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Global elderly population exploding: US report

The number of people globally aged 65 and over is expected to more than double by 2050 as the world's senior population continues to rocket, a US study says. The global population is aging at an unprecedented rate with 8.5 percent of people worldwide — or more than 600 million — now aged 65 and over, said the US Census Bureau report. If the trend continues nearly 17 percent of the global population, or 1.6 billion people, will be in the 65-and-over age bracket by 2050.

Drug resistance adds to India’s tuberculosis menace

After three years of battling tuberculosis, a disease that claimed the lives of his father and younger brother, Sonu Verma, a patient in northern India, hopes a cure for his illness may be within reach. “Only a few more months and my nightmare will end… it will be my rebirth, free from tuberculosis,” the 25-year-old scrap dealer, who has been left visibly lean and weak by the disease, told AFP. As India marks World TB Day on Thursday, it faces an estimated 2.2 million new cases of the disease a year, more than any other country, according to the World Health Organisation.

Fifth person dies in Guinea Ebola flare-up

A fifth person has died of Ebola in southeast Guinea since March 17, a health official told Reuters on Tuesday, raising concerns that a recent flare-up of the deadly virus could spread. The latest case was detected in Macenta prefecture, about 200 kilometers from the village of Korokpara where the four other recent Ebola-related deaths occurred, said Fode Sylla Tass, spokesman for National Coordination of the Fight against Ebola in Guinea. Burials, where bodies of the deceased are often washed, have been a main cause of transmission of Ebola, which has killed at least 11,300 people in West Africa since 2013 in the worst outbreak on record.

Indonesia’s mentally ill languish in shackles

In a small faith healing centre in rural Indonesia, Sulaiman chanted in a confused fashion, tugged at a chain attached to his ankle, and shifted restlessly on a hard, wooden bench. The emaciated man has been chained up for the past two years, and is one of thousands of Indonesians with a mental illness currently shackled, according to a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report released Monday. Chaining up the mentally ill has been illegal in Indonesia for nearly 40 years but remains rife across the country, especially in rural areas where health services are limited and belief in evil spirits prevails, according to HRW.

Italy rescues 910 boat migrants, finds one body

More than 900 migrants were rescued in four separate operations in the Strait of Sicily on Saturday and emergency services recovered one corpse, Italy’s coast guard said. Now into the second year of its worst migration crisis since World War Two, Europe has seen more than 1.2 million people arrive since the beginning of 2015, most of them from Africa and the Middle East. Italy’s coast guard has continued to pick up migrants in trouble in the stretch of water between its southern coast and North Africa, although most people seeking a better life in Europe have taken less dangerous routes to Greece.

Formula One’s ‘Halo’ protection device on track for 2017

By Ian Ransom MELBOURNE (Reuters) – The prototype “halo” head protection device, aimed at shielding Formula One drivers from flying debris, is on track to be adopted for the 2017 season pending a safety review, race director Charlie Whiting said on Friday. The halo, which is fixed to the cockpit at three points including a central pillar right in front of the driver, made its debut in Spain earlier this month. F1 outfit Red Bull, whose team principal Christian Horner has expressed misgivings over the halo's design, are developing a separate device but Whiting said it was unlikely to be ready in time for 2017.

Expert to review ex-House Speaker Hastert’s health: judge

Hastert, 74, pleaded guilty in October to a federal charge of “structuring” – evading bank reporting rules by withdrawing large amounts of cash in smaller increments. The former Republican speaker of the House of Representatives used the funds to pay an individual to keep quiet about decades-old allegations of sexual misconduct. Judge Thomas Durkin earlier this year postponed Hastert's sentencing to April 8 from Feb. 29 because Hastert was recovering from a stroke and life-threatening infection.

P&G stops selling Vicks Action 500 Extra in India after ban

U.S. consumer health giant Procter & Gamble’s India unit said on Tuesday it had stopped manufacture and sale of its cough-and-cold medicine Vicks Action 500 Extra with immediate effect, after regulators banned it citing potential health risk. The product is a fixed dose combination of paracetamol, phenylephrine and caffeine, which was banned by India’s health ministry in a notice issued over the weekend, Procter & Gamble Hygiene and Health Care Ltd informed the stock exchange. The drug was one of 344 drug combinations including several antibiotics and analgesics that India ordered to be prohibited saying a government-appointed panel of experts had found the combinations lacked “therapeutic justification.” P&G said all its products, including Vicks Action 500 Extra, were backed by research to support their quality, safety and efficacy.