Congratulations and good luck to Barack Obama – a very nervous start to his presidency!

There are millions watching in inaugural speech and watching him swear his allegiance to the United States of America and to God and he messed up his words, as he was clearly very nervous. I found this to be quite endearing and shows that he is human. However, let’s hope that these errors in his first works leading up to his presidency are not a sign on things to come. The USA and the World cannot afford to have another president like George W Bush!

AS I have written before, Mr Obama will have to hit the ground running – with the financial crisis, middle east problems in Israel, Iraq and of course Afghanistan, not to mention global warming.

I feel that Barack Obama restored himself in what sounded like a great inaugural speech including words like “re-making America” and I hold my hand up to him and wish him all the success – the World needs it…he holds the whole World in his hands – the next 100 hours will be crucial…the next few days need to be decisive…the following few weeks will be revealing…the coming months will show him out for what he brings to the most powerful country in the World…the next few years will be painted in history and lets hope that the real job at hand for Mr Obama is not too much and that he proves himself not just as the first black president, but more importantly in his capacity as a President of the United States of America!

His colour should not be looked at, but instead his actions, his decision and of course where he takes his country, the USA, from this moment on!

New homes in the US changed hands at their lowest price in four years during September, official figures showed.

The median price of a new single-family home was $218,400 (£141,870) according to the US Commerce department.

Sales were up 2.7% on the previous month, beating economists’ predictions, although total sales for the month were 33% below last year’s figures.

The boost follows news of the biggest monthly gain in five years for existing US homes sales in September.

Foreclosures

The median price of a new home in September was 9% less than it would have cost last year – and at its lowest level since September 2004 – when house prices were rising rapidly during a five-year housing boom.

The unexpected rise in new home sales followed a 12.6% drop in month-on-month sales in August, after a 3.6% rise in July.

September’s sales were actually down 21.4% in the north-east of the US, and 5.8% in the Midwest.

But the overall rise was fuelled by a 22.7% rise in sales in the west and a 0.7% rise in the south.

Meanwhile, the number of unsold new homes, which stood at 394,000 at the end of September, remains near historic highs, bolstered by a large number of US home foreclosures adding more properties to the market.

News reported by The BBC