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01/31/2005:

"Elephant in the room can't leave it all up to Sharon"

It was, said a bemused participant, like a Billy Graham revivalist rally. Sharon Stone stood up at the World Economic Forum and after pledging $10,000 of her Hollywood fortune for mosquito nets in Africa challenged the assembled business leaders to match her generosity.

Eventually, rather sheepishly, there was a response to Ms Stone's hammed-up harangue. To wild applause, people got to their feet and within 10 minutes the actor had $100,000 for her cause. Even that was not enough. She sent round a message to all those at the forum urging them to find $1,000,000.

The fact that charities found after the tsunami that there was a shortage of mosquito nets hardly mattered. This was the new caring, sharing Davos in action - one where it is no longer cool simply to make money. Bono, for example, received a standing ovation simply for walking on stage with a Davos supergroup made up of Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Tony Blair, and two African presidents - Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria.
Full Article: guardian.co.uk