US bids to tackle global AIDS crisis with $15bn plan

THE US has announced a $15 billion plan to tackle the global crisis of AIDS and has called on the rest of the world to follow its lead.

The US Senate granted President George W Bush the massive funds he sought to take on the disease yesterday.

Senate majority leader Bill Frist, a doctor, hailed passage of the five-year plan as "the first major step in reversing this greatest of humanitarian challenges of the 21st century".