Hot Docs: AIDS in America, Criminalizing HIV, Obama's National Security Team

AIDS and HIV in the United States: AIDS is the No. 1 killer of black women between the ages of 25 and 34, says a new report by the Center for American Progress, released to mark World AIDS Day. The nonpartisan center outlines the scope of the crisis in the United States: 53 percent of new HIV infections in 2006 were in gay and bisexual men; black women are 15 times as likely to be infected with HIV as white women; the HIV rate in Washington, D.C., is 1 in 20, the same as in sub-Saharan Africa; and African-Americans make up more than 45 percent of new infections, even though they make up only 12 percent of the U.S. population.

Criminalizing HIV: With the high rates of people infected with HIV, many sub-Saharan African countries have passed criminal laws to try to prevent further spread of the virus. A report from the U.N.'s Integrated Regional Information Networks' PlusNews service discusses the existing and proposed laws and their impact. More than 10 countries in West Africa have passed laws concerning HIV. The model that many of the current laws are designed on was created at a September 2004 workshop in the West African country of Chad. In a few countries in West Africa, pregnant women can face criminal charges if they don't take preventive measures to inhibit transmission of the virus to their child. Some churches in Nigeria have adopted a "no test, no marriage" rule for couples, where the future bride and groom are required to have an HIV test before marrying. Critics fear that laws that "criminalize HIV" won't help decrease spread of the virus but will result in even more discrimination against people infected with the virus, among other things.

Obama National Security Team Announced: Calling this "a new dawn of American leadership," President-elect Barack Obama announced more key administration posts on Monday when he named six people to his national security team. Sen. Hillary Clinton will serve as secretary of state while Robert Gates will continue as secretary of defense. Former Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano will head the Department of Homeland Security, and Susan Rice was named ambassador to the United Nations. The attorney general post will be filled by Eric Holder, and Gen. James Jones will serve as national security adviser. Obama praised the range of experience the appointees have and noted that in today's interconnected world, their task is profound: "From our markets to our security; from our public health to our climate—we must act with the understanding that, now more than ever, we have a stake in what happens across the globe."

Obama Administration Should Reverse Course on Cuba: Obama should adopt of series of measures that could lead to the normalization of U.S. relations with Cuba, a new report argues. Among other things, the report by Jake Colvin, vice president of global affairs for the National Foreign Trade Council, a pro-trade business group, calls on the new administration to remove travel restrictions on Cuban-Americans, remove restrictions on sending financial support to family in Cuba, and rescind the Bush administration's limits on "people-to-people travel and trade." The report notes that "these steps, combined with longer-term approaches aimed at dialogue and reconciliation with the Cuban people, would set the stage for normalization of relations."

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