World Watch

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MOZAMBIQUE While George W. Bush promoted a $15 billion U.S. program to fight AIDS in Africa, scientists prepared to take a major step toward one of medicine's Holy Grails: a malaria vaccine. This week, at a clinic in the town of Saude Manhiça, north of the capital, Maputo, experts from an international public-private partnership will kick off a large-scale clinical trial — involving 2,000 children, ages 1 to 4 — to test a GlaxoSmithKline drug called RTS,S/ASO2A. It is the most advanced of the 80 malaria-vaccine candidates now in development, of which 16 are in clinical trials. In earlier tests, GSK's drug was found safe and able to generate an immune response in both adults and children. But malaria, which claims the life of at least one sub-Saharan African child every minute, is notoriously quick to develop drug-resistant strains. The disease is caused by a parasite, rather than a virus or bacterium — and no vaccine has ever been developed for a human disease caused by a parasite. Still, genome sequencing and other advances are fueling hopes that malaria can be sharply reduced.

MEANWHILE IN IRAQ ... Ready for Anything Danish troops were surprised to receive a supply shipment containing snow shovels, salt to de-ice roads, and lawn mowers. The nearly 400 soldiers are stationed near the southern desert town of Qurna, where temperatures have reached 50ºC. A military spokesman said the equipment was part of a standard prepacked shipment.

"If the results are positive, we hope to move toward treating very young children, under the age of 1," says Dr. Pedro Alonso, head of the Hospital Clinic of the University of Barcelona and director of Saude Manhiça's research clinic. Early results should be available in 18 months. — By Maryann Bird

CORSICA In a surprise result, Corsicans narrowly rejected a Paris-sponsored referendum proposing administrative reform and greater autonomy for the island. Only 16 days before the referendum, opinion polls had the yes camp ahead by 6%. "Corsicans realized this was a doctrine of decentralization being applied to Corsica, not a studied plan to address our problems," said François Tatti, deputy mayor of Bastia, where the no vote surpassed 70%.

TURKEY Already strained relations with the U.S. took a sharp turn for the worse when American soldiers in Iraq arrested 11 Turkish troops stationed in the northern Iraqi town of Suleimaniyah, and accused them of plotting to murder a local Kurdish official. Though the soldiers were released after two days, Ankara angrily denounced the arrests. Chief of Staff General Hilmi Ozkok declared the arrests "the biggest crisis of confidence between Turkish and American armed forces to date." The Istanbul stock market and the lire slid over fears that the Pentagon was punishing Ankara for failing to back its war on Iraq.

SUDAN A toddler was the sole survivor when a Sudan Airways Boeing 737 crashed 10 minutes after takeoff, killing all of the remaining 115 passengers and crew. The pilot had reported technical difficulties and was attempting to return to Port Sudan airport when the plane went down.

LAOS Belgian photojournalist Thierry Falise and French cameraman Vincent Reynaud were released a week after receiving 15-year prison sentences on charges of weapons possession and obstruction of justice, following a two-day trial criticized by international press groups and human-rights organizations as a sham. The two journalists were arrested on June 4 in the country's northeast, where they were reporting on an insurgency by ethnic Hmong guerrillas. A Hmong-American interpreter was also freed, but two Laotian guides remained in prison.

JAPAN A 12-year-old boy admitted murdering 4-year-old Shun Tanemoto by pushing him off the roof of an eight-story parking garage, leading shocked Japanese to question their laws on juvenile crime. Because the killer is below the age of 14, he cannot be held criminally responsible.

BANGLADESH The government announced two inquiries into the sinking of an overcrowded ferry that killed more than 500 people, as criticism mounted of its failure to enforce safety measures. Only 220 people survived out of an estimated 750 passengers on the triple-decker MV Nasreen, which sank in the River Meghna near the southeastern town of Chandpur; the vessel was licensed to carry only 350 people.