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.