Salon.com > Developing world

Kremlin kicks out USAID

Tue, 18 Sep 2012 20:38:00 +0000

USAID -- the agency for international development -- is shuttering its offices in Russia following a decision from the Kremlin. This comes, according to the Washington Post, after President Vladimir Putin "spent most of the spring attacking the U.S. government for supporting civil society organizations in Russia."

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland announced Tuesday that Putin had sent a letter about withdrawing the agency to Washington last week. Reuters reported that analysts see the Kremlin's decision as reflective of "Moscow's hostility toward U.S.-funded groups that seek to promote democracy and the rule of law in Russia."

Steven Pifer, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine who is now at the Brookings Institution, told Reuters:

They [the Russian government] see Aid's efforts in Russia as being a prime funder of the NGOs that are concerned about their elections and concerned about the regression of democracy in Russia.

According to the Washington Post, since 1992, USAID has provided $2.6 billion to Russia. The appropriation in 2012 included $34.6 million for democracy, human rights and governance, $15.8 million for health and $2.1 million for education.

Bill Gates challenges world to reinvent toilet

Wed, 15 Aug 2012 16:01:00 +0000

SEATTLE (AP) — These aren't your typical loos. One uses microwave energy to transform human waste into electricity. Another captures urine and uses it for flushing. And still another turns excrement into charcoal.

They are part of a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation competition to reinvent the toilet for the 2.5 billion people around the world who don't have access to modern sanitation.

Scientists from around the world have taken up the challenge, and the foundation announced some projects Tuesday that will be getting more money to take their ideas from the lab to cities.

There, local entrepreneurs will use the new technology to turn pollution into cash.

"We couldn't be happier with the response that we've gotten," Bill Gates said.

To pass the foundation's threshold for the world's next toilet, it must operate without running water, electricity or a septic system, not discharge pollutants, preferably capture energy or other resources, and operate at a cost of 5 cents a day.

The United Nations estimates disease caused by unsafe sanitation results in about half the hospitalizations in the developing world. About 1.5 million children die each year from diarrheal disease.