Hong Kong - Australian visitors were warned Wednesday about Hong Kong's poor air quality in a travel alert issued by the Canberra government.

The alert warned that levels of air pollution "may aggravate bronchial, sinus or asthma conditions" and says people with heart or respiratory illnesses should take precautions.

It urges visitors with pre-existing conditions to reduce physical activity and outdoor activity on days when air pollution readings are high in the densely populated high-rise city of 7 million.

Singapore - Singapore's parliament passed controversial legislation which allows reimbursement of living organ donors, media reports said Wednesday.

After a heated two-day debate, in which some legislators raised concerns that the new law might lead to open organ trading, four of the 84 members of parliament abstained the final vote and one voted against, the Straits Times newspaper reported.

Eighty-two legislators in Singapore's parliament are from the People's Action Party, which has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965.

Valencia, Spain - A 39-year-old Spanish former breast cancer patient will become the world's first woman to give birth to twins after receiving a transplant of her own ovarian tissue, officials said Tuesday in the eastern city of Valencia.

Women who are treated with chemotherapy or radiotherapy often experience precocious ovarian failure, health official Manuel Cervera explained.

Washington, Mar 24 : In a breakthrough study, researchers have developed a new stem cell therapy that may help in treating hearing impairment.

Deafness typically involves the loss of sensory receptors, called hair cells, for their "tufts" of hair-like protrusions, and their associated neurons.

Washington, Mar 24 : A new study led by the University of Leicester and Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust has revealed that people with memory problems are less at risk of developing dementia than previously thought.

The five-year study analysed data from 41 studies and dovetails with a Government focus to establish memory clinics in every town in the UK.