Beijing, China - It's just a T-shirt. Or so we thought.

The shirts were 'banned' by the Chinese government. (AFP/Getty images)

Our search for the so-called "communist Obama" T-shirt began with a capable intern scouring markets in Beijing. It depicts U.S. President Barack Obama wearing a Red Army uniform, the "Chinese communist-style" outfit made famous by Chairman Mao. On the front it says, "Serve the People" in Chinese. On the back, "Oba-Mao" in English.

Our first scan of Beijing turned up nothing. But a tip led us to the basement of Shin Kong Place. In an unassuming souvenir shop, we found a T-shirt in extra-large. During our flight from Beijing to Shanghai to cover the president's arrival, a news blitz indicated the shirts had been "banned" by the Chinese government amid worries that they may offend the American president.

Thank goodness we'd gotten ours in time!

But there was no way to confirm the government had indeed taken the shirts off the shelves, so we decided to check for ourselves. We headed to Yatai Xinyang market at a Shanghai metro stop in search of Obama-branded merchandise.

The Chinese also make wallets and trading cards featuring the "Communist Obama" image.

We found nothing but could not be sure they hadn't sold them there before. So, I chose that opportune moment to do a piece to camera with the shirt in hand. Bad move? Maybe. But it ended up being great television.

Two security guards happened to pass by at the moment I announced to the camera: "This is the T-shirt everybody is talking about." And that was it. They scrambled toward us and tried to pry the shirt out of my hands. I didn't give in.

Technically, we did not have permission to film in the market. And the security guards scolded us for not getting permission ahead of time.

There was a bit of yelling and quite a scuffle. My producer Jo Kent emphatically stated our case. Photographer Miguel Castro kept his cool. By this point, we had everything on tape.

We ended up being detained for two hours in the cold maze of a market. A crowd gathered round. More security and then police showed up. They wanted our press cards, our passports, but most of all, they wanted the shirt.

Ultimately, they confirmed that we were indeed "real" journalists (that is legally reporting in China.) But that didn't stop them from scolding us and making it very difficult to leave. After asking repeatedly and then one last time for the shirt, I refused.

Finally, they let us go. Phew!

It was worth it. The shirt got attention on the air and sparked buzz online. In fact, some members of the White House pool and a few colleagues in Atlanta actually tried to bribe me for it.

Nothing like juxtaposing communism and democracy in more ways than one. Just another day on the job.

TOKYO, Japan - U.S. President Barack Obama landed in Tokyo, Japan, on Friday in his first stop of his Asian tour. The White House press corps jumped into action, watching the president’s every move. Not in person, mind you, but on TV monitors.

CNN’s Ed Henry and Dan Lothian report on U.S. President Barack Obama’s arrival in Japan.

Due to security and agreed-upon pool arrangements, one camera shoots the landing and a pool reporter informs the rest of the White House reporters. It’s an unusual sensation sitting next to fellow correspondents watching pool TV and then reporting what they’ve seen on their TV channels.

I’m sitting next to CNN White House correspondents Ed Henry and Dan Lothian. They do this every day, following the president’s every move, his every word. How they report the news has the potential to affect governments around the world and the citizens of those governments. 

The White House pool is a smooth system - there’s barely been a hiccup today. There won’t be very much face-to-face time with either President Obama or Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, but there will be electronic eyes tracking every move.

MOSCOW, Russia – U.S. President Barack Obama is heading for Moscow for this week's summit with Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev. Discussions on arms talks, Iran, the Mideast and North Korea will all be on the agenda. Summit watchers also believe there could be the emergence of new issues including climate change and energy efficiency.

A wooden doll depicts the leaders of Russia and the United States ahead of this week’s summit.

What's more, the Obama administration says it has bigger plans for the relationship with Russia: it wants to go beyond government-to-government ties.

Touching on one of the president's bedrock themes, Obama administration officials say they want to establish a multi-faceted relationship with different parts of Russian society, Running concurrently with the summit will be what they are calling a "parallel business summit" and a "parallel civil society summit."

Some Russia experts think the Kremlin is not happy about this - but it hasn't tried to limit those meetings. Some U.S. officials aren't completely ruling out the possibility that Medvedev might show up at the sessions along with Obama.

Obama will also give an interview to the opposition newspaper "Novaya Gazeta," the publication for which murdered Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya worked. And he will meet with opposition politicians, including Gary Kasparov and Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov.

