4/4/2009: Your Weekly Address

The President discusses the breadth and depth of the global challenges we face, as well as our potential to address them through renewed international alliances. This week's address was filmed aboard Air Force 1 amidst vital diplomatic stops at the G-20 Summit, a NATO summit, and bilateral meetings.

Blacks in Europe Eagerly Anticipating Obama’s Overseas Travel – and His Future Presidency

By: Jackie Jones, BlackAmericaWeb.com

When Barack Obama leaves this weekend for his tour of the Middle East and Europe, he is likely to attract enthusiastic crowds -- especially among black Europeans and black expatriates living abroad.

Obama tour will include Germany, France and Britain, and organizers there are expecting a massive turnout for the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.

“The Obama presidency slowly becoming reality is exciting because it marks a break from ‘politics as usual,’” Miles Marshall Lewis, an author who moved to Paris from Harlem in 2004, told BlackAmericaWeb.com. “Obama doesn't belong to the good-ol'-boy network of politicians who succeed through nepotism or race privilege. As a brother of color, I would expect his foreign policy to be more empathic to the interests of other cultures internationally.”

Lewis, who wrote "Scars..." and "There's a Riot Goin' On," is working on a memoir about being a black American male in 21st century Paris. Lewis married a French woman in 2006, and their two sons were born in France and hold dual nationality. He said he and his family plan to return to the U.S. in a few years, but that could change.

“My original plans were to return to American in 2011, but should Obama win in November, I may go back next year. Living under the Obama administration will be history in the making that I wouldn't want to miss,” Lewis told BlackAmericaWeb.com.

Blacks in Europe Eagerly Anticipating Obama’s Overseas Travel – and His Future Presidency....

UPI VIDEO NEWS 02.27.08

Obama and Clinton square off in Ohio.

Democratic presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama went head to head in Cleveland last night. The two had their final debate before the primaries in Texas and Ohio next week. Obama took on Clinton for her past position on the Iraq war, while Clinton attacked the Illinois senator on health care mailings and NAFTA. She also said Obama was unprepared to handle foreign policy crises. Clinton has upped her attacks on her opponent recently, after he took 11 states in a row.

The European Union is fining Microsoft for failing to obey an antitrust order. The EU is fining the corporation a record 1.3 billon dollars for charging its rivals too much for software information. Microsoft says the fine refers to past problems, and they're now working to make their product more open. This is the largest fine the EU has ever issued to a single company for this issue.

The U.S. dollar has hit a new low in Europe today. The euro reportedly soared to more than $1.50 and the British pound reached $1.99...making it more expensive for Americans to travel in Europe. This comes as reports released show the U.S. economy is slowing and predicts the Federal Reserve will continue cutting interest rates. Meanwhile the sliding dollar caused oil prices hit a new high today...at $102 dollars a barrel.

Today is day three in the trial for the shooting of Sean Bell. Bell was killed on his wedding day by New York detectives last November...the 3 officials accused of the shooting say they thought Bell was reaching for a gun. The young man's father William testified in court yesterday, emotionally recalling the night of his death. Bell's father was with him celebrating his bachelor party, shortly before his death. The defense claims Bell was drunk and disorderly on that night.