■ WASHINGTON. HIV patients build normal immune strength in study. AIDS drug cocktails may be able to restore the ravaged immune systems of some people infected with HIV, researchers reported recently. Immune cells known as CD4 T-cells returned to normal levels in an ideal group of patients, picked because they responded optimally to a combination of at least three AIDS drugs, the researchers reported in the Lancet medical journal. The human immunodeficiency virus, which causes AIDS, plunders the immune system, leaving people vulnerable to a range of infections that may prove fatal. AIDS is incurable, but doctors try to prop up the immune system with life-extending drug therapy aimed at reducing the amount of virus in the body. The study involved 1,835 HIV-infected people drawn from a larger study involving more than 14,000 patients from across Europe, Israel and Argentina. Mocroft said not all HIV patients respond as well to these drugs, and many, particularly in the hardest hit regions like sub-Saharan Africa, do not have access to them. HIV targets CD4 cells, using them to create more copies of the virus, thus undermining the immune system. After initial infection, a person can produce more CD4 cells to take the place of those attacked by HIV. But in time, the body cannot make enough, increasingly weakening the immune system. Although it is impossible to eradicate the virus with existing drugs, it is possible to keep it at extremely low levels in some people with the right combination of drugs. The AIDS virus infects close to 40 million people globally, most of them in Africa. It has killed more than 25 million.

■ MADRID. Spanish coast guard search for 50 missing Africans. The Spanish coast guard was searching yesterday for about 50 Africans whose wooden boat capsized as the would-be illegal migrants neared the end of a dangerous voyage to the Canary Islands, officials said. Coast guard boats picked up 48 survivors after their narrow boat overturned about 89 miles (142 km) southwest of the resort island of Tenerife, a representative of Spain?s central government on the islands said. Two merchant ships joined four coast guard vessels, a helicopter and a plane in the search after the boat overturned early yesterday in heavy seas, the official said. Authorities believe thousands of Africans died last year attempting to reach the Canaries, hundreds of miles from the African coast.

■ SAO PAULO. Scores of bodies pulled from Brazil plane crash. Rescue workers in Brazil pulled burned bodies from smoking wreckage and collapsed buildings on Wednesday after about 200 people were killed in the country?s worst air disaster. The Airbus A320 was carrying 186 passengers and crew when it slid off a short, rain-soaked runway at Sao Paulo?s Congonhas airport late on Tuesday, hurdling a busy road before slamming into a gas station and cargo terminal. An acrid haze hung over the crowded neighborhood near Brazil?s busiest airport as rescuers wearing masks put bodies in refrigerated trucks bound for the morgue. Dental records and jewelry were being used to identify victims. The country?s second major crash in less than a year prompted sharp criticism about aviation safety and put the government on the defensive. By Wednesday evening, firefighters had found 176 bodies.

■ DENVER. Mother charged with beating children on US plane. A California mother was charged with beating her children, aged 2 and 4, on a commercial aircraft and interfering with the flight crew. Tamera Freeman, 38, who appeared in court yesterday, was arrested on Monday at Denver International Airport upon her arrival on a Frontier Airlines flight from San Francisco. An FBI affidavit quotes passengers as saying Freeman appeared intoxicated, was abusive with her children before she boarded the plane and repeatedly hit and yelled at them during the flight.

The affidavit also alleges Freeman threw a drink at the feet of a flight attendant and followed her into an aisle yelling and pointing her finger, causing the attendant, who had intervened on the children?s behalf, to feel threatened. A spokesman for the US attorney?s staff, which is prosecuting Freeman, said the children were handed over to a relative. If convicted on the felony charges, Freeman faces a maximum of 20 years in prison, but under federal sentencing guidelines her sentence is likely to be much less severe.

■ TOKYO. Japanese teachers lose damages suit over anthem. A group of Japanese teachers who had been forced to undergo ?retraining after refusing to stand and sing the national anthem? at school events lost a suit for compensation yesterday. The 130 teachers had claimed 10,000 yen per head from the Tokyo government, saying their right to freedom of thought and belief had been infringed when they were forced to listen to a lecture aimed at persuading them to change their attitude, Kyodo news agency said. ?All the plaintiffs? demands were turned down,? said a spokeswoman at Tokyo District Court. The Tokyo government argued that the programme was intended to train teachers to ?perform school events properly? rather than interfering with their freedom of thought. Japan?s Kimigayo national anthem and Hinomaru national flag are shunned by some, especially the left-leaning teachers? union, as symbols of the country?s past military aggression. Both flag and anthem have been in popular use since the 19th century, including before and during World War Two, although they were only officially recognised in 1999. Court rulings have been divided on whether local governments have the right to punish staff at public schools who refuse to sing the anthem at graduation ceremonies.