(inan.info)-By Mike O'Sullivan
Los Angeles

U.S. President-elect Barack Obama has begun assembling a White House team in advance of the presidential transition January 20. Mike OSullivan reports that after the excitement over the historic election dies down, the next president will face some serious domestic and international issues.

Barack Obama outlined some of the challenges facing the nation in his victory speech in Chicago Tuesday night. They include the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, environmental issues and an economic crisis. He predicted setbacks and

(inan.info)-Thank you!

You proved that change can happen. You built an unprecedented grassroots organization in all 50 states that brought a record number of people into the political process -- many for the first time, many for the first time in a long time.

Our success required unprecedented resources, and the Democratic National Committee played a major role on the ground efforts that generated record turnout up and down the ticket.

Please make a donation to the DNC to help fund the efforts it undertook in 2008.

When you donate $30 or more, you'll receive a limited edition shirt to show your support for change.

(inan.info)-President George W. Bush delivers a statement on the 2008 president election from the Rose Garden Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2008, at the White House. Said the President, "A long campaign has now ended, and we move forward as one nation. We're embarking on a period of change in Washington, yet there are some things that will not change. The United States government will stay

(inan.info)-Mrs. Laura Bush speaks on the phone with Michelle Obama Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2008 in the family residence at the White House. Mrs. Bush assured Mrs. Obama that they will enjoy living at the White House, and that it

By Greg Flakus
Houston

The celebration of Barack Obama's election to the US presidency has died down and now the president-elect and his team begin to face the many choices that confront them as they prepare to assume office in January. As VOA's Greg Flakus reports from Houston, political experts and foreign policy analysts say the

By Greg Flakus
Houston

Among the so-called swing states or toss-up states in this year's presidential election, the one where the race may be the hardest to call is the Midwestern state of Missouri. Democratic candidate Barack Obama and Republican candidate John McCain are in a statistical dead heat in the state and, as VOA's Greg Flakus reports from Houston, the result will probably depend on turnout.

Missouri is a state with two large urban centers, one to the east, St. Louis, on the Mississippi River, and one in the northwest, Kansas City, on the Missouri River. But the presidential contest in Missouri could hinge on how people in the middle and south of the state vote and how many of them show up at the polls. In what is called out-state Missouri, voters tend to be more conservative.

But, Missouri State University Political Science Professor George Connor says economic concerns, including home foreclosures, cutbacks in healthcare programs and job losses at factories could give Obama an edge.

"The economy, and in particular foreclosures, is going to play a role and it is like everywhere else in the United States: every day the economy is bad is another good day for Barack Obama," Connor said.

The key, Connor says is how big the turnout will be in the urban areas and close-in suburbs, where Democrats tend to do well. In the past, he says, doing well in the urban areas alone has not been enough to win the state's 11 electoral votes, but this time may be different.

"A Democrat has not been able to win the state of Missouri by just carrying the urban areas," he said. "They have had to carry the urban areas and make some headway in out-state Missouri. The way the numbers are looking in Kansas City and Saint Louis and, to a lesser extent, Jefferson City and Columbia, Barack Obama is going to get turnout way bigger than any Democrat has done statewide, which suggests that he would need less of the out-state Missouri turnout."

The last poll results in Missouri show John McCain with a razor-thin lead, but since it is within the margin of error, he and Obama are seen as tied.

While Obama can count on strong support from African-Americans, urban professionals and much of the youth in urban areas, George Connor says McCain's running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, has

By VOA News

The U.S. military has transferred control of Iraq's once-violent Babil province to Iraqi forces, making it the 12th of 18 provinces returned to Iraqi control.

During a handover ceremony Thursday, the number two U.S. commander in Iraq, Lieutenant General Lloyd Austin said security gains in the central province, south of Baghdad have been remarkable, with attacks declining 80 percent over the past year.
Iraq's National Security Advisor, Mowaffaq al-Rubaie said the handover is proof Iraqi forces in Babil have reached self-sufficiency. The White House press secretary, Dana Perino said the transfer was another example of improving security.

Meanwhile, a top U.S. military commander, Major General John Kelly, told reporters Thursday U.S. troop levels could be

-By Libby Massey

Ambassador John E. Lange leads the U.S. Government’s engagement with international organizations to help respond to outbreaks of avian influenza
Ambassador John E. Lange, former U.S. Ambassador to Botswana, currently Special Representative on Avian and Pandemic Influenza at the U.S. Department of State, says avian influenza and the threat of a pandemic are serious risks to world health. He cautioned that if the avian virus (also known as H5N1) mutates and forms a pandemic like the one in 1918, it could kill tens of millions of people throughout the world.

Ambassador Lange spoke with host Carol Castiel, VOA Science and Medicine Correspondent Jessica Berman, and VOA Producer Libby Massey on Press Conference, USA in Washington in advance of the 6th International Ministerial Conference on Avian and Pandemic Influenza in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt on October 24-26, 2008.

Ambassador Lange explained that avian influenza is most prevalent in Egypt, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Indonesia, and other countries in

By Jim Randle
Washington

As officials and business leaders struggle to rescue the economy from serious problems, the news has been filled with strange terms like "mortgage-backed securities" and "leverage." We asked VOA's Jim Randle to translate some of this Wall Street-speak into more understandable language.

The financial crisis grows out of problems with mortgages, which are loans from a bank that helps a borrower to buy a home.

The borrower must repay the loan, as well as additional charges called "interest." Interest is rent paid to the lender for the privilege of using the money for a specific period of time.

Traditionally, U.S. lenders required prospective borrowers to prove that they

(inan.info)-VOAnews-Bessie Coleman, 1892-1926: She Dared to Dream and Became the First African American Female Pilot
She believed that the air is the only place where everyone is free. Transcript of radio broadcast:

VOICE ONE:

I'm Faith Lapidus.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember with People in America in VOA Special English. Today we tell about Bessie Coleman, the first African American woman pilot.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:
Bessie Coleman was born in Atlanta, Texas, in eighteen ninety-two. Her mother was African American. Her father was part African American and part American Indian. Her family was poor. Bessie had to walk more than six kilometers to go to school. When she was nine years old, her father left the family to search in Oklahoma for the territory of his Indian ancestors.

In Texas then, as in most areas of the American South, black people were treated unfairly. They lived separately from white people and established their own religious, business and social traditions. Bessie was proud of her race. She learned that from her hard-working and religious mother.

VOICE TWO:

Bessie had to pick cotton and wash clothes to help earn money for her family. She was able to save a little money and went to college in the state of Oklahoma. She was in college only one year. She had to leave because she did not have enough money to complete her studies. But during that year, she learned about flying. She read about the first flight of the Wright Brothers and the first American female pilot, Harriet Quimby. Bessie often thought about what it would feel like to fly like a bird.

VOICE ONE:

When she was twenty-three, Bessie Coleman moved to Chicago, Illinois to live with two of her older brothers. There, she worked at several jobs. But she wanted to do something more important. She heard stories from pilots who were returning from World War One. She decided she was going to learn how to fly airplanes. She soon found this to