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President Barack Obama said Tuesday that the U.S. will do everything it can to help Nigeria find nearly 300 teenage girls missing since they were kidnapped from school three weeks ago by an Islamist extremist group that has threatened to sell them.

Obama said the immediate priority is finding the girls, but that the Boko Haram group must also be dealt with.

"In the short term our goal is obviously is to help the international community, and the Nigerian government, as a team to do everything we can to recover these young ladies," Obama said in an interview with NBC's "Today," in some of his first public comments on what he said was a "terrible situation" in the West African nation.

"But we're also going to have to deal with the broader problem of organizations like this that ... can cause such havoc in people's day-to-day lives," Obama said of Boko Haram.

The brazen April 15 abduction has sparked international outrage and mounting demands, including by some in Washington, for Nigeria to spare no effort to find and free the girls before they can be sold into slavery or otherwise harmed.

Nigeria's police have said more than 300 girls were abducted from their secondary school in the country's remote northeast. Of that number, 276 remain in captivity and 53 managed to escape.

Obama said he was glad the Nigerian government was accepting help from U.S. military and law enforcement advisers.

"Obviously, what's happening is awful, and, as a father of two girls, I can't imagine what their parents are going through," he told CBS News in an interview. Obama said the U.S. has long sought to work with Nigeria to contain Boko Haram.

"You've got one of the worst regional or local terrorist organizations in Boko Haram in Nigeria. They've been killing people ruthlessly for many years now and we've already been seeking greater cooperation with the Nigerians," Obama said in an interview with ABC News.

He said the kidnapping and subsequent outrage over Nigeria's inability to rescue the girls "may be the event that helps to mobilize the entire international community to finally do something against this horrendous organization that's perpetrated such a terrible crime."

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Obama: US to Help Nigeria Find Kidnapped Girls

President Obama on Wednesday toured streets strewn with debris and wrecked homes in Vilonia, Ark., promising the federal government would help the town recover from a tornado that killed 15 people last month.

In brief remarks from a rubble-filled subdivision, Obama said hed come to make sure the victims know your country is going to be there for you.

Because when something like this happens to a wonderful community like this one, it happens to all of us, he said.

The presidents trip was his first to Arkansas as president; Obama had little reason to campaign in the Republican-leaning state in 2012.

He was greeted at the airport by Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe, a Democrat, Sen. Mark Pryor, a Democrat, and Rep. Tim Griffin, a Republican. Obama viewed the storm-damaged homes north of Little Rock from Marine One, the presidential helicopter, before meeting with first responders and victims' families in Vilonia, where a twister upended cars and leveled buildings on April 27. He later walked the battered area, navigating through the piles of wood, trash and water-logged belongings.

Obama noted that the disaster was compounded by the fact that many in Vilonia had just rebuilt from another severe tornado three years ago.

Folks here are tough. They look out for one another, and that's been especially clear the past week, Obama said. Im here to remind them that theyre not doing this work alone.

More than 400 federal emergency workers have been deployed in the South and Southeast, where storms hit several communities late last month, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters Wednesday.

The president issued a major disaster declaration for the region. Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate and Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson visited last week.

Obama made his brief stop on the way to Southern California, where he is scheduled to raise money for Democratic candidates. He is due to land in Los Angeles on Wednesday evening.

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Obama tours tornado damage, says Arkansas 'not doing this work alone'

WASHINGTON (AP) Within weeks, President Barack Obama's administration is set to unveil unprecedented emissions limits on power plants across the U.S., much to the dismay of many Democratic candidates who are running for election in energy-producing states. Fearful of a political backlash, they wish their fellow Democrat in the White House would hold off until after the voting.

But Obama can't wait that long.

Unlike the Keystone XL oil pipeline, whose review the administration has delayed, probably until after November's elections, the clock is ticking for the power plant rules the cornerstone of Obama's campaign to curb climate change. Unless he starts now, the rules won't be in place before he leaves office, making it easier for his successor to stop them.

So even though the action could bolster Republican attacks against some of this year's most vulnerable Democrats, the administration is proceeding at full speed. Obama's counselor on climate issues, John Podesta, affirmed that the proposal will be unveiled in early June just as this year's general election is heating up.

"Having this debate now will only injure Democrats," said Hank Sheinkopf, a longtime Democratic strategist. "Democrats are in trouble. The best thing when you're in trouble is to avoid further controversy."

To be sure, Americans generally support cutting pollution. A Pew Research Center poll late last year found 65 percent of Americans favor "setting stricter emission limits on power plants in order to address climate change," while 30 percent were opposed.

