Police fired tear gas and charged crowds with batons to quell rioting in a food line in western Zimbabwe, witnesses and the state-run media said Saturday. The clash involving hundreds of people waiting in the line was the most serious violence since severe food shortages hit the troubled country in recent months.

Paltry audiences of about 100 people brave the chilly cold weather of the mountainous Dedza to attend a HIV/Aids open day organised by the National Initiative for Civic Education. Speakers are armed to impart all their best to those present. The audience is well aware that the speakers will dwell extensively on how one gets infected with HIV and what the preventative strategies are. The speaker will also communicate how one can live longer after being infected.

More than 17 million Africans have died of HIV/Aids since the late 1970’s, leaving 13 million orphans in sub-Saharan Africa alone. Most of these children do not have Aids but are in danger of slavery, dying of childhood diseases, or forced into prostitution to survive.

Government should maintain the current stand not to accept Genetically Modified foods by employing the precautionary principle, Zambian scientists who recently went on a fact finding mission on GMOs have recommended.

South African HIV/AIDS lobby group the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) on Tuesday cautiously welcomed an announcement by the government that it will provide nutritious food to people living with HIV/AIDS (PWAs).

A third of Eritrea’s population - 1.4 million people - were directly affected by drought and this number was set to increase this year, says the US government's Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS). "Insufficient rainfall for crops and livestock, labour shortages due to mobilisation, the pressure of internally displaced people (IDPs) and returnees, and an economic tailspin contribute to an overall picture of high food insecurity," it said.

Conference theme is men and the role they play in the response to the pandemic, in terms of power relations, engaging men to become more involved, prevention programmes, cultural practices and the boy child. The aim of RAISA is to provide in-country partners with building blocks which strengthen their capacity to develop their multi sectoral programmes and to increase their impact.

A US federal appeals court has temporarily blocked the deportation of a Dallas woman who says she and her 3-year-old daughter, who was born in the United States, would be subjected to genital mutilation if she were forced to return to her native Nigeria.

Burkina Faso's government has asked the World Health Organisation (WHO) for help in its fight against meningitis. The request coincides with the start of the 2002-2003 meningitis season.

Zambia's over-stretched health facilities are inadequate at the best of times, but the situation is especially grim for the more than 1.2 million people living with HIV/AIDS.

The landlocked African kingdom of Swaziland is believed to have the world's highest rate of HIV, with almost four out of 10 adults infected with the virus which causes Aids. In a new year's address, the prime minister, Sibusiso Dlamini, said the official rate of infection had risen to 38.6% from 34.2% in January 2002.

AIDS advocates from the National Association of People Living with HIV/AIDS have ended a hunger strike that started on Christmas day outside the Midrand offices of GlaxoSmithKline in Gauteng province, after the South African Department of Social Development urged the protestors to call off the second stage of the strike, the South African Press Association reports. The strike -- the original phase of which ended on Tuesday -- is part of the group's "Black Christmas" campaign that demands that pharmaceutical companies and the South African government provide antiretroviral drugs free of charge; that banks and insurance companies cease discriminating against HIV-positive people; and that the government allocate social grants more uniformly.

The consistent shortfall of maize in Matabeleland North and South, the reported increase in sale of household assets to buy food, biased access to controlled price foods and the low reported level of access to seed and fertilizer were of "serious concern" with regards the food situation in Zimbabwe. This is according to a report by Fosenet, the NGO Food Security Network, that assessed the food situation in Zimbabwe for November. A summary of the report is available through the link provided.

South Africa's minister of health and a provincial health minister are being taken to court by AIDS lobby group the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), for failing to provide nevirapine to pregnant women in one of the country's nine provinces.

South African President Thabo Mbeki on Tuesday defended his "fleeting reference" to HIV/AIDS in a two-hour speech he delivered Monday at the opening of a five-day African National Congress conference, saying that the issue would be "adequately" covered in a party resolution, SAPA/BBC Monitoring reports.

On 14 December 2002, Libasse Ndiaye, a cameraman for African Television News (ATN) and Senegal correspondent for the Agence Internationale d'Images de Télévision (AITV) and TV5, was assaulted by security forces at the end of a demonstration. The protest was held by relatives of individuals who perished in a 26 September shipwreck. More than 1,000 people who were travelling on the vessel Joola died on that day.

McDonald's is the world's largest retailer of fast food and fast food culture. Its Big Macs and Happy Meals are popular, but its food is high in fat, sugar and calories, and a cause of obesity and Type 2 diabetes. McDonald's is a controversial symbol of Americanism and globalization, and it targets children with an onslaught of clever advertising. Its purpose, as required by law, is to make money. UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund is the world's foremost advocate for children. Its mission is "to save children's lives and build children's futures" and is dedicated to the well-being, including good health and nutrition, of children everywhere. Now UNICEF and McDonald's have agreed "to team up to raise money on behalf of the world's children." Visit www.corpwatch.org to sign a letter protesting the partnership.

AF-AIDS is a regional forum on HIV/AIDS in Africa, moderated by the Health & Development Networks Moderation Team (HDN, www.hdnet.org) with technical support from Health Systems Trust (HST) on behalf of the AF-AIDS Policy and Steering Committee (HST, HDN & SAfAIDS). To join, send a blank message to [email protected]

The Botswana Centre for Human Rights joined the international community in commemorating International Human Rights Day. The organisation Ditshwanelo and the Botswana Red Cross Society launched the Botswana HIV/Aids and Human Rights Charter 2002 in recognition of the day.

Zambia faces a "tremendous crisis" if efforts to fight hunger and HIV/AIDS are not improved, Stephen Lewis, the U.N. Secretary General's special envoy on HIV/AIDS, said on Sunday at the conclusion of a trip through Zambia and five other African nations.