Washington, Jan 27 : US President Barack Obama's speechwriter is reportedly dating a former model and White House aide.

Jon Favreau's new girlfriend is said to be Alejandra Campoverdi, a Hispanic American graduate of Harvard''s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

The lady in question has appeared in her underwear in the men''s magazine Maxim.

She was an intern during the presidential campaign and is now reportedly working as assistant to a White House deputy chief of staff, reports Fox News.

Washington - The elections in Iraq on January 31 are the first of three this year that will be critical for evaluating the country's stability and determining how quickly US President Barack Obama can move forward on a campaign promise to order larger withdrawals of combat troops.

Iraqis are set to cast ballots in provincial elections followed later this year by local and then national elections in what is seen as a test of political reconciliation especially between rival Shiite and Sunni populations.

Washington - US President Barack Obama on Monday telephoned French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to discuss the global economic crisis, the Middle East and improving bilateral relations.

These were the latest in a long list of telephone calls to foreign leaders that Obama has made since his inauguration on January 20.

Paris  - French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his new American counterpart, Barack Obama, held what was described as a "warm" telephone discussion on Monday, Sarkozy's office said.

The conversation, which was held on Obama's initiative, consisted of "substantial exchanges" on a number of vital international topics, the Elysee Palace said in a statement to the press.

They included the global economic crisis, the crisis in the Middle East, Afghanistan and the upcoming NATO summit in Strasbourg, scheduled for early April.

Washington  - President Barack Obama on Monday signalled the United States would take on a new leading role in confronting climate change and weaning the country off its dependence on foreign oil.

Obama signalled a clean break in climate and energy policy from the administration of former president George W Bush, which was criticized for playing down the dangers of climate change.

New York, January 26 : President Barack Obama may have won a million hearts with his inauguration speech, but sex still remains the unchallenged bestseller when it comes to magazine sales.

While the Time featured America's first African-American president on its cover a whopping 13 times, Newsweek showed him 11 times.

"Obama has become a one-man stimulus media package," the New York Post quoted author Michael Levine as telling Page Six.

But, despite being on the cover of Rolling Stone four times last year, the magazine''s bestseller was its July 20 issue with the American boy band Jonas Brothers.