Candlelight vigils, educational seminars and torchlight parades were planned around the globe Monday to mark World AIDS Day, while a US delegation headed to hard-hit Africa to urge its leaders to increase awareness about the deadly virus.

Athletes were also getting into the spirit: The International Cricket Council said Sunday that players from Pakistan, New Zealand, West Indies, Zimbabwe, England and Sri Lanka would wear red ribbons during matches Monday to show their support for AIDS victims.

The United Nations reported last week that 2003 saw more deaths and infections from HIV and AIDS than ever before, with more than 3 million people killed and another 5 million infected.

Between 34 million and 46 million are believed to have the virus. Accurate numbers are hard to come by because of shortfalls in reporting and poor health care in many countries.

UNAIDS, the UN agency that coordinates global efforts to fight the disease, said the epidemic was rampant in sub-Saharan Africa and that a new wave of the disease was threatening China, Indonesia and Russia because of transmissions through drug use and unsafe sex.

To try to raise awareness on the African continent, an 80-member US delegation headed by Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson started a tour of sub-Saharan Africa on Sunday to asses projects and determine what needs to be done to increase treatment and prevent the spread of the virus.

``This is a terribly serious problem,'' Thompson said at the Frankfurt airport before heading to Africa. ``It is time for all of us, especially from America, to do our part to prevent it.''

Across Europe, candelight vigils, concerts, seminars and parades were planned for Monday, the annual World AIDS Day commemoration, to increase awareness about AIDS, educate people about how to prevent its transmission, and express solidarity with those suffering from it.

In Lisbon, Portugal, activists will gather in the center of the city wearing white masks, and celebrities will speak to the public about AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases. In Turkey, several workshops and panels were planned for the week, along with concerts, a festival and parade.

Candlelight vigils were scheduled for several British cities, including Liverpool, Birmingham and Manchester, as well as in the Swedish capital, Stockholm. Torchlight processions were to illuminate the streets in other Swedish cities, including Goteborg on the west coast and Malmoe and Helsingborg in the southernmost part of the country.

In London, Crusaid, the British charity that cares for people with HIV/AIDS, is hosting a performance of a specially commissioned Requiem for World AIDS Day, composed by Rowland Lee and performed by The Fine Arts Sinfonia and Sarah Connolly, a principal at the English National Opera.

On Sunday, Pope John Paul II offered a special prayer for AIDS victims and their caregivers.

``While I pray for those who are hit by this scourge, I encourage those in the Church who carry out an invaluable service of acceptance, care and spiritual accompaniment to our brothers and sisters,'' John Paul said in St. Peter's Square.

John Paul's comments, delivered in his traditional Sunday greeting, came amid renewed criticism of Vatican opposition to using condoms to prevent the transmission of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The Vatican maintains that chastity is the best method of prevention.

Last month, the UN World Health Organization labeled as dangerous and ``totally wrong'' comments by a top Vatican cardinal, Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, that condoms don't sufficiently protect against AIDS, saying the HIV virus is small enough to pass through them.

Catholics for a Free Choice, a Catholic group that supports abortion rights, said it was launching an educational campaign Monday to correct the Vatican ``misinformation'' about the effectiveness of condoms.

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