Washington  - Ending a tum

Prague  - Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, whose country chairs the European Union until June 30, said he hopes US President Barack Obama can be as strong as his predecessors.

"I would wish him that he is not afraid to tackle problems as forcefully as his predecessors," Topolanek said.

Topolanek's centre-right government, a close ally of outgoing US president George W Bush, is waiting to hear from Obama on plans to place a US missile defence base in the Czech Republic and Poland, former Soviet satellite states.

Washington  - Moments after taking the oath of office, US President Barack Obama declared Tuesday the United States had ushered in a "new era of peace" and urged Americans to accept a greater responsibility to tackle the vast challenges confronting the nation.

"Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America," Obama told millions of cheering onlookers lined along the National Mall, Washington's vast park that stretches from the inaugural site on the Capitol steps to the Lincoln Memorial.

Berlin  - July 20, 1944 has become a symbol of the military anti-Nazi resistance in Germany, marking the day when 36-year-old Colonel Claus Schenk Count of Stauffenberg tried to kill Adolf Hitler in order to start talks with the Western Allies for an end to World War II.

Stauffenberg planted a bomb hidden in a briefcase in Hitler's eastern headquarters Wolfsschanze in Eastern Prussia during a briefing with Hitler.

He then travelled back to Berlin, waiting for the death of the

dictator with his fellow plotters in the Bendler Block, the General

Washington - Long before sunrise, with the crescent moon still high in the sky, inauguration revellers left warm homes to stand in long, cold lines and ride packed trains to the once-in-a- lifetime event unfolding Tuesday in the nation's capital.

Unprecedented numbers - the final count could reach 2 million - gathered to celebrate the presidency of Barack Obama, 47, the nation's soon-to-be first black president who many said was bringing them hope after eight gloomy years of the George W Bush presidency.

Islamabad - At least 30 people were killed Tuesday in militant violence in Pakistan's restive tribal region bordering Afghanistan as the country's military asked external powers to stop demanding that it to do more against Islamic militancy.

Pakistani military jet aircraft attacked militant positions in Kandharo village of Mohmand tribal region before ground troops moved in to clear the area.