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BBC News with Aleem Maqbool.

President Obama has entered the White House for the first time since assuming office earlier today. He traveled there with his wife Michelle in a huge parade. They got out of their car to acknowledge the thousands of cheering people. Earlier in his inaugural address, President Obama, the country's first African-American president, said it was a measure of American liberty that he had become president when less than 60 years ago his Kenyan father might have been refused service in a restaurant. As he delivered his inaugural address to the American people and the world, President Obama said he was entering office at a time of crisis.

"Our nation is at war against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost, jobs shed, businesses shuttered. Our healthcare is too costly, our schools fail too many and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet."

Mr. Obama said it was time to return to the true values of earlier generations to remake America and he called on all citizens to make a difference through their actions.

"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. This is the price and the promise of citizenship."

On international relations, President Obama said America would show leadership once again. He said he would hand Iraq back to its people and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. Jonathan Marcus reports.

Military power alone cannot protect the United States, said President Obama. Nor could military might entitle America to do as it pleases. He spoke of power growing through its prudent use and the importance of the force of American example. Here we are all the elements of the concept of smart power-- an amalgam of military, diplomatic, political and cultural tools that we are going to see much more of in the days to come. Military might was not being abandoned altogether. Mr. Obama tellingly referred to the fact that his nation was at war against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Mr. Obama spoke of seeing a new way forward with the Muslim world. He stressed a new desire for engagement with opposing regimes. To them, he said, "we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

World leaders have welcomed Barack Obama's inauguration. The British Prime Minister Gordon Brown vowed to work closely with President Obama. Messages of support also came from the French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso.

World news from the BBC.

The 2 million people packed into the area outside the Capitol building gave Barack Obama huge roars of approval during his inauguration ceremony. There was an alarm later at Mr. Obama's inauguration lunch when the veteran Senator Ted Kennedy collapsed. Mr. Obama has expressed his concern for Senator Kennedy who has been treated for a brain tumor.

The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says he's deeply grieved by the destruction he has seen during a visit to Gaza following Israel's military offensive against Hamas. He said the scenes were heart-breaking and he condemned what he called an excessive use of force by Israel. Mr. Ban said he would do all he could to help the people of Gaza rebuild their lives. On a visit later to the southern Israeli town of Sderot, Mr. Ban also said that Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel were unacceptable.

The American General David Petraeus says agreement has been reached for new overland transport routes into Afghanistan. The United States has been seeking alternatives to NATO supply routes through Pakistan. Barbara Plett reports.

General Petraeus said agreements have been reached for additional logistical routes to Afghanistan through the north. They were concluded with central Asian states and also Russia, he said. Currently, most of NATO supplies are transported overland through Pakistan. But support for the NATO war effort in Afghanistan is unpopular here and supply trucks have increasingly been attacked by local Taliban militants.

Russian gas supplies have been restored to Europe two weeks after they were halted in a row between Moscow and Ukraine. The European Union welcomed the resumption of supplies but said the row had damaged its relations with the two countries.

British officials have arrested 15 crew members of a South African Airways plane after a substantial amount of cannabis was found aboard their flight when it arrived in London. A customs spokesman said 50 kilos of the drug worth more 200,000 dollars on the streets of Britain were found in the crew's baggage.

 

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