Russian Election Days

Vladimir Putin was not running for office, but parliamentary elections held yesterday in Russia were widely seen as a test of his popularity amid his likely return to the presidency. Election observers and opposition parties pointed to rampant irregularities in the vote, which saw support for his United Russia party plummet. Results in the heavily disputed poll show United Russia still in control, albeit with a much slimmer mandate. Gathered here are images of protests, rallies, and the vote as Russians took to the ballot all over the country with charges of fraud and malfeasance clouding the vote. --

Elizaveta Semenova is helped by her daughter to fill in a ballot at her home in the village of Oster, Russia on December 4, 2011. Russians cast their ballots with muted enthusiasm in national parliamentary elections, a vote that polls indicate could water down the strength of the party led by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, despite the government's relentless alization of opposition groups. (Sergei Grits/AP)

A police officer and electoral commission staff empty a ballot box after voting closed at a polling station in the village of Ust-Mana, Russia on December 4, 2011. (Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)

A woman reads a ballot during the parliamentary election in the western Russian village of Klukino on December 4, 2011. (Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)

A Russian police officer detains an opposition activist during a protest against vote rigging in St. Petersburg on December 4, 2011. (Dmitry Lovetsky/AP)

Protesters demonstrate after voting closed in Russia's parliamentary election in central Moscow on December 4, 2011. The banner reads "We were cheated". (Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters)

People who were unable to reach the nearest polling station cast their ballots in a box brought by an election official in the village of Arzinka, Russia on December 4, 2011. (Pavel Golovkin/AP)

Activists of the Nashi movement, a Kremlin-backed youth organization, wave their banners and applaud during a concert in Moscow on December 4, 2011. (Sergey Ponomarev/AP)

Journalists and observers work beneath a screen showing the first results from voting in Russia's parliamentary election at the Central Electoral Commission in Moscow on December 4, 2011. (Sergei Karpukhin/Reuters)

Activists of the pro-Kremlin youth group "Nashi" gather to celebrate the victory of the United Russia political party in the parliamentary elections in central Moscow on December 5, 2011. (Anton Golubev/Reuters)

Activists of the pro-Kremlin youth groups "Moldaya Gvardiya" and "Nashi" attend a rally as they celebrate the victory of United Russia party in the parliamentary elections in central Moscow on December 5, 2011. (Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP/Getty Images)

Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin prepares his ballot to vote for parliamentary elections at a polling station in Moscow on December 4, 2011. (Alexei Nikolsky/AFP/Getty Images)

An elderly Russian couple fill in a ballot in Moscow on December 4, 2011. (Sergey Ponomarev/AP)

Russian police officers block Red Square, with St. Basil's Cathedral in the background, to prevent pro-democracy protesters from entering in Moscow on December 4, 2011. (Ivan Sekretarev/AP)

People queue to vote in parliamentary elections at the Russian consulate in Tskhinvali, South Ossetia on December 4, 2011. (Eduard Korniyenko/Reuters)

A member of the "Polar Bear" sports club casts her ballot at a polling station during the parliamentary election in Barnaul, the capital of Altai region on December 4, 2011. (Andrei Kasprishin/Reuters)

Russian navy sailors queue to cast their ballots at a polling station at the Russian Fleet base in Sevastopol, Ukraine on December 4, 2011. (Andrew Lubimov/AP)

An election commission official uses a pocket light to help a voter to fill out their ballot at his home in the village of Oster, Russia on December 4, 2011. (Sergei Grits/AP)

Russian soldiers have a rest after casting ballots at a polling station in the town of Torzhok, Russia on December 4, 2011. (Andrei Gordeyev/AP)

Police detain an activist during a protest rally by opposition group "Another Russia" in central Moscow on December 4, 2011. (Mikhail Voskresensky/Reuters)

Electoral officials prepare ballots at a polling station in the western Russian city of Pochinok on December 2, 2011. (Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)

A transport police officer checks a polling station put up to enable passengers using trains to vote at the central railway station in Russia's Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk on December 3, 2011. (Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)

People vote at a polling station in Moscow on December 4, 2011. (Anton Golubev/Reuters)

A man leaves a voting booth in the settlement of Voronovo, Russia on December 4, 2011. (Denis Sinyakov/Reuters)

A serviceman holds his child casting a ballot at a polling station in Russia's military base number 201 in Dushanbe on December 4, 2011. (Nozim Kalandarov/Reuters)

