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WASHINGTON — US First Lady Michelle Obama is en route to Pretoria on Monday to kick off a six-day Africa visit, during which she will meet anti-apartheid leaders in South Africa and go on safari in Botswana. President Barack Obama's wife, their daughters Sasha and Malia, her mother Marian Robinson and two nephews departed Washington late Sunday and are scheduled to arrive in South Africa around 1800 GMT on Monday.

On the day a poll showed Barack Obama owning the failing economic recovery, a CBS News Washington Bureau reporter questioned Michelle Obama's judgment in wearing a $7,000 gown at tonight's state dinner for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, noting that other guests "dressed more modestly."Writing on Twitter, CBS News reporter Christine Delargy said:Gowns by Michelle designer Naeem Khan retail avg of $7,000. Good, bad image for Obama in poor economy? Most din guests dressed more modestly 30 minutes ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®In a previous Tweet, Delargy noted her fashion expertise:Michelle in Naeem Khan tonight. Wore same designer @ 1st state...

The USDA is once again inserting itself underneath the Constitutional sneeze-guard of the Tenth Amendment. In a publicity rich media event, Michelle Obama and the USDA introduced a new dietary guideline graphic: an illustration of a plate, divided into four basic food groups. It’s a replacement for the Food Pyramid; which was a replacement for the original USDA nutritional guidelines called: “the four basic food groups” (illustrated with a pie chart).

WASHINGTON – Michelle Obama announced Friday that she's heading to Africa on an official visit later this month, stopping in South Africa and Botswana to continue her work encouraging young people around the world to become active in their countries. The first lady will visit Johannesburg and Cape Town in South Africa and Gaborone, Botswana, during the June 21-26 trip.

Michelle Obama on Wednesday weighed in on the one-year anniversary of the health care law her husband signed into law, arguing that the changes will help parents raise a generation of “happy and healthy kids.” Sharing a “personal” story in an op-ed on Yahoo’s Shine website, Obama said that as a working mom in her pre-White House days, she had “the best intentions” to feed her daughters Malia and Sasha healthy food on a budget, but admitted that “sometimes pizza or the drive-thru were inevitable.”

The welcome was warm, the setting lavish and both compliments and red wine flowed freely. But away from the splendour of La Moneda Palace, Barack Obama's whistlestop visit to Chile provoked as much anger as delight. Around 100 people gathered near the government building in Santiago to burn the U.S. flag in protest at both the presence of the president and American policy. Riot police eventually arrived to disperse the demonstration, leading to ugly scenes on the streets of the Chilean capital Santiago. The demonstration was partially sparked by air strikes on the civil war stricken Libya. Organiser Juan Cuevas...

Over the past few years, Michelle Obama has generated about $2.7 billion for the fashion industry, just by getting dressed. One appearance in a $34 H&M dress, which she wore this month on the Today Show, can make a stock skyrocket, turn an unknown talent into a star, and send millions of shoppers to the mall, even in a sluggish economy. It's the Mrs. O effect, but it's not all the work of one woman. By the time her husband hit the campaign trail, 'Mobama' was already assembling her star team of fashion and beauty experts. But these are not...

(CNSNews.com) - First Lady Michelle Obama will hold another “listen-only” conference call with reporters this afternoon, continuing a pattern of holding events for the media where access is sharply limited. When public figures in Washington, D.C., hold telephone briefings for the press—which are designed to attract press coverage for some item the briefer is seeking to promote--they routinely allow reporters listening to the briefing to ask at least a few questions. The First Lady appears to be establishing a new routine, where she speaks and--from beginning to end--reporters mutely listen.

Mrs. Obama Serves Governors a 2,200 Calorie Meal by Keith Koffler on February 28, 2011, 11:37 am First Lady Michelle Obama Sunday night stuffed about 2,200 calories worth of dinner into the nation’s governors, hosting a White House bash that pulled few punches on the fattening front despite her profile as the leader of a national crusade to trim the waistlines of the country’s youth. President Obama is meeting with governors from both Parties at the White House today. Sunday night’s dinner was a kind of welcoming gala. It provided enough calories for an entire day’s worth of eating.

No Hair Dye For President Obama February 09, 2011 10:39 AM ABC New's Sunlen Miller reports: Mrs. Obama put an internet rumor to rest this morning, confirming that her husband does not dye his hair. “It's lighting,” she said in an interview with The Today Show, when she was showed two pictures of her husband just weeks apart, one showing her husband with much more gray. The president has often remarked about his gray hair, which he says has gotten worse in the two years since he’s been president. But internet rumors were rampant when at times the amount of...

At the center of what many critics have called an overblown debate about the nationality of her wardrobe, Michelle Obama is making the rounds with the press this week to talk about that and the issues she really wants to talk about. At a lunch with reporters in the White House yesterday, the first lady — clad in a Marc Jacobs dress and silver pumps — said she wears what looks good, irrespective of label. “I like to patronize American designers, and the vast majority of the clothes that I wear are [designed by Americans.] But there are a...

Time magazine knows it can't be all serious, so in addition to its cover story on Egypt this week, they have a gushy piece on Michelle Obama's fashions, written by Kate Betts, author of the new book Everyday Icon: Michelle Obama and the Power of Style. Michelle's so chic it's historic: Given her widespread reputation as one of the most stylish women ever to inhabit the White House, you might think Michelle Obama automatically belongs in the Madison-Kennedy lineage. But her background argues differently. No one can claim that Michelle Obama doesn't know what it's like to work or that...

First lady Michelle Obama on Tuesday said she was “thrilled” to announce a new program that asks U.S. businesses to allow employees to spend part of the work day volunteering with young people. The program will be run by the federal agency tasked with overseeing volunteerism in the United States.

The Best Dressed Of The Day, who will it be? Who was was the most glamorous, stylish, fab looking celeb to light up the fashion stage and make a Wow impact? Michelle Obama hasn’t been seen THIS stunning for ages. The First Lady attended a state dinner given in honor of President Jintao of the People’s Republic of China, on the North Portico at the White House in Washington, D.C

First lady Michelle Obama will have a private lunch with Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, on Monday, according to a White House aide. The lunch, which will take place at the White House, will coincide with President Sarkozy meeting with President Obama, where they'll discuss the global economic recovery.

Who wears tight tights? Michelle Obama wears tight tights.

U.S. first lady Michelle Obama (C) gets a tour as she visits the Toys for Tots distribution center at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington, December 17, 2010. Toys for Tots is a program run by the U.S. Marine Corps reserve that has distributed more than 400 million toys to more than 188 million needy children over the past 62 years.

If Michelle Obama wears something, the rest of America usually follows suit, such is the level of interest in her sartorial selections. Ever since Mr O entered the presidential race, Mrs O has become fashion blog fodder and the inspiration for a book about her style - not to mention the inspiration for glamorous mothers the world over. So news that Michelle Obama wore vintage for tonight’s broadcast of TNT’s ‘Christmas in Washington’, will come as a blow to all the adoring designers who cross their fingers and prey Obama will choose them for her next big photo opportunity, and...

(The New York Post) - First Lady Michelle Obama is once again setting the style world abuzz by wearing a vintage dress to the "Christmas in Washington" concert, which was taped Sunday and airs on TNT Friday.