The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations (GAVI) said Friday that it needs 4.3 billion dollars to save more than 4 million lives by 2015, asking donors to foot the bill.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has pledged $300 million to rebuild the embattled Darfur region, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said Wednesday.

Boys are valued far more than girls in the world, said a report charging nearly 100 million girls are killed as babies or fetuses annually.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Nelson Mandela celebrated a quiet 88th birthday with his family on Tuesday as South Africans wished the anti-apartheid hero many more birthdays to come.

By Andrew Quinn JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's Nelson Mandela turns 87 on Monday, an increasingly fragile icon whose moral message nevertheless grows louder with each passing year.