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President Obama has set out the vision he hopes will define his legacy in his final State of the Union address. He vowed to continue targeting terrorist networks, accelerate the switch from fossil fuels and also launch a new drive to cure cancer. He called for Congress to be less partisan in order to make real progress.

The elephant population in Africa is continuing to decline despite an international ban on the trade of ivory tusks. Counting the remaining animals is certainly a difficult task – they roam through vast areas, across 20 countries but that is the bold ambition of the great elephant census. It's a continent-wide initiative started by the co-founder of Microsoft, Paul Allen, to keep an account of Africa's elephants and to do it from the sky.

Thousands of Elvis Presley fans descended on a town in Australia over the weekend for an annual outback festival dedicated to the iconic US singer. The celebrations in Parkes coincided with what would have been Elvis's 81st birthday. The festival was first held in 1993 and includes lookalike competitions, an Elvis-themed gospel service and large street parades as well.