Vienna - The Roman Catholic charity network Caritas called on pharmaceutical companies Monday to develop affordable drugs specifically for children with HIV/AIDS, many of whom die before their second birthday.

Lesley-Anne Knight, the secretary general of the Rome-based organisation, said in a statement released in Vienna that one third of adult HIV-positive adults, but only 15 per cent of infected children worldwide, had access to anti-retroviral drugs, which can delay the onset of AIDS.

Brussels - World governments must give their citizens better education, more equality between sexes and more access to condoms if the spread of AIDS is to be halted, the European Union said Monday.

"There is an urgent need to accelerate the development and deployment of global prevention measures, including by greater access to masculine and feminine condoms," the 27-member bloc said in a statement to mark World AIDS day.

Governments should also put more effort into educating their populations, both revealing the danger of AIDS and countering the stigma which accompany it, the statement said.

On Monday, the 20th annual World AIDS Day organizations looked at the disease and the progress that has been made in the fight to control if not eradicate it. Shanta Devarajan, Chief Economist for the World Bank's Africa region calling AIDS society's problem rather than only a health problem said, "We need all the resources and all the mechanisms that we have in society to fight AIDS."

London, Dec 1 : The hunt for dreaded Al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders has got a shot in the arm with a top secret British spy plane, which can spot a man on the ground through clouds from seven miles, reportedly hovering over the skies in southern Afghanistan.

According to a report in The Sun, the plane is known as The Sentinel R1, and is a part of the British Royal Air Force (RAF).

The Sentinel is operated by a crew of five, two image interpreters, a mission commander, a pilot and co-pilot, and can fly for nine hours without having to refuel.

Washington, Dec 1: A panel of US experts have ruled out the possibility of Pakistani involvement in the Mumbai attacks that killed 195 people, but said it would be very provocative for India if Pakistan’s involvement is proved.

Peter Bergen, CNN expert on terrorism, said if the Mumbai attacks were found to have linkages with ‘rogue’ elements in the Pakistani military intelligence agency that would ‘change the game’.

He recalled that India had accused Pakistani agencies of being behind the attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul and if similar involvement of such elements were discovered, that would be “very provocative as far as India is concerned.”

Washington, Dec 1: By declaring that it is going to withdraw its troops from the Afghan border, Pakistan is trying to put pressure on Washington to persuade India not to mobilise its Army.

“This is high politics. The Pakistan Army knows the US cares that it remains engaged in the war against terror, so by declaring that it is going to withdraw, it is trying to put pressure on Washington to persuade New Delhi not to mobilise its troops,” said Christine Fair, a US expert on South Asia.

Marvin Weinbaum, a former adviser to the US State Department on South Asia who now works for a Washington think-tank, believed that the situation had not yet reached a point where Pakistan could begin withdrawing its troops from the Afghan border.