Loyal cheerleader Biden becomes target of speculation on presidential bid

So close to that presidential microphone . . . yet so far away.

As President Obama delivered his 2,000-word inaugural address Monday outside the Capitol, his chief governing partner, Vice President Biden, looked on from his chair just to the left, always the loyal and supportive cheerleader.

But for Biden, who mounted two unsuccessful bids for the White House, Inauguration Day served as another reminder of all that he has achieved and what has eluded him after 40 years in public life. And his prominent role in so many of the administration’s recent high-profile initiatives has raised questions about whether Biden has plans to be in Obama’s place on the podium four years from now.

But Biden, 70, was not complaining. Speaking briefly at a post-inauguration lunch in the Capitol, Biden told the assembled power brokers, including former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, that he was thankful.

He said that as he and President Obama left the inaugural platform, he watched as the Obamas stopped to take in the moment and felt himself moved.

“I surprised myself by turning to him and saying, ‘Thank you. Thanks for the chance, the chance to continue to serve,’” Biden said at the luncheon.

Obama has lately returned the gratitude. Over the past several weeks, the vice president has been on something of a roll: playing a pivotal role in the financial deal with congressional Republicans to avoid the fiscal cliff; heading the administration’s gun violence task force that recommended many of the proposals Obama laid out last week; and even going viral on video while enthusiastically working the room during Congress’s swearing-in ceremony.

During the inaugural parade, Biden relished the chance to walk portions of the route with wife Jill, pointing at the crowd, pumping his fist and even shaking hands and hugging spectators in a way the Obamas did not (perhaps partly because of Secret Service concerns).

Biden’s run of successes has again raised questions among political pundits over whether he still has his eye on a White House run.

“What’s great about this last series of [Biden] stories is that people get to see what people in Delaware saw all those years — why he was re-elected seven times,” said former senator Ted Kaufman, a long-time Biden adviser who attended the vice president’s private swearing-in on Sunday at the Naval Observatory.

“When he was running for president in 2008 and I was helping, people asked me one reason that Joe Biden should be elected,” Kaufman said. “I said that I had never seen anyone in my 40 years in politics who could go into a room with people with disparate views and find the common ground to move forward.”

In an interview with CNN this week, Biden credited his long relationships on Capitol Hill and his close partnership with Obama for making it easy for him to make deals on behalf of the administration.

“Everybody talks about, ‘Well, it’s back-slapping, it’s old politics.’ It’s not. It’s trust,” Biden said. “It’s simple: Find a single person who will look you in eye and say, ‘I don’t trust Joe Biden.’”

Biden was sworn in on a five-inch-thick family Bible featuring a Celtic cross. While Obama had only a dozen people at his private swearing-in on Sunday, Biden invited about 120 friends and family, including people who had helped on many of his Senate and presidential campaigns. They joined the Bidens at the vive-presidential home at the Observatory and stayed for breakfast, reminiscing about their years serving Biden, Kaufman said.

At the post-inauguration lunch in the National Statuary Hall on Monday, Biden looked at the room full of his former congressional colleagues and did a little reflecting of his own about the years he attended the lunch as a senator.

“It’s always a new beginning any time we’re in this room. There’s a sense of possibility and opportunity and a sense, sometimes fleeting, that maybe we can really begin to work together,”Biden said.

Later, he offered a heartfelt toast to Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who mistakenly thought the glass-raising was for Obama.

“I’m toasting you Chuck,” Biden said, drawing laughs. “Remember you can’t get rid of me. I’m always part of the Senate.”

“The best parts of these events are unscripted,” Schumer replied, speaking perhaps for everyone who appreciates Joe Biden, especially in front of a microphone.

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US seeks quick vote on N.Korea sanctions resolution

UNITED NATIONS: The United States on Monday circulated a resolution on sanctions against North Korea to other UN Security Council members and hopes for a vote within days, diplomats said.

The resolution condemns North Korea for staging a ballistic missile test in December and follows weeks of negotiations between the United States and China, diplomats said.

"The United States circulated the draft text today after getting agreement from China. The vote could be held Wednesday," a diplomat from the 15-member council told AFP.

