walter and the peter g. peterson foundation, dedicated to promoting fiscal responsibility and addressing key economic challenges facing america's future. and additional funding is provided by the following supporters --

walter and the peter g. peterson foundation, dedicated to promoting fiscal responsibility and addressing key economic challenges facing america's future. and additional funding is provided by the following supporters -- >>> good evening. i'm daljit dhaliwal. welcome to our final edition of "worldfocus." as we prepare to end our 18-month run we want to remind you one last time about america's place in the world. the united states is the third most populous country with 310 million people. our population actually represents only 4.5% of the world. telling you about those other 6.5 billion people, not just their politics but their customs and traditions, filling in the details about their lives has been our mission and our passion. that is exactly what we hope to do one last time tonight with a series of snapshots celebrating life around the globe. we start with the baseball season. now just days away. so what better place to start then in cuba where the so-called american past time is played and argued about with a fer

walter, and the peter g. peterson foundation, dedicated to promoting fiscal responsibility and addressing key economic challenges facing america's future. and additional funding is provided by the following supporters. >>> welcome to "worldfocus." i'm daljit dhaliwal in new york. as many of you know, a regular feature here on "worldfocus" has been our "signature stories." reports filed by our own staff members who have travelled the globe reporting on issues that we believe are important but largely ignored. in the fall of 2008, in our first few months on the air, we brought you a series of "signature stories" called 21st century africa. those reports were produced by "worldfocus" special correspondent martin seemungal, who has spent decades covering that continent. if the only pictures that you have seen from that continent over the years have been of war or famine, stick around for the next half hour or so. first up, one of the biggest stories from africa to have flown under the radar, that continent's china connect

of the peter g. peterson foundation and one of the most respected budget experts in the nation, recently said, and i quote -- "the financial condition of the united states has deteriorated dramatically in recent years. importantly, our primary fiscal threat is not today's deficit and debt levels, but the structural deficits and escalating debt burdens that will occur after the economy has recovered, unemployment is down, the wars are over, and the recent crisis have passed. these large and growing structural deficits and the tens of trillions in unfunded federal government promises that drive them to serve to threaten the future of our country and our families. we must begin to take steps now to put our federal financial house in order. in addition, we must achieve some meaningful reforms within the next three years in order to help avoid a crisis of confidence that could have much worse economic consequences for america, americans and the world than the recent housing and financial crisis. today all over ame