A new biography of President Barack Obama by New Yorker editor David Remnick has been planned for an April 6th release in print, audio and e-book versions. Publisher Knopf Doubleday says the book is based on hundreds of interviews with relatives, friends, mentors, donors, and rivals. Remnick won a Pulitzer Prize in 1994 for "Lenin’s Tomb," about the Soviet Union's collapse, and also wrote "King of the World" about the boxer Muhammad Ali.

Obama's name has been magic in publishing - from books to Spiderman comics - but some of the luster has damaged off since his election. He has been taking his lumps in Congress over health care, and some Democratic candidates are distancing themselves from his policy. It will be very interesting to see how this bio fares.

Sonny Mehta, chairman of Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, said in a news release about the book: “Obama’s election as President was based less on policies prescriptions than on a sense of his character and biography. "The Bridge" reveals not only his nature, but also his trials, motivations, and perspectives in a way that a memoir, even a remarkable one, cannot.”

If President Obama is looking for a partner to play U.S. Sen. Scott Brown and his daughter in basketball, Connecticut's Maya Moore says she's prepared to serve.

Brown, the Massachusetts Republican who had an disturb win in a special election to fill the seat of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, has challenged Obama to a game of two-on-two. Brown's partner would be his daughter, Ayla, a senior guard at Boston College.

Moore, the reign national player of the year, said Monday she'd be willing to be the President's partner in such a game.

"Whatever the President needs, it is my patriotic duty to help him," Moore said.

Moore and other UConn players competed in a game of "PIG" with Obama at the White House last summer when the team was privileged for winning the NCAA championship.

The U.S. president announced this weekend, launching a main education reform, another of its flagship projects.

The U.S. president, who has delayed his trip to Indonesia, began a critical week for the future of its mandate.

In Washington, where the media and political moment is so short that commentators crucify Monday that they have worshiped on Sunday, and conversely, we must be wary of conclusive analysis. But everyone agrees that the week ahead will be important for the future of the Obama presidency. A kind of double or quits, devastating and redemptive.

Aware of the issue, Barack Obama postponed to Sunday, March 21 start of his tour in Guam, Indonesia and Australia, planned for 18. The Speaker ruled that the head of state, often accused of not dip their hands “in the grease” the Congress should participate in the exercise of persuasion of elected Democrats. A deferral means that Michelle, Malia and Sasha will not be the trip to Asia, where Obama lived as a child and where he need to take them. “I am delighted that the president may be there for the passage of the law,” said Pelosi, who is activated for weeks to find a majority and would be a vote winner by the end of the week. “I think we have the votes to pass the reform, confirmed Sunday on CNN on Obama’s political adviser, David Axelrod, speaking, however, ’struggle’.

US President Barack Obama has decided to give his Nobel Prize award money to charities.

Out of the 1.4 million dollars Nobel Peace Prize money, Obama said that 200,000 dollors will go to the Clinton-Bush Haiti Fund while 250,000 dollars will be donated to Fisher House, which provide housing to families of patients at military medical centers.

In a statement released on Thursday, Mar 11, the president said, “These organisations do strange work in the United States and abroad helping students, veterans and countless others in need.”

Central Asia Institute, which promotes community-based education and literacy, particularly for girls, in remote regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan, will receive 100,000 dollars from Obama.

125,000 dollars will go to College Summit, which is a national non-profit organisation that partners with elementary and middle schools and school districts to strengthen college-going culture and raise college enrollment rates.

"I’m proud to support their work," Obama added.

US First Lady Michelle Obama wore a creation by designer Prabal Gurung, an alumnus of Delhi's National Institute of Fashion Technology, while donate her inaugural gown to the Smithsonian Museum of American History.

Gurung, who was born in Singapore, grow up in Nepal and studied fashion in New Delhi, had previous spoken of his desire to dress President Obama's wife, describing her as his ideal.

"Michelle Obama has brought an huge sense of glamour back to the White House with her keen fashion sense and by the way she wears clothing with confidence. I am proud to describe her our First Lady. To me, she is the perfect PG woman," the designer had earlier said.

The 46-year-old first lady is known to prefer young designers over recognized high-couture names, choosing Jason Wu, a little-known designer who grew up in Taiwan, to design her inaugural ball gown. The flowing, white, one-shouldered gown studded with applique embroidery, a huge ring, along with peep-toe white Jimmy Choo high heels, thin diamond bracelets and dangling earrings joined the Museum of American History's collection of First Ladies' dresses on Wednesday.