A Russian citizen holds his child as he votes inside a local drama theater in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on December 4, 2011. (Vyacheslav OseledkoAFP/Getty Images)

Russian soldiers stand in line at a polling station in Moscow on December 4, 2011. (Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr./AP)

The head of Russia's leading independent election watchdog Golos (The Vote), Liliya Shibanova, speaks to journalists in Moscow on December 4, 2011. Golos, which claimed rampant violations in the campaign, said its "Map of Violations" website documenting reports of campaign fraud was the target of a distributed denial of service attack. (Alexey Sazonov/AFP/Getty Images)

The "Russian Soul" amateur folk ensemble performs at a polling station during the parliamentary election in the village of Verkhniaya Biryusa in the Taiga area, south of the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk on December 4, 2011. (Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)

Electoral officials visit villagers in the western Russian village of Gryaz on December 4, 2011. (Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters)

People vote in their home in the village of Oster, 237 miles west of Moscow on December 4, 2011. (Sergei Grits/AP)

A Moscow shop assistant works on December 2, 2011 amidst TV screens during the broadcast of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's address to nation on the upcoming Parliamentary election. (Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP/Getty Images)

Russian Communist Party and Liberal Democratic Party of Russia supporters hold a joint rally to appeal to people to vote for their political parties in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don on December 2, 2011. (Vladimir Konstantinov/Reuters)

Bonn meet opens with focus on rebuilding Afghan

BONN, Germany - Delegates from over 100 countries and international organizations gathered in Germany's Bonn city Monday, attending an international conference on Afghanistan to draw up a roadmap for the war-torn nation's future.

An overview shows the conference on Afghanistan at the former German parliament in Bonn, December 5, 2011. The West wants to use the Afghanistan meeting on Monday to signal enduring support for Kabul as allied troops head home, but economic turmoil in Europe and crises with Pakistan and Iran could prompt doubts about Western resolve.

Afghan Foreign Minister Salmai Rassul, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle (L-R) pose for a picture at the International Afghanistan Conference in Bonn December 5, 2011.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is flanked by Afghan Foreign Minister Salmai Rassul (L) and German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle at the International Afghanistan Conference in Bonn December 5, 2011. Ten years after the first International Afghanistan Conference in the former German capital, Germany hosts a summit to set Afghanistan on a path of long-term stability, international financial and military support after combat troops withdraw. Foreign ministers from over 90 countries discuss and provide advice on the future of the country. 

German Chancellor Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle (R) looks on as German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Afghan President Hamid Karzai use their fingers to count during the family photo opportunity at the International Afghanistan Conference in Bonn December 5, 2011.

Ten years ago, a similar major Afghan conference was held in the same city, which reshaped the Afghan political framework after the western military forces toppled Taliban regime and Hamid Karzai became the transitional leader of the country and then win the election of president.
Ten years later, the world's focus returned to Afghanistan, a central Asian country that experienced year-lasting wars and terror attacks, while obtaining billions of dollars of international contributions but earning fragile achievement in public security, social welfare and national reconciliation.
The 2011 Bonn conference, hosted by Germany and chaired by Karzai, is aimed at "mobilizing the international community in support of Afghanistan, and that beyond 2014", when international combat troops are due to leave Afghanistan, German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle said before the meeting.
Themed by "From Transition to Transformation", the conference is hoped to make progress in two aspects - to renew international community's commitment to maintaining long-term stability and development of Afghanistan after the troop withdrawal, and to promote the political process of reconciliation between the Afghan government and the insurgents.
"Internally Afghanistan needs a process of political reconciliation, while externally, it needs to be embedded in a good partnership with its neighbors," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in an interview on Friday.
The chancellor also said Taliban, which did not send a representative to the Bonn meeting, could make a contribution to the peace process, if they cut all links to al Qaeda and renounce violence.
Merkel, Karzai and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon are set to deliver a speech at the opening session, with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and other some 60 foreign ministers as audience.
On Sunday, Karzai called on the world to keep its firework on stabilizing and flourishing his country for at least another decade after withdrawing the troops.
In an interview with German magazine Der Spiegel, the Afghan president said: "Afghanistan will certainly need help for another 10 years -- until around 2024."
"We will need training for our own troops. We will need equipment for the army and police and help to set up state institutions," he said. "If we lose this fight (with Taliban), we are threatened with a return to a situation like that before September 11, 2001."
Despite a large-scale attendance, the conference was overshadowed by a key regional player, maybe one of the most important, deciding to stay away from the meeting -- Pakistan has confirmed that it would boycott the meeting, outraged by a cross-border NATO bombing on the country's posts that left 24 Pakistani soldiers dead two weeks earlier.
As Islamabad plays a key role in mediation between the Afghan government and the Taliban, observers said the boycott has severely dampened expectations from the conference and cast doubt over how the domestic reconciliation of Afghanistan could really be achieved in such an unfavorable and unpredictable atmosphere.
"The Bonn conference is turning into a farce," the Financial Times Deutschland said in a recent editorial. "If Pakistan's cancellation is maintained, then the conference will be virtually pointless on many issues."

