Rejects request for $1 billion a year to fight virus
The United States rejected on Wednesday U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's plea to inject $1 billion a year into a global AIDS fund. "It's not going to happen," U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator Randall Tobias told a small group of reporters at the 15th International AIDS Conference in Bangkok. "The President has requested $200 million for next year and I think that is more than adequate to meet the requirements of the Global Fund in terms of getting money out for putting programmes in place," he said. [more] Pictured above: Randall Tobias, the United States' Global AIDS Coordinator, watches from his seat after his speech was interrupted by delegates protesting at the International AIDS Conference in Bangkok July 14, 2004. Chanting 'Bush lies, millions die,' the protestors eventually responded to appeals from organizers to let Tobias speak. [more]