"I'm also a little embarrassed by all the excitement being made over my dress. Like many of you, I'm not used to people wanting to put things I've worn on display," Obama said to laughter.

President Barack Obama warned on Monday that women in America still faced unfairness and hardship, as he vowed to fight for gender parity at a White House reception on International Women's Day.

Obama was joined by his wife First Lady Michelle Obama, the first female secretary of state Madeleine Albright, and his rival-turned-ally and recent top US diplomat Hillary Clinton at an event in the East Room of the White House.

"Even as we reflect on the hope of our history, we must also face squarely the reality of the present -- a realism marked by unfairness, marked by hardship for too many women in America," Obama said.

The president also praise Clinton and US ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice for making the alleviation of suffering of women a priority in US foreign policy, including lifting restrictions on access to family development.

Michelle Obama introduced her husband with joke: "I get to speak first while he stands and watches. I love this," she said to laughter.

"Look at me adoringly," she told her husband. "I can do that," the president quipped. "With sincerity," she said, sparking loud laughs.

Barack Obama's trip to Australia this month might be in jeopardy as the US President pushes to clinch historic healthcare reform in America.

Mr Obama and his family are planned to arrive in Canberra on March 22 after visiting Guam and Indonesia.

But some fellow Democrats have expressed concern that the President's absence will come during the final act of his momentous revamp of the healthcare system, which is predictable to extend health insurance coverage to an extra 30 million Americans.

The Australian government yesterday confirmed Mr Obama could address a joint sitting of both houses of Parliament on Tuesday, March 23.

It also announced that Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono would address a combined sitting next Wednesday at 2pm.

The president is throwing down the gauntlet to Republicans:

"I believe the United States Congress owes the American people a last vote on health care reform. We have debated this subject thoroughly, not just for a year, but for decades. Reform has already passed the House with a majority. It have previously passed the Senate with a supermajority of 60 votes. And now it deserves the similar kind of up-or-down vote that was cast on welfare reform, the Children's Health Insurance Program, COBRA health coverage for the unemployed, and both Bush tax cuts - all of which had to pass Congress with nothing more than a simple majority."
Republicans will decline this almost instantly. One conservative website has already put together a montage of clips showing Obama saying he would not govern like this.

CNN are quoting a White House insider saying this is a "last helicopter out of Saigon" plan. Fleeing a lost war is not the most hopeful metaphor for an adviser to adopt. And it still might go down in flames.

President Obama had hoped Congress would sign off on health reform last summer, but the subject goes to the heart of the ideological differences between the two parties, and even between liberal and moderate Democrats.

Reading all the various polls available, you get the clear picture that Americans are usually happy with the healthcare they have but most would be unhappy if no reform was passed this year.

They don't much like the bill Congressional Democrats are pushing - it’s too luxurious and too complicated - but they like its component parts and they trust the president and his party more than Republicans to solve the problem.

Quite apart from the fact that he thinks it is the right thing to do, healthcare reform would assist Barack Obama shore up his presidency too.

Besides his efforts to re-vitalize the economy, reforming healthcare is the central plank of his domestic schedule and he badly needs something to show for the sizeable majorities he has had in the House and Senate for the past year.

Michelle Obama has now challenged Americans to deal with the growing trouble of obesity in children. Childhood obesity has tripled in the last thirty years. Nearly one-third of US children are now overweight or obese; nearly one in three will finally suffer from diabetes. In the African - American and Latino communities, the proportion is approximately one in two.

This is, the First Lady said, possibly “an even greater threat to America’s health than smoking” with staggering costs. A current study put the health care cost of obesity related diseases at $147 billion a year. Obesity is now one of the most general disqualifiers from military service.

This isn’t a challenge that can be solved in a year or in an administration, as the First Lady noted, but this isn’t like a disease where we’re still waiting for a cure to be exposed – we know the cure for this. This isn’t like putting a man on the moon or inventing the Internet. It doesn’t take a few stroke of genius or feat of technology. “We have everything we need, right now, to help our kid’s lead healthy lives” So Let’s Move.

The Obama Administration is definitely in support of pumping government dollars back into the economy, particularly if it means spending the green on companies that promote green energy. President Obama embarked to Iowa on Earth Day to go with the workers of Trinity Structural Towers. The President seems to be pleased with the company's efforts in developed a product that will create wind energy while still saving the jobs of many previous Maytag workers.

