Obama honours Pearl Harbour victims

President Barack Obama has laid a wreath at a memorial honouring those killed in the attack on Pearl Harbour in 1941.

The president was joined at the USS Arizona Memorial by his wife, Michelle, late yesterday afternoon. After a moment of silence, the Obamas scattered flower petals in the water.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Japanese attacks, which claimed the lives of 2,390 Americans and brought the United States into the Second World War.

The president is in Hawaii for his annual Christmas vacation with his family. Several White House staffers who travelled to the Honolulu area with Mr Obama joined the president at the Pearl Harbour memorial.