"SA's Aids challenge"

Most Americans Say No Nations Should Have Nuclear Weapons
Most Americans surveyed in a poll say they do not think any country, including the United States, should have nuclear weapons. That sentiment is at odds with current efforts by some nations that are trying to develop the weapons and by terrorists seeking to add them to their arsenal.

Condi's Pitch for a 'Different Kind' of Middle East
Straight from the horse's mouth (although some find in it echoes of the Old Testament Book of Isaiah, Chapter 65), this pithy remark expresses the State Department's attitude towards a large chunk of the planet. It cries out for translation and dissection. "We" of course means the United States, "coalitions of the willing" with shifting compositions, and most of all the GIs who comprised Rice's Afghan audience. "Broader Middle East" (also known as "Greater Middle East") is not a term often used by geographers but is applied idiosyncratically by the administration to North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Southwest Asia and parts of Central Asia. Geographers do not consider Afghanistan a Middle East nation; the fact that Bush and Rice do is significant for reasons that will become apparent.

Health-Africa: Thou Shalt Not Condomise
Muslims and Catholics do not see eye-to-eye on many issues. But when it comes to practices which they fear will allow the encroachment of unacceptable secular values - abortion, gay marriage and condom use - they quickly close ranks to form a united front against the threat.

Soweto survey reveals SA's Aids challenge
South Africa may have the world's largest number of HIV infections, but more than one in seven township dwellers say they rarely or never use a condom when having sex.

No Progress From Africa's Laboratories
Laboratories found "in every African country" have not achieved anything for the past 30 years, and were unlikely to achieve anything in the next 30 years - this was expressed by a galaxy of world scientists who met in Nairobi last week.

Prof Wangari Maathai to head new AU body
Kenyan Nobel prizewinner, Professor Wangari Maathai, is to head a new body aimed at bringing "people power" to Africans, the African Union (AU) announced on Tuesday.

SA shipwrecks important US visit
Durban and Cape Town have lost out on an opportunity to showcase South Africa because of a bureaucratic botch-up over an American carrier strike group's visit.

Africa needs better charcoal
A study finds making charcoal burning in Africa cleaner and more efficient could save millions of lives and slow the production of greenhouse gases.

S.Africa trade union's Zimbabwe protest falls flat

Zimbabwe's election cited as test of freedom

US Demands For Abstinence Programs
Harms Africa's Ability To Fight AIDS
In a report released Wednesday, Human Rights Watch said Uganda's president has fallen under the influence of Christian conservatives in the United States and is now promoting abstinence more, and condoms less, among young people.

Brazil urged to protect Indians
Amnesty International has accused Brazil of failing to protect its indigenous population and set up long-promised reservations.

Expert: Malnutrition Affects Iraq Kids

Summit: Lula defends Venezuela from U.S.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva emphatically supported neighboring Venezuela Tuesday in light in recent criticism from U.S. officials. "We do not accept defamatory remarks or insinuations about an ally," said Lula at a summit in Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela, with the Brazilian leader, Chavez, Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero. "Venezuela has the right to remain a sovereign nation and to make its own decisions." High-ranking officials in the Bush administration have been ardently critical of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez in recent months, saying the leftist leader was guilty of starting an arms war and using the nation's oil revenue to create an authoritarian state similar to Cuba.

More Colombians fleeing to Venezuela's cities, says UNHCR

Ukraine Thanks Cuba For Chernobyl Children Care
Cuba has treated 18,153 children victims of the radiation fallout from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster, Ukraine's Health Minister Nykola Polischuk said on Tuesday.

The Truth Seems Absurd
"The lies that we have been told have become a part of our folklore. The bigger the lie, the more it is believed. Then, when the truth is told, it appears to be absurd."

Nicaragua: Nemagon Workers Are Dying
Members of the Miami University Students for Peace and Justice group traveled to Nicaragua March 11th-20th on a Witness for Peace delegation to learn about United States foreign policy. While in Managua, the delegation visited a protest camp of several thousand banana and sugar cane farmers who have been lethally infected by the chemical Nemagon.