President Obama is an enthusiastic supporter of clean sources of power such as wind energy. He needs to maintain the development of green energy if the government is going to meet the Department of Energy's 20% wind energy goal by 2030.

Obama sees an opportunity for the United States to develop from the top importer of foreign oil into the top clean energy exporter. He believes that wind can produce up to 20 percent of the nation's energy by 2030, creating up to 250,000 jobs. This is an ambitious raise from the 2 percent currently produced by wind generated power, concurrently attacking the problems of energy dependence, global warming and job creation. The U.S. currently has no offshore wind power facilities though these new rules may give impetus to some pending projects, such as New York's plan to produce power off the coast of the Great Lakes and installations off the coast along the Atlantic seaboard.

Indonesian government would use the upcoming visit of U.S. President Barack Obama to maximize the benefits for the archipelagic country by optimize the agreements to be signed by heads of the two countries during the visit, Indonesian Economy Coordinating Minister Hatta Radjasa said here on Tuesday.

"The foreign desire to invest in Indonesia was increasing rapidly. U.S. was one of countries pledged to raise its investments here. There would be six agreements to be signed in the visit. We would use it largely for the prosperity of the country," Hatta said on the sidelines of a coordination meeting in the financial ministry's premises here.

Indonesia is recognized as one of the surviving countries in the crisis that rammed worldwide economy since late 2008. Indonesia has booked positive growth amid the crisis along with China and India.

Obama is planned to undertake his Indonesian visit from March 20 to 22. Obama spent his early days in Indonesia's capital city of Jakarta from 1967 to 1971.

King Juan Carlos I of Spain on Wednesday met US President Barack Obama here and the two leaders discuss bilateral and global issues.

At the lunch at his private dining room at the White House, president obama was joined by the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the National Security Advisor General (retired) James Jones while the King's delegation included Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos and Alberto Aza, Head of Royal Household.

During the lunch, the leaders recognized the strong bonds between the American and Spanish people, the White House said.

"The President expressed appreciation for the King's long history of friendship with the United States and highlighted his interest in strengthening our partnership with Spain as we seek to confront common challenges, including the climate change, global economy, terrorism and Afghanistan," the White House said.

President Barack Obama's mother-in-law lived her whole life in Chicago, so it was only natural that her move to the White House came with some resistance. Try it for three months, her son-in-law says the family suggested.

A year later, it seems Marian Robinson is here to stay.

She spends a lot of time looking after granddaughters Sasha, 8, and Malia, 11, but has been carving out a new life for herself, too. In the words of the president, she's become "quite the lady about town."

"She wasn't entirely kicking and screaming, but it was clear that her preference would be to remain in her old life, and that this new White House, all this stuff, she could just hear about," the first lady said.

"So I'm happy that she's really settled in and feels like this is home for her, as well," Mrs. Obama said.

She attends many White House functions, including musical events in the East Room - such as a celebration last week of music of the civil rights era - the yearly Easter Egg Roll and November's black-tie, state dinner for India's prime minister.

Barack Obama will observe the Dalai Lama in the White House this week. They met once when Mr Obama was just a senator, but what degree of warmth and eagerness will he show as president? After all, he put off meeting the Tibetan spiritual leader before his journey to Beijing due to an unfortunate "clash of diaries".

Now that the meeting is back in the diary, China has once again protested. The president needs a friendly with China, not least over sanctions against Iran, but tensions have been increasing between the two big powers - over trade and the US sale of arms to Taiwan.

All US presidents since 1990 have met the Dalai Lama and it would be noteworthy if Obama kept him at arm's extent. But he doesn't want to turn the well-known affront to Beijing's rulers into something more serious.

Indian-American Suresh Kumar was among 27 nominees of the Obama Administration who were established on Friday by the United States Senate.

But at the same time before leaving for Presidential Day recess, the Senate has not vacant the names of at least a dozen Obama nominees. “While this is a good first step, there are still dozens of nominees on hold who merit a similar vote, and I will be looking for action from the Senate when it returns from recess,” President Barack Obama said soon thereafter. Mr. Obama warned that if the Senate does not approve/ confirm his nominees who are critical to run his administration, he reserve the right to use his recess appointment authority in the future.

Mr. Kumar, who served as a particular adviser to the Clinton foundation and was a news anchor in India from 1970 to 1985, was confirmed as the Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Director General of the US and Foreign Commercial Service.

Barack H. Obama is the 44th leader of the United States.

