WASHINGTON — There is one addiction President Obama will not have to kick: his BlackBerry.

For more than two months, Mr. Obama has been waging a vigorous battle with his handlers to keep his BlackBerry, which like millions of other Americans he has relied upon for years to stay connected with friends and advisers. (And, of course, to get Chicago White Sox scores.)

He won the fight, aides disclosed Thursday, but the privilege of becoming the nation’s first e-mailing president comes with a specific set of rules.

“The president has a BlackBerry through a compromise that allows him to stay in touch with senior staff and a small group of personal friends,” said Robert Gibbs, his spokesman, “in a way that use will be limited and that the security is enhanced to ensure his ability to communicate.”

First, only a select circle of people will have his address, creating a true hierarchy for who makes the cut and who does not.

Second, anyone placed on the A-list to receive his e-mail address must first receive a briefing from the White House counsel’s office.

Third, messages from the president will be designed so they cannot be forwarded.

The battle over whether the president could keep his BlackBerry has been fueled to a large degree by Mr. Obama himself, who mentioned it again and again. He would not take no for an answer. In an interview this month, he worried aloud, “They’re going to pry it out of my hands.”

Mr. Obama received his BlackBerry on Tuesday, but officials declined to specify what kind. In a conversation with reporters on Thursday evening, he said, “I don’t think it’s actually up and running yet.”

Obama Keeps His Blackberry in a Hard-Fought E-Victory – NYTimes.com.

NEWSWEEK asked descendants of key figures in civil rights history to write letters to their ancestors describing their thoughts and feelings about the historic inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States. And to add to the record, we’ve collected letters from students and notable figures to Obama, and discussed the power of words with will.i.am and the inaugural poet.

Newsweek Video | Beyond Words: Two Heirs to Two Great Americans.

But their messages contain hints of the challenges the new U.S. president will face.

Reporting from Washington — World leaders impatient for a new direction for America greeted President Obama’s arrival with exuberance Tuesday but sent telltale warnings of the challenges about to envelop the new chief executive and his administration.

The White House was flooded with leaders’ best wishes, including those of Pope Benedict XVI, who urged Obama to be “the promoter of peace and cooperation between nations.”

At the same time, many of the messages were laden with hints of the caution required in dealing with the troubled times ahead. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a conservative who had a good relationship with President Bush, nevertheless said she hoped that in the new era there would be agreement that “no single country can solve the problems of the world.”

Obama, in a nod to the global sentiment and with Bush seated only a few feet away, left no doubt in his inaugural address that an important part of his audience was on the far side of the horizon.

He promised a new era of American leadership, suggesting that the Bush presidency, with too great a reliance on force, had veered from the U.S. approach that had won World War II and the Cold War.

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World leaders welcome Barack Obama – Los Angeles Times.

A Day of History as New Leader Urges Unity Amid ‘Raging Storms’ of War and Recession

Philadelphia Inquirer/Rapport Press

HANDOFF: Barack Obama was sworn in Tuesday as the nation’s 44th president. More than one million people gathered for the event.With Mr. Obama’s first day on the job scarcely begun, the financial uncertainty facing his presidency made itself felt. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 4%, its worst inauguration-day performance in history, amid fresh signs of trouble among the nation’s banks.

WASHINGTON — On a day rich in history, Barack Obama took office Tuesday as the 44th president of the U.S., urging Americans to stand together amid the “gathering clouds and raging storms” of war and recession.

The inauguration of the first African-American to lead the world’s most powerful country drew a crowd of well over one million to the National Mall here. In his 18-minute address, Mr. Obama called on Americans to return to the values of “hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity” that have seen the country through past crises.

With Mr. Obama’s first day on the job scarcely begun, the financial uncertainty facing his presidency made itself felt. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 4%, its worst inauguration-day performance in history, amid fresh signs of trouble among the nation’s banks.

At exactly noon, by law, Mr. Obama became president. Placing his hand on a Bible once used by Abraham Lincoln, he took the oath using his full name, Barack Hussein Obama — a moment that stood in contrast to episodes on the long campaign trail in which detractors would occasionally stress his middle name in a derogatory way.

Obama Sworn In as President – WSJ.com.