Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Segera berubat elak rosak badan


KUALA LUMPUR: Artis sangat mudah menjadi mangsa santau atau perbuatan sihir kerana perbuatan khurafat itu boleh dilakukan melalui publisiti meluas yang diberi kepada golongan berkenaan.

“Gambar penuh dan maklumat peribadi saja boleh dijadikan ‘modal’ untuk melakukan sihir,” kata seorang pengamal perubatan tradisional yang berpengalaman luas dalam hal ‘sihir menyihir’.

Dia yang hanya mahu dikenali sebagai Shafiq berkata, jika seseorang artis itu kurang amalan agamanya, penggunaan gambar dan maklumat peribadi saja cukup untuk ‘mengenakan’ mereka.

“Benda ini (sihir) guna perantaraan jin. Dengan menggunakan gambar, maklumat peribadi, bacaan serta amalan tertentu, kebarangkalian untuk sihir yang ditujukan kepada seseorang artis itu menjadi kenyataan adalah tinggi.

“Bagi artis yang kuat amalan agamanya dan sering mengamalkan bacaan doa untuk melindungi diri daripada perkara tidak diingini, mereka susah menjadi mangsa sihir, termasuk santau,” katanya.

Menurut Shafiq selain menggunakan gambar dan maklumat peribadi, individu yang berniat jahat terhadap seseorang artis itu hanya perlu melakukannya dengan memantau pergerakan mereka.

“Pergerakan artis boleh diketahui apabila golongan terbabit membuat aktiviti tertentu seperti sesi bertemu peminat atau persembahan.

“Santau menerusi makanan dan angin boleh dilakukan. Sama ada menjadi atau tidak bergantung kepada kepakaran bomoh yang diupah,” katanya.

Justeru, Shafiq berkata, seseorang artis itu perlu lebih berwaspada, terutama ketika menerima pemberian tertentu daripada individu tidak dikenali.

“Makanan adalah medium paling mudah disalah gunakan. Walaupun sesuap, jika santau menerusi makanan yang dihasilkan ‘kuat’, bersiap sedialah untuk menderita,” katanya.

Menurut Shafiq, kebiasaannya jika seseorang itu terkena sihir, individu yang melakukannya dapat diketahui.

“Biasanya apabila berubat, pengamal perubatan yang membantu memulihkan mangsa dapat mengesan ia angkara siapa. Terpulang kepada mangsa untuk mengetahuinya atau tidak,” katanya.

Ditanya mengenai upah untuk melakukan tugas terkutuk itu, Shafiq memaklumkan, ia mampu mencecah ribuan ringgit.

“Kebiasaannya seseorang itu sanggup mengenakan orang lain menggunakan sihir disebabkan perasaan dengki dan sakit hati,” katanya.

http://www.hmetro.com.my/Current_News/myMetro/Sunday/Setempat/20090118174028/Article/index_html

Obama makes history as first black US president



Agence France-Presse - 1/20/2009 11:47 PM GMT

Barack Obama became America's first black president Tuesday in a singular moment of history and proclaimed the nation had chosen "hope over fear" in the face of economic gloom and foreign wars.

"Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America," the new president told a nation caught in the worst economic blight since the 1930s Great Depression.

Obama, the son of a black Kenyan father and white American mother, laid his hand on the same Bible that Abraham Lincoln used at his inauguration in 1861 to take the oath of office.

He quickly broke with departing president George W. Bush's policies on the war on terrorism and the economy, and told the rest of the world America was "ready to lead once more" in an 18-minute inaugural address .

Obama's inauguration, on the steps of the US Capitol which was partially built with slave labor, broke the highest racial barrier in the United States, and may go a long way to consummating civil rights icon Martin Luther King's dream of racial unity.

"We have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord," Obama said in a somber, sometimes poetic inaugural address shot through with optimism that the new president can sail America through its current storms.

"Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real, they are serious and they are many," Obama said, seeking to buy himself time to haul the country out of its current woes.

"They will not be met easily, or in a short span of time. But know this, America -- they will be met."

Amid the exuberant celebrations, Obama and wife Michelle left their armored limousine to twice walk stretches of the inauguration parade route, which wended from the US Capitol back to the White House.

Obama beamed as he waved to the crowds , walking hand-in-hand with his wife down Pennsylvania Avenue, then walked into the White House for the first time as the 44th president.

The crowd on the National Mall numbered at least two million, the Washington Post said, and many in the throng wept as the new president spoke.

Bush looked on as the torch of power was passed, after his turbulent eight years in the White House.

As Bush and wife Laura flew over the mall in a helicopter on the first leg of their trip back to Texas, the crowd mockingly sang "Hey Hey Hey, Goodbye."

In his speech Obama also sent an immediate message to the rest of the world, and Muslim nations in particular, after America's ties with some of its top allies were tarnished during the Bush years, especially over the Iraq war.

"America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more," he said.

"To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect.

"We understand that greatness is never a given, it must be earned."


But he also warned that those who would use "terror" and slaughter innocents to threaten the United States would face an uncompromising response.

"Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred," Obama said. "We say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you."

Obama called on Americans to launch a "new era of responsibility" as the economy sinks deep into recession, brought on by massive stocks of bad mortgages and debt.

"Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to mark hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age."

He also signaled a sharp shift from Bush administration anti-terror policies which critics say have compromised US ideals and the constitution.

"As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals."

He said the United States would begin to "responsibly leave Iraq to its people and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan."

The new president also said the United States would join other nations in rolling back "the specter of a warming planet."

The festive mood was tempered however when veteran Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy, the only surviving brother of assassinated president John F. Kennedy, collapsed from a seizure during an inaugural lunch in the Congress building.

His hospital doctors said Kennedy, who is fighting brain cancer, had likely succumbed to fatigue.

The huge crises facing Obama meanwhile were underlined as stocks on Wall Street slumped on the first day of his presidency, losing four percent with investors spooked by banking industry woes.

Obama's moment in history was being closely watched abroad .

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown hailed Obama's inauguration as a "new chapter in both American history and the world's history."

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he was eager to work with Obama to "change the world" while German Chancellor Angela Merkel wished him "the best of luck."

With expectations running high at home and globally, Obama's team is pleading for patience as it confronts a groaning in-tray of challenges from Gaza to the Guantanamo Bay war-on-terror camp.

Obama has vowed to hit the ground running as soon as he takes office, pushing an 825-billion-dollar stimulus package to lift the US economy and vowing to repair the tattered US image abroad. The new president has also offered talks with US foes such as Iran.

http://news.my.msn.com/topstories/article.aspx?cp-documentid=2182651

Barack Obama's inaugural address - full speech


Agence France-Presse, Tuesday Jan 20 2009

I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.

Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.

So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.

That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. 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 health care 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.

These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land -- a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.

Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America -- they will be met.

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted - for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things - some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.

For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.

For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.

For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.

Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.

This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions -- that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.

For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act -- not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions -- who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them -- that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works -- whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account -- to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day -- because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control -- and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart -- not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.

As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.

Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.

We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort -- even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.

For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.

To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. 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. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.

To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.

As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment -- a moment that will define a generation -- it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. 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. 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.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends -- hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism -- these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. 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, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is the source of our confidence -- the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.

This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed -- why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

"Let it be told to the future world...that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."

