White House official: Obama cancels APEC trip

President Barack Obama has canceled his upcoming trip to the APEC summit in Bali due to the US government shutdown, the White House confirmed Thursday. A White House statement said Obama had scrapped travel to Bali and a subsequent trip to nearby Brunei for the East Asia Summit. "Due to the government shut-down, President Obama’s travel to Indonesia and Brunei has been cancelled," the statement said. "The President made this decision based on the difficulty in moving forward with foreign travel in the face of a shutdown, and his determination to continue pressing his case that Republicans should immediately allow a vote to reopen the government." Secretary of State John Kerry would lead the US delegations to both countries in place of Obama, the statement said.