1 San Francisco Chronicle on poverty in the US. Who is poor in America? The question has immense relevance in determining programs and policies to help people make ends meet. A new formula released on Monday by the Census Bureau tries to draw a more realistic picture of poverty - and found that it's more prevalent than ever. A record 49.1 million Americans lived in poverty in 2010, according to the census' supplemental poverty measure. The new measure considers a range of expenses, including food, shelter, clothing and utilities, and takes into account different sources of income, such as food stamps and housing subsidies. It shows that 16 percent of the US population lives in poverty. By contrast, the decades-old official measure, which considers only food costs and before-tax income, shows 15.1 percent of Americans, or 46.6 million people, living in poverty in 2010.
2 San Francisco Chronicle on US mortgages that are ‘underwater’. As many as 28.6% of US homeowners are "underwater" - owing more on their mortgages than their houses are worth. The figure climbed in the third quarter as banks repossessed fewer homes. (A year ago, only 23.2% were underwater.)
3 Al Jazeera on Brazil’s charcoal slaves. Brazil, once the world's largest importer of slaves from Africa, has taken the lead in fighting 21st century slavery with a raft of innovative laws aimed at stamping it out. However, slave labour continues to thrive in the South American country - especially in the age-old practice of charcoal burning. The dirty and dangerous business is relied on by many international companies as one of the early stages in the manufacturing of pig iron. Brazilian pig iron is shipped to some of the world's biggest companies, including household name car manufacturers - who use it to forge steel. But the charcoal burning stage is sometimes done by forced labourers, including men from the poverty-stricken north of Brazil who are lured with false promises to remote camps. They are forced into working and living in appalling conditions, and often tricked into amassing massive debts that are impossible to meet in order to pay for their accommodation and even work equipment.
4 The Guardian stating cricket’s innocence was lost 200 years ago. The judge in the spot-fixing trial said cricket is 'damaged in the eyes of all'. His words were about 200 years out of date. Reverend Pycroft’s book, The Cricketer's Field, published in 1851, includes the first detailed account of corruption in cricket. Then, as now, the rot started when the players were allowed to mingle with the gamblers and bookies. Access was everything, and that is what they got in the Green Man. "Hundreds of pounds were bet upon all the great matches, and other wages laid on the scores of the finest players," recalled Billy Beldham, to Pycroft. "And that too by men who had a book for every race and every match in the sporting world - men who lived by gambling." "Then these men would come down to the Green Man and drink with us," recalled Pycroft's source. There, they would play on two weaknesses in the players: their relative poverty and their greed.
5. BBC on Formula One cars being no match for the humming bird. Slow-motion footage has revealed how a hovering hummingbird is able to cope with wet weather. The cameras show that the delicate bird shakes its heads with such acceleration that it can reach a g-force of 34 (Formula 1 racing cars typically reach less than 6g). This mid-air manoeuvre takes just 0.1 seconds and removes almost all of the water droplets from its feathers. Professor Robert Dudley, one of the authors of the study, from the University of California, Berkeley, said: "It is the extreme mobility - its head is going through 180 degrees in a 10th of a second or less - it is just extraordinary." The Anna's hummingbird is found in cloud forests and the neo-tropics where rainy days are common, and is able to remain active even in very wet weather. Yet, until now, nobody knew how the bird did it.
6 BBC on the IMF chief’s prediction of a lost decade for the world. The head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, has warned that the global economy is at risk of being plunged into a "lost decade". Speaking in China, Ms Lagarde called upon Beijing to rebalance its economy. "Our sense is that if we do not act boldly and if we do not act together, the economy around the world runs the risk of downward spiral of uncertainty, financial instability and potential collapse of global demand," she said. "We could run the risk of what some commentators are already calling the lost decade," Ms Lagarde added.
7 The Dawn on India’s twin epidemics. India is facing a twin epidemic of diabetes and high blood pressure, doctors have warned, after the results of a countrywide study suggested that one in five people had both conditions. The two-year study of nearly 16,000 adults in eight states found that 21% of patients with family doctors and consultants had diabetes and hypertension. Just over a third (35%) had diabetes, while nearly half (46%) had hypertension, according to the Screening India’s Twin Epidemic or SITE research, which was published on Monday.
8 The Dawn on Joe Frazier losing the fight to cancer. Joe Frazier, the former undisputed heavyweight champ famed for his epic fights against Muhammad Ali, died on Monday after a brief but brave battle with liver cancer. He was 67. The boxing icon won an Olympic gold medal in a brilliant career that spanned almost 20 years but he was best known for fighting Ali in a famed 1970s trilogy of bouts, including the epic “Thrilla in Manila.” Frazier, nicknamed “Smokin’ Joe,” was a huge part of the heyday of boxing’s heavyweight division in the 1970s. He finished his storied career with 32 wins (27 knockouts), four losses and one draw. His four losses came at the hands of just two other legendary fighters from that era: Ali and Foreman. Frazier was the first man to defeat Ali, with a unanimous 15-round decision in 1971 at Madison Square Garden, in what was dubbed the “Fight of the Century”. An estimated 300 million people around the world watched the fight on television. In recent years, Frazier turned to singing, forming a back-up group called the Knockouts.
9 The Economic Times and The Financial Express on financial losses of the power sector. ET story says Allahabad Bank is freezing power loans. Subsidised sales have pushed distribution companies to the brink of collapse with losses estimated at Rs 400bn. Allahabad Bank has Rs 13,600 crore of loans to utilities and distributors. Writing in Financial Express, SL Rao says financial losses of electricity distribution sector are around 1% of GDP, increasing 21% annually on a cumulative basis, and expected to reach Rs 1.16 trillion by FY 15. FE’s title, ‘Watch those lights go out’, captures the financial ill-health of India’s power scenario.
10 The Financial Express editorial, ‘Broadbanned’, pointing out that though10% of Indians now use the internet, the country is ranked a lowly 116 out of 165 countries in the International Telecommunication Union’s ICT Development Index.
11 Financial Chronicle editorial that a demand decline in steel is not such a bad thing to have happened. In the past decade there has been a sharp rise in the capacity of the steel industry, especially in the rolled product segment. Now, when the slowdown is affecting China, the impact is felt by our domestic industry as well, since a large section of the industry has been dependent on exports to China for years. But there is a silver lining to this dark cloud. Since this slowdown is Chinese-led, demand for other metals like copper and aluminium will also gradually come down, leading to a correction in commodity prices in international markets. Power producers have been crying hoarse for a revision in tariffs paid by state electricity boards as coal, one of the major raw materials for power production, has seen a sharp rise in prices in the international market. It is not just power companies that will benefit from a decline in commodity prices; even infrastructure projects that have been delayed due to rising commodity prices along with rising costs of capital will also take off. So a bit of trouble for steel demand is just something that perhaps is needed for the Indian economy.
12 The Deepika on an anti-maida movement in Kerala as the state turns health conscious. Hotels are now serving whole-wheat parottas. The anti-maida discussion is hot in the Gulf countries as well, where there are over 2 million Keralites.
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