The US Dances To A Different Tune

After dancing the night away at a string of inaugural balls, President Barack Obama has already got down to business.
With a wealth of expectation upon him and the eyes of the world watching, America's first black president has hit the ground running - moving to halt tribunals at Guantanamo Bay.
President Obama has long called for the closure of the controversial Guantanamo base in Cuba and this morning he asked prosecutors to seek a 120-day halt in tribunals. However, Mr Obama has signalled it could take time to shut the camp down.

America's New President
Read foreign affairs editor Tim Marshall's take on Barack Obama.
Here are some of the other issues Mr Obama has pledged to tackle as priorities:
:: IRAQ - on his first day in office, Mr Obama will meet high-ranking military officials. As far back as July - long before he was elected - he vowed: "I intend to end this war. My first day in office, I will bring the Joint Chiefs of Staff in, and I will give them a new mission - to end this war responsibly and deliberately, but decisively."

The Obamas head to the White House
:: ECONOMY - During his inaugural address, Mr Obama pledged "bold and swift" action on the economy "not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation of growth". Work will now turn towards getting Congress to pass his proposed £600bn economic stimulus package.
Video: See President Obama's full speech.
:: GAZA - Another "Day One" promise by Mr Obama was to address the violence in Gaza and the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. According to reports, the president will appoint former senator George Mitchell as his Middle East envoy today. Mr Mitchell has knowledge of brokering peace agreements. As special envoy to Northern Ireland he helped usher in the Good Friday Agreement.

President Obama's USA
America's new President takes office. All our coverage in one place.
:: ABORTION - It has been suggested that one of Mr Obama's first moves as president will be to overturn the Bush administration's ban on funding overseas organisations involved with abortion programmes. At present, no money can be distributed through the US Agency for International Development to charities and NGOs that promote, or provide information or advice about termination services.
Around a million people went to Washington's Capitol Hill to see the inauguration - and millions more watched it on televisions across the world
Mr Obama, 47, is now the nation’s 44th leader - his oath of office sparked a massive roar from the crowd and a 21-gun salute.
Mr Obama said: "We have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord."

Barack Obama Tells Youth Ball His Dance Was 'What's Called Old School'

First couple mixes up their dance moves a bit at 'Be the Change' event.The Obamas are doing a lot of dancing tonight.
The couple, who were serenaded by Beyoncé to "At Last" at the Neighborhood Ball earlier in the evening (and critiqued by "America's Best Dance Crew" judge Shane Sparks), took the stage for a more formal instrumental version of the song at the Youth Ball.
Obama transitioned from his speech to the dance, as usual, with style and grace. "I promise you, America will get stronger and more united," he said. "You are going to make it happen, and [we] thank you from the bottom our hearts. God bless America. Hit it, band!"
The couple then gently broke into a slow dance that was more formal, yet showed a bit more character than the Neighborhood Ball dance, showing off a few more fancy dance moves while laughing and joking with each other before the exuberant crowd. At the end, Obama kissed his wife on the cheek and gave a nod to the crowd before proclaiming, presumably in reference to their more formal dance, "That's what's called 'old school.' Have a great night, guys. Love you."
"Be the Change: Live From the Inaugural" is live on MTV right now! Stick with us for wall-to-wall coverage of the inauguration and of the scenes in Washington, D.C., New Orleans and Kenya tonight and in the days that follow.

Kenyans toast Obama presidency with beer, parties

NAIROBI, Kenya (Map, News) - From the shantytowns of Kenya's capital to the rural homestead of Barack Obama's relatives, thousands of Kenyans slaughtered goats, hoisted American flags and partied into the night Tuesday as a man they see as one of their own ascended to the world's most powerful office.
In Nairobi's sprawling Kibera slum, residents raised a U.S. flag and declared Kenya to be America's 51st state. In the village of Kogelo, where Obama's father was born and some family members still live, 5,000 people gathered as 10 bulls and six goats were slaughtered for a luxurious feast at a time when the country is enduring a crippling food crisis. Women dressed in colorful print cloths performed traditional dances to the rhythms of cowhide drums.
"Yes, yes, yes!" shouted Maurice Odoyo, 34, joining hundreds of people trying to catch a glimpse of Obama's speech on a 12-inch television set up in a clearing in Kibera, one of Africa's largest slums. "His father comes from this country. Obama will remember us, how we are suffering."
The election of a black American president with African roots stands as a powerful symbol on a continent where so many people's hopes are hobbled by crushing poverty and corruption. And in Kenya, a struggling country of 38 million riven a year ago by a deadly postelection crisis, Obama's presidency was a source of pride and inspiration.

