SIERRA LEONE: With no prospects, youths are turning to crime and violence, 22/Dec/05
MAKENI, 22 December (IRIN) - A new generation of Sierra Leoneans are eager to put fighting and war behind them but the lack of jobs and the legacy of their own messed up education, are driving many to crime and violence that could destroy peace.... Full Report... Email Report

SUDAN: Children bearing the brunt of Darfur conflict - UNICEF, 21/Dec/05
KHARTOUM, 21 December (IRIN) - At least one million children affected by the ongoing conflict in the western Sudanese region of Darfur are beyond the reach of current relief efforts due to insecurity, according to the United Nation's Children's Fund (UNICEF).... Full Report... Email Report

SENEGAL: Everyman’s library, 21/Dec/05
DAKAR, 21 December (IRIN) - On the floor in front of literature student Tamimou Li's bed lies a pile of dog-eared books accumulated over the course of many visits to the Senegalese capital’s cheap roadside booksellers.... Full Report... Email Report

LIBERIA: UN renews ban on arms, diamonds and timber, 21/Dec/05
DAKAR, 21 December (IRIN) - The UN Security Council took just four minutes to unanimously extend bans on the sale of arms, diamonds and timber for six to 12 months in post-conflict Liberia.... Full Report... Email Report

NIGERIA: Eight children die in attack on oil pipeline, 21/Dec/05
PORT HARCOURT, 21 December (IRIN) - Attackers blew up an oil pipeline on Tuesday sparking a major fire killing eight children in southern Nigeria, said residents and industry officials.... Full Report... Email Report

NIGER: Campaign targets double threat of polio and malaria, 21/Dec/05
SAY, 21 December (IRIN) - Niger launched a new offensive against two health scourges on Tuesday, vowing to protect its children from polio and malaria. ... Full Report... Email Report

NAMIBIA: OVC population to double in 15 years, 19/Dec/05
WINDHOEK, 19 December (IRIN) - The number of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) in Namibia is expected to double over the next 15 years, a new UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) survey has warned. ... Full Report... Email Report

PAKISTAN: Acute respiratory infections increasing among quake survivors, 16/Dec/05
MUZAFFARABAD, 16 December (IRIN) - Sitting in his bed in a field hospital, Safir, 3, is coughing heavily, while his mother, Meerjan, gives him water to soothe the outbursts. The reason is pneumonia, say doctors at the field hospital run by the Pakistan Islamic Medical Association... Full Report... Email Report

WEST AFRICA: IRIN-WA Weekly Round-up 308 covering 10-16 December 2005, 16/Dec/05
DAKAR, 16 December (IRIN) - ... Full Report... Email Report

MIDDLE EAST: MIDDLE EAST: Weekly round-up Number 52 for 11–15 December 2005, 15/Dec/05
DUBAI, 15 December (IRIN) - ... Full Report... Email Report

MIDDLE EAST: “Invisible? children suffering from neglect, says UNICEF, 15/Dec/05
CAIRO, 15 December (IRIN) - Many children in the Middle East continue to suffer from abuse, exploitation and discrimination, while health and education services are not reaching those most in need, according to UNICEF’s 2006 State of the World’s Children report. ... Full Report... Email Report

SOMALIA: Primary attendance lowest in the world - UNICEF, 15/Dec/05
NAIROBI, 15 December (IRIN) - Only one out of every five children in Somalia is enrolled in primary school, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said in its State of the World's Children report for 2006.... Full Report... Email Report

COTE D IVOIRE: War brings easy profits for some, hardship for others, 15/Dec/05
ABIDJAN, 15 December (IRIN) - While experts are heartened by just how well the economy of the world’s top cocoa producer Cote d’Ivoire has coped with three years of civil war, the man in the street maintains things have never been tougher.... Full Report... Email Report

IRAQ: NGO calls for accurate civilian death toll, 14/Dec/05
BAGHDAD, 14 December (IRIN) - A Washington-based humanitarian organisation urged the US government this week to accurately count and identify all civilian casualties of the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq, following a recent announcement by US President George Bush that... Full Report... Email Report

SUDAN: Thousands of children exploited - UNICEF, 14/Dec/05
KHARTOUM, 14 December (IRIN) - Thousands of Sudanese children are exploited while 149 out of 1,000 in the eastern and southern parts of the country die each year before making five, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Wednesday. ... Full Report... Email Report

NIGERIA: Airlines grounded, aviation overhaul ordered after crash, 14/Dec/05
ABUJA, 14 December (IRIN) - After two major plane crashes in less than two months, an angry President Olusegun Obasanjo has ordered two airlines grounded and called for all commercial aircraft to be inspected within a week.... Full Report... Email Report

ZAMBIA: US $20 million World Bank boost to fight malaria, 14/Dec/05
LUSAKA, 14 December (IRIN) - The Zambian government has signed a US $20 million loan agreement with the World Bank (WB) to fund a five-year booster project to combat malaria, which kills 50,000 of its people every year and causes 40 percent of infant deaths.... Full Report... Email Report

IRAQ: Children of mixed marriages protest official discrimination, 12/Dec/05
BAGHDAD, 12 December (IRIN) - Sarah Hussein, 12-years-old, prepares her bags with her mother before travelling to Syria. She is leaving Iraq because she no longer has a right to a free education, and her family cannot afford the US $1,000 asked of them by the Iraqi government for... Full Report... Email Report

MIDDLE EAST: MIDDLE EAST: Weekly round-up Number 51 for 4 – 8 December 2005, 11/Dec/05
DUBAI MIDDLE-EAST, 11 December (IRIN) - ... Full Report... Email Report

SYRIA: Workshop discusses effects of TV war coverage on children, 11/Dec/05
DAMASCUS, 11 December (IRIN) - Filmmakers and talented youngsters got together with German experts in Damascus to discuss how television war coverage should best be presented to children at a recently concluded workshop entitled: “Children’s Programmes and Images of War?.... Full Report... Email Report