AFP - RIYADH (AFP) - Saudi Arabia began vaccinating its population against swine flu on Saturday, with priority going to government employees working on the annual hajj pilgrimage that takes place later this month.

AFP - WASHINGTON (AFP) - President Barack Obama, his top domestic priority in the balance, was on Saturday to make a rare in-person plea for wary lawmakers to cast an historic vote for legislation to overhaul US health care.

The Canadian Press - TORONTO - Ontario hospitals that are allowing their board members to jump the queue for the swine flu vaccine must stop the practice immediately, Health Minister Deb Matthews warned Friday.

AFP - WASHINGTON (AFP) - Obesity causes more than 100,000 incidents of cancer in the US every year, the American Institute for Cancer Research said in estimates published Friday.

AFP - KAMPALA (AFP) - Human Rights Watch on Friday criticised Uganda's HIV/AIDS bill, some of whose clauses call for mandatory testing of pregnant women, sex offenders and victims, and disclosure of HIV status.

AFP - GENEVA (AFP) - The number of swine flu deaths has grown by more than 370 over a week to pass 6,000, as the pandemic spread into more than 199 countries and territories, World Health Organisation data showed Friday.

AFP - GENEVA (AFP) - The World Health Organisation on Friday called for closer monitoring of farm workers and animals for influenza A viruses, following recent cases in a wider range of creatures than pigs.

AFP - GENEVA (AFP) - Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche said Friday it is cooperating with South Korean investigators who are looking into alleged illegal sales of its swine flu treatment Tamiflu.

AFP - NEW YORK (AFP) - News that US swine flu vaccines, meant to be prioritized for the nation's most vulnerable, are being distributed to Wall Street firms such as Goldman Sachs, have sparked uproar.

AFP - PARIS (AFP) - A breakthrough mix of stem cell and gene therapy halted a lethal brain-wasting illness in two young boys, and could prove effective against other genetic disorders, researchers reported Thursday.

The Canadian Press - WASHINGTON - Throughout the long and divisive debate about health-care reform in the United States, Canada's health-care system has often served as a popular punching bag for both Republicans openly swinging at it and Democrats ducking from any suggestion that Canadian-style reform is in the cards.

AFP - WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US food and drug safety watchdog warned Thursday that an over-the-counter men's sex aid, labeled as all-natural, contains a chemical similar to the active ingredient in Viagra and could be dangerous.

AFP - JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - Waning international donor support for the fight against AIDS is a threat to a decade of progress in HIV treatment, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) warned on Thursday.

AFP - NAIROBI (AFP) - A Danish firm has launched Vitamin A-packed chewing gum in Nairobi to help fight malnutrition among children in developing countries, the company said in a statement Thursday.

AFP - KIEV (AFP) - Health authorities in Ukraine said Thursday the death toll from an outbreak of flu and respiratory infections had risen to 95, but added the epidemic showed signs of easing.

AFP - GENEVA (AFP) - Millions of people in South Sudan and Darfur face dire and worsening health conditions and a severe shortage of care, the World Health Organisation warned Thursday.

The Canadian Press - JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - The global recession and pressure to divert funds to other health crises are hurting the fight against AIDS, a medical group warned Thursday, with one health worker saying he feared a return to the days when the AIDS virus was a death sentence in Africa.

AFP - BRUSSELS (AFP) - Cocaine's relentless march through Europe's social order showed no sign of abating in 2009, an annual report into drug use and addiction showed on Thursday.

AFP - GENEVA (AFP) - The World Health Organisation on Thursday urged people not to drop their guard over the swine flu pandemic and insisted on the value of vaccination despite the broadly mild symptoms of the virus.

AFP - WASHINGTON (AFP) - Despite spending more than twice as much as other developed countries, the United States still lags behind in terms of access and quality, an international survey said Wednesday.

AFP - MELBOURNE (AFP) - A "miracle" Australian baby has become the first person cured of a rare and deadly brain-melting condition after doctors gambled on an experimental drug tested only on mice, they said on Thursday.

The Canadian Press - TORONTO - Ontario will run out of the regular swine flu vaccine by the end of the week, forcing many immunization clinics to close and preventing priority groups from receiving the flu shot, Health Minister Deb Matthews said Wednesday.

AFP - WASHINGTON (AFP) - Vets in the US state of Iowa said Wednesday that a household cat had tested positive for swine flu -- the first known case in the world of the new pandemic strain spreading to the feline population.

The Canadian Press - TORONTO - The World Health Organization's top flu scientist often describes the virus he's studied for years as "humbling."

AFP - PRAIA (AFP) - Businesses, schools and government offices will shut in Cape Verde Friday for a day of mobilisation to try to curb a dengue epidemic which has killed four people since Sunday, authorities announced Wednesday.

AFP - KANO (AFP) - A fresh cholera outbreak has killed 20 people and left 200 others infected in northern Nigeria's Adamawa State in the past week, a senior health official said Wednesday.

AFP - RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (AFP) - The anxious wives were on the phone again to their husbands in the Pakistani garrison town of Rawalpindi, a terrorist target where daily routine can turn to horror in an instant.

AFP - KIEV (AFP) - Eighty-six people have died in Ukraine from flu and respiratory infections, the health ministry said Wednesday, in an epidemic the World Health Organisation said could be largely due to the A(H1N1) virus.

AFP - NAIROBI (AFP) - The most clinically advanced malaria vaccine so far should be ready for use in three to five years after Phase three trials began in May, researchers have said.