The ancient practice of "swaddling" a baby in a blanket, arms restrained and legs stretched out, is making a comeback, but experts warned Tuesday it was bad for infant hips.

While many parents say the technique is soothing and aids their child's sleep, researchers underlined that links have been observed to osteoarthritis and hip replacement in middle age.

In Morocco's drug capital Tangiers, a pioneering clinic is trying to help addicts fight a rising habit in a conservative Muslim state where many would prefer the problem stay underground.

"I don't want to steal from people to get my fix," Mohammed tells a group of around 30 hard drug users who have come to the Hasnouna clinic seeking support.

Parents should limit kids' tweeting and texting and keep smartphones and laptops out of bedrooms, a pediatricans group says.

The recommendations are bound to prompt eye-rolling and laughs from many teens but the influential pediatricians group American Academy of Pediatrics says parents need to know that unrestricted media use can have serious consequences.

Turkey's Sultan Kosen, at 2.51 meters (eight foot three) the world's tallest man, has wed a Syrian woman he called the "love of my life", though he towers over his 1.75-meter bride.

"I cannot describe my feelings in words," the 31-year-old groom said during the wedding celebration in his hometown in the southeastern province of Mardin on Sunday.

An on-the-spot sputum test for tuberculosis works better than the commonly-used, 125-year-old microscope method, but did not reduce illness in a southern African trial, a study said Monday.

While the new test, dubbed Xpert MTB/RIF, diagnosed tuberculosis (TB) quicker and got people onto treatment sooner, it did not seem to change their long-term prognosis, said the study in The Lancet medical journal.

A woman in her 80s with the MERS virus has died in the Eastern Province, raising to 52 the death toll from the infection in Saudi Arabia, the health ministry announced Monday.

It said the woman, aged 83, also suffered from chronic diseases.

The European Union said Saturday it was ready to increase assistance to the World Health Organization (WHO) if an outbreak of polio is confirmed in war-ravaged Syria.

U.N. agencies are stepping up efforts to vaccinate children in Syria against a host of diseases and the WHO has received reports of 22 cases of acute flaccid paralysis (Agence France Presse), possibly caused by the poliovirus.

A Catholic bishop exposed some parishioners to hepatitis while giving communion in five different churches in late September and early October, the diocese said Friday.

Bishop John Folda said exposure to the disease was accidental in a statement apologizing to parishioners.

French lawmakers on Thursday approved a tax on energy drinks such as Red Bull over health concerns, amid growing claims that high-caffeine products are hazardous to young people.

Last month, the country's food safety agency recommended that children and teenagers avoid having popular drinks such as Red Bull, Monster and burn, and that these not be consumed with alcohol or during intense physical activity.

The Sudanese government has agreed to let United Nations workers vaccinate tens of thousands of children against polio in the violence-wracked South Kordofan and Blue Nile states, the world body said Thursday.

United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan Ali al-Zaatari said the vaccination campaign would begin on November 5.