Home renovation and repair contractors must adopt new working practices to protect children from exposure to poisonous lead paint dust.

Procedures for renovating lead-painted facilities are set forth in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's "Lead: Renovation, Repair and Painting Program" include posting warning signs, restricting occupants from work areas, containing work areas to prevent dust and debris from spreading, conducting a thorough cleanup and verifying that cleanup was effective

Questions are being raised anew on the toxic content of some materials used to build schools in New York in the 1960s and 1970s, but state education officials maintain there is no danger to the health of New York students.

The material in dispute is polychlorinated biphenyls, used in window and door caulking. According to the New York Daily News, the material was used in 266 NYC schools or 8 out of 9 NYC schools. The daily claims 6 of 9 schools had PCBs on its windows and doors that had unsafe levels

There are improvements in the physical and emotional health of Canadian youths, particularly on areas of bullying, smoking and couch-potato behavior. According to William Boyce of Queen's University, bullying incidents in 2006 among 9,500 Grade 6 to 10 students across the nation slightly dipped to 40 percent from 43 percent in 2002.

Boyce explained the slight drop to higher awareness in campuses and in Canadian society about the negative effects of physical, verbal, sexual and cyberspace bullying. But racial bullying had gone up a little bit, Boyce admitted

The U.S. House of Representatives is set to spend $50 billion to battle HIV/Aids in the next five years. The bipartisan measure was passed by 308 to 116 votes in an effort to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS around the world, and fight tuberculosis and malaria.

The bill marks a huge increase from the $15 billion authorized during the first five years in 2003. The bill extends President Bush's program called PEPFAR (President's Emergency Program For AIDS Relief) for another five years. The initiative would be the largest U.S. investment ever against a single disease

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) warns that Ethiopia needs an estimated $650 million to achieve wider sanitary access for its people. A new report from UNICEF explains that 35 million Ethiopians would benefit from the funds that would finance projects aimed at achieving universal access.

UNICEF's representative to Ethiopia Bjorn Ljunqvist has appealed to the international community for assistance as half of the African nation's people currently lack adequate sanitation facilities