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AUSTIN - Legislation to protect needle-exchange programs operated by local health departments won approval in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee on Tuesday after brief testimony in favor of the bill. The proposal would prevent district attorneys from prosecuting state-sanctioned health programs that allow intravenous drug users to trade out dirty syringes for clean ones. The committee voted 5-1 to send the bill to the full Senate. Republican Sen. Robert Deuell, a Greenville physician who introduced the bill, said evidence from other states with exchange programs does not show increased drug use. 'There has been much critical evidence to show that it decreases HIV and hepatitis in those communities,' he said. 'Which alleviates a lot of human suffering, but it also saves states money because the people who contract HIV and hepatitis, more often than not, end up having state programs or services.' Deuell also proposed a needle-exchange program bill in 2007. A pilot needle-shar

Viruses that cause diarrhoea and vomiting may also trigger type-1 diabetes in children with a particular genetic make-up, a study finds

Wen Jiabao announces extra money to boost farm yields, raise rural incomes and invest in renewable energyChina will increase spending on agricultural production by 20% this year amid warnings that climate change could spark a future food crisis .Prime minister Wen Jiabao's announcement of an extra 121 billion yuan (£13bn) to boost farm yields and raise rural incomes was a central part of his annual budget speech at the Great Hall of the People.The government's spending pledge also included extra money for renewable energy and improved power efficiency, but these environmental benefits were outweighed by moves to boost overall domestic consumption and a likely emphasis on intensive agriculture.The short-term aim is to ease the impact of the economic crisis on rural dwellers, who account for more than half of the 1.3bn population. This group is considered a potential source of social instability because the average rural income is just a third that of the city. Wen said grain prices wou

Madrid - Wind, rain and snow hit Spain on Thursday, with wind gusts causing injuries to several people, officials said. A gangway linking a cruise ship with the port of Palma de Majorca broke, sending three passengers falling into the water. Two crew...

President Omar al-Bashir, wanted by an international court on war crimes charges, ordered at least 11 agencies to leave. Aid workers warned that the expulsion order could spark a humanitarian crisis for up to 2 million people in Darfur who are directly served by the agencies, receiving food, shelter and medical supplies.

(New York) - The Sudanese government's announcement that it will expel 10 international aid agencies places the lives of more than 1 million people in Darfur at risk, Human Rights Watch said today. Sudan has an obligation under international humanitarian law to ensure that relief aid reaches people in need in conflict situations.read more

Some 700 people stood outside of San Francisco's Civic Center Plaza this morning in front of the state building where the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on whether to overturn the state's voter-approved ban on gay nuptials. Photos: Slide show of San Francisco scene, vigils Video: Vigil on eve of hearing Full coverage of same-sex marriage

(Georgetown) - Guyana should halt arrests and police abuse of transgender people and repeal a repressive law that criminalizes wearing clothes considered appropriate only for the opposite sex, six human rights organizations said today in a letter to President Bharrat Jagdeo.read more

Smoking as we all know has been killing millions of people world over. Drugs like Chantix have been very effectual in getting over the deadly addiction of smoking.

People who begin using mobile phones before age 20 are more than five times as likely to develop a malignant brain tumor, according to an international group of scientists who...