Announcing the end of what he called a “rigid” policy of isolation of Cuba that had been ineffective, Obama said the United States planned to move toward normal ties and would open an embassy in Cuba.

The policy shift will mean a relaxation in some aspects of commerce and transportation between the United States and Cuba, but it does not mean an end to the longstanding trade embargo, which needs congressional approval.

Obama discussed the changes with Cuban President Raul Castro on Tuesday in a telephone call that lasted nearly an hour. Castro spoke in Cuba as Obama made his announcement on a policy shift made possible by the release of American Alan Gross, 65, who had been imprisoned in Cuba for five years.

Cuba is also releasing an intelligence agent who spied for the United States and was held for nearly 20 years, and the United States in return released three Cuban intelligence agents held in the United States.

Gross’ imprisonment had been a block to any movement by Washington toward improved ties. Obama said Pope Francis had played an active role in pressing for his release.

Cuba and the United States have been ideological foes since soon after the 1959 revolution that brought Raul Castro’s older brother, Fidel Castro, to power.

They have not had diplomatic relations since 1961 and the United States has maintained a trade embargo on the island, 90 miles (140 km) south of Florida, for more than 50 years. Obama said he would ask Congress to lift the embargo.

Flashpoints in their hostilities included the Cuban missile crisis of October 1962 that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. Washington’s policy has survived the demise of Soviet communism and the end of the Cold War as the United States pushes for democratic reform in Cuba.

In his remarks, Obama said Cuba still needed to make changes. He said Havana needed to make economic reforms and improve human rights.

The White House politely but firmly asked reporters not to take selfies in the Oval Office during President Barack Obama’s meeting with Prince William, The Daily Telegraph reports.

They include immigrants living in the US for five years who have children staying legally in the US.

Up to five million are expected to benefit from a reform package forced through using executive orders, which allow Mr Obama to bypass Congress.

Republicans have accused the president of an “illegal power-grab”.

There are estimated to be 11 million illegal immigrants in the US.

Under Mr Obama’s plan, undocumented parents of children who are US citizens or legal residents will be able to apply for work permits lasting three years.

Only parents who have lived in the US for five years will qualify – about four million people are estimated to fit this criterion.

Hundreds of thousands more will benefit from other changes, including a decision to broaden a scheme giving temporary legal status to those who arrived in the US as children.

“Come out of the shadows and get right with the law,” Mr Obama said in a televised address.

He insisted his proposals, which are the biggest immigration reforms since the mid-1980s, did not amount to an amnesty.

“What I’m describing is accountability – a common-sense, middle ground approach,” he said.

Although the plan will allow millions to work, it will not offer a path to citizenship or entitle them to the same benefits as Americans, he said.

“If you’re a criminal, you’ll be deported. If you plan to enter the US illegally, your chances of getting caught and sent back just went up,” he said.

Elin Suleymanov, Azeri Ambassador to the US, presented President Obama with a large Azerbaijani rug with red, white and blue geometric designs worth $6,560 on December 5^th 2013, while first lady Michelle Obama received a traditional Azerbaijani red headscarf worth $435, according to the official records.

Secretary of State John Kerry also was handed by the ambassador a 24.5″ × 39″ hand-woven silk rug worth approximately $760, last December in Washington DC, while his then-top diplomat to Baku Richard Morningstar was given a 39.25″ × 47.25″ silk carpet last November worth $625.

Safar Abiyev, Azerbaijan’s former defense minister presented Chuck Hagel, Secretary of Defense wine serving set worth of $600, during his trip to Washington, DC last August.

Besides gifts, the Azeri government officials also appeared to have upgraded a bunch of top US gov’t officials travels to business class while flying from Baku to Paris last August, according to the official records.

The State Department’s report comes just hours before several top American elected officials are reportedly to gather tonight at the luxury gala dinner hosted by Ambassador Suleymanov and a son of an Azeri multi-billionaire minister in the US Capital, Contact.az reports.

Dozens of guests from the US administration, Congress, diplomatic corps and think tanks are estimated to attend the dinner named “Celebrating the Natural Beauty of Azerbaijan,” at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C.

Among the “Honorary Host Committee” of today’s gala there will be dozen of lawmakers, such as Congresswoman Corrine Brown, Senator Richard Burr, Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, Congressmen Michael Fitzpatrick, Steve Cohen, Cory Gardner, Gene Green, Billy Long and many others, according to the source. The official organizer of the event is shown as Azerbaijani American for Alliance, a group chaired by Anar Mammadov, son of Azerbaijan’s transportation minister Ziya Mammadov.

None of the mentioned above immediately returned a request for comment on Tuesday.

Mammadov has paid at least $2 million for covering expenses of 2012 gala dinner, according to the official records.

Last year, Mammadov’s organization spent $5 million for a single DC lobbying group Fabiani& Company to establish contacts with the US officials.

“Mr. President, don’t touch my girlfriend,” Mike Jones deadpanned as he walked by. The president and Aia Cooper, the man’s fiancee, were standing side-by-side as they submitted their ballots, the Washington Post reports.

“You know, I really wasn’t really planning on it,” Obama replied laughing. “There’s an example of a brother just embarrassing me for no reason.”

The lighthearted exchange was captured on video by CNN.

“Now you’ll be going back home and talking to your friends about this,” Obama told Cooper. “‘I can’t believe Mike, he is such a fool.'”

The president got the last laugh on his way out of the room. “Give me a kiss, give him something to talk about,” he told Cooper. “Now he’s really jealous.”

Amb. Sargsyan said at the meeting that the Armenian-American relations stand out for their high level and effective cooperation. He added that there is still a great potential for development and expansion of cooperation.