Obama Inauguration Protected by Windows XP

Now that Obama is the 44th President of the U.S., the security measures that were in place to ensure a smooth inauguration will still continue to be in force for some time.
Although all the security agencies involved in today's event won't be out in full force every day, the security for Obama's new presidency still demands a certain level of awareness.
What better way to ensure that everything goes smoothly than to use Windows XP on FBI intelligence machines.
It looks like the FBI is reluctant to move to Windows Vista for laptops.
The FBI was out in force today, with a list of high-tech anti-threat technologies, including a bomb vessel designed to contain a live bomb, and even allow it to explode if necessary. The FBI also had a mobile command center on site, where it coordinates and organizes on-site agents. Able to execute all commands and observations, the mobile FBI command center is a big armored trailer with laptops and other computer equipment inside.
If you wanted to build a secure setup? What would you personally use for the ultimate security? Would Windows XP suffice? Or would you use something along the lines of Linux or BSD, or even Mac OS X Leopard? Do you think you can lock down a Windows system as hard as one based on *nix?

Obama takes power, urges unity vs. 'raging storms'

Before a jubilant crowd of more than a million, Barack Hussein Obama claimed his place in history as America's first black president, summoning a dispirited nation to unite in hope against the "gathering clouds and raging storms" of war and economic woe.
On an extraordinary day in the life of America, people of all colors and ages waited for hours Tuesday in frigid temperatures to witness a young black man with a foreign-sounding name take command of a nation founded by slaveholders. It was a scene watched in fascination by many millions — perhaps billions — around the world.
"We gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord," the nation's 44th president said.
The presidency passed to Democrat Obama from Republican George W. Bush at the stroke of noon, marking one of democracy's greatest gifts: the peaceful transfer of power.
But a stark transfer all the same. In one of the new administration's first acts, Obama ordered federal agencies to halt all pending regulations until further review — this after Bush's final weeks raised heated debate over rushing new rules into effect on the way out the door.
And even though new White House aides struggled to find offices and work intercoms, an overhauled http://www.whitehouse.gov Web site was running under Obama's banner within minutes of his swearing-in. "Change has come to America," it declared.
Obama plunges into his new job in earnest on Wednesday after capping inaugural festivities at a national prayer service in the morning, meeting with his economic team and Iraq advisers and welcoming a stream of public visitors into the White House while Congress gives his economic revival plan a going-over and takes up the nomination of Hillary Rodham Clinton to be secretary of state. Her confirmation has been held up for now by Republican concern over the foundation fundraising of her husband, the former president.
The new president had been buoyant and relaxed through the three days of preinaugural festivities. But he seemed somber as he stood on the Capitol steps, placed his left hand on the Bible used by Abraham Lincoln and repeated the inaugural oath "to preserve, protect and defend" a Constitution that originally defined blacks as three-fifths of a person. A deafening cheer went up.
"What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly," Obama said. "This is the price and the promise of citizenship."
The day's high spirits were jarred by sudden concern about the health of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy. The legendary Democrat, suffering from brain cancer, and was rushed from a Capitol luncheon in Obama's honor to a hospital. "My prayers are with him and his family," Obama said. Later, fellow Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts said Kennedy was laughing and joking at the hospital and itching to get back to work.
On the inaugural parade route, Obama and his wife, Michelle, climbed out of the heavily armored presidential limousine and walked a few blocks along famed Pennsylvania Avenue, waving to adoring crowds under the watchful eyes of security agents.
Hours later, they put the day's formality behind them to swirl through 10 inaugural balls. With the president in white tie and the first lady in a white one-shouldered gown by 26-year-old New York designer Jason Wu, their first dance was to Beyonce singing the Etta James classic "At Last." "Tonight, we celebrate. Tomorrow, the work begins," Obama said at the Commander in Chief Ball.
Throughout his inaugural address, an 18-minute sermon on civic duty, Obama wove a thread of personal responsibility and accountability. A liberal Democrat proposing billions of dollars in new spending, Obama nonetheless spoke of the limits of government.
"It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours," he said. "It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate."
Obama's 10-year-old daughter, Malia, aimed a camera at her father as he spoke. Michelle leaned onto the edge of her seat, body tensed and brow knitted.
"Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and begin again the work of remaking America," Obama said.
He placed blame for the recent economic collapse not just on greed and irresponsibility "on the part of some" but also on the inability or unwillingness of everyone to move the country beyond an industrial-based economy — what he called "our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age." With that, the 47-year-old former Illinois senator transformed himself — from a candidate claiming his campaign is about the voters to a president promising to put the nation in the people's hands.
Unlike most predecessors, Obama takes office with his agenda in many ways set for him.
An economy that seems more foreboding than at any inauguration since Franklin D. Roosevelt took office in 1933, with some 11 million people now out of work, and trillions of dollars of stock market investments lost. Two wars, one in Iraq that most of the country has long wanted over and another in Afghanistan that is spiraling downward and needs an overhaul. The continuing fear that another calamitous terrorist attack is not out of the question.
More inspirational than prescriptive, Obama's inaugural address only glancingly mentioned a series of promises from his campaign: to get the U.S. out of Iraq, stabilize Afghanistan, create jobs, "restore science to its rightful place," boost the use of alternative energy, address climate change, transform schools, manage government spending wisely and oversee a more bipartisan, less-divisive approach to policy-making.
