What We’re Reading 1/21/09

Jan 21st, 2009 5:30 PM UTC
By Steve Wilson

Wall Street Journal—Hopes for the Obama Presidency: Feed the Hungry
The Wall Street Journal presents a wide range of hopes for the Obama presidency submitted by political and social leaders, including a submission from former presidential candidate George McGovern writing that he hopes President Obama will substantially increase the U.S. contribution to the U.N. World Food Program. As matters now stand, he writes, there are 59 million children attending school in the poorest countries who have no lunch during the school day. Another 72 million school-age children in these countries are not in school and are hungry. And the cost to feed these children would be relatively very low.

The Guardian—Is Africa reporting on development?
A story in the Guardian asks the question: is African media equipped and willing to report on development and poverty issues? In some countries accustomed to corruption and neglect by those in power, it is not only cheaper, but it also generates more interest for a newspaper to report about, say, a musician’s latest car, as opposed to hard issues like poverty. But several leading African newspaper editors believe that coverage of development issues may increase as papers realize the utility of focusing more on telling meaningful stories that affect people’s daily lives.

AFP—Fresh talks on Zimbabwe may not yield results
Southern African leaders are planning their seventh summit on Zimbabwe since elections last March, and analysts said the latest diplomatic push stood little chance of faring better than the rest. Leaders of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have held three extraordinary summits and three security summits in hopes of forging a unity government with President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. When 12 hours of talks mediated by South African President Kgalema Motlanthe again failed Monday to reach a deal, the rivals agreed to yet another summit despite growing frustrations on both sides at the protracted negotiations. But analysts said the latest initiative was unlikely to succeed.

-Steve Wilson

TAGS: Policy News, What We're Reading