China, the unpredictable North's closest ally, has opposed establishing new sanctions against Pyongyang for the December 12 rocket launch. But it has agreed to expand existing sanctions and to the formal resolution instead of a lower-level statement, diplomats said.

The United States, supported by Japan and South Korea, had wanted tough new sanctions for the rocket launch, which was virtually unanimously condemned by the international community.

North Korea already faces UN sanctions for its nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009.

Under US-China agreement, new North Korean companies and entities could be added to the sanctions list, diplomats said. Individuals could be named for sanctions for the first time, they added.

The United States and China want a resolution passed before South Korea takes over the presidency of the Security Council in February, envoys said.

US and Chinese diplomats made no immediate comment on the resolution.

The Security Council agreed on a presidential statement, with lower standing than a binding resolution, after North Korea staged a failed rocket launch in April last year.

That had already called for a tightening of existing UN sanctions.

-AFP/ac

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Train fares to go up from today

NEW DELHI: Rail travelers will have to pay more from Tuesday.

Railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal had announced across the board hike in passenger fares to raise an additional fund to the tune of Rs 6,600 crore in a year.

The hike, which has come after a decade, will generate additional Rs 1,200 crore this fiscal.

Though the minister had ruled out any hike in passenger tariff in the Rail Budget 2013-14 to be presented next month, the transporter got a big financial shock with the increase in diesel price.

The additional burden with the diesel price hike is expected to be around Rs 2,500 crore.

Fares of ordinary second class (suburban) trains will go up by 2 paise per km, while for non-suburban travel it will be 3 paise.

Travel by second class mail and express trains will be costlier by 4 paise per km, while it will be 6 paise more in sleeper class.

Travellers by AC chair car and AC three tier will have to shell out 10 paise more per km, first class by 3 paise, AC two tier by 6 paise and AC first class by 10 paise.

The fares for first class, AC two tier and AC first/ executive class were already raised by 10 paise per km, 15 and 30 paise, respectively, in the last budget.

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Attack at Algeria Gas Plant Heralds New Risks for Energy Development

The siege by Islamic militants at a remote Sahara desert natural gas plant in Algeria this week signaled heightened dangers in the region for international oil companies, at a time when they have been expanding operations in Africa as one of the world's last energy frontiers. (See related story: "Pictures: Four New Offshore Drilling Frontiers.")

As BP, Norway's Statoil, Italy's Eni, and other companies evacuated personnel from Algeria, it was not immediately clear how widely the peril would spread in the wake of the hostage-taking at the sprawling In Amenas gas complex near the Libyan border.

Map by National Geographic

Algeria, the fourth-largest crude oil producer on the continent and a major exporter of natural gas and refined fuels, may not have been viewed as the most hospitable climate for foreign energy companies, but that was due to unfavorable financial terms, bureaucracy, and corruption. The energy facilities themselves appeared to be safe, with multiple layers of security provided both by the companies and by government forces, several experts said. (See related photos: "Oil States: Are They Stable? Why It Matters.")

"It is particularly striking not only because it hasn't happened before, but because it happened in Algeria, one of the stronger states in the region," says Hanan Amin-Salem, a senior manager at the industry consulting firm PFC Energy, who specializes in country risk. She noted that in the long civil war that gripped the country throughout the 1990s, there had never been an attack on Algeria's energy complex. But now, hazard has spread from weak surrounding states, as the assault on In Amenas was carried out in an apparent retaliation for a move by French forces against the Islamists who had taken over Timbuktu and other towns in neighboring Mali. (See related story: "Timbuktu Falls.")

"What you're really seeing is an intensification of the fundamental problem of weak states, and empowerment of heavily armed groups that are really well motivated and want to pursue a set of aims," said Amin-Salem. In PFC Energy's view, she says, risk has increased in Mauritania, Chad, and Niger—indeed, throughout Sahel, the belt that bisects North Africa, separating the Sahara in the north from the tropical forests further south.

On Thursday, the London-based corporate consulting firm Exclusive Analysis, which was recently acquired by the global consultancy IHS, sent an alert to clients warning that oil and gas facilities near the Libyan and Mauritanian borders and in Mauritania's Hodh Ech Chargui province were at "high risk" of attack by jihadis.