To allies overseas eager for his leadership to replace Bush's, Obama had welcome words: "We are ready to lead once more."
His ascension to the White House was cheered around the world as a sign that America will be more embracing, more open to change. "To the Muslim world," Obama said, "we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect."
Still, he bluntly warned, "To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West, know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy."
The day began well before dawn as people made their way downtown to secure spots from which to witness history, and it was extending well past midnight through the official balls and many more unofficial galas.
The drama exceeded even the breathless buildup of recent days' nearly nonstop discussion on TV, blogs, podcasts and text messages. Not only heavily policed and barricaded Washington but much of the country virtually halted in its tracks — even, albeit briefly, inside the casinos of Las Vegas.
The nation had celebrated 55 inaugurations before, but none like the one that made a president out of the son of Kenya and Kansas, a man who rose to America's highest office largely untested at executive leadership, his political experience encompassing only four years in the U.S. Senate and eight in the state legislature of his home state of Illinois.
Blacks especially powered the jubilation that was thick in the chilly air. Even though Obama didn't give the topic of race, his or others, much treatment in either his campaign nor his inaugural, blacks poured into Washington from all over to watch firsthand as one of their own at last shattered a painful racial barrier.
"It almost leaves me speechless," said 69-year-old Tony Avelino, who traveled from Brea, Calif. "This situation is so emotional it's basically an unreal experience," added 56-year-old Cleveland Wesley, on the Mall from Houston with his wife as the sun rose.
Many others also see in Obama fresh reason for optimism at a time of great national insecurity. Or a chance for rest from the eight acrimonious years of the Bush presidency. Or even a turn toward modernity, as a country hurtling into new ways of communicating, connecting and conducting business chose a man more comfortable in that world than any leader before him.
Excitement over Obama's young, camera-ready family and the thought of Malia Obama and her sister, 7-year-old Sasha, turning the stately White House into a children's playroom also figured prominently in the day.
Among the feverishly discussed questions: What would fashion-forward Michelle Obama wear, information kept as a closely held secret? The shimmering gold brocade sheath dress and matching coat that she chose for the daytime sparked immediate water-cooler discussion, especially when she paired the outfit with green gloves against the cold.
In a country nearly evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans, it was notable that protests were nearly unseen, a remarkable shift from the two Bush inaugurations that were marked by boisterous demonstrations. One group of about 20 people from a Baptist church in Kansas demonstrated with anti-gay slogans.
With his White House campaign and landslide November victory built in part on his rhetorical gifts, Obama sought to provide reassurance for the future while compelling listeners to sacrifice.
He articulated eloquently the deeper effect on the American psyche of the problems of war and recession: "a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights."
Not so, said Obama. But he cautioned that the effort will require all citizens, no matter party, age, skin color, or status, to get to work.
"The time has come to set aside childish things," he said, invoking the Bible. "Greatness is never a given. It must be earned."
Bush, the man who has led the nation the past eight years, hosted the Obamas for coffee in the morning, accompanied them to the Capitol and sat tightlipped in the front row for Obama's swearing-in and speech.
Obama thanked Bush for his service as president and never directly criticized him. But he also repeatedly talked of the need to abandon current practices, whether "the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics," the lack of a watchful enough eye on financial markets, or what he called a false choice between safety and ideals — a reference to brutal interrogation practices and other actions taken by the Bush administration in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
"With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come," Obama said.
Afterward, he escorted his predecessor to a helicopter and Bush flew with his family first to Andrews Air Force Base for a private departure ceremony, then on to a welcome rally in Midland, Texas and finally, by nightfall, his ranch near Crawford, Texas. As the architect of two unfinished wars and the man in charge at a time of economic calamity, the now ex-president left Washington under the cloud of approval ratings hovering at historic lows. People in the crowd booed when Bush's image was flashed on jumbotrons and one contingent near the Capitol sang "Na-na-na-na, hey, hey, goodbye" in a jeering farewell.
For all the new president's call to joint effort, it is political reality that it will largely be up to Obama himself to meet soaring expectations — both those he has created for himself and those others have placed on him unbidden.
In the Oval Office awaits the workaday, hard-nosed business of the daily governance of a nation of 304 million. And while Washington celebrated, events kept moving: Wall Street slid, news surfaced that U.S. carmaker Chrysler could be purchased in part by Italian auto giant Fiat, and prosecutors at the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, sought to suspend all war-crimes trials pending Obama's guidance.
Congress already has given Obama $350 billion in new financial-industry bailout money and is fast-tracking a massive economic stimulus bill to be worth $825 billion or more. And Bush has ordered 30,000 more U.S. troops to go to Afghanistan this year, adding to 32,000 already there. But these moves are hardly the last word on the big issues of the day.
And some of Obama's attention to even those things will undoubtedly be deferred to crises — a natural disaster, an overseas conflagration — that can pop onto the scene unexpectedly and consume enormous amounts of White House energy.
His transition also produced some missteps that raised questions about whether Obama's highly disciplined, perfectionist organization that proved brilliant at winning an election will be equally brilliant at governing.
Obama's team overlooked known problems in the backgrounds of two Cabinet nominees — Bill Richardson for Commerce and Timothy Geithner for Treasury. They also flubbed the introduction to Congress of Leon Panetta as CIA director. Obama also was tripped up by controversy surrounding the appointment of his successor in the Senate.

