Communist China has opened its first free clinic for AIDS victims, in an apparent softening of the government's policy towards the growing problem of the disease.

The China Daily newspaper said the clinic which opened in the Chinese capital of Beijing, will offer free check-ups and treatment to people afflicted with AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases including syphilis, gonorrhea and genital herpes

ccording to a new study in the November issue of Pediatrics, circumcised males are less likely than their uncircumcised peers to acquire a sexually transmitted infection.

The researchers report that circumcision may reduce the risk of acquiring and spreading sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV, syphilis and genital ulcers by up to 50 percent. However, the results are more mixed for other STDs, prompting the American Academy of Pediatrics to call the evidence "complex and conflicting

Former U.S. surgeon generals Joycelyn Elders and David Satcher revealed during a San Francisco news conference on Thursday that efforts to promote abstinence in U.S. sexual education aren't working. The two said that the rates of sexually transmitted diseases, unplanned pregnancies and sexual abuse are not been decreasing.

Elders, who President Clinton fired after she suggested that children be taught about masturbation, told reporters, "The vows of abstinence break far more easily than latex condoms

A recent British study found several startling facts about sexual behavior. The study revealed that married people have the most sex, young adults are not starting to have sex as early as it was once believed, and there seems to be a minute link between promiscuity and sexually transmitted diseases.

This global study, published in British medical journal, The Lancet, also found that sexual statistics were so diverse throughout the world that no one single approach to sexual health can be applied to all countries

A report released by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) on Monday says British teenagers are the most sexually active in Europe. The report called on authorities to introduce sexual education among teens to avoid teenage pregnancies.

According to the report, 38 percent of British 15-year-olds had sex in the period from 2001-2002. The rate was relatively high when compared with 15 percent in Poland, 16 percent in Spain. Britain also had the highest rate of teenage births