Word: poorest
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Within days of taking power in January 2003, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva flew his team of ministers to the three poorest municipalities in Brazil - he wanted the political elite to take a firsthand look at the living conditions of the impoverished voters that had elected them. On a makeshift stage in Brazil's northern scrubland, Lula, like a triumphant band leader, presented his troupe one by one. The crowd welcomed them all politely, but cheered raucously for Benedita da Silva, the black, former housemaid who picked to oversee Lula's social programs, for Culture Minister Gilberto...
...Central Intelligence Agency, Gen. Michael Hayden should have some insight on the biggest threats facing the U.S. But when Hayden recently described what he saw as the most troublesome trend over the next several decades, it wasn't terrorism or climate change. It was overpopulation in the poorest parts of the world. "By mid-century, the best estimates point to a world population of more than 9 billion," Hayden said in a speech at Kansas State University. "Most of that growth will occur in countries least able to sustain it." The sheer increase in population, Hayden argued, could fuel instability...
...contrast, in other disaster sites like India or Indonesia after the 2004 tsunami, convoys of trucks, laden with both domestic and foreign supplies, swarmed the area within days. Perhaps Burma's generals could have been excused for the delay-after all, this is one of the world's poorest and most backward countries. Yet the efficiency with which the military has shepherded people to polling stations proves that the junta has plenty of organizational capacity. But for Burma's junta, saving the lives of cyclone Nargis' victims isn't as big a priority as conducting a sham vote. The heartlessness...
...have been vocally opposed, saying the legislation could result in higher premiums for customers. "[The bill] would offer more generous mental health benefits to Americans," said Sonya D. Sotak, director of federal affairs for drugmaker Eli Lilly, "but it risks doing so on the backs of the sickest and poorest Americans." Rep. John Sullivan, a Republican from Oklahoma, admitted the changes could adversely affect the pharmaceutical (a clause in the House bill could force drugmakers to lower prices) and health care industries but decided to support the bill anyway. "Each year the economic cost of untreated mental illness is staggering...
...taking a break in an unoccupied office, a tired Misra laments the state of public health. "This place is one of the good ones," he says. "I have seen hospitals with dogs below the beds." After graduating, Misra spent a few years in India's northeast, one of the poorest parts of the country. "I went to the rural area to serve the people but the government doesn't recognize that," he says, explaining that classmates who went to big cities "are now professors and earning big bucks." The system, he says, is set up so that rural areas will...