Bush legislates for $15bn to be spent on AIDS

President Bush signed into law a $15bn (£9.2bn; €12.8bn) programme to help fight AIDS in poor countries in Africa and the Caribbean. He called the scheme “a great mission of rescue.”

The programme, announced in the president's state of the union address in January, is designed to triple investment by the United States in international AIDS help during the next five years.

Although the law envisages subsidies worth $3bn a year through to 2008, it is uncertain how much will actually be spent. The congressional appropriations process for next year is in the early stages, and members of both parties have cautioned that it could be difficult to fit that sum within the limits on foreign aid that Congress has approved.

Mr Bush has also been criticised for not channelling all the …