Turn 50 years old, of course! And today, Barack Obama becomes the seventh sitting U.S. president to celebrate his 50^th birthday while in office.

So how will President Obama celebrate this milestone?

Yesterday, the President had lunch with his closest aides Jacob Lew, Nancy DeParle, Rob Nabors and Gene Sperling at the Good Stuff Eatery in Washington.

He joked about getting older during a Cabinet meeting Wednesday, telling reporters, “I’m going to get advice from some around the table about how to handle this milestone.”

Barack Obama is pretty young for a president. The only others to celebrate their 50^th birthdays in office were: James Polk, Franklin Pierce, Ulysses Grant, Grover Cleveland, Theodore Roosevelt and Bill Clinton. All the others were older, or in the case of John F. Kennedy and James Garfield, were assassinated before they could reach their 50^th birthdays.

Barack Obama is proving he still has plenty of stamina for the job. Last night he attended a fundraiser for his next presidential campaign, held in his familiar territory: Chicago. 1,500 people paid $50 each to be entertained by Jennifer Hudson, Herbie Hancock and OK Go and support the president. At a second, smaller fundraiser 100 backers paid $35,800 each for the privilege.

Obama recently said, “I feel real good about 5-0” although he admitted he has a few more gray hairs than when he entered office. “And Michelle, you know, says that she still thinks I’m cute — and I guess that’s all that matters, isn’t it?”

If his recent NPR interview is anything to judge by, Barack Obama has already received one birthday gift he wanted.

“You know, what I really want right now is to get a debt-ceiling deal for my birthday,” Obama said. “That’s kind of sad, I know.”

He may have his healthy eating campaigner wife Michelle after him again too, as he added, “Maybe I’ll have a good hamburger on my birthday as well.”

Tonight, the First Family will host a party at the White House, including a special toast in the Blue Room. Many close friends from his hometown of Chicago are expected to attend

The president and his family will then spend the weekend at Camp David. He is also looking forward to the return of his oldest daughter, Malia, who has been attending summer camp.

Fun fact: President Barack Obama shares his birthday with “Law & Order: SVU” star Richard Belzer (67), Angelina Jolie’s ex-husband Billy Bob Thornton (56), and troubled former baseball star Roger Clemens (49).

The US president’s motorcade included several vehicles and each one of them was liable to pay the congestion charge for traveling through the City of London. However, the cars were traveling so close together that only one was captured by the traffic cameras and hit with the initial $16 (£10) congestion fee.

The fine has so far not been paid despite the request of Mayor of London, Boris Johnson. The refusal to pay has led to the fine. If all the cars in the motorcade had been captured on camera then the fine would have been much higher.

A Transport for London (TfL) spokesperson explained,

“Any vehicle – regardless of where it is registered – which is identified within the Congestion Charging Zone during the hours of operation without a valid charge, discount or exemption can be subject to a penalty. TfL pursues penalties from foreign registered vehicles that have not paid the charge.”

However, the American Embassy has denied the need to pay the £10 congestion fee, citing the 1960 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations which “prohibits the imposition of this sort of tax on diplomatic missions.”

President Obama also visited Dublin, Ireland, where he also ran in to more vehicle trouble. His car got stuck at the Embassy as it was too wide to get through the gates easily.

President Obama happily chowed down on the unhealthy meal before a visit to the city’s Chrysler factory. He even teased one of his hosts for ordering ketchup, a faux-pas in his home town of Chicago.

He said of Marcy Kaptur, “Marcy just wants ketchup. By the way, as an aficionado of hot dogs, you shouldn’t put ketchup on hot dogs… I’m trying to teach my girls.”

Michelle Obama may not be too pleased at that culinary education of her children, after she has spent this year touring the country on a crusade against childhood obesity.

The First Lady unveiled the USDA’s new healthy-eating guide, a replacement for the famous “My Pyramid” with a plate divided into four nutritional quadrants: fruits, vegetables, grains and proteins.

But as her husband enjoyed the famous Rudy’s Hot Dog with Toledo’s mayor, the only “vegetables” he ate were in the form of fried onions. He ate the house speciality chili dog, which comes with mustard, onion, chili sauce and cheese, and accompanied that with a bowl of chili with a portion of fries on the side.

The restaurant claims to sell 8,000 dogs a week.

Preident obama worked his usual smooth charm when meeting one of the cooks, telling the owners., “She says she’s worked here 30 years. That means she was under-age when you hired her.”

This meal is in sharp contrast to the healthy lifestle President Obama and Michelle have implemented while at the White House. They grow their own vegetables and work out regularly.

So perhaps the odd chili dog might not do him too much harm. He has been criticised in the past for being too thin – Arnold Schwarzenegger once teased him about his “skinny legs.”

