Letters.

Melinda Gates is following an understandable human desire to do something about the terrible conditions in which she saw people living in India ("Bill's Biggest Bet Yet," Special Report, Feb. 4). But it should not be forgotten that the government that presides over this festering sore on humanity has spent billions of dollars developing nuclear weapons. No matter how much money is poured into the Third World by the well-meaning but misguided taxpayers of the West, the basic cause for the misery remains: inefficient, corrupt and criminal governments that do not give a damn for the welfare of their own people.

Brian Clacey

Hokkaido, Japan

I'm a longtime subscriber to your magazine and am seldom disappointed. But can you please shut up about Microsoft and Bill Gates? Isn't the guy rich enough to buy his own publicity?

Robrecht van Haegendoren

Antwerp, Belgium

Bill and Melinda Gates's attempts to better the lot of the world's poorest children with their own money gave me a lump in the throat and a rush of admiration for them. Reconcile these actions with the bigots who vilify the United States. As a Brit, it made me proud to be a friend of the American people.