Junk food lure for children
The Age - Melbourne,Victoria,Australia... Australian Association of National Advertisers executive director Collin Segelov said advertising to children was "not a public issue".

Youth group holds mock funerals to protest Ottawa's climate change ...
Canada.com - Hamilton,Ontario,CanadaTORONTO (CP) - Young people in 14 cities across Canada are holding funerals Wednesday - funerals for their future. The newly formed Canadian Youth Climate ...

TV with sub-titles 'will help children to read'
Telegraph.co.uk - United Kingdom... Parents who say they are too busy to read to their children should let them watch television – but only with the sub-titles on, a literacy expert says today.

Shanghai's youth care for their parents
People's Daily Online - Beijing,China... over the age of 18, all of whom were the only children in their ... Researchers found the only-child generation was both very heavy dependent on its parents ...

Child rights groups want special magistrates
Independent Online - Cape Town,South Africa... Children of divorced parents were often caught up in litigation, where their rights ... Roome said magistrates who could create a child-friendly system within the ...

Children signing away rights - unions
Melbourne Herald Sun - Australia...Children as young as 14 were signing away basic work conditions, leaving them vulnerable to unscrupulous employers, unions said today.

Book about life on prairie farm wins Canadian children's ...
Canada.com - Hamilton,Ontario,CanadaTORONTO (CP) - Poet and novelist Pamela Porter of Sidney, B.C., won the TD Canadian Children's Literature Award for her book "The Crazy Man," about life on a prairie wheat farm.

'Vast imbalance' in child poverty
BBC News - UK... The United Nations children's agency Unicef has appealed to Eastern European and Central Asian governments to pay more attention to child poverty. Across South-East Europe and the former Soviet Union it found millions of children were living in extreme poverty despite a recent economic upturn.

Czech Interior Ministry decides to ban communist youth ...
International Herald Tribune - France... The Czech Interior Ministry decided to ban an organization of the country's young communists, saying its program violates the constitution, an official said Wednesday. The Union of Communist Youth's program violates the Czech constitution because it includes efforts to completely replace private property with state ownership, ministry spokeswoman Majka Masarikova said.

Mercury News: Livermore hosts Teen Film Festival
--"The library's first Teen Film Festival, "An Independent View," is slated for Wednesday night and will showcase filmmakers in the 12-to-18 age range.
"There's lots of really good ones," said librarian Mary Sue Nocar, who came up with the festival idea. The festival will include all 11 submitted films, each with a length of five minutes or less."

Information Week: Teen Social Networking Spawns Online Ecosystem
--"It is not a surprise that teens are actively engaged in social networking sites like MySpace and YouTube," Ken Cassar, chief analyst for Nielsen/NetRatings, said in a statement released this week. "What is surprising, however, is the extent to which a wide array of supporting Web sites has developed in conjunction with these bigger, more well-known Web destinations. MySpace and YouTube have spawned a vibrant online ecosystem."

Computer World: IT Managers Told to Think Young
--"Teenagers and young adults are racing ahead of their elders in adopting new technologies and processes for collaborating, such as wikis and video sharing. And Gartner analysts said repeatedly that companies poised for future growth need to be clued in to the so-called consumerization of IT — a point driven home by Google Inc.’s agreement to acquire online video-sharing company YouTube Inc. for stock valued at $1.65 billion."

The Age: Libya joins children's laptop plan
--"The Libyan Government has reached an agreement with One Laptop Per Child, a non-profit US group developing an inexpensive, educational laptop computer, with the goal of supplying machines to all 1.2 million Libyan schoolchildren by June 2008."

Guardian: Save the Children ad banned
--"A Save the Children Fund marketing campaign has been banned by the advertising watchdog after complaints that it distressed children by implying that those with brown eyes might die young."

ABC News: Kenyans to stay youthful until 50
--"Youth Affairs Minister Muhammad Kuti has been quoted in local media as saying the Government plans to change the law so more people can access a youth fund established this year."

China View: Over 30 mln Chinese rural migrant youth receive training
--"Over 30 million young rural migrants working in China's urban districts have received training provided by Communist youth leagues across the country...The training programs launched in 2001 cover various fields such as state policies and laws, culture, vocational skills, production safety and refined behavior."

Reuters: Violence against children widely accepted: study
--"Violence against children is widely accepted as normal around the world, and at least 106 countries still allow physical punishment in schools, a U.N. report on the issue showed on Thursday."

The Australian: Sexualisation of children in ads a 'non-issue'
--"The sexualisation of children in advertising is a "non-issue for Australian parents," according to the Advertising Standards Bureau, which has vowed to strenuously resist any attempt to legislate the issue."

TMCnet: Nokia has 'Plan' to Use Technology for Youth Development in Africa
--"Poverty can be tackled by using Information Communication Technologies (ICT) such as radio, the Internet, mobile devices and television. These can also improve the respect, fulfillment and protection of children’s rights."

ComputerWorld: Bitter old man rails at today's youth culture
--"Call me a curmudgeon, but I'm getting sick of this "today's youth is different" crap.
All this garbage about how they are children of the digital age and just take to technology naturally and don't know of a time before the Internet."

Toronto Star: Make exercise child's play, guru says
--"Magnus Scheving is an athlete turned children's TV star who also travels the world promoting kids' fitness."

Washington Post: Doctors Urge More Playtime for Children
--"Here's some soothing medicine for stressed-out parents and overscheduled kids: The American Academy of Pediatrics says what children really need for healthy development is more good, old-fashioned playtime."

Xinhua: Senior CPC official calls for greater ideological education of young people
--"A member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Political Bureau has called for greater efforts in the ideological and ethical education of the nation's youth."

The Age: Ads using 'sexy' children condemned
--"A report released yesterday by think tank the Australia Institute, Corporate Pedophilia, found tweens — pre-teens — were increasingly being sexualised in sophisticated ad campaigns as retailers, cosmetic and clothing companies tried to reach younger markets."

BBC News: Schools promise for care children
--"A Green Paper on children in care in England proposes putting an expectation on councils to place such children in the best local schools."

New Zealand Herald: Author of Vintner's Luck wins children's book prize
--"The Library and Information Association of New Zealand Aotearoa Children's Book Awards 2006 celebrate excellence in literature, illustration and non-fiction, said awards co-ordinator Amy Stubbs."

