New HIV infections increasin among homosexuals, drug users and prostitutesNEW YORK (AP) — New HIV infections are increasing among homosexuals, drug users and prostitutes who don’t seek help because of laws that criminalize these practices, the head of the U.N. AIDS agency said Monday. Michel Sidibe, the head of UNAIDS, said “it is unacceptable” that 85 countries still have laws criminalizing adult same sex relations.- – –Afghan government held secret peace talks with Taliban No. 2KABUL (AP) — The Afghan government was holding secret talks with the Taliban’s No. 2 when he was captured in Pakistan, and the arrest infuriated President Hamid Karzai, according to one of Karzai’s advisers. The detention of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar has raised new questions about whether the U.S. is willing to back peace discussions with leaders who harbored the terrorists behind the Sept. 11 attacks.- – –Homeland Security chief puts brakes on virtual fence fundsPHOENIX (AP) — Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Tuesday that she will freeze funds for expanding the virtual fence that originally was supposed to monitor most of the 2,000-mile southern U.S. border by 2011 but now covers only a portion of Arizona’s boundary with Mexico. The virtual fence is a network of cameras, ground sensors and radars designed to let a small number of dispatchers watch the border on a computer monitor, zoom in with cameras to see people crossing, and decide whether to send Border Patrol.- – –Ivy League’s Cornell responds to 3 gorge deathsITHACA, N.Y. (AP) — Cornell University, an Ivy League school known for its spectacular gorges and haunted by a reputation for suicides, took the extraordinary step of posting lookouts on bridges and going door-to-door to check on students after three undergrads plunged to their deaths in the past month. The move by university officials comes after an “especially painful week” marred by two of the deaths. It’s not clear if all three were suicides; university spokeswoman Claudia Wheatley said Tuesday one case was ruled a suicide and the other two were under investigation.- – –Health secretary says budget troubles could grow worse(AP) — A looming midyear deficit will worsen budget troubles in the state health department and could disrupt proposals for balancing the department’s budget next year, Health and Hospitals Secretary Alan Levine told lawmakers Tuesday.The grim news, delivered to the House Appropriations Committee, could mean deeper cuts to the state’s Medicaid program for the poor, elderly and disabled, which already was slated to lose $300 million next year in Gov. Bobby Jindal’s 2010-11 budget recommendations.The Department of Health and Hospitals has a $40 million state fund shortfall already in the current budget year that ends June 30, and Levine has identified several pools of money that could cover the gap. But economists said an unexpected drop in state revenue will force new cuts across nearly all state agencies in the remaining three months of the fiscal year.- – –Journalists describe run-ins with New Orleans policeNEW ORLEANS (AP) — Several journalists described run-ins with New Orleans police Tuesday as they testified about allegations that officers routinely arrest or threaten people who film them. Greg Griffith and Noah Learned sued in December 2007, claiming police violated their constitutional rights when they were arrested at a parade that year.- – –Lawmakers threaten to overturn La. license price hike(AP) — Battered by criticism in their districts, lawmakers Tuesday questioned the legality of a $15 hike in the cost of a Louisiana driver’s license, threatened to overturn it and called it inappropriate in the current tight economy.A new or renewed basic license now costs $36.50 for four years, up from $21.50, under the price hike ordered by the Louisiana State Police last week. – – – -Contact The Daily Reveille’s news staff at [email protected]