They were due to arrive in the UK today but their flight was rescheduled for an earlier time, due to worries of disruption from a volcanic ash cloud coming over from Iceland. A spokesman from Ryannair has called the ash cloud worries “rubbish” but the Presidential visit made a quick travel rearrangement anyway. It was also announced this morning that the Obamas would meet William and Kate (the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge).

Due to the arrival of the President and First Lady late last night, they were not greeted by the Queen and Prince Philip. They went to stay at Winfield Park, the US ambassador’s residence in Regent’s Park instead.

But they traveled to Buckingham Palace for the official greeting this morning. The arrival was televised live in the UK and there was a cute moment during the photo call. Michelle Obama had been talking to the Queen when the flash bulbs began and Michelle ushered her husband to swap places with her so he was the one standing beside the Queen in the photos.

The greeting seemed warm and friendly, but nothing like their last meeting when Michelle Obama spontaneously put her arm around the Queen’s waist and the Queen reciprocated. The usual rule of royal protocol is that under no circumstances do you touch the Queen, except to shake hands with her, after she initiates it. This visit, royal protocol was observed and there were only handshakes but the meeting seemed friendly and relaxed.

It was also announced only a little time ahead that the US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle would also meet the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge as their state visit to the UK begins.

The American leader and his spouse were not invited to the recent royal wedding but will have the chance to congratulate William and Kate in person at Buckingham Palace. President Obama had mentioned the fascination the US had with the royal wedding at Westminster Abbey, when he met the Prince of Wales, at the White House a few weeks ago.

At the start of his three-day trip to President Obama hailed the US-UK partnership “an essential relationship for us and for the world.”

This state visit is only the third by a US president to the UK in 100 years. It comes at a time of close co-operation between Britain and America on issues ranging from Libya to Afghanistan, counter-terrorism and the Middle East peace process. The strong partnership was reflected in a joint article written by Mr Obama and Prime Minister David Cameron for The Times, in which they declare: “Ours is not just a special relationship, it is an essential relationship – for us and for the world.”

The President will undertake diplomatic engagements in Dublin before traveling to Moneygall in County Offaly, which is proud to call itself the ancestral home of Barack Obama (49).

The President’s great-great-great-grandfather Falmouth Kearney was a shoemaker in the rural village. Americans are sure to love yet another one of their number with an Irish connection.

Local church records show that President Obama’s distant relative was born in Ireland in 1831 and left for America in 1850. This link was revealed four years ago but this is Obama’s first opportunity to follow up the link personally.

Despite initial skepticism of the President’s ancestral link, Moneygall resident Henry Healy has traced the family connection and discovered that he is an eighth cousin to President Obama. He is hoping to meet the President on his visit to Ireland.

The entire village has been painted in honor of Obama’s visit. One resident even painted the American flag on the front of his house.

The Moneygall school principal Eugene Ryan is very excited about President Obama’s ancestral link to the small Irish village.

“I think it has resurrected the kind of parish and community spirit that may be was always there but maybe was dormant for a while.” He said.

There is a bust of Mr. Obama in pride of place on the bar of the village pub and his pictures have adorned their walls since he was elected into office.

Landlady, Majella Hayes, said, “President Obama has put Moneygall on the map and the villagers are putting him on t-shirts, which are for sale on the main street.

Some have a picture of the president holding a pint of Guinness, one simply says: ‘What’s the craic Barack?’”

It’s clear that Moneygall residents are excited about President Obama’s seemingly unlikely family history, and his visit will give the small rural village a welcome boost.

Last week, President Obama promised a teenage girl that he could arrange for her to meet Justin Bieber. In the now infamous stretching of the truth, the President told her he “knows Justin” and could arrange a meeting.

Well, Obama may not exactly “know” Bieber but he knows how to pull a few strings. The very same day as he made this promise, The White House contacted the singer.

Justin’s people were told of the President’s meeting with the 14-year-old Bieber fan whose father was killed in the 9/11 attacks. Various media outlets, upon hearing of the promise had branded it BS and warned that the President would never be able to deliver on it.

But they don’t know Justin Bieber, either! Sources close to the “Baby” singers say that he was very excited about the call from the White House. He has definitely agreed to meet the girl upon his return to the U.S. East Coast.

So far, no date has been set for the meeting but hopefully Justin Bieber will keep to his word. We will keep you updated on any meeting. But good on him for agreeing to make the teenager’s day!

It was announced late last night that Osama bin Laden (54) has been killed in a fire fight with US troops after a compound in Pakistan was targeted. Saudi-born Bin Laden had used his wealthy family’s riches to finance international terrorism for decades.

