Washington - US President Barack Obama on Monday lifted all restrictions on Cuban Americans travelling and sending money back to their home country as part of a much-anticipated reversal of US policies toward Cuba. In an executive order, Obama will also allow humanitarian gifts to be sent to Cuba in what the White House billed as an effort to encourage a Democratic transition on the Communist island.

"President Obama believes the measure he has taken today will help make that goal a reality," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

Washington - US President Barack Obama planned to ease travel and other restrictions to Cuba later Monday, allowing Cuban Americans to return home for longer periods in a reversal of former president George W Bush's policies, US media reported. The new policy was due to be revealed ahead of Obama's trip this week to a summit of North and South American leaders in Trinidad and Tobago, the Washington Post reported. The White House would not confirm the plans.

Kuala Lumpur, Apr. 13 : Mahatma Gandhi, US President Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden have shared space on a painting by Malaysia's contemporary artist Ahmad Fuad Osman.

The acrylic piece entitled "To Whom It May Concern" features the spectral faces of the stark philosophical opposites, with others such as Mahatma Gandhi, Adolf Hitler, Albert Einstein, Benito Mussolini, Martin Luther King and Joseph Stalin, surrounded by a crowd who are video recording them.

Washington, Apr. 13 : The Obamas have honoured a presidential tradition of visiting St. John''s Church, located across from the White House, for an Easter Sunday service.

The tradition goes back to 1809. James Madison, the fourth president of the United States, started it. . As congregants went to the altar for communion, several stopped at the president''s pew and wished Obama, his wife, Michelle, and their two daughters a happy Easter. It was the first public worship services for the president since he took office, reports Fox News.

New York, Apr 13 : US President Barack Obama prefers saying cheers with a Budweiser, which has been revealed to be his favourite beer.

When filmmaker Anat Baron recently called the White House to find out what kind of brew does Obama enjoy, he got no response.

Baron’s documentary “Beer Wars”, exposing the big business of brew, is opening next week in the US.

However, a White House spokesman has now revealed that the Budweiser is the President’s favourite beer.

New York, April 13 : A 6-month-old Portuguese water dog is set to become the envy of his fellow pooches when he paws into the house and lives of the US First Family, the Obamas.

President Barack Obama had promised his daughters Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, a puppy during the campaign.

And now the much-loved leader has kept his word by settling on the black and white pup, whom the little girls have decided to call Bo.

According to the Washington Post, both Malia and Sasha chose their pooch’s name after their cousin’s cat Bo, and also because their grandfather was nicknamed Diddley, after rocker Bo Diddley.