BEING the first black president of the United States and of Kenyan origin, perhaps the most unexpected connection was that a man with such an exotic name, in the most powerful job in the world, would have links to a small village in Co Offaly.

The global recession, Afghanistan, Iran and Middle East peace topped the agenda of talks today between President Barack Obama and French President Nicolas Sarkozy before the leaders commemorated the D-Day invasion that cemented the trans-Atlantic alliance.

US President Barack Obama was seeing for homself the horrors of a concentration camp today during a visit to Germany.