Barack Obama marked the end of his presidency with the same message of hope that brought him into the White House, asking Americans in his farewell address here to stay committed to democratic values and persist in their optimism for change.

Egyptian prosecutors ordered Al Jazeera TV news presenter Mahmoud Hussein Gomaa to remain in custody for another 15 days on suspicion of "fabricating reports" aimed at harming national security and sedition, official daily Al-Ahram said on Tuesday.

The US blacklisted five Russians, including Russia's chief public investigator who is a close aide to President Vladimir Putin, for human rights abuses, in a move described by Russia as the "inadequacy" of outgoing President Barack Obama.

"I first came to Chicago when I was in my early twenties, still trying to figure out who I was; still searching for a purpose to my life," said Obama in his farewell speech.

Last week, while announcing about his farewell speech Barack Obama had said, "The speech would be a chance to say thank you for this amazing journey … and to offer some thoughts on where we all go from here."

A suspect was taken into custody by police after taking hostages at the Alabama Credit Union in Tuscaloosa near the University of Alabama campus in the US on Tuesday and sparking a standoff.

Announcing his decision on email last week, Obama said, “The speech would be a chance to say thank you for this amazing journey … and to offer some thoughts on where we all go from here."

Barack Obama ends his eight-year tenure as US President in a couple of weeks but he might not be out of a job for long as the world's leading streaming service Spotify "offered him a job".

Australian indigenous leaders are hopeful that a system of ancient eel traps dating back 6,000 years will be listed as a world heritage. The intricate series of traps, which were built by the Gunditjmara people to manage eels in Lake Condah and Darlot Creek in western Victoria, are among the earliest surviving examples of aquaculture in the world, Xinhua reported.

Heavy snowfall and bad weather conditions forced Turkey's flagship airline company Turkish Airlines to cancel 633 domestic and international flights, with Istanbul particularly affected on Sunday.