What We’re Reading 8/20/09

Aug 20th, 2009 11:15 AM UTC
By Chandler Smith

U.S News and World Report: What Bono Taught Me about Fighting Poverty (Bill Hybels)
Bill Hybels, founder of Willow Creek Community Church, reflects on how Bono’s call for the church engage in the fight against extreme poverty has changed the landscape of advocacy in the Christian community.

AllAfrica.com: Africa: How to Boost U.S.-Africa Trade
This article overviews the expectations for AGOA from its conception, analyzes the success so far, and identifies areas for improvement. Ultimately, the author concludes that “AGOA remains as relevant as ever to Africa’s development prospects. All stakeholders, however, have to increase their efforts if AGOA’s genuine potential is to be achieved.”

Washington Times: Reform the right should embrace (Mark Green)
Mark Green, a former Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Wisconsin, former ambassador to Tanzania and current director of the Malaria No More Policy Center, emphasizes the need to make the U.S. foreign aid system more effective. He also calls for congressional conservatives to engage in this conversation and help champion legislation that would make the system more efficient.

CNN: U.N. official: Zimbabwe’s woes ‘pose significant challenge’
The “humanitarian situation remains serious” in Zimbabwe amid cholera, starvation and a continuing economic crisis, a United Nations official said Wednesday at a World Humanitarian Day ceremony in Harare. A U.N. appeal launched earlier this year has so far raised only 44 percent of its goal of $718 million for humanitarian assistance. But Rueben Marumahoko, a Zimbabwe junior minister and an appointee of Mugabe, said the country is no longer in crisis.

The Guardian: BP and Shell warned to halt campaign against US climate change bill
BP and Shell are being told to tear up their membership of the American Petroleum Institute (API) in protest at the organization’s attempts to incite a public backlash against Barack Obama’s energy and climate change bill. The two oil companies are also being asked to bring a halt to their own political lobbying in Washington in letters sent to their chief executives from Greenpeace and the Platform environmental group.

-Chandler Smith

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