Angry Pakistan to boycott Afghanistan talks

Supporters of the Islamic organization Jamaat-ud-Dawa burn a U.S flag during a demonstration against NATO cross-border attack in Lahore November 29, 2011.

KABUL/LAHORE - Pakistan pulled out of an international conference on Afghanistan on Tuesday, its latest angry riposte after an attack by NATO killed 24 of its soldiers and plunged the region deeper into crisis.Islamabad's decision to boycott next week's meeting in Bonn, Germany, will deprive the talks of a key player that could nudge Taliban militants into a peace process as NATO combat troops prepare to leave Afghanistan in 2014.

"The cabinet reaffirmed Pakistan's support for stability and peace in Afghanistan and the importance of an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned process of reconciliation," the government said in a statement.
"Pakistan looks forward to the success of this conference but in view of developments and prevailing circumstances has decided not to participate in the conference."
Pakistan's absence from the meeting of about 85 nations may not be a major setback to the process of planning Afghanistan's future as few tangible results are expected at Bonn, despite the attendance of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other government ministers.
But it is a blow to fostering a regional climate that will allow the United States and its allies to pull out smoothly from Afghanistan in coming years.
Defining the future
The meeting in Bonn was organized with hopes that Washington and Kabul would have reached a deal defining their relationship after foreign combat troops leave, underpinning the future presence of diplomats and aid workers.
But talks have dragged on and there is no deal yet.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai spoke to Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani on Tuesday and urged his neighbor to attend the conference.
"President Hamid Karzai asked ... for the foreign minister to participate in the Bonn Conference because Pakistan's participation is in the interest of both countries," the presidential palace said in a statement.
Some diplomats saw Pakistan's decision to pull out as an over-reaction to last weekend's border attack - the details of which remain murky.
A senior diplomat in Kabul called it "a pretty huge miscalculation."
"The agenda of Bonn does not depend on Pakistan, nor does its success depend on Pakistan," a senior British foreign office official told reporters. "But it would be better for Pakistan if she were there. There is a slight risk of the Pakistanis disenfranchising themselves."
Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany was very discouraged to hear Pakistan had pulled out and would do what it could to persuade Islamabad to participate.
"I understand Pakistan's concern at the killing of its people by NATO but that shouldn't change the fact that this conference is very important," she told reporters in Berlin.
Officials at NATO and the Pentagon in Washington said they hoped Pakistan might still attend.
U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the conference would still be constructive without Pakistan.
"While we would like to have Pakistan there, we still think it will be a valuable opportunity to talk about Afghanistan's future," he said.
Treading lightly
The decision to pull out of Bonn appears to be the latest attempt by Pakistan to put pressure on Washington and NATO after what Islamabad says was an unprovoked attack on two combat outposts on the border with Afghanistan last Saturday.
The United States is preparing to vacate an air base in western Pakistan that has been used for U.S. drone flights but the move is not expected to have a significant effect on drone operations against militants, which have become an increasingly important part of U.S. strategy in the region.
Pakistan also reaffirmed a decision to review cooperation with the United States and NATO, another turn for the worse in a year of multiple U.S.-Pakistani crises.
In May, the United States infuriated and embarrassed Pakistan's powerful military with a unilateral special forces raid that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
"Despite Pakistan's continued efforts to play a positive role for stability and peace in countering terrorism and militancy in the region, the sacrifices of the nation have not been recognized," the statement said.
The Obama administration is treading lightly to avoid worsening already dismal ties between two ostensible allies.
While NATO has described the killings as a "tragic, unintended incident," it has declined to share preliminary findings from NATO and U.S. probes now underway.
"No one at this point has the complete narrative on what happened,' Pentagon spokesman George Little told reporters. "We need to be patient."
A Western official and an Afghan security official who requested anonymity said NATO troops were responding to fire from across the border at the time of the incident.
Pakistan disagrees, saying the attack lasted two hours despite warnings from the outposts and it has reserved the right to retaliate.
Both the Western and Pakistani explanations are possibly correct: that a retaliatory attack by NATO troops took a tragic, mistaken turn in harsh terrain where differentiating friend from foe can be difficult.
An Afghan Taliban commander, Mullah Samiullah Rahmani, said the group had not been engaged in fighting NATO or Afghan forces in the area at the time, although Taliban fighters control several Afghan villages near the border with Pakistan.
A similar cross-border incident on Sept. 30, 2010, which killed two Pakistani service personnel, led to the closure of one of NATO's supply routes through Pakistan for 10 days.
In the wake of Saturday's attack, the supply lines have again been shut down, leaving hundreds of supply trucks stranded in a security challenge for Pakistan.
"We are at full strength and on high alert on the highways because of the stranded trucks," said a police official in Muzaffargarh town who asked not to be identified. "We are very worried about the situation. We cannot guarantee security."
NATO supply trucks are often attacked by bandits and militants.

