What We’re Reading 6/16/09

Jun 16th, 2009 11:58 AM UTC
By Grace Lamb-Atkinson

Huffington Post: Bob Geldof: Let Us See if Italy Keeps Faith with the World’s Poor
Bob Geldof writes on the DATA Report in the Huffington Post.

Washington Times Op-Ed: Bill Frist: Saving Children’s Lives
In an op-ed to call attention to the Day of the African Child, former senator Bill Frist writes, “Child survival is improving – albeit way too slowly – in most regions of the world. However, despite promising developments in some countries, sub-Saharan Africa overall continues to have the world’s highest child-mortality rates.” Millions of African newborn babies and children die from illnesses – like pneumonia or diarrhea – that are relatively inexpensive and easy to treat, and which kill few children in the United States. Frist says, “We cannot continue to allow one of every seven African children to die when it is so readily within our reach to prevent those deaths.”

Reuters: Berlusconi Eyes Concrete Results for G8 Summit
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, meeting with President Barack Obama on Monday, called for concrete results on financial regulation, climate change and trade at next month’s G8 summit of world leaders. Berlusconi claimed he wanted the G8 to reach “concrete solutions.” He added that he hoped World Trade Organization Director General Pascal Lamy’s presence at the meeting would jumpstart the Doha Round of trade talks. President Obama, who will visit Russia before attending the G8 meeting in Italy, said he hoped nuclear non-proliferation would also be on the group’s agenda.

Reuters: IMF Chief Says Much to be Done for Global Recovery
Governments and banks still have much to do to ensure the global economy begins to recover at the start of next year, International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn said. G8 finance ministers agreed over the weekend that the global economy was showing signs of stabilization and have begun to consider unwinding rescue steps for their economies. Strauss-Kahn appealed for caution. He said it’s too early “to talk about an exit strategy which would give the impression that we are already at the end of the crisis.”

-Grace Lamb-Atkinson

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