For years, the activist community has bemoaned the limited support to which the international community is giving the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID).  The mission deployed at a snail's pace, has been hobbled by onerous restrictions placed on it by the government of Sudan, and lacks critical force "multi-pliers" like long-requested helicopter assets.  Still, a new report from a broad coalition of NGOs on the two-year anniversary of UNAMID shows that despite these limitation, UNAMID has been able to make a differe

You've read about how bikes can be reenginered into wheelchairs, now take a look at this: Zambikes in Zambia is adding a strecher to bikes.
I ran accross this innovation on AfriGadget, a very cool blog about invention.

There is a big hearing about Sudan at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today, headlined by Sudan Special Envoy Scott Gration.  We exhausted our live twittering yesterday at Susan Rice's hearing on UN Peacekeeping.  Fortunately, Laura Heaton and Save Darfur are on the spot with live updates. 
Here's Chairman Kerry's opening statement.  

It all began in 2000, when Eritrea and Ethiopia, exhausted from war, decided to end their bloody border dispute by submitting to international arbitration.  When the arbiters in the Hague handed down their ruling, they awarded the key disputed territory to Eritrea.  End of story, right?  Wrong.  Ethiopia simply refused to withdraw and a stalemate ensued. 

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Top Story: 

Title: 

ETA SUSPECTED IN SPAIN BOMBING

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The Basque separatist group ETA is being blamed for yesterday's massive car bombing of a police barracks in the Spanish city of Burgos. Amazingly, no one was killed, and there were no serious injuries. ETA is suspected of eight bombings this year.

By William Easterly and Laura Freschi

USA Today ran a story this week on a $644 million program in Iraq suspended by USAID four months short of its end date.

The program was launched three years ago to create jobs and infrastructure in cities throughout Iraq. The Community Stabilization Program, said one hopeful report from 2006, “will provide safe and productive alternatives to insurgent activities while reinforcing democratic values and processes.”

In a short post, Bill Easterly and Laura Freschi air some concerns over the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) that have been leveled by Noam Chomsky and General Assembly President Miguel D'Escoto Brockmann. 

While I certain don't want to speak for the good folks at the NCTE in Ireland (who are a pretty forward-looking bunch, btw), I would note that these recommendations are (at least within the limits of my knowledge of such things) a good example of clear guidance from a government authority to help guide ICT procurement decisions in its schools in the here and now, actionable immediately. Typically such recommendations (or guidelines, depending on where you are) are linked to a specific funding mechanism, although I am not sure if that is the case with these recommendations in Ireland.

OLPCorps posted a photo: