Barack Obama
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He's the president who made history before even taking his oath of office - the first African American ever to be elected to the White House. He won the Nobel Peace Prize after just nine months as president. He looks pretty great in sunglasses. But Obama has also had a far tougher time as president than the lofty rhetoric his campaign was founded on might have suggested. Inheriting an economy in a dire state, he's overseen a slow and unsteady recovery, while his healthcare reforms polarised the nation following vitriolic attacks from his political opponents.
With Obama stuck in a close race with his Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, we look back at the life and career of a president who has proved to be transformative and divisive in equal measure.
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A Chinese astronaut orbiting more than 300 kilometres (186 miles) above the Earth's surface delivered a video class to children across the country on Thursday, state television showed in a live broadcast.
China's manufacturing activity shrank again in June, HSBC said on Thursday, hitting a nine-month low and adding to concerns about the strength of the world's second biggest economy.
"Look me straight in the eye. Your mind is emptying, your body is relaxing," says the fireman, using the calming words of hypnosis to help a trauma victim -- a technique being pioneered by fire crews in the eastern French region of Alsace.
"Look me straight in the eye. Your mind is emptying, your body is relaxing," says the fireman, using the calming words of hypnosis to help a trauma victim -- a technique being pioneered by fire crews in the eastern French region of Alsace.
Eurozone finance ministers meet Thursday amid sharp differences over banking sector reforms -- trying to resolve whether taxpayers or creditors pay for future bailouts.
Microsoft handed gamers a victory by backing off plans for new-generation Xbox One consoles to require Internet connections and put restrictions on playing second-hand game disks.
