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No evidence that $50 million was designated by the US to buy condoms for Hamas

During a signing ceremony Wednesday for the Laken Riley Act, President Donald Trump claimed that his administration had "identified and stopped $50 million being sent to Gaza to buy condoms for Hamas."

Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, made a similar claim on Tuesday during her debut press briefing, stating that the Department of Government Efficiency and the Office of Management and Budget "found that there was about to be 50 million taxpayer dollars that went out the door to fund condoms in Gaza." She called the alleged aid "a preposterous waste of taxpayer money." But there's no credible evidence to support these claims.

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The Ebola virus: Profile of a dreaded killer

The highly contagious Ebola virus has claimed more than 15,000 lives since it was first identified in central Africa in 1976.

More than three-quarters of those deaths occurred during a brutal outbreak in west Africa which began a decade ago, originating in Guinea before spreading to Liberia and Sierra Leone.

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Tips on overcoming the loss of cherished, personal belongings in disasters

Losing important sentimental belongings — those items that represented who you are — can be traumatic for those who go through disasters that destroy homes. Some tips on how to get through it, emotionally and practically:

Soothe yourself, and be patient

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Screen breaks, right desk setup offer relief from work-related eye strain

The trouble started every day at around 3 p.m., after Cathy Higgins had spent five or six hours staring at an array of computer screens at her desk. Her university job overseeing research projects involved peering closely at numbers and details on contracts, applications and budgets.

"My vision was so blurry, I couldn't even see what was on the screen, and I was squinting so much that I could not function," Higgins said.

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Trump signs order to pull US from WHO, citing funding disparities

U.S. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order directing the United States to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO), a body he has repeatedly criticized over its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Speaking at the White House hours after his inauguration, Trump said the United States was paying far more to the UN body compared to China, adding: "World Health ripped us off."

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Report: Patients dying in corridors as UK hospital standards collapse

UK patients are "coming to harm" with hospitals so overwhelmed people are dying in corridors awaiting treatment amid a "collapse in care standards", a report said Thursday.

In the latest indictment of Britain's beleaguered state-funded National Health Service, nine in 10 NHS nurses surveyed by the country's nurses union said "patient safety is being compromised".

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Musk says third patient got Neuralink brain implant

Elon Musk said a third person has received an implant from his brain-computer interface company Neuralink, one of many groups working to connect the nervous system to machines.

"We've got ... three humans with Neuralinks and all are working well," he said during a wide-ranging interview at a Las Vegas event streamed on his social media platform X.

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Belgium becomes first EU country to ban disposable e-cigarettes

Wildly popular with young people for their dizzying array of flavors, including apple, watermelon and cola, the time is up for disposable e-cigarettes in Belgium -- the first EU country to ban them.

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WHO chief says he was at Yemen airport as Israeli bombs fell nearby

The head of the U.N. health agency says he and his team were about to board a flight in Yemen’s rebel-held capital Sanaa when the airport came under aerial bombardment.

“The air traffic control tower, the departure lounge — just a few meters (yards) from where we were — and the runway were damaged,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a post on X.

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California declares emergency over bird flu

California officials have declared a state of emergency over the spread of bird flu, which is tearing through dairy cows in that state and causing sporadic illnesses in people in the U.S.

That raises new questions about the virus, which has spread for years in wild birds, commercial poultry and many mammal species.

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