In The News

Gates Won't Fund AIDS Researchers Unless They Pool Data

Marilyn Chase July 21, 2006
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, run by the chairman of the Microsoft Corporation, will deliver $287 million in five-year grants to researchers working to produce an AIDS vaccine. The caveat: Grantees must agree to pool their results. Fragmented and overlapping work in the area of AIDS research has hindered progress toward a vaccination for the virus that affects 40 million people around...

Push for New Tactics as War on Malaria Falters

Celia W. Dugger June 30, 2006
Malaria should be easy to control. Mosquito nets, insecticides and even medicine are inexpensive – and yet funds have tended to go toward consultants and research rather than treatment. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of children die from malaria, more than any other disease – a statistic that attracts yet more funds from major donors along with new scrutiny. In the US, Bush administration...

Distempered Days

Declan Walsh June 28, 2006
Chaos is on the rise in Afghanistan as violent attacks by the Taliban increase, and corruption and the drug trade run rampant through the country. Four years ago, Hamad Karzai was viewed as Afghanistan’s best hope for rebuilding the country, but now many question his leadership. Afghans contend that their president has failed to meet basic needs, and most still live in poverty. Western officials...

China Hosts Summit to Rival US

Jonathan Watts June 15, 2006
China hosted an “A-list” gathering of international leaders, with a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Representatives included Chinese Presient Hu Jintao, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The SCO, formed ten years ago, “is designed to promote peace and stability in a region that has become an increasingly important source of oil and...

UK Fears Record Afghan Heroin Output

Declan Walsh June 13, 2006
Despite 3,300 British troops deployed to the Helmand, Afghanistan, the province is on track to produce a record heroin crop. There are numerous reasons for the inability of British soldiers to control the trade. The UK government accused the Afghan minister in charge of counter-narcotics of having ties to smuggling. While the UK has not yet provided concrete proof, the allegation has strained...

Time to Lift North Korea’s Quarantine

John Feffer June 8, 2006
North Korea is suspected of a long list of disturbing activities – drug smuggling, counterfeiting, money laundering and, not least, the development of nuclear weapons. The international community must focus on creating a viable state in North Korea, according to Author John Feffer, and yet the current US strategy of sanctions and military containment probably does more harm than good. Sanctioning...

Stormy Geopolitical Forecast

Arnaud de Borchgrave April 27, 2006
The world has plenty of troublespots, all unsettled and unpredictable. The so-called “US democratic crusade,” according to author Arnaud de Borchgrave, has produced unrest along with some odd and disturbing leaders, ranging from the corrupt to the inept, throughout Central Asia and the Middle East. No clear formula for economic or social progress has emerged, with leaders sharply divided about...