Telegraph – The extension of existing laws to the internet, which will come into effect from next March, has “the protection of children and consumers at its heart”, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said. Currently the ASA’s remit only extends to advertisements in paid-for space and all sales promotions. But the change will see its rules on misleading advertising, social responsibility and the protection of children will be applied in full to all online marketing by all sectors, businesses and organisations, regardless of size. Read Article
BBC – A £235m government database containing the records of England’s 11 million children has been switched off. ContactPoint was established in the wake of the Victoria Climbie child abuse case to aid child protection. The report into her death highlighted the need to improve the exchange of information between different agencies working with vulnerable children. The government argued the system was disproportionate to the problem, so is looking at developing other solutions. Read Article
Mercury News – Cupertino students could add electronic “tracking devices” to the list of items they carry in their backpacks this fall. The Cupertino Public Safety Commission wants to test a new program that uses a tracking device to count how many students walk and bike to school in the notoriously congested tri-school area near Bubb and McClellan roads. The commission is working on the logistics of bringing the Boltage program to Lincoln Elementary and Kennedy Middle schools this fall. The goal is to get more cars off the road. The Boltage system uses a machine called the Zap, a solar-powered radio frequency identification reader. Students who walk and bike in the program get an RFID tag that attaches to their backpack, and the Zap reads their unique number when they go past it at the school. Read Article
CNSNews – Sen. Jim DeMint (R- S.C.) said that if President Barack Obama gets his way and the Senate ratifies the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the precedent would be set to place parental rights under the jurisdiction of the international community. “We believe we need to take clear action here in Congress to protect the rights of parents to raise their children,” DeMint said at a Wednesday panel discussion. Read Article
ScienceDaily — There isn’t a lot of research that links early childhood test scores to earnings as an adult. But new research reveals a surprising finding: Students who learn more in kindergarten earn more as adults. They are also more successful overall. Read Article
Reuters – Jurors can consider Omar Khadr’s age in deciding whether he intended to commit a war crime in Afghanistan when he was 15, a U.S. military judge told jury candidates in the Canadian prisoner’s trial on Tuesday. Khadr’s murder and terrorism conspiracy trial began with jury selection on Tuesday, making the United States the first nation since World War Two to try someone in a military tribunal for acts allegedly committed as a minor. Read Article
BBC – A £235m government database containing the records of England’s 11 million children is being switched off. ContactPoint was established in the wake of the Victoria Climbie child abuse case to aid child protection. The report into her death highlighted the need to improve the exchange of information between different agencies working with vulnerable children. The government argued the system was disproportionate to the problem, so is looking at developing other solutions. Read Article
Independent – Child labour was the crucial ingredient which allowed Britain’s Industrial Revolution to succeed, new research by a leading economic historian has concluded. After carrying out one of the most detailed statistical analyses of the period, Oxford’s Professor Jane Humphries found that child labour was much more common and economically important than previously realised. Her estimates suggest that, by the early 19th century, England had more than a million child workers (including around 350,000 seven- to 10-year-olds) – accounting for 15 per cent of the total labour force. The work is likely to transform the academic world’s understanding of that crucial period of British history which was the launch-pad of the nation’s economic and imperial power. Read Article
AFP – The Israeli Parliament (Knesset) approves the deportation of 400 children and their families whom Tel Aviv considers a “tangible threat” to Israel. Those affected by the new measure fail to meet the regime’s criteria of speaking Hebrew and having lived in Israel for more than five years, AFP reported on Sunday. They have been given only 21 days to return to their homelands. The motion passed 13 to 10 after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to table an earlier proposal, which he said “is much more harsh and dramatic,” Ynetnews reported. Read Article
Telegraph – Schools are being turned into “prisons” as children are subjected to increasingly sophisticated surveillance and security measures, according to a report. Researchers found the widespread use of CCTV, ID cards, electronic registration systems, fob-controlled gates and fingerprint technology as schools attempt to crackdown on troublemakers. Read Article
