Funding crunch imperils progress on AIDS (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) ? The international community has made extraordinary progress in the past decade in the fight against AIDS, but a funding crisis is putting those gains at risk, the United Nations health agencies said on Wednesday.

A World Health Organization-led report said the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS and now infects about 34 million people around the world has proven a "formidable challenge" for scientists and public health experts.

"But the tide is turning," it added. "The tools to achieve an AIDS-free generation are in our hands."

A severe funding crisis at the world's largest backer of the fight against AIDS and a decline in international donor money to battle the disease is dampening optimism in the HIV/AIDS community about an eventual end to the pandemic.

Annual funding for HIV/AIDS programmes fell to $15 billion in 2010 from $15.9 billion in 2009, well below the estimated $22 billion to $24 billion the U.N. agencies say is needed by 2015 to pay for a comprehensive, effective global response.

The public-private Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the world's largest financial backer of HIV treatment and prevention programmes, said last week it was cancelling new grants for countries battling these diseases and would make no new funding available until 2014.

"Just as the world is making huge strides in the fight against HIV and AIDS, the goal of creating an AIDS-free generation, where no children are born with HIV, will not be possible unless the Global Fund is able to continue scaling up its work," said Patrick Watt, Save the Children's global campaign director.

"With the main funding body...now out of cash, there is a serious crisis," said Tido von Schoen-Angerer of the international medical charity Medecins Sans Frontires. "It's like a car going full speed has suddenly run out of gas."

In an interview with Reuters as the U.N agencies' report was released, Gottfried Hirnschall, the WHO's director for HIV/AIDS, said progress in cutting the number of new HIV infections and dramatically increasing access to life-saving AIDS drugs made this a critical time in the battle.

Scientific studies in the past year have also shown that getting timely AIDS drug treatment to those with HIV can significantly cut the number of people who become newly infected with the virus.

"This is a really exciting year, because we're seeing downward trends in those areas where we want to see downward trends - in new infections and in mortality - and we're seeing upward trends where we'd like to see them, primarily in (treatment) coverage rates," Hirnschall said

Latest figures in Wednesday's report and from a UNAIDS global study last week show the number of new HIV infections fell to 2.7 million in 2010, down from 3.1 million in 2001, while the number of people getting life-saving AIDS drugs rose to 6.65 million in 2010 from just 400,000 in 2003.

Hirnschall said the data suggested the WHO's goal to have zero new infections, zero deaths and zero stigma associated with HIV "could in the not too distant future become a reality."

But the big risk lies in the funding, he said.

"We already have a $7 billion shortfall for this year and what's even more alarming is that we also had almost a billion dollars less this year than we did last."

With many large international donor countries struggling with recession and debt crises, public health experts said it was crucial for countries affected by HIV/AIDS to do all they can to fund their own programmes and make resources go further.

Wednesday's report, released ahead of World AIDS Day on December 1 by the WHO, the United Nations AIDS programme UNAIDS and the United Nations children's fund UNICEF, said treatment, prevention and outreach programmes are becoming more efficient, with health clinics integrating services and local communities finding more effective ways to get medicines to HIV patients.

"2011 has been a game changing year. With new science, unprecedented political leadership and continued progress in the AIDS response, countries have a window of opportunity to seize this momentum," said Paul De Lay, deputy director of UNAIDS.

"However, gains made to date are being threatened by a decline in resources."

Hirnschall said donors should recognize that stepping up investment now will save lives, and more money in the long run.

"The risk is that we carry on as we are for the next 20 years and the whole epidemic will just linger on and on. Or we could load up front and make a big investment now, and then the numbers will really start to come down and it will pay off."

"The question is, is the world ready to do that?"

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/aids/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111130/hl_nm/us_aids_unitednations

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Questions and answers about Europe's debt crisis (AP)

WASHINGTON ? The coordinated plan that the Federal Reserve and other central banks announced Wednesday is intended to ease financial strains that threaten Europe's common currency and could tip the global economy into recession.

The Fed, the European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the central banks of Canada, Japan and Switzerland said they would make it easier for banks to get dollars if they need them. Stocks soared in response.

The plan helped boost confidence among investors and lenders and shows that the banks are able to take coordinated action to encourage lending. But it isn't a permanent fix for the broader crisis in Europe: Debt burdens are overwhelming Spain, Italy and other nations and raising fears that they'll go into default. Banks that hold much of that debt have been reluctant to lend to each other.

