More than 3,400 recorded AIDS deaths in Iran. report

WashingtonTV:  According to official figures from Iran’s Health Ministry, at least 3,409 people have died in the country from AIDS, the Iran Labor News Agency (ILNA) reported on Thursday.

The report said that an additional 2,097 people have been diagnosed as having AIDS, and a total of 20,130 people had tested positive for HIV. It did not specify whether that figure included those who had gone on to develop AIDS.

Men accounted for 93 percent of recorded HIV/AIDS infections, ILNA said.

Health experts believe that the actual of AIDS patients in Iran is much higher.

The report said that intravenous drug use is the most common way HIV is transmitted in Iran [69.8 percent], while sexual relations counted for 8.5 percent of transmissions.

World-renowned Iranian physicians, Kamiar and Arash Alaei, leaders in the field of HIV/AIDS education, prevention and treatment, have been detained in Tehran’s Evin Prison since June 2008.

The two brothers are being held on charges related to endangering national security.

The doctors founded Iran’s non-governmental Pars Institute and formed the “triangular” clinical plan, in which treatment is offered for sexually-transmitted infections, HIV/AIDS, and drug addiction.

The AIDS virus infects 33 million people around the world, and around a million in the United States, according to Reuters.

Algerian footballers attacked before Egypt game

Sudan to host possible Egypt-Algeria playoff: FIFA

DUBAI:  Algeria's team bus was attacked by stone-throwing fans in Cairo on Thursday ahead of Saturday's highly-charged World Cup qualifier against Egypt, police officials said.

The incident, which happened as the Algerian squad was being taken from the airport to their hotel, immediately sparked a diplomatic war of words.

Egyptian police insisted that there were no injuries, but Algeria's foreign minister said several players had been hurt and demanded security be tightened for Saturday's game where a place at the 2010 World Cup finals is at stake.

In Algiers, foreign minister Mourad Medelci "strongly condemned" the attack which he described as serious and demanded that his Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Abul Gheit take all measures to guarantee the security of the delegation.

Medelci said that "several" players had been hurt.

An Egyptian police official denied that Algerian team members were hurt.

The official said security troops overpowered local fans who tried to throw stones at the arriving members of the Algerian squad. Emotional Egyptian fans waited for the Algerians outside the airport but police managed to prevent them from hurling stones, the official said.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Saudi King, Obama top Forbes most powerful list

World leaders dominate the top 10 of the list

SINGAPORE:  U.S. President Barack Obama can add another accolade to his already long list of awards after being named the world's most powerful person in an inaugural ranking by Forbes magazine, while Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz came in 9th.

In compiling the inaugural ranking, Forbes said it had narrowed the list to 67 people, "a number based on the conceit that one can reduce the world's 6.7 billion people to the one in every 100 million that matter."

"The goal in compiling this list is to expose power and not glorify it, and over time reveal how influence is as easily lost as it is hard to gain," the magazine said.

World and industry leaders dominated the top 10 of the list, which Forbes said was assessed on the number of people the person influences, their ability to project power beyond their immediate sphere of influence, their control of financial resources and how actively that person wields power.

The top 10 list is as follows:

1. U.S. President Barack Obama

2. Chinese President Hu Jintao

3. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin

4. U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke

5. Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page

6. Carlos Slim, Chief Executive of Mexico's Telmex

7. Rupert Murdoch, chairman of media group News Corp.

8. Michael T. Duke, Chief executive, Wal-Mart Stores

9. Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz

10. Bill Gates, co-chairman, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

UNICEF: Poor nutrition is killing children, stunting growth

CNN -- Hunger is stunting hundreds of millions of children in the developing world, and more than 90 percent of them live in Africa and Asia, UNICEF says.

Poor nutrition is one of the main killers of young children, the U.N. Children's Fund says in the new report "Tracking Progress on Child and Maternal Nutrition."

"The report we have launched draws attention to the fact that 200 million children under the age of 5 in the developing world suffer from chronic undernutrition," said Werner Schultink, UNICEF's associate director of nutrition.

A lack of food can impair physical, mental and social abilities, the report says, adding that proper nutrition is important for mother and child. The 1,000 days from conception until a child's second birthday are the most critical for development, according to UNICEF.

Undernourished children "will perform less well in school, they will be able to do less well as an adult and, even worse, their health situation in adult life may be negatively affected," Schultink said. "They are more likely to suffer from chronic diseases, such as heart disease or diabetes."

UNICEF says nutrition supplement programs have helped deliver vitamin A and iodized salt to vulnerable children in developing countries, boosting childhood mortality.

Mothers also are being urged to breast-feed their children for at least the first six months to provide key antibodies and nutrients.

Reducing and eliminating malnutrition is feasible, according to the report, which calls on the international community to provide urgent help or face the consequences.

"Global commitments on food security, nutrition and sustainable agriculture are part of a wider agenda that will help address the critical issues raised in this report," said Ann Veneman, UNICEF's executive director. "Unless attention is paid to addressing the causes of child and maternal undernutrition today, the costs will be considerably higher tomorrow."

Bing vs. Google: Feature Wars

If you haven't noticed, Bing and Google are engaged in a tit-for-tat over which search engine has the best features.

On Wednesday, Bing unveiled new and improved tools like Wolfram Alpha integration, Facebook Previews and full-page weather reports. Then Google hit back on Thursday with enhanced movie listings and even safer SafeSearch. Before that Bing unveiled an overhauled maps interface, the next day Google announced Street View was now available in all fifty states. Last month during the Web 2.0 Summit, the two search engines sent out competing press releases bragging about Twitter integration, and on and on it goes.

Google may be the dominant search engine, but Bing is doing its best to push its way up the popularity charts.

With so much attention focused on adding new stuff, you've got to wonder what the future has in store for search and whether this feature war is getting out of hand....more