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Setting out for the Middle East, President Bush hopes to build on the success of the November 2007 Annapolis Conference to keep up momentum toward a two-state solution for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by the end of 2008. “What you see in the Middle East right now is a struggle between extremists and those who have a more hopeful vision for the future of the Middle East,” National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley says. During his trip, Bush will make his first official visits to Israel and the West Bank, with stops in Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

A team of U.S. specialists is lending its expertise to the Republic of Korea after a crane barge collided with the motor tanker Hebei Spirit, releasing nearly 11.4 million liters of crude oil into the Yellow Sea 10 kilometers off the nation’s west coast. Although the spill happened December 7, 2007, the cleanup effort, which could take a year or more, is just beginning. The spill is the largest in the East Asian country’s history, affecting more than 160 kilometers of beaches, rocky shoreline and aquaculture sites bordering Taean County and points north, 150 kilometers southwest of Seoul.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband jointly cite the need for “a sustained call from Kenya's political leaders for the cessation of violence by their followers” and call for the country’s leaders to engage “in a spirit of compromise that puts the democratic interests of Kenya first.” Their joint statement comes after days of violence across the country left as many as 300 people dead and caused tens of thousands to flee their homes to escape looters and armed mobs.

In a series of recent interviews, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice discusses several U.S. foreign policy priorities for 2008, the Bush administration's final year in office.  These include keeping up momentum in the Mideast peace process, continuing support for democracy in Lebanon, building on the surge in Iraq, halting controversial nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea, promoting stability in Afghanistan and Pakistan, resolving the status of Kosovo and addressing Russia's concerns over a proposed missile defense system based in Europe.

The United States is reaching out to political leaders across Pakistan in the wake of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's assassination, urging them to move forward with the democratic process.  "She was a champion for democracy," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says of Bhutto after signing a condolence book at the Pakistan Embassy in Washington.  "The way to honor her memory is to continue the democratic process in Pakistan so that the democracy that she so hoped for can emerge."

President Bush joins world leaders in shocked condemnation of the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and urges continued progress toward democratic reforms in Pakistan. “The United States strongly condemns this cowardly act by murderous extremists who are trying to undermine Pakistan's democracy,” Bush tells reporters at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.  “Those who committed this crime must be brought to justice.”

Paula King had a problem. Diagnosed with cancer in 2003, King was inundated with goodwill gift food baskets from her friends. But her digestive system had an intolerance for corn products, commonly used in foods but sometimes omitted from ingredient lists, leaving her afraid to eat the well-intentioned gifts. Nor could she just give the baskets to her friend Susan Lawens, who had her own allergy to wheat, another frequent ingredient. King and Lawens turned a problem into a thriving business: they started HealthyGoodiesGifts.com, marketing customized gift baskets to those, like themselves, with special dietary needs. Two years later, their business received a Stevie Award for Women in Business as the most innovative company of 2005. Their success illustrates several points about the role of small business in innovation.

A Victorian-era house that served as a refuge from the bustle of White House life for President Abraham Lincoln and his family now offers an intimate look at the presidency of a man whose leadership during the U.S. Civil War helped keep his nation intact. President Lincoln’s Cottage, situated on the 112-hectare compound of the federally owned Soldiers’ Home in Washington, will open to the public in February 2008 following a seven-year restoration project.

America is changing in big ways.  It’s getting older, and it’s getting more racially and ethnically diverse, the U.S. Census Bureau says in its annual Statistical Abstract of the United States.  The publication, a compendium of data on American life, includes everything from how much Americans volunteer (27 percent of the population volunteers an hour per week) to which U.S. cities are most popular with travelers from abroad (New York wins by far).

To an outsider, the caucus may seem as nonsensical as a passage in a children’s tale, but caucuses are all about doing: giving up personal time, talking, deciding and realigning loyalties when a favored candidate fails to win enough support to be “viable.” Essentially a neighborhood meeting, the name “caucus” derives from an American Indian word for a conference of tribal leaders.