His story is the American story - values from the heartland, a middle-class upbringing in a powerful family, hard work and education as the means of getting ahead, and the conviction that a life so blessed should be lived in service to others.

With a father from Kenya and a mother from Kansas, President Barrack obama was born in Hawaii on August 4, 1961. He was raise with help from his grandfather, who served in Patton's army, and his grandmother, who worked her way up from the secretarial pool to middle management at a bank.

After working his way through college with the assist of scholarships and student loans, President Obama moved to Chicago; where he worked with a group of churches to assist rebuild communities devastated by the closure of local steel plants. He went on to attend law school, where he became the first African - American president of the Harvard Law Review.

He was elected the 44th President of the United States on November 4, 2008, and confirmed in on January 20, 2009. He and his wife, Michelle, are the proud parents of two daughters, Sasha, 7 and Malia, 10.

Barack Obama’s Kenyan ‘auntie’ appeals last night to an immigration judge not to throw her out of America.

Zeituni Onyango, 57, who turned up to the hearing in a wheelchair, was predictable to claim that her relationship to the president would make her a target in her homeland’s unstable political climate.

But the hearing at the U.S. Immigration Court in Boston, Massachusetts ended without an urgent decision in her second bid for asylum in the U.S.

The half-sister of Mr Obama’s late father moved to America a decade ago but her first asylum appeal was discarded.

The president affectionately refers to Ms Onyango as ‘Auntie Zeituni’ in his memoir Dreams from My Father and described meeting her during a 1988 trip to Kenya.

But he has adamantly denied that he knew his aunt was living in the U.S. and said she would not get any particular treatment.

The White House confirmed on Tuesday that Obama will meet the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader hated by Beijing as a "separatist" for seeking self-rule for his homeland.

China's response to the statement underscored the tensions in ties between the world's biggest and third biggest economies, with the Chinese Foreign Ministry saying President Hu Jintao himself had urged Obama not to meet the exiled Tibetan leader.

Ma Zhaoxu, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, said his government "resolutely opposes the leader of the United States having contact with the Dalai under any excuse or in any form,"
"We urge the U.S. to fully grasp the high sensitivity of the Tibetan issues, to carefully and appropriately deal with related matters, and avoid bringing further damage to China-U.S. relations," said Ma.

The White House shrugged off Beijing's earlier warnings about the meeting between Obama and the Dalai Lama, which may occur as early as this month.

"The president told China's leaders during his journey last year that he would meet with the Dalai Lama and he intends to do so," White House spokesman Bill Burton told reporters traveling with Obama to New Hampshire.

The economy can make it harder for family to make healthy choices but childhood obesity threatens America's future, first lady Michelle Obama said Thursday.

During an appearance in Alexandria, Va., with Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, Health And Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Dr. Judith Palfrey, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, in Alexandria, Va., the first lady said childhood obesity is "nothing short of a public health crisis threatening the future of this nation."

The first lady and the officials released a paper by the surgeon common on the public health challenge of obesity and toured a YMCA playroom that feature physical activities, including interactive video games good for groups, bikes set up so kids can race others on a screen and a dancing game.

Barack obama told an audience that included representatives from scouting, the YMCA, YWCA, Children's Defense Fund, Girls Inc. and the National PTA that the activity room represented the "next generation" and must be encouraged in other places.

Citing India and China as countries that are going ahead with economic revamp, US president Barack Obama today said the US can’t accept a "second place", and should get serious about fixing its troubles since the worst of the financial crisis is over.

"Washington has been telling us to wait for decades, even as the problems have grown worse. Meanwhile, China's not waiting to revamp its financial system. Germany's not waiting. India's not waiting," Barack obama said in his first State of the Union address to the Congress.

"Well, I do not agree to a second place for the United States of America. As hard as it may be, as uncomfortable and contentious as the debates may be, it's time to get serious about fixing the troubles that are hampering our growth," he said.

Barack Obama has had a miserable first anniversary in power, losing a earlier safe Democratic seat to a little-known Republican and finding his personal poll rating plummeting. But his wife, Michelle, is still ride high, according to a poll by the Pew Research Centre. It found that more than 70% of Americans expressed a favorable opinion towards the first lady. That is above the 64% polled by Laura Bush and 60% of Hillary Clinton at a same stage. The Politics Daily commentator Lynn Sweet believes Mrs Obama, who was at times seen as angry during the campaign, transformed her popularity by 'framing herself as a wife, mother, daughter and sister, not trying to redefine the role of first lady, limiting interviews and stay militantly noncontroversial'.

