I hate reading newspapers or even subscribing to news online but being a world citizen I read more out of duty than curiousity and what comes my way makes the reading more a chore than a relaxed venture. Lately, however, I have begun to look for hope in the news especially online to hearten my day.

Here are a few news item that brighten my day:

Afghan villagers stand guard over schools: After a village school had been burned down the village elders decided to take matters in their own hands and protect their children's future- the schools.

Local authorities say that this was Afghanistan's first community-sponsored school-watch program. In the intervening year, the Afghan Department of Education has championed the idea nationwide in an effort to maintain what has been, in many respects, the government's most celebrated success: bringing education to Afghanistan – and especially to girls.

"Education has a special importance in Afghanistan, and that is what our enemies know," says Mohammad Patman, Afghanistan's deputy minister of education.

GM mosquito could spell doom for the malaria gene- I had lost my grandpa to Celeberal malaria and my aunt had also suffered from it. Though we Indians have managed to deter small pox, cholera and polio yet malaria seems to have eluded various efforts but scientists have come up with a mosquito that is malaria resistant and by introducing it in the wild they hope to take the risk out of the mosquito sting if you catch my drift.

The insect carries a gene that prevents infection by the malaria parasite.

The researchers caution that their studies are still at an early stage, and that it could be 10 years or more before engineered insects are released into the environment.

Ali Abbas, an Iraqi boy who lost both his arms- Where most of us would have lost all hope, he trudged on and found happiness despite the cards life had dealt him. He lost his family and his arms in the missile attack that took place in Baghdad in the spring of March 2003.

Today he lives with hope and dignity. He talks about life, about painting with his feet, he talks about finding reasons to remain sane when the world crashes down and all is lost.

My ambitions? I don't know what I want to be. Maybe I want to do something with peace, when I grow up.

There is much we can learn from Abbhas