Barack Obama gets down to work

* The US president-elect was briefed by the CIA on the full scale of the terror threat he faces around the globe.

* The Dow Jones plunged five per cent as warnings were sounded about the state of the American economy. The FTSE-100 was down 86.06 points at 1pm.

* Obama was locked in talks with advisers over who will take charge of the US Treasury and mastermind a $175 billion Gordon Brown-style rescue plan to spend the country out of recession. The US Treasury plans to borrow a record $550 billion to fund its bank bail-out.

From today, the new president-elect will receive daily classified briefings from the CIA and the Pentagon on threats to American interests, military dangers and domestic terrorism.

Joe Biden, the vice president-elect, will also begin to receive briefings this week as the pair get ready to take office in 75 days. Determined to hit the ground running, Mr Obama was stepping up preparations for taking power, including a clutch of key appointments for the new administration.

However, he was already facing his first big row - critics accused him of handing key jobs to a "Chicago Mafia" of cronies. As revealed in yesterday's Standard, he offered the crucial position of White House chief of staff to fellow Chicago politician Rahm Emanuel, a close friend and highly partisan figure.

Mr Emanuel, who had long planned to become the House of Representatives Speaker, was expected to accept, even though it will mean giving up his Congress seat.

John Kerry, who lost the party's presidential bid four years ago, was said by Democrat sources to be lobbying for an appointment as Secretary of State in the new administration.

Mr Obama was expected to confirm a string of names within days, including his Treasury team. He is anxious to avoid Bill Clinton's mistake of leaving the appointments until days before he took office, which left his choices unprepared and subject to hostile confirmation hearings. John Podesta, a Chicago native and former White House chief of staff under President Clinton, has been preparing a list of key positions, especially those relating to the economy.

Mr Obama announced yesterday that Mr Podesta was heading his transition team, which has already met President Bush's aides to prepare for a smooth handover.

Valerie Jarrett, 51, another close friend from Chicago and campaign adviser, is in the transition team and is also tipped to be appointed to the Cabinet to run Housing and Urban Development.

Pete Rouse, who has been Mr Obama's chief of staff in the Senate, is another close aide.

President Bush promised to cooperate with Mr Obama before the transfer of power on 20 January. Mr Bush went to the Rose Garden of the White House yesterday to pay tribute to Mr Obama's achievement. The president-elect will enter office with a long policy wish-list that includes ending the war in Iraq, implementing a near-universal health-insurance plan and finding alternatives to Middle Eastern oil.

All this will have to be carried out amid record budget deficits, a looming crisis in social security and medical care spending as the baby-boom generation retires, and fears that the nation is on the edge of a deep recession. His intention to remove troops from Iraq could mean a row with troop commanders, including General David Petraeus, the commander who designed the "surge" policy of stepping up troop numbers to beat the insurgents. There is also the danger that attacks will escalate now that the US is known to be withdrawing. Removing American forces from Iraq would allow a greater focus on beating the Taliban in Afghanistan. However, the war there could be long and costly. These latest military needs and plans will be a key issue at his briefings with intelligence and military officials.

In his victory speech in Grant Park, Mr Obama signalled that he wants America to be more cooperative in the world. But friendly relations with aggressive Russian leader Vladimir Putin may be tricky and he also has to decide how hard to push human rights issues with the Chinese.