US President Barack Obama has invited a Muslim boy to the White House after he was detained by police for taking a homemade clock to school that teachers mistook for a bomb.Ahmed Mohamed, 14, was led away in handcuffs from Irving MacArthur High School in North Texas on Monday after bringing the device to his engineering class.
In a tweet, Mr Obama called Ahmed's clock "cool" and said more students should be inspired like him to enjoy science, because "it's what makes America great".
The bespectacled ninth grader has been asked to attend an astronomy night the White House is hosting for top scientists on 19 October.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Ahmed had been "failed" by his school, calling the episode a "teachable moment".
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg also invited Ahmed, an aspiring inventor who dabbles in robotics and builds his own radios, to the company's California headquarters.
"Having the skill and ambition to build something cool should lead to applause, not arrest," said Mr Zuckerberg.
"The future belongs to people like Ahmed."
Top NASA engineer Bobak Ferdowsi tweeted that the space agency needs "smart, curious & creative people" like Ahmed.
Ahmed, the son of Sudanese immigrants, said he demonstrated his homework project to his engineering teacher and was advised not to show it to anyone else.
When his digital clock beeped in English class later in the day, he said the teacher confiscated it claiming it looked like a bomb.
The electronics whiz was taken to Irving police headquarters to be questioned, fingerprinted and photographed.
17.9.15
White House Invitation For Arrested 'Clock Boy'
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