"A Hot Place to Drill"

The attack at In Amenas comes at a time of unprecedented growth for the oil industry in Africa. (See related gallery: "Pictures: The Year's Most Overlooked Energy Stories.") Forecasters expect that oil output throughout Africa will double by 2025, says Amy Myers Jaffe, executive director of the energy and sustainability program at the University of California, Davis, who has counted 20 rounds of bidding for new exploration at sites in Africa's six largest oil-producing states.

Oil and natural gas are a large part of the Algerian economy, accounting for 60 percent of government budget revenues, more than a third of GDP and more than 97 percent of its export earnings. But the nation's resources are seen as largely undeveloped, and Algeria has tried to attract new investment. Over the past year, the government has sought to reform the law to boost foreign companies' interests in their investments, although those efforts have foundered.

Technology has been one of the factors driving the opening up of Africa to deeper energy exploration. Offshore and deepwater drilling success in the Gulf of Mexico and Brazil led to prospecting now under way offshore in Ghana, Mozambique, and elsewhere. (See related story: "New Oil—And a Huge Challenge—for Ghana.") Jaffe says the Houston-based company Anadarko Petroleum has sought to transfer its success in "subsalt seismic" exploration technology, surveying reserves hidden beneath the hard salt layer at the bottom of the sea, to the equally challenging seismic exploration beneath the sands of the Sahara in Algeria, where it now has three oil and gas operations.

Africa also is seen as one of the few remaining oil-rich regions of the world where foreign oil companies can obtain production-sharing agreements with governments, contracts that allow them a share of the revenue from the barrels they produce, instead of more limited service contracts for work performed.

"You now have the technology to tap the resources more effectively, and the fiscal terms are going to be more attractive than elsewhere—you put these things together and it's been a hot place to drill," says Jaffe, who doesn't see the energy industry's interest in Africa waning, despite the increased terrorism risk. "What I think will happen in some of these countries is that the companies are going to reveal new securities systems and procedures they have to keep workers safe," she says. "I don't think they will abandon these countries."

This story is part of a special series that explores energy issues. For more, visit The Great Energy Challenge.

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Obama's 2nd Term: Who's Time Is 'Our Time'?

Jan 21, 2013 12:50pm

Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images

ANALYSIS By RICK KLEIN

President Obama used a brief pause in the partisan warfare that’s scarred his time in office to return to the ideals of the Declaration of Independence, with his own declaration of urgency and a call to action that reflects shared sacrifice and responsibility.

This was no centrist conciliator. It was the speech of a committed, unapologetic progressive, an Obama doctrine for domestic policy that included concrete commitments in areas he made little progress on over his first four years. Above all, he was speaking to a changing America – the nation that propelled him to a second term, and whose voices he will need to channel to be effective over the next four years.

“My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment, and we will seize it – so long as we seize it together,” the president declared.

That word “together” appeared seven times in the president’s speech. He used the phrase, “we, the people” five times. Notably, the president said “our time” five times. It was a clear signal that Obama is not satisfied with the frustrations that marked his first term, and that he is cognizant of his opportunity at this moment.

And he sees those opportunities mainly to his left. Obama made a firm commitment to pursue climate-change legislation, in addition to immigration reform and gun control. In an era of budget-cutting, he delivered a rousing endorsement of the social safety net, including Medicare and Social Security.

Obama cited the civil-rights movement and listed Stonewall – the 1960s demonstrations over a police raid of a New York City gay bar that galvanized the gay-rights movement – alongside Seneca Falls and Selma. He also promised equality for “our gay brothers and sisters,” apparently becoming the first president to use the word “gay” in an inaugural address.

Obama’s defining challenge as president has been to deliver on the hope and promise he rode into office on in 2008. He may never hope to fulfill the expectations that surrounded his elevation. But speaking to the largest crowd he’s likely to ever appear before again, the president sounded both more optimistic and more committed to progress on his priorities than anything in our current political system would suggest is warranted.

“Progress does not compel us to settle centuries-long debates about the role of government for all time, but it does require us to act in our time,” the president said.

For a president whose very inauguration speaks to the promise of America, but whose first term ended with so much frustration, it was a return to his roots. President Obama is cognizant of his role in history, though clearly not content with leaving it at that.