America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

http://news.my.msn.com/Specials/waiting_for_obama.aspx

Obama sworn in as America's first black president - 11




President Barack Obama stands alongside his wife, Michelle, as Vice President Joe Biden salutes alongside his wife, Jill, as former President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura, leave the US Capitol aboard a military helicopter after Obama was sworn in as the 44th President in Washington Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009.


http://news.my.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=2185324&page=11

Obama sworn in as America's first black president - 10




Former President George W. Bush, right, hugs President Barack Obama after Obama was sworn in at the U.S. Capitol in Washington.


http://news.my.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=2185324&page=10

Obama sworn in as America's first black president - 9




President Bush, right, walks out with President-elect Barack Obama, on the North Portico of the White House before sharing the presidential limousine enroute to Capitol Hill for inauguration in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009


http://news.my.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=2185324&page=9

Obama sworn in as America's first black president - 8




Vice President Joe Biden waves after being sworn in at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009. At left is his wife, Jill.


http://news.my.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=2185324&page=8

Obama sworn in as America's first black president - 7




President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama stand with Vice President Joe Biden and Jill Biden as they wave to former President George W. Bush and Laura Bush on the East steps of the Capitol in Washington as their Marine helicopter takes off.

http://news.my.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=2185324&page=7

Obama sworn in as America's first black president - 6




Jossie Redmond of Crawford Miss. reacts during the inaugural ceremonies on the National Mall Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009, before the swearing-in ceremony of President-elect Barack Obama

http://news.my.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=2185324&page=6

Obama sworn in as America's first black president - 5




Hannah Stuart of Seattle, Wash., dances on the National Mall Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009, before the swearing-in ceremony of President-elect Barack Obama.


http://news.my.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=2185324&page=5

Obama sworn in as America's first black president - 5




Bundled people pack the National Mall for the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009.


http://news.my.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=2185324&page=4

Obama sworn in as America's first black president - 3




An estimated crowd of two million people gathered along the National Mall during the swearing-in ceremony of President-elect Barack Obama, Tuesday, Jan, 20, 2009, in Washington.


http://news.my.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=2185324&page=3

Obama sworn in as America's first black president - 2




Barack Obama, left, takes the oath of office from Chief Justice John Roberts, not seen, as his wife Michelle, holds the Lincoln Bible and daughters Sasha, right and Malia, watch at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009


http://news.my.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=2185324&page=2

Obama sworn in as America's first black president - 1


Barack Obama, left, joined by his wife Michelle, takes the oath of office from Chief Justice John Roberts to become the 44th president of the United States at the U.S. Capitol in Washington Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009.



Barack Obama became America's first black president in a singular moment of history and proclaimed the nation had chosen "hope over fear" in the face of economic gloom and foreign wars.

"Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America," the new president told a nation caught in the worst economic blight since the 1930s Great Depression.

Obama, the son of a black Kenyan father and white American mother, laid his hand on the same Bible that Abraham Lincoln used at his inauguration in 1861 to take the oath of office.

He quickly broke with departing president George W. Bush's policies on the war on terrorism and the economy, and told the rest of the world America was "ready to lead once more" in an 18-minute inaugural address .

Obama's inauguration, on the steps of the US Capitol which was partially built with slave labor, broke the highest racial barrier in the United States, and may go a long way to consummating civil rights icon Martin Luther King's dream of racial unity.

http://news.my.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=2185324

World greets Obama with jubilation and caution



Agence France-Presse - 1/21/2009 3:08 AM GMT

The world embraced the Barack Obama era but the leaders that the new US president will have to deal with also warned him of the difficulties ahead.

Millions followed the inauguration around the world and underscoring the huge show of faith, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said: "We are eager for him to get to work so that with him we can change the world."

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown hailed Obama as a "man of great vision" and his arrival as a "new chapter in both American history and the world's history."

"He's not only the first black American president but he sets out with the determination to solve the world's problems," said Brown.

Japan's Prime Minister Taro Aso also vowed to work with Obama to boost "peace and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region and the world."

Obama parties were held in capitals from London to Sydney and thousands danced in the Kenyan village where his father was born.

But some leaders sought to douse the high expectations.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel wished Obama "the best of luck" but gave the latest in a series of warnings to the new US president.

She said Obama would not sway Germany to add further to its committed 4,500 force in Afghanistan. "We took our decisions based on our capabilities, our skills -- not on who is president," she said.

Merkel also expressed scepticism that Obama's plan to seek direct talks with Iran -- which many countries accuse of seeking nuclear weapons -- would work.

Obama inherits an economy in crisis, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and a conflict in the Middle East where the United States has a key role, even though its world standing is considered lower than at any time for decades.

Iran's contested nuclear programme will also be among his major challenges.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said his country will await the "practical policies" of the new US president before passing judgement on him.

Pope Benedict XVI sent a message to Obama calling on him "to promote understanding, cooperation and peace" among nations.

In Gaza, where a ceasefire barely held after a three-week Israel-Hamas war in which more than 1,300 Palestinians were killed, widowed mother of six Leila Khalil said: "Obama won't bring my husband back to life.

"He was martyred and left me with six children to feed on my own. And Obama won't repair our house that was damaged in the raids," she said.

On the other side of the Middle East divide, Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu said he had the impression that "Barack Obama understood our distress very well, as well as the cruelty of the enemies we face."

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said he "shared the admiration and emotion of the whole world" for Obama.

But he added: "I think we should not expect him to immediately solve all America's problems, nor ours. Barack Obama does not have a magic wand."

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has also countered the optimism.

"I am deeply convinced that the biggest disappointments are born out of big expectations," he said during a trip to Berlin at the weekend when asked about Obama.

China said Obama would have to work on stronger military ties between the two countries. Ministry of Defence spokesman Colonel Hu Changming said there were "difficulties" in military relations with the world superpower.

"In this new period we hope that both China and the US could make joint efforts to create favourable conditions and improve and promote military-to-military relations," Hu told reporters in Beijing.

International polls have, however, shown huge public support for the Democratic president-in-waiting.

A BBC World Service poll of people in 17 countries found that more than two thirds on average believe Obama will improve the relationship between the United States and the rest of the world.

Ghanaians are most positive, on 87 percent, followed by Italy (79 percent), Germany and Spain (78 percent each).

Few words of encouragement were given to President George W. Bush as he left office, his legacy scarred by the Iraq war.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who repeatedly taunted his American counterpart, took one last shot at the outgoing president, saying "Adios Senor Bush."

http://news.my.msn.com/topstories/article.aspx?cp-documentid=2181999

President Obama steps into history, and a world of peril



Agence France-Presse - 1/20/2009 12:44 PM GMT

Tracing the arc of history to a day many thought would never come, Barack Obama was to be sworn in Tuesday as America's 44th and first black president -- and wade into a sea of troubles.

Climaxing the unlikeliest of journeys, Obama , the son of a black Kenyan and white mother from Kansas was to take the oath of office at noon (1700 GMT) on the steps of the Capitol, a congressional building built by slave labor.

Guarded by an unprecedented security operation, millions were expected to pack the National Mall stretching from Capitol Hill to the Lincoln Memorial, where Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke in 1963 of a dream of racial unity.

To his successor, President George W. Bush bequeaths an economy in crisis, a war on two fronts and a patchwork of frayed alliances. For Obama, drawing inspiration both from Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt, the perils of the age call for a spirit of national sacrifice unseen since World War II.

"Tomorrow, we will come together as one people on the same mall where Dr. King's dream echoes still," Obama said Monday, paying tribute to the slain civil rights hero on the national holiday commemorating King's birth.

"As we do, we recognize that here in America, our destinies are inextricably linked," he said.

"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."

Tuesday morning, in the first presidential handover since the September 11 attacks of 2001, Obama and his wife Michelle were to meet the departing president and First Lady Laura Bush at their new home in the White House.

Then, after swearing to "preserve, protect and defend" the US constitution, Obama was to deliver his most important speech yet in a career littered with memorable oratory since his explosion onto the national stage in 2004.

Braving the cold, early-risers crowded subways and rushed for a spot on the Mall to watch the inauguration either near the West Front of the US Capitol for the lucky few, or in front of giant television screens for the rest.

