SEOUL -- A remarkable number of U.S.-trained economists are helping to represent South Korea as it plays host to the Group of 20 summit meeting. Il SaKong, who leads the presidential committee that organized the meeting, got his doctorate at the University of California, Los Angeles. Hyun Oh-seok, who leads the Korea Development Institute, one of...
SAURI, Kenya -- In the past five years, life in this bushy little patch of western Kenya has improved dramatically. Agricultural yields have doubled; child mortality has dropped by 30 percent; school attendance has shot up and so have test scores, putting one local school second in the area, when it used to be ranked 17th; and cellphone ownership...

The number of bleeding hearts has soared exponentially over the last decade. Celebrities embraced Africa, while conservatives went from showing disdain for humanitarian aid (''money down a rat hole'') to displaying leadership in the fight against AIDS and malaria. Compassion became contagious and then it became consensus. Yet all the wringing hands...