Bbc Learning English
What does Europe want from Obama?
In President Obama's second term there are two longer-term developments that will affect the relationship with Europe. The first is the US budget deficit, the second the so-called "pivot" - or the rebalancing of focus towards Asia.
America's finances will mean, now even more than in the first term, the US will be what some have called a "frugal superpower" - leading from behind as they did in Libya, and as they look to be doing in Mali.
But then that frugal nature is not altogether bad news. The US remains by far the biggest customer for European exporters.
Generally the Europeans are content with the status quo. The last thing they need at a time when Europe is so embroiled in its own internal debates, is the external distraction of a change in guard across the pond.
Meteor hits Russia
Eyewitnesses describe seeing a fireball curving through the clear sky, and an extremely intense light as it passed overhead.
It seems to have been a meteor, and left a white condensation trail behind it. A couple of minutes later there was a loud bang.
The shock wave from the blast blew out windows across the region round Chelyabinsk in the Ural mountains.
People who'd rushed to look out and see what was happening were injured by flying glass.
Everyone went outside to check their neighbours were OK, and the mobile phone network collapsed, briefly overwhelmed by the volume of calls.
100 years of Antarctica discovery
The sound of skis on snow as a group of Norwegians take the final few steps to the southern pole. Not everyone could make it - bad weather had delayed some of those trying to cross the ice and others resorted to planes to make the centenary celebrations.
Amundsen and four other men were the first to reach the southern tip of the planet on December 14th 1911, using sledges, dogs and skis. The Norwegian prime minister Jens Stoltenberg, who arrived by plane ahead of the celebrations, said the 1911
In President Obama's second term there are two longer-term developments that will affect the relationship with Europe. The first is the US budget deficit, the second the so-called "pivot" - or the rebalancing of focus towards Asia.
America's finances will mean, now even more than in the first term, the US will be what some have called a "frugal superpower" - leading from behind as they did in Libya, and as they look to be doing in Mali.
But then that frugal nature is not altogether bad news. The US remains by far the biggest customer for European exporters.
Generally the Europeans are content with the status quo. The last thing they need at a time when Europe is so embroiled in its own internal debates, is the external distraction of a change in guard across the pond.
Meteor hits Russia
Eyewitnesses describe seeing a fireball curving through the clear sky, and an extremely intense light as it passed overhead.
It seems to have been a meteor, and left a white condensation trail behind it. A couple of minutes later there was a loud bang.
The shock wave from the blast blew out windows across the region round Chelyabinsk in the Ural mountains.
People who'd rushed to look out and see what was happening were injured by flying glass.
Everyone went outside to check their neighbours were OK, and the mobile phone network collapsed, briefly overwhelmed by the volume of calls.
100 years of Antarctica discovery
The sound of skis on snow as a group of Norwegians take the final few steps to the southern pole. Not everyone could make it - bad weather had delayed some of those trying to cross the ice and others resorted to planes to make the centenary celebrations.
Amundsen and four other men were the first to reach the southern tip of the planet on December 14th 1911, using sledges, dogs and skis. The Norwegian prime minister Jens Stoltenberg, who arrived by plane ahead of the celebrations, said the 1911