Scotsman.com News - Sci-Tech - Source of AIDS virus definitely African chimps, say scientists: "Writing in today's edition of the journal Science, researchers said that up to 35 per cent of chimps in some communities had been infected with SIV, but in others there was no sign of the disease at all.
Despite the close genetic similarity between chimps and humans, SIV does not cause an AIDS-like illness. It is hoped further study will reveal why - and whether this might help to treat people with HIV.
It is thought HIV-1 originated about 75 years ago. However, the first human known to be infected with the virus was a man from Kinshasa, who had his blood stored in 1959 as part of a medical study, decades before scientists knew HIV even existed. "

Blog Idol? Blidol?: "The moment (some of) you have been waiting for: the competition to find the next big blogger on Comment is free."

Open Source ? Blog Archive ? Harnessing Remittances: "Migrant workers will remit more than $232 billion to their families this year. The money migrant workers earn ? harvesting produce in California, cleaning houses in Singapore, and tending children in Kuwait? is meager by the standards of the developed world, but it means everything for their families back home. $232 billion is twice what the world paid out in international aid last year; in Latin America it was more than aid and foreign direct investment combined. This is big business, and economists are just starting to take notice."

Kenya Official: Africans pay $1,800 for 1GB of Internet data | NextBillion.net - Development Through Enterprise: "Internet users in America pay $20 for one gigabyte of data per month, but people in Africa pay about $1,800 for the same amount of data, Minister for Information and Communication Mutahi Kagwe said in a speech read on his behalf by Permanent Secretary Bitange Ndemo."

Delamere Aristocrat accused in new Kenya slaying : AFP: "A British aristocrat who escaped murder charges in Kenya after killing a game warden on his family's ranch last year shot another man to death on the premises on Wednesday, police said" [Yes, Cholmondeley again.]

US Infant Survival Rates Lower Than Most Developed Nations': "The USA has an infant mortality rate of 5 per 1,000, the same as Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Malta. Of 33 developed countries, America is just above Latvia, the bottom of the group." via http://africa.ideas4all.net/

The Brenthurst Foundation | Africa Beyond Aid: "Instead of focusing on increasing aid as a key development strategy - the conventional wisdom - this programme will examine both what it would take to end aid to Africa and what an Africa beyond aid would look like in policy terms. Fundamentally, in the light of the July 2005 G8 commitment to double aid to Africa to US$50 billion by 2010, how can aid be better used, with an eventual focus on decreasing aid for at least some countries?"

allAfrica.com: Kenya: Firm Launches Mobile Internet Service: "Kenya has experienced an increase of 500,000 internet users in the last one year, bringing the total to 1.5 million." [Where does this number come from?]

Jobs: Great Lakes Programme Manager(v): Jobs: "International Alert is looking for a committed and experienced Manager to provide strategic leadership to our conflict transformation programme in the Great Lakes region of Africa. This programme, which has a strong gender component, facilitates dialogue and trust-building between parties in conflict, conducts research and advocacy on conflict related issues and works with the international community in its attempts to assist countries either in or coming out of conflict."

Africa too risky for Kroll: "The decision by US-based risk consultants Kroll to shut down their Africa practice on 3 April appears to have been taken, oddly enough, because the US$1.9 billion company judged Africa to be just too risky. More precisely, it was probably insurers Marsh & McLennan Companies (MMC), which has owned Kroll since July 2004 and generates revenues of about $12 bn. a year, which made the final call as its new managers restructured the company."

Job: Amnesty International East Africa Researcher based in Uganda

HIV and Lemon Juice: "Potentially contradictory findings on whether lemon and lime juice could safely protect women from HIV infection if they apply it to their vaginas will be presented at an international conference later this month. "

TechWeb | Domain Names | .EU registry defends itself: "An American company's charge that cheating went on during the rush for new .eu domains is flat out wrong, the European registry responsible for handing out the names countered Tuesday.
'We certainly don't agree with him,' said Patrik Lind?n, spokesman for EURid, the Belgium-based non-profit chosen by the European Commission to operate the new .eu top level domain. "

allAfrica.com: Uganda: Regulator Seeks Control of Uganda's Domain Name: "If you want to register a domain name with a Ugandan country code, .ug, the man to speak to is Charles Musisi, an Internet entrepreneur who has managed the country's domain names over the past decade." [Meanwhile, another domain name controversy closer to home...]

Soul Beat Africa: Communication for Change - Awards - Kurt Schork Awards in International Journalism: "The Kurt Schork Awards in International Journalism recognises independent and professional reporting that sheds new light on controversial issues. Established in 2002, two US $5,000 prizes are awarded each year, one to a local reporter in a developing country or nation in transition, and the other to a freelance journalist covering international news. "