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UNAids says there an estimated 40.3m people currently living with the virus across the world, with almost 5m infected in 2005.

And it warns there are growing epidemics in Eastern Europe and Central and East Asia.

But the report says falls in HIV incidence have been seen in certain groups, including sex workers and their clients in Thailand and Cambodia. (more…)

Learn what is behind the Hollywood movie ‘Narnia” coming out in early December,05 (more…)

the Right to Information (RTI) Act came into force nationwide last month, placing India among 55 other countries to have “freedom of information” legislation. In a country where public information has always been guarded behind an iron veil of secrecy, RTI is the most important legislation since independence, say activists, because it can lead to transparency and accountability in governance.

“For the first time since India’s independence from the British, ordinary people have the right to scrutinize performance of public officials and hold them answerable for their actions that they professedly take on behalf of people. This is the most powerful right ordinary Indians have at their disposal after the right to vote,” says Prabhu. (more…)

(Reuters)Polygamy may have been a factor behind the unprecedented wave of riots that swept France over the past three weeks, senior conservative politicians said on Wednesday.

Bernard Accoyer, leader of the Union for a Popular Majority (UMP) in the National Assembly lower house of parliament, told French radio that children from large polygamous families had problems integrating into mainstream society.

The Financial Times quoted Employment Minister Gerard Larcher as saying large polygamous families sometimes led to anti-social behavior by youths who lacked a father figure and made employers reluctant to hire them. (more…)

Across Europe,the conflicting currents of secularism, Christianity, and Islam are compelling Europeans to wrestle with their values as never before. (more…)

SEATTLE, Washington - The Dover, Pennsylvania school board is on trial in the state capitol. Their crime? They wanted to tell high school students once a year that evolution is only a theory. They also wanted to mention an alternate theory: Intelligent Design, or ID. (more…)

Have you ever said this, “I smoke because it calms me down,” or “I need cigarettes to relax?” You may be surprised to learn that this is NOT true. Smoking cannot calm you or relieve stress like you may think. In fact, smokers have higher rates of stress than nonsmokers. Why? Nicotine dependency actually exacerbates stress. (more…)

The new Saudi ambassador to the United States is full of helpful advice:

“The new Saudi ambassador to the US, Prince Turki Al-Faisal, told The Jerusalem Post Tuesday that the prospect of diplomatic relations between the two countries depended only on the actions of the government of Israel… According to Al-Faisal, “Nothing has done more to damage Western and Islamic relations than the uneven handling of affairs between Israel and the Palestinian people,” adding that “it is this cause above all others that has given lifeblood to this evil cult of hate that has fed the followers of Al Qaida.”

We’re not experts, but if we were the Indian officials in charge of identifying and averting new threats to Israeli-Indian relations, we’d be doing a little better job keeping celebrations of Hitler out of our country’s schoolbooks:

Israel is planning to protest a western Indian state’s move to include references in school books that glorify Adolf Hitler, a news report said Friday. The Israeli Embassy is planning to communicate its displeasure to Gujarat state, appalled that the school textbooks “sing praises” of Hitler, the Indian Express reported.

A deal defining the terms of the US-China textile trade for the next three years has finally been signed. The agreement allows both sides to claim victory, but when the numbers are examined, the concessions China gained are less substantial than they appear, while any pain felt in the US will conveniently be delayed until after the 2008 election. (more…)