Singapore's parliament on Monday voted to ban the display of cigarettes in a bid to further curb the habit in a nation which already has one of the world's lowest smoking rates.

From 2017, merchants must keep tobacco out of sight and not display any advertisement of it, according to the the new regulations.

French investigators probing the Germanwings plane crash called on Sunday for clearer rules on the lifting of medical confidentiality if pilots show signs of psychological problems.

Doctors Without Borders has challenged Pfizer's application for an Indian patent for its pneumonia vaccine so cheaper versions can be available to children in poor countries and to humanitarian organizations.

The medical aid group, also known as Medicins Sans Frontieres, said in a statement late Friday that it was challenging Pfizer's patent application to allow Indian manufacturers to make affordable versions of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine.

U.S. regulators tentatively agreed on Friday to permit a field test of genetically modified mosquitoes that are designed to help limit the spread of Zika virus and other infectious diseases.

In a document published on its website, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said male mosquitoes called "OX513A" are unlikely to present risks to humans, animals or the environment.

Hillary Clinton apologized Friday for praising Nancy Reagan's commitment to the fight against AIDS in remarks which critics said ignored President Ronald Reagan's dismissal of the mounting health crisis for years.

"Because of both President and Mrs. Reagan, in particular Mrs. Reagan, we started a national conversation, when before nobody would talk about it. Nobody wanted to do anything about it," Clinton said on MSNBC on Friday, when she was in California to attend the former first lady's funeral.

Russian Jewish and Christian leaders protested Friday over a constitutional court ruling legalizing the removal of organs for transplant without the consent of relatives. 

California's senate on Thursday approved a raft of anti-smoking legislation raising the minimum age for buying cigarettes and other tobacco products from 18 to 21 and regulating e-cigarettes.

Described by senate leader Kevin De Leon as "the most expansive tobacco control legislative package in over a decade," the measures are part of a package of six bills given the green light by lawmakers.

A 66-year-old Qatari man has died after contracting the MERS virus, in the first fatal case in the Gulf state for 10 months, health officials announced Thursday.

The public health ministry, quoted by the official Qatar News Agency, said the man "had been suffering from several chronic diseases and died of complications from the disease."

The first uterus transplant to be performed in the United States failed after the recipient suffered complications that prompted doctors to remove the organ, the Cleveland Clinic said on Wednesday.

"We are saddened to share that our patient, Lindsey, recently experienced a sudden complication that led to the removal of her transplanted uterus," the hospital said in a statement that did not give the patient's last name.

Global health experts agreed Wednesday to prioritise developing vaccines against the Zika virus suspected of causing birth defects, but a Brazilian specialist warned that doing so would take at least three years.

"Perhaps in three years we will have a vaccine," Jorge Kalil, head of the Butantan Institute in Sao Paulo, told reporters in Geneva, acknowledging that even that estimate was "optimistic".