Medical and police authorities are launching a major international probe into the illegal trafficking in human organs for transplants, to help clamp down on the crime, one of the researchers said Thursday.

Frederike Ambagtsheer, of the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, said a three-year probe now aims to map out the trade and the involvement of criminals in the trafficking.

A fresh outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in central Uganda has killed at least two people, the health minister said Thursday.

The virus has killed two members of the same family since Saturday about 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the capital Kampala, Health Minister Christine Ondoa said.

Researchers said Thursday they have found evidence that Vitamin D supplements for pregnant women in the world's colder, darker countries may stave off multiple sclerosis (MS) in their offspring.

The finding adds to a growing body of work showing a link between low Vitamin D levels and the debilitating disease, which sees the immune system attacking the body's own nerve fibers.

A major international aid fund has accused Cambodia of "serious" corruption in the use of money intended to combat malaria and other life-threatening diseases.

The U.N.-backed Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria said a probe into the use of grants "uncovered credible and substantive evidence of serious financial wrongdoing, on procurement and other issues".

In a breakthrough for the fight against meningitis in poor countries, researchers say the WHO has ruled that a key vaccine can be transported or stored for up to four days without refrigeration.

The previously-approved vaccine is aimed at helping in the so-called "Meningitis Belt," which stretches across the African Sahel from Senegal to Ethiopia, where epidemics of the deadly infection regularly break out.

Scientists said Wednesday they had laid bare the genetic code of the pig, revealing that besides providing ham, bacon and sausages, the domestic swine may also be useful in fighting human diseases.

Pigs and humans share 112 DNA mutations which in Man have been linked to obesity, diabetes, dyslexia, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, a team from the United States and Europe found.

The French Senate approved Wednesday the so-called Nutella amendment that would quadruple the tax on palm oil, a key ingredient in the chocolate spread, to discourage consumption of the oil rich in saturated fat.

The amendment which would take the tax on palm oil from around 100 euros ($128) now to 400 euros was approved by a vote of 212 to 133 despite protests from major palm producing nations Malaysia and Ivory Coast.

Ireland's tough abortion laws came under fire on Wednesday following the death of an Indian woman who was allegedly refused a termination after doctors told her it was a Catholic country.

Prime Minister Enda Kenny told lawmakers he was awaiting the results of two investigations of the death of Savita Halappanavar, who is originally from India, at University Hospital Galway in western Ireland.

The United Nations says access to contraception is a universal human right that could dramatically improve the lives of women and children in poor countries.

It is the first time the U.N. Population Fund's annual report explicitly describes family planning as a human right.

Obese African American heart patients who regularly practice transcendental meditation are 48 percent less likely to suffer a heart attack, stroke or die, a new study found Tuesday.

Regular meditation also lowered blood pressure and reduced stress levels, while greater time spent meditating was associated with longer survival, according to the research published in the American Heart Association journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.