Dark and Light IX

Bad Should have known it was too good to be true news: Tehran, Iran- President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told state-run television that the release this week of American hiker Sarah Shourd was a unilateral gesture made without any promise of a reciprocal act by the US, but that naturally, morally, the expectation would be that the U.S. government would take a step to release a number of Iranians that they took from other countries.

Really? Anyone who couldn't see that one coming must be asleep at the wheel.

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Good Awesome news: A sensus study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation found that women in poor countries are advancing further in school than at any time in recent history, having a direct impact on child mortality. The researchers estimate that economic growth contributed relatively little to reductions in child mortality. "We know that direct health interventions, such as immunizations, preventive care, and hygiene classes, are crucial to improving health worldwide," said Dr. Emmanuela Gakidou, the lead author of the study and Associate Professor of Global Health at IHME.

For young adults ages 25 to 34, who have most recently completed their education, the education gap between men and women is narrowing overall in countries like Qatar, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Not so for Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Nepal, however.

I find it difficult to understand why a country's social system would want the main caretakers of the children to remain uneducated. It seems beyond short-sighted.