United States President George W Bush promised $15-billion for the fight against HIV/Aids in developing countries over five years. But former Eli Lilly CEO Randall Tobias, who runs the president’s Aids emergency plan, said the money would be spent only on high-quality patented drugs from the giant pharmaceutical companies.
African National Congress MP Vincent Smith’s coronation as leader of Parliament’s public accounts committee, Scopa, brings to a sad end one the most inglorious chapters in South Africa’s new democracy. Smith has been rewarded for shielding the executive during Parliament’s ill-starred efforts to hold it to account over the multibillion-rand arms deal.
For those who live in monasteries, some football news. Arsenal are one match away from an historic unbeaten season atop the Premiership. Leicester will become their 38th unsuccessful opponents on Saturday. Put your brightest red shirt on it. According to the pundits it’s all down to that nice chap Thierry Henry.
On Saturday night in Las Vegas, one of the last great fighters will step into the ring again. Alongside a fake tropical oasis and a surreal 15-acre indoor beach at the Mandalay Bay hotel and casino, it will feel as if Roy Jones Jnr is also hustling boxing a little closer towards its chaotic endgame.
It was Paul Simon who advised Mrs Robinson, ”Anyway you look at this you lose” – and that is certainly the case for the Stormers. Just look how it stacks up. They’re playing the Crusaders in Christchurch, the single most successful side in the history of the competition, who have been to the final five times in eight seasons.
South Africa’s 2010 bid committee will get their final 30 minutes at 5pm on Friday to convince international soccer bosses to give the country the right to host the Soccer World Cup. The 24-member Federation of International Football Associations executive will also hear why Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco should rather host the prestigious event.
As more Israeli soldiers die in Gaza and Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu suggest cutting off the water and electricity supply to Gaza and severely limiting the movement of Palestinians, analysts are warning against Israel’s growing entanglement in the area.
Listening to Tony Blair, you hear the same unvarying judgement of the current state of the nation. Iraq was right. Bush is okay. The security situation is going badly, but it has got to be sorted. Unless the prime minister now heeds those he despises,
he is finished.
For decades, Donald Rumsfeld has had a reputation as a great white shark of the bureaucratic seas: sleek, fast-moving and voracious. But now the United States defence secretary has a new war on his hands — the country’s officer corps has turned on the government.
Dozens of newspapers, scores of radio stations and five television channels … at first glance, Togo seems like a media junkie’s dream destination. But does being spoilt for choice translate into press freedom? This question has received an airing in recent days, thanks to a report by the Paris-based media watchdog Reporters sans Frontières.