| Aids leaves Africa's grannies to raise children
Skinny and gap-toothed, her nose smudged with black dust, grandmother Kanotu Mumo sorts charcoal into small pots for sale on the stoop of her slum hut. Mumo is an "Aids granny" in Kibera, Nairobi, one of Africa's biggest slums. Like grandmothers all over Africa, they have been left to fend for orphans after their own children and husbands died. Her hut, stacked with sacks of charcoal, measures 3m by 2,5m and it is too dark inside to see more than a few centimetres, even in the middle of the day. Somehow she shelters four grandchildren, two great grandchildren and the child of a dead relative, who sleep on mattresses and two beds. There is no toilet or running water. According to United Nations figures, at least 12-million children in Africa have lost one or both parents because of Aids. This accounts for 80% of all Aids orphans in the developing world.
Campus Vibe Blog
Twenty-one Texas A&M students who made a 1,500-mile round trip to Florida in order to campaign for John Kerry are feeling disappointed. "We feel pretty bad right now," said junior Brent Lowry. The 21 members of A&M's Aggie Democrats made their trip on Friday, while missing over three days of school to try and convince people to vote for Kerry said senior Nick Anthis. "We're crossing our fingers for Ohio," Lowry said. The group heads back to College Station, Texas, tomorrow and says their efforts will not have been in vain. "We're still glad we did it," Lowry said. "At least we can say we did all we could." Four hours ago Posted: 1:14 a.m. ET
From Gina Goodhill, University of Southern California, Los Angeles About 140 students gathered in Annenberg Auditorium amidst free pizza, cake and popcorn to watch the returns come in.
Porn filter fails, say net experts
THE "clean feed" filtering system Communications Minister Stephen Conroy hopes will halt internet porn has already been defeated by British researchers. Richard Clayton, of the University of Cambridge's Computer Laboratory, said the innovative blocking system CleanFeed, devised by British internet service provider BT, could be circumvented in a number of ways. "At first sight, it's an effective and precise method of blocking unacceptable content," Mr Clayton said. "But there are a number of issues to address as soon as one assumes that content providers or consumers might make serious attempts to get around it." The report is more bad news for those hoping to block violence and pornography from their internet. Although filter salesmen talk up their wares, the reality has never quite matched the industry hype.
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