The euro reached a nine-year low against the dollar. Falling of German factory orders, and increased speculation about extra stimulus measures to combat Eurozone deflation played a part in the euro’s drop. European Central Bank will soon move to support the region’s economy with quantitative easing, or buying government bonds, but this pushes a rate rise even further, so the Eurozone will become less attractive for investors. The results of upcoming Greek elections could also be spooking investors.

I feel it’s more difficult to recover the euro’s economy than Japan’s. Many countries must cooperate to aim one goal, but each ones are busy tackling own countries’ economy, so keeping the balance is much difficult. Greece’s, Italy’s, and Spain’s economy are not good, I heard. It is the fact that these counties drag the EU’s economy down. Different from EU, Japan can decide what to do earlier, when the yen drops, we should do quantitative easing, raising tax price, strengthen tourism. It’s not so complicated compared. However, Japan is always in deflation, I have never experienced inflation since I was born. I want to live in Japan in inflation, but economy is like one creature, so I think planning good ways, struggling to get the better economy will never end.

The Nobel Prize gold medal awarded to the US scientist James Watson for discovering the structure of DNA has sold at auction for $4.8m. This is the first Nobel Prize medal to be put on sale by a living recipient. Watson is also known for his provocative comments. He was ostracized by the scientific community after he said racial discrimination against black people. That’s why he sold the medal. He planned to donate part of the proceeds to charities and to support scientific research.

I think it’s no problem that Watson sold his medal, because the decision is up to him. And he will donate to support other people from his $4.8m. This is the good way to use his money. However, I’m against his remark. It is unforgivable. He said “[I am] inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa [because] all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours—whereas all the testing says not really.” He is genius in a scientific field, but he seems very stupid to make such a remark, and this comment is only the tip of the iceberg. Anyway, the medal was subsequently returned to Watson by the purchaser, Russian tycoon Alisher Usmanov, who stated that Watson deserved the medal and that it was “unacceptable” that he should be compelled to sell it.

President Dilma Rousseff narrowly won re-election to a second term in office. She remains popular with poor Brazilians thanks to her government’s welfare programs, though she faced mass protests last year against corruption and poor services. Wyre Davies analyzes that the standards of public services across the country in health, education and basic sanitation are too low for a country that prides itself on having the seventh largest economy in the world. This government deserves credit for helping to bring millions of people out of poverty but, as a result, public expectations here are now much higher. It is undeniable that life for most Brazilians has improved immeasurably during the PT’s mandate so far.

In Japan, we have never had a female president, so this kind of news is new. And it is surprising that she has been in power for 4 years and will be in power for another 4 years. It is also surprising that she could be in power after the corruption. Another articles say that she was imprisoned for 3 years for her role in the underground resistance, and say that she is a football mad(It’s like Merkel). Despite the fact that she did a wrong thing in the past, she remains popular in Brazil, I think she is a great leader like an iron lady.

Facebook is fighting a US court order in which it was forced to hand over data belonging to almost 400 people involved in a benefit fraud trial. A judge said the company, defined as a “digital landlord” by the ruling, must comply with search warrants. After an appeal was denied, Facebook complied with the request but protested that it violated the Fourth Amendment of the US constitution, which protects against “unreasonable searches and seizures”. The original case is that people pretended to have disabilities, and were going to get money from the government, so the court needed their Facebook accounts as an evidence. It’s right for the company to claim that this search violated the law, but when we compare the weight of benefits of keeping the information secret, and the loss of evidence, it’s clear which is more important. The information on accounts must be a crucial evidence. The company’s image will be worsened a little, but in the long run Facebook can prevent future crimes like what happened this time. So I think Facebook should coorperate with the court.

During a conference in Uganda, two protesters let loose two piglets, which was colored yellow and attached the slogans alleging members of the parliament are corrupt. They faced charges of criminal trespass,     conspiracy to sneak piglets into parliament and interrupting parliament work. Several police on duty at the time also faced charges of neglect of duty. The security forces are on alert over fears of terrorist attacks, because it was “standard practice” to test for terrorism-related material as ” there could have been another motive other than protest.”

Apparently, this case is rare and funny, but I think it’s more complicated. First, this case must have appeared on many newspapers, on TV, and on the Internet news because it had a strong impression. So the protesters succeeded in attracting many people’s attention and  making their message spread around the world. Second, as the spokesman said, this would be the preparation for the next action, terrorism. When I consider the other possibility, such as bombs on piglets’ back, it’s really terrible. Uganda’s social system is not functioning properly, and parliament does’t satisfy people, police are neglecting, I feel it’s natural to occur such a protest, but the way they resorted is never good.

House prices have soared in Brazil’s big cities as salaries have also grown, so mortgages have become easier to obtain, since Brazil was named as the host of the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games. In Rio de Janeiro, property prices have risen more than 250% in the past six years. Not only millions of homeowners in this hotspot, but also many foreign businesses moving there have benefitted from this bubble. On the other hand, other people struggle to pay their bills, and are bombarded with advertisements in many places trying to sell apartment blocks.

I know that economy in Brazil hasn’t been good. But people in other countries like me think that Brazil is now so hot in many ways, misunderstand that economy will be boosted up, but when I see it from a different viewpoint, I find that so many Brazilians are living under difficult conditions. If I lived in Brazil, I would think that the government must improve living conditions of poor people prior to constructing expensive and useless stadiums. Poor people usually have little to do with inflation, they can’ t cash in on this bubble because they don’t have jobs, money, much less a real estate from the beginning. The government should use money raised in these big events to help people as a solution.