Dresden, Germany - Bird flu has returned to Germany, with the H5N1 influenza virus breaking out among farm ducks in the eastern state of Saxony, officials said Thursday.

It was the first proven appearance of the disease this year in Germany. Officials were preparing to slaughter the whole flock of ducks at Goerlitz, near the Polish border.

Phnom Penh - Sir Elton John, British superstar and heavyweight activist in the fight against HIV/AIDS, has told a US magazine he is planning a visit to Cambodia.

Sir Elton and partner David Furnish have raised more than 150 million dollars for projects to assist people living with the virus through the Elton John Aids Foundation since it was set up in 1992.

"This year, we look forward to traveling to Cambodia to visit projects in that country," Kansas City-based Camp Magazine quoted Sir Elton as telling journalist and gay rights activist Mark Segal.

At the Apollo Hospital doctors have conducted a liver transplant on a seven- month-old child Sivojit Paul from Kolkata. He was born with a rare disorder, called biliary atresia, in this condition there is no connection between the liver and the intestine to excrete the bile.

Sivojit was brought to the Indraprastha Apollo hospital when he was only six months old. The liver transplant was performed last month by a team of 20 doctors led by Dr Subhash Gupta, senior consultant with the hospital. His father Indrajit Paul, a lawer, donated his liver parts for the surgery. It was a 16-hour long surgery to give a new lease of life to Sivojit Paul. He was the youngest child to undergo such a surgery in India.

To protest the “state government’s apathy,” doctors in Maharashtra state have declared that they will go on a token strike on Friday towards their security concerns. As in the last two weeks in Malad and Chembur areas of Mumbai and at Beed and Akola in Maharashtra, four attacks have been taken place where medical practitioners have been assaulted

Doctors from IMA, General Physicians Association, Association of surgeons, Association of Medical Consultants, doctors practicing Ayurveda, Homeopathy and Unani will take out a silent march from the Government Dental College to the Collector’s office.

According to the survey released on Tuesday, on an average, families in Punjab spend 44.9% of their income on health problems and the families in Haryana spend 40% of their income on health expences.  

The survey, conducted by National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) and Max New York Life Insurance, found that "in Punjab, for an average household income of Rs.77,325, the annual health expenses are Rs.34,729, which is 44.9 percent of the income".

A recent research has shown that mentally ill people smoke more as compared to general population. This study showed that instances of smoking have been halved in general population of Australia in last 20 years but there has been no major change in smoking rates in people with psychiatric disabilities. This study was led Kristen Saxone-Moeller from the University of Melbourne's Melbourne School of Population Health.