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Annan unveils plans for wind-up laptops

Kofi Annan - Launches laptop for developing nations
Kofi Annan - Launches laptop for developing nations

The United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, has announced plans for making cheap laptop computers available to children in the world's developing nations.

A prototype costing about $100 can be recharged by turning a handle.

Brazil, Thailand, Egypt and Nigeria are among the countries due to receive the first wave of laptops early next year.

Mr Annan and leading US IT expert Nicholas Negroponte unveiled the wind-up computer at a UN World Summit on the Information Society in the Tunisian capital of Tunis.