Statesman Journal: No Child Left Behind rations education [Opinion]
--"We need to look closely at the act’s impact on the lives of real kids and educators. Both the co-author of “The Bell Curve,” Charles Murray, and the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University (strange bedfellows indeed) have recently argued that the losers in a system based on passing percentages are minority students. It is an approach that not only creates perverse incentives to focus on students close to passing but also underestimates the size of the achievement gap, creating the illusion of progress where none exists. Duke University economists have shown that when schools focus narrowly on passing rates, the gap between high-achieving white students and African American students grows."

IRNA: UN high commissioner for human rights lambasts violence against children
--"After more than three years of work, World Report on Violence against Children, a United Nations study, which will be released on October 11, provides a comprehensive account of the root causes and effects of the problem."

Boston Globe: A child's garden
--"Children now have their own poet laureate. Jack Prelutsky, 66, was given the title last month by the Poetry Foundation, the Chicago publisher of Poetry magazine. The foundation was formed in 2003 thanks to a $100 million gift from pharmaceutical heiress Ruth Lilly."

Sunday Times: Dentists abandon children on NHS
--"Up to two-thirds of children in some areas of England are failing to get regular dental treatment as thousands of youngsters have been dropped by dentists no longer willing to provide free National Health Service care."

Boston Globe: Summary Box: Lawyers for abused and neglected children
--"Federal law requires judges to appoint guardians to represent the child's best interests, but does not say they must be lawyers. In many states, most children are represented by non-lawyer volunteers known as Court Appointed Special Advocates."

Bloomberg: Bush Seeks Better Teachers, More Transfers With `No Child' Law
--"President George W. Bush proposed strengthening the No Child Left Behind law, saying he wants to further improve the quality of U.S. teachers and give parents more options to flee failing schools."

Courier Mail: Teen failed for stand on gays
--"A 13-YEAR-OLD student was failed after she refused to write an assignment on life in a gay community, because of her religious and moral beliefs."

Toronto Star: Should children race cars?
--"Thousands of children all around the world are being introduced at a very young age by their parents (usually their fathers) to a sport that could do them very serious harm and maybe even kill them."

Unison.ie: Young people gather in Dublin for national conference
--"Over 200 young people have gathered in Dublin today for the third annual National Youth Conference."

thisismoney: Middle classes hijack child support
--"Under the scheme parents can visit the centres and take part in a range of activities to entertain young children. But ministers say that the poorest families find the service intimidating or overwhelming while affluent families are benefiting."

Reuters: India: Child labor law welcomed, but needs enforcing
--"Child domestic workers, those under age 18, are nearly invisible and are especially vulnerable. They work alone in individual households, hidden from public scrutiny, where their lives are controlled by their employers. Child domestics typically work long hours for little or no pay. "

Ohmynews: Challenges of writing a teen market An interview with novelist Tabitha Suzuma
--"Her books are aimed at older teens and young adults, but in the United Kingdom, teen fiction is still under the umbrella of children's fiction and is usually found in the same corner of the bookshop."

LA Times: Grand old party of child endangerment [Opinion]
--"Children don't live in a vacuum, of course. They're part of families, and their fate is entwined with their parents' fate. And no matter how you slice and dice the data, American families and the children who live in them are more vulnerable now than they have been in decades."

chron.com: Complete forms no guarantee for CHIP
--"About half of children dropped from the Children's Health Insurance Program provided missing information requested by a new private contractor processing the applications, but lost coverage anyway, state officials said Thursday. "

DNA India: Kalam gives Indian youth 7 out of 10
--"President APJ Abdul Kalam rates Indian youth at seven on a scale of one to 10 on a global podium."

BBC News: Concern over 'missing' children
--"The majority of education authorities in England do not have a written policy on dealing with children who are missing school, research shows."

Washington Post: Bush pitches incentive pay for teachers
--Proposals outlined in talk at a D.C. charter school

allAfrica.com: Nigeria: Corporate groups back youth summit
--"Tetrazzini Foods, Lucozade Boost, Centre for Black and African Arts & Civilization (CBAAC), Lantern Books, Sandy Pens, and others have thrown their weight behind the forthcoming National Youth Summit scheduled for the October 26, 2006 at the National Arts Theatre, Iganmu Lagos."

IranMania: Isfahan to host children's theater festival
--"The13 th Children and Young Adults Theater Festival will be held in Isfahan from October9 -14."

Washington Post: Bush: No Child Left Behind closing achievement gap
--"President Bush said today that the No Child Left Behind education requirements he signed into law four years ago have helped to close the achievement gap and he proposed several changes to the law aimed at assisting teachers and giving parents more school choice."

Life Style Extra: 'Bad bosses stunting growth Of young talent'
--"Businesses risk losing future leaders with more than one in ten workers aged between 18 and 24 feeling their manager is holding them back."

Toronto Star: Stop clawback of child benefit: Put poverty on the political agenda [Letter]
--"Though the reasons why 4.8 million Canadians are poor in one of the richest countries in the world may be complex, the first steps in redressing the problem are simple."

Planet Rugby: Wales spotlights youth violence
--"The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) today revealed the full facts surrounding an alarming rise in violent incidents on and off the field within junior rugby (Under 12 - Under 15) and youth rugby (Under 16 - Under 19) in Wales - and outlined the consequences of Welsh rugby not taking notice and bucking this trend."

EW.com: Little Children [movie review]
--"When did words like adult, child, suburban, and playground lose their neutrality — their innocence?"

BBC News: Young children need more exercise
--"Nursery children need more physical exercise to burn off their energy and stave off the threat of obesity, experts warn."

The Independent: The Big Question: Is it exploitation to adopt children from the developing world?

International Herald Journal: Facebook Web site looks to register young voters
--"Facebook, the social networking Web site with 9.5 million users, now features a Rock the Vote page to target potential voters. The Facebook site ranks No. 7 for U.S. Internet traffic and its users are largely college-aged."

allAfrica.com: Angola: Youth council web site launched today
--"The National Youth Council (CNJ) launches this Wednesday, in Luanda, its web site with the electronic address www.cnj.angoladigital.net."

The Hindu: 100-member Indian youth team to visit China
--"The delegation, comprising youth from Panchayati Raj institutions, sports academies, scholars of Chinese studies, social workers, folk and cultural artists and entrepreneurs, will be visiting China from October 8 to 17, according to an official release here today."

Yahoo News: Irony Tsunami: Bush proclaimed Monday 'Child Health Day'
--"From our you've-got-to-be-kidding-me file, we discover that, slipping quietly by yesterday, was Child Health Day 2006, which was officially designated by George W. Bush on September 28."

