It was tennis before baseball for President Barack Obama on Tuesday.

Before heading off to St. Louis to throw the first pitch at the All-Star game, the president welcomed Wimbledon champion Serena Williams to the White House.

“It was amazing,” Williams said before her World Team Tennis match with the Washington Kastles. “I love President Obama; he has such an unbelievable presence, and he seems to be so normal — and he noticed my shoes. I think that was the highlight of the whole day, was he liked my shoes.”

Williams said she was wearing 5-inch heels for the presidential visit.

“He asked me, ‘Should I be wearing high heels?’ So I thought that was kind of funny because he may have been right,” Williams said. “Because it is a job hazard for me, but I insist on wearing them.”

Williams got to meet Michelle Obama and the rest of the first family.

“I didn’t know she had such an amazing personality,” Williams said. “She had me cracking up and laughing. I knew she was a great person, but now I really understand how important this first family is to the United States. And the kids were just so cute and sweet, and the dog was nice.”

Here are some pictures from President Barack Obama’s recent trip to Ghana.

From ABC News

Like many first ladies, Michelle Obama spends a lot of her time in public with children. Her visit Moscow was no different.  Mrs. Obama visited the St. Dmitriy Orphanage, meeting with about two dozen children.  The children range in age from four to 16, some are true orphans, some disabled, others come from so called “vulnerable families” — those with more than four to five children, who simply need help.

Several of the children performed for Mrs. Obama — some sang, others played piano. They presented her with handmade gifts, including a large geometrical ball made from paper, and a large framed hand embroidered flower. The young girl who presented the flower said it had taken her two days to complete.

The children asked Mrs. Obama how many children she has. She responded, two girls, including one named Sasha.  Mrs. Obama explained that Natasha is Sasha’s full name, and that it is the President’s favorite name.

“How many Sasha’s do you have here?” she asked the group. There were three in all. Mrs. Obama told the children that her daughters were spending the morning with their grandmother making dolls.

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Oprah Winfrey says the dream she had for the poor girls attending the school she established in South Africa is coming true.

The talk-show host spoke to The Associated Press on Friday after watching some pupils put on a show at the end of the school’s annual arts festival.

British actress Thandie Newton was one of the instructors at the weeklong festival, in which the girls take part in acting, photography and fashion design workshops.

Winfrey said she was overwhelmed by the talent of the girls and that they were “living the vision” she had for them.

The lavish $40 million school was opened in 2007, the fulfillment of a promise Winfrey made to Nelson Mandela and aims to give girls from poor backgrounds a quality education.

While many athletes seem to be apolitical and do not attach themselves to any causes, Tracy McGrady has taken up the cause of the fighting the genocide in Darfur. Big props to him. He might not be able to play against the Lakers in the playoff but he’s still an All-Star in our books.

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She’s already conquered Britain, France and Germany. On Tuesday, it was time for Michelle Obama to conquer New York.

After a visit to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations and an appearance on “Sesame Street,” Mrs. Obama capped her first visit to New York as first lady with an appearance before a glittery crowd at Time magazine’s annual Time 100 gala, honoring its 100 “Most Influential People.” There, she mixed sparkle with substance, introducing the administration’s proposal to give $50 million to innovative nonprofit groups.

It sounded, though, like the highlight of her day — and to take her at her word, perhaps even her life as first lady so far — was the appearance with Elmo and Big Bird.

“I never thought I’d be on ‘Sesame Street’ with Elmo and Big Bird and I was thrilled,” she told the crowd at the mission. “I’m still thrilled. I’m on a high.”

Watch Michelle Obama and Elmo on Sesame Street

Yes, her husband was on that most-influential list, too, as well as 98 other movers and shakers in the worlds of politics, technology, business, fashion, science, television, film and music. But it was clearly Mrs. Obama, dressed in a long black gown with a corset bodice and jet beads draped around her neck, whom the crowd wanted to see.

And it was a powerful crowd that stood to applaud her entrance, including fellow honorees Oprah Winfrey, Barbara Walters and her cohorts from “The View,” financial analyst Suze Orman, fashion designer Stella McCartney, and the guys who invented Twitter.

Not on the honoree list but also attending: Diane Sawyer and Charlie Rose. Actors Claire Danes and Hugh Dancy, Kate Hudson and Liv Tyler. Director Judd Apatow, “Saturday Night Live” producer Lorne Michaels, conservative pundit Ann Coulter.