Aides said Obama's call for all Americans to embrace public service would dominate his inaugural address, as he gets to grips with the nation's longest recession since World War II and his plans to pull US troops out of Iraq.

"Everybody's going to have to pitch in. And I think the American people are ready to do that," Obama said during a visit Monday to a teen shelter in Washington.

The "war on terror" is just one part of Obama's groaning in-tray of challenges. From Gaza to Guantanamo, he confronts a world in tumult, a point underscored by the latest bellicose noises from nuclear-armed North Korea.

Following the inauguration of Obama and vice president-elect Joseph Biden , the new US leaders were to lunch with members of Congress, Supreme Court justices and Obama's cabinet, including secretary of state Hillary Clinton.

Marching bands, military veterans, union workers and schoolchildren were to then join a parade down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House for Obama to take up the reins of power in the Oval Office and his place in history.

Outgoing Vice President Dick Cheney, 67, pulled a muscle in his back Monday -- the latest in a series of health problems -- while moving boxes and will be in a wheelchair for the inauguration, the White House said.

The whirlwind day was to end with 10 official inaugural balls before the Obamas could retire with their daughters Malia and Sasha, becoming the youngest First Family since that of John F. Kennedy, who occupied the White House in the early 1960s.

The celebrations have an acute poignancy for many in the United States, and the world , given Obama's mold-shattering bi-racial heritage.

Even tennis star Serena Williams, a Jehovah's Witness who makes a point of staying out of political matters, said from the Australian Open that she was inspired by Obama.

"This is an amazing moment for American history," she said.

http://news.my.msn.com/topstories/article.aspx?cp-documentid=2171662

Obama honors Martin Luther King on inauguration eve



Agence France-Presse - 1/19/2009 11:39 PM GMT

Barack Obama called Monday on a nation reeling from economic crisis and war to march together in the spirit of Martin Luther King, hours before being sworn in as America's first black president.

On the eve of Tuesday's historic inauguration, Obama visited wounded veterans at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, a refuge for troubled teenagers, and a school to help prepare care packages for troops overseas.

"Tomorrow, we will come together as one people on the same mall where Dr King's dream echoes still," Obama said in a statement, paying tribute to the slain civil rights hero on the national holiday commemorating King's birth.

"As we do, we recognize that here in America, our destinies are inextricably linked," he said.

"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."

A new CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll said nearly seven in 10 African-Americans believe that with the election of Obama, King's dream of racial equality has been fulfilled.

Thousands of people -- black, white, Asian and Latino -- flocked to the National Mall where millions of Americans are expected to gather on Tuesday to bear witness to Obama's moment of history.

Outside the White House, a carnival mood built, as people snapped pictures of the viewing stand where Obama and his family will watch the inaugural parade before moving inside to assume command of the Oval Office.

"I'm 41 and I've never experienced anything this big," said Keith Smith, an African-American Washington native and city employee, as a smothering security operation kicked in ahead of an influx expected to reach millions of people.

"There is a whole lot of energy and excitement in the atmosphere -- it takes our mind off the bad economy and job losses," Smith said.

Aides said Obama's call for a new spirit of national sacrifice will figure heavily in his inaugural address after he is sworn in around noon Tuesday, as he gets to grips with the nation's longest recession since World War II.

For the first presidential handover since the September 11 attacks of 2001, President George W. Bush's White House said Defense Secretary Robert Gates would sit out the event at an undisclosed location as the "designated successor," in case of a catastrophe.

Gates was a fitting choice: Bush chose him to be his defense secretary in November 2006, and Obama has decided to keep him on at the Pentagon to tackle a withdrawal from Iraq and a new offensive in Afghanistan.

With the inauguration hours away, Jill Biden, wife of Joseph Biden , appeared to let slip a piece of choice political gossip, suggesting her husband had been given a choice of being vice president or secretary of state.

Biden, who will be sworn in as vice president on Tuesday, quickly tried to hush up his wife during their joint appearance on Oprah Winfrey's talk show, and his spokeswoman Elizabeth Alexander quickly put out a statement.

"To be clear, president-elect Obama offered vice president-elect Biden one job only -- to be his running mate and the vice president-elect was thrilled to accept the offer," she said.

Later Monday, Obama was to attend three dinners honoring the spirit of bipartisanship that he says he will restore to Washington.

Honorees were Obama's Republican rival for the presidency, Senator John McCain, Biden and former secretary of state Colin Powell.

Obama aides meanwhile said all five crew members of a US Airways jet that safely ditched in New York's Hudson River Thursday had been invited to the inauguration ceremony on Capitol Hill.

Rolling up his sleeves to help with renovations at Sasha Bruce House, an emergency shelter for homeless teenagers near Congress, Obama invoked King's words to say: "Everybody can be great because everybody can serve."

On Sunday, Obama stood in the shadow of the memorial dedicated to Civil War president Abraham Lincoln to deliver a somber overview of the perils ahead, after a star-studded concert to kick off the inaugural party.

The site was where King in 1963, five years before his assassination, gave his "I Have a Dream" speech, when he expressed hope his children would be judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin.

http://news.my.msn.com/topstories/article.aspx?cp-documentid=2164987

Obama urges national struggle as inauguration looms



Agence France-Presse - 1/19/2009 3:14 AM GMT

Barack Obama called Sunday for a new spirit of sacrifice to overcome war and economic crisis, as a constellation of stars kicked off a three-day inauguration party for America's first black president.

Standing in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial, dedicated to the slain president who brought the United States intact through the Civil War and abolished slavery, Obama gave a somber assessment of the perils ahead despite the exuberant mood among the crowd.

"In the course of our history, only a handful of generations have been asked to confront challenges as serious as the ones we face right now. Our nation is at war. Our economy is in crisis," he said.

"I won't pretend that meeting any one of these challenges will be easy. It will take more than a month or a year, and it will likely take many," Obama said.

"But never forget that the true character of our nation is revealed not during times of comfort and ease, but by the right we do when the moment is hard.

"I ask you to help reveal that character once more, and together, we can carry forward as one nation, and one people, the legacy of our forefathers that we celebrate today."

U2, Bruce Springsteen and Stevie Wonder -- whose songs were totemic anthems of Obama's barnstorming rise to power -- headlined a concert for a sea of people standing in arctic cold in front of Abraham Lincoln's memorial.

It was part of an unprecedented run-up to Obama's historic inauguration that has generated an outpouring of public enthusiasm and high hopes even as the country faces two wars and a dire economic crisis.

The hundreds of thousands attending were the advance guard of an inaugural crowd expected to number millions, as an elaborate security operation began with police and army reservists taking up position across the US capital.

The inauguration festivities coincide with the country's national holiday Monday honoring the civil rights giant Martin Luther King Jr, who Obama saluted as opening the door to his barrier-breaking triumph.

Invoking King's legendary "I Have a Dream" speech from the Lincoln memorial in 1963, Obama called the reflecting water below the monument "a pool that still reflects the dream of a King."

In contrast to the jubilant afternoon party, Obama struck a more somber note as he joined vice president-elect Joseph Biden in laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington Cemetery.

Dressed in black winter coats to guard against the freezing temperatures, Obama and Biden held their hands over their hearts as "Taps," the US military's haunting lament to the fallen, was played by a lone bugler.

Obama and his wife Michelle then climbed into the incoming president's new armored Cadillac with a blue license plate reading "44" -- his numerical position as the newest commander-in-chief.

Along a railroad from Philadelphia to Washington, a route once traced by his hero Lincoln, Obama Saturday urged Americans to adopt a new "Declaration of Independence" from bigotry, small thinking and ideology.

Aides said those themes will figure large in Obama's inaugural address after he is sworn in around noon Tuesday.

Rahm Emanuel, the next White House chief of staff, told NBC the speech would declare an end to "the culture of anything goes" and demand a new era of responsibility from government, corporate boardrooms and the American people.

