The government of Iraq has committed $30 million to projects this year that will assist children in rural areas of the Marshlands region, an area with some of the worst development indicators in the country. The allocation marks the first government investment focused exclusively on improving the lives of Iraqi children.
“This is a major achievement by the government as it’s the first-of-its-kind investment targeting children not only in Iraq but also globally,” stated Sikander Khan, UNICEF Iraq Representative. “This sets the standard and will be the beginning of a series of child-friendly investments that will help realize the long-deprived rights of all Iraqi children, specifically improving their prospects for survival and to fully develop their capacities.”
Lasers could one day cure, or at least aid in the search for drugs that treat diseases ranging from autism to schizophrenia, according to two new studies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University and published in the online issue of the journal Nature. 
