CAPE TOWN - A South African court has issued an order banning unauthorised clinical trials of vitamin therapies for AIDS. The Cape High Court ruled against German physician Matthias Rath and U.S. doctor David Rasnick, a former member of Mbeki's AIDS advisory council, in response to a case brought by the lobby group Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and the South African Medical Association (SAMA), accusing Rath of conducting illegal clinical trials among poor blacks and profiteering by selling and distributing unregistered vitamin treatments among poor communities. Cape High Court Judge Dumisani Zondi declared the clinical trials as unlawful.

JOHANNESBURG - Former ANC MP Andrew Feinstein has called for an "independent, unfettered" investigation into the controversial arms deal. Feinstein, a former African National Congress study group leader in the Standing Committee on Public Accounts resigned in August 2001, citing disappointment over the government and his party's handling of the arms deal. Feinstein says that by having a new investigation, the country could move forward and then focus on "real issues" like HIV/Aids and violent crimes.

AFRICA & THE WORLD

ABUJA- Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua has announced that he will declare a national state of emergency next month over his country's decrepit power infrastructure. Despite being the world's eighth-biggest oil producer, the power crisis has become so severe that much of the country has been without mains electricity for weeks, plunging neighbourhoods without private generators into darkness every night and heightening frustration among its 140 million people. Nigeria has a generation capacity of about 3,000 megawatts.

MAPUTO - Mozambique has approved the construction of a $23 million pharmaceutical plant that will manufacture drugs to treat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases. Mozambique plans to raise funding for the plant from international donors. Brazil, a leading pharmaceutical manufacturer, will monitor quality and transfer technology to the plant, which will produce a range of drugs, including generic antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) to fight HIV/AIDS.

LUSAKA - The African Development Bank (AfDB) reports that it will spend $1 billion to help African nations boost food production and agricultural research in response to rising global food prices. AfDB says it will focus on accelerating food output by facilitating the purchase of fertilizers and farming inputs and developing infrastructure to help counter a food crisis. The bank has yet to make plans on disbursing the money, and gave no timeline for the financing.

KIGALI - Rwanda has for the first time arrested senior army officers accused of war crimes while battling to end the 1994 genocide orchestrated by the country's previous government. In a reversal of more than a decade of reluctance to point the finger at top soldiers, Rwanda says it will send the four officers before a military court for the killing of 13 clergymen. The arrests follow investigations by the Rwandan government and officials from the Tanzania-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), a U.N. court.

TEHRAN - World powers have promised Iran economic benefits if it halts sensitive nuclear work, but there is little sign of any breakthrough soon, in a dispute that has helped send oil prices to record highs. European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana has travelled to Tehran to hand over the incentives offer, a revised version of a package rejected by Tehran two years ago. The United States and the 27-nation EU have warned of more sanctions if Tehran does not stop uranium enrichment.

BONN - Industrialised nations are failing to take the lead at UN climate talks in Bonn even as developing states are showing interest in a new global warming treaty. The climate talks are part of a marathon meant to end with a new world climate treaty by the end of 2009. While there is a huge willingness on the part of developing countries to engage in working out a new pact in return for aid and technology, developing nations, outside Kyoto and along with the United States view the pact as flawed and too costly.