks at event with service members

6:55PM: President Obama departs Anchorage, Alaska en route Tokyo, Japan

Friday, November 13, 2009

2:15AM: President Obama arrives in Tokyo, Japan

4:50AM: President Obama and Prime Minister Hatoyama of Japan hold bilateral meeting

5:10AM: President Obama and Prime Minister Hatoyama hold expanded bilateral meeting

6:20AM: President Obama and Prime Minister Hatoyama hold joint press conference

6:45AM: President Obama and Prime Minister Hatoyama have dinner

In the morning, President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will host a Veterans Day breakfast in the East Room. The Vice President and Dr. Jill Biden will also attend. Later, the president and the first lady will visit Arlington National Cemetery where Mr. Obama will participate in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns and then deliver remarks at the Memorial Amphitheater.

In the afternoon, the president will meet with his national security team on Afghanistan and Pakistan in the Situation Room. Expected attendees include:

Vice President Biden
Secretary of State Clinton
Secretary of Defense Gates
Ambassador Susan Rice, Permanent U.S. Representative to the United Nations
Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan
Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
General James E. Cartwright, USMC, Vice Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
General David Petraeus, U.S. Central Command
General Stanley McChrystal, U.S. Commander in Afghanistan
Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry, U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan
General James Jones, National Security Advisory
Tom Donilon, Deputy National Security Advisor
John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Counterterrorism and Homeland Security
Lieutenant General Douglas Lute, Special Assistant to the President for Afghanistan and Pakistan

Here's the full schedule from the White House (all times Eastern):

9:05AM: President Obama and Michelle Obama host Veterans Day breakfast

11:00AM: President Obama participates in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns

11:25AM: President Obama delivers remarks

2:30PM: President Obama meets with his national security team on Afghanistan and Pakistan

In the morning, the president and the first lady will travel to Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas. Mr. Obama and Michelle Obama will meet with families of those killed last week and also with wounded soldiers and their families at III Corps Headquarters, Fort Hood.

In the afternoon, Mr. Obama will address the Fort Hood community during a memorial service for the soldiers and civilians killed on November 5th. The president and the first lady will then meet with wounded soldiers at Darnall Army Medical Center before returning to the White House in the evening.

Here's the full schedule from the White House (all times Eastern):

9:05AM: President Obama and Michelle Obama depart The White House en route Andrews Air Force Base

9:20AM: President Obama and Michelle Obama depart Andrews Air Force Base en route Killeen, Texas

12:25PM: President Obama and Michelle Obama arrive in Killeen, Texas

12:50PM: President Obama and Michelle Obama meet with families of the fallen

1:20PM: President Obama and Michelle Obama meet with wounded soldiers and their families

2:00PM: President Obama addresses the Fort Hood community

3:25PM: President Obama and Michelle Obama meet with wounded soldiers

4:20PM: President Obama and Michelle Obama depart Killeen, Texas en route Andrews Air Force Base

7:20PM: President Obama and Michelle Obama arrive at Andrews Air Force Base

7:35PM: President Obama and Michelle Obama arrive at The White House

Sarah Palin has returned to the battle over health care reform with a familiar refrain, slamming what she and others dubbed "death panels" over the summer.

Following passage of the health care overhaul in the House on Saturday night, Palin took to her Facebook page to register her well-known opposition to the Democratic plan.

"We've got to hold on to hope, and we've got to fight hard because Congressional action tonight just put America on a path toward an unrecognizable country," Palin opened the post. "The same government leaders that got us into the mortgage business and the car business are now getting us into the health care business."

Palin continues: "This out-of-control bureaucratic mess will be disastrous for our economy, our small businesses, and our personal liberty. It will slam businesses at a time when we are at double-digit unemployment rates – the highest we've seen in a quarter of a century. This massive new bureaucracy will cost us and our children money we don't have. It will rob Americans of more of our freedom and further hamper the free market."

The former Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential nominee has received the most attention for coming back in the post to her claim that the bill contains so-called "death panels" – despite the fact that numerous media organizations and nonpartisan fact-checkers have said in the past that there is no such thing in the bill.

Read full post…

In the morning, President Obama will receive his daily briefings and meet with senior advisers in the Oval Office.

Later today, Mr. Obama will sign an Executive Order on the employment of veterans in the federal government, which makes the Federal Government the model employer of Veterans and establishes a Council on Veterans Employment and a Veterans Employment Program office within most Federal agencies.

The president will also meet with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office.

Here's the full schedule from the White House (all times Eastern):

10:00AM: President Obama receives the Presidential Daily Briefing

10:30AM: President Obama receives the Economic Daily Briefing

11:00AM: President Obama meets with senior advisors

6:45PM: President Obama signs the Veterans Employment Initiative Executive Order

7:00PM: President Obama meets with Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel

In the morning, President Obama will receive the Presidential Daily Briefing. Later, he will sign the Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009, which extends unemployment benefits, offers a tax credit for struggling businesses and expands the homebuyer's tax credit.

In the afternoon, Mr. Obama will visit Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He will also meet separately in the Oval Office with Congressman-Elect Bill Owens of New York and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Here is the full schedule from the White House (all times Eastern):

9:30AM: President Obama receives the Presidential Daily Briefing

11:00AM: President Obama signs the Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009

2:20PM: President Obama departs The White House

2:35PM: President Obama visits Walter Reed Army Medical Center

4:15PM: President Obama arrives at The White House

4:25PM: President Obama meets with Congressman-Elect Bill Owens of New York

5:10PM: President Obama meets with Secretary of State Clinton

President Obama will deliver opening remarks and participate in an interactive discussion with tribal leaders at the White House Tribal Nations Conference at the Department of the Interior this morning. He will also deliver closing remarks in the afternoon.

Mr. Obama will also receive the Presidential Daily Briefing and meet with senior advisers in the Oval Office in the morning. Later, the president and the vice president will have lunch in the private dining room.

In the afternoon, Mr. Obama will have separate Oval Office meetings with Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and representatives of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus – Reps. Xavier Becerra, Charlie Gonzalez, Lucille Roybal-Allard and Nydia Velazquez.

President Obama will also meet with President Ian Khama of Botswana this afternoon.

Here's the full schedule from the White House (all times Eastern):

9:30AM: President Obama delivers opening remarks and participates in an interactive discussion with tribal leaders at the White House Tribal Nations Conference

11:00AM: President Obama meets with Senior Advisers

11:40AM: President Obama receives the Presidential Daily Briefing

12:30PM: President Obama and Vice President Biden have lunch

1:40PM: President Obama meets with Treasury Secretary Geithner

3:00PM: President Obama meets with President Ian Khama of Botswana

3:40PM: President Obama meets with representatives of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus; Congressman Xavier Becerra, Congressman Charlie Gonzalez, Congresswoman Lucille Roybal- Allard and Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez

4:00PM: President Obama meets with Secretary of State Clinton

4:50PM: President Obama delivers closing remarks at the White House Tribal Nations Conference