AP Health

New Zealand leader plans to ban cellphone use in …

New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon leaves his first post-Cabinet press conference at Parliament in Wellington, New Zealand, Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. (Mark Mitchell/New Zealand Herald via AP)

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Coal power, traffic, waste burning a toxic smog cocktail …

Firefighters attempt to extinguish fire that razes through a landfill in Bekasi, on the outskirts of Jakarta, Indonesia, on Sept. 25, 2023. Pollution is causing respiratory illnesses and deaths to rise in Indonesia's island of Java, including the capital, Jakarta. Data gathered by IQAir, a Swiss air technology company, regularly ranks Jakarta as one of the most polluted cities in the world. Blue skies are a rare sight and the air often smells like fuel or heavy smoke. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)

Australia apologizes for thalidomide tragedy as some survivors …

A girl wipes away tears from the face of a woman impacted by thalidomide, the anti-morning sickness drug, in the gallery as Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, unseen, delivers a National apology in the House of Representatives at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. Australia's Parliament on Wednesday made a national apology to victims of thalidomide on the 62nd anniversary of the dangerous anti-morning sickness drug being withdrawn from sale in the country. (Lukas Coch/AAPImage via AP)

British inquiry finds serious failings at hospitals where …

Undated handout file photo issued by Kent Police of David Fuller. A British government-ordered inquiry said Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023 it found “serious failings” at hospitals where an electrician who was later convicted of murder had been able to have sex with more than 100 corpses over a 15 year period without being detected. David Fuller's necrophilia was only discovered in 2020 after police who used DNA to tie him to the 1987 slayings of two women discovered millions of images of sexual abuse in his home, including videos of him having sex with the dead bodies of women and girls in the mortuaries at two hospitals where he worked in southeast England. (Kent Police/PA via AP)

Mayo Clinic announces $5 billion expansion of Minnesota …

FILE - A pedestrian mall leads to the campus of the Mayo Clinic complex, center, on July 2, 2019, in Rochester, Minn. The Mayo Clinic has announced a $5 billion expansion plan that includes new buildings designed so they can evolve and expand as patient needs change over the coming decades. (AP Photo/Jim Mone, file)

France to ban smoking on beaches as it seeks to avoid …

FILE - A man stubs out a cigarette in a public ashtray in Paris, France, on Oct. 1, 2015. France will ban smoking on all beaches, public parks, forests and some other public areas as part of a national anti-tobacco plan detailed by the health minister on Tuesday Nov. 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon, File)

Tackling climate change and alleviating hunger: States …

Prince Swain, left, and Carlos Quezada load food onto trucks at Feeding Westchester in Elmsford, N.Y., Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023. A growing number of states are working to keep food out of landfills over concerns that it is taking up too much space and posing environmental problems. Some states including New York are requiring supermarkets and other businesses to redirect food to food pantries. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

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China says a surge in respiratory illnesses is caused …

Parents with their children wait at a crowded holding room of a children's hospital in Beijing on Oct. 30, 2023. A surge in respiratory illnesses across China that has drawn the attention of the World Health Organization is caused by the flu and other known pathogens and not by a novel virus, the country's health ministry said Sunday, Nov. 26, 2023. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

FDA expands cantaloupe recall after salmonella infections …

FILE - Cantaloupes are displayed for sale in Virginia on Saturday, July 28, 2017. U.S. health officials recalled three more brands of whole and pre-cut cantaloupes Friday, Nov. 24, 2023 as the number of people sickened by salmonella more than doubled this week. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

South Africa, Colombia and others are fighting drugmakers …

FILE - Patients use nebulizers during a test for the presence of TB, at the Tembalete, a U.S. funded Right to Care Clinic at the Helen Joseph Hospital in Johannesburg Wednesday, Dec 17, 2008. In a series of moves experts say signal a shift in how developing countries deal with pharmaceuticals, South Africa, Colombia and others have recently adopted a more combative approach towards drugmakers, pushing back on policies that deny treatment to millions of people with tuberculosis and HIV. (AP Photo/Denis Farrell, File)

Prosecutors ask to effectively close case against …

West Africa responds to huge diphtheria outbreaks …

In this handout photo released by MSF, a health worker educating a group of male patients and care givers on the symptoms of Diphtheria at the Murtala muhammad specialist hospital in Kano, Nigeria Monday, Aug. 21, 2023. Authorities in several West African countries are trying to manage their huge diphtheria outbreaks, including in Nigeria where a top health official said Thursday Nov. 23, 2023 that millions are being vaccinated to cover wide gaps in immunity against the disease. (Ehab Zawati, MSF via AP)

Several more children sickened by fruit pouches tainted …

Biden declares emergency over lead in water in US …

FILE - President Joe Biden speaks to members of the media before boarding Air Force One in Norfolk, Va., Nov. 19, 2023. Biden declared an emergency over lead contamination in the U.S. Virgin Islands water after tests on St. Croix revealed levels more than 100 times the limits set by the Environmental Protection Agency. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)