US President Barack Obama on Thursday said that the US cannot ignore the problem in Haiti, but ruled out taking over the quake-devastated Caribbean nation.

"No," Obama told the ABC News in an interview when asked if the US is heading towards a takeover Haiti.

"We are being very careful about working with the Haitian government. We are being very careful about working with the United Nations, which already had peacekeeping forces on the ground, to deal with the immediate emergency, search and rescue, and relief," the US president said.

"The truth is, is that just the common instruments of government in that country are gone. We've got to help Haiti stand back up," he said.

The month before Barack Obama took office, the US economy lost more than half a million jobs, 300,000 homes was being foreclosed and the survival of the US banking system was in doubt.

A year later it is fair to say the large picture is a lot rosier. Financial markets have rallied powerfully during Mr Obama's time in office and the biggest banks, at least, have returned to some semblance of stability.

But for numerous millions of Americans, the Obama presidency has, so far, been a time of declining fortune. The rate of job losses has slowed from the terrifying days of winter 2008/9, but it has not upturned. The unemployment rates sit at 10%.

In political terms, the economy is now a actual problem for President Obama. He faces the prospect of having to argue that however awful things are for many voters, without him, they would be even worse. That is always a difficult case to make.

The White House Tuesday argue with President Barack Obama's "steady diplomacy" had made America stronger and renewed its moral authority despite "unprecedented challenges" in his first year in office.

"A year later, America is stronger because of the president's leadership," said Ben Rhodes, deputy national security consultant for strategic communications, in a White House blog post.

"By prohibiting torture and working to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, we are denying Al-Qaeda a recruiting tool," said Rhodes, who has played an active role in many of Obama's main foreign policy speeches.

When he came to office in January 2009, Obama offered a hand of dialogue to Iran but has been rebuff and now the administration is working with international associates on a toughened sanctions regime over a nuclear showdown.

"After a year of American engagement, the international community is more united than ever before in calling on Iran to live up to its obligation, while Iran is more isolated," he said.

THOMAS JEFFERSON: Jefferson (1801-1809) hired the first White House gardener, who also was in charge for cultivating a "kitchen" garden. But it wasn't until 1825, when John Quincy Adams became president, which the vegetable garden and nearby grounds began to flourish.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN: By the 1840s, a fresh kitchen garden had been planted southwest of the White House. Receipts for the seeds show that Lincoln and his wife, Mary Todd, enjoyed a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables.

FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT: First lady Eleanor Roosevelt used the White House grounds during World War II to show support for a civilian protection program for producing homegrown fruits and vegetables.

BARACK OBAMA: First lady Michelle Obama, with assist from local schoolchildren, planted a new "kitchen" garden last year on the lawn southwest of the White House. The garden is provided that fresh, seasonal produce for the first family and White House guests to enjoy. Mrs. Obama also is using the garden to teach children about the significance of eating more fresh fruits and vegetables as part of a healthier lifestyle.

President Barack Obama, Michelle Obama and their daughters, Malia, 11, and Sasha, 8, watched the digital 3-D version of the film on the morning of Dec 31 at a theatre close to their Hawaii vacation home, reports the Politico.

The Obamas, accompanied by family members and close friends, watched the movie in entire privacy. One complex of the 10 movie theatres was reserved for them and the media was reserved off.

It is supposed the early morning screening of the film was specially held for the president's family and his friends.

The Obamas reached the mall to see the film shortly before 9.30am Hawaii time, while the first usual show of the movie was slated for 10.45am.

Obama, who donned sunglasses, a dark blue short-sleeve shirt and brown slacks with his BlackBerry clipped onto his belt, waves at the crowd.

While Obama's friends Marty Nesbitt and Eric Whittaker were seen leaving, the first lady could not be spotted.

Animal rights group PETA used the image of First Lady Michelle Obama in a campaign against fur clothing without her consent, the White House said Wednesday.

"We did not permission to it," said Semonti Stephens, spokeswoman for the wife of US President Barack Obama.

PETA, an animal welfare group known for high-profile stunts to endorse its cause, had featured Michelle Obama in a photo-montage advertisement on its website.

The montage also included other US personality including model Tyra Banks, television icon Oprah Winfrey and singer Carrie Underwood.

In the ad PETA declared the celebrity "Fur-Free and Fabulous!"

The White House has contacted the group about the issue, an official told AFP, without providing more details.