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the-government

Chelsea Manning announces hunger strike over treatment in prison

U.S. soldier Chelsea Manning, serving a 35-year prison term for passing classified files to WikiLeaks, said on Friday that she would refuse to eat until given help for her gender dysphoria and “treated with dignity, respect and humanity” by the government. The 28-year-old Army private, who was born male but revealed after being convicted of espionage that she identifies as a woman, tried to commit suicide in July over what her representatives said was the government's denial of appropriate treatment for those gender issues. The Army announced later that month that it would investigate Manning for misconduct in connection with the attempt to take her own life, a probe that could lead to indefinite solitary confinement, reclassification into maximum security or additional prison time.

UK urges pregnant women to reconsider travel to Zika-hit Florida

British health officials have urged pregnant women to consider postponing non-essential travel to Florida after the southern U.S. state confirmed the first cases of the Zika virus that were not linked to travel. Florida, a popular holiday destination for Britons, reported four cases of local transmission on Friday. “Pregnant women should consider postponing non-essential travel to affected areas until after the pregnancy,” Public Health England, the government’s public health agency, said.

U.S. prosecutors launch review of failed FedEx drug case

SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Justice has begun a rare internal examination of what went wrong in the prosecution of a controversial drug conspiracy case against delivery service Federal Express , the department's top prosecutor in San Francisco told Reuters. The review plays into a broader debate about how the government prosecutes suspected corporate wrongdoing and could influence its approach to such cases in the future. Prosecutors obtained a grand jury indictment against FedEx in 2014 on charges the courier service had knowingly helped Internet pharmacies ship illegal pills.

Guinea-Bissau records first three cases of Zika

Guinea-Bissau has recorded three cases of Zika, becoming the second country in West Africa where the dangerous viral disease has been detected, the government said on Saturday. “Three cases of contamination by Zika virus have been confirmed,” a statement quoted Health Minister Domingos Malu as saying. The cases occurred in the Bijagos archipelago, a group of 88 islands of which 23 are inhabited, Malu told a cabinet meeting on Friday.

Tanzania’s new president sacks hospital chief after surprise inspection

Tanzania’s new president sacked the head of the main state hospital after finding patients sleeping on the floor during a surprise visit, his office said. President John Magufuli also broke up the governing board at Muhimbili National Hospital after discovering the main scanning and diagnostic machines were not working and seeing other poor conditions on Monday, the presidency added. “The president is trying to send a message that times have changed … It’s not business as usual … It’s all about delivery – the government has to deliver for the people,” the chief secretary at the president’s office, Ombeni Sefue, said.

Europe’s tuberculosis hub Britain seeks to wipe out the disease

By Kate Kelland LONDON (Reuters) – Health authorities launched an 11.5 million pounds plan on Monday to tackle Britain's persistent tuberculosis (TB) problem, seeking to wipe the contagious lung disease out altogether. Britain has one of the highest TB rates in western Europe and London is known as the continent's “TB capital”. If current trends continue, England alone will have more TB cases than the whole of the U.S. in two years. “TB should be consigned to the past, and yet it is occurring in England at higher rates than most of Western Europe,” said Paul Cosford, a director at the government's health agency, Public Health England (PHE).

5 things to look for as govt writes new dietary advice

WASHINGTON (AP) — You’ve heard it before: Eat fewer calories, more fruits and more vegetables. Those recurring themes as well as some new advice about sugar, salt, meat and caffeine could be part of the government’s upcoming dietary guidelines for healthy eating.