Poverty

John Edwards, the second-try presidential candidate with the third-place campaign, walked on to Mariah Crenshaw's lawn this week, surrounded by a mini-circus of reporters and cameras. The mannequin-perfect looks of 2004 were still there. So was that North Carolina accent -- the one that is to ears what sweet pickles are to tongues. "Nice to see yew," said the candidate, shaking Crenshaw's hand. "I'm lookin' forward to talkin'."

The U.S. economy produced slight improvement in income and poverty levels last year, but failed to bring widespread benefits as the number of people without health insurance climbed to 47 million, according to a major report released Tuesday that reflects the nation's underlying economic anxieties.

The Palestinian economy has become weaker and more dependent on foreign aid as the private sector has atrophied because of political violence and Israeli restrictions on the movement of goods and people, the World Bank said Tuesday. The report, which focuses on trends during the last two years, says conditions are especially severe in the Gaza Strip, where unemployment rose to almost 35% last year and more than one-third of residents were living in severe poverty.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Archbishop Desmond Tutu were having a diplomatic face-off during a panel discussion on, basically, how to save the world from itself, the meta-theme of the Clinton Global Initiative. You go first, Tutu motioned to Karzai. No, motioned Karzai, you go first. "Quit being deferential," Clinton snapped in faux frustration. "You're wasting time."

Everyone knows living in California isn't cheap. But a new report casts a light on how challenging it is to afford basic necessities -- and how inadequate a minimum-wage job is to meet those needs. A person working full-time for the state's minimum wage of $7.50 an hour earns $15,600 annually.

Most days, Luvenia Thomas sits in a wheelchair outside her dank bungalow on 21st Street. She says she cannot breathe inside. More than two years after Hurricane Katrina tore up her roof and flooded her home, brown water stains darken her ceilings, and her floors are bare. She has pulled up most of her carpeting, but still she says she cannot rid her home of mold. "I don't know what to do," said Thomas, 54, who is disabled and living on a fixed income.

Alvaro Colom awoke Monday to the realization that an entire country of poor and desperate people was depending on him. Having won Guatemala's presidential election Sunday night, Colom will inherit a series of seemingly intractable problems when he takes office Jan. 14. Guatemala is one of the most troubled societies in Latin America. Thousands of its citizens migrate to the United States in search of work each year. Organized-crime groups have infiltrated many key government institutions.

A single mother of five who supports her family by breaking boulders into rocks with a metal spike stands in the baking sun and rattles off a familiar list of problems: a government that does nothing for the poor, harassment by security forces, ethnic discrimination.

When it's annual health insurance enrollment time, Mark and Christine Leon of Pasadena pull out fat Manila folders holding last year's medical records and health expenses. They sit at their plastic tablecloth-covered dining room table with a calculator, pencils and pads of paper making their best guesses at what next year's medical needs will be. They are among the 158 million Americans who get health insurance coverage through their employers.

American dream scene: a gorgeous Southern California day. A car-free cul-de-sac on a hilltop overlooking a canyon. A boy and his father, shooting hoops. But stark reality intruded for a brief moment last summer when 40-year-old Wes Wirkkala tripped, stumbled and almost fell. "Dad, what are you doing? Be careful!" his son Nicholas shouted. "We don't have health insurance." At 8, Nicholas knows his family cannot risk any visits to the emergency room.