In Gallup's new report, Egyptians are pessimistic about the struggling economy and their standard of living, yet they are extremely optimistic about their lives improving over the years. Host Michel Martin discusses the report with the Abu Dhabi Gallup Center's Mohamed Younis. Martin also catches up with Cairo University graduate student Yassmine ElSayed Hany, who spoke with Tell Me More on the day Egypt's former President Mubarak stepped down.

The U.S. Census Bureau expects 188 million active credit card holders this year. Credit reporting agency Transunion says there is a growing number of Americans who are paying their mortgages late so they can pay their credit card bills on time. Host Michel Martin and personal finance expert Alvin Hall discuss whether or not logic exists behind this balancing act. They also review other important news in the credit world.

While First Lady Michelle Obama has publicly pushed against childhood obesity, many families struggle with it privately. The Centers for Disease Control say obesity affects 17% of America's children. In this weekly parenting conversation, host Michel Martin explores how obesity affects children and their families. She speaks with Lois Freedman, whose six-year-old daughter struggles with obesity; Saquonte Wilkinson, a high school student battling obesity; Dr.

Just days after the Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed that May's unemployment rate rose to 9.1%, the Obama Administration hosted a summit highlighting urban entrepreneurs' roles in stimulating the economy. Host Michel Martin discusses the initiative and other ways to boost the economy with Marie Johns, Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration; and Daniel Mitchell, Cato Institute Senior Fellow.

Will health insurance agents and brokers face a fate similar to that of travel agents, whose role in travel planning has dwindled as people book their own trips online?

There's no telling exactly what will happen in coming years as states set up online exchanges where consumers can shop for health insurance policies starting in 2014, but brokers aren't going down without a fight.

President Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are holding a joint news conference this hour at the White House.

Merkel will be awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom today and is to be honored with a State Dinner at the White House this evening. Earlier today, she and the president "hailed the relationship between their nations as the cornerstone of efforts to promote peace and prosperity around the world," The Associated Press writes.

Some student food favorites are under attack in Washington. The Agriculture Department has released new standards for school nutrition and has published them for public comment. Speaking right up are lobbyists for the food industry.

The standards, the first new version since 1994, would limit starchy vegetables to two servings a week. That guideline covers corn, peas, lima beans, and a hot item in the serving line — french fries.

But the CEO of the National Potato Council, John Keeling, says not so fast.

Reminding voters he cut his own salary and over a $1 billion in spending to balance the state’s budget, Democratic Governor Stever Beshear has unveiled a second television advertisement in his re-election bid against Republican state Senate President David Williams. Entitled “Leading by example”, the 30-second commercial began airing statewide Monday, and highlights cost-cutting measures the governor has advocated during the national recession.

We're just catching up to the stories about an amateur astronomer in California who claims to have spotted some sort of structure on Mars where something might be living.

Oh sure, there are doubters (also known as scientists), who say that what David Martines saw is just a digital glitch in the image.

Surveyors found 342 deficiencies in nursing homes they inspected in Kentucky recently. The data, obtained through an Open Records request by the statewide advocacy group Kentuckians for Nursing Home Reform covers the first three months of 2011 and is the latest information on the quality of nursing home care at this time, according to a press release from the group.