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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 2, 2002)
AGGIEL] E b attali( »EEWS [HE BATTALION Monday, December 2, 2002 Nations mark world AIDS ay with marches, rallies mind and 'hips. ItalM CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Southern frican countries marked World AIDS Day on lunday with hopes that the region, which has the jghest rate of HIV positive people on the planet, Onslow the spread of the disease. There are 42 million HIV positive people world- ide, with sub-Saharan Africa home to 75 percent if them, according to UN AIDS, the U.N.’s AIDS ;ency. South Africa has more HIV positive people than ,y other country in the world. Figures released by the government more than two years ago showed 4.7 million people — one in 4 hne — were infected, and the tig- ire today is believed to be substan- ially higher. The number of people with AIDS in Asia threatens to reach epi- lemic levels, and activists there Iso tried to raise awareness of the lisease and how to prevent it. Events were also held in Cuba, Irazil, Peru and several other coun tries. South Africa’s government had :ome under fire for not doing mough to combat the AIDS epi- jemic, and it has recently shown signs of taking the issue more seri- Dusly. lere infon can be ft •co\enev'r does it featg verage reat;-, complete some of ft ■ require p. ■-caiv : free in-i ite is five ■ eien.IL:'/.; emotional j e to turn. This year the government almost tripled its anti- 0 em \rn AIDS budget to $108 million, and plans to up to 5194 million in the next financial year. Tony Leon, leader of the main opposition mocratic Alliance, said South African women’s [average life expectancy would fall from 54 to 38 iverthe next 10 years and over 2 million children /ould be orphaned by AIDS. “South Africa’s fight against AIDS has been assively hampered and harmed by government’s [dithering, denial and dissent from the orthodoxies [associated with the disease,” he said. President Thabo Mbeki has questioned the link between HIV and AIDS in the past, but kept from commenting on the issue over the last few months. Countries across Asia commemorated World AIDS Day with events to raise awareness of the dis ease amid warnings that the number of infected people in China and India, the world’s two most populous nations, will reach epidemic levels. Carrying banners and signs, thousands took to the streets in Hanoi and Bangkok on Sunday to promote AIDS awareness. India staged a marathon to raise public knowledge of the disease, while Beijing’s imposing legislative hall hosted an aware- fighting resident Silence is death when it conies to figh ting HIV/AIDS. Its time to tear down the walls of stign and silence. r ma — Jordan Ryan U.N. resident coordinator anday. 1 te that' rs aftei te nent, (lie Il ian wassifij ganiesta'«i singeissi® 5 each otte od f tbeii rMKj iin's newtj eased Not. i)| pies in ragoo :hing e#d?| Iowa (AP) ‘ : Famei Eanl s ness event. “Offence is death when it comes to (UIV/AIDS,” said Jordan Ryan, the U.N. coordinator in Vietnam, at a rally in Hanoi that drew 3,000 people. ‘‘It’s time to tear down the walls of stigma and silence.” The United Nations.has estimated that at the end of 2001, 6.6 million people throughout Asia were living with HIV or AIDS, including about 1 million newly infected that year. In India, where some 4 million people are infect ed with HIV, officials in the eastern city of Bhubaneshwar on Sunday unfurled a record-long 3.7-mile-long banner to mark the day. In Thailand, a prison in Thailand opened its doors to family and friends of inmates in the final stages of the disease, the Bangkok Post news paper reported Sunday. World AIDS day events were low key in most southern African countries. In Malawi, where about 9 per cent of the population is HIV pos itive, the government warned that AIDS was decimating the civil service and the economy. “Every day we are burying our workers, our teachers, our doctors and other professionals,” Vice President Justin Malewezi said in a statement issued together with the findings of a new study on the impact of AIDS in Malawi. The study found that high schools had to replace 77 percent of their staff every year because teachers die or are too ill to work. In politically troubled Zimbabwe, President Robert Mugabe acknowledged that 2.2 million of the country's 13 million people were HIV positive, and that 700,000 children had been