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Obama developing second-term strategy

Amid his fiscal negotiations with Congress and the shootings in Newtown, Conn., President Obama has managed to hold several “think-big” meetings recently with senior advisers in the Roosevelt Room, and this month he dined with historians in the White House, searching for a rough road map for second-term leadership.

As one senior administration official described the brainstorming sessions, Obama has made a request that challenges the instinctive pragmatism he has shown in office.

“Let’s not focus on what’s possible or doable,” Obama has advised, according to the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions. “Tell me what our goal should be, and let me worry about the politics.”

At the center of Obama’s search for a second-term strategy and lasting legacy sits a question being asked now by supporters outside the administration and officials within it:

Can Obama, given his political personality and partisan circumstances, be the transformational president he aspired to be or, instead, just a moderately effective manager during difficult times?

His domestic agenda includes politically challenging issues such as immigration reform, measures to address climate change and gun control — the last two emerging in part from a personal sense of regret that he did not do more to advance them in his first term.

Abroad, Obama will be challenged to define an agenda rather than to have one defined for him by events, including the uprisings remaking the Middle East.

“He knows what he’s done, he knows what he can’t do, he knows what he must accomplish and he knows what he’d like to accomplish,” said Stephen Hess, a presidential scholar at the Brookings Institution. “But beyond that there is the guts question — and, for much of the first term, the question was, ‘Where are the guts?’ How he addresses that in the next term may define his legacy.”

Agenda

Obama will move to build on what he considers the essential remedial work he had to do on the still-fragile economy and the mixed U.S. image abroad. His senior advisers say he is aware that second-term power is an hourglass running out of sand and that he must move quickly. “Days in your second term are in many ways more important than in your first,” said Dan Pfeiffer, Obama’s communications director.

The theme of protecting the middle class, which Obama will probably address Monday in his inaugural speech and detail next month in his State of the Union remarks, carries into a new term some of the liberal populism of his last election.

Gun control measures, immigration reform, clean-energy initiatives and college affordability are priorities that, at the outer end, Obama will have until the 2014 midterms to achieve before slipping into lame-duck irrelevance. He will also face the unfinished business of his first term, including

How he will pursue his goals will more closely resemble the successful elements of his campaign, particularly the ways in which the former community organizer works to mobilize public opinion around his agenda. Each issue will have its own campaign.

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Football: Sneijder signs for Galatasaray for 7.5m euros

ROME: Inter Milan's Dutch midfielder Wesley Sneijder signed for Turkish side Galatasaray on Sunday for a fee believed to be in the region of 7.5 million euros, the Istanbul side announced.

Playmaker Sneijder penned a three and a half-year deal which will keep him at Galatasaray until 2016 as the drawn-out transfer saga was finally completed.

The Gazzetta dello Sport reported that the player would earn around five million euros a season.

Sneijder was a key figure in the treble winning season under Jose Mourinho in 2010 when they won the Italian title, the Italian Cup as well as their first Champions League trophy since 1965.

But he fell out with the club this season after Inter asked him to accept a reduction in salary and extend his contract by one year to 2016 without a change in total salary.

Sneijder's Romanian teammate Cristian Chivu said he wanted to see the Dutchman succeed in Turkey.

"He's my friend and team-mate, I wish him all the best in the world. I'll speak to him on the phone," he said.

-AFP/ac

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Tiff over liquour shop stake led to Hindu terror accused Joshi’s murder?

NEW DELHI: There could be more personal and local reasons to the murder of key Hindu terror accused Sunil Joshi than the larger motive of protecting the saffron module from being exposed.

Investigations into the December 2007 murder case by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) have found that a liquor shop on Indore-Dewas road in Madhya Pradesh had become a bone of contention among saffron terror accused with many of them, including Joshi, having stakes in it.

Until now, investigating agencies, including Madhya Pradesh Police, which has filed a chargesheet in the case against the 2008 Malegaon blast accused Pragya Singh Thakur, have maintained that Joshi was killed because the group suspected he could spill the beans on saffron terror module. Another reason cited was that Joshi had misbehaved with Thakur in a manner that had angered the group.

It has now been revealed, however, that Joshi and his confidante Lokesh Sharma, accused in Samjhauta Express and 2006 Malegaon blasts, were partners in a liquor shop in Dakachya village on Indore-Dewas road. There were others in the group too who had stakes in the shop that was reportedly very profitable.

