Two Saudis have died after contracting the MERS coronavirus, the health ministry said on Thursday, bringing the total number of fatalities from the SARS-like virus in the kingdom to 49.

A 75-year-old woman, who had suffered chronic illnesses, died in the western city of Medina, while a man, 83, who also had chronic diseases, died in the capital, the ministry website said.

Google announced Wednesday it was launching a new company focused on health and well-being, and hinted at cooperation with longtime rival Apple in the venture.

A Google statement said the company, Calico, would put a particular focus on "the challenge of aging and associated diseases."

British police chiefs proposed on Wednesday creating privately run "drunk tanks" to house revelers who drink so much they cannot look after themselves -- and they would be given a bill for their care the next day.

Adrian Lee, a chief constable who leads police policy on alcohol harm, argued that too much time is wasted by officers and health workers dealing with people who have consumed so much alcohol they require medical treatment.

Australians are known for a fondness for beer, but statistics released Wednesday put its consumption at a 66-year low and show it could soon be overtaken by wine.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics also found that Australians are drinking a little less alcohol overall.

Not only is Syrian father Motaz struggling to put food on the table, he must also pay astronomical prices to import insulin for his diabetic son because of drug shortages in the war-torn country.

Drug production in Syria has plunged ever since an uprising broke out against President Bashar Assad 30 months ago and degenerated into civil war.

For the first time, the U.S. government has estimated how many people die each year from drug-resistant bacteria.

Officials said more than 23,000 deaths and 2 million illnesses stem from germs that are hard to treat because they've become resistant to drugs.

Almost 60 children were taken to hospital in eastern India after they were mistakenly instructed to swallow a hepatitis B vaccine instead of polio drops, officials said Monday.

The children started vomiting and sweating after they were orally given hepatitis B vaccine, which is normally injected, at clinics in a village in West Bengal state on Sunday, the health officials said.

Eric Abidal said on Sunday that former Barcelona teammate Dani Alves had offered him part of his liver when he needed a transplant last year.

Abidal told Catalunya Radio that Dani Alves, who now wears Abidal's old number 22, "wanted to give me his liver, but it couldn't be" because it would have hurt the Brazil right back's ability to play. The France defender's cousin ended up donating him part of his liver.

Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG said Monday it will propose that Christoph Franz be elected its next board chairman.

The Basel, Switzerland-based company said Franz is being nominated to succeed Franz Humer in a vote at the annual shareholders' meeting in early March.

Researchers in the United States claim to have established a convincing statistical link between gun ownership and homicide, according to a study published Thursday.

The study, which appears in the American Journal of Public Health, challenges the National Rifle Association's claim that increased gun ownership does not lead to higher levels of gun violence.