Incoming White House press secretary Robert Gibbs vied to temper sky-high expectations both worldwide and at home, as the United States grapples with its longest recession since World War II.

"We did not get into the situation overnight. The problems and the challenges that our country face didn't happen all last week. It's going to take us some time," Gibbs said on "Fox News Sunday."

But Gibbs and other senior aides said Obama would act rapidly to enact his economic revival plans via a mammoth stimulus package worth 825 billion dollars.

And on his first full day in office Wednesday, the aides said, Obama will also convene his top military brass to map a way out of Iraq and recommit US troops against a resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan.

After the tumultuous Bush years, Obama comes to office with the highest poll ratings since Ronald Reagan in 1981. The New York Times and CBS News said 79 percent of respondents to its poll were optimistic about the next four years.

http://news.my.msn.com/topstories/article.aspx?cp-documentid=2151172

'Overwhelming emotion' at star-studded Obama inaugural concert


Agence France-Presse
Monday, 19 January 2009

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Music legends joined Sunday with hundreds of thousands of people at Washington's Lincoln Memorial in a vast emotional celebration of Barack Obama's upcoming inauguration as the first black US president.


WASHINGTON, (AFP) -

Music legends joined Sunday with hundreds of thousands of people at Washington's Lincoln Memorial in a vast emotional celebration of Barack Obama's upcoming inauguration as the first black US president.

Obama and his family sang to the music along with a massive crowd who braved biting cold to witness mega-stars including Bruce Springsteen, U2 and Stevie Wonder perform on the same steps Martin Luther King Jr roused the civil rights movement 46 years ago.

When Irish rockers U2 sang "Pride (In the Name of Love)," its song dedicated to the memory of King, singer Bono told the crowd the civil rights' leader's vision had been realized: "On Tuesday, that dream comes to pass!"

By dawn, tens of thousands bundled in winter coats and gloves were already streaming through intense security cordons for the "We Are One" extravaganza that boasted a line-up with as many big names as a LiveAid concert.

In keeping with Obama's appeals to unity, the concert and readings sought to meld the country's cultural strands and historic trials into a single mosaic, weaving together a range of artists and genres -- ranging from country to African-American Gospel music, traditional patriotic hymns to R&B , hip-hop and folk.

Music legends Wonder and Springsteen joined soul divas Beyonce and Mary J. Blige and a host of other stars -- Jon Bon Jovi, John Legend, Shakira and James Taylor and many others.

The performers and songs bridged races and generations, with Pete Seeger, at 89 the grand old man of folk who was once blacklisted during the McCarthy era of the 1950s, leading a performance of the progressive anthem "This Land Is Your Land."

Actors Tom Hanks, Jamie Foxx, Denzel Washington and Jack Black also took the stage to read historic passages, honoring Civil War president Abraham Lincoln and the American outdoors, interspersed with rousing gospel choir songs and sweeping orchestral numbers.

The giant concert, a day after a symbolic train ride by Obama to Washington from Philadelphia that drew tens of thousands, was part of an unprecedented inaugural program that has generated a wave of public enthusiasm.

It was Obama's address before the grand statue of Lincoln that was the highlight for many in the crowd who see his election as a transformational moment.

"Directly in front of us is a pool that still reflects the dream of a King, and the glory of a people who marched and bled so that their children might be judged by their character's content," Obama said.

"And behind me, watching over the union he saved, sits the man who in so many ways made this day possible."

Orlandus Gross, 61, a retired civil servant originally from Maryland, who went to see King speak 46 years ago, said he was "deeply moved to come back" to see Obama, adding that he had been "electrified" when Obama was elected.

Ultimately added Gross, standing in a full-length black leather jacket and sporting an Obama cap, he didn't care if the president was black or white: "I just want him to be a good president," he said.

"It is overwhelming to see this happen," said Linda Marshall, a school teacher from Obama's hometown Chicago who marched with King and other civil rights leaders as a teenager in the early 1960s, as she waited in line at a security checkpoint.

"Martin Luther King spoke here. And to have Barack come and stand in those same shoes, from Lincoln, to MLK, to Barack Obama ..." Her voice trailed off.

"This is history. I couldn't have imagined hoping for a day like this."

Scores of attendees huddled under blankets or jumping around to fend off temperatures hovering around the freezing mark. In a sign of the bitter cold, the 2,029 foot (618 meter) Reflecting Pool in front of the memorial was covered by a sheet of ice.

The wait in security lines and extreme cold did not hinder a throng of revelers from attending the free concert, which was broadcast live on an open signal by HBO television and National Public Radio.

A group who drove up for the inauguration from Florida even said they would have camped outside overnight if they had been allowed.

"I didn't march with Dr King, but to see his dream come to life is overwhelming," said Donella Reddick, 51, of Ft Lauderdale, Florida, whose family and friends were pressed up against one of the metal barriers.

"My only disappointment is that Martin Luther King wasn't here to see this," she said.
Added Audrey Warren, of Hollywood, Florida: "Remember how Martin Luther King said how he had been to the mountaintop? Well this is the top."


http://entertainment.my.msn.com/news/article.aspx?cp-documentid=2150690

Tiger will talk during pre-inauguration event Sunday



Agence France-Presse
Saturday, 17 January 2009

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tiger Woods, the first black golfer to win a major championship, has accepted an invitation to speak here at the Lincoln Memorial on Sunday as part of pre-inauguration festivities for Barack Obama.

Woods, the world's number one golfer, has not played since winning the US Open title last June following knee surgery.


Woods limped through a playoff to defeat Rocco Mediate at the US Open for his 14th major title, second on the all-time list to the 18 of Jack Nicklaus.


In a statement posted Friday on his website, Woods said he would speak as part of "We Are One", a concert and celebration that will include such singers as Stevie Wonder, U2, Beyonce and Garth Brooks.


"I am honored that I was invited to this historic event and look forward to participating in Sunday's festivities," Woods said.


Just as Obama broke a racial barrier by becoming the first black man to be elected US President, Woods broke a racial barrier by becoming the first black major champion by winning the 1997 Masters in a tournament record.


Obama will be inaugurated on Tuesday as the 44th US President here in the American capital.

http://sport.my.msn.com/golf/article.aspx?cp-documentid=2121986

Bearing hopes of a nation, Obama arrives in Washington



Agence France-Presse - 1/18/2009 8:26 AM GMT

Barack Obama rode a special inaugural train into Washington three days before becoming president, carrying the hopes of a nation demoralized by recession and entangled in two foreign wars.

A new poll showed a burst of optimism among Americans that Obama can make good on his transition slogan and renew America's promise, as tens of thousands of people braved knifing cold to cheer the president elect towards his prize.

"Let's make sure this election is not the end of what we do to change America, but the beginning," the president-elect said as he trundled towards the US capital and his place in history as the first black president.

Along a railroad from Philadelphia to Washington, a route once traced by his hero, former president Abraham Lincoln, Obama urged Americans to adopt a new "Declaration of Independence" from bigotry, small thinking and ideology.

And as rolled into Washington's Union station, a short stroll from where he will be sworn in on Tuesday at the US Capitol, a New York Times/CBS poll found 79 percent of Americans were optimistic about four years under Obama.

After eight tumultuous years under President George W. Bush, 68 percent said Obama would be a good, or very good president, reflecting the soaring expectations and high stakes for his looming presidency.

In Philadelphia, the cradle of US independence, and again before a shivering 40,000-strong crowd in Baltimore, Obama told Americans to delve into history and draw strength from US independence heroes at a time of rare national peril.

"Only a handful of times in our history has a generation been confronted with challenges so vast," said Obama, 47, highlighting the diving economy and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"And yet while our problems may be new, what is required to overcome them is not," he told around 300 supporters in a flag-draped station waiting room.

