The Bush administration’s proposed 2008 budget guts the coffers of the U.S. Agency for International Development (which is devoted to areas like health care, education and child welfare) by 31 percent and its operations by 15 percent; meanwhile, it kicks 27 percent more money into the State Department’s economic-support fund. That means America will use more dollars to make friends and to compete in the developing world with Beijing.
Important strategic U.S. allies like Uzbekistan, Libya and Pakistan—and even wealthier ones like Israel and Egypt—are likely to benefit. But Democrats such as Sen. Robert Menendez say the cost is too high. He says the plan would take “money, power, control and expertise away from the one agency in the U.S. government” devoted to fighting global poverty.
Critics say U.S. aid programs are already in disarray, due in part to a leadership vacuum created by the resignation of foreign-aid czar Randall Tobias due to fallout from a sex scandal. USAID has already lost more than 100 Foreign Service officers and 30 percent of the doctors in its Africa bureau since 2005. Now its child-survival program could shrink by 9 percent and its famine program by 18 percent.
The critics have a fix in mind: a new U.S. administration with a cabinet-level position to oversee all aid programs and more money for USAID. In the meantime, poverty may just have to wait. –Roya Wolverson
Energy: France ’ s Gazprom Frustrated by what he recently called the “brutality” Russia’s state monopoly shows toward its European natural-gas customers, Nicolas Sarkozy may have a solution; the new hookup between Franco-Belgian electric supplier Suez and publicly owned Gaz de France. The deal creates Europe’s biggest gas customer, which should give it the clout to deal with bullying by suppliers like Russia’s Gazprom. It also runs counter to both Europe’s free-market competition policy and the industry trend toward consolidation in private hands by leaving a very substantial stake—35 percent—under French state control. Some Wall Street types don’t like the merger deal for that reason. Others say no matter—in energy, bigger is better, particularly when dealing with brutal suppliers. After the deal was announced, Sarkozy promised a French crowd that his government would “mobilize every means possible and imaginable” to defend France’s industrial might, its markets and its firms. “We’ll do like the others: they fight, we’ll fight, too!” He did not mention Russia by name. Perhaps he did not have to. –Tracy Mcnicoll
Desperate Case The men (and they are mainly men) of private equity, who buy and sell whole companies on behalf of millionaire investors, have been called many things. Vultures, locusts, kings of capitalism. But not feminists. Fighting moves in the U.S. Congress to raise taxes on the earnings of private-equity partners, which reached as high as nine figures last year, the industry has tried a number of increasingly desperate arguments. The most recent, from a lobbying group, says raising the tax rate as planned (from 15 percent to 35 percent) would harm PE firms run by minorities and women. It’s a remarkable show of concern given that out of roughly 1,000 partners at the 10 biggest PE firms, there are only 4 women.
The Greek Katrina Fires like this one have scorched 270,000 hectares and destroyed 4,500 houses. now many Greeks are challenging Athens’ response.
Film: Indian Indie Indian movies are like American beer and French pop music: popular with domestic audiences and usually dismissed elsewhere. But just as microbrewers thrive in the shadow of Budweiser, the auspicious debut of filmmaker Rajnesh Domalpalli shows the possibilities for a more uniquely Indian esthetic closer to the “do it yourself” ethos of American independents than to Bollywood. Domalpalli studied film at Columbia University after a stint in Silicon Valley, and his film “Vanaja” has already won 16 festival awards, including best feature debut at the 2007 Berlin International Film Festival. Now set to open in 30 U.S. cities, Domalpalli’s film-school thesis turned feature is set in rural South India. It uses nonprofessional actors and Domalpalli’s vernacular Telugu to tell the coming-of-age story of Vanaja (Mamatha Bhukya), a poor, precocious 14-year-old who wants to become a classical dancer. Her harrowing tale not only opens windows onto class and caste conflict, social taboos and art, it makes you eager for Domalpalli’s next work. –Vibhuti Patel
Brown, the New Black Charlie Brown is neither tall enough nor skinny enough to be a model, but he’s still landing on the runway. At last week’s New York Fashion Week, more than 20 designers, including Isaac Mizrahi, Betsey Johnson and Pamella Roland brought the Peanuts characters to life in a charity couture show. It was-n’t the first time the gang has stepped in as fashion icons. In 2005, a Barcelona designer did a Peanuts-inspired collection, which was followed by a China fashion show last year. One of the most notable creations came from “Project Runway” ’s Laura Bennett. “I made a fabulous cocktail dress with feathers, which is a penchant of mine,” she says of her yellow Woodstock garment. She hopes it will go for about $7,000. Good grief, Charlie Brown! –Kurt Soller
Reality Check How little exercise can you do and still be healthy? Less than you may have thought. For the first time in more than a decade, two major U.S. medical associations have revised their physical-activity guidelines, and the result may disappoint those with pricey gym memberships. Turns out that all you need is 30 minutes per day of brisk walking five days a week and eight to 10 strength-training exercises like sit-ups or push-ups twice a week. Easy, indeed. –Karen Springen