Obama To Make History In 35 Words

Barack Obama is preparing to become the United States' first black president, bringing a message of hope to a nation battered by recession, weary of war and hungry for change.
Millions of spectators from across America and around the world have travelled to Washington to see history being made.
Only a few men in the annals of American history have ever got to utter the 35 transformative words which take an ordinary citizen to the highest post in the land.
Barack Obama will join their ranks today, swearing the oath which will turn him into the 44th President of the US.
As he does, his hand will rest on the bible used by the 16th President Abraham Lincoln, who ultimately gave his life in the battle to end slavery.
That link will add poignancy to what is always a moving occasion, according to historian Don Ritchie.
"It's a very important day. People really do get very emotional about it. Historians wax eloquent when they write about those moments," he said.

The inaugural events have begun
"They tend to look for a sign. If the sky opens up and a ray of sunshine comes through it is a good omen. If there is a blizzard they see trouble coming in the process."
Mr Obama's famous gift of oratory will be tested like never before today as he delivers a speech which will be viewed by milllions around the world.
He has scrutinised the words of his forebears - including the President who he is so often compared to - John F Kennedy.
The words "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country", which Kennedy uttered in 1961, are still seared into the minds of a generation here.
The speechwriter who helped craft Kennedy's address has high expectations for President Obama.
Ted Sorensen said that like JFK, Mr Obama should return to the themes he established during his campaign.

Barack Obama inauguration: world waits for the 17 minute speech

Twenty-four hours before being inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama picked up a brush yesterday and painted a wall. “This is good practice, ’cause I’m moving to a new house tomorrow,” he told fellow volunteers.
A volunteer at the teenage homeless shelter in this run-down black part of Washington asked if he had worked up a sweat. “Nah, I don’t sweat,” replied the shirt-sleeved President-elect. “You ever see me sweat?”
For all the apparent absence of perspiration, there was still plenty of inspiration for Mr Obama. He called on America to commemorate the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s birth by joining him in a day of service, saying: “Don’t underestimate the power for people to pull together and to accomplish amazing things.”

