***Africa meeting to block migrants
African and European politicians are meeting in the Ghanaian capital Accra to discuss how to stem the illegal flow of African migrants to Europe.

African Development Bank Gives $814 Mln For Central Africa Forests
TUNIS - The African Development Bank (AfDB) will provide $814 million over the next two years to help safeguard Central African forests threatened by war, poverty and poor governance, the bank said on Thursday.
Bank President Donald Kaberuka told reporters the money would go to 13 projects aimed at improving the management of natural resources in 2008-2010 in the Congo Basin, home to 37 percent of the world's remaining tropical forests.

***Cutting Edge HIV/AIDS Prevention Presents Challenges
KIGALI, Feb 21 (IPS) - Certain medical workers in Rwanda have expressed concern about the country's campaign to promote male circumcision as a means of curbing the spread of HIV. They fear that in a country with low levels of knowledge about sexual health, people could mistakenly believe the procedure offers complete protection against the virus.


segnalazione per copmmento: Art for housewives

Corriere:
***Map pinpoints disease 'hotspots'
A detailed map highlighting the world's hotspots for emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) has been released.

***L'amico immaginario diventa virtuale
Una ricercatrice della Northwestern University ha scoperto che molti bambini problematici, in particolare i bambini autistici, hanno più facilità a rapportarsi con un bambino virtuale creato al computer, piuttosto che con i loro compagni in carne e ossa, e possono avere notevoli vantaggi nell'apprendimento da questa amicizia virtuale.
Virtual Teachers Outperform Real Thing
Virtual characters and digital tutors are helping children and adults develop advanced social and language skills that can be tough to learn via conventional approaches, according to researchers who briefed reporters here last week at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Cleaner water through nanotechnology
Tiny particles of pure silica coated with an active material could be used to remove toxic chemicals, bacteria, viruses, and other hazardous materials from water much more effectively and at lower cost than conventional water purification methods, according to researchers writing in the current issue of the International Journal of Nanotechnology.
Ricercatori australiani hanno trovato un sistema per purificare l'acqua da batteri, elementi chimici tossici, virus, ecc. semplicemente attraverso l'uso di silicio rivestito, molto più economico dei metodi tradizionali.