Earlier, markets had fallen after the finance ministers of the 17 countries that use the euro failed to reach an agreement on resolving the crisis. That means major disputes will now have to be addressed by the leaders of all 27 countries in the European Union who will hold their own meeting next Friday in Brussels.

Here are some questions and answers about the crisis:

Q: Why the urgency now?

A: Earlier efforts, like bailouts of Greece, Portugal and Ireland, haven't convinced investors that European policymakers can or will ease the crushing debts of some European nations. Jittery investors are demanding that European governments pay ever-higher interest rates on their bonds. Yields on Italian bonds, for instance, top 7 percent. That's considered unsustainable. Even Germany, Europe's economic powerhouse, struggled to sell bonds last week.

Q: Why are higher interest rates such a problem?

A: Governments have to pay more interest on their debts. So they can't spend as much on goods and services that fuel economic growth. The economy slows. Tax revenue then falls. The cost of unemployment benefits and other social programs rises. Some countries might abandon the euro, plunging the continent and perhaps the world's economy into recession.

Q: Why would countries want to jettison the euro and go back to their own currencies?

A: To become more economically nimble. When they joined together 12 years ago, the 17 eurozone gave up their currencies and adopted the euro, and they surrendered control of their interest-rate policies to a new European Central Bank. That meant they couldn't cut rates to boost their economies. Nor could they reduce the value of their currencies, to give their exporters an edge. (A lower currency makes exports cheaper for foreigners to buy.) Abandoning the euro would let them escape an economic trap.

Q: How did Europe get into this mess?

A: The euro made it easier to do business across Europe and made the continent a potent economic bloc. Yet the experiment was flawed. Countries were harnessed to one another despite different economies and cultures. Banks lent at low rates even to weaker countries like Greece. The euro meant lenders didn't have to worry that individual countries would suffer inflation that would have reduced the value of their loans. Governments overspent for years and got away with it because they could borrow at low rates. But once the Great Recession hit hard, their debts became devastating.

Q: Why is a solution so hard?

A: The ECB and Germany have resisted aggressive action. Many economists want the central bank to buy the debt of Italy and other struggling countries. That would push down interest rates and ease those countries' borrowing costs. The ECB has bought Italian and Spanish bonds. But it's loath to do so in a big way. The ECB says it must control inflation, not be a lender of last resort to governments. And it doesn't want to set a precedent for bailing out financially ailing nations. Germany opposes one idea ? creating joint bonds backed by the whole eurozone ? because it fears its own borrowing costs would surge if it had to borrow jointly with weaker countries.

Q: What options have European officials considered?

A: Things that would have been unthinkable just weeks ago. One option would be to have countries cede control of their budgets to a central authority. That authority would stop countries from spending beyond their means. There has also been talk of forming an elite group of euro nations to guarantee each other's loans. It would require fiscal discipline from any country that wants to join. Once that happens, the ECB might be more willing to buy government bonds aggressively, thereby pushing down interest rates and easing governments' debt burdens.

Q: What would happen if some countries left the eurozone?

A: It could be catastrophic. Depositors would pull money from banks in weak countries that dropped the euro. Savers wouldn't want their euros replaced with weaker national currencies. If countries tried to repay their euro debts with their own currencies, they'd be considered in default. They'd struggle to borrow. So would corporations. Economists at UBS estimate that the economy of a weak country that left the eurozone would shrink 50 percent.

Q: Could a strong country like Germany leave the eurozone to avoid the damage?

A: Not necessarily. Germany's currency would likely shoot up if it did. Its exports would then become costlier for foreigners. UBS says that if Germany left the eurozone, its economy would decline 20 to 25 percent.

Q: Can Europe's leaders solve this mess?

A: The coordinated move the central banks announced Wednesday is expected to ease pressure on the financial system in the short run. But a real resolution to the crisis involves getting up to 17 countries and the ECB to agree on a solution for both easing government debt loads and imposing budgetary discipline. "This is not just a crisis of Greece or this or that country," says Nicolas Veron, senior fellow at the Brussels-based think tank Bruegel. "It's a crisis of European institutions."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111130/ap_on_bi_ge/us_europe_financial_crisis_q_a

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No more ?Mr. Nice Candidate? as 2012 GOP field goes negative (The Ticket)

Gingrich, left and Romney, right, in happier times (Paul Sancya/AP)

Say goodbye to the back-patting, the shout-outs, and the unified front against President Obama: It's time for the Republican field to go negative.

