In South Africa the battle against HIV/AIDS looks not to be a battle won, but a battle lost. UNICEF's South Africa representative Macharia Kamau said that infection and death rates in the are outweighing the rate of treatment. The ones paying the highest price for this lost race, are the children whose parents are rapidly dying of Aids, therefore leaving a devastating image for the futture. Kamau said if this trend continues, some five million orphans may plauge South Africa by 2015. (BBC)
For the first time the World Food Program (WFP) has been forced to air drop food in Uganda following the worst flooding in 35 years. In a statement issued on October 16, the WFP said the operation was a desperate last resort to help tens of thousands of people after flooding washed away vital roads. The agency said it urgently needs around USD 20 million for food and trucks to transport September rations to around 250,000 people. (Reuters)
Suspected pedophile targeted has been arrested in Thailand, the Canadian was targeted in global manhunt, thanks to efforts to unscramble digital images. The arrested was Christopher Paul Neil, a schoolteacher who was under suspicion of sexually abusing Cambodian and Vietnamese boys. The capture of Neil was in thanks to both to border guards in Thailand and neighboring countries, who remained on high alert, after immigration cameras captured Neil arriving at Bangkok's international airport last Thursday from South Korea. (AP)
The Lebanese government must do more to alleviate the miserable conditions of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon who are treated like “second-class citizens,” Amnesty International said on October 17. In a report “Exiled and Suffering: Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon,” the London-based human rights group said the refugees face discrimination in education, jobs, health care and housing. More than half the 400,000 registered Palestinian refugees in Lebanon live in 12 cramped, squalid and often unsanitary camps scattered across the country. (Reuters)