White House.gov: Child Health Day, 2006 A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America

allAfrica.com: Nigeria: Proprietress calls for early child educators' training
--"The Federal Government has been called upon to urgently create a specialised higher institution for the training of early childhood educators, if the Universal Basic Education (UBE) is to succeed."

Louisville Courier Journal: Book cites Children’s Academy of New Albany
--"Maeroff writes approvingly of the academy’s decision to focus on pre-kindergarten through grade three, and to get all students reading at or above grade level by the time they finish the third grade."

Village Voice: Game theory: Designers transform New York into a giant adult playground
--""When we played games as kids," recalls McLellan, "everybody played. Sometimes it would go on for days all over the neighborhood. This is like a big-city version of that. I like the fact that, even as adults, we can agree to a set of rules and play together.""

Monsters and Critics: Young testers make their picks for top holiday toys
--"On Tuesday, FamilyFun Magazine releases its 15th annual Toy of the Year awards, which feature toys that are chosen after thousands of hours of play by more than 1,300 kid testers."

The Mercury News: America's youth becoming engaged in community, political activity
--"In many civic activities, there were only small differences in the rates of participation between young people and older people, the report's authors said."

Fox News: American Youth Largely Uninvolved in Civic Activities
--"It's a myth that young Americans are uninvolved in civic and political activity, but a great number of those aged 15 to 25 are still completely unengaged, according to a report released Tuesday."

The Age: In Uganda, children are being forced to kill other children
--"It's another forgotten flashpoint of conflict in central Africa, writes Helen Mirren."

Detroit Free Press: Child support may cost game licenses
--"If you can't hunt down the money to make child support payments in Macomb County -- or at least the time to make an effort -- you won't have the right to hunt down animals."

Swissinfo: Weapons ban wins support among young Swiss
--"A national youth assembly has called for an outright ban on firearms in Swiss households."

Guardian Unlimited: Every child has a right to childhood, Tories say
--"Delegates voted by a narrow margin (52%) for a ban on marketing aimed at children in the first "hot topic" debate of the conference, ahead of a panel debate on public service delivery for the young."

News.com.au: Unions demand child labour reforms
--"Among the changes, unions want 14 years of age established as the minimum age for employment and limits on the type of work children can perform and the hours they can work."

Seattle Times: Sidewalks without children
--"Consider these facts. In 1960, according to census statistics, children under 18 years of age represented nearly 30 percent of Seattle's half-million residents. By 2005, their numbers had dropped by almost half. In 1960, Seattle Public Schools had nearly 100,000 students. Today, the district has fewer than half that number."

NDTV.com: Youth Parliament mulls serious issues
--"Their current preoccupation is being zero, a space for young people to debate the definition of citizenship and the changes they would like. Being zero examines what the Right To Information means to young people and how it can be used by them. The session will also discuss India's legal system."

Monsters and Critics: Maoists justify induction of children
--"Maoist rebels, who claim to fight against repression, find nothing wrong in inducting minors between eight and 15 years in their organisation. They term children as cultural ambassadors of their movement."

Los Angeles Times: Maureen Daly McGivern, 85; Her Young Adult Novel in 1942 Launched a Genre
--"Maureen Daly McGivern, who pioneered the young adult novel with "Seventeenth Summer," a teenage coming-of-age story published in 1942, has died. She was 85."

IranMania: World’s Children’s Day Festival in Tehran Oct.1
--"Organized by the Institute for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (IIDCYA), the festival focuses on the themes of child, prayer, and affection, the IIDCYA’s public relations officer said."

Honolulu Star Bulletin: Month celebrates importance of youth
--"October is Children and Youth Month in Hawaii, a designation created in 1997 as a way of recognizing the importance of nurturing children, our state's greatest asset."

China Daily: Nation's one-child policy 'will not change'
--"Beijing will not ease restrictions on the birth of a second child for people with higher educational qualifications, and the second-child policy is still mainly open to rural residents and couples from one-child families."

Chicago Tribune: The Swamp: Why did Foley keep child-protection job?
--"Foley carved out a role for himself as a congressional leader on the issue of exploited children, and is credited with authoring important sections of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 which President Bush signed into law this summer."

Reuters: UN expert seeks end to death penalty for children
--"Countries where capital punishment is practiced should exempt children under 18 -- or adults convicted while minors -- from the death penalty, a U.N. human rights expert said in a report released on Friday."

BBC News: Rise in children 'at risk' cases
--"The number of youngsters put on "at risk" registers because of possible sex abuse has risen by a third over a year, new figures have shown."

allAfrica.com: Ghana: Union Congress Launches Report's Findings On Child Labour
--"The Ghana Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU) of the Trades Union Congress has launched research findings undertaken jointly by the University of Ghana and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) on the issue of child labour on cocoa farms in the country."

allAfrica.com: Namibia: Children's rights remain a challenge
--"Prime Minister Nahas Angula, who yesterday spoke during the celebration of the Day of the Namibian Child under the theme, "Right to protection: stop violence against children", urged: "We should make sure that the security in Namibia takes care of children.""

Globe and Mail: Corus targets youth market, clicks into on-line games
--"Corus Entertainment Inc. is joining the rush of traditional media companies following their younger audiences on-line with an expansion into interactive Internet games, the latest trend engulfing the Web."

Kathimerini: City children leaner than country peers
--"A growing number of overweight children seem to be coming from Greece’s regional areas rather than from urban centers, despite the healthier lifestyles adopted in villages and small towns, according to experts. Survey results to be presented at an obesity conference in Thessaloniki today and tomorrow are expected to show that children in cities are more sensitive to their physical appearance."

TVNZ: Call for more child welfare reports
--"New Zealand's five yearly children reports to the UN are not regular enough to respond quickly and effectively to issues children face."

New York Times: Painting called too violent for children won’t return
--"The skirmish is over and all sides are claiming victory, but a large painting deemed too violent for elementary school children will not return home."

Times Online: Test-free system 'gives children a better start in life'
--"Pupils who learn at their own pace in Montessori schools may have an advantage over those in traditional classrooms."

allAfrica.com: Migration Affects 900,000 Children in Sierra Leone
--"United Nation's Children Fund (UNICEF) Country Representative, Geerte Cappelaere Tuesday disclosed that an estimated 39 %, about 900,000 Sierra Leonean children do not live with their parents mainly due to migration."

Toronto Star: Include kids in same-sex debate: Group
--"A coalition of religious groups and a backbencher who wants to become Alberta premier appeared together today to urge the federal government to consider the needs of children in any same-sex marriage debate."