"What is required is a new declaration of independence, not just in our nation, but in our own lives -- from ideology and small thinking, prejudice and bigotry -- an appeal not to our easy instincts but to our better angels."

Exuberant supporters gathered on embankments and at remote country stations to glimpse the ceremonial train, dubbed the Inaugural Express.

"Hallelujah, we did it!" read one poster held up by a supporter, while another declared "Hail to the Chief" as the 10-car train did a "slow roll" through the Delaware town of Claymont.

Dyone Watson, 20, waited for hours among an estimated 40,000 others to see Obama in arctic Baltimore.

"I'm starving, cold and my feet are numb," said Watson. "But it's definitely worth it."

Will Moore, 22, said "It's just beautiful. It just makes me want to do more with my life."

Security was overt. Police cars and officers along the train tracks patrolled crowds and areas of scrubby woodland -- a Chinook helicopter hovered protectively overhead while black-clad sharpshooters perched on city rooftops.

Hundreds more lined Washington's Pennsylvania Avenue to watch Obama's swift-moving motorcade whip past on his way to the presidential guest house at Blair House, opposite his new digs in the White House.

Earlier, Obama stepped off the train to pick up his vice president-to-be Joseph Biden, in his home patch of Wilmington, Delaware.

"Sometimes it's hard to believe that we'll see the spring again, but I tell you, spring is on the way with this new administration!" Biden said.

Earlier, a fired up crowd serenaded Michelle Obama, who turned 45 on Saturday with a rendition of "Happy Birthday."

The Obama Express later rumbled into the gritty Maryland port city of Baltimore , where tens of thousands of people waited for hours in freezing temperatures and endured intense security precautions.

The train arrived in Washington in the early evening at the end of the first of four days of inaugural celebrations.

The journey was the last stage of a quest for the presidency that took Obama from the declaration of his unlikely candidacy in the snows of early 2007 in Springfield, Illinois -- where, like Lincoln, he served as a state legislator -- across the length and breadth of the United States, and even to Europe and the Middle East.

Along the way he thwarted Democrat Hillary Clinton's bid to be the first woman president -- but offered her the consolation prize of secretary of state and dispensed with Republican John McCain in November's presidential election.

http://news.my.msn.com/topstories/article.aspx?cp-documentid=2140589

Crowd endures cold to cheer Obama in Baltimore



Agence France-Presse - 1/18/2009 12:21 AM GMT

A jubilant crowd greeted president-elect Barack Obama on Saturday for a pre-inaugural rally in Baltimore despite enduring hours of bone-chilling cold.

The throng of 40,000 roared its approval when Obama appeared in this mainly African-American city at dusk, some wiping away tears as they marked his historic ascent to the White House.

"He gave us an inspirational message," said Michael Williams, who had stood outside in below freezing temperatures for six hours before Obama spoke.

"People are looking for any kind of positive change. And in recent years we haven't gotten any," said Williams, a Baltimore city employee.

"We needed an uplift."

Williams said the rally, which resembled a campaign event, was a chance for Baltimore to celebrate Obama's victory in November. "And it was a chance for Obama to thank Baltimore," he said.

The bitter cold did not discourage a massive crowd that at one point stretched for 16 city blocks as it filed into War Memorial Plaza under elaborate security, ushered in by an army of police, military reservists and volunteers.

"What cold?" said Nicole Harris, 32, smiling under her winter hat.

The African-American flight attendant showed up at 7:30 am to make sure she got a front-row spot for Obama's late afternoon rally in Baltimore, where his train stopped on its symbolic ride to Washington.

"From the first time I heard him speak I was so deeply moved. I just thought he was the person to help us move in the right direction," Harris told AFP.

"I've been electrified since then."

The queue to enter the event began forming before dawn and by early afternoon a carnival atmosphere took hold, with street vendors hawking Obama buttons, t-shirts, posters and even watches -- "it's Obama time."

Chants for Obama broke out among the diverse crowd filling up the square, decorated with huge American flags and red, white and blue banners. The chants were often accompanied by spontaneous calisthenics and bopping to music to fend off the cold.

"I'm starving, cold and my feet are numb," said Dyone Watson, 20. "But it's definitely worth it."

Even along the train route from Philadelphia to the capital, thousands of exuberant supporters gathered to cheer the train on its journey, carrying Obama three days before he is sworn in as the first African-American president.

Walter Massey, 54, an elementary school teacher, was first in line for the Baltimore rally, having shown up at 4:30 am.

"I've got about 12 layers on," he joked, stamping his feet to keep warm.

Like others waiting in the cold, Massey said he had come to witness history.

"It's probably the most historic thing that will happen in my lifetime," Massey said.

Obama's victory in November had restored his faith in his compatriots, he said.

"I did not think America was mature enough to elect an African-American as president," said Massey, who is white.

While the train tour was meant to echo former president and Obama hero Abraham Lincoln's rail ride from the Civil War era, Obama's stop in Baltimore at a rally in daylight marks a break with Lincoln's experience in 1861.

The threat of assassination forced Lincoln to slip through Baltimore at nightfall on his way to Washington, and his train made no stop in a city that at the time had strong Southern sympathies.

For many attending Saturday's event, the rally was seen as a chance of a lifetime.

"I came to see history being made. I wanted to see our first African-American president, right here in Baltimore city," said Nicole Harris, 32, sitting on a portable chair with a blanket wrapped around her legs.

"It's just absolutely wonderful, really it is," Harris said.

With the economy in deep trouble, she said Obama had his work cut out for him.

"It's going to be extremely hard for him. But he's not a man who's going to leave a task undone. I do believe change is going to come," she said.

"We've got to be patient. We've been patient all these years so we can be patient a little bit longer."


http://news.my.msn.com/topstories/article.aspx?cp-documentid=2137555

Obama refuses to surrender Blackberry



Agence France-Presse - 1/17/2009 2:14 AM GMT

Despite legal and security hurdles, president-elect Barack Obama says he has a plan to retain his beloved Blackberry once he moves into the White House next week.

Interviewed by CNN Friday, Obama said the smartphone was among the tools that he would use to stay in touch with real Americans and avoid becoming trapped inside the presidential "bubble."

"I think we're going to be able to hang on to one of these. My working assumption, and this is not new, is that anything I write on an email could end up being on CNN," he said.

"So I make sure to think before I press 'send'," he said of his Blackberry, which was an ever-present fixture on his belt or in his hand on the campaign trail.

Obama did not divulge just how he will overcome legal constraints, given the requirement of the post-Watergate Presidential Records Act of 1978 to keep a record of every White House communication.

Nor did he say how he would persuade his Secret Service protectors that the Blackberry does not pose a security risk, for instance if it is hacked over the air.

But Obama, who succeeds the unpopular George W. Bush on Tuesday, said the phone was a valuable part of a wider strategy to escape the White House fishbowl.

"It's just one tool among a number of tools that I'm trying to use, to break out of the bubble, to make sure that people can still reach me," he said.

"If I'm doing something stupid, somebody in Chicago can send me an email and say, 'What are you doing?'

"I want to be able to have voices, other than the people who are immediately working for me, be able to reach out and send me a message about what's happening in America."

The mobile device dilemma may have inadvertently been solved on Friday, as Obama's Blackberry tumbled from his belt as he got out of his limousine and onto his plane in Washington.

A Secret Service agent hurried to pick up the pieces, gathering the Blackberry and battery off the frigid tarmac.

http://news.my.msn.com/topstories/article.aspx?cp-documentid=2123972

Obama receives boost ahead of assuming presidency




Agence France-Presse - 1/16/2009 3:53 AM GMT

Five days before becoming president, Barack Obama won a major boost when the US Senate agreed to release financial bailout funds and Democratic lawmakers unveiled an 825-billion-dollar recovery plan.