Bin Laden was the man behind the 9/11 attacks that cost more than 3,000 lives, and other terrorist strikes around the world. Having sought him for years, through two governments, Bin Laden was finally found and killed.

A United States operation was successfully launched yesterday on a mansion in the Pakistani garrison town, Abbotabad. US intelligence had been monitoring the compound for some time, to make sure that they actually had Bin Laden. A trace on Bin Laden’s couriers over the years narrowed the search down. Then, suspicions arose about the large mansion compound, which had very few windows, no phone or Internet access and which was heavily protected with barbed wire.

The compound is not in the so-called “badlands”, out in the remote rural area where it was thought Bin Laden and his most loyal supporters would hide out to avoid detection. The town is just 60 miles from the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.

Eventually, satisfied they had tracked down Osama Bin Laden, President Barack Obama personally gave the go-ahead to launch a U.S. Special Services attack on the compound.

In the ensuing fire fight, Osama Bin Laden and three other adults were killed. There were no US casualties. It was a unilateral US operation and the Pakistani government was not informed until after the successful operation was over.

Bin Laden’s body was removed from the compound. DNA tests confirmed his identity and he was given a burial at sea, in keeping with Moslem traditions.

“No Americans were harmed” in the action, President Obama confirmed. “Justice has been done.”

The UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, thanked President Obama for authorizing the taking down of Osama Bin Laden. The former Prime Minister, Tony Blair, also welcomed this operation but warned we must now be vigilant against reprisal attacks.

For now, though, Americans at least are on the whole celebrating. People flocked to Times Square and Ground Zero to mark the occasion with partying and singing of “God Bless America”. One memorable banner read, “Obama 1, Osama 0.” Many people also stood together to swear the Oath of Allegiance.

Thwarted in his attempt to prove that President Obama is not a natural born citizen of the United States (because he is a natural born citizen of the United States!) right wing stirrers have now had to find another way to try to cast doubt on the President’s credentials.

Donald Trump has now accused President Obama of being a “terrible student” who shouldn’t have gotten into Columbia University or Harvard Law School. “How does a bad student go to Columbia and then to Harvard?” Apparently he is looking in to that, but at this stage, my answer would be: “because he’s not a terrible student!”

Trump’s trumped up accusations are sure to get plenty of tongues wagging, but they are not new. Conspiracy theories about Obama’s education have been floating around the far right since his presidential campaign in 2008, with some of the same people who’ve doubted the president’s birth certificate now demanding to see his college transcripts.

“Some think his transcript, if released, would reveal Mr. Obama as a mediocre student who benefited from racial preference,” Trump said.

Given that not so long ago, a Republican actor, Ronald Reagan, became a President. I don’t recall too many right wing calls for him to prove he had college smarts then. So “racial preference” maybe has something to do with these calls, but not necessarily to do with helping Obama into the Ivy League. Certainly compared to Trump, he looks pretty smart to me!

President Obama said he was bemused over the conspiracy theories over his birthplace, and claimed that the obsession over the “sideshow” issues was a distraction at a “serious time”. Well, I’m with Barack on this one.

“We do not have time for this kind of silliness, we’ve got big stuff to do, I’ve got big stuff to do,” he said.

In 2003, Obama’s presidential campaign had released a shorter regular birth certificate issued by Hawaii authorities but the version released by the White House today was a copy of a long-form, original document made at the time of his birth and kept since in official records in Obama’s native state, Hawaii.

On it, Obama’s birthplace and birth date are listed as “Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii” on August 4, 1961 at 7:24 pm. That makes him a natural born citizen of the United States. Of course, as President, he has to be.

Conservative critics have called Obama’s citizenship into question for years. And recently, property mogul Donald Trump, who is considering standing as a Republican presidential candidate led demands to see Barack Obama’s birth certificate. He took the credit for pressurizing Mr. Obama into releasing the certificate.

“I am really honored frankly to have played such a big role in getting rid of this issue,” Trump said.

But then he couldn’t resist adding an “I hope it’s true.”

Somebody shut him up already! So do you think this “birther” controversy will be over now?

Take a look for yourself:

And while photos seem to prove that Obama was, in fact, checking out her rear-end, video of the entire scenario seems to disprove these notions. As you can see in the video below, Barack seems to be looking downwards to catch his footing on the stairs – but French President Sarkozy was definitely trying to sneak a peek.

Many media outlets have covered the crazy controversy surrounding the two Presidents this week but most believe the same thing – all men and all women in every type of relationship status regardless of their character are guilty of checking out the opposite sex from time to time.

Just one piece of advice for Obama and Sarkozy – if you’re going to take the opportunity to check out a female with hundreds of cameras around, please try and make sure she’s of legal age!

The President of the United States checking out the ass of a passerby is the least of our worries – God knows most politicians are much, much worse!