Barack Obama expressed confidence that the newly appointed Ambassador would use his experience and knowledge to contribute to the deepening of relations between the two friendly countries.

President Obama stressed that “the US attaches importance to the relations with Armenia based on mutual respect and interests, the collaboration in international peacekeeping missions, as well as the cooperation towards reinforcement of democracy and economic development.”

The President said the United States highly appreciates Armenia’s commitment to reach a peaceful settlement to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict and reinforce security in the South Caucasus.

The interlocutors underlined that the American Armenian community plays an important role in the development of friendly relations between the two countries.

“President Obama continues to outsource his policy on the Armenian Genocide, effectively granting Turkey a veto over America’s response to this crime against humanity.”

“It’s a sad spectacle to see our President, who came into office having promised to recognize the Armenian Genocide, reduced to enforcing a foreign government’s gag-rule on what our country can say about a genocide so very thoroughly documented in our own nation’s archives.”

“The fact remains that any durable improvement in Armenian-Turkish relations will require that Ankara end its denials, accept its moral and material responsibilities, and agree to a truthful and just international resolution of this still unpunished crime against all humanity.”

“While we do note that the President chose to join in today’s national remembrance, we remain profoundly disappointed that he has, once again, retreated from his own promises and fallen short of the principled stand taken by previous presidents. For our part, we remain committed to aligning U.S. policy on the Armenian Genocide – and all genocides – with the core values and humanitarian spirit of the American people.”

Armenian National Committee of America Glendale Chapter Chairman Berdj Karapetian opened the press conference and welcomed a broad array of U.S. and Armenian print, television and online media to the community-wide forum urging concrete White House action regarding the historic rug.

“Today we pause, reflect and act,” remarked ANCA National Board member Raffi Hamparian. “We pause to remember the remarkable generosity of the American people during the Armenian Genocide. We reflect on the little orphans of the genocide who carefully wove a rug that was presented to President Coolidge. And finally, we act, by demanding that President Obama stop his Administration’s unusual policy of placing the orphan rug under quarantine. This is an exceedingly unusual way to treat a piece of American history – especially a piece of American history that speaks to our nation’s greatness in responding to a crime against all humanity,” Hamparian added.

His Eminence Hovnan Derderian, Primate of the Western Diocese of the ArmenianApostolicChurch, spoke eloquently about the integral part the Armenian Genocide orphan rug plays in American history and the need for the White House to arrange its permanent display.

His Eminence Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian, Prelate of the Western Prelacy of the ArmenianApostolicChurch noted, “The rug was a gracious gesture symbolizing the friendship between the American and Armenian peoples. It is part of American history.  Keeping it locked away in storage is not only insulting to the orphaned girls who painstakingly crafted this beautiful work of art, it also represents a shameful effort to cover up, at the urging of genocide-deniers in Ankara, a truly proud chapter of American history.”

The press conference ended with participants signing a letter to President Obama welcoming him to Glendale and urging him to “permit the public display of the Armenian Genocide-era rug woven by orphans of that crime against humanity.”  The letter referenced an earlier White House statement to LA Times reporter Richard Simon, noting that displaying the rug “for only half a day in connection with a private book launch event, as proposed, would have been an inappropriate use of U.S. government property, would have required the White House to undertake the risk of transporting the rug for limited public exposure, and was not viewed as commensurate with the rug’s historical significance.”

The petitioners wrote that they were “pleased that the White House acknowledges the historical significance of this Armenian Genocide-era rug. Therefore, we urge you to permit its prominent exhibition and eventual permanent display at a location accessible to the public in Washington, D.C.”  Joining the religious and community leaders in signing the letter were Glendale Unified School School District Board of Education Vice President Nayiri Nahabedian, Glendale City College Board of Trustees Vice President Dr. Vahe Peroomian, and representatives from the Armenian Relief Society, Homenetmen Armenian Scouting and Athletic Association, All Armenian Students Association, Armenian Youth Federation, Armenian Rug Association, United Young Armenians, Armenian American Council on Aging, Hamazkayin Armenian Educational and Cultural Association, among a broad array or community supporters.

“I look forward to presenting the letter to President Obama to honor American history by displaying the rug,” said Councilmember Zareh Sinanyan, who will be meeting with the President later today.

The press conference in Glendale, California, will feature His Eminence Archbishop Moushegh Mardirossian, Western Prelate of the Armenian Apostolic Church; Raffi Haig Hamparian, Armenian National Committee of America, National Board Member; Berdj Karapetian, Armenian National Committee of America – Glendale Chapter, Chairman; Armenian American Leaders.

Armenian Americans across the U.S. are calling on President Obama to secure a prominent and permanent public display of a historic rug woven by Armenian Genocide orphans and presented to President Calvin Coolidge in 1925, in appreciation for U.S. humanitarian assistance in the aftermath of Turkey’s murder of over 1.5 million Armenians from 1915-1923.

The ANCA campaign was initiated last month after The Washington Post reported that a planned December 16th Smithsonian Institution exhibit featuring the rug, organized in conjunction with the Armenian Cultural Foundation and the Armenian Rug Society, was abruptly cancelled when the White House, reversing an earlier affirmative decision, refused to lend the iconic symbol of American and Armenian shared heritage to the museum.

The Washington Post has covered the upcoming press conference. “Protesters will use President Obama’s fundraising trip to Southern California on Tuesday to highlight his refusal to live up to a campaign promise to recognize the Armenian genocide in Turkey nearly a century ago,” the article reads.

The paper reminds that the rug, which is held in storage by the White House, was given in appreciation for U.S. humanitarian assistance in the aftermath of Turkey’s murder of more than 1.5 million Armenians from 1915 to 1923.