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- Filipino insurgents pledge on child fighters
Communist rebels in the Philippines have reportedly pledged to the United Nations to remove child soldiers from their combat ranks. "It is the first time that we have been able to reach out to the [National Democratic Front of the Philippines], and I am hopeful that we will be able to sign an action plan as soon as possible," said Radhika Coomaraswamy, the UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict. The New York Times (tiered subscription model) (4/8)       - An app to diagnose malaria
Graduate students at a Florida university hope their newly developed software application for smartphones will help health care workers in remote locations immediately confirm and begin treatment for malaria infections. The software takes pictures of blood samples, identifies the presence and number of malaria parasites and communicate the findings without needing an Internet connection to make a diagnosis. Reuters (4/8) - MSF warns of Cote d'Ivoire health crisis
Abidjan's 4 million residents in Cote d'Ivoire face an increasingly perilous health situation with widespread water supply cuts, rising food prices, street violence and dwindling medicine supplies, Medecins Sans Frontieres warns. Reuters (4/11) Top five news stories selected by UN Wire readers in the past week. - Results based on number of times each story was clicked by readers.
- More aftershocks roil Japan
A powerful earthquake measuring between magnitudes 6.6 and 7.0 struck the northeastern part of Japan today, one month to the day after the 9.0-magnitude quake that caused a devastating tsunami and crippled reactors at the country's nuclear facilities. The Japanese government expanded to 20 kilometers the evacuation zone around the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Bloomberg (4/11), The Wall Street Journal (4/11) - China rejects human rights criticism
China says that the United States has positioned itself as "a preacher of human rights," and rejected as meddling a State Department report criticizing rights issues in the country. Police in Beijing on Sunday detained more than 100 members of an unregistered Protestant church in the midst of a seven-week crackdown on various forms of dissent, including the arrests of rights lawyers, writers and activists. BBC (4/9), The New York Times (tiered subscription model) (4/10) - France arrests woman, enforces ban on Islamic face veils
French police have detained at least one woman after a new law came into effect banning the wearing of a face-concealing Islamic veil in public. Kenza Drider was reportedly arrested not for wearing a veil, but for participating in an unauthorized protest against the ban, the first in a European country. BBC (4/11) - AU seeks end to Libya conflict
Representatives from the African Union have taken a cease-fire proposal to warring sides in Libya in the hopes of promoting a political settlement to end the fighting. AU officials said Moammar Gadhafi had given his assent to the plan, but rebel leaders insist Gadhafi must cede power in order for any lasting political solution. Bloomberg (4/11), The New York Times (tiered subscription model) (4/11) - Pressure, violence mount in Syria
Syrian security forces have reportedly sealed off the city of Banias after anti-government protests and the killing of several protesters over the weekend. Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad has faced weeks of growing protests and offered some reform concessions that anti-government activists fall short of the real reform demonstrators seek. Reuters (4/11), The Independent (London)/Reuters (4/10) - Nigeria holds successful election
Stricter voting rules, increased security and the use of a hi-tech voter registration system have helped Nigeria break a decades-old pattern of controversial elections over the weekend, international observers said. Previous Nigerian elections have been marred by allegations of mass fraud, voter intimidation and violence. The Globe and Mail (Toronto) (4/10) - Children are increasingly targeted in Mexico's drug war
Drug cartels in Mexico are increasingly targeting children for violence in efforts not only to terrorize the populace, but to prove to rivals that their savagery knows no bounds as they fight for position in local and international narcotics markets. "Decapitations and hanging bodies from bridges send a message. Killing children is an extension of this trend," said the director of a children's rights group. The Washington Post (4/9)
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