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P&G stops selling Vicks Action 500 Extra in India after ban

U.S. consumer health giant Procter & Gamble’s India unit said on Tuesday it had stopped manufacture and sale of its cough-and-cold medicine Vicks Action 500 Extra with immediate effect, after regulators banned it citing potential health risk. The product is a fixed dose combination of paracetamol, phenylephrine and caffeine, which was banned by India’s health ministry in a notice issued over the weekend, Procter & Gamble Hygiene and Health Care Ltd informed the stock exchange. The drug was one of 344 drug combinations including several antibiotics and analgesics that India ordered to be prohibited saying a government-appointed panel of experts had found the combinations lacked “therapeutic justification.” P&G said all its products, including Vicks Action 500 Extra, were backed by research to support their quality, safety and efficacy.

Hillary Clinton to attend Nancy Reagan funeral services

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton will depart from the campaign trail on Friday to attend the funeral services of former First Lady Nancy Reagan. The campaign on Tuesday reported that Clinton, former first lady under President Bill Clinton and secretary of state under President Barack Obama, would attend the planned services in California for Reagan, who died on Sunday of congestive heart failure. (This version of the story corrects the day of Reagan's death from Monday to Sunday in the paragraph two.) (Reporting by Alana Wise)

Colombia reports more than 47,700 Zika cases

Colombia has seen more than 47,700 cases of Zika, including thousands of pregnant women infected with the mosquito-borne virus, the country's National Health Institute reported Saturday. A total of 8,890 pregnant women have come down with the disease, which has been tentatively linked to a serious birth defect known as microcephaly affecting babies born to women who became infected while pregnant. Among those, 1,237 cases were pregnant women.

U.N. plans aid for 154,000 besieged Syrians in next five days

The United Nations and partner aid organizations plan to deliver life-saving aid to 154,000 Syrians in besieged areas in the next five days, the U.N. Resident Coordinator in Damascus Yacoub El Hillo said in a statement on Sunday. Pending approval from parties to the conflict, the U.N. is ready to deliver aid to about 1.7 million people in hard-to-reach areas in the first quarter of 2016, he said. The U.N. estimates there are almost 500,000 people living under siege, out of a total 4.6 million who are hard to reach with aid, but it hopes that a cessation of hostilities that began on Friday night will bring an end to the 15 sieges.

Protesters in Flint demand new pipes in response to water crisis

More than 500 protesters led by civil rights activist Jesse Jackson marched to the Flint water plant on Friday to demand clean water and the replacement of corroding pipes in response to the city's lead contamination crisis. As a cost-cutting measure in 2014, Flint switched its water system from Detroit to a local river. The more corrosive water from the river leached lead from water system pipes, leading to high levels of lead in hundreds of homes.

China to consolidate drug market, promote traditional medicines

China plans to consolidate its huge and fragmented drug market and will support a greater role for traditional Chinese medicines (TCM), the central government said in a statement on Sunday following a meeting of the State Council. China will also strengthen safety controls and traceability of domestic drugs, the statement said, part of an ambitious program of healthcare reforms to improve home-made medicines and reduce reliance on generic and more innovative drugs from overseas. “Accelerating the development of our domestic drug industry will better serve our people's healthcare needs, help build a healthier China and unleash economic growth potential,” the statement posted on the central government website said.

France restricts blood transfusions over Zika virus

Travelers coming back from any outbreak zones of the Zika virus will need to wait at least 28 days before giving blood to avoid any risk of transmission, French Health Minister Marisol Touraine said on Sunday. Zika, which is rapidly spreading through the Americas and has been declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organisation (WHO), is primarily transmitted through mosquito bites. “Someone who comes from a zone where there is Zika can not give blood for 28 days,” Touraine said in an interview with Europe 1 radio, news channel iTele and Le Monday daily.

Dallas County reports first U.S. case of Zika virus

The first U.S. case of the Zika virus has been contracted in Dallas County, local health officials said on Tuesday, adding there are no reports of the virus being locally transmitted by mosquitoes in the Texas county. Dallas County Health and Human Services said the case in Dallas was acquired through sexual transmission, adding that it received confirmation of the infection from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. There have been six confirmed travel-related cases of Zika virus disease, all among residents of Harris County, where Houston is located, the Texas Department of State Health Services said.