WASHINGTON - A week after President Barack Obama's call for U.S. schools to be outfitted with high-speed Internet within five years, an independent panel that studied the lack of technology at school says digital learning, including the super-fast Internet connections, can be introduced even sooner. The LEAD Commission is finalizing a five-point plan to speed the adoption of digital learning in schools by 2016. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the panel's blueprint on Wednesday; the full plan is expected to be formally released in the coming weeks.

Lawmakers from President Barack Obama's Democratic Party voiced alarm Tuesday over a proposed trans-Pacific trade pact, saying negotiations were too secretive and could lead to US job losses. A letter signed by a majority of first-term Democrats in the House of Representatives said that talks on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which Obama has billed as a signature priority, have progressed in "extreme secrecy."

RANCHO MIRAGE, California (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama called on his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, to acknowledge the threat posed by "cyber-enabled espionage" against the United States and investigate the problem, Obama's national security adviser said on Saturday. Thomas Donilon told reporters that Obama raised specific types of hacking that the United States was concerned about, adding that China now understood the depth of U.S. worries about the problem. (Reporting by Paul Eckert; Editing by Peter Cooney)

US President Barack Obama, with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping by his side, called Friday for common rules on cybersecurity after allegations of hacking by Beijing At a summit in the Calfornia desert, Obama said it was "critical" to reach a "permanent understanding" on cybersecurity. He also voiced concern over intellectual theft and urged "common rules of the road." tq/sct/vlk