The Senate voted 52-42 to clear the release of the second half of a 700-billion-dollar financial bailout package devised under the Bush administration. The request was filed on Obama's behalf by outgoing President George W. Bush to access the 350 billion dollars.

Democratic lawmakers also unveiled a massive 825-billion-dollar financial package to jolt the world's biggest economy from a deep recession.

"This plan is a significant down payment on our most urgent challenges," Obama said after the announcement.

The "American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan," comprising 275 billion dollars in tax cuts and 550 billion dollars in investments, is the lynchpin of Obama's program to deliver on his election pledges to bolster the US economy.

The plan will be debated in the Democratic-led Congress in the next two weeks, beginning in the House of Representatives, officials said.

Obama welcomed the House move to swiftly grapple with the plan, which he vowed would be fully accountable and transparent.

"It will contain the kind of strict, independent oversight that will allow the American people to hold Washington accountable for how and where their tax dollars are spent," the president-elect said in a statement.

Obama has been lobbying Congress to accept the plan in an unprecedented effort before his inauguration as the nation's 44th president on Tuesday.

The large components of the package include 90 billion dollars in infrastructure spending, 54 billion dollars to boost energy production from renewable sources, 87 billion dollars for medical care for low-income individuals and 79 billion dollars to help schools and colleges prevent cutbacks.

Workers will also receive a refundable 500-dollar tax credit under the effort.

The plan will "save or create over three million jobs, provide tax relief to struggling families and businesses that create jobs, and invest in priorities like healthcare, education and energy that will make America strong and competitive in the 21st century," Obama said.

The package contains "bang for the buck" and "justification for every dollar spent," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters.

But even with congressional passage of the mammoth package, unemployment rates could rise to between eight and nine percent this year, according to a summary of the bill made available to reporters.

"Without this package, we are warned that unemployment could explode to near 12 percent." Unemployment last year reached a 16-year high at 7.2 percent.

But in first signs of partisan rancor, top House Republican John Boehner complained his party had been snubbed in formulating the economic recovery package.

"This is the first time Republicans and the American people have seen any specifics on the proposal congressional Democrats intend to pass, and what we're seeing is disappointing," he said.

The plan also "appears to be grounded in the flawed notion that we can simply borrow and spend our way back to prosperity," Boehner added.

The Senate vote on the remaining 350 billion dollars of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) came after Obama's top economic adviser, former Treasury secretary Larry Summers, promised that between 50 and 100 billion dollars of the remaining funds would be spent on tackling the US home mortgage crisis.

It will be "a sweeping effort to address the foreclosure crisis," Summers said in a letter to top lawmakers, reassuring them that the second tranche of the financial bailout fund would be spent efficiently.

The US home mortgage meltdown was at the epicenter of global financial turmoil that has led to a sharp economic slowdown unseen since the Great Depression.

The TARP fund has so far been mostly targeted at bailing out ailing banks and automakers, and insurance and credit card companies, and lawmakers have expressed anger over the lack of accountability, transparency and focus on the travails of ordinary Americans.


http://news.my.msn.com/topstories/article.aspx?cp-documentid=2110873

Michelle Obama's ball gown has fashionistas abuzz



Agence France-Presse - 1/16/2009 12:29 AM GMT

Fashionistas are buzzing with excitement over the ball gown Michelle Obama will wear as the next first lady of the United States after her husband's inauguration Tuesday as the 44th president.

"Just about everyone yearns to dress Michelle, who could raise the profile of American fashion around the world," said Women's Wear Daily senior editor Bobbi Queen.

Obama, 44, has already been named a fashion icon by magazine editors, fashion designers and a flurry of bloggers. Her fashion sense first took center stage when she was photographed by Vogue magazine in autumn 2007.

She has already demonstrated a keen ability to shift seamlessly between designer attire, including Chicago designers Maria Pinto, Thakoon and Narciso Rodriguez, and mass market brands such as H&M, J. Crew and Gap.

Obama harbors a modern, elegant style and does not hesitate to wear colors, and shuns putting on airs.

"She can go from more classic looks to a little bit more avant-garde. She certainly has the stature and look for this," Queen ventured. Standing at 1.82 meters (6 feet) tall, Obama is both slender and shapely.

WWD has invited several designers to present the dream attire for Obama on the magazine's website. Participating designers include Karl Lagerfeld and Christian Lacroix, who drew three attires, including a black sheath dress with long satin gloves with a bright red cape.

"We have had 3 or 4 million hits (on the website), we run every news station, we had calls from Europe. Everybody seems fascinated," Queen said.

The Washington Post also launched a contest for its readers to propose original designs for Obama's inaugural ball.

"We did get quite a lot of interest in the competition, almost 200 entries," the newspaper's fashion critic Robin Givhan told AFP.

"There is an incredible amount of enthusiasm, and what was nice to see was that there were a lot of drawings from young children."

But experts say that Obama should wear a dress by an American designer.

"She can do anything she chooses but it would certainly be a tribute to the country from which she is first lady to wear American designers for the inauguration," Queen said.

Observers also suggest she would wear something more subdued in recognition of the hard economic times.

"I'm sure she won't have an over-the-top gown studded with diamonds and rubies," said etiquette expert Letitia Baldrige, former social secretary to first lady Jackie Kennedy. "It will be something suitably quiet for the times."

Despite all the buzz, few dare make a prediction. With images of the inauguration of Barack Obama as the first African-American president set to travel the world, any noticeable lack of taste would be a grave, unforgivable mistake.

Bruce Buchanan, a history professor from the University of Texas at Austin, cited "the extent to which the first lady through her choice of apparel conveys what the administration would regard as the right message about her ambitions, her taste, her sense of stature, her aura of elegance."

Michelle Obama's dress on the night of her husband's historic election on November 4 had its critics. Worn in Chicago's Hyde Park, the dress by Narcisco Rodriguez was black with two large red spots.

"The first lady is a balancing act between being a queen and a commoner," said Carl Sferrazza Anthony, who has written extensively about first ladies. "The inaugural gown is a metaphor for the first lady role."

But when it comes to distinction and elegance at the White House, fashion heads turn to Jackie Kennedy, who has yet to be outdone by her successors.

"The most striking model of the 20th century is Jacqueline Kennedy -- pure elegance with the French style to it," Buchanan said. As for the glamour of inaugural gowns, "Jackie Kennedy set that standard. Jackie began the fascination that extends to Michelle."

In 1961, John F. Kennedy's spouse wore a long, sleeveless, light-colored attire with a cape that she had helped design.

But "Jackie Kennedy was not perfect," Givhan argued. "We always forget about the fashion mistakes that Jackie made."

Givhan recalled how "Jackie O" had shown up at a religious service on Good Friday in the early 1960s sleeveless and wearing only a scarf on her head.


http://news.my.msn.com/topstories/article.aspx?cp-documentid=2108286

'Waterboarding' is torture: Obama's Justice pick



Agence France-Presse - 1/15/2009 9:51 PM GMT

US attorney general designate Eric Holder Thursday branded "waterboarding" as torture and said steps were already being taken to close Guantanamo Bay prison, in a clear rejection of Bush administration "war on terror" tactics.

President-elect Barack Obama's pick to be the US government's top lawyer vowed to make US anti-terrorism policies consistent with fundamental American values and the "letter and spirit of the Constitution."

"I agree with you Mr Chairman, waterboarding is torture," Holder told Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy, who heads the Senate Judiciary Committee, during his confirmation hearing.

Waterboarding, or simulated drowning, was used in the Spanish Inquisition and by Cambodia's Khmer Rouge, and the CIA has admitted it used the technique on several of the top Al-Qaeda plotters of the September 11 attacks in 2001.

