All cigarettes sold in Australia will be in identical, plain packages from Saturday in a world first after the government overcame legal challenges from the tobacco industry.

Under new laws which come into effect on December 1, all tobacco products must be sold in drab, olive-brown packets with expanded graphic health warnings which feature images such as gangrenous feet and mouth cancer.

Old age comes faster and hits harder for those infected with HIV, a fact aging health activist Ron Swanda knows all too well.

Swanda, 66, diagnosed as HIV-positive in 1989, takes six different drugs to keep his illness in check and to treat a litany of physical complaints from cardiovascular disease to depression.

India's "guru of giggling" Madan Kataria, who has got thousands of people guffawing globally in pursuit of better health, has an unexpected confession -- he hasn't got a very good sense of humor.

"But you don't require one to laugh," chortles Kataria, founder of "Laughter Yoga", a movement that has attracted fans worldwide including celebrities Oprah Winfrey and Goldie Hawn.

Genome mapping could prove key in preventing superbugs in hospitals, an Australian researcher said Friday, urging its use to prevent countless deaths from antibiotic-resistant infections.

Mark Walker, director of the Australian Infectious Diseases Research Centre at the University of Queensland, said the technology would allow medical staff to determine whether patients had contracted identical bugs.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton unveiled Thursday an ambitious U.S. blueprint on how to realize the vision of an AIDS-free generation, aiming to see virtually no babies born with HIV by 2015.

"Scientific advances and their successful implementation have brought the world to a tipping point in the fight against AIDS," the 54-page document says.

Preventing surgery-linked infections is a major concern for hospitals and it turns out some simple measures can make a big difference.

A project at seven big hospitals reduced infections after colorectal surgeries by nearly one-third. It prevented an estimated 135 infections, saving almost $4 million, the Joint Commission hospital regulating group and the American College of Surgeons announced Wednesday. The two groups directed the 2 1/2-year project.

A U.S. federal judge ruled here that tobacco companies must run ads acknowledging that they lied about the health effects of cigarettes, and explain in blunt terms the adverse effects of smoking.

The ruling on Tuesday by District Judge Gladys Kessler was part of a government racketeering case against top cigarette companies originally brought in September 1999.

Innocuously marketed as incense or bath salts, synthetic drugs are increasingly popular among Portuguese youths looking for a legal high, despite a ban on selling them to minors.

Adverts for these substances, responsible for a growing number of hospitalizations, are plastered around Lisbon and have now caught the eye of health authorities who have decided to wage war against the dozens of so-called smartshops selling them.

Chinese AIDS activists on Thursday accused the Communist Party's new number two Li Keqiang of hypocrisy after he called for more non-government efforts to fight the disease.

The ruling party has long been suspicious of HIV/AIDS campaigners because of their refusal to support official policy, and activists accused Li -- expected to become prime minister in March -- of overseeing deliberate oppression.

The world's biggest food group Nestle is moving into traditional Chinese medicine by joining forces with Chinese pharma group Chi-Med, the Swiss group said on Wednesday.

The new entity, called Nutrition Science Partners (NSP), is to be owned equally by the two parties, Nestle said in a statement, without revealing any of the financials behind the deal.