A moderate, stable Afghanistan is crucial to the United States, its NATO allies and the southwest region of Asia. To that end, NATO is leading some 40,000 troops from 37 nations under the umbrella of the United Nations-mandated International Security Assistance Force. Civil-military provincial reconstruction teams populated by U.S. and coalition forces also have been hard at work refurbishing schools so that 5 million children can be educated and fixing up hospitals so that health care can be a reality. These and other developments have given rise to cautious optimism among many Afghan observers, but sustained security remains key to that country’s long-term success, especially given a recent increase in violence.

Although it has taken a long time in U.S. history, today women commonly serve on the highest courts in the country.  Many of these women overcame great obstacles to achieve their positions.  The composition of the American judicial system is "very different than when I joined the court and there were all white men," said Leah Ward Sears, chief justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia. "That is not the America I know today."

Two young inventors are perfecting a device that gives back the power of speech to people who suffer from diseases or disabilities that have taken away their ability to talk. The device, called the Audeo, translates thoughts -- or, more precisely, brain signals sent to the vocal cords -- into synthesized speech.  Using the same technology, inventors Michael Callahan and Thomas Coleman also have created a mechanized wheelchair that moves, turns and stops in response to intercepted brain signals.

As the number of deaths in Iraq declines and the coverage of the issue in the news media decreases, polls indicate that Americans are as concerned or more concerned about economic issues.  Economic concerns commonly dictate voters' choices in American elections, says NBC News Political Director Chuck Todd. And presidential candidates are paying attention and adjusting their campaign strategies.

American professors of medicine at Columbia University in New York quietly have been repairing facial deformities in Honduran children for nearly two decades, giving thousands of youngsters a chance to lead normal lives.  Dr. Howard Smith, 88, and Dr. Joseph Haddad, 50, go beyond performing the delicate procedures of repairing cleft lips and cleft palates.  Largely at their own expense, the two humanitarians also are training Honduran doctors to do the operations and providing them with financial support during apprenticeships.

Vaccinating its highest-risk populations of chickens and ducks has been an expensive and logistically complex effort for Vietnam’s central government, but animal health officials say it has slowed deadly outbreaks of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza among birds in the Southeast Asian nation and, critically, among people.

Campaign committees for both major political parties in the United States spend substantial time and effort recruiting the best potential candidates for key election districts around the country. Their drive to recruit winning candidates comes against the background of a 2006 congressional election in which the Democrats took over 30 previously Republican seats in the 435-member House of Representatives, moving into majority status after 12 years of Republican control.

The U.S. House of Representatives values the efforts of Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi so highly that it votes to award her the United States' highest civilian honor. The moves by the House, along with new proposals to tighten further U.S. economic sanctions, are a small part of a wider U.S. policy to join with the international community to urge the military government in Rangoon to end political crackdowns, release Suu Kyi and other political prisoners and enter into talks with democracy movement leaders.

In the four years since highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu began infecting and killing the chickens, the ducks and eventually the people of Vietnam, the government has made changes on the ground and across the animal and human health infrastructure that will serve the nation far beyond the threat of avian flu. In this serious venture, the Vietnamese government has had help from many international donors. In addition to international assistance, the government of Vietnam has put great commitment, time and resources into efforts to stop the spread of avian flu. USINFO talks with health officials in Hanoi and surveys the government’s bird flu efforts.

American congressional districts come in all sizes and shapes. While each of the 50 states gets two at-large senators, House of Representatives’ districts are apportioned by population. The geographically smallest district covers only a few square blocks of Harlem in New York City. The largest covers the entire state of Alaska, which, despite its enormous size (nearly as large as Iran), has so few inhabitants that it is entitled to only one representative. USINFO looks at one district, Oregon’s 1st, and examines how demographic and economic changes over the years have transformed its political landscape.