Times Archive, 1963: Let freedom ring
All this will end one day. We will hew hope out of the mountain of despair
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The national holiday fell the day before an inauguration which is inevitably being seen as the fulfilment of Dr King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered in Washington in 1963.
Although Mr Obama has acknowledged that the prospect of a black president is a “remarkable moment”, yesterday he sought to put it into a wider context of national, as well as racial, reconciliation.
“Tomorrow, we will come together as one people on the same Mall where Dr King’s dream echoes still. As we do, we recognise that here in America, our destinies are inextricably linked,” said Mr Obama. “We resolve that as we walk, we must walk together. And as we go forward in the work of renewing the promise of this nation, let’s remember King’s lesson – that our separate dreams are really one.”
Mr Obama knows that not all his tasks over the coming weeks will be as easy as painting a wall. In recent days he has emphasised that supporters will need to show patience as he seeks to tackle economic crisis at home and conflict abroad.
“It will take more than a month or a year, and it will likely take many,” he told a rally at the Lincoln Memorial on Sunday. “Along the way there will be setbacks and false starts.”
At a visit to a Washington high school later, Mr Obama once more emphasised the need for service and a spirit of self-help. “I am making a commitment to you as the next president, that we are going to make government work,” he said. “But I can’t do it by myself. Governments can only do so much,” he said. “If we’re waiting for someone else to do something, it never gets done.”
Today, when he delivers one of the most eagerly anticipated inaugural speeches of modern times, Mr Obama is expected to urge his country to unite behind a common resolve for “renewing America’s promise”.
Aides say that he will stress the need for more responsibility to be shown by all Americans, as well as government and financial institutions, in getting the country “back on track”.
Rahm Emanuel, the incoming White House chief of staff, said that Mr Obama would ask the nation to reject the “culture of anything goes”.
At 17 minutes long, Mr Obama’s inaugural address is expected to be shorter than many of those that have come before. “My job in this speech is just to remind people of the road we’ve travelled and the extraordinary odds that we’ve already overcome. We’ve been through tougher times before and we are going to get through these,” he said.
His task is to temper optimism with a recognition of tough times ahead – and balance the historic charge and emotions surrounding his election with his core message that what binds America together matters more than that which for so long drove it apart.
Some, however, are not heeding the message of national unity. While Washington will be filled with celebrating Democrats today, many Republicans are leaving town to lick their wounds and look for jobs.
The switch of administrations has put about 8,000 Republicans out of work. Bill Kristol, editor of the conservative Weekly Standard, is making a speech in Montreal. Charlie Spies, who worked on Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, is hosting a party in Las Vegas. Others are heading to the Caribbean.
“It’s a sort of custom,” said David Frum, a former Bush speechwriter who is hosting an alternative inauguration party tonight. “If the other side has won, you don’t want to deal with the traffic.”
President Bush yesterday made one of his final decisions in office, commuting two former Texas border guards’ sentence for shooting a drug dealer, as he packed his bags to head home to the Lone Star state.

Barack Obama's Inauguration Schedule

It's an event that Washington, D.C., sees every four years — but it's never seen an inauguration like this one. The entire city is practically under lockdown in preparation for Barack Obama's historic inauguration on Tuesday.
While exact figures are uncertain, CNN reports that 1 million to 2 million attendees are expected for the inauguration, and tens of thousands of police officers, federal agents and National Guardsmen are being deployed in an unprecedented effort to ensure that the inauguration of the 44th president runs safely and smoothly. Similarly, the cost of the event has been disputed — up to $150 million but generally estimated at around $50 million — but it is reported to be the most expensive in history.
Cameras will be following the president-elect and his family every step of the way during the day — and you'll be able to watch it live streaming on MTV.com. Here's a look at where they'll be for the ceremony, the parades — and of course the Youth Inaugural Ball and other balls throughout the evening.
» 8:25 a.m.: Obamas leave Blair House for prayer service at St. John's Episcopal Church
» 8:35 a.m.: Prayer service
» 9:45 a.m.: Church service ends; Obamas depart for the White House
» 10:05 a.m.: Obamas arrive at White House for coffee with the Bushes
» 11 a.m.: Motorcade departs for the Capitol
» 11:30 a.m.: Bushes and Obamas proceed to platform on the West Front; California Senator Dianne Feinstein will issue the call to order and deliver brief welcoming remarks, followed by an invocation from Dr. Rick Warren and a performance from Aretha Franklin (who also sang at Bill Clinton's first inauguration)
» 11:50 a.m.: Joe Biden is sworn in as vice president by Supreme Court Justice John Stevens
» 12 p.m.: Barack Obama is sworn in as president by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. Obama, with his hand on Abraham Lincoln's inaugural Bible, will recite the same oath as his predecessors: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." Musical performance from John Williams, Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Gabriela Montero and Anthony McGill, followed by "Hail to the Chief" and a 21-gun salute
» 12:05 p.m.: Inaugural address, followed by a poem written and recited by Elizabeth Alexander and a benediction from Dr. Joseph Lowery. The national anthem will be performed by the U.S. Navy Band Sea Chanters
» 12:30 p.m.: Ceremony concludes
» 12:35 p.m.: Bush departs via helicopter; Cheney departs by limo
» 12:45 p.m.: Obama signs inauguration papers in the President's Room
» 1:00 p.m.: Obama attends congressional luncheon
» 2:15 p.m.: Obama and Biden review troops at Capitol
» 2:30 p.m.: President Obama leads the parade from the Capitol along Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House
» 3:15 p.m.: Arrival at the White House
» 3:45 p.m.: Obamas and Bidens proceed to the reviewing stand; inaugural parade continues until 6 p.m.
» 7 p.m.: The official inaugural balls begin with the Neighborhood Ball at the Washington Convention Center, with performers scheduled to include Beyoncé. Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey, Faith Hill, Jay-Z, Alicia Keys, Shakira, Stevie Wonder and others. Nick Cannon will DJ.
The event, expected to include the president and first lady's first dance of the night, will be broadcast on ABC beginning at 8 p.m. From there, it's on to other celebrations, including MTV's Youth Ball.
"Be the Change: Live From the Inaugural" will air live on MTV on Tuesday, January 20, at 10 p.m. ET/PT. MTV News will have wall-to-wall coverage of the event and of the scenes in Washington, D.C., New Orleans and Kenya in the days leading up to the event and in the days that follow.