The Hindu: The Young World quiz
--"The Hindu Young World Quiz series started in 2000 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Young World supplement. Begun as an interschool, inter city quiz this has become the best known and most widely attended live quizzing event in the country. The quiz conducted every year since then over a number of cities draws enthusiastic responses from tens of thousands of children from hundreds of schools at regional events conducted nationwide."

Hindustan Times: Just say no to child labour, India to tell people
--"The government will launch a TV, radio and newspaper campaign next week to tell people they could be jailed if caught employing children under 14, a spokesman said on Thursday."

allAfrica.com: Ghana: Games Can Be Used to Treat Children
--"Right to Play-Ghana, an athlete-driven international humanitarian organization, said on Monday that acquiring knowledge through games was a better way to train children rather than applying force."

allAfrica.com: UN Groups Push to End Child Hunger Around the World
--"One of the millennium development goals set by the United Nations in 2000 is to halve the proportion of people in extreme hunger by 2015. There are 852 million chronically hungry people in the world today, and roughly half of them are children, according to a spokeswoman for the World Food Programme."

BBC News: Row over children's school walk
--"Children attending a primary school in the Western Isles cannot get seats on a bus because of new safety rules."

Canada.com: CEOs build children a playground
--"At first, it was easy to spot the executives from the cashiers, but as the day wore on job titles began to fade. By the end of the day, the executives were belting out the lyrics to Justin Timberlake's SexyBack, blasting from the onsite D.J. station."

Chicago Tribune: New children's museum site
--"The popular Chicago Children's Museum has settled on a new site in Grant Park after ruling out several other options, including a controversial plan for the north end of the park."

BBC News: New laws will aid young workers
--"The new regulations will help protect the tens of thousands of school-aged workers in Northern Ireland."

BBC News: Dirty water 'kills 1.5m children'
--"More than 1.5m children under five die each year because they lack access to safe water and proper sanitation, says the United Nations children's agency."

Times of Malta: Young scientists in 'rewarding' Stockholm experience
--"Austrian teenagers Michael Kaiser and Johannes Kienl developed an advanced de-icing system for aircraft. Johannes Burkart and Alexander Joos, from Germany, examined the flight curves of table tennis balls and 19-year-old Tomasz Wdowik, a Pole, carried out a complex organic chemistry synthesis of a potential new drug for heart disease."

Forbes: Most Uninsured Children's Parents Work
--"Most of the 9 million uninsured children in the U.S. live in homes where at least one parent works full time. In more than one-quarter of the cases, there are two working parents."

People's Daily Online: Chinese children bid farewell to gender discrimination in child-friendly schools
--"Dad is reading a newspaper and Mum is doing housework -- images such as these are no way to illustrate the family relationship in "child-friendly school" textbooks. "Schools using textbooks with pictures like that are not gender responsive and will not be termed child-friendly schools," said Anjana Mangalagiri, an official with the UNICEF Office for China."

Seattle Post-Intelligencer: A Moment With ... Jack Prelutsky, America's first children's poet laureate
--"Wednesday night in Chicago, Prelutsky, 66, was named the nation's first children's poet laureate, courtesy of the non-profit Poetry Foundation."

Fox News: Judge Dismisses Most of No Child Left Behind Lawsuit
--"A federal judge dismissed most of the claims in Connecticut's challenge to the No Child Left Behind law Wednesday on jurisdictional grounds, the state's attorney general said."

New Zealand Herald: Judge says problem children need school
--"Judge Becroft, an advocate of keeping boys at school to avert criminal behaviour later, said mainstream schools were best for such children."

chron.com: Children's Internet Hit by SEC Lawsuit
--"The Children's Internet Inc., a company that promises to protect children from inappropriate Internet content, bilked more than $5 million from investors and used their money to pay gambling debts, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday by the Securities and Exchange Commission."

VOA News: South Korean 'Goose Dads' Face Sacrifice, Loneliness for Children's Sake
--"Despite the hardship, goose dads have a better situation than the men Koreans refer to as "penguin dads." As the nicknames imply, goose dads can fly, because they can afford the occasional plane ticket to visit their families. Penguin fathers, who work in lower income jobs, remain grounded - and often go for many years at a time without seeing their wives and children."

BBC News: Congo's child miners start school
-- Children in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have begun attending school this week instead of sifting for minerals in a vast open-cast mine.

The Australian: Catholic youth in danger, warns Pell
--"Cardinal George Pell will warn the National Catholic Education Commission's annual conference today that young members of the church seem to regard life as a "smorgasbord of options from which they choose items that best suit their passing fancies"."

allAfrica.com: Kenya: Youth Plan Gets Sh146m WB Grant
--"Kenya Community Development Foundation (KCDF), a non-governmental organisation, would disburse the funds to youth programmes on behalf of Ministry of Youth Affairs. The bank is the administrator of the fund, which has been secured from the Japanese government under the Japan Social Development Fund (JSDF). Mr Collin Bruce, the bank's Country Director said the grant would target 1.5 million youths, especially the vulnerable and marginalised."

Reuters: Nepal: National health programmes reduce child deaths
--"It is a simple step to save a child in a country like Nepal where, according to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), 65,000 children under five die every year mostly from preventable diseases such as diarrhoea, acute respiratory infections (ARI), pneumonia, measles and undernutrition."

Scotsman.com: Children's toy guns spark rise in armed police operations
--"There have been times when armed response units have rushed out only to find a kid with a BB [ball bearing] gun" - Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland spokesman

BBC News: Children 'order alcohol on phone'
--Children as young as 12 buy alcohol by ordering it over the phone with takeaways, a government adviser says.

Reuters: House again backs abortion restriction for youth
--"The House of Representatives easily passed legislation on Tuesday that would make it a crime to take a minor across state lines for an abortion."

San Francisco Chronicle: On No Child Left Behind Is the feds' lesson plan working? NO: Funding falls short -- some kids left behind
--"Education is one of those issues where everyone thinks they have "the answer" to the problem because they once were a student."

Scotsman.com: Charity calls for end to 'demonising of young'
--"A leading children's charity will tomorrow call for action to stamp out age discrimination against young people."

National Post: 'Child care' costs require some tax law gymnastics
--"A recent decision of the Tax Court makes it clear that expenses incurred from after-school activities may qualify as child care expenses for the purpose of the Income Tax Act. The decision probably does not change the law but makes clear that what qualifies as "child care" can be quite broad."

