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.