Obama targets African HIV with $300M
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama's administration announced a $300 million program to drastically reduce HIV infections in girls and young women in 10 sub-Saharan African nations hit hard 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.
"No greater action is needed right now than empowering adolescent girls and young women to defeat HIV/AIDS," National Security Adviser Susan Rice said.
The new targets mark the next phase for the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. The program, started by President George W. Bush and expanded by Obama, is credited with saving millions of lives in Africa.
Officials said HIV prevention in young women is a crucial step toward stopping the spread of the virus. According to the administration, 380,000 adolescent girls and young women are infected with HIV each year -- more than 1,000 every day.
The 10 countries that will be targets of the new initiatives accounted for nearly half of all new HIV infections among girls and young women last year. The countries are Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Bill Clinton blames GOP for email furor
NEW YORK -- Former President Bill Clinton blamed Republicans who hope to undercut his wife's presidential chances and a voracious political news media uninterested in substance for the furor surrounding Hillary Rodham Clinton's use of a private email account and server while she was secretary of state.
"I have never seen so much expended on so little," Bill Clinton said in a taped interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria that will air today. The network released excerpts Saturday afternoon.
"She said she was sorry that her personal email caused all this confusion. And she'd like to give the election back to the American people," Clinton said. "I think it will be all right. But it's obvious what happened."
Clinton likened the inquiries into his wife's emails to scandals as far back as the Whitewater land deal that plagued his 1992 campaign and the early years of his administration.
"This is just something that has been a regular feature of all of our presidential campaigns," Clinton said.
"It always happens," he said. "We're seeing history repeat itself."
Merkel quizzes Facebook CEO on bias
NEW YORK -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel confronted Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's chief executive officer, on how his company is progressing in efforts to curtail racially biased posts, after her government complained the social network wasn't doing enough to crack down on recent xenophobic outbursts.
Attending a luncheon on the sidelines of a United Nations development summit in New York on Saturday, Merkel and Zuckerberg were overheard on a live transmission broadcast on the U.N. website as participants took their seats.
After Merkel briefly questioned Zuckerberg about the hate-post matter, the Facebook CEO is heard responding that "we need to do some work" on the issue.
"Are you working on this?" Merkel asked in English. "Yeah," Zuckerberg responded, before the dialogue was cut off by introductory remarks to those present.
Facebook said this month that it would step up efforts to target racist content on its German website. The company said Sept. 14 that it would join forces with a German Internet watchdog, a nonprofit group called Voluntary Self-Monitoring of Multimedia Service Providers, to monitor suspected hate postings.
Texas judge blocks $350M Medicaid cut
AUSTIN, Texas -- A Texas judge formally halted steep Medicaid cuts after ruling that thousands of poor and disabled children would likely lose critical access to therapists.
State District Judge Tim Sulak on Friday issued a temporary injunction that blocks the state from cutting $350 million in Medicaid funding starting next week. State health officials are expected to appeal.
The cuts passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature have drawn increasing bipartisan concern as doctors and families have called attention to the looming impact. Opponents said roughly 60,000 children across Texas would lose access to speech and occupational therapists.
Sulak called the figures the state used to justify the cuts "seriously flawed" and the proposed new rates arbitrary.
A spokesman for the Health and Human Services Commission did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
-- COMPILED BY DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE STAFF FROM WIRE REPORTS
A Section on 09/27/2015