U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama stayed loyal to Jason Wu on Monday, choosing the Taiwan-born, New York-based designer for her much-anticipated inaugural ball dress as she did four years ago.

She appeared before a cheering crowd of thousands in Washington's cavernous convention center in the ruby-colored, halter-top chiffon and velvet gown by Wu, with Jimmy Choo shoes and a Kimberly McDonald diamond-embellished ring.

Philippine authorities said Tuesday they have fined the U.S. Navy for "unauthorized entry" after an American minesweeper went aground on a World Heritage-listed coral reef.

Manila announced the initial penalty amid growing anger in the Philippines over the January 17 stranding of the USS Guardian on the Tubbataha Reef, for which the U.S. Navy has apologized.

Severe cold weather sweeping through camps for people displaced by the Afghan war has killed 17 people, mostly children, Amnesty International said Tuesday.

The deaths occurred in the first two weeks of January in Kabul and Herat provinces, which host most of the country's half a million internally displaced people.

A 5.9-magnitude earthquake struck off Indonesia's Aceh province Tuesday, killing an eight-year-old girl and injuring seven others, officials said.

The quake struck 112 kilometers (70 miles) southeast of the provincial capital of Banda Aceh at 22:22 GMT, at a depth of 37 kilometers, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

Britain's Prince Harry said he killed Taliban fighters during his stint as a helicopter gunner in Afghanistan, in comments that can be reported after he completed his tour of duty Monday.

Harry, third in line to the throne, spent a 20-week posting flying scores of missions over the restive southern Helmand Province in an Apache attack chopper.

President Barack Obama issued a impassioned call for equality and national unity as he was inaugurated for a second term Monday, warning political "absolutism" must not thwart renewal and change.

Obama was publicly sworn in for another four White House years before a flag waving crowd of hundreds of thousands on Washington's National Mall. Then he delivered an address steeped in poetic power and broad hints of his new agenda.

The U.N. atomic agency said Monday that its next round of talks in Tehran will be on February 13, not on February 12 as it had stated last week.

"In fact the talks will be held on February 13 rather than February 12," International Atomic Energy Agency spokeswoman Gill Tudor told AFP. No reason was given for the change.

Germany and France will seek to paper over tensions from the euro crisis which has propelled Berlin into Europe's driving seat when their leaders meet Monday to mark 50 years since a landmark treaty forged closer ties.

French President Francois Hollande arrived in a snow-bedecked Berlin, officials traveling with him said, and was first due to hold a brief meeting with Chancellor Angela Merkel before the two launch into events to fete the Elysee Treaty.

Britain will use its chairmanship of the Group of Eight richest nations to focus on the threat of terrorism following developments in Algeria and Mali, Prime Minister David Cameron said Monday.

Cameron said North Africa was becoming a "magnet" for jihadists from other countries, adding that the threat there now outweighed that from Islamist hotbeds in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Romania will continue to provide support to Afghanistan even after NATO combat troops withdraw in 2014, President Traian Basescu said Monday.

"Romania will continue to provide support to Afghanistan in terms of (military) training even after 2014," Basescu told foreign ambassadors gathered at the presidential palace.