Mercury News: Panel's chairman urges changes in No Child Left Behind law
--"No Child Left Behind, President Bush's signature education law, was passed with bipartisan support and went into effect in 2002. It requires that students score at grade level on standardized tests with all students meeting proficiency by 2014. It also holds schools accountable if they do not."

Reuters: China: Beijing closes schools for migrant children in pre-Olympic clean-up
--"In some cases, the Beijing authorities have dispatched large numbers of police to close particularly popular schools. On August 29, more than 90 policemen forced the evacuation of the Weimenkou school of Shijingshan district. Petitions to the Beijing Commission on Education, signed by hundreds of parents in support of certain schools and denouncing the brutality of the closures, remain unanswered."

DNA India: End to child labour: Support of corporates sought
--"With barely fifteen days to go before India implements a complete ban on hiring children as domestic workers or in eateries, the government is fast putting its act together to make the prohibition a success."

New Zealand Herald: Teachers can touch children, says union
--"The New Zealand Educational Institute, which represents staff at primary schools, early childcare centres and special education centres, will launch its new guidelines on physical contact at its annual conference in Wellington today. The guidelines encourage "positive and affirming" contact to provide emotional support or to praise a child."

allAfrica.com: Uganda: Abducted Children in Northern Uganda Go Missing
--"According to the latest report by the Uganda Parliamentary Forum for Children (UPFC), chaired by MP Ruth Tuma, out of over 27000 children who were abducted by rebels, the army has been able to rescue only 17000 and the remaining 10000 remain an accounted for."

Reuters: Ofcom rejects ITV children's programming cuts
--"The broadcaster had been seeking to reduce its commitment to children's programming from the current level of eight hours a week and media reports suggested it wanted to focus on more adult-orientated chat and game shows. "

Scotsman.com: Park joy for disabled children
--"A giant snakes and ladders game and specially-adapted swings for wheelchairs are among the features for the youngsters who visit the Sunndach residential home."

Globe and Mail: On-line fights: typical teen behaviour, or serious social problem?
--"A zero-tolerance policy at most Canadian school boards has meant a marked decrease in those types of beefs over the past 10 years — but depicting teenage fistfights on-line appears to be a new trend."

Monsters and Critics: Are Muslim youth distancing from religion?
--"While many stressed out Muslims, weary of being targeted or racially profiled, are increasingly taking to spirituality and seeking solace in religion, educated youth are today consciously or unconsciously distancing from Islam to showcase their secular credentials."

CBC: Half of teen drug, alcohol use slips by parents: study
--"Parents may be unaware as much as half of the time that their teenagers are using drugs or alcohol, say researchers who compared reports from both generations."

Khaleej Times: Iran offers citizenship to children of foreign men
--"Iran’s parliament passed a law on Sunday allowing children with an Iranian mother and a foreign father to acquire Iranian nationality, the official IRNA news agency reported."

Canada.com: Where have all the children gone?
--"Small-town Vancouver Island is losing its youth. As one fisherman says, 'The kids, there's nothing to keep them here anymore.' Not the sea, nor the forests. Families move out, retirees move in. And dreams fade away."

Stuff.co.nz: Survey shows young Kiwis becoming couch potatoes
--"More than one in three young New Zealanders are doing less than two hours of exercise each week, a new survey reveals."

The Mercury News: Guide helps buyers find right toy for special needs children
--"Each toy in the 52-page guide includes a detailed description of how it can be used, along with icons indicating whether the toy can stimulate development in such areas as creativity, self esteem, vision or hearing."

Reuters: Lebanon: Children play to tackle war trauma
--"Agencies working to improve the psychological health of children believe there is no better way to begin the journey towards recovery than through that which children enjoy best – playing. "According to research, 95 percent of children are able to overcome stress and mild trauma by simply playing," said Soha Boustani, Beirut communications officer for the United Nations Children's Fund, Unicef."

The Age: McDonald's wants in on new Children's Hospital
--"Despite its charitable work, its location on the site remains contentious to health groups. Health Minister Bronwyn Pike told The Age: "I would hope that the availability of healthy, nutritious food would be part of that (tender process) criteria.""

Daily Herald: Debt is bad - even on student loans
--"We're told over and over again that student loans are good debt. The conventional wisdom says that, like a home loan, student loan debt will turn into an asset. But what happens when it doesn't turn out that way?"

ksl.com: Proposal would require Utah children to have health insurance
--"Utah's children would be required to have health insurance under a plan being floated by Gov. Jon Huntsman's top health advisers."

United Press International: Youth don't understand mental illness
--"Youth ages 8 to 18 seem to have an easier time understanding a physical illness than a mental illness, according to a U.S. survey."

Scotmans.com: Refer fewer child cases, SCRA head urges police
--"Scotland's most senior children's reporter has issued an unprecedented warning that her organisation can no longer cope with the rising number of cases referred to her after being refused an increase in her annual budget."

Scotsman.com: Youth workers back to school to tackle problem children
--"A pioneering £20,000-a-year scheme, which was launched at Queensferry Community High School last year as education leaders attempted to reach out to disaffected youngsters, has been hailed a success."

The Australian: Howard honours youth suicide charity
--"A teenage boy speaking of his near suicide tonight gave John Howard the most "moving introduction" he's experienced in more than a decade as Australia's prime minister."

Canada.com: More protection needed for poorer children, research shows
--"Children from poorer families are much more likely to choke to death, die in a fire or suffer other fatal injuries than those who grow up in affluent neighbourhoods, new Canadian research conducted by a Toronto pediatrician reveals."

London Free Press: Teen volunteer showed spirit
--"You could forgive Humberto Omana Jr., 16, for feeling a little bitter about spending hours and hours volunteering for the Boys' and Girls' Club of London. Despite the hard work he'd put in helping children in his adopted country of Canada, last February that country rejected his family's bid for refugee status on compassionate and humanitarian grounds and deported them back to Venezuela."

Boston Globe: Young voters -- a wild card in 2006 U.S. elections
--"With Democrats campaigning to pick up 15 seats in the House of Representatives and six in the Senate to reclaim control in each chamber, young Americans, who make up about 20 percent of the electorate, could prove decisive in the tightest races."

The Conservative Voice: The most effective youth ministry
--"“Twentysomethings continue to be the most spiritually independent and resistant age group in America,” the Barna study concluded. “Most of them pull away from participation and engagement in Christian churches, particularly during the ‘college years.’"

