According to an aide, U.S. President Barack Obama turned 49 Wednesday without his family around to help him celebrate.

It may be noted that Obama hasn't said much about his last birthday before he hit 50. He noted at an appearance in Atlanta that his gray-hair count has risen sharply in the past 12 months.

It was reported that Obama had received two phone calls, one from first lady Michelle Obama and daughter Sasha, who are on vacation in Spain, and the other from his daughter Malia, who is at camp and used her one call allowed per day to phone him.

It has been reported that President Barack Obama on Tuesday held out the prospect of partnership with the United States to young African leaders who gathered at a White House forum.

During a town hall-style meeting attended by 115 young private and public sector leaders from more than 40 African nations, Obama told the young leaders "the United States wants to be your partner."

Obama said, "As you work to create jobs and opportunity, America will work with you, promoting the trade and investment on which growth depends."

It has been reported that President Barack Obama Monday told powerful Democrats in Atlanta Republicans have yet to offer up "a single, solitary, new idea" to help the American people.

Immigration reform is the responsibility of the federal government, said U. S. President Obama, acknowledging state officials are frustrated.

Obama said on Monday on CBS's "Early Show", "I understand the frustration of people in Arizona. But what we can't do is demagogue the issue. And what we can't do is allow a patchwork of 50 different states, or cities or localities, where anybody who wants to make a name for themselves suddenly says, 'I'm gonna be anti-immigrant and I'm gonna try to see if I can solve the problem … .'"

India is all set to make Obama feel special. He is going to address both houses of parliament on November 9. Bill Clinton's visit to India in March 2000 has set a standard as to how influence people and win their friendship and promote business.

Though not in office at present his visit had been so successful, that even now he is a content regular visitor. His speech in the parliament then had a standing ovation that is usually deserved by an entirely other kind of being. Since then India has been one place that he can come back to anytime.

U.S. president Obama yesterday called on Iran and has demanded them to release the three U.S. hikers, who have spent the last year in prison for crossing over the border while hiking in northern Iraq.

In contrast, Iran has claimed that the three are not hikers, but spies for the government of United States; on which Obama said that they have never worked for the government of United States and are devoid of any such activities.

Intended to increase prosecution of crimes on Indian reservations, U. S. President Barack Obama on Thursday signed the Tribal Law and Order Act.

Obama said in remarks during a signing ceremony in the East Room of the White House, "All of our people, whether they live in our biggest cities or our most remote reservations, have the right to feel safe in their own communities, and to raise their children in peace, and enjoy the fullest protection of our laws."

May be it’s just Sir Paul McCartney, who could call a musical performance at the White House a small club gig! The former Beatles member did a show there recently.

In the month of June this year, Sir McCartney was presented with the prestigious Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. This award is an honor bestowed upon the apt candidate by the Library of Congress.

After accepting the award, McCartney performed in the East Room of the White House for current US President Barack Obama and his family, who sat in the center of the front row.

U. S. President Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress will focus on three major economic issues leading up to the November elections, says the White House.

It has been reported that Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters Obama and congressional leaders agreed during a White House meeting on Tuesday to try to win passage of financial reform legislation, an extension of unemployment insurance benefits for the long-term jobless and expanded small business lending.

It has been reported that U. S. President Barack Obama and Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernandez Monday discussed the two countries' efforts to combat drug trafficking.

Following their meeting at the White House, Obama said drug running and related crime have "the potential to be destabilizing throughout the region," and more needs to be done to combat them.

The White House has said that President Obama is to visit Michigan Thursday for the opening of a $303 million plant that will make battery cells for electric vehicles.

On his fourth visit to Michigan since taking office, Obama will attend the groundbreaking for the Compact Power Inc. factory in Holland.

Calling for 1 million on U. S. roads within five years, Obama has been a staunch supporter of electric, plug-in vehicles.

Reaching out to Muslims is designed to reduce hostility toward Israel and the West, said U. S. President Barack Obama.

His "outreach to the Muslim community is designed precisely to reduce the antagonism and the dangers posed by a hostile Muslim world to Israel and to the West," Obama said, speaking to Israeli TV in an interview from the White House on Wednesday.

It has been reported that U. S. President Barack Obama congratulated the European Parliament on Thursday for approving revisions to the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program.

The program has provided critical investigative leads since its creation after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Obama said in a statement released by the White House.

In a new poll of leading presidential scholars, Barack Obama has been named as the 15th best US president, just below Bill Clinton but ahead of Ronald Reagan.

The Siena College poll, which reviewed 238 presidential scholars at US colleges and universities, ranked Obama two places below Clinton, who was 13th best, and three better than Reagan, who is ranked as the 18th best.

Franklin D. Roosevelt again garnered the top spot, as he has every time since the poll was first conducted in the year 1982.

The White House has announced that President Barack Obama wants U. S., state and local officials to cooperate in planning long-term recovery from the Gulf oil spill.

Authorities have said that U. S. President Obama's two daughters and their grandmother visited the Canadian side of Niagara Falls under a tight security lid.

The Buffalo (N. Y.) News reported on Tuesday that the White House confirmed Sasha, 9, Malia, almost 12, and their maternal grandmother Marian Robinson visited the historic nature site, including the Journey Behind the Falls on their first visit to the Canadian side, even though neither the Niagara Parks Police nor the U. S. Secret Service would confirm their presence.

Obama is doing a "better job than he's given credit for," said US President Barack Obama's Democratic Party predecessor Bill Clinton.

Public perception of the president has lagged behind what he has done to benefit the country, Clinton said, speaking in Cape Town.

Clinton said, "I think he's done a better job than he's given credit for. I feel very strongly about this."

Permitting the auction of 500 megahertz of the wireless communication spectrum for U. S. commerce, President Barack Obama signed a memorandum on Monday.

The White House said in a statement that a memorandum nearly doubles the spectrum available to commercial uses, with 45 percent of the portion to be auctioned coming from government agencies that have been asked to give up portions of the spectrum.

US President Barack Obama has praised Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan SIngh's knowledge of economic activities, which he said were of service to the G-20 summit which was focused on finding a way out of the economic crisis.

President Obama and Prime Minister Singh held a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 summit.

It has been reported that U. S. Sen. John McCain on Sunday sharply questioned President Barack Obama's decision to start withdrawing troops from Afghanistan by July 2011.

McCain, R-Ariz., said on NBC's "Meet the Press", "I'm against a timetable. In wars you declare when you're leaving after you've succeeded."

No military adviser recommended Obama set the date for the start of the drawdown.