UK's Cameron: Iran embassy attacks 'outrageous'

Protestors break windows of a building inside the compound of the British embassy in Tehran November 29, 2011.

TEHRAN - Iranian protesters stormed two British diplomatic compounds in Tehran on Tuesday, smashing windows, torching a car and burning the British flag in protest against new sanctions imposed by London.Britain said it was outraged and warned of "serious consequences." The U.N. Security Council condemned the attacks "in the strongest terms." President Barack Obama said he was disturbed by the incident and called on Iran to hold those responsible to task.

The attacks come at a time of rising diplomatic tension between Iran and Western nations who last week imposed fresh sanctions over Tehran's nuclear program, which they believe is aimed at achieving the capability of making an atomic bomb.

Iran, the world's fifth biggest oil exporter, says it only wants nuclear plants to generate electricity.

The embassy storming is also a sign of deepening political infighting within Iran's ruling hardline elites, with the conservative-led parliament attempting to force the hand of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and expel the British ambassador.

"Radicals in Iran and in the West are always in favor of crisis ... Such radical hardliners in Iran will use the crisis to unite people and also to blame the crisis for the fading economy," said political analyst Hasan Sedghi.

Several dozen protesters broke away from a crowd of a few hundred outside the main British embassy compound in downtown Tehran, scaled the gates, broke the locks and went inside.

Protesters pulled down the British flag, burned it, and put up the Iranian flag, Iranian news agencies and news pictures showed. Inside, the demonstrators smashed windows of office and residential quarters and set a car ablaze, news pictures showed.

One took a framed picture of Queen Elizabeth, state TV showed. Others carried the royal crest out through the embassy gate as police stood by, pictures carried by the semi-official Fars news agency showed.

Demonstrators waved flags symbolizing martyrdom and held aloft portraits of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who has the final say on matters of state in Iran.

Another group of protesters broke into a second British compound at Qolhak in north Tehran, the IRNA state news agency said. Once the embassy's summer quarters, the sprawling, tree-lined compound is now used to house diplomatic staff.

An Iranian report said six British embassy staff had been briefly held by the protesters. British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the situation had been "confusing" and that he would not have called them "hostages."

"Police freed the six people working for the British embassy in Qolhak garden," Iran's Fars news agency said.

A German school next to the Qolhak compound was also damaged, the German government said.

Police stand guard in front of the British embassy before demonstrators broke through and entered the embassy in Tehran November 29, 2011.

Britain outraged

Police appeared to have cleared the demonstrators in front of the main downtown embassy compound, but later clashed with protesters and fired tear gas to attempt to disperse them, Fars said. Protesters nevertheless entered the compound a second time, before once again leaving, it said.

British Prime Minister David Cameron chaired a meeting of the government crisis committee to discuss the attacks which he said were "outrageous and indefensible."

"The failure of the Iranian government to defend British staff and property was a disgrace," Cameron said in a statement.

"The Iranian government must recognize that there will be serious consequences for failing to protect our staff. We will consider what these measures should be in the coming days."

The United States, alongside the European Union and many of its member states also strongly condemned the attacks.

There have been regular protests outside the British embassy over the years since the 1979 Islamic revolution that toppled the U.S.-backed shah, but never have any been so violent.

The attacks and hostage-taking were a reminder of the 1979 takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran carried out by radical students who held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days. The United States and Iran have cut diplomatic ties ever since.

