With the return of hundreds of thousands of children to school in Gaza, UNICEF is providing essential educational equipment and materials to re-establish learning and recreational activities, create safe environments, and help restore a sense of normalcy for children in Gaza.

This week a UNICEF Representative, Patricia McPhillips, visited Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, where two UNICEF tents are serving as temporary learning spaces for girls, whose school was completely destroyed. The girls are attending classes during the afternoon shift. Four additional tents will be set up in the coming days to accommodate additional students.

China’s central government will subsidize purchases of clean-energy vehicles for public fleets in 13 cities to help the automobile industry develop green technology. The trial program will promote the use of electric, hybrid and fuel-cell vehicles by public transport operators, taxi firms and postal and sanitary services in cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, Xinhua quoted a finance ministry statement as saying late on Monday. (Full report at Reuters)

Perhaps no leader in American life feels the historical significance of Barack Obama’s inauguration and his political imperatives more than Terrance Carroll, who two weeks ago became the first African-American elected Speaker of the House in Colorado.

The historic vote of confidence by his colleagues for 39-year-old Carroll makes Colorado the first state in the union where both legislative leaders are African-American, following the election last year of Sen. Peter Groff as the first African-American to lead the senate. The Colorado legislature has only two black members. And now they are the two most powerful members of the 100-person body.

“I was awestruck,” Rep. Carroll told the Good News Network from his office last Tuesday, several hours after President Obama took the oath of office. “Not only by the speech, but to see people shoulder to shoulder so energized and enthused by Barack Obama and by his message of hope and renewal.”

Terrance Carroll grew up in a housing project in D.C.. He knows what a mother’s sacrifice can do to propel a minority kid all the way to the statehouse in Colorado, governing a population that is made up of only 4% African-Americans. 

For some of Australia’s best-known cities, companies and organizations, this year’s Australia Day will be celebrated, not only with barbecues or beach parties, but also by going ‘green.’

The Australian cities of Sydney and Brisbane last week stepped up their efforts in lowering carbon emissions by joining the United Nations’ Climate Neutral Network (CN Net) , led by the UN Environment Program, which seeks to spur global action to achieve climate neutrality.

With its world-famous Opera House, the “Coathanger” Bridge and the Harbour as its backdrop, Sydney is one of the world’s most spectacular cities. In 2007, Sydney, the largest in the country, became Australia’s first carbon neutral local government, implementing such initiatives as energy-efficient street lighting and creating a network of bicycle paths.

The eBay Foundation and First Book, a nonprofit providing new books to children in need, are holding reading parties in three cities to celebrate the distribution of more than 300,000 children’s books nationwide.

Beginning on Monday, employees in eBay offices in Austin, Omaha and Los Angeles, will join local children to read with them and surprise them with their brand new books. Each site will receive 500 new books for the first and second-graders they serve, made possible as part of a grant of more than $300,000 from eBay Foundation.

Placing books into the hands of children who have none has been proven to produce tangible, measurable results in the fight against illiteracy. Within months of receiving their first books, kid’s interest in reading nearly triples, according to Louis Harris Impact Assessments, from 1999 and 2003.

San Francisco International Airport (SFO) is launching the nation’s first Green Rental Car program that rewards customers for renting “green” alternative-fueled vehicles and rental car companies for increasing rentals of high mileage and alternative-fuel vehicles. The innovative incentive program is expected to eliminate more than 4,000 tons of CO2 emissions each year.

The U.S. House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday approved the $20 billion in energy tax credits and incentives proposed in the Obama administration’s economic stimulus package.

A party-line vote of 24 to 13 approved the  tax cuts for alternative energy including a multiyear extension of the production tax credit for wind, geothermal, hydro power and bioenergy. (SustainableBusiness.com News)