This week appeared to mark the informal start of the negative phase of the 2012 GOP nomination fight, with candidates bypassing the largely harmonious tone of the early stages of the race, and starting simply to go for the jugular.

"Newt Gingrich has a long record of liberal appeasement, flip-flopping on key issues, and lobbying for insider millions," Texas Rep. Ron Paul wrote in an email to supporters Wednesday touting an online video attacking the former House Speaker on multiple fronts as a "counterfeit conservative."

"This candidate was for the individual mandate that served as the model for 'ObamaCare.'? He was originally for the TARP bank bailouts before he was against them. He joined with Nancy Pelosi to promote the anti-business 'global warming' agenda," Paul wrote.

Paul may have clashed with Gingrich on stage in several recent debates, but the ad represents the first targeted attack against the candidate, who is regarded as a major contender in both the first-in-the-nation primary state of New Hampshire and in the first-in-the-nation caucus state of Iowa. Iowa holds its vote in less than five weeks.

You can watch Paul's anti-Gingrich video below:

Meanwhile, former Utah governor and ambassador to China Jon Huntsman was preoccupied with Mitt Romney this week, blasting the former Massachusetts governor during a public appearance in the key voting state of New Hampshire.

"Anyone who is in the hip pocket of Wall Street because of all the donations they are picking up, like Mr. Romney, is in these days not going to be the change agent who is going to fix the too-big-to-fail banking system," Huntsman told an audience Monday night.

And Huntsman didn't stop there.

He followed up with a web video Thursday using an interview Romney gave to Fox News Wednesday night to depict Romney as a flip-flopper (a line of attack the Democratic National Committee helped fuel Monday with its own anti-Romney ad.)

You can watch Huntsman's video about Romney below:

Gingrich also went after Romney on the "flip-flopper" front, defending the DNC's negative ad campaign. "Part of it is the way he did some of it," Gingrich told CNN's John King in reference to Romney's record.?"I think it is legitimate," he said of the attack.

And Romney himself did some particularly pointed attacking of his own this week, going so far as to brand Gingrich a "lifelong politician."

For many of these 2012 candidates, this level of attack is unprecedented so far in the race. But some analysts say that the surface comity of the field thus far speaks more to the candidates' effort to appear united more than anything.

"It's been an unusually positive race up until this point," Republican consultant Matt Mackowiak told Yahoo News Thursday. Mackowiak said the race's fluidity has helped keep things on the civil side, because different candidates were falling out of favor each week on their own in the absence of attacks.

But observers suggest that now candidates are desperate to control the conversation as the field gears up for the first nominating contests. Negative campaigning allows them to do just that.

"It's not some newspaper's choice. It's your choice," Mackowiak said of the attack strategy. He also noted that candidates "can also choose the field upon which battle is being fought" and select an attack topic tailored to give them a competitive advantage.

And don't expect anyone to revert back to their nicer former selves, Mackowiak warned. "We are now in the window of time when voters make decisions," he said. For some candidates, attacks represent "the only way to impact the outcome."

Other popular Yahoo! News stories:

Want more of our best political stories? Visit The Ticket or connect with us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_theticket/20111201/el_yblog_theticket/no-more-mr-nice-candidate-as-2012-gop-field-goes-negative

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Clinton seeks greater openness from Myanmar (AP)

BUSAN, South Korea ? U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday she is looking forward to her historic trip to isolated Myanmar this week and will suggest specific reforms to the country's leadership to improve ties with the United States.

Clinton travels to Myanmar's capital later Wednesday on the first visit to the Southeast Asian nation by a secretary of state in more than 50 years. She told reporters at an international aid conference in South Korea before her departure that she was cautiously optimistic about her trip but said Myanmar would have to implement more reforms before the U.S. will reciprocate.

"I am obviously looking to determine for myself and on behalf of our government what is the intention of the current government with respect to continuing reforms both political and economic," she said.

She declined to discuss the specific measures she would suggest or how the U.S. might reciprocate.

After meeting with senior Myanmar officials on Thursday, Clinton will travel to the commercial capital of Yangon where she will see opposition leader and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

The Obama administration is betting that the visit will pay dividends, promoting human rights, limiting suspected cooperation with North Korea on ballistic missiles and nuclear activity and loosening Chinese influence in a region where America and its allies are wary of China's rise.

"We and many other nations are quite hopeful that these flickers of progress ... will be ignited into a movement for change that will benefit the people of the country," she said, reflecting the administration's hopes for the trip.