Baltimore Sun: Child's play
--Kids' theater takes on an important role in developing an appreciation for the stage

New York Times: Children’s boot camp for the culture wars
--"At Kids on Fire we see children in camouflage and face paint practicing war dances with wooden swords and making straight-armed salutes to a soundtrack of Christian heavy metal. We see them weeping and speaking in tongues as they are seized by the Holy Spirit."

allAfrica.com: Uganda: Children illustrate grave situation in IDP camps
--"The children held an art exhibition at Makerere Art Gallery recently highlighting the situation in IdP camps."

Reuters: Afghanistan: Children fly kites for peace as world marks international peace day
--"As Afghanistan struggles to consolidate its hard-won peace following nearly three decades of brutal civil war and internal strife, young boys and girls in the country's capital expressed hopes for a brighter future at a hilltop ceremony on Thursday, with the children flying kites and balloons inscribed with personal messages of peace."

New York Times: In China, children of the rich learn class, minus the struggle
--"In China, affluent parents are planning ways to cement their children’s place in a fast-emerging elite."

The Hindu: Nepalese children paint peace mural
--"Over 500 children participated in the group mural painting on the theme of "Children Wish for Peace" The children aged between 12 and 18 painted images of a crying Buddha, a bloody mountain, and various other images that promote peace, said Stella Tamang, Coordinator of Bikalpa Gyan Tatha Bikas Kendra, the organiser of the event."

allAfrica.com: Angola: US NGO Delivers Wheelchairs to Children Institute
--"A hundred wheelchairs were handed over Thursday in Luanda by the US Non-Governmental Organisation (SWM) to the provincial department of the National Institute of Children (INAC). The donation, delivered through the Norwegian NGO, International Children Development Programme (ICDP), is intended to assist physically disabled children in Angola's capital, Luanda."

The Australian: Your baby's OK, teen hero assures dying mother
--"The courageous teenager, who wears a Change The World wristband, ran from his nearby house and wriggled through the boot of the mangled car to save the screaming four-month-old boy."

People's Daily Online: African scrabble champion calls for training of young players
--""I have been able to win the trophy three times and I know that if young people are encouraged and adequately trained, they can do better and keep Nigeria's flag flying in the game," he said."

Village Voice: Can Bill Gates Rescue Evelyn Cabrera?
--"The journey of one high school senior through the small-school experiment of America's most generous philanthropist."

allAfrica.com: World Bank Wants More Attention for Young Generation
--"The World Bank yesterday released world development report for 2007, urging developing countries to invest more on young people to safeguard the future of their various countries. In the report posted on its website, the global bank posited that today's young people are the next generation of workers, entrepreneurs , parents, active citizen and leaders who have relatively fewer dependants because of lower birth rate."

Chicago Tribune: Young voters say: Talk to us
--"A survey of voters between 18 and 30 years old indicated that they know what issues are important to them--education and college costs being number one--but aren't hearing enough about the issues that matter to them from candidates."

ABC News: Remains of earliest child discovered in Ethiopia
--"A 3.3 million-year-old skeleton of the earliest child ever found shows the ancient ancestor of modern humans walked upright but may also have climbed trees, scientists said on Wednesday."

allAfrica.com: Zambia: Nearly Half of Young Women in Zambia, Ghana Can't Read - Report
--"The World Bank has urged developing countries to invest in better education, healthcare, and job training for their young people aged between 12 and 24 years, if they were to register surging economic growth and sharply reduced poverty."

Scotsman.com: Internet safety talks to warn children of online predators
--"The ThinkuKnow campaign will involve a series of talks and workshops being delivered by police, child protection specialists, social services and teachers in schools across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland."

IOL: Govt to address UN Committee on rights of children
--"The Government is due to make an address to a UN committee in Geneva today about its moves to improve children's rights."

Belfast Telegraph: Our book collection: a wizard way to get children into reading
--"Belfast Telegraph readers have the opportunity to build up a fantastic kids' book collection. The Children's Books Collection offer was launched today with a copy of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz free with every Belfast Telegraph."

AME: Young Arab Leaders promote cooperation and dialogue
--"The group came together at the first annual Arab and American Action Forum (AAAF), an event organized by the Young Arab Leaders (YAL) aimed at creating initiatives that provide opportunities for the Arab youth in the areas of education, entrepreneurship, leadership, dialogue exchange and youth networks."

Reuters: Music lessons help young child memories: study
--"Parents who spend time and money to teach their children music, take heart -- a new Canadian study shows young children who take music lessons have better memories than their nonmusical peers."

Dallas Business Journal: Dallas Children's Museum, Museum of Nature & Science merge
--"The Museum of Nature & Science will add Shannon McKay, currently executive director of the Children's Museum, to its team to help oversee the transition. It also will bring on board Margie Sibrizzi, an early childhood education specialist, to work with the Nature & Science education team to continue offering programs for toddlers and young children."

Telegraph: Punishing children by smacking wins widespread adult approval
--"The majority of parents believes smacking is an acceptable way to discipline children, according to the latest research, which also uncovers widespread confusion about the law."

allAfrica.com: Botswana: The long suffering children of Bikwe
--"The president of Botswana Teachers Union (BTU), Japhta Radibe decried that primary education does not truly reflect the status of the Botswana economy. "The conditions of primary school children and teachers are horrible," he said. He argued that travelling long distances to attend school is risky and pointless for young children. "By the time they arrive at school, they would be too tired to pay attention," he said."

Herald Sun: 24-hour child care
--"A 24-hour childcare centre is to open in Geelong."

allAfrica.com: Few 'Positions Vacant' for the Young
--"A billion young people aged 15 to 24 unemployed, 85 percent of them in developing countries -- with several hundred million more expected to enter the job market by the end of the decade: grim statistics indeed. However, a recent conference offered some ideas as to how they could be addressed."

International Herald Tribune: Nepal rights group criticizes rebels for using children in rallies
--"A children's rights group in Nepal criticized communist rebels on Tuesday for forcing school students to attend a political rally in the capital, Katmandu."

allAfrica.com: Kenya: Investing in the Youth Key to Reducing Poverty
--"A new World Bank report says that more than five million young people in Kenya have no access to education, good healthcare and quality jobs."

Guardian Unlimited: Children surely deserve more than rising despair
--"The crisis affecting young people is very real. Facing up to that isn't backward-looking or conservative, it's the left's responsibility."

Guardian Unlimited: Let children be children - Williams
--"On the subject of child-targeted advertising, Dr Williams revealed that he had been in discussions with regulators about the subject. Asked if he would support a ban on ads aimed at children, he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: "It's worth a try.""