The practice has been fiercely condemned by human rights groups, which also have concerns about other "enhanced interrogation techniques."

The two most recent attorney generals under President George W. Bush had declined to go as far as Holder on waterboarding, and Vice President Dick Cheney has defended the practice, saying it yielded vital intelligence.

Holder was also asked whether he believed that the US president had the constitutional power to "immunize" an intelligence officer to carry out an act of torture on a terror suspect.

"No one is above the law, the president has a constitutional obligation to faithfully execute the law of the United States," said Holder.

Holder, a career lawyer and former justice department official, also reiterated Obama's assurances that he would close the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

"Guantanamo will be closed," Holder said. He declined to give a date for the closure, but said that "steps are being taken as we speak."

Obama has said that closing the camp will take longer than many of his supporters had hoped.

On Monday, President George W. Bush said he hoped his successor Obama would carefully weigh keeping controversial interrogation tactics and other policies that his administration put in place to fight the "war on terror."

Holder admitted that the decisions made on practices like waterboarding by the Bush administration during the dark days following the September 11 attacks in 2001 had been difficult and were easy to criticize in hindsight.

"Having said that, the president-elect and I are worried, disturbed by what we have seen and heard.

"We will make sure the interrogation techniques that are sanctioned by the Justice Department are consistent with the treaty obligations that we have and will be effective at the same time."

"I will use every available tactic to defeat our adversaries and I will do so within the letter and spirit of the constitution," Holder told the committee.

President-elect Obama has vowed that the United States will not use torture under his watch, following claims the Bush administration subverted the limits of its constitutional powers and the Geneva Conventions with its treatment of "war on terror" detainees.

Holder, who expected a rough confirmation ride but was ultimately likely to prevail, would be the first African-American to serve as the US government's top lawyer.

His appearance had a certain historical poignancy, as it took place in an ornate Senate hearing room on the day civil rights icon Martin Luther King would have turned 80 years old.

Holder also faced intense questioning over former president Bill Clinton's decision to pardon fugitive financier Marc Rich during the waning hours of his administration in 2001.

Holder was a deputy attorney general at the time and played a key role in vetting the pardon, which was vigorously criticized after Clinton left office.

He admitted in the hearing that his role had been a "mistake."

"I've accepted the responsibility of making those mistakes, I've never tried to hide, I've never tried to blame anybody else."

The senior Republican on the committee Senator Arlen Specter complained there had been insufficient time to vet Holder, saying he had been unable to obtain records from the Clinton presidential library.

But Leahy warned Holder's nomination was for a vital post and his confirmation should not be held up over "partisan bickering."

Holder also vowed to restore the morale of the Justice Department, which was rocked by allegations in the Bush administration that plum government jobs were handed out only to conservatives or supporters of the White House.

http://news.my.msn.com/topstories/article.aspx?cp-documentid=2105616

Washington's homeless told to move along for inauguration



Agence France-Presse - 1/15/2009 5:14 PM GMT

Before sunrise on Thursday, Frank Mearns will leave the place he calls home, a stone's throw from the White House, and join thousands of others in Washington who are upping sticks and moving out for the presidential inauguration.

But Mearns isn't about to make a quick buck by renting out his pied-a-terre. Nor is he heading out of town on an inauguration escape holiday.

He's one of Washington's army of homeless who are being cleared from the center of the US capital ahead of the historic inauguration of Barack Obama.

"There's a sweep on Thursday at 5:00 am," Mearns said.

"Everyone's got to be out of here and stay out until next Thursday," the 37-year-old said.

"Here" is a space on 14th Street and New York Avenue, in the heart of a zone in the center of Washington that will be closed to traffic and heavily policed during the inauguration.

"Here" is also home to Mearns and a dozen other homeless people each night.

Five of his fellow street dwellers work full-time but can't afford to pay the high rents in the Washington area. Another is a man who was displaced from his home in New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina. And there are a handful of women in the group.

"There's a lady who's been on the streets for 10 years and been raped seven times. She sleeps next to the guy from Katrina and if he's not here, she sleeps somewhere else. She sleeps here for safety. She doesn't know where she'll go next week," Mearns told AFP.

According to Michael O'Neill of the National Coalition for the Homeless, up to 1,200 people live rough in the security zone, including on Pennsylvania Avenue, the grand boulevard which the inaugural parade will march down.

The effort to clear the streets of Washington of its homeless population was unlike anything that former homeless man David Pirtle has witnessed.

"I was on the streets when George W. Bush had his second inauguration in 2005 and it was nothing like this. There were no large-scale sweeps. I slept on Pennsylvania Avenue the night before and the night after the inauguration," said the 34-year-old who now works for the National Coalition for the Homeless.

"But as hard as the administration is going to try to make this look sanitary, the homeless are not going to be invisible. You can't make 6,000-12,000 people disappear," he said, citing official figures for homelessness in Washington-proper and the greater metropolitan area, including suburbs in Virginia and Maryland.

A dozen shelters will be open round-the-clock in Washington from Sunday until Wednesday, the day after Obama takes office, to provide temporary housing for the homeless.

The shelters will be equipped with televisions, showing live coverage of Obama's swearing-in.

But they have only around 2,800 beds. And "things happen" in shelters, according to Mearns, who will be staying with an activist friend for the week.

Between one and two million people are expected to pour into Washington, a city of 400,000, for the inauguration, some paying tens of thousands of dollars a night for a hotel room and to attend lavish inaugural balls.

Given the huge numbers expected, unprecedented security measures are being put in place to try to ensure that the January 20 inauguration runs smoothly and safely.

"I don't fault the people who are putting this together for trying to make it a safe event because if there are a couple of million people crammed into the middle of Washington, it could be a target for something," Pirtle said.

"But you can do it and work with the community," he added.

Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty has estimated that the inauguration will cost the city some 47 million dollars (35 million euros), while Maryland and Virginia have estimated their outlay at 12 million and 16 million dollars respectively.

"We are showing our priorities as a nation: throwing a multi-million dollar party while trying to shovel our poor and our homeless under the carpet," Pirtle said.

"It's an inauspicious start to our new administration of hope that Obama wants to work for," he added, blaming city and security officials rather than the president-elect, who he said was "stuck in the middle.

Presidential Inauguration Committee spokesman Kevin Griffiths said he would "check what our interaction has been with the local authorities about the homeless," and stressed that the organizers have been at pains to make the historic investiture as inclusive as possible.

http://news.my.msn.com/lifestyle/article.aspx?cp-documentid=2103588

Obama pledges to succeed where Bush failed on bin Laden



Agence France-Presse - 1/15/2009 12:13 PM GMT

Incoming US president Barack Obama has pledged to try to succeed where his predecessor George W. Bush failed by catching or killing Al-Qaeda terror network leader Osama bin Laden.

But Obama, who takes office on January 20, is likely to face many of the same challenges his predecessor did in attempting to neutralize the man behind the deadly September 11, 2001 terror attacks in the United States.

"Bin Laden is like the great white whale of American counter-terrorism, like Moby Dick," said James Lewis, a counter-terrorism expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Obama said Wednesday that Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden remain the "number one threat" to US security. He spoke after a new voice recording emerged from the terror group's leader in which bin Laden called for a holy war to restore "Jerusalem and Palestine."

Said Obama: "We're going to do everything in our power to make sure that they cannot create safe havens that can attack Americans. That's the bottom line."

In an October 7 debate during the presidential campaign Obama said that if elected, his administration "will kill bin Laden. We will crush Al-Qaeda." Bin Laden is widely believed to be hiding in the mountainous border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Bush had earlier vowed to catch bin Laden "Dead or Alive," and placed a 25-million-dollar bounty on the Al-Qaeda leader's head. Striking back at bin Laden and Al-Qaeda was the reason for the US-led 2001 invasion of Afghanistan.

