Families cry for overhaul of child care

JUNEAU -- Early-education advocates have armed themselves for the 25th legislative session with a 31-page report that, for the first time ever, gives a snapshot of child care in Alaska. Among the findings: Parents spend much of their paychecks to put youngsters in programs where teachers are often lower paid and less educated than people in other industries in the state. The commissioners of the report hope to use the numbers to put a statewide system in place for early child care and learning -- one that would not only mean better care for children, but would allow parents more diversity of choice in child care and free them up to work. "Now people are really understanding that early years are the most important years, especially when we are looking at things like our high school graduation rates and ways to impact our children who are ready to learn and succeed in school," said Joy Lyon, executive director of the Association for the Education of Young Children in Southeast Alaska.

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Govt ratifies child abuse treaties

The federal government announced on Monday it had ratified the two optional protocols to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The first obliges countries to criminalise child prostitution and pornography, the sale of a minor for sexual exploitation, forced labour and trade in children's organs. The second requires nations to ensure people under 18 are kept out of armed conflicts and not compulsorily recruited into armed forces. Both protocols were adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2000 and came into force two years later. The Australian government ratifies treaties once domestic laws and regulations comply with them. "Ratification complements Australia's strong legislation and enforcement arrangements to combat sex crimes against children," Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said in a statement.

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Swedish police in record child porn haul

Police in Sweden have confiscated record quantities of child pornography in a raid in Srmland county, south of Stockholm. But the news has coincided with accusations by campaigners that too few resources are being devoted to combating the problem. The raid saw police impounding between 2.5 million and 3 million images, stored on 290 CDs and DVDs and on two hard-disks. Each disk can contain between 4,000 and 6,000 pictures. The haul is believed to be the largest ever confiscated in Sweden, .

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