World AIDS Day picture - 2011

World AIDS Day is dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection. AIDS has killed more than 25 million people between 1981 and 2007 and an estimated 33.2 million people worldwide live with HIV (as of 2007), making it one of the most destructive epidemics in recorded history. Yet today, there is serious talk about the "end" of this global epidemic. There are now 6.6 million people on life-saving AIDS medicine, but still too many are being infected. New research proves that early antiretroviral treatment will slash the rate of new HIV cases by up to 60 percent. This is described as the tipping point that so many have tirelessly tried to reach. --

Indian school children form a red ribbon, the universal symbol of awareness and support for those living with HIV, in Ahmadabad, India, Dec. 1, 2011. World AIDS Day is marked across the world on Dec. 1.

A Kosovo Albanian man wearing a costum decorated with condoms at the Mother Teresa Square, Dec. 1, 2011, in Pristina, as citizens gathered to mark World AIDS Day. First identified in 1981, AIDS has claimed at least 25 million lives, although the annual toll is falling sharply from the peak of the pandemic in response to drug treatment. In Europe, 27,116 new cases of HIV infections were reported last year, an increase of around 4 percent from 2009. (Armend Nimani/AFP/Getty Images)

An "HIV+" symbol made with candles on the steps of the Finnish Parliament in Helsinki marks World AIDS Day. (Heikki Saukkomaa/AFP/Getty Images)

Chinese residents take part in an AIDS awareness program to mark World's AIDS Day in southwest China's municipality of Chongqing, Dec. 1, 2011. The official Xinhua news agency said the number of people living with HIV is predicted to hit 780,000 by the end of 2011, but campaigners say the figure could be much higher, as HIV/AIDS sufferers have long been stigmatised in China. Increased government education has helped raise awareness. (Stringer/AFP/Getty Images)

A Nepalese child lights candles in front of a painting that depicts a map of Nepal with a red ribbon, at an event to mark World AIDS Day in Katmandu, Nepal, Dec. 1, 2011. The World Health Organization established World AIDS Day in 1988 to further global awareness and put a focus on prevention.(Niranajan Shrestha/Associated Press)

People protest in front of an AIDS symbol as a disabled person holds a banner reading: "I need medical care 24 hours"as they protest planned cutbacks against Municipal home-help services, in Pamplona northern Spain, during events for World AIDS Day, Dec.1, 2011 . (Alvaro Barrientos/Associated Press)

Sex workers watch a skit on HIV-AIDS awareness on World AIDS Day in the city's red light district of Kamathipura in Mumbai on Dec. 1, 2011. The Indian government estimates that some 2.5 million Indians are living with HIV. Tens of thousands of HIV-affected households in Asia are facing "irreversible poverty" because of the cost of living with the disease, with women and children hardest hit, a UN report said. In countries like India, Indonesia and Vietnam, HIV-affected families spend up to three times more on healthcare costs than the average, according to the report, which examined some 17,000 households across Asia. (Indranil Mukherjee/AFP/Getty Images)

A man speaks with a sex worker during a World AIDS Day function in the red light area in Mumbai, India, Dec. 1, 2011. The World Health Organization established World AIDS Day in 1988 to further global awareness and put a focus on prevention. (Rafiq Maqbool/Associated Press)

An Indian sex worker plays with a child during a World AIDS Day function in a red light area in Mumbai, India, Dec. 1, 2011.(Rafiq Maqbool/Associated Press)

An activist, holding a placard marked with a symbolic red ribbon, takes part in a gathering to mark World AIDS Day in Colombo, Dec. 1, 2011. Some 1,161 HIV positive cases have been identified in the country between 1987 and the end of September 2011. (Ishara S.Kodikara/AFP/Getty Images)

Indonesian students display the word 'sex' during a campaign in Jakarta, Dec. 1, 2011 to avoid HIV/AIDS caused by sexual intercourse. The HIV/AIDS awareness campaign is held across the world to mark World AIDS Day, with the theme of "Getting to Zero" this year. (Bay Ismoyo/AFP/Getty Images)

Boys infected with the AIDS virus participate in a classroom performance at a special school for AIDS-infected children in Linfen, in northern China's Shanxi province. Chinese characters on the chalkboard read "Hand in hand to prevent AIDS." (Associated Press)

A medical doctor talks about AIDS to guests during an AIDS awareness event held by the local community on International AIDS Day, Dec. 1, 2011 in Shanghai, China. (Eugene Hoshiko/Associated Press)