Forbes: Studies Reveal Slow Progress on Global Child Deaths
--"In one study, researchers found that the world's major aid donors gave an estimated $1.36 billion to the 60 countries that account for the most child deaths in the world. That sounds like a large sum, but translates to just $3.10 per child, the researchers said."

Monsters and Critics: `Jesus Camp` examines evangelical youth
--"The provocative documentary 'Jesus Camp,' which focuses on a youth Bible camp in Devil Lake, N.D., is prompting a closer look at evangelical youth."

MSNBC: Chinese getting fitter, but youth getting fatter
--"Chinese people are slightly fitter than they were five years ago, but the nation’s youth are are also noticeably fatter and their eyesight is deteriorating, Chinese officials said on Monday."

Reuters: Global action needed to improve child survival
--"More than 10 million children under 5 years old die each year but two-thirds of those deaths could be prevented with effective, cheap treatments that are already available, health experts said on Monday."

The Australian: Child education funding 'embarrassing'
--"Australia is embarrassingly behind other industrialised nations in early childhood education, Labor says."

Irish Examiner: UN to rebuke Ireland on child rights
--"The Government is expected to be severely reprimanded by the United Nations on Wednesday for falling “far short” in implementing the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) which was ratified 14 years ago."

Boston Globe: For-profits to compete in child placements
--"A little-noticed provision tucked into a bill in the dead of summer has triggered a sweeping change in adoption and foster care placements in the state, allowing for-profit companies to compete in Massachusetts for the first time."

NDTV.com: Ban on child labour may prove ineffective
--"Employers say they're not threatened by the new ban and children, whose lives will be directly affected by the ban, say that if they lose their jobs, they'll just have to find work elsewhere."

chron.com: Passport requirements will include children, too
--"New anti-terrorism rules soon will require American children under the age of 16 to obtain $82 U.S. passports to return home by air or sea from visits to Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean."

Times Online: Don't prosecute children under 14, says top adviser
--"Thousands of young criminals should be spared incarceration, according to a proposal by a senior government adviser to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14."

DNA India: ‘More Indian youth interested in politics’
--"Are young people in richer countries less interested in politics than those in poorer countries? Yes, says the World Bank’s World Development Report, 2007, released on Saturday."

The Age: Children taking on their parents' stresses
--"Children are increasingly finding it difficult to divorce themselves from the problems of family breakdown, mortgage and consumer pressures felt by parents."

People's Daily Online: World Bank calls for more investment in developing world's youth population
--"The World Bank released a report here Saturday, urging developing countries to invest more in young people aged between 12 and 24. The World Development Report said that now 1.3 billion young people are living in the developing world, the largest-ever youth group in history."

China View: Lonely children need help
--"Statistics reveal that nearly 20 million rural children are left behind in the countryside while their parents seek work in urban areas."

Saipan Tribune: Youth Congress election tomorrow
--"The CNMI Youth Congress was established by Public Law 8-27 and further amended by Public Law 10-18 and Public Law 11-18. The purpose of its establishment is to encourage our Youths of the CNMI to participate in a democratic system and to learn the legislative process while fostering leadership among their peers. Members of the CNMI Youth Congress will engage in the crafting of legislation that are of essential matters pertaining to the youths of the commonwealth and will be actively involved in a youth summit and other youth programs."

Telegraph: The problem for today's children is that there are too few of them
--"The advocates of "planned parenthood" have the admirable aim that every child should be wanted. But there was, perhaps, a greater ease in childhood when children were treated more like natural conditions of existence, rather than as Ming vases."

People's Daily Online: Growing use of children in demonstrations in Nepal worries UNICEF
--"United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has expressed grave concern over the growing tendencies of using children by adults in demonstrations and rallies in Nepal."

CTV: School children to get fruit and veggies
--"Elementary school children in northern Ontario will soon be receiving fresh fruits and vegetables under a healthy eating project."

allAfrica.com: Kenya: Why Old Guard Were Invited to Youth Summit
--"Youth Affairs minister, Dr Mohamed Kuti, said the organisers of the Youth Employment Summit deliberately invited elderly participants as resource persons. Kuti said the elderly would share ideas and expertise with the youth attending the summit."

Reuters: School health centers help reduce teen pregnancy
--"School-based health centers that provide high school students with preventive health care services and counseling on how to reduce high-risk behaviors, such as unprotected sexual intercourse, may help decrease teen pregnancy rates, according to the findings of a Colorado study."

BBC News: Children's poll critical of Blair
--Tony Blair is doing a bad job as prime minister and was wrong to take Britain to war in Iraq, according to a poll of schoolchildren.

News.com.au: Teen trekked over 20km to rescue crash victim
--"The 16-year-old last night told the Northern Territory News of his ordeal but he did not want to be named, saying: "Anyone who was in the same position would have done what I did.""

Reuters: Iraq: Armed conflict depriving youth of education, report says
--"The UK-based charity organisation Save the Children has launched a global report exposing the devastating consequences of armed conflict on education in 30 countries. As the only country in the Middle East assessed, Iraq is singled out as one of the most recent problem areas."

allAfrica.com: Ghana: Combating Child Trafficking - the Role of MDA's And Security Agencies
--"Admittedly, Ghana has demonstrated its realisation of the need for the special attention children require, and it is perhaps against this backdrop that she was the first country to rectify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child of November 20, 1989, which came into force in September, 1990."

Reuters: Immigrant children more likely to study math: survey
--"Children with at least one parent born outside the United States are more likely to study math and physical sciences in college, driven by the aim of securing a well-paid job, according to a study released on Thursday."

The Mercury News: AIDS affects children too, or have we forgotten that?
--"In all the bluster of the recent International AIDS Conference in Toronto, where did the children go? It was stunning how little attention was paid to them, with hardly a mention of children in all the talk about how to contain the epidemic and treat those in need."

The Register: Teachers break silence on fingerprinting children
--"The National Union of Teachers has said that schools should not fingerprint children without the consent of parents."

Mail & Guardian: Youth leaders plan to protest against Mugabe
--"Youth leaders barred from entering Zimbabwe this week plan to protest against President Robert Mugabe whenever he visits South Africa."

Guardian Unlimited: So, our 'toxic' culture is bad for children? In the good old days we just had to endure days of boredom and beatings
--"At any rate, the glimpse of this wretched girl seems to have plunged Palmer into despair. "Poor child," she laments. "Poor parents. Poor western civilisation - indeed the whole of the developed world - which now teems with miserable little creatures, male and female, toddlers to pre-teens.""

