Sub-Saharan Africa has been far more severely affected by AIDS than any other part of the world. The United Nations reports that 24.5 million adults and children are infected with the HIV virus in the region, which has about 10% of the world's population but more than 64% of the worldwide total of infected people. This report discusses this issue in detail, including the cause of the African AIDS epidemic, the social and economic consequences, response and treatment, and U.S. policy.

An issue over the years has been the inaccurate rulemaking to carry out fuel economy ratings and the in-use fuel economy has failed to meet the rated fuel economy. Various amendments and acts are being passed to ensure the accuracy to the fuel economy readings and take other factors into account when measuring them.

After the first Gulf war, in 1991, a new the peace process was begun, with Israel and the Palestinians discussing a five-year period of interim self-rule leading to a final settlement. Israel and Syria discussed Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights in exchange for peace. Israel and Jordan discussed relations. Israel and Lebanon focused on Israel’s withdrawal from its self-declared security zone in south Lebanon and reciprocal Lebanese actions.

This report includes information regarding strategic petroleum reserve. Background and analysis, purchases of crude oil, and drawdown of the reserve are among topics discussed in this report.

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The 109th Congress is reviewing a number of programs that aid poor and low-income families with children. These programs include the TANF and child care block grants, child support enforcement, abstinence education, transitional Medicaid (known as Transitional Medical Assistance), Head Start, and the Workforce Investment Act. Other potential policy initiatives, such as social security and tax reform, also would likely affect low-income families with children. This report focuses on programs and policy initiatives that are being raised in the context of reviewing and reauthorizing welfare programs: TANF, the Child Care and Development Block Grant, Child Support Enforcement, Transitional Medical Assistance (TMA), Abstinence Education, initiatives to promote responsible fatherhood, and initiatives to promote rearing children in married-couple families.