A woman attaches a condom to the board during an AIDS campaign to increase awareness of the sexually-transmitted disease in Seoul, South Korea, Dec. 1, 2011. (Lee Jin-man/Associated Press)

A red ribbon is displayed on the North Portico of the White House, Nov. 30, 2011, in Washington, D.C. December is AIDS Awareness Month. (Haraz N. Ghanbari/Associated Press)

An Indian college student is dressed in a costume during an event on the eve of World AIDS Day in Jammu, India, Nov. 30, 2011. More than 2 million people in India suffer from HIV/AIDS. (Channi Anand/Associated Press)

Fireworks burst behind the Sydney Opera House that is bathed in red light in Sydney, Australia, Nov. 30, 2011, as as part of a global campaign to create an AIDS-free generation by 2015. Over 50 landmarks and iconic monuments around the world will turned red on Dec. 1, in support of the campaign. (Rick Rycroft/Associated Press)

Members of the West Bengal Voluntary Health Association (WBVHA) carry a cutout of a red ribbon followed by condom caricatures during an AIDS awareness rally in Siliguri, November 30, 2011. The theme this year is "Getting to Zero". (Diptendu Dutta/AFP/Getty Images)

A heroin drug user holds a syringe at a park in Medan city in Sumatra island. Cordia-Caritas Medan, a non-government organization, focuses rehabilitation efforts on heroin drug users thru their needle exchange and recovery program as part of its anti-HIV/AIDS campaign in Indonesia. The highest rate of HIV/AIDS infection is a result of injecting drug users. The latest National AIDS Commission report estimated that there were 227,700 people living with HIV/AIDS in Indonesia in 2007, a figure it said would double to 501,400 by 2014 making the AIDS epidemic in the country one of the fastest growing in Asia. (Sutanta Aditya/AFP/Getty Images)

Children attend a class at the Nyumbani Children's Home for children with HIV, in Karen on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya, Nov. 30, 2011. The orphanage, which is heavily reliant on foreign donations, cares for over 100 children with HIV whose parents have died of the disease. The program provides housing, care, and antiretroviral medicine to stem the progress of the disease. (Ben Curtis/Associated Press)

Children play during playtime at the Nyumbani Children's Home for children with HIV, Nov. 30, 2011. (Ben Curtis/Associated Press)

Romanian volunteers dance at the Gara de Nord railway station during a flash mob, a day before World AIDS Day in downtown Bucharest, Nov. 30, 2011. According to the Romanian National Union of HIV Infested Persons (UNOPA), over 10, 000 people lived with HIV in Romania, among them 7,000 are young people who were infected in 1988-1600, victims of the Communist-era health care system.(Daniel Mihailescu/AFP/Getty Images)

Primary school students present red ribbons during an event on the eve of the World AIDS Day in Wuyuan, in southern China's Jiangxi province, Nov. 30, 2011. China will have about 780,000 people infected with the AIDS virus by the end of this year, state media reports, with most having contracted it through heterosexual sex. (Associated Press)

Students prepare red ribbons for an AIDS themed art exhibition at a college in Suining, in southwestern China's Sichuan province, Nov. 30, 2011. (Associated Press)

An AIDS patient receives free treatment at the Ying Zhouqu Huangzhuang AIDS treatment center in east China's Anhui province. (Stringer/AFP/Getty Images)

A man lays in bed at the Hillcrest AIDS Trust Care Center on the outskirts of Durban, South Africa, Dec. 1, 2011. (Schalk van Zuydam/Associated Press)

A Camboidan HIV positive woman carries her baby during a ceremony to mark World AIDS day in Kandal province, south of Phnom Penh, Dec. 1, 2011. Some 300 HIV sufferers and their relatives were given food parcels by the Cambodian Red Cross. (Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP/Getty Images)

Romanian volunteers hold hands to form a red ribbon during a flash-mob in downtown Bucharest, Nov. 29, 2011 to mark World AIDS Day. In Romania over 10,000 people are living with HIV. Seven thousand are young people. (Daniel Mihailescu/AFP/Getty Images)

Nepalese People light candles in the shape of a red ribbon, the universal symbol of awareness and support for those living with HIV, in Katmandu, Nepal, Nov. 30, 2011. (Niranajan Shrestha/Associated Press)

The Munttoren (Mint Tower) in Amsterdam, Nov. 30, 2011 displays, by light projection, a giant condom. The campaign of Stop Aids Now! is the kick off for World AIDS Day in the city. (Evert Elzinga/AFP/Getty Images)