People's Daily Online: Global youth summit kicks off in Kenya
--"A global conference discussing ways of resolving unemployment and other problems touching the youth began in Nairobi on Wednesday."

The Herald: We doom our children to a disaster-movie life
--"At one level it's funny. At another level it's tragic, because it means we dismiss today's different and (to us) disappointing world as somehow inferior to the one we grew up in. Effectively, it means our minds are closed, unable to grasp the brilliance of young people's new knowledge and their vast frame of reference."

The Herald: Lagging behind in encouraging children to play [Letter]
--"The Welsh Assembly has announced a comprehensive play strategy and implementation is under way. In England, £155m has been ploughed into the new Play England programme to develop play structures and opportunities across the country. In Scotland, we have the worst health problems but no policy, strategy or vision for play."

IOL: Union condemns expulsion of youth group
--"The Zimbabwean government's expulsion of a South African youth delegation shows it cannot tolerate democratic interaction with other countries, said the Congress of South African Trade Unions on Wednesday."

Sydney Morning Herald: Richest young man, with help
--"Parents will be prodding their children towards careers in the child-care business, finance, retail or property development if this year's BRW young rich list is anything to go by."

IOL: Young urged to drink and drive
--"A Dutch scientist has been encouraging young people to drink and drive - on a racing track."

Globe and Mail: Dallaire wants young to rally for Darfur intervention
--"Roméo Dallaire wants young Canadians to go out in the streets and promote international action to end what he calls a human catastrophe in Darfur."

NDTV.com: Young techie makes film on child labour [Interview]
--"A young technie from India's sunrise industry – software - is trying to throw light upon some forgotten aspects of life in Bangalore. He is using film and his spare time to draw attention to child labour."

Washington Post: 'No Child' Leaves Too Much Behind
--"The No Child Left Behind Act, a federal law designed to ensure that all children can read and do math proficiently by 2014, comes up for renewal in Congress next year. Debate over its future will center on whether the law is doing enough to improve education across America and to help children succeed in school."

Washington Post: Study: Impact of drugs on kids confusing
--"Drug companies that conduct or sponsor pediatric research are motivated mostly to get their products on the market, "not to tend to the public health concerns," Benjamin said."

The Age: 1m UK children in poor housing: charity
--"More than a million children in Britain risk serious illness because their homes are cramped, run-down and damp, a charity report said on Wednesday."

ABC News: Opposition demands changes to children's commissioner bill
--"The Western Australia Parliament is debating legislation to create the position of children's commissioner, a role to monitor and report on child welfare."

Sun Star Davao: Youth council gab slated October 20-22
--"The Youth Council Federation of Davao City will be hosting the 3rd Davao City Wide Youth Congress at the oval grounds of the Davao City National High School on October 20 to 22."

Toronto Star: BeNetSafe Expands Online Child Safety
--"BeNetSafe today announced the expansion of its Internet-based chaperone search service to include Xanga, a popular social networking, blog and photoblog Web site."

Reuters: Young asylum seekers and their teachers face a test in some European nations
--""It is not the children that give us problems, but rules and regulations," said Jolanta Tyburcy, pedagogical director of a Warsaw primary school where 10 percent of the students are the children of Chechen asylum seekers."

Times Online: 'Children are being poisoned by modern life'
--"A group of 110 eminent teachers, psychologists, children’s authors and other experts have written to a newspaper urging the Government to act, warning that the demands and restrictions of the modern world are denying children the opportunity to grow up at their own pace."

The Register: Teenagers wary of new children's database
--"Young people, aged 14 to 20, polled by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children for the OCC, said they may be deterred from using family planning and mental health services if they thought information about their use was not confidential. They also said they are worried about the security of the index and the "potential risks" of having such a huge amount of information in one place."

People's Daily Online: Kenya to host global conference on youth unemployment
--"A global conference to discuss ways of resolving unemployment and other problems touching the youth will be held in Nairobi this week, officials confirmed on Monday."

AM Australia: Obesity study finds children exercising less [Interview]
--The University of South Australia's Associate Professor Tim Olds spoke to Annie Guest.

ABC News: War deprives children of education, study finds
--"An international report shows more than 43 million children living in war torn countries are being left without an education because of local fighting."

The Australian: Children 'worrying too much'
--"Queensland University of Technology psychologist and education researcher Dr Marilyn Campbell said adults often underestimated how strongly children felt scared and worried."

Business Day: Defend hard-won freedom, Zuma tells ANC Youth League
--"Former deputy president Jacob Zuma yesterday called on the African National Congress (ANC) Youth League to defend the country’s hard-won democracy actively and fight social ills such as poverty and unemployment."

Times Online: Legal aid is getting scarcer for the young
--"“Young people need to talk to someone they can trust. There’s often no one there to pay attention,” says 18-year-old Jo, who is clearly indebted to Canvey Island Youth Project. She used to be at the community centre “every day, all the time” and, even though she is back at work, she still goes every week."

International Herald Tribune: War leaves 43 million children without education, study finds
--"More than 43 million children living in war-torn countries are prevented from going to school, according to a report released Monday by Save the Children."

Reuters: Nepal: Children still living in fear of Maoist rebels
--"Despite urgent appeals by local child rights' and human rights' groups not to engage children in their political activities, the rebels have turned a deaf ear, observers say... But the rebels reject such accusations saying that they never used children for their political or military activities."

Guardian Unlimited: Texting slang aiding children's language skills
--"Sending text messages - from the slang "wot" and "wanna", to the short cut "CU L8R"- may actually be improving, not damaging, young children's spelling skills, new research shows."

Sydney Morning Herald: Abandoned children pay price as Romanians work abroad
--"Romania has moved to stop a new form of child abuse caused by hundreds of thousands of parents leaving their children and seeking work abroad."

Detroit Free Press: Study finds weaknesses in child mental health care
--"U.S. children and teens who face behavior and mental health problems often have a hard time finding programs and specialists, a new study says. In Michigan, the problem may be worse than in other states because insurance coverage is more limited, experts say."

Globe & Mail: Tories' child-care plan falls flat, poll says
--"The Conservative government's $1,200 child-care payouts are seen as a nice gesture from Ottawa that will ultimately have little impact, according to the government's own public opinion research."

Reuters: Youth and children creative exhibition for Aceh community
--"Arts and crafts produced as part of creative healing workshops for tsunami affected children were displayed in a week long exhibition in Indonesia's western province of Aceh last week."