Obama sworn

Historic moment as Obama sworn in

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President Obama on the need to 'remake America'

Barack Obama has taken the oath of office and been sworn in as America's 44th president - and the country's first African-American leader.

• More than one million people gathered in the National Mall in a wintry Washington DC, to see Mr Obama take the oath shortly after 1200 (1700 GMT).
• He used his inaugural address to vow to begin the work of "remaking America".
• The new US leader said his country faced a number of challenges but was entering a "new era of responsibility".
• But a shadow was cast over Mr Obama's celebrations in the hours after his swearing-in, as veteran Senator Ted Kennedy collapsed during the inaugural lunch.
• Mr Kennedy, whose support was seen as influential in winning over Democratic voters for Mr Obama, has been seriously ill with a brain tumour and has previously undergone surgery.
• • Earlier, in his inaugural address, Mr Obama made reference to the scale of his achievement at being the first black American elected to the White House, in a remark that gathered one of the biggest cheers of the speech.
  • "This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed... why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath."
  • The new president takes office amid a dismal economic climate and with the
  

  US still embroiled in two wars.

  See map showing key sites of Inauguration Day
  Speaking to the vast crowd, stretching as far back as the Washington Monument in the distance, he was quick to admit that the US is in the midst of a crisis - a fact now "well understood".