But don't look for Obama to take a page from Bush and rake Russia over the coals for its human rights record. Obama, aides say, is intent on explaining what American's interests are, not in preaching to Russia about what it should do. Experts say he's more likely to talk about human rights issues both countries face, like illegal migration and civil rights in the context of terrorism.

U.S.-Russian relations slid toward the abyss during President George W. Bush's second term over issues such as Iran, independence for Kosovo, the Russian assault on the former Soviet republic of Georgia and the missile defense system.

Critics complained there was no longer a structure to manage the relationship, similar to the Clinton-era Gore-Chernomyrdin commission. Now, Russia and the U.S. are expected to announce what’s being called a "joint intergovernmental commission," headed by Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Russia expert Robert Legvold says, to be effective, this commission must be led by people "with a direct ear to the presidents” and with the "authority to crack heads."

 Former Russian President Vladimir Putin is now Prime Minister and protocol does not require a meeting with him - but Tuesday morning Obama and his wife Michelle will drive out to Putin's residence for breakfast. Most Russian and U.S. experts believe it is Putin still who calls the shots in Russia’s domestic and foreign policy. Russians call it "tandem" leadership.

Just before the summit Obama took a swipe at Putin, telling the Associated Press the Prime Minister has "one foot in the old ways of doing business and one foot in the new." Putin, well-known for his expert moves in political judo, replied: "We don't know how to stand so awkwardly with our legs apart... We stand solidly on our own two feet and always look into the future."

In the media, we often like to evaluate summit success on "who out-manoeuvred whom" or who was tougher, who didn't "cave." But the biggest threat to success at this summit is not likely to be the political arm-wrestling between the two leaders. That’s all part of the game.

The real threat could be the forces behind the scenes, some in the United States, many more in Moscow, who feel threatened by improving relations, who are more comfortable with confrontation, who see any "win" by the other side as a defeat for their own – what politicians call the "zero-sum" mentality.

LONDON, England - Cold, cold, cold.  That was Downing street when I arrived before dawn this morning. I'd dressed for it, no big deal. Waiting outside the British prime minister's house - Number 10 - has a reputation for being one of the coldest places if not in the whole south of England, then certainly London.  Today was going to be no different.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and British Foreign Minister David Miliband enjoy the sunshine outside Number 10.

By about 7.30 a.m., the sun had been up for about an hour and the blue sky hinted that Barack Obama's first day in Britain in over a decade was going to be a nice one. Lucky him. Some American tourists come here for week and will remember for a lifetime unrelenting grey skies and rain.

As 8 a.m. and the U.S. president's expected arrival approached, we were getting agitated, which was good – any movement tends to generate heat. Most of those gathered around me had never seen Barack Obama in the flesh before.  For a bunch of hard-bitten hacks you could say the mood was one of muted excitement.

Then something nice, really nice happened.  The sun rounded the corner of Downing Street.  It runs north-south, and from the southern end the sun pushed out shining in full warmth, inducing splendor from between the spokes of the giant London Eye. 

The huge wheel stands on the far side of the River Thames. For the cost of a few pints of beer, it slowly carries tourists high above the rooftops for a spectacular view of this ancient city.

The sun's rays splattered us, filling us with hope we may yet heat up. Unfortunately it also that meant we had to squint really hard to see if the presidential limo was pulling in to the street.

So it was, as Barack and Michelle Obama finally arrived at the door of number 10 and clambered out of the "Beast" - their ultra-armored truck/car - to greet Gordon and Sarah Brown, the street was bathed in bright sunshine. Well, all apart from the tiny spot where the foursome smiled warmly at each other and almost equally affectionately toward the cameras.

That's when I noticed there is a special inner warmth that spreads with the feeling that you're covering something that has the potential to be a good news story. Despite the talk of divisions we were witnesses to the beginning of a week that could yet prove to be a defining moment in history.

Then they were gone, whisked indoors so the serious stuff could begin. But before the big polished portal of number 10 could fully pull closed behind them, there was the sound of loud and hearty clapping from the corridors of power within. The world's most popular politician it seems was brightening and warming the lives of Mr. Brown's staff.

Within minutes though, somewhat disappointingly, as quickly as the sun had come, it was gone, continuing its westward path beyond Downing Street's narrow southern entrance.

