BIOTECH Avexa is hoping to raise up to $60 million to take its HIV-Aids drug Apricitabine to commercial production.

Avexa went into a trading halt on Friday pending yesterday's announcement of the outcome of phase IIb trials of the drug in patients in Australia, the United States and Argentina.

A gay rights pressure group has condemned Nigeria's anti-gay marriage bill, warning that its passing would cause significant problems for other countries.

Outsports.com columnist Randy Boyd's "list of gay ballers in the NBA" generated quite a stir when the column first appeared in 2001. It got attention again this past February when John Amaechi, one of the players on that list, went public about his homosexual orientation. Also on the list was Tim Hardaway, the former player who caused a stir of his own by saying "I hate gays." What does Boyd, author of the epic sports novel Walt Loves the Bearcat, know about gays in sports that the rest of us don't? The five-time Lambda Literary Award nominee opened up about basketball, his writings, and his famous list.

Minister of State for Defence, Dr. Roland Oritsejafor, recently described the HIV & AIDS epidemic as  a threat to National security.   Oritsejafor who spoke in  Lagos while flagging off the Military Anti-retroviral Therapy at the 445 Nigerian Air Force Hospital, Ikeja, said  every facet of national life has been affected by the epidemic.

Trinidad and Tobago's HIV specialist, Professor Courtney Bartholemew, says doctors are refusing to train in the field and this is resulting in a shortage in the region.

Professor Bartholemew said the chronic shortage of HIV/AIDS specialists in the Caribbean region was down to the fact that doctors were seeking personal financial rewards ahead of treating patients.

Saturday, March 24th, is World Tuberculosis Day and the 125th anniversary of the discovery of the bacterium that causes the lung disease. But many experts say humankind has not advanced much in combating the disease since that discovery, using containment tools that are centuries old. The most commonly used TB drug appeared more than 30 years ago, yet the emergence of hard-to-treat, drug resistant forms is outdating the medicines.

Mania in bipolar illness may be tied to a mutation in a "body clock" gene, a new study shows.

Bipolar disorder, formerly called manic depression, is marked by two starkly different phases -- the manic phase and the depressive phase.

Symptoms of the manic phase may include unusually high energy, less need for sleep, excessive talk, racing thoughts, euphoria, irritability, inflated self-esteem, hallucinations, and delusions.

An HIV-positive Melbourne man who allegedly infected two other men has failed in a bid to have his identity suppressed in his preliminary court hearing.

Michael John Neal, 48, of Coburg, faces 122 charges relating to sex with 16 men when he was knowingly infected with the HIV virus.

African-American and Hispanic families who have relatives with Alzheimer's are more likely to dismiss symptoms as part of the aging process, decreasing chances for an early diagnosis, according to a new survey.

The survey, released last week, found that nearly 70 percent of blacks and Hispanics who responded in a telephone poll believed their loved one was exhibiting signs of old age, compared with about 50 percent of non-Hispanic whites.

Florida legislators may be presented with a proposed $1.5 million pilot program designed to determine the viability of mandatory HIV testing for all county jail inmates statewide.

House Bill 401 would require the state's Department of Health to test inmates in seven county jails for HIV before they are released.

The purpose of this summit is to review and assess the impact of the national HIV/AIDS response and build consensus on effective programming in Nigeria.

Subprime loans have been the gateway to the American dream of homeownership for many, especially African-Americans. However, these loans are in close relation to high trends in foreclosures and is having a significant effect on Black borrowers, say fair-housing experts.

The African American Connection (AAC), developed by Charles Bowlds is a comprehensive, multifunctional online marketing institution that can improve the economic status of African Americans by simultaneously connecting the African American entrepreneur with potentially millions of African American consumers throughout the United States, all within a single hub.

The recent resignation of the NAACP's president, Bruce Gordon, is the product of political imperatives stemming from the Democratic takeover of Congress last year, but his departure also has roots in a century-old quarrel about the strategy of the civil rights struggle.

Much has been written and said about whether America is ready for a Black President or not. The topic has generated multiple, diverse and sometimes strong sentiments from different sides of the political and racial spectrum. Perhaps an equally relevant question to ask is: Is the world ready for Obama? There is no argument about America's status and by effect its president on global politics. Some may deny the existence of an American hegemony even in the post cold war era and like the reputed political scientist Samuel Huntington argue that what exists is rather a "uni-multipolar system with one superpower and several major powers." However the influence of whoever occupies the White House in international politics as chief executive of the American people is unquestioned.

Olney Theatre Center will be staging an updated version of Eubie!, the musical revue highlighting Baltimore native James Hubert “Eubie” Blake’s musical legacy. “Blake’s music celebrates the African American community’s contribution to changing what American music was,” says Director/Choreographer and Broadway veteran Tony Parise.

To witness one of the most powerful theatrical productions in the entire city, walk a few blocks west of Times Square on 42nd Street to the Signature Theatre Company and pay $15 for a ticket to “King Hedley II”, the final installment of the Signature’s 2006/2007 tributes to the late playwright August Wilson. Earlier this season the Signature scored impressively with their staging of Wilson’s “Seven Guitars” and “Two Trains Running”. The company had long planned a Wilson season, but when the Pulitzer Prize winning playwright died on October 2, 2005 that season took on greater significance

Curtain Call! - Continuing its exploration of classic plays by African American playwrights. Court Theatre raises the curtain this Saturday, 8 p.m., on Pearl Cleage's "Flyin' West," her moving story of African American pioneers on the Kansas prairie.

Ron OJ Parson, resident artist, lauded for Court's critically acclaimed, Jeff Award winning production of August Wilson's "Fences," directs Cleage's play which looks at a little known chapter in American history, offering new insight into "How the West Was Won."

Two shows by the stellar Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater on Tuesday and Wednesday signal the return of a world-class favorite that rallied Jackson fans to a revival-like fervor.

The pioneering New York-based modern dance company last performed here in 2000, its first Mississippi show.

"An awesome presentation, and the crowd appeared to be in as much awe as I was," recalled Cathy Patterson, director of special events at Jackson State University. "We took our grandson with us, he couldn't have been 5 or 6, and he was speechless ... just on the edge of his seat."