AIDS/poverty tax plan gets no support

Travellers flying from France will pay a tax of up to US $52 from next July in a scheme to help the poorest nations tackle HIV/AIDS and poverty, French President Chirac decided on Tuesday. According to British newspaper, The Times, cabinet approved the scheme despite resistance from the travel industry and receiving no support beyond words from other countries. Britain, Brazil and Chile were among a handful of nations who had backed the idea but had not joined the French example. America had rejected it. Chirac launched the scheme at the World Economic Forum meeting at Davos in January this year, and later wrote to 145 heads of state or government asking for their support.