US national security adviser steps down

PRESIDENT Barack Obama has announced that his national security adviser General James Jones, pictured right, is stepping down after helping to shape foreign policy for nearly two years.

Tom Donilon, Jones's deputy, will take over as the top security adviser. Obama praised Jones, a lifelong military man, as a "dedicated public servant and a friend to me".

The president turned over the job to Donilon, who brings to the role a long background of Democratic politics and diplomacy. The move comes one week after Obama lost his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, who quit to run for mayor of Chicago.