US to stop funding HIV programmes in S Africa

WASHINGTON, June 20 (BBC): The US government says it will stop funding programmes in South Africa intended to tackle the spread of HIV and Aids.

More than eight million South Africans are living with HIV - the highest number of any country in the world.

The US State Department appeared to link the decision to South Africa's alleged failure to protect the white-minority Afrikaner community - an allegation the South African government has repeatedly rejected.

South Africa's health ministry responded by saying that though it had not been informed of this decision, it had "long been working on a self-reliance plan".