IOM increases efforts to end slave-like child labor in Ghana: The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has stepped up efforts to end child trafficking in Ghana, according to the BBC. Hundreds of children are employed in slave-like conditions in numerous fishing communities along the shores of Lake Volta in central Ghana, where forcing children to work is not a crime. But now the Ghanaian government plans to change the law. It is helping the Geneva-based IOM send more than 1,200 children back home. Most of the children are males between the ages of five and 14. They are made to work from "dawn till dusk, casting and drawing fishing nets for the men they call their slave masters," according to the BBC. A number of them have drowned recently, trying to release nets caught on the bottom of the lake. As part of its plan, the IOM is offering the fishermen new, up-to-date equipment and training in exchange for safe return of the children. Currently, buying and selling children is legal in Ghana, but the Ghanaian government has promised to implement new legislation which will outlaw the practice. Authorities are already helping the IOM register the trafficked boys in a bid to reunite them with their families.

Air Force tests the biggest conventional bomb ever built: The Air Force tested a 21,000-lb. conventional bomb yesterday at Eglin Air Force Base in northeastern Florida in a bid to gear up the military for a possible confrontation in Iraq, according to the Associated Press (AP). According to the Pentagon, the successful test saw the first live explosion of the biggest conventional bomb ever built. The Pentagon hopes that, in the event of a war in Iraq, the bomb could be used against critical targets on the surface and underground, according to CNN.com. The bomb, officially called the Massive Ordnance Air Blast, or MOAB, and unofficially dubbed the "mother of all bombs," is guided to its target by satellite signals. The MOAB is designed to penetrate and destroy strategic underground bunkers and military facilities, according to CNN.com. The bomb is so powerful that its detonation was expected to create a towering cloud visible for miles. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld refused to comment on the availability of the bomb to U.S. forces, nor would he discuss specific details about MOAB's specifications or uses, according to the AP.

Proposal to create small village to increase Hampshire profits: A proposal to create a "village center" from land near Hampshire College and surrounding Atkins Farms Country Market has arisen out of two public meetings and "interactive design workshops" in Amherst, according to the Daily Hampshire Gazette. The plan focuses on the land at the intersection of Route 116 and Bay Road. It calls for the redirection of the two roads and the construction of a network of residential, retail and office developments. The plan, which the parties involved have been considering for the past six years, also involves a land swap between Atkins Farms and the state, enabling Atkins to complete a long-desired expansion and allowing Hampshire College (which owns about 850 acres) to "make money while complementing the college's values," according to Hampshire College treasurer Larry Archey. The proposal envisions a main street through the development which would have buildings no more than two-and-a-half stories high, and tree-lined sidewalks with benches. The development ould connect to the Hampshire campus, according to the Gazette. Congressman John Olver is seeking federal money for the reconfiguration of Route 116 in the area.