"After decades of decline, the people of the Scottish island of Gigha took things into their own hands, and it has really paid off… Ten new businesses have started in the past five years. Among them Gigha Renewable Energy, which built three wind turbines that generate all the island’s electricity and earn a profit of £100,000 annually which is reinvested in the community-owned island." (Scotsman.com) They built an excellent website too!

Building on peace efforts over the last 10 years, Northern Ireland’s arch foes have finally agreed to a power-sharing executive governing body for the province.

“Mr Paisley, leader of the Protestant faction, and Mr Adams of the mainly Catholic Sinn Fein, are committed to full participation and said the day dawned a “new era.”

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said it was a very important day for the people of Northern Ireland.” (READ the story at the BBC)

Canada rolled out a budget this week that includes $2 billion in new incentives for renewable fuels. Experts say if properly implemented, the program will lead to 20 new world-class biofuels facilities in Canada, create 14,000 new jobs in rural communities, and provide a new market for over 200 million bushels of Canadian grains and oilseeds.

As we alerted you last year, major Ivy league universities have begun offering lectures — and whole courses — on the Internet for free. It’s called the OpenCourseWare movement and it’s gaining momentum across the world. There’s even a site now where you can browse a collection of online courses from schools like UC Berkeley, MIT, Yale, and Princeton — and click to hear university lectures by the likes of Microsoft’s Bill Gates, all without paying a dollar in tuition…

"After decades as the world’s most violent region, sub-Saharan Africa is finding peace. Most of the drop in violence is recent." From 2002 through 2005, the number of conflicts involving government troops dropped from 13 to 5. Battling between factions or tribes dropped from 24 to 14. (Full story by Frank Greve, in McClatchy Newspapers)