US President-elect Barack Obama placed a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier on Sunday in the first of a series of events in Washington leading up to his inauguration as the 44th president of the United States later this week, according to dpa. Flanked by vice president-elect Joe Biden, Obama appeared at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington and hung the wreath on the tomb. The two men arrived in the US capital on Saturday evening following a train tour of stops to engage revellers in Philadelphia and Baltimore to kick off three festivities ahead of Tuesday's inauguration on the steps of Congress. Obama will become the nation's first African-American president when he is sworn in with a theme honouring Abraham Lincoln, the president who ended slavery, and 1960s civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. Meanwhile, Obama's top aides hit the airwaves over the weekend to outline his plan for his first weeks in the White House as he prepares to take the reins of a government facing the worst economy in decades, two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the ongoing crisis in the Gaza Strip. Obama has not stated his position on the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, keeping in line with his policy that President George W Bush remains in charge and that the United States should address international issues with one voice. "All of us are hopeful that a cessation of violence will hold," said David Axelrod, a senior adviser to Obama. He added that the president-elect will move quickly to diplomatically address international challenges. "He intends to engage early and aggressively with diplomacy all over the world," Axelrod said on CNN. Israel declared a unilateral ceasefire on Saturday after three weeks of fighting in Gaza that left more than 1,000 Palestinians dead. Hamas responded by announcing on Sunday that it was accepting a week-long truce. In the last few weeks, Obama and his economic team have been in close talks with Congress over a planned stimulus package to boost the economy suffering its worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Obama wants lawmakers to authorize more than 800-million dollars in spending on infrastructure and other projects he says can create up to 3 million jobs and pull the economy out of its current state. "Getting this economy moving again is absolutely paramount," Axelrod said. "And so he is going to continue to work on that." The free two-hour concert Sunday afternoon will formally welcome Obama to Washington. On Monday, Obama, along with former secretary of state Colin Powell, will be issuing a national "call to service." During the train tour, Obama said the challenges he's facing - the falling economy, two wars and global warming - were "different, but severe in their own right," calling on the country to unite in confronting the problems. "The events of the next several days are not simply about the inauguration of an American president," Obama said Saturday. "They will be a celebration of the American people."
