Hong Kong - Live chicken sales are to resume in Hong Kong, three weeks after a bird flu outbreak that led to the slaughter of tens of thousands of birds, officials said Monday.

Imports of live chickens from mainland China will restart and markets will be able to sell live poultry from Tuesday morning, the territory's government announced.

The resumption of live chicken sales comes after the most severe bird flu scare to hit the city of 6.9 million in recent years, triggered by an outbreak on a chicken farm on December 9.

Beijing - China's first face transplant patient, who was the world's second person to undergo such surgery, has died in the south- western province of Yunnan, local media said on Sunday.

The death of Li Guoxing, 32, was apparently unrelated to his surgery, reported the Chuncheng Wanbao (Spring City Evening News), based in the provincial capital of Kunming.

The cause and date of death remained unclear, but there was speculation that his death could be linked to his reported refusal to continue taking drugs to suppress his immune system.

New York  - The United Nations on Friday said the number of deaths in Zimbabwe had increased as new outbreaks of cholera were reported in the capital Harare and other cities.

More than 20,800 people were infected and more than 1,100 deaths were reported since September, the UN office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs in New York said.

Washington, Dec 15 : A new study has shown that regular, moderate exercise may help relieve the symptoms of peripheral artery disease (PAD), via some unexpected mechanisms.

PAD is characterised by dangerous deposits of fatty plaques in arteries resulting from poor diet and lack of exercise. However, the disease not only affects the heart, but also blocks the blood flow to the legs, leading to pain when walking, immobility and even in extreme cases, amputation.

Washington, Dec 15 : A new study has shown that there''s an independent relationship between the intensity of snoring sounds and sleepiness.

The study showed that objectively measured snoring intensity is directly linked to subjective sleepiness independent of the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) in patients with moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).

The study is the first to use polysomnography and sound measurements to demonstrate the relationship between snoring sounds and sleepiness.

It has revealed that the sound intensity of objectively measured snoring in patients with OSA is independently correlated with subjective sleepiness as measured by the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS).

Hanoi - Accidental injury is a leading cause of death among children in underdeveloped countries, killing some 2,000 children every day, according to a UN report released Wednesday.

But the report says efforts to reduce injuries among children are underfunded and have been too often ignored.

The report, released by the World Health Organization and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) at a press conference in Hanoi, uses Vietnam as an example of how efforts to prevent injuries in children can be unexpectedly complex.