'Men in Black' head Obama's ring of steel

WASHINGTON DC is going into lockdown today for the presidential inauguration of Barack Obama, the biggest single-day security operation the world has ever seen.
With crowds of up to four million predicted and most of the world tuning in, a 3.5sq mile area of the city will be sealed off, with entry possible only via airport-style metal detectors.Further security cordons extend in concentric rings out from the Capitol building, with all bridges sealed off within an even larger area. Some 50,000 security personnel from 58 services will flood the city, in an operation costing $80 million (£55 million)."It will be the most security, as far as I'm aware, that any inauguration's had," the homeland security chief, Michael Chertoff, said.Drawing on the experience of the 2005 London Tube bombings, when the bombers used outlying stations as staging points, 1,000 plainclothes FBI officers in 155 teams will mingle with crowds at subway stations across Washington, hoping to spot would-be terrorists.At the tip of the security spear are the so-called "Men in Black", a 100-strong unit of snipers from the Secret Service.Armed with a customised weapon, the snipers are able to hit a target the size of a saucer at 1,000 yards.From early this morning, they will be deployed in teams of two on rooftops along Pennsylvania Avenue to watch over the presidential motorcade.When one of the team spots a threat, the other trains his rifle on the target while the spotter takes the role of "wind caller", advising on corrections for wind based on flags and chimney smoke – one reason the Secret Service says the more flags on display the better.Pictures from Washington's 5,265 surveillance cameras will be fed into a central security command centre.More than 8,000 state and federal police are in the city, with attention centred on the 1.9-mile Mall, where more than a million will gather to watch the swearing-in on giant TV screens.An additional 10,000 part-time National Guard troops will be deployed, with 20,000 in reserve, along with an undisclosed number of regular troops.Hoteliers, meanwhile, have received training on how to spot a terrorist threat, with the authorities mindful that the Mumbai attackers in November singled out hotels as "soft" targets.Chemical, biological and radiological detectors, installed after 9/11, are already in place, and public buildings will be closed.Coast Guard craft will patrol the Potomac river, and F-16 fighters will roam the skies, with all civil air traffic banned. "I think we are ready," Mr Chertoff said. "Part of my job is to hope for the best and plan for the worst."For today, the "worst" includes not just the risk of a terrorist attack, but managing huge crowds and guarding against stampedes or injury during and after the noon ceremony.Much of the security effort is focused on the internet, with unprecedented attention being paid both to al-Qaeda cyber traffic and messages sent by so-called white supremacists.In August, a group of white neo-Nazis with sniper rifles were arrested at the Democratic Party's Denver convention.The only public airing of neo-Nazi views has been the declaration by the National Knights, a faction of the Ku Klux Klan, that they will wear black armbands and display the US flag upside down to protest at the inauguration of the first mixed-race president.'We should learn from King's vision'THE president-elect yesterday brought a whole new level of interest to "watching paint dry".Barack Obama helped paint a wall at a shelter for homeless teenagers in south-east Washington, an area marred by poverty and deprivation, to mark the public holiday celebrating the birth of the assassinated civil rights icon Martin Luther King.The shelter provides training for the youngsters and places an emphasis on self-reliance, a virtue that Mr Obama extolled during his election campaign."Dr Martin Luther King's was a life lived in loving service to others," said Mr Obama, who, in earlier years, worked in similar projects for the unemployed of Chicago's South Side. "His was a vision that all Americans might share the freedom to make of our lives what we will."He appealed to the nation to remember King through service to others."As we honour that legacy, it's not a day just to pause and reflect – it's a day to act," he said."I ask the American people to turn today's efforts into an ongoing commitment to enriching the lives of others in their communities, their cities and their country."