For a moment we'd had the sun and the stars, now we had neither, which goes part of the way to explain why my fingers were almost too cold to take legible notes during their press conference two hours later.

ATLANTA, Georgia – Among those invited to President elect Obama's Inauguration as a guest of honor is an 84-year-old man you've probably never heard about.

His name is Mal Whitfield. Many years ago, he helped set up a program in Kenya that would give Barak Obama's father an opportunity to study in the United States. Whitfield was a U.S diplomat based in Kenya and his job was to assist young promising Kenyans get an education in the U.S.

Little did Whitfield think in his wildest imagination that one of these students would end up fathering the first African American President of the United States! There were hundreds of them over the years, Whitfield doesn't remember meeting Obama Senior in person. But Mal Whitfield knows a thing or two about making the most of a rare opportunity.

It was 1943, Whitfield was 18 when he heard the U.S military was looking for airmen to serve in the war bearing down on his country. There were few opportunities for African American men in the 1940s. Whitfield applied and was accepted to the program. He became a member of the highly respected Tuskegee airmen squad. They are true pioneers, the first African American airmen to serve in a war. They served their country- the country which discriminated against them – with distinction.

Their valor during the war put pressure on President Truman to desegregate the U.S military in 1947. It was a historic breakthrough which eventually led to the desegregation of the rest of America's institutions.

Whitfield can't wait to see his World War II pals again at the Inauguration. Some of them he hasn't seen since the war. He's moved to tears at the thought of seeing them alive, more than 50 years later. And what an occasion brings them together! They lived long enough to see the first African American man become the President uniting all Americans, regardless of the color of their skin.

Mal Whitfield will join us next Saturday to tell us about this incredible experience. You can leave a comment or question on my blog for him.

DENVER, Colorado - Is making history enough to make you president? Is great oratory proof to American voters of great leadership?

That is the question the Democrats face as they bring their convention to a close. Last night, Barack Obama made a surprise appearance at the Democratic National Convention culminating an exciting, emotional vote which made him the first African-American presidential nominee of one of America's major political parties. Bill Clinton and vice presidential nominee Joe Biden both gave strong speeches on his behalf, implicitly moving the Democrats beyond the "Hillary's Hard Feelings" stage of the campaign. And in a few hours, of course, Obama will formally accept his party's nomination with a speech to a crowd of 75,000.

The Democrats are running a dramatic and stirring convention. All the major speeches have been memorable. Obama's will probably be too. Is it enough to stop his slide in the polls? Or will the American people decide that the Democrats are the ones who can talk, the Republican the ones who can govern? The Democrats have done brilliantly on TV.

As I watch Obama's speech, my mind will be on all the other who are watching at home or doing something else entirely. They are what all of this has been about.

DENVER, Colorado - I've been working in the news business for 10 years, and in that time I've come to learn that some of the most amazing moments you experience come when you least expect it or simply via luck.

Today, I had shared in one of those experiences.

I was able to secure three passes for myself, reporter Isha Sesay, and photographer Stuart Clark to get onto to the floor of the Pepsi Arena here in Denver as the Democratic Party tallied up the votes for their presidential nominee. We were able to get the temporary passes for a half hour, and we had no idea what we'd actually find once we got in.

What we got was the ability to witness history.

As we elbowed our way through the tunnel under the arena and made our way into the crowd, you could feel the momentum building. Out we walked into the Pepsi Center and the place was going nuts. Each state was pledging their delegates. Washington. New Jersey. New Mexico. Illinois.

And then came New York. We had run into Governor David Patterson and Senator Chuck Schumer in the hallway leading into the arena, but there was no sign of Senator Hillary Clinton. When she came through, and her push through the crowd appeared on the large screens adorning the stage, the place turned into a madhouse.

Senator Clinton, clearly moved by the moment, effectively handed over all of her delegates to Senator Barack Obama. And with that, Senator Obama turned into the official Nominee of the Democratic Party.

The screaming and cheering was deafening. Senator Clinton appeared to be wiping back tears. Senator Nancy Pelosi, moderating on stage, asked for the crowd's seconding of the nomination. A roar burst through the roof. The O'Jays "Love Train" blared through the speakers and the crowd started swaying and dancing. This certainly looked like the unity that Democrats have been searching for, even if problems rumble below the Party's surface.

We saw one black man openly weeping. When asked why he said: "You hope, but I never thought I'd see this day come."