Discreet Professional Protection
US President Barack Obama has urged his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to stop the flow of weapons into Ukraine and halt support for separatists.
The White House said that in the phone call Mr Obama warned of further sanctions if Moscow failed to act.
The Kremlin says Mr Putin urged direct talks between Kiev and the rebels in the east. Russia denies arming them.
The separatists have said they will observe a truce initiated by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
US Secret Service agents are responsible for keeping the president safe and traditionally have a stellar reputation. Recently, though, they have been embroiled in scandal.
A Secret Service agent reportedly got drunk and passed out in the hallway of an Amsterdam hotel before President Barack Obama arrived in the Netherlands this week.
Officials said he was sent home for “disciplinary reasons”. The agent was part of the Secret Service’s Counter Assault Team, according to the Washington Post.
He is not the only one who has been in trouble. Here is a look at five other incidents that have marred the record of the White House’s praetorian guard.
Agent Ignacio Zamora met a woman at a bar at the Hay-Adams, a hotel in Washington, in June 2013 and went to her room. She saw that he had a weapon and asked him to leave.
Later she found a bullet in the room – one that he had left behind. Authorities were told about the incident.
During their investigation they found that he had been sending sexually suggestive emails to someone who worked for the Secret Service.
He was taken off the president’s security duty.
Agents arrived in Cartagena, Colombia, in April 2012 – shortly before Mr Obama’s arrival. They went to a bar. Some of them reportedly paid $60 (£38) apiece to the owner and then brought prostitutes back to their hotel.
The next morning one of the women said that they still owed her money. They got into a loud argument at the hotel, and the police were notified.
Secret Service officials promised they would look into the incident. Agent Zamora – who later got into trouble because he left a bullet in a woman’s hotel room – helped to lead the investigation of misconduct in Colombia.
Some lawmakers said that they did not think he was the right person to investigate misbehaviour among agents.
“This is like the fox guarding the hen house,” said Senator Ron Johnson, who is a Republican from Wisconsin, in a statement to the BBC.
Senator Johnson said: “This type of behaviour jeopardises the security of the president of the United States and makes US government personnel susceptible to coercion and blackmail.”
A spokesman for the Secret Service declined to comment.
Three agents allowed a couple from Virginia, Tareq and Michaele Salahi, into the first state dinner hosted by Mr Obama in November 2009 – apparently without an invitation.
The Salahis became celebrities, appearing on The Real Housewives of DC. The agents were put on administrative leave.
An off-duty officer driving in a vehicle with Secret Service markings was arrested in Washington when he tried to solicit a prostitute in 2008, according to USA Today. The prostitute was actually an undercover law-enforcement officer.
Officials said that the Secret Service agent faced administrative action.
Two agents visited a skateboarding store in Salt Lake City, Utah, in February 2002, before the Winter Olympics. They bought nine Olympic hats, according to the New York Times, and left.
Afterwards the store owner found some papers on the counter – security details for Vice-President Dick Cheney and his family, describing where the agents would be posted during the Games.
A spokesman for the Secret Service said that the agents were careless – but that the vice-president and his family had not been in danger.
President Obama: ”We should be able to achieve a resolution” over Iran’s nuclear programme
US President Barack Obama has said recent moves by Iran should offer the basis for a “meaningful agreement” on its nuclear programme.
Speaking at the UN General Assembly’s annual meeting, Mr Obama said words now had to be matched by actions.
The US leader recently exchanged letters with his newly-elected counterpart over the nuclear issue.
Later, President Hassan Rouhani insisted Iran posed “absolutely no threat to the world or region”.
US President Barack Obama has toured Robben Island – the jail in which Nelson Mandela was kept for 18 years.
He said he and his family were “deeply humbled” to visit the prison once inhabited by Mr Mandela – who remains critically ill in hospital.
Mr Obama went on to give a speech at the University of Cape Town and launch a multi-billion-dollar electricity initiative.
The US leader did not visit Mr Mandela, but met the Mandela family in private.
Security was stepped up during this final Cape Town leg of his time in South Africa, following clashes on Saturday between riot police and anti-Obama protesters in Soweto.
The US attorney general has acknowledged four US citizens have been killed in drone strikes since 2009.
In a letter to the Senate judiciary committee, Eric Holder defended the targeted killing of Anwar al-Awlaki.
But he said Awlaki’s 16-year-old son as well as two other individuals were “not specifically targeted by the US”.
The disclosure comes as President Barack Obama prepares to make a speech on counter-terrorism and the drone programme on Thursday.
The president will “discuss why the use of drone strikes is necessary, legal and just, while addressing the various issues raised by our use of targeted action”, administration officials said.