June 27, 2008: It's Mandela & Brown's Day

1. Nelson Mandela's fund-raising concert at Hyde Park in London is taking place later today.
Funds realised will go to his charity 46664 (HIV, Aids Campaign).
It is part of his 90th birthday celebrations culminating on the actual 'big day' on July 20.
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2. Today is Gordon Brown's Anniversary.
One year as the Leader of the Labour Party and as the British PM after taking over from his predecessor Tony Blair exactly one year ago.

Gordon Brown has had a very hard time during his first year in office, especially, because of his indecision on whether to call the General Elections last October. He let the rumours go on for too long, only to announce late that elections were not going to take place! For sure, the 'indecision' did a great deal of harm to his reputation for the first time since he took helm.

On other hand, issues like the closure of over 2,000 Post Offices in the country and the abolition of the 10p tax band (and to introduce one flat band of 20p) did not do him any favours!

However, his last performance in the PMQs on wednesday was fantastic! He warned the leader of the opposition David Cameron, 'You can get by without substance some of the time, but you cannot get by without substance all of the time'. Some political commentators say that David Cameron does not have specific policies.
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3. USA: (source: www.cdc.gov) National HIV Testing Day, June 27, 2008
June 27 is National HIV Testing Day, which focuses on the importance of knowing one's current human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection status.

In 2003, approximately 25% of the estimated 1 million persons in the United States infected with HIV were unaware of their infection.

CDC* encourages learning one's HIV status through HIV testing and has recommended that voluntary HIV testing be offered routinely in health-care settings to all persons aged 13-64 years. Persons at higher risk for HIV should get tested more frequently (e.g., men who have sex with men should get tested at least annually).

To address the disproportionately high rate of HIV infection among blacks, CDC has increased HIV testing opportunities in 23 geographic areas with the largest number of HIV cases, so that more blacks can know their HIV status.

Persons who learn that they are infected with HIV at an earlier stage of infection can survive longer by receiving appropriate care and can prevent transmitting HIV to others. Additional information is available at http://www.hivtest.org

CDC* - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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