Clinton is expected to seek assurances from Myanmar's leadership that they will sign an agreement with the U.N. nuclear watchdog that will permit unfettered access to suspected nuclear sites. The U.S. and other western nations suspect that Myanmar has sought and received nuclear advice along with ballistic missile technology from North Korea in violation of U.N. sanctions.

She will also press the government's baby steps toward democratic reform after 50 years of military rule that saw brutal crackdowns on pro-democracy activists like Suu Kyi and members of her National League for Democracy party.

Clinton's private dinner on Thursday and formal meeting with Suu Kyi on Friday will likely be the highlights of the visit. Suu Kyi, who intends to run for parliament in upcoming elections, has welcomed Clinton's trip and told President Barack Obama in a phone call earlier this month that engagement with the government would be positive. Clinton has called Suu Kyi a personal inspiration.

The trip is the first major development in U.S.-Myanmar relations in decades and comes after the Obama administration launched a new effort to prod reforms in 2009 with a package of carrot-and-stick incentives.

The rapprochement sped up when Myanmar held elections last year that brought a new government to power that pledged greater openness. The administration's special envoy to Myanmar has made three trips to the country in the past three months, and the top U.S. diplomat for human rights has made one.

Those officials pushed for Clinton to make the trip, deeming a test of the reforms as worthwhile despite the risks of backsliding.

President Thein Sein, a former army officer, has pushed forward reforms after Myanmar experienced decades of repression under successive military regimes that cancelled 1990 elections that Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party won.

Last week, Myanmar's parliament approved a law guaranteeing the right to protest, which had not previously existed, and improvements have been made in areas such as media and Internet access and political participation. The NLD, which had boycotted previous flawed elections, is now registered as a party.

But the government that took office in March is still dominated by a military-proxy political party, and Myanmar's commitment to democratization and its willingness to limit its close ties with China are uncertain.

Corruption runs rampant, hundreds of political prisoners are still jailed and violent ethnic conflicts continue in the country's north and east. Human rights activists have said Clinton's visit should be judged on improvements in those conditions.

Myanmar's army continues to torture and kill civilians in campaigns to stamp out some of the world's longest-running insurgencies, according to rights groups. They say ongoing atrocities against ethnic minorities serve as a reminder that reforms recently unveiled by the country's military-backed government to worldwide applause are not benefitting everyone.

And, although the government suspended a controversial Chinese dam project earlier this year, China laid down a marker ahead of Clinton's trip by having its vice president meet the head of Myanmar's armed forces on Monday.

China's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Vice President Xi Jinping pledged to maintain strong ties with Myanmar and encouraged Gen. Min Aung Hlaing to push for solutions to unspecified challenges in relations.

Myanmar also remains subject to tough sanctions that prohibit Americans and U.S. companies from most commercial transactions in the country.

U.S. officials say Clinton's trip is a fact-finding visit and will not result in an easing of sanctions. But officials also say that such steps could be taken if Myanmar proves itself to be serious about reform. Other steps being contemplated include upgrading diplomatic relations that would see the two countries exchange ambassadors. The nations are now represented in each other's capitals by charges d'affaires.

Despite high hopes, U.S. officials remain decidedly cautious about prospects for Clinton's visit and that caution has been echoed by members of Congress, some of whom have expressed concern that the trip is an undeserved reward for the regime.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111130/ap_on_re_as/as_clinton

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Police: 8 hospitalized in West Oakland shooting (Providence Journal)

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Alienware M14xr3

[unable to retrieve full-text content]The M14xr3 is the middle child of the Alienware family; it's a great performer on the gaming grid, but its weight and heat issues work against it.

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Lenovo will launch a Windows Phone in the second half of 2012, says LePhone product manager

We've already been teased by a LePhone S2 moonlighting as a Windows Phone last month, but it was only yesterday that Lenovo confirmed an upcoming product featuring said OS. While boasting a mere total of 700,000 phone units sold since the original LePhone debuted in May last year (which is rather mundane compared to the Xiaomi Phone's 300,000 pre-orders in 34 hours), product manager Chen Yue told iMobile that Lenovo's now aiming to release a Windows Phone in the second half of next year. Well, that was apparently all Mr. Chen revealed -- no specs, no prices, and no mention of international launch. Either way, it looks like Nokia will have a nice head start in China with its Lumia 800. No wonder Elop's so happy these days.

Lenovo will launch a Windows Phone in the second half of 2012, says LePhone product manager originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Nov 2011 13:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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