orphaned by AIDS. “The impact of this tragedy has been such that each and every one of us knows of a relative, a loved one or a friend who has either died of the epi demic or is living with it,” he said. The human rights group Amnesty International said Sunday that millions of people are doomed to early deaths because they can’t afford treatment for AIDS, and urged the United Nations to move quick ly on its goal of reversing the pandemic by 2015. “Those who are on the social margins of socie ty, who are denied access to their most basic human rights — to freedom from discrimination, to educa tion, to physical integrity, to health care and to eco nomic security — are the most vulnerable to HIV infection,” Amnesty said. In Brazil on Friday, 800 high school students placed 15,000 red ribbons before the health min istry to symbolize the number of people in the country who became infected with HIV this year.* ty si with most pn /vho aking o^j :hel •ector of irake. d the n five chf NBA i91. Taliban comment by bus driver prompts police investigation MARLBORO, N.J. (AP) — Passengers on a Greyound bus [said the driver told them he was taking them “to the Taliban” after they criticized his meander ing route Saturday night, prompting a massive police response. The New York-bound bus hit heavy traffic soon after leaving Philadelphia, and the driver took several alternate routes to find less congested roads, said pas senger Sally Weisbrot, 30. “People were angry and making fun of the driver, yelling do you know what you’re do 'ng up there? Do you know where you’re going?’ He clearly was annoyed,” she said. Weisbrot said the driver then shot back: “’I’m taking you to the Taliban.” NEWS IN BRIEF She said the driver was only joking because he was upset, but some people panicked and called 911 on their cell phones. Within minutes, 18 police cars sur rounded the bus and pulled it over, she said. Dara Salcman, a passenger from New York, said passengers were ordered to get off the bus with their hands in the air. Officers had their guns pointed at the bus, she said. The bus driver was charged with creating a false public alarm, Marlboro Police Capt. Brian Hall said. He was expect ed to be released Saturday night on a summons. “Needless to say, the com ment that was made by the bus driver was inappropriate, espe cially in today’s world,” Hall said. “He said he didn’t mean it; he was just frustrated.” Jamille Bradfield, a spokes woman for Dallas-based Greyhound, said the company was cooperating with authorities. Navy captain and best-selling author dies of cancer at 84 WASHINGTON (AP) — Edward Latimer “Ned” Beach, the U.S. Navy captain whose 1960 record for circumnavigating the globe in a submarine still stands and who wrote the best selling undersea thriller “Run Silent, Run Deep,” died Sunday from cancer. He was 84. Beach earned 10 decorations for gallantry in World War II, including the Navy Cross, for his role in sinking Japanese ships in shallow waters just miles from the enemy coast. The drama of the cramped quarters of a submarine at war was the basis for his best-selling 1955 novel, “Run Silent, Run Deep,” about a clash between a revenge-obsessed captain and his crew. He wrote it while working as Naval aide to President Eisenhower. Have you... □ Picked up or purchased your 2002 Aggieland If you ordered the 2002 Aggieland year book and haven't picked it up, stop by room 015 Reed McDonald Building and do so. Please bring your Student ID. If you did not order last year's Texas A&M University yearbook (the 2001-02 school year), you may pur chase one for $40 plus tax. □ Pre-ordered your 2003 Aggieland The 2003 Aggieland— the 101st Texas A&M University yearbook— will be an 800-page record of the 2002- 2003 school year. Distribution will be during Fall 2003. Stop by 015 Reed McDonald or tele phone 845-2613 (cred it cards only). Cost: $30 plus tax. □ Paid mailing fee for 2003 Aggieland If you ordered a 2003 Aggieland and will not be on campus next fall to pick it up, you can have it mailed. To have your yearbook for the '02- 03 school year mailed, stop by room 015 Reed McDonald or telephone 845-2613 (credit cards only) and pay a $7 mailing and handling fee. Student Media Advertising/Distribution Office: Room 015 Reed McDonald Hours: 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Cash, Check, Aggie Bucks, VISA, MasterCard, Discover and American Express accepted. 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