Ronaldo named Fifa player of 2008

Cristiano Ronaldo has been named the Fifa World Player of the Year for 2008.
The Portugal and Manchester United winger becomes the first Premier League player to win the award.
Ronaldo, 23, beat AC Milan's Kaka, Liverpool's Fernando Torres and Barcelona's Lionel Messi and Xavi to the prestigious title.
"It's an overwhelming moment in my career and I'd like to dedicate this award to my family, friends and colleagues," said the United star.
His 42 goals for Manchester United last season helped the Old Trafford club clinch the Premier League and Champions League double.
Ronaldo, who also picked up the European Player of the Year crown in December and the FifPro World Footballer of the Year honour in October, paid special tribute to United boss Sir Alex Ferguson.
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Did Ronaldo deserve the title?
"It's also true that the manager always has an important role to play. It was a great season for me and for my club and the coach was important for me because I learned a lot for him," he added.
"His experience over so many years is of paramount importance - it's a privilege to have such a great club manager.
"This is the climax of a fantastic era for me. I'm happy and proud about what has been done by my team and what we have won.
"I am lucky to be part of the history of a club like Manchester United."
The coaches and captains of 155 national teams took part in the voting for the award, with Messi finishing second ahead of Torres, Kaka and Xavi.
Ronaldo is only the second Portuguese player to pick up the Fifa honour following Luis Figo's triumph in 2001.
Meanwhile, Brazil forward Marta, who is joining Los Angeles Sol in the new women's professional league in the United States, collected her third successive women's award - equalling the record set by German Birgit Prinz.
"This is an amazing achievement for me," said the 22-year-old, who has spent five years at Swedish club Umea and who was part of the Brazil team that finished as runners-up to the United States in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
"This game has given me so many great moments of joy. This award is fantastic and I'd like to thank you all very much."
England and Arsenal Ladies striker Kelly Smith was one of the five nominees for the title.

Minor outage at Facebook Monday

Users were reporting performance and availability issues with Facebook Monday. Some complained on Twitter of slowness and pages that didn't load. Others said that third-party desktop apps that connect to Facebook (such as Digsby) lost their access to the service.
The outage did not appear to be widespread. A spokesperson for Facebook said in an e-mail to CNET:
As a result of a network device failure, a very small percentage of users lost access to Facebook for a short period of time earlier today. The site has now been restored and we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Googling pollutes the planet

IT SEEMS YOU can't do anything nowadays without inadvertently contributing to your ever-growing, mutant-like black carbon footprint, and googling is no exception.
According to new research by Harvard University physicist Alex Wissner-Gross, every two Google searches performed generate about the same amount of noxious carbon dioxide as boiling water for a cuppa.
Apparently ye average innocuous search - ie "how big is my carbon footprint?" - produces 7g of CO2 whilst a boiling kettle generates about 15g. Don't even get us started on Googling WHILST drinking a cuppa.
According to Wissner-Gross "Google operates huge data centres around the world that consume a great deal of power". Shocka. But, admittedly, with well over 200 million internet searches a day, it's no wonder the concerned boffin found the need to state that, in his humble opinion, "a Google search has a definite environmental impact."
Of course, it's nothing new to claim the IT industry is polluting the planet. Greenpeace bangs on about it all the time, and even Gartner recently jumped on the organic bandwagon claiming the global IT industry generated as much greenhouse gas as the world's evil airline industry, or some filthy two per cent.
So, how exactly does a quick search for "best celebrity arse of 2008" foul up the planet? Well, firstly, any search request gets sent to a plethora of servers, which compete to get you the answer quickest. This is purportedly a rather energy-consuming enterprise, as servers which hold billions and billions of web pages filled with inane content tend to require rather a lot of power.
Wissner-Gross reckons he's even managed to calculate the CO2 emissions caused by a single individual viewing a simple web page to about 0.02g of CO2 per second. And the physicist believes he can extrapolate that number for an individual viewing a complex, image heavy, multimedia page to 0.2g of CO2 a second.
So concerned is Wissner-Gross with the state of the planet, he's even set up his own energy consuming website (www.CO2stats.com) for people to produce more CO2 checking how much CO2 they produce whilst wibbling away. The man's a genius.
Google's Senior Vice President of Operations, Urs Hölzle, was seemingly unimpressed by Wissner-Gross' report, however, claiming in a company blog that the actual cost of a search query was closer to one twenty-fifth of the carbon released when making a cup of tea, or 0.2 grams of carbon dioxide per search.
Hölzle let off steam claiming Google's commitment to invest in clean energy technology should also be taken into account, including Google.org's $45 million effort to "[cut] the energy consumed by computers in half by 2010 - reducing global CO2 emissions by 54 million tons per year."
Still, at least Google's big dirty hoof-prints seem less significant when compared to the seeming pointlessness of maintaining a Second Life avatar, which guzzles approximately 1,752 kilowatt hours of electricity a year, or almost as much as an average Brazilian.
And if you think about it, if you weren't noodling about on the Internet for hours, you'd probably be watching TV or going on a long country drive, both of which would sully up the planet even more.
So, good god people, just google away. µ

