The US presidential inauguration is a centuries-old tradition, but despite the warmth and affection offered an incoming leader, the quadrennial ceremony is often a bitterly cold affair.
Former US president George H.W. Bush was released from hospital on Monday following more than two months of treatment for bronchitis, a bacterial infection and a persistent cough.
Sri Lanka's president on Tuesday appointed the government's senior legal adviser as a replacement for the impeached chief justice, despite protests by lawyers and a chorus of international criticism.
Officials sent mixed signals Sunday about the condition of cancer-stricken Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, fueling growing political uncertainty in the oil-rich country.
Peace talks to resolve the Centrafrican rebel crisis were suspended, with no settlement in sight after the rebels demanded that President Francois Bozize resign and be brought before the ICC for war crimes.
According to him, those travelling from the suburbs should leave their private cars on the out-skirts and rely on public transport to reach the city center.
After more than a month in a Texas hospital battling bronchitis, former US president George H.W. Bush has taken a turn for the worse and is in intensive care with a "stubborn fever".
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is making steady progress after cancer surgery in Cuba and the respiratory infection he developed earlier in the week has been contained.