UNESCO and the Education Minister of Iraq yesterday launched the Iraqi Educational TV Channel, IRAQI EDU. The channel is a response to the difficult security conditions in the country that keep many children away from school, and will provide support to students through distance learning.

A symposium on Freedom of Expression: Development, Democracy and Dialogue will be held at UNESCO Headquarters on 29 October as part of celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights whose 19th article enshrines freedom of expression as a fundamental, inalienable human right.

A specialised training course for the Maghreb media on the climate change will take place from 13 to 17 October 2008 in Rabat, Morocco. This session is being organized by UNESCO, ISESCO, the French Embassy in Morocco and the Moroccan Ministry of Energy, Mines, Water and Environment in the framework of the Arab Environment Day celebrated every year on 14 October.

WHO calls for urgent scaling up of services for mental disorders

9 October/Geneva: More than 75% of people suffering from mental disorders in the developing world receive no treatment or care. A new WHO programme launched today, on World Mental Health Day 2008 highlights the huge treatment gap for a number of mental, neurological and substance use disorders. Across Africa for example, nine out of ten people suffering from epilepsy go untreated, unable to access simple and inexpensive anticonvulsant drugs which cost less than US$5 a year per person.

A new series of online training on FOSS in Arabic and French starts today and inscriptions are open for registration. It has been set up by UNESCO’s Office in Rabat in cooperation with ISESCO, the association Tanmia.ma and the Moroccan Department of Post, Telecommunications and New Technologies.

The online courses will cover the functionalities of the following software: Mozilla Sunbird, Miranda IM, 7-Zip, Coolplayer, Clamwin and Sumatra PDF. The course materials were developed by Tanmia.ma, in cooperation with volunteers from the Ecole nationale supérieure d’informatique et d’analyse des systèmes (Morocco).

La teoria economica standard.

La teoria classica dell’economia presuppone che i mercati siano in equilibrio poiché la domanda uguaglia sempre l’offerta (1). Secondo questa visione, i movimenti dei prezzi nei mercati sono dovuti a reazioni ad eventi esterni (news) che inducono una modifica di queste forze. Ad esempio, se arrivasse una buona notizia su una certa azienda, si genererebbe un aumento della domanda per i titoli dell’impresa con conseguente aumento del prezzo del titolo in questione. In questa prospettiva, una variazione molto forte del prezzo deve essere conseguenza di cause altrettanto forti. Ci si aspetta in altre parole un rapporto diretto di causa-effetto tra un dato evento e la sua influenza sul prezzo. Questa visione tradizionale dell’economia come situazione d’equilibrio sta però entrando in crisi e si sta profilando una nuova prospettiva in cui i mercati, in certe situazioni, si possono evolvere spontaneamente verso una situazione intrinsecamente instabile. In questo caso, l’evento scatenante diventa irrilevante, mentre il punto chiave è l’identificazione degli elementi d’instablità intrinseca.

Parma ospita la più ampia ed organica mostra che mai sia stata dedicata al grande artista rinascimentale Antonio Allegri, detto il Correggio dal suo luogo di nascita,
Il Comune, la Provincia, la Soprintendenza, l’Università, la Diocesi e il Monastero di San Giovanni Evangelista, con il sostegno della Fondazione Cariparma, hanno agito sinergicamente per dare vita ad una mostra importante che si avvale di un prestigioso comitato scientifico composto da eminenti studiosi del pittore e del periodo preso in esame, Lucia Fornari Schianchi, che è anche la curatrice della mostra, Arturo Carlo Quintavalle, Bruno Adorni, Marzio Dall’Acqua, D.E. Ekserdjian, Mario Di Giampaolo, Eugenio Riccomini, Sylvia Ferino, Andrea G. de Marchi, David A.Brown.

GENEVA -- Contrary to what some marketers of the electronic cigarette imply in their advertisements, the World Health Organization (WHO) does not consider it to be a legitimate therapy for smokers trying to quit.
"The electronic cigarette is not a proven nicotine replacement therapy," said Dr Ala Alwan, Assistant Director-General of WHO's Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health Cluster. "WHO has no scientific evidence to confirm the product's safety and efficacy. Its marketers should immediately remove from their web sites and other informational materials any suggestion that WHO considers it to be a safe and effective smoking cessation aid."

The typical electronic cigarette is made of stainless steel, has a chamber for storing liquid nicotine in various concentrations, is powered by a rechargeable battery and resembles a real cigarette. Users puff on it as they would a real cigarette, but they do not light it, and it produces no smoke. Rather, it produces a fine, heated mist, which is absorbed into the lungs.

The workshop on “Humanizing technology for rural development” was recently co-organized by UNESCO, InfoDesarrollo Network and IICD in Riobamba, Ecuador.
It discussed how the outstanding spread of mobile technology in this country (76,81% of the population has a mobile phone) could be put at the service of development.

Geneva – A new report released today by the World Health Organization (WHO) finds that the global burden of malaria remains enormous, but that access to malaria control interventions, especially bed nets in Africa, increased sharply between 2004 and 2006, the period covered in the report. 

“With dramatic increases in funding and intense momentum towards reducing the malaria burden in recent years, we have a greater need for reliable information and analysis,” said WHO Director General Margaret Chan. “This report begins to answer that need. Progress in malaria control has accelerated dramatically since 2006, especially in the wake of the UN Secretary General’s call for universal malaria control coverage by the end of 2010. We expect these expanded efforts to be reflected in future reports.”