Sources say, during 2006-07, a dispute arose among the group on profit sharing and led to animosity between Joshi and others in the group. In fact, Joshi and others had even stopped talking months before he was shot dead in Dewas on December 29, 2007.

After NIA arrested Rajender Chaudhary last month in connection with the Samjhauta Express blast he revealed that it was him and Lokesh Sharma who had bumped off Joshi. Madhya Pradesh Police had chargesheeted an entirely different set of people for the murder.

Last Monday, NIA made the first arrest in connection with the case, when it picked up one Balbir Singh from Mandalwada village in Indore. Balbir, too, has been found to be linked to the liquor shop through one Jitendra Patel, a close aide of Joshi who died of cancer last year. Patel, who hails from Dakachya and had a partnership in the liquor shop, was associated with Singh.

NIA sources said, they had conducted raids on the residences of both Singh and Jitendra Patel and recovered a 9 mm pistol magazine from the former's house. "We suspect that this magazine may belong to the pistol that was used to kill Joshi. However, things will be clear only after forensic examination," said an NIA official.

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Attack at Algeria Gas Plant Heralds New Risks for Energy Development

The siege by Islamic militants at a remote Sahara desert natural gas plant in Algeria this week signaled heightened dangers in the region for international oil companies, at a time when they have been expanding operations in Africa as one of the world's last energy frontiers. (See related story: "Pictures: Four New Offshore Drilling Frontiers.")

As BP, Norway's Statoil, Italy's Eni, and other companies evacuated personnel from Algeria, it was not immediately clear how widely the peril would spread in the wake of the hostage-taking at the sprawling In Amenas gas complex near the Libyan border.

Map by National Geographic

Algeria, the fourth-largest crude oil producer on the continent and a major exporter of natural gas and refined fuels, may not have been viewed as the most hospitable climate for foreign energy companies, but that was due to unfavorable financial terms, bureaucracy, and corruption. The energy facilities themselves appeared to be safe, with multiple layers of security provided both by the companies and by government forces, several experts said. (See related photos: "Oil States: Are They Stable? Why It Matters.")

"It is particularly striking not only because it hasn't happened before, but because it happened in Algeria, one of the stronger states in the region," says Hanan Amin-Salem, a senior manager at the industry consulting firm PFC Energy, who specializes in country risk. She noted that in the long civil war that gripped the country throughout the 1990s, there had never been an attack on Algeria's energy complex. But now, hazard has spread from weak surrounding states, as the assault on In Amenas was carried out in an apparent retaliation for a move by French forces against the Islamists who had taken over Timbuktu and other towns in neighboring Mali. (See related story: "Timbuktu Falls.")

"What you're really seeing is an intensification of the fundamental problem of weak states, and empowerment of heavily armed groups that are really well motivated and want to pursue a set of aims," said Amin-Salem. In PFC Energy's view, she says, risk has increased in Mauritania, Chad, and Niger—indeed, throughout Sahel, the belt that bisects North Africa, separating the Sahara in the north from the tropical forests further south.

On Thursday, the London-based corporate consulting firm Exclusive Analysis, which was recently acquired by the global consultancy IHS, sent an alert to clients warning that oil and gas facilities near the Libyan and Mauritanian borders and in Mauritania's Hodh Ech Chargui province were at "high risk" of attack by jihadis.

"A Hot Place to Drill"

The attack at In Amenas comes at a time of unprecedented growth for the oil industry in Africa. (See related gallery: "Pictures: The Year's Most Overlooked Energy Stories.") Forecasters expect that oil output throughout Africa will double by 2025, says Amy Myers Jaffe, executive director of the energy and sustainability program at the University of California, Davis, who has counted 20 rounds of bidding for new exploration at sites in Africa's six largest oil-producing states.

Oil and natural gas are a large part of the Algerian economy, accounting for 60 percent of government budget revenues, more than a third of GDP and more than 97 percent of its export earnings. But the nation's resources are seen as largely undeveloped, and Algeria has tried to attract new investment. Over the past year, the government has sought to reform the law to boost foreign companies' interests in their investments, although those efforts have foundered.

