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Young Americans are paying attention to the 2008 presidential race, and many are ready to help their preferred candidate achieve victory, a poll by Harvard University’s Institute of Politics shows.  Young Americans share many of the concerns of those in other generations, with the war in Iraq and health care as their top concerns, the poll indicates.

Eight nations and the European Commission pledge $605 million in the continuing fight against the spread of H5N1 avian influenza in birds and people for efforts focusing on halting the virus at its avian source, bolstering disease surveillance and integrating animal and human health services and capabilities. The pledges come on the final day of the New Delhi Ministerial Conference on Avian and Pandemic Influenza, hosted by the government of India in collaboration with the International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza, launched by President Bush in 2005.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says a comprehensive cease-fire agreement between Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and nonextremist political groups will help facilitate the delivery of much-needed humanitarian aid in the country, and she urges the TFG to “renew and revitalize efforts towards a lasting political solution.” Meeting with African and international leaders in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, she outlines the U.S. commitment to seeking peace, building democracy and fostering prosperity in conflict regions including the Great Lakes, Sudan and the Horn of Africa.

Alexis de Tocqueville, France’s 19th-century observer of the United States, the modern world’s first democratic experiment, warned that democracy ultimately could lead to the tyranny of the majority. However, nearly two centuries later, democracy and the concept of majority rule have become powerful notions for which every nation on earth strives -- at least in word if not deed.

Stella Chikava distributes advertising pamphlets on the streets of Johannesburg, South Africa. It’s a long step down for the 41-year-old graduate with more than 10 years’ experience as a physics and chemistry teacher in Zimbabwe. But after undergoing detention, rape and torture under Robert Mugabe’s government, she feels lucky to be alive. Because of increased repression in Zimbabwe under the Mugabe regime, the United States is imposing additional sanctions against the country’s worst offenders, while continuing aid that will help ordinary Zimbabweans.

Haiti, long associated with desperate poverty, political instability and rampant violence, now has reason to see a better future, two U.S. officials say. Velia De Pirro of the State Department and Paul Tuebner from the U.S. Agency for International Development say in separate interviews with USINFO at the December 3-5 Miami Conference on the Caribbean Basin that an improved economy in Haiti is tied to the better security the country now has, especially in the capital of Port-au-Prince.

Providing medical and dental care, teaching English, fixing buildings and strengthening military ties between the United States and Cambodia were among the projects the USS Essex and a Marine expeditionary unit attached to the ship undertook during a recent port visit to Sihanoukville, Cambodia.

Barely a month before important state party caucuses begin in the new year, Democrats from around the United States converged near Washington for the Democratic National Committee fall general session -- the last such meeting of Democrats before early caucuses signal who the likely Democratic and Republican 2008 presidential nominees will be. Candidates courted a diverse set of voters at the session, giving speeches and meeting privately with delegates. “Here we are in a suburb of Washington, and a man or a woman who just worked the day shift can come in and listen to, perhaps, the next president of the United States. … Everyone in America can get involved, whether Republican or Democrat,” one participant tells USINFO.

Barely a month before important state party caucuses begin in the new year, Democrats from around the United States converged near Washington for the Democratic National Committee fall general session -- the last such meeting of Democrats before early caucuses signal who the likely Democratic and Republican 2008 presidential nominees will be. Candidates courted a diverse set of voters at the session, giving speeches and meeting privately with delegates. “Here we are in a suburb of Washington, and a man or a woman who just worked the day shift can come in and listen to, perhaps, the next president of the United States. … Everyone in America can get involved, whether Republican or Democrat,” one participant tells USINFO.

The U.S. government worked closely with CNN and private U.S. medical groups to bring the 5-year-old Iraqi victim of an extremely damaging burning assault to the United States for medical treatment. Speaking of Jewell Evans, the U.S. diplomat who played a key role in helping the young boy, U.S. Embassy Baghdad consular affairs spokesman Steve Royster says: "Jewell made special efforts. Youssif's case is unique in that it is outside normal procedures. Jewell took this case and discovered a way to make this happen."

With the first presidential nominating contests less than a month away, candidates in both parties are stepping up their attacks on opponents. The dynamics of the primary system drive candidates to appeal to the most aggressive voters, says Pietro Nivola, director of the Governance Studies Program at the Brookings Institution in Washington. "The result is when the chips are down, the races are getting tight as they are now … it's just simply too tempting to go on the attack," he says. USINFO talks with several election watchers about the changes happening in the campaign.

Trade and private capital flows are important economic engines for the developing world at a time when U.S. official development assistance to certain nations is being reduced. Jose Cardenas from the U.S. Agency for International Development tells USINFO that the U.S. relationship with the developing world, particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean, should be viewed in the “totality” of the amount of trade, investment and private flows of capital between the United States and other countries.

With the first presidential nominating contests less than a month away, candidates in both parties are stepping up their attacks on opponents. The dynamics of the primary system drive candidates to appeal to the most aggressive voters, says Pietro Nivola, director of the Governance Studies Program at the Brookings Institution in Washington. "The result is when the chips are down, the races are getting tight as they are now … it's just simply too tempting to go on the attack," he says. USINFO talks with several election watchers about the changes happening in the campaign.

Until recently, blind and visually impaired students found it extremely difficult to study certain subjects and pursue careers in science and technology because they could not see graphs and other visual representations. But now, a team at NASA has created easy-to-use software that allows students to graph equations, interact with the data and understand it all through text, tones and spoken language.

The world community has made progress in its response to avian influenza, according to a new United Nations-World Bank report whose results are announced at the New Delhi International Ministerial Conference on Avian and Pandemic Influenza. More than 600 delegates from 105 countries -- including 70 ministers from the public health and animal health sectors -- and 20 international and intergovernmental organizations convened in New Delhi to assess, review and exchange information on highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu in animals and people.

Many analysts are expressing surprise over the rejection of a referendum on a series of constitutional changes that were designed to increase Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s authority over his country, his first electoral defeat since assuming power in 1998. The setback to Chavez’s ambitions is not the first time a government has seen its quest for expanded authority defeated via referendum.

Many analysts are expressing surprise over the rejection of a referendum on a series of constitutional changes that were designed to increase Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s authority over his country, his first electoral defeat since assuming power in 1998. The setback to Chavez’s ambitions is not the first time a government has seen its quest for expanded authority defeated via referendum.

A new, joint effort by the U.S. government and private businesses will focus on creating new jobs for Palestinians, President Bush says. After welcoming Tahani Abu Daqqa, minister of youth for the Palestinian Authority to the White House, Bush says, “One of the things that interests me a lot is the fact that we are going to help the Palestinians develop youth centers, places where young Palestinians can come and learn new technical skills, or language skills, or have mentoring programs -- all aimed at saying, there is a hopeful future … a future where peace is possible.”

Although Americans feel politically divided today, this polarization is not necessarily a bad thing, political experts say. "There's no question that the partisan polarity between the Democrats and Republicans these days … runs deeper, certainly, than it did a generation ago," says Pietro Nivola, director of the Governance Studies Program at the Brookings Institution in Washington. However, "[n]ot everything about political polarization is a bad thing."

Although Americans feel politically divided today, this polarization is not necessarily a bad thing, political experts say. "There's no question that the partisan polarity between the Democrats and Republicans these days … runs deeper, certainly, than it did a generation ago," says Pietro Nivola, director of the Governance Studies Program at the Brookings Institution in Washington. However, "[n]ot everything about political polarization is a bad thing."