In her speech, Mrs. Obama spoke of the importance of public service in her own life, and then announced that the president’s budget proposal for next year will include $50 million to help promote national service and advise nonprofit groups.

The money would be startup capital for the new Social Innovation Fund, she said, designed to help nonprofits think about service in new ways and approved by Congress as part of a national service law.

“The idea is simple: Find the most effective programs out there and then provide the capital needed to replicate their success in communities around the country,” the first lady said.

“By focusing on high-impact, results-oriented nonprofits, we will ensure that government dollars are spent in a way that is effective, accountable and worthy of the public trust.”

Earlier Tuesday, Mrs. Obama addressed diplomats and staff members at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, thanking them for promoting her husband’s new foreign policy of global engagement.

As the swine flu outbreak demonstrates, she said, “we know now that we cannot wall ourselves off from issues that are challenging our neighbors.”

“This new policy recognizes that America’s future is intricately linked to the rest of the world, that the threats facing the global community know no borders, and no single country can tackle them alone,” Mrs. Obama said.

“I think it’s probably the best thing I’ve done so far in the White House.”

Rep. Bobby Rush says he was a little unsure of himself when he first arrived at Fidel Castro’s house in Cuba. The retired Communist dictator enthusiastically extended his hand and said, “Bobby, welcome to my home!” Rush was stunned.

“It was kinda awkward,” the Illinois Democrat told the Huffington Post. “I couldn’t say ‘Mr. President’” — Castro installed his brother Raúl as president of Cuba in 2006 — “so I called him Mr. Fidel.”

Rush and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus made waves with their visit to Cuba during the April recess, during which they met with both Castros. Rush said that Raúl Castro told him the “Cuban military and American military have been in discussions and having monthly meetings for a number of years now” (something Raúl also told actor Sean Penn). And the ailing Fidel Castro was very eager to talk Christianity, comparing the spread of Christianity to the Communist revolution.

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Rapper, Gorilla Zoe visited an elementray school in Texas and spoke to 5h and 6th graders. While his speech didn’t cause any controversy he handed out a poster with money, guns and alcohol which caused controversy among parents at the school.

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President Barack Obama huddled with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Thursday for talks on the slumping economy, trade and the war in Afghanistan as the new U.S. leader traveled outside his country’s borders for the first time.

Obama touched down late morning in Ottawa, heading into a day of meetings on touchy topics. He came bearing a pro-trade message to assuage Canadian concerns over protectionism; a promise of a new strategy in Afghanistan as Canada moves to pull out all its troops there; and talk of clean-energy cooperation as controversy hangs over Canada’s oil-rich sands.

Under gray skies, a cheering crowd of more than 1,000 people greeted Obama as his motorcade pulled up to Parliament Hill. One person carried a sign that read “Yes we CANada!”

Obama shook hands with Harper and waved to the crowd, prompting a huge cheer. He was meeting privately with Harper before key members of their teams joined them for a working lunch. The two leaders will cap their visit with a news conference.

It is Obama’s first chance since taking office to command an audience abroad, let alone get an impression of the conservative leader Harper. The two had not met previously.

Earlier, Obama was greeted off Air Force One by Governor General Michaelle Jean, who represents Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II as head of state in a mostly ceremonial role. Red-coated Mounties lined a path on the icy tarmac as Obama and Jean went indoors for a meeting.

Canada and the United States have the largest trading relationship between any two countries in the world. And for all the talk of ending a dangerous reliance on foreign oil, the U.S. depends more on Canada for imported oil than it does any other country.

As Obama grapples with an economy in free fall, he has kept his focus at home. As if to underscore that urgent domestic tone, he isn’t staying the night or even sticking around for dinner in Canada. He will be in Ottawa for under seven hours.
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Yet that pace belies an agenda packed with sensitive topics.

Harper had a good relationship with Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush, calling him a president who “never promised me anything he couldn’t deliver.” And Canada’s ties with the U.S. run deep. Still, Bush became deeply unpopular in Canada, which had a spillover effect.

“Canadians are gaga over Obama,” said David Biette, director of the Canada Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars. “It gives Harper a lot more leeway with the United States.”

Personalities aside, matters of war and economic strife await Obama and Harper.

Canada is planning to pull its 2,500 combat troops out of Afghanistan’s volatile south in 2011, following the loss of more than 100 troops killed in the country since 2001. Obama is headed the other direction, dispatching 17,000 more U.S. troops to the war zone.