Facebook's fond of FriendFeed's 'Like' button

An instructional video posted recently by Facebook includes a link that will look familiar to anyone who has ever used the social content aggregation service FriendFeed: a "Like" button.
The video, which describes how to publish feed stories using Facebook Connect, shows the familiar "Like" button tucked between the "Add Comment" and "Read More" buttons. The button, which was potted by an AllFacebook reader, doesn't seem to be appearing on other Facebook videos. As VentureBeat points out, the video probably includes beta properties for testing purposes, and while it makes sense that Facebook would be working on a "Like" link, it's possible Facebook will never launch it.
But as AllFacebook's Nick O'Neill points out, "It's interesting to see Facebook duplicating some of the features provided by FriendFeed..."
An old adage says that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but if the function is ever launched, it would join a growing list of Facebook flattery.
In May, Facebook began allowing users to import YouTube, StumbleUpon, Pandora, Hulu, Last.fm, and Google Reader into the social network's Mini-Feed--similar to a service offered by FriendFeed.
Also, Facebook's commenting system for news items is very reminiscent of FriendFeed.
So will Facebook "like" the function enough to roll it out to everyone? We probably won't have to wait long to see.

Big 3 U.S. auto giants plug electric cars

Rather than focus solely on muscle cars, embattled U.S. automakers General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler touted a coming generation of electric vehicles at this year's North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
Ford on Sunday detailed a multi-prong electric car strategy, saying it will have an all-electric commercial van by 2010, an all-electric passenger car by 2011, and plug-in hybrid vehicles in 2012.

The firm, which is healthier financially than GM or Chrysler, partnered with Magna International to develop an electric passenger car that can go 100 miles on a charge from lithium-ion batteries. Ford will add hybrid versions of existing cars, including the Fusion Hybrid and Mercury Milan.
To help establish consumer interest in electric cars, Ford said it is partnering with utility Southern California Edison to test a fleet of plug-in vehicles and has established partnerships with city governments in China to promote sustainable technologies and cities.
Derrick Kuzak, Ford's group vice president of global product development, told the Associated Press the automaker expects to start selling 5,000 to 10,000 electric vehicles annually.
General Motors on Sunday showed of a concept Cadillac Converj which will be able to drive 40 miles off lithium-ion batteries. It will be outfitted with the same extended-range electric powertrain planned for the Chevy Volt. GM also introduced a four-door "mini car" called the Chevrolet Spark, originally a concept called the Chevy Beat, which will be available in Europe in 2010 and in the U.S. in 2011
On Monday, GM is expected to announce that it will begin manufacturing car batteries in Michigan, according to reports. Japanese and Korean manufacturers have gotten the upper hand in car battery production, prompting auto companies and politicians to call for programs to encourage U.S. lithium-ion battery manufacturing.
Toyota at the auto show said that it will bring a small all-electric car to market in 2012 and test plug-in hybrid Priuses with lithium-ion batteries later this year.
Chrysler, meanwhile, at the auto show on Sunday showed a concept electric sedan called the 200C EV with a streamlined interior dashboard. The company also plans to have an electric edition of its Jeep Patriot as well.

How Google searches lead to our destruction

Every day that we eke out our survival we know that there is some actuary or scientist working out whether it's worth us ever trying.
Professor Alex Wissner-Gross, a physicist from Harvard, punched in a few numbers, posited a couple of suppositions and declared that two Google searches generate as much CO2 as boiling a kettle.
You would, I hope, not expect me to spout the numbers at you, but apparently the fact that Google transmits every search inquiry to more than one server doesn't help. And, worse, even though Google believes it is the most efficient of search organizations, our desperate and faintly pathetic need for speed means that by searching we are burning up the planet like Nicolas Cage in Gone In Sixty Seconds.
Naturally, even though I have not finished my morning muffin, Professor Wissner-Gross's numbers are already being disputed.

Does a cast iron kettle generate more or less CO2? I think I'll Google Search the answer. (Credit: CC IMorpheus)
While he believes that looking at simple web page like this one throws up 0.2g of CO2 per second, the folks over at carbonfootprint.com (a site I try to avoid only because I care for my world) puts the deleterious generation at between 1g and 10g per second. Apparently, much depends on whether you have to turn your PC on first.
So we cannot merely depend on our ability to stomach hybrid cars that make golf carts look sexy. We have to limit our searches to only the things we really need to find. Not the latest speeches from Al Gore. Not the latest supposed topless shots of Elisha Cuthbert. Nor those meaningful updates on the latest couplings amongst the cast of Twilight.
And let's not even think about Twittering about the vast meaninglessness of Twitter.
Oh, conservation. It just seems so dreadfully conservative. I think I'll make myself another cup of tea. No, wait.