Obama set to be sworn in for second term

Barack Obama, battered but still popular after a bruising first term as president, will be sworn in for another four years today to lead an America perhaps as divided politically and socially as at any time since the Civil War 150 years ago.

When Mr Obama first took office as the 44th US president, many Americans hoped the symbolism of the first black man in the White House was a turning point in the country’s deeply-troubled racial history.