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　　3.President Obamas weekly address to the nation comes as he concludes a trip to Asia aimed at opening up new, fast-growing markets for American products. He notes that the economic competition is fierce.But as Ive said many times, America doesnt play for second place. The future were fighting for isnt as the worlds largest importer, consuming products made elsewhere, but as the worlds largest manufacturer of ideas and goods sold around the world.The U.S. president says in order to make the most of economic growth, the U.S. must reduce its budget deficit and cut spending.The Republican opposition has repeatedly accused the administration of overspending. That message helped Republicans trounce President Obamas Democratic Party in recent Congressional elections.Now, the President says he is calling on Democratic and Republican lawmakers to show they are serious about reform, and to stop funding projects in their own local districts through so-called earmarks inserted into federal spending bills. 4.According to the International Maritime Organization, 20 ships - and more than 438 sailors and passengers - are being held by pirates. U.N. political chief Lynn Pascoe warns that Somali pirates, driven by a lack of legitimate economic opportunities, are taking greater risks and seeking higher ransoms. The Somali people, especially the youth, need greater incentives not to succumb to the lure of the pirate economy. As long as piracy is so lucrative, with ransom payments adding up to tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars, and other economic incentives so bleak, the economic imperative is very obvious.He said economic rehabilitation and the creation of alternative livelihoods, especially the development and rehabilitation of coastal fisheries, must be at the center of international efforts to fight piracy.Pascoe stressed that establishing security and the rule of law also are important elements to combating piracy. He urged strengthening of Somalias police and the creation of a coast guard or coastal monitoring capability. 5.Ruth Hins owns a grocery store and bakery in the Rio de Janeiro favela of Cantagalo, where she used to live. She is one of 35.5 million Brazilians who have moved from humble beginnings into the middle class since 2003. Another 20 million have risen above the poverty level. I never would have thought of this. I never would have dreamed of this happening.As most of the world struggles to climb out of a recession, Brazils $1.3-trillion economy is booming, and now surpasses India and Russia. Its per-capita income is twice that of China, and creative entrepreneurs like Hins are reaping the benefitsHer father moved the family to Cantagalo from a small town in the northern state of Bahia when she was 12. He bought the property that now houses the store. When I got the idea to open a shop, the only thing I had in the ca

　　binet was salt. So, I started to sell salt 6.After shedding billions of dollars in debt, analysts s ay both General Motors and Chrysler are poised for a comeback. Ford, the only US automaker to refuse a government bailout, has posted the strongest numbers, with six straight quarters of growth.Despite a slowdown in its worldwide sales, Ford CEO Alan Mulally says aggressive cost cutting has helped the company boost profits. Weve come through this horrible recession. We kept investing in the future, we have the products that people really do want and value, and now we are switching over to profitable growth mode which is great for everybody. Together, the nations big three automakers expect to invest $2 billion in their Michigan operations - thanks in part to tax breaks from the state. Auto analyst Jeremy Anwyl says the incentives could create as many as 2,300 new jobs. 7.Reports of severe damage began to trickle in Tuesday, hours after a 7.7-magnitude earthquake created a tsunami late Monday night.The waves up to three meters high hit the Mentawai islands, about 280 kilometers off western Sumatra. There are reports that hundreds of homes on the islands were damaged by the quake or the waves. Wisnu Wijaya, the preparedness director with the National Disaster Management Agency, says the government is getting aid to the islands.We already sent a rapid response team to this area, coordinated by the provincial government. We have local disaster management at Padang, because right now the condition of the wave is quite high.High waves and stormy weather have made it difficult to reach the affected areas. Communication is also a problem. Wijaya says emergency shelters have been set up and the first team from Sumatra was arriving Tuesday evening to begin a rapid assessment of the aid that was needed. 8.Most of the worlds poor are not in poor countries. Thats the finding of new research from the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) at the University of Sussex. It could lead to a re-thinking of donor aid and ways of achieving the Millennium Development Goals, or MDGs.The new policy briefing by the IDS is called: The New Bottom Billion and the MDGs – A Plan of Action. Its written by Andy Sumner, research fellow in vulnerability and poverty reduction.We wanted to see how poverty had changed over the last 20 years. And what we found was increasingly the worlds poor are living in middle income countries. What the World Bank calls middle income countries. Thats countries of more than a thousand dollars per person (per year). And there are about 960 million poor people out of a total of 1.3 billion or so who live in middle income countries. Theres a bit difference in the popular notion of the bottom billion living in the worlds poorest countries. He says thats important because... Poverty is increasingly not necessarily only about poor cou

　　ntries. Its actually about poor people living in countries that arent so poor. And that sort of raises all sorts of questions. 9.A hundred or so demonstrators waving red flags and many wearing yel low stickers calling for a retirement at sixty gathered in Paris this weekend. They oppose the governments plan to raise the minimum retirement age two tears, to 62 and full retirement from 65 to 67. The bill has sparked protests for more than two weeks from transport strike that has disrupted rail services and airports, and a blockade on refineries, fuel depots and ports that has left many gas stations empty. The French government says the reforms are necessary because of a large fiscal deficit. These demonstrators are collecting money for the strikers to continue. Patrice Bessac is a spokesman for the French Comminist party,says it does not matter that the senate just passed the bill. The law is passed but not the http://www.wendangwang.combor unions have called for a nationwide day of action on Thursday. A similar call brought more than a million people into the streets early this week. 10.Sally Leivesley, a security advisor based in Britain, said, The potential for three countries - France, Germany, and Britain - to be attacked simultaneously is actually a global shock attack and it comes out of the maturity in the style of attacks that Pakistan has very sadly been having for a long time, and also that the soldiers are seeing in Afghanistan.Officials in the United States and Europe have so far refused to confirm the report on record. U.S. Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper, Jr. has said that the U.S. has shared intelligence with Europe in recent days and is working with its allies to combat international terrorism. Reports by the British media say well-armed jihadists planned to attack major European cities in a manner similar to the attack against Mumbai in 2008. In that attack, ten gunmen killed 166 people in a three-day assault on Indias most populated city.