The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has released Growing Smarter, Living Healthier: A Guide to Smart Growth and Active Aging, a new guidebook to help older adults access information about the importance of environmentally friendly community design and how to become involved in decisions about what is termed as “smart growth.”

Smart growth covers a range of development and conservation strategies that help protect our natural environment and make our communities more attractive, economically stronger and more socially diverse.

More info:

• Aging Initiative
• Environmental Health
• Healthy Aging for Older Adults
• Seniors’ Health

People around the world are paying tribute to the life and work of Senator Edward Kennedy, who died yesterday at age 77. He was one of the longest serving U.S. senators and was known as an advocate for the poor, health care and education reform. He will be buried Saturday at Arlington National Cemetery after a funeral Mass in Boston. He will lie in repose at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston before that.

To share your memories and sympathies with the Senator’s family, please visit www.tedkennedy.org

More info:

• President Obama’s remarks
• Remembering Senator Edward M. Kennedy in photos
• Senator Edward Kennedy dies at 77
• President Obama’s eulogy for Senator Kennedy

A relatively high unemployment rate for young people has been a persistent problem in industrialized countries in recent decades; still, the number of youth who are unemployed has been falling with declining youth populations and more years spent in education.

Written by Gary Martin, A Portrait of the Youth Labor Market in 13 Countries, 1980-2007 appeared in the July 2009 issue of the Monthly Labor Review produced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The 13 countries included in the survey are: USA, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Republic of Korea, Spain, Sweden, and the UK.

The amount spent on cigarette advertising and promotion by the five largest cigarette companies in the United States declined from $13.11 billion in 2005 to $12.49 billion in 2006, according to a report released this month by the Federal Trade Commission.

More info:

• Cigarette Report for 2006
• Smokeless Tobacco Report for 2006

As the new crescent moon ushers in Ramadan, President Obama extends his best wishes to Muslim communities in the United States and around the world. The president’s message is available in a number of languages as well as English.
Video message

Campus Connections, the latest e-journal produced by the Bureau of International Information Programs, examines the international study experience and its influence on individual growth. Almost double the numbers of students travel abroad for an education today as compared with 20 years ago.

More info:

• U.S. Educational Advising in Australia
• Education USA

The U.S. Department of Defense has redesigned its public web portal to incorporate web 2.0 links and to serve as the starting point for finding U.S. military information online. An extensive FAQ section is included (scroll down the webpage to view).

Energy information for a single country is compiled from a variety of sources into a Country Analysis Brief by the Energy Information Administration. A monthly Energy Chronology timeline of important energy market events around the world is also provided from the home page for this product.

Recent reports:

• Oman
• China
• Libya

According to the Expenditures on Children by Families, 2008 report, annual child-rearing expense estimates for the overall United States ranged between $11,610 and $13,480 for a child in a two-child, married-couple family in the middle-income group.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has provided estimates of expenditures on children from birth through age 17 since 1960. This technical report presents the most recent estimates for husband-wife and single-parent families using data from the 2005-06 Consumer Expenditure Survey, updated to 2008 dollars using the Consumer Price Index.

U.S. meat imports (including prepared meat) almost doubled during the 10-year period (1998-2007). Australia and Canada accounted for most of the beef imports, while imports of lamb and goat meat came primarily from Australia and New Zealand, according to U.S. Food Import Patterns 1998-2007.

Australia’s shares of milk powder imports rose dramatically over this period from 16 to 25 percent for Australia — likely from the U.S.-Australia Free Trade Agreement.

This August 2009 report was produced by the Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture.