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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation stories: 19 news summaries

Giving Away
Billions Feels Great: Gates

Microsoft founder
touts philan-therapy
for world's rich

Jun 3, 09 3:58 PM CDT
(Newser) - Bill Gates is touting the feel-good benefits of giving away money, telling a crowd in Oslo that “all billionaires should give away the vast majority of their fortunes.” Leave enough for the kids, he says, but, “I’m a great believer that great wealth should go from... More »

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philanthropy • Bill Gates • vaccine • charity • poverty • billionaire • Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation • AIDS vaccine

OPINION

 The Most Creative 
 Minds in Business 


May 19, 09 3:00 PM CDT
(Newser) - Creativity is a tough thing to put your finger on, but Fast Company takes a shot at picking world’s top 100 business innovators. The first five:
  • Jonathan Ive: Apple’s design chief—responsible for the iPhone, iPod, MacBook, and iMac—ushered in an era of “design perfection”
... More »

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business • Apple • list • Disney • Netflix • Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation • electric cars • Shai Agassi • Melinda Gates • creativity • Jonathan Ive • Reed Hastings • Rich Ross

 Bill Gates Senior:  
 Bill Junior Was a Brat 

Bill Sr. recounts raising his 'smart-ass' son

Apr 25, 09 10:24 AM CDT
(Newser) - Bill Gates stopped being a kid right about age 11, his father tells Wall Street Journal. And then he turned into a royal pain, at least for a while. In the most famous bit of family lore, Bill Gates Sr. says he had to chuck a glass of cold water... More »

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Microsoft • Bill Gates • Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation • childhood

Gates Lets Mosquitoes Fly at Audience

Stunt underscores malaria threat shouldn't be for 'only poor people'

Feb 5, 09 8:49 AM CST
(Newser) - Bill Gates had the audience buzzing yesterday as he released a jar of mosquitoes at the TED2009 conference in California during a presentation on eradicating malaria, reports MSNBC. The bugs were not carrying the disease. "Not only poor people should experience this," Gates explained, according to a witness... More »

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Microsoft • Bill Gates • malaria • Facebook • mosquito • Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation • Twitter • TED2009

 Watershed Vaccine 
 May End Malaria Toll 

If trials work as expected, shots could save millions of children

Dec 9, 08 1:45 AM CST
(Newser) - Scientists have developed a promising vaccine against malaria, a devastating disease that kills a milion people a year, most of them young children. Trials of the breakthrough vaccine enter the final phase next year and it could be widely available by 2012, reports the Los Angeles Times. Successful trials have... More »

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Kenya • medical breakthrough • malaria • Ethiopia • GlaxoSmithKline • Tanzania • vaccine • mosquito • Zambia • World Health Organization • Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation • Rwanda • RTS,S • PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative

 Big Players Reel 
 in Charity Spending 

Drop-off in corporate giving leaves groups scrambling

Nov 25, 08 12:14 PM CST
(Newser) - Charities used to getting much of their money from major corporations and private foundations are feeling the economic downturn, the Wall Street Journal reports. Bill Gates’ foundation plans to give fewer grants next year, and other large donors are honoring existing pledges but refusing to make new ones. “You... More »

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New York • Bear Stearns • Merrill Lynch • charity • Lehman Brothers • nonprofit • AIG • Hank Greenberg • Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation • Sheldon Adelson • financial crisis • David Koch

 Nonprofit Workers Favor Dems 

Charity employees are more likely to donate money to the left side of the aisle, study finds

Oct 31, 08 8:00 PM CDT
(Newser) - People in the charitable world lean heavily Democrat and love Barack Obama, but try to keep their affiliation low-key to avoid insulting the other side, the Chronicle of Philanthropy reports. A new study shows that 88% of foundation worker donations went to Dems, enriching Obama's effort by $399,000 and... More »

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Barack Obama • John McCain • campaign finance • Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation • Election 2008 • political donations

Gates Gambles Big on Bold Medical Probes

$10M in public-health grants eschew peer review for innovation

Oct 23, 08 2:13 PM CDT
(Newser) - The Gates Foundation has awarded more than $10 million to medical researchers with quirky ideas that might not be funded otherwise, the Washington Post reports. The initiative, dubbed Grand Challenges Explorations, offered a simple 2-page application and vetting by entrepreneurs, not medical professionals. “Peer review—by definition almost—excludes... More »

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Bill Gates • public health • medical research • Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation • grants • peer reviews

Malaria Fight Gets $3B Booster Shot

Initiative will focus on Africa, stress the need
for persistence

Sep 27, 08 12:05 PM CDT
(Newser) - The global fight against malaria will get an unprecedented $3 billion push from a global alliance of nonprofits, financial institutions, and governments, the Wall Street Journal reports, with a focus on prolonging the effort beyond initial successes. The Global Malaria Action Plan aims for multibillion-dollar yearly funding through 2020, and... More »

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Africa • World Bank • malaria • Bono • aid programs • Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation • donor

