Third World

12 Stories

To Get the Poor Online, Let Them Have Cat Videos
To Get the Poor Online,
Let Them Have Cat Videos
OPINION

To Get the Poor Online, Let Them Have Cat Videos

Tech leaders err with their too-serious ambitions: Manu Joseph

(Newser) - It's great that Mark Zuckerberg and other tech leaders are pushing to bring Internet access to the Third World, but they need to lighten up a little, writes Manu Joseph in the New York Times . These efforts always have such oh-so-serious goals expressed in the "grave tone of...

To Help Third World, Send Cash, Not Stuff

Developing world doesn't need our cast-offs: Charles Kenny

(Newser) - The common practice of sending hand-me-downs or excess merchandise to developing countries seems like a good idea—after all, if the NFL can’t sell all those “Pittsburgh Steelers: Super Bowl XLV Champions” shirts, what’s wrong with sending them to Zambia? The problem is, Zambians don’t need...

Julia Roberts, Clinton: Poor Nations Need Clean Stoves

Millions die each year in developing nations, mostly women and children

(Newser) - Hillary Clinton gets a little star power today in pushing one of her initiatives: She and Julia Roberts team up on a USA Today op-ed highlighting the danger of dirty stoves in the developing world. "Some 3 billion people live in homes where food is cooked on stoves or...

Developing Nations Were In on 'Danish Text'
 Developing Nations 
 Were In on 'Danish Text' 
CLIMATE summit

Developing Nations Were In on 'Danish Text'

China, India helped draft leaked agreement they railed against

(Newser) - The “Danish text”—the leaked climate change agreement that infuriated developing nations in Copenhagen and sparked accusations of bullying by rich countries—was actually drafted by a group that included China, India, and Brazil, among other countries. They had “input into the process and product” of the...

Clintons Strive to Avoid Conflict of Interest Claims

Pair lead separate lives focusing on same issues

(Newser) - Bill and Hillary Clinton live largely separate professional lives but still end up dealing with many of the same leaders and issues. The secretary of state, keen to avoid any accusations, downplays her husband's influence, but Team Clinton sometimes still works together. The couple's combined energies have paid off on...

Economic 'Mismatches' Mean Food Crisis Is Here to Stay

(Newser) - The various sectors of the global economy have become so entwined with food production that prices are acting in a very “puzzling” manner, the Economist reports. Last year, the market responded rationally to the global food crisis of 2007-08, increasing production and thus lowering prices. But with another bumper...

Recession Cools Worldwide Migration
 Recession Cools 
 Worldwide Migration 
ANALYSIS

Recession Cools Worldwide Migration

(Newser) - Facing a tough job market, immigrants are returning home around the world, reversing historic migration patterns and giving up on income that once fed their families, the Wall Street Journal reports. With construction workers going back to Mexico and domestic servants to the Philippines, wealthy nations are also bound to...

Ethical Gifts Ease Western Guilt, Not Third World Poverty

Condescending gifts will not eradicate poverty

(Newser) - The trend of giving ethical holiday gifts couldn't be more pompous, writes Nathalie Rothschild for Spiked. "Rather than lifting people out of poverty, Oxfam and the rest are helping to sustain underdevelopment," she argues. And occupying a higher level of condescension is the organization Animal Aid, which opposes...

Cancer Will Be World's No. 1 Killer in 2010

(Newser) - Cancer will surpass heart disease as the world’s preeminent killer by 2010, Reuters reports. A WHO study concluded that cancer cases will double between 2000 and 2020, and almost triple by 2030, largely because of increased tobacco use in developing countries. In men, who are more likely to contract...

Rich Nations Snap Up Third World Farmland

(Newser) - Rich nations are buying up farmland in developing countries and drawing the ire of some critics, the Guardian reports. One UN official said the purchases, designed as a hedge against food shortages, could put poor nations at risk of starving to feed the wealthy. In "this scramble for soil...

Scars of War Remain for Laotian Farmers

Land littered with bombs makes subsistence farming a more dire proposition

(Newser) - As if surviving as a farmer in the developing world wasn't hard enough, for those in Laos there is an extra—often deadly—complication. The US littered the Southeast Asian nation with 2 million tons of explosives during the Vietnam War, one-third of which remain precariously unexploded, and responsible for...

XO: Buy 1, a Kid Gets 1 Free

XO: Buy 1, a Kid Gets 1 Free

XO: Buy 1, a Kid Gets 1 Free

XO buyers will be asked to buy 2nd laptop for needy children

(Newser) - Americans will be asked to buy XO laptops in pairs—one for themselves and one for a child in a developing nation. Organizers of the "One Laptop Per Child" program hope to distribute laptops to millions of Third World schoolchildren this way. The combined cost of the pair of...

12 Stories