In a late Wednesday interview with CBS News, Obama signaled a more measured approach to catching the ever-elusive bin Laden, refusing to deliver any "dead or alive" ultimatums.

"I think that we have to so weaken his infrastructure that, whether he is technically alive or not, he is so pinned down that he cannot function," Obama said.

"My preference obviously would be to capture or kill him. But if we have so tightened the noose that he's in a cave somewhere and can't even communicate with his operatives, then we will meet our goal of protecting America."

A US counter-terrorism official speaking on condition of anonymity told AFP that there "is no reason to doubt that he (bin Laden) is alive and that he does play a role in directing Al-Qaeda efforts, particularly at a strategic level."

But while it is unclear what impact bin Laden's capture would have on Al-Qaeda's operations, it would have an undeniable symbolic effect.

Lewis believes that the hunt for the elusive terror network leader has remained intense.

One tactic has been flying drones armed with Hellfire missiles in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region, searching for bin Laden and other Al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders.

In one successful mission, the head of Al-Qaeda operations in Pakistan and a top lieutenant were killed by missiles fired from an unmanned drone on January 1 in Pakistan.

"That has some success so is there a chance we'll get him," said Lewis. "Is the chance increasing? Probably not."

Obama has said he is willing to take out bin Laden anywhere.

"If we have Osama bin Laden in our sights and the Pakistani government is unable or unwilling to take them out, then I think that we have to act and we will take them out," Obama said in the October debate.

Yet the key to catching bin Laden "lies with the Pakistani government," Lewis said.

What the United States wants to do "is secondary to what's going on in Pakistan, the erosion of the Pakistani government, and its ability to control these jihadist forces in its country," he said.

"If you want to get bin Laden you've got to stabilize Pakistan and win in Afghanistan," Lewis said.

Obama, who has said that Afghanistan and Pakistan are now the front-line in the war on terror, reportedly intends to agree to Pentagon plans to send up to 30,000 more US troops to Afghanistan, doubling the current US force there.

Vice-president elect Joe Biden recently returned to Washington from a trip that included stops in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq, and on Wednesday promised "a significant shift" in Afghanistan.

"Things are going to get tougher in Afghanistan before they get better," he said, adding: "Pakistan's position on Afghanistan is going to affect our ability to succeed."

Obama will try to deepen cooperation with Afghanistan, Pakistan and their neighbors to fight Islamist militancy, secretary of state-designate Hillary Clinton said in confirmation hearings in the US senate on Tuesday.

"We have to look at Afghanistan and Pakistan together, particularly (in) the border region," where extremists have taken root, Clinton told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

"It is imperative that we work with their friends in Pakistan and Afghanistan because, it is not only about denying Al-Qaeda and other groups a safe haven," Clinton said.

http://news.my.msn.com/topstories/article.aspx?cp-documentid=2099031

Cyclists prepare for Obama inauguration



Agence France-Presse - 1/8/2009 2:24 AM GMT

Cyclists have launched a campaign to boost bike use for Obama's inauguration on January 20, expected to draw record crowds in the capital and block traffic in and around the city.

The Washington Area Bicyclist Association will offer two free bike valet parking stations -- one north and the other south of the Mall, the large grassy area leading up to the US Capitol, where Obama will be sworn in.

"We are expecting a large number (of bicycles) but it will all depend on the weather," said the group's program assistant, Henry Mesias. "We already did it for the Democratic convention in Denver. We handled 1,600 bicycles."

Californian Ryan Bowen launched a cross-country cycling trip on December 2 dubbed "Biking for Obama," hoping to bike into Washington for the inauguration. If successful, he will have biked some 6,400 kilometers (4,000 miles) across the country from Los Angeles, California to Washington.

Organizers are expecting record crowds to swarm Washington for Obama's inauguration, with estimates of some two to five million on the streets for a parade and outdoor swearing-in ceremony.

Access to roads, bridges and parks will be severely limited, authorities said Wednesday as they released a list of closures and restrictions effective January 17 to January 21.

http://news.my.msn.com/oddities/article.aspx?cp-documentid=2008773

Hawkish Obama names Clinton as top diplomat



Agence France-Presse - 12/2/2008 4:00 AM GMT

Barack Obama nominated Hillary Clinton to be a "tough" secretary of state and persuaded Defense Secretary Robert Gates to stay on but gave him a new mission -- ending the war in Iraq.

Debuting his national security team in Chicago, the president-elect said the decision to enlist his former bitter political foe came not in a "light bulb moment" but after a gradual realization she was the best face for US diplomacy.

"She's an American of tremendous stature who will have my complete confidence, who knows many of the world's leaders, who will command respect in every capital," Obama said.

Clinton , who must now give up her beloved New York Senate seat and narrowly lost a bitter Democratic nominating battle to Obama, vowed she would give "this assignment, your administration and my country, my all."

In her new job, the latest stunning twist in the Clinton political saga, the former first lady said she would ignite new momentum in US diplomacy after the frayed alliances and recriminations of George W. Bush's presidency.

"The American people have demanded not just a new direction at home, but a new effort to renew America's standing in the world as a force for positive change," she said.

While stressing the importance of diplomacy, Obama struck hawkish notes which may discomfort some of his more dovish backers, warning the United States should keep the world's strongest military and would chase down terrorists.

"In this uncertain world, the time has come for a new beginning, a new dawn of American leadership to overcome the challenges of the 21st century," Obama said, days after the Mumbai terror attacks sparked a new foreign crisis.

The decision to ask Gates to stay on was meant to send a clear sign of continuity with America locked in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Gates said he had decided that with US troops fighting abroad, he felt obligated to stay at the Pentagon.

"I must do my duty as they do theirs. How could I do otherwise?" Gates said.

But Obama made clear that after campaigning on a vow to end the war in Iraq, Gates must follow a new political master.

"I will be giving Secretary Gates and our military a new mission as soon as I take office, responsibly ending the war in Iraq through a successful transition to Iraqi control," said Obama, who is to be inaugurated January 20.

"As Bob (Gates) said not too long ago, Afghanistan is where the war on terror began, and it is where it must end."

Obama also sent a clear signal to US foes that his well known opposition to the Iraq war would not mean he would hesitate to commit military force if US interests were threatened.

"To ensure prosperity here at home and peace abroad, we all share the belief we have to maintain the strongest military on the planet," Obama said.

Obama also named former NATO commander and marine general James Jones to be his national security advisor in a foreign policy line-up rich in global experience and wise in the ways of brutal back corridor Washington politics.

The new team will take up the reins in January and will have to get US troops home from Iraq, deal with Iran's nuclear drive, and mitigate deteriorating conditions in the Afghan war.

They must confront a resurgent Russia, repair tattered US ties abroad, and target global warming efforts, while the widening financial crisis threatens to further destabilize fragile world security.

France and the European Union immediately hailed Clinton's nomination, saying they could work closely together, while Russia struck a pessimistic note.

"These nominations inspire no optimism whatsoever," the Russian lower house's foreign affairs commission chief, Konstantin Kossachev, was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.

Obama introduced his foreign policy advisor Susan Rice , who has a hawkish view on using force to halt genocide, as the next US permanent representative to the United Nations and former justice department official Eric Holder as Attorney General.

Arizona governor Janet Napolitano was meanwhile named Homeland Security chief, at a press conference which saw Obama flanked by his new team, against a backdrop of American flags.

The president-elect was careful not to intervene in ongoing US diplomatic efforts to quell tensions in South Asia following last week's Mumbai rampage which killed more than 170 people including six Americans.

But he said he had been repeatedly briefed by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who heads to India this week, and had spoken to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over the weekend.

http://news.my.msn.com/topstories/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1815528
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