President of South Africa Jacob Zuma has revealed that he is HIV-negative. Although several world leaders have publicly taken HIV tests, this is believed to be the first time a serving president has revealed that he does not have the virus. From Johannesburg, Andrew Harding reports.

President Zuma said he was revealing his HIV status to promote openness and to eradicate the silence and stigma that accompanies the AIDS epidemic. He told a crowd at a hospital near Johannesburg that he'd now had four tests, all negative. Mr Zuma's sex life has been the focus of intense scrutiny and criticism in South Africa. He has three wives and has also admitted having unprotected sex with other women. But as his private life is controversial, his public stance on AIDS has been broadly welcomed here. His predecessor Thabo Mbeki questioned mainstream AIDS science and delayed the provision of life-saving drugs.

The first flight by an Iraqi airline between Baghdad and London has taken off after a gap of nearly 20 years. The Iraqi Airways service was supposed to resume last week, but was grounded by the volcanic ash cloud over Europe. The flights to Britain will stop in Sweden for additional security checks. The return service is direct.

One of the world's leading scientists, the British astrophysicist Professor Stephen Hawking, says aliens almost certainly exist, but humans should avoid making contact with them. In a television series for the Discovery Channel, Professor Hawking said it was perfectly rational to assume intelligent life exists elsewhere, but warned that aliens might simply raid Earth for resources, and then move on.