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Amy Jaffe is surprised that only very few people think she and her colleagues are crazy. What the Massachusetts Technology Institute senior, about 400 other students and 30 faculty members from around the world want to do is not a small feat.  The group plans to build, in just three years, a hyperefficient, supersafe four-passenger to six-passenger car called VDS Vision that will be produced and used with 95 percent less energy and toxic materials throughout its lifetime than an average existing vehicle.

The political season has kicked off in southwest Texas as those seeking election announce their candidacies, raise funds and take the pulse of the region. Texans say health care and Iraq are their top domestic and foreign concerns, and candidates are responding. “Health care continues to be the main issue, with the exception of those international issues such as Iraq,” says Representative Ciro Rodriguez, incumbent Democratic Party congressman of the Texas 23rd Congressional District. USINFO talks with district voters and political leaders about the election issues in the district.

More than 250 members of the Jewish, Islamic and Christian communities in Frederick, Maryland, share a meal together at the second annual Hanukah, Christmas and Hajj Festival. Dinner was served potluck style -- families contributed their favorite dishes of the season and placed them side by side with those of their neighbors on long banquet tables. There was something for everyone -- from green bean casserole and homemade saffron bread to matzoh ball soup, keema kabob and vegetable pilaf.

From product safety to financial sector reform, energy and the environment, tensions between two of the world’s largest economies make frequent headlines. The United States and China have a complex relationship -- increasingly connected, occasionally at odds.  Managing that relationship and addressing the wide array of related issues requires the top-level, multifaceted approach found in the U.S.-China Strategic Economic Dialogue, which held its third meeting December 12-13 near Beijing.

With the presidential election primary season beginning -- and possibly ending -- earlier than ever before, candidates face many new challenges, political experts say.  With the first race in the 2008 presidential contest just two days after New Year’s Day, in Iowa, the candidates’ final days of campaigning in that state will coincide with the holiday season, which could pose a challenge for those who are running behind. The scheduling of nominating contests in 22 states on the same day in 2008 also will require that candidates carefully allocate their advertising resources and campaign staffs to win party votes.

The climate change mitigation plan adopted by a U.N. conference in Bali, Indonesia, is “a good set of elements … on mitigation, adaptation, technology and finance to guide important considerations,” lead U.S. negotiator Paula Dobriansky says, adding it is a first step “in beginning an important discussion about how to achieve a truly global solution.”

To enhance the evolution of democracy in Afghanistan, the United States launches a public-private partnership to help improve the fledgling Afghan justice system by funding low-cost, high-impact projects that promote women's rights, access to justice, legal aid, professional legal development and other justice-related programs. "It is imperative that Afghanistan develop a well-trained, educated, and demographically representative cadre of judges to serve in courts across the country," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says.

Nations must match their commitments to Middle East peace made at the November 27 Annapolis Conference with financial contributions for creating a future Palestinian state, says Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. “Words and promises of support are helpful, but that alone is insufficient.  Progress requires action, and it requires tangible financial assistance,” Rice says during a high-level international donors' conference in Paris, during which nations and organizations pledge $7.4 billion in assistance to the Palestinians.

Delegates to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change conference see more than an international wrangle over a document intended to set the pace for mitigating and adapting to climate change. They also get a glimpse of American political dissent as U.S. politicians and environmental activists troop to the meeting in Bali, Indonesia, to have a say. The United States is committed to developing a post-2012 arrangement that will slow, stop and reverse global emissions in order to prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system,” U.S. Under Secretary of State Paula Dobriansky says. The Kyoto Protocol, ratified by all major developed nations but the United States, expires in 2012. The purpose of the Bali meeting is to negotiate a new framework for action.

Young American Muslims, many professionals in their 20s, are traveling to the Middle East to perform the Hajj, according to travel industry experts in the United States. This is a new trend, according to one Seattle tour operator. “The Hajj is an arduous undertaking that requires physical strength, endurance and stamina,” says award-winning documentary filmmaker Anisa Mehdi, who follows three pilgrims in her film Inside Mecca. “Traditionally, older people do it because there is great motivation to complete the transcendental journey, but it is easier for people in good health and strong,” Mehdi says.

Casualties from land mines worldwide have dropped from around 26,000 a year four years ago to a little more than 3,000 a year today, counting both land mines and other target-activated explosives. The United States long has been the largest financial contributor to humanitarian mine action -- a broad category that covers clearance, funding for prosthetics, training of mine removers, mine risk education, and research and development for better mine removal equipment and techniques -- and since 1993 has provided more than $1.2 billion to some 50 countries in this effort.

In ranking the 100 best public high schools in the United States, the magazine U.S. News and World Report found a common denominator in their unwavering commitment to excellence -- but widely divergent ways in which they achieved their outstanding results in the classroom.

After a White House meeting with Nigerian President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, President Bush praises the Nigerian leader for being “committed to democracy and rule of law.” Bush describes Yar’Adua as “very articulate in his desire to make sure that the people of Nigeria understand that their government will be fair and transparent, and will be a government of the people.” The two presidents describe their Oval Office meeting as a “good visit.”

The December 17 international, high-level donors' conference in Paris is an opportunity for the global community to reinforce its support for a resolution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and an opportunity for the Palestinians to show their genuine desire for statehood, according to senior U.S. officials.

Nongovernmental organizations such as the World Wildlife Fund are realizing they cannot address problems such as climate change, deforestation and diminishing biodiversity without the involvement of companies that have an impact on the environment. At the same time, corporations are becoming more likely to cooperate with conservation groups because of increasingly tough environmental and biodiversity standards in their host and home countries. USINFO talks with some participants in these public-private partnerships.

Argentina’s new president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, is sworn in as the country’s first female leader, calling for new government reforms and an acceleration of human rights investigations into abuses carried out during former military leader Jorge Videla’s regime. In Washington, U.S. officials call for Argentina to resume its active role in international organizations such as the United Nations, the Organization of American States and Interpol. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Thomas Shannon tells reporters that Argentina’s involvement in global efforts to prevent nuclear proliferation and terrorism and resolve the Middle East conflict is welcome and very important. “[I]n the region, a successful Argentina is an anchor for democracy and a promoter of stability.  It can play a very important role in the Andean countries,” Shannon says.

A comprehensive approach that includes better education for at-risk young people is needed to cut high crime rates in Central America and the Caribbean, according to experts, who say crime in Central America and the Caribbean has become worse, despite anti-crime programs by the region’s governments. Attendees at a conference in Miami share information and strategies for addressing income inequality, easy access to guns and a young underemployed or unemployed population -- all triggers to the region’s increasing crime rates.

Kiva.org, a nonprofit microlending Web site, has enabled people to make small loans that can make a big difference to other individuals.  Thanks to Kiva, Chiyenure Uwobodo, a Nigerian mother of four, was able to borrow $250 to expand her beauty salon business.  Grace Ayaa, a mother of four in Uganda, borrowed $475 for a refrigerator to store the peanut butter she was making until she could sell it, and to buy packing materials.  Kiva is “all about connecting people” and “connecting lenders with microbusinesses online,” says Matt Flannery, the chief executive officer and one of the co-founders of the Web site.

With the first primaries and caucuses in the 2008 presidential race right around the corner, the candidates are focusing on states that hold the earliest contests. USINFO surveys the political terrain in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.

The visit of Nigerian President Umaru Yar’Adua to the White House represents the beginning of a “new relationship” that will signal closer bilateral relations between Nigeria and the United States on a broad range of important issues. U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Todd J. Moss previews the visit and considers the U.S.-Nigeria relationship in an interview with USINFO.