NEWS OF THE DAY
From Across the Globe
AIDS assistance: The Obama administration is announcing a $300 million program to reduce HIV infections in girls and young woman in 10 sub-Saharan African nations hard hit by the virus. Administration officials are aiming for a 25 percent infection reduction in females between ages 15 and 24 by the end of next year and a 40 percent reduction by the end of 2017. The new targets mark the next phase for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, known as PEPFAR. The program is credited with saving millions of lives in Africa. The administration is revealing the new targets ahead of a U.N. summit on development goals for lifting people out of poverty. Obama is scheduled to address the development meeting Sunday in New York City. The 10 countries are Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Polio vaccination: Nigeria on Saturday celebrated the announcement by the U.N. health agency that polio is no longer endemic in the West African country. The news of Nigeria’s progress, made by the World Health Organization late Friday, leaves only Pakistan and its war-battered neighbor Afghanistan as countries where the disease is prevalent. Polio, which can cause lifelong paralysis, can be prevented with a simple vaccination. Once stigmatized as the world’s polio epicenter, Nigeria in late July celebrated its first year with no reported case of the crippling disease, having overcome obstacles ranging from Islamic extremists who assassinated vaccinators to rumors the vaccine was a plot to sterilize Muslims.
War crime: An alleged Islamic extremist charged with involvement in the destruction of religious buildings in the historic city of Timbuktu in Mali in 2012 has been arrested and was sent to the International Criminal Court early Saturday. Ahmad Al Mahdi Al Faqi, known as Abu Tourab, is the first suspect in the court’s custody charged with the war crime of deliberately destroying religious or historical monuments. Al Faqi was surrendered to the court by Niger based on an arrest warrant issued a week ago. He was then transferred to The Hague, Netherlands. No date was immediately set for his arraignment. The entire city of Timbuktu is listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
Thailand bombing: Police said Saturday that two men who were arrested in connection with a deadly Bangkok bombing in August were the ones who carried out the attack and that authorities have gathered enough evidence to prosecute them for murder. Authorities are confident that the two men in custody, Adem Karadag and Mieraili Yusufu, are responsible for the bombing at the Erawan Shrine on Aug. 17 that killed 20 people and injured more than 120, said National Police Chief Somyot Poomphanmuang. Police are seeking at least 15 other people tied to the case. Somyot said the case against them was supported by closed-circuit television footage, witnesses, DNA matching and physical evidence.
Mexico protest: Thousands of people marked the one-year anniversary of the disappearance of 43 students that drew international attention by marching through Mexico City on Saturday in an atmosphere of defiant hope. Activists said the movement might bring justice for Mexico’s disappeared, though only two of the students’ remains have been identified. The students disappeared on Sept. 26, 2014, in Iguala in the southern state of Guerrero. A group of experts assembled by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights suggest the attack occurred because students unknowingly hijacked a bus carrying illegal drugs or money.