 Gates Tops 
 Rich List 
 With $57B 

Leads Forbes ranking for 15th year

Sep 18, 08 2:07 AM CDT
(Newser) - Microsoft founder Bill Gates leads the latest Forbes list of America's richest people with a fortune estimated to be $57 billion. It's the 15th year in a row that the visionary behind the computer revolution has topped the ratings. But the rich are not getting richer, Forbes reveals. Several fortunes... More »

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Microsoft • Bill Gates • wealth • Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation • wealthy men

OPINION

 'Saving' Public Schools 
  Not a Money Thing 

Better education can't be legislated, or bought—parents have to make the effort

Aug 21, 08 4:29 PM CDT
(Newser) - As dissatisfaction with the nation’s No Child Left Behind policy grows, it seems educators, politicians, and businessmen all have their own take on how to “save” the US public school system—with little consensus. Gary Stager, in Good, examines the overwhelmingly complex difficulties facing the nation’s ailing... More »

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education • Bill Gates • Eli Broad • Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation • No Child Left Behind • public schools

Microsoft Without Bill Gates? His Final Week Begins

The 52-year-old has slowly backed away from the software company's operations

Jun 23, 08 10:41 AM CDT
(Newser) - This will be Bill Gates’ last Monday at Microsoft, the company that the 52-year-old founded with business partner Paul Allen as a teenager. He’s retiring Friday from Microsoft’s day-to-day business and beginning full-time work with his $37.3 billion philanthropic organization, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He's... More »

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Microsoft • Bill Gates • Windows • retirement • Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Cheap Malaria Drug Holds Promise for Millions

It's based on 2000-year-old herbal remedy

Jun 4, 08 3:15 AM CDT
(Newser) - The lives of millions of children  may be saved by a new technique for producing a malaria drug at a 10th of the cost of current treatments, making it accessible the world's most impoverished people, reports the Independent.  The technique involves inserting a dozen synthetic genes into yeast cells,... More »

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malaria • genetic modification • artemisinin • UC Berkeley • mosquito • World Health Organization • Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation • genetic engineering • Chinese medicine • synthetic biology • bioreactor • Artemesia annua • wormwood • Royal Society • Jay Keasling

Gates Charity Creates New African Woes

AIDS dollars distort fragile health systems, undermining basic care

Dec 16, 07 6:07 AM CST
(Newser) - The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has given $8.5 billion to global health causes and is slowly defeating AIDS in Africa, but it’s creating unexpected new problems for the continent, the LA Times reports. By pouring money into the treatment of AIDS, TB and malaria, it has... More »

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health care • Africa • Bill Gates • World Bank • malaria • vaccine • Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation • Rwanda • tuberculosis • Lesotho • Botswana • The Global Fund • GAVI

Gates Aims $100M at Polio

Foundation aims to eradicate disease

Nov 27, 07 4:30 AM CST
(Newser) - The world stands at the brink of eradicating polio, Bill Gates says, and his foundation yesterday awarded $100 million toward that end. One of the foundation's largest challenge grants will fund programs in four countries where the disease is still epidemic, notably Nigeria. The Rotary Foundation received the grant and... More »

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philanthropy • Bill Gates • Nigeria • World Health Organization • infectious diseases • Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation • disease control • rare diseases • polio • Rotary International

He Quietly Gave Away Billions

But now the secretive philanthropist spills the beans behind his generosity

Sep 29, 07 10:39 AM CDT
(Newser) - Chuck Feeney’s foundation gave $458 million in grants last year—third only to Ford and Gates—but very few know the secretive philanthropist’s name. Having thus far shielded himself from fame, Feeney gets some star treatment in a new biography that sheds light on his good deeds and... More »

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philanthropy • Africa • Vietnam • AIDS • Cuba • Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation • Atlantic Philanthropies • duty free • Ford Foundation

The Heart of Geekness Will Save Us All

Nerds grasp large-scale human suffering much better, Wired says

Sep 1, 07 5:43 PM CDT
(Newser) - Why is Bill Gates, “practically a social cripple,” going to save the world? Because of numbers, says Clive Thompson in Wired. More than most, the Microsoft maverick -- who spearheads tireless crusades against poverty and AIDS -- can comprehend large quantities, while research shows that most of us... More »

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philanthropy • Bill Gates • aid • psychology • Paul Slovic • Decision Research • numeracy • Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Gates Gives $105 Mil to Track Global Public Health

UW center will eye effectiveness of giving

Jun 5, 07 4:59 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has given $105 million to the  University of Washington to study the effectiveness of public health programs around the world. The money will be used to create a center to track such measures as child mortality, the prevalence of major diseases  and the availability... More »

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health • Bill Gates • public health • research • donation • University of Washington • World Health Organization • Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Buffett Holdings Tie Gates
To Darfur Crisis

Berkshire owns
$3.3B stake in firm
said to fund militia

May 4, 07 1:57 PM CDT
(Newser) - A Berkshire Hathaway investment in a Sudanese oil company is posing thorny problems for the Gates Foundation, the Los Angeles Times reports. Warren Buffet's investment outfit is the largest independent shareholder in PetroChina, whose parent company the U.N. and U.S. say funds Sudan's janjaweed militia—a stark contrast... More »

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investing • oil • Darfur • Sudan • Warren Buffett • money • PetroChina • Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation • Janjaweed

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