Both the U.S. and Canada have urged other NATO countries to contribute more to stabilize Afghanistan, where insurgents have gained new strength and the top U.S commander is warning of a “tough year.” But Canada’s people say they have shouldered their burden enough.

Obama plans to tell Harper that the U.S. is overhauling its strategy in Afghanistan, with more effort on diplomacy.

On the economy, Obama comes with a reassuring pro-trade message.

There is no strident talk from the White House about renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement _ or even pulling out as a tool of leverage. Obama raised that idea as a candidate for president with an eye toward strengthening labor and environmental standards. But reopening a lucrative trade pact among Canada, Mexico and the U.S. is not a mess Obama wants to get into now.

Environmental groups want Obama to get tough with Canada about its massive oil sands operation. Alberta’s tar sands present a deep supply of potential oil, but the extraction process produces a high amount of the greenhouse gases blamed for climate change.

Other issues are the “Buy American” clause in the economic stimulus bill Obama signed into law Tuesday and his administration’s move to impose stricter “country of origin” labeling on fresh meats and other foods sold in U.S. stores.

First lady Michelle Obama set out Monday on a listening tour through the federal bureaucracy, stopping first at the Department of Education to thank employees for their service and rally them for the tough work ahead.

“So many of you have been here struggling and pushing for decades and Barack and I want to say ‘thank you’ for what you’ve done and ‘thank you’ for what you will continue to do,” she told 350 employees who filled a department auditorium to capacity. “But we also know that there are new faces coming into this work and we want to welcome you and thank you for the hard work that you’re going to put in.”

Mrs. Obama said the department will “be at the forefront of many of the things that we have to do in this administration” before she ticked off such agenda items as renovating and modernizing schools, increasing Pell Grants and providing tuition tax credits to college students.

Watch A Report on Michelle’s Trip

Money in the economic stimulus bill being debated in the Senate will help prevent teacher layoffs and preserve early childhood education, she said. Investments from the stimulus also will help fund innovative approaches to teaching, such as teacher quality initiatives, school turnaround programs and charter schools, she said.

“There’s a lot of work to do and we’re going to need you,” Mrs. Obama said. “The children of this country are counting on all of us.”

In thanking the workers, she told them: “I am a product of your work.”

“I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the public schools that nurtured me and helped me along,” said Mrs. Obama, a Chicago native who attended its public schools as a child. Her two daughters attend private school in Washington, as they did in Chicago.

Monday’s trip followed a lunch meeting Mrs. Obama had last week with D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty, his wife and Jill Biden, Vice President Joe Biden’s wife. Mrs. Obama’s first solo public event after the inauguration was a White House reception, also last week, for Lilly Ledbetter, an Alabama retiree whose name is on a pay equity bill President Obama signed into law.

Some observers had not expected Mrs. Obama to be so publicly active so soon in her husband’s presidency.

“It really does surprise me because I had gotten the opposite impression from those statements about being first mom-in-chief,” said Myra Gutin, a first lady historian and professor at Rider University in New Jersey.

Mrs. Obama said Monday’s visit to the Department of Education would be the first of many to government departments and agencies in the coming weeks and months “to say ‘hello,’ to learn, to listen, to take info back where possible.”

From UK’s Telegraph:

She has been in contact with the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan in recent days to ease tensions between the nuclear states, and this is expected to be a dominant theme in her meetings with Indian officials.

Earlier, Mr Bush called Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to again offer US support and condolences for the victims and their families of the attacks, which claimed the lives of nearly 200 people and injured scores more.

Five Americans were killed in the attacks in which gunmen stormed Mumbai’s top luxury hotels, its biggest railway station, a Jewish center, and several other sites in the financial capital.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Ms Rice decided to “modify” her European trip, cutting out meetings in Rome to go personally to India.

“We thought it was important to take this moment to travel to Delhi to express the condolences of the U.S. people directly to the government of India and its people and to hold face-to-face meetings,” Mr McCormack said.

“It is very sad that India has experienced this level of terrorism. There will be discussions about how to move forward.”

“In a time-honored tradition of American democracy, Mr. Obama and his wife, Michelle, will receive a tour of their new home from Mr. Bush and the first lady, Laura Bush. Then the men will split off to begin the formal transfer of power.”

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