Spotlight: Today is International Literacy Day, a UNESCO-sponsored program designed to bring the world's focus on the importance of learning to read. Studies show that a region's literacy rate is directly related to poverty, health issues and prejudices against women. Under the slogan, "Literacy is the best remedy," UNESCO has chosen this year to focus on the relationship between literacy and health, underlining epidemics and communicable diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis and malaria. Special literacy projects in Brazil, Ethiopia, South Africa and Zambia have been spotlighted and will receive prizes for bringing greater literacy and thereby helping to improve conditions in their regions.

Quote: Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life. — Joseph Addison