Legislators in the U.S. state of Vermont approved a "death-with-dignity" bill Monday enabling terminally ill patients to take their own lives with lethal medication requested from their doctors.

The liberal-minded rural New England state becomes the third in the nation, after Oregon and Washington, to allow doctor-assisted suicide -- but the first to do so by legislative process rather than a voter-initiated referendum.

Panic gripped Saudis in the country's east on Monday, where most cases of the deadly coronavirus have been detected, witnesses said, as the death toll from the SARS-like virus in the kingdom hit 15.

Scores of people have reported to the emergency services at hospitals in the city of Al-Ahsa in Eastern Province, after showing even the slightest signs of a fever.

Two respiratory viruses in different parts of the world have captured the attention of global health officials — a novel coronavirus in the Middle East and a new bird flu spreading in China.

Last week, the coronavirus related to SARS spread to France, where one patient who probably caught the disease in Dubai infected his hospital roommate. Officials are now trying to track down everyone who went on a tour group holiday to Dubai with the first patient as well as all contacts of the second patient. Since it was first spotted last year, the new coronavirus has infected 34 people, killing 18 of them. Nearly all had some connection to the Middle East.

He's less than two weeks old, but he has the telltale signs of a baby in pain: a sore on his chin where he's rubbed the skin raw, along with a scratch on his cheek. He suffers from so many tremors that nurses watch him around the clock in case he starts seizing — or stops breathing.

The baby is one of many infants born dependent on drugs. He is being treated at East Tennessee Children's Hospital in Knoxville, where doctors and nurses are on the front lines fighting the nation's prescription drug epidemic. Drug abuse in the state is ranked among the nation's highest, according to some estimates.

Separate studies of the human genome have found tantalising clues to the inherited causes of testicular cancer and non-inherited causes of congenital heart disease, journals reported on Sunday.

University of Pennsylvania researchers looked at the DNA of more than 13,000 men, comparing the DNA code of those with testicular cancer -- the commonest form of cancer diagnosed among young men today -- against men who were otherwise healthy.

Fifteen people in Saudi Arabia have died from a SARS-like virus out of 24 people who contracted it since last August, Health Minister Abdullah al-Rabia said on Sunday.

"The number of people who contracted the virus in the kingdom since August/September is 24, of whom 15 have died," Rabia told a news conference in Riyadh.

France's health minister says tests on three suspected cases of a deadly new respiratory virus related to SARS are negative — but a fourth needs complementary tests and a fifth suspected case has been discovered.

Marisol Touraine said test results of the two remaining suspicious cases — people who had close contact with France's only confirmed case — should be known later Saturday.

The Food and Drug Administration says it has approved a new once-a-day inhaler drug from GlaxoSmithKline for patients with chronic lung disease.

The agency cleared the Breo Ellipta inhaler for long-term use and to control flare-ups in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, often called smoker's cough. The lung ailment can cause a number of breathing problems, including chronic bronchitis and emphysema.

A new report says 200 people reported food poisoning symptoms after dining at one of Las Vegas' most popular restaurants.

Southern Nevada Health District data released Friday show the salmonella outbreak at the Firefly restaurant in late April was more extensive than previously thought. An earlier report showed nearly 90 people sick.

A California woman who slapped a police officer to get arrested got her wish to go to jail in hopes she can quit smoking there.

Etta Mae Lopez pleaded no contest Thursday to smacking Sacramento County sheriff's Deputy Matt Campoy earlier this week after he left the main jail at the end of his shift.