Annie Lennox has undergone spinal surgery for a back injury which forced her to return home early from an Aids conference, the singer’s spokesman said today.

AFTER 27 years and the loss of more than 25 million lives, the global Aids pandemic has at last stabilised, but more funds and a breakthrough in disease prevention are needed to sustain this progress and roll back the threat, UNAIDS said yesterday.

Danielle Lloyd and Shilpa Shetty put the Celebrity Big Brother race row behind them when they turned out for the world premiere of the Bollywood star’s new film.

Legal experts in India today ridiculed a court’s obscenity charges against actor Richard Gere and Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty for kissing in public.

Celebrity Big Brother winner Shilpa Shetty today defended actor Richard Gere for kissing her repeatedly at an Aids awareness event.

Scissor Sisters plan to dress their fans in feather boas and jaunty hats when they perform an Aids benefit concert in London's Trafalgar Square next month.

South Africa came under withering attacks at the closing of the week-long global Aids conference yesterday, with some of the world’s leading Aids experts accusing the government of ignoring the epidemic and promoting “lunatic” prevention methods.

The big buzz at the world’s largest Aids conference is that microbicides to help women protect themselves from HIV might be available in several years. Yet Aids experts warned yesterday the world is woefully unprepared to ensure widespread access to such treatments.

More than two million children under the age of 15 are living with HIV, almost all in sub-Saharan Africa where there is no access to treatment and death is virtually guaranteed, seven leading child advocacy organisations said in a report yesterday.

Crusading rocker Bono put his six-nation Aids campaign in jeopardy when he was halted at the airport in Lesotho, South Africa because of his bulging passport.

The United States today rejected outright a call by the UN chief at the International AIDS Conference for an €824.2m contribution in 2005 to the global fund that has become the centrepiece of United Nations efforts against the disease.

The US, facing accusations of being tightfisted and of bullying developing countries in the fight against Aids, is defending its policies by citing a $15bn (€12.1bn) presidential initiative over five years to help millions of HIV sufferers worldwide.

France today accused the US of bullying poor countries into ceding rights to make cheap generic AIDS drugs.

France accused the United States of “blackmail” tactics to pressure poor countries into giving up rights to make cheap HIV drugs, as the Aids Conference issued a stirring call to get more medicine to millions of needy in the developing world.

Minister of State Tom Kitt announced today that Ireland is to host a major international conference on Aids in February.

Beyonce Knowles, Bono, Peter Gabriel and musicians from around the world took to the stage tonight for a star-studded Aids benefit concert hosted by South Africa’s former president, Nelson Mandela.

A fundraising concert will take place in South Africa later today featuring Bono and Beyonce, to mark of AIDS awareness day on Monday.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George Bush pledged today that they would not be deflected from the task of bring “freedom, security and peace” to Iraq following the Istanbul bomb attacks.

NEARLY a billion dollars was spent fighting Africa’s AIDS war in 2002, almost twice as much as two years earlier, according to the agency UNAIDS.

Rock singer Bono was tonight praised by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern for his campaign in the fight against HIV and Aids.

Bill Clinton has urged for greater efforts to treat victims of the Aids today as ceremonies take place globally to note World Aids Day.

ACTIVISTS trashed the European Commission's exhibition stand at the world AIDS conference in Barcelona, Spain, yesterday demanding the European Union contribute more to a global fund against AIDS.

The United Nations Security Council today nominated Secretary-General Kofi Annan by acclamation for a second term at the helm of the world body, paving the way for his election by the 189-member General Assembly.

Cheers went up in the corridors of United Nations headquarters after a majority of countries voted to retain Aids conference credentials for the San Franscisco-based International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission.

Nkosi Johnson, a boy born with HIV who became an outspoken champion of others infected with the Aids virus, died today of the disease he battled for all 12 of his years.