Mr Obama may not have Jedi powers, but he knows how to kick a man when he is down.

BBC: Republicans resist Obama's Jedi mind meld

"You can imagine how a man, believing he is being seduced online by a sexy woman, might be all too eager to click on a link she suggests or run a malicious program on his computer, " Cluley wrote on his blog.

CNN: Police: Naked scammers seduce, blackmail men on Web

Everyone knows what a great man he is, how inspirational he is, about all the great work he has done over the years.

BBC: Your memories of meeting Archbishop Desmond Tutu

But there's also a sort of sense of who he is by either his service in the Senate or even how he's been on television and just sort of who the man is or the measure of the man, whether it's his strength he projects or competence or whatever it happens to be.

NPR: Thompson Edges Closer to Presidential Bid

For a man of peace -- which is how McGuinness wants to be remembered -- he has come a long way, and so have the nationalists of Ireland.

CNN: Handshake the latest step on road to Northern Ireland peace

My own question about a man of considerable height is not whether he would win a presidential election but how well he could operate as President.

CNN: Should Bradley stoop to conquer?

Equipped with a secret camera, and calling himself Kwami Ogonno, he went to predominantly white areas to see how a black man with a foreign accent is treated.

BBC: New film uncovers racism in Germany

But, without united political action from the Security Council, it is hard to see how Mr Brahimi will be able to do better than the man he replaced as envoy, the former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

BBC: Turkey: Risk worth taking for Syria safe zones