Here are excerpts from editorials in newspapers around the world:

Daily Nation, Nairobi, Kenya, on development projects:

Since Kenya gained independence in 1963, donors have sunk millions into so-called development projects. Unfortunately, most of these projects seemed to be more targeted at achieving national objectives of the donor countries than that of improving the lives of Kenyans.

Presumably, top on their agenda was securing employment and contracts for their nationals, behind a facade of philanthropy.

In short, the disparate activities largely failed to make a dent on poverty.

Donors, in a clear admission of failure, unveiled an attempt at co-ordinating their efforts to make meaningful impact under the Millennium Development Goals, which aims at halving poverty by 2015.

The countries signed the Kenya Joint Assistance Strategy (KJAS), which is meant to bring donor intervention in line with Vision 2030. The Treasury will coordinate the assistance to make sure it fits in with national development objectives.

We support this initiative as it has the potential of eliminating warped priorities informed by misguided know-it-all attitudes common with foreigners operating on the continent.

Besides, by focusing on Vision 2030, the foreigners are giving indigenous planning a big nod. They are simply agreeing that Kenyans are clear in their minds where they want to go.

Haaretz, Tel-Aviv, Israel, on Israel and Middle East politics:

Last week, all elements of the threats and hopes facing Israeli citizens unfolded before them. There is no security, and none is expected. The bed and breakfasts full of vacationers and the festivals throughout the country suggest a wish for normalcy and escapism, but these also include a strong element of denial.

The Israel Defence Forces appears to be returning to its old deterrent self, without sliding into euphoria and overconfidence. If the political and security leadership maintains its restraint and avoids arrogant talk, we may be able to declare the start of an era of wisdom and caution. The new chief of staff and defense minister may be this past year's main security advance, and the talks with Mahmoud Abbas are the political one.

A group of moderate states is forming in the Middle East, and while this group may be weak, perhaps even temporary due to regime changes, Israel must do everything in its power to bring the Palestinian state into this group. So long as Hamas refuses to recognise Israel and prefers the Iranian rhetoric calling for the destruction of the Zionist state, and so long as Syria is on the Iranian side of the equation, by choice and not by compulsion, Israel must cling to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas with all its strength and prove it is willing to make concessions to those who acknowledge its existence and are willing to cooperate with it.

The Gazette, Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Luciano Pavarotti:

If toward the end he became almost a caricature of himself — expanding in girth, cancelling performances, indulging his appetites, leaving his wife for a young secretary, earning barbs from critics for sometimes sloppy performances — there were solid reasons Luciano Pavarotti, who died Thursday at the much-too-young age of 71 in his hometown of Modena, Italy, was the most celebrated opera singer since Caruso.

He had charisma and personality, of course, but most of all it was that magnificent voice and the artistry with which he employed it.

It can sometimes be difficult to tell one good tenor from another. But within two or three notes, anybody who paid attention could tell that this was Pavarotti and nobody else. The lower register had an unusual richness and even a darker timbre, which made the apparent effortlessness with which he nailed those ringing high Cs seem all the more amazing.

Pavarotti became a pop icon but with a solid foundation. With his peerless technique and impeccable diction, in his prime he was one of the finest interpreters of Italian opera — especially the lyrically virtuosic bel canto repertoire of Bellini, Donizetti and the like — ever to captivate an audience.

Arrivederci, Luciano.