Technology has been one of the factors driving the opening up of Africa to deeper energy exploration. Offshore and deepwater drilling success in the Gulf of Mexico and Brazil led to prospecting now under way offshore in Ghana, Mozambique, and elsewhere. (See related story: "New Oil—And a Huge Challenge—for Ghana.") Jaffe says the Houston-based company Anadarko Petroleum has sought to transfer its success in "subsalt seismic" exploration technology, surveying reserves hidden beneath the hard salt layer at the bottom of the sea, to the equally challenging seismic exploration beneath the sands of the Sahara in Algeria, where it now has three oil and gas operations.

Africa also is seen as one of the few remaining oil-rich regions of the world where foreign oil companies can obtain production-sharing agreements with governments, contracts that allow them a share of the revenue from the barrels they produce, instead of more limited service contracts for work performed.

"You now have the technology to tap the resources more effectively, and the fiscal terms are going to be more attractive than elsewhere—you put these things together and it's been a hot place to drill," says Jaffe, who doesn't see the energy industry's interest in Africa waning, despite the increased terrorism risk. "What I think will happen in some of these countries is that the companies are going to reveal new securities systems and procedures they have to keep workers safe," she says. "I don't think they will abandon these countries."

This story is part of a special series that explores energy issues. For more, visit The Great Energy Challenge.

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Sasha's View: 'Good Job, Daddy. You Didn't Mess Up'

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden today officially embarked on their second term, taking the Constitutionally mandated oath of office in two separate private ceremonies inside their homes.

Shortly before noon in the Blue Room of the White House, Obama raised his right hand, with his left on a family Bible, reciting the oath administrated by Chief Justice John Roberts. He was surrounded by immediate family members, including first lady Michelle Obama and daughters, Malia and Sasha.

As he hugged his wife and daughters, Sasha said, "Good job, Daddy."

"I did it," he said.

"You didn't mess up," she answered.

Biden was sworn in earlier today by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic to administer a presidential oath, in a ceremony at his official residence at the U.S. Naval Observatory. He was joined by more than 120 guests, including cabinet members, extended family and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden.

Because Jan. 20 -- the official date for a new presidential term -- falls on a Sunday this year, organizers delayed by one day the traditional public inauguration ceremony and parade down Pennsylvania Avenue.

Vice President Joe Biden Sworn in for 2nd Term Watch Video

President Obama's 2nd Inauguration: Hundreds of Thousands to Attend Watch Video

Obama and Biden will each repeat the oath on Monday on the west front of the Capitol, surrounded by hundreds of dignitaries and members of Congress. An estimated 800,000 people are expected to gather on the National Mall to witness the moment and inaugural parade to follow.

The dual ceremonies in 2013 means Obama will become the second president in U.S. history to take the presidential oath four times. He was sworn in twice in 2008 out of an abundance of caution after Roberts flubbed the oath of office during the public administration. This year Roberts read from a script.

Franklin Roosevelt was also sworn in four times but, unlike Obama, he was elected four times.

This year will mark the seventh time a president has taken the oath on a Sunday and then again on Monday for ceremonial purposes. Reagan last took the oath on a Sunday in 1985.

Both Obama and Biden took the oath using a special family Bible. Obama used a text that belonged to Michelle Obama's grandmother LaVaughn Delores Robinson. Biden placed his hand on a 120-year-old book with a Celtic cross on the cover that has been passed down through Biden clan.

The official inaugural activities today also included moments of prayer and remembrance that marked the solemnity of the day.

Obama and Biden met at Arlington National Cemetery for a brief morning ceremony to place a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknowns, honoring military service members who served and sacrificed. The men stood shoulder to shoulder, bowing their heads as a bugler played "Taps."

Biden, who is Catholic, began the day with a private family mass at his residence. The president and first family attended church services at Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church, a historically black church and site of two pre-inaugural prayer services for former President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore and their families.

The Obamas and Bidens plan to participate in a church service on Monday morning at St. John's Episcopal, across Lafayette Park from the White House. They will also attend a National Prayer Service on Tuesday at the National Cathedral.

Later on Sunday evening, the newly-inaugurated leaders will attend a candlelight reception at the National Building Museum. The president and vice president are expected to deliver brief remarks to their supporters.

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