But Democrats are fighting most of their toughest races this year in conservative-leaning states that rely heavily on the energy industry, including Louisiana, Arkansas, Kentucky, West Virginia, Alaska and Montana. Already, conservative groups have spent millions accusing Democrats in those states of supporting energy policies that would impede local jobs and economic development.

Never mind that it's Obama's administration not House or Senate candidates drafting the rules. Even when Democrats try to distance themselves from Obama on the issue, Republicans say that's evidence that congressional Democrats are impotent to rein in their party's out-of-control president.

Republican Rep. Steve Daines, who is running to unseat Democratic Sen. John Walsh in Montana, calls the new rules part of a broader war Obama is waging on Montana's jobs and families. Daines said in an interview, "The Democratic-led Senate has been complicit in supporting President Barack Obama's war on coal, and Montanans don't like it."

Seeking to head off those arguments, some Democrats already are assailing the expected new rules in hopes voters won't lump candidates together with Obama in states where the president is highly unpopular. Rep. Nick Rahall, a Democrat from coal-rich West Virginia and a top GOP target, said an earlier Obama plan affecting only new power plants "hinged on fantasy and endangers our economy."

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Obama Climate Rules Can't Wait 'Til After Election

President Barack Obama is removing special trade benefits for Russia because the country is too economically advanced to need them and Moscow's involvement in Ukraine made it an appropriate time to take the step, the White House announced Wednesday.

Obama notified Congress that he plans to remove Russia from the Generalized System of Preferences program, which gave Moscow a $544 million break on import taxes in 2012 on products ranging from metals and minerals to tires and ceramic wares.

The program, which allowed $19.9 billion in imports to enter the U.S. duty-free in 2012, is designed to help developing countries boost their economy through trade. The program expired in July 2013, but the Obama administration supports legislation under consideration in Congress to extend it.

The White House says Russia's removal will mean its goods will be subject to normal tariff rates once Obama issues a proclamation, which can be no sooner than 60 days from congressional notification.

National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said Russia was set to be eliminated from the program on Jan. 1, 2016, after being upgraded to high-income status by the World Bank last year, but Obama decided to move forward ahead of schedule. "Russia's actions regarding Ukraine, while not directly related to the president's decision regarding Russia's eligibility for GSP benefits, make it particularly appropriate to take this step now," she said.

The announcement comes on the day that Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country has pulled troops back from the border it shares with Ukraine. But the White House was skeptical of the claim.

"We would certainly welcome a meaningful and transparent withdrawal of Russian military forces from the border," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest. "That's something that we have sought for quite some time. I will say that, to date, there's been no evidence that such a withdrawal has taken place."

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Obama Removing Special Trade Benefits for Russia

President Barack Obama's national security adviser, Susan Rice, arrives in Israel this week for high-profile talks that come against the backdrop of rising hopes for an Iranian nuclear deal and faltering U.S.-led peace talks with the Palestinians.

Rice's trip her first to Israel since assuming her White House post last year has been long planned. She's leading a contingent of U.S. officials the State and Treasury departments, Pentagon and intelligence community who hold regular discussions with their Israeli counterparts.

But the Iranian negotiations in particular are expected to factor into Rice's talks Wednesday and Thursday, particularly her meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israeli leader has been vocal critic of the U.S.-led nuclear negotiations with Iran, accusing Tehran of using the talks as a stalling tactic while it pursues a nuclear weapon.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said Tuesday that Rice's meetings will not produce "any new development on the Iran front."

"It's an opportunity for representatives from the United States and Israel at high levels to discuss that issue, among many others," Carney said.

The U.S. and its negotiating partners Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China reached an interim nuclear accord with Iran late last year and are now holding delicate discussions on a final deal. Nuclear experts from each country were meeting in New York this week ahead of higher level talks scheduled in Vienna next week.

While the talks have yielded some positive signs, the toughest issues must still be negotiated and any deal could fall apart.

Obama and other top U.S. officials have sought to convince Israel that the talks represent the best option for resolving the international community's dispute with Iran peacefully. Israel sees the Iranian nuclear program as an existential threat and has resisted any suggestions that Tehran could be left with some nuclear capacity.

Iran says it is not seeking a bomb and is instead pursuing a peaceful nuclear program.

Despite being one of Obama's closest foreign policy advisers, Rice has kept a relatively low-key public profile on both the Iran and Mideast peace issues, allowing Secretary of State John Kerry to serve as the administration's primary spokesman on the matters. Kerry has played a particularly hands-on role in the U.S.-brokered peace talks, shuttling to the region frequently in an effort to jumpstart the stalled process.

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Obama Aide Susan Rice to Hold Meetings in Israel