Europeans face travel woes as Covid reaches Olympic Village

Europeans faced last-minute travel frustration on Saturday as the UK and France overhauled COVID-19 border restrictions to combat surging infections that threaten plans to get life back to normal.

France to require 24-hour negative COVID test for some European arrivals

France said Saturday it would require people not fully vaccinated and arriving from some European countries to show a negative COVID test taken within the previous 24 hours.

Cannabis first domesticated 12,000 years ago: study

Cannabis was first domesticated around 12,000 years ago in China, researchers found, after analyzing the genomes of plants from across the world.

California fire cancels bike ride, prompts evacuations

A rapidly growing wildfire south of Lake Tahoe forced evacuations of a mountain town and the cancellation of an extreme bike ride through the Sierra Nevada, leaving thousands of riders and spectators stranded Saturday.

Japan's Olympic security balancing act leaves few satisfied

Struggling businesses forced to temporarily shut down around Olympics venues. Olympic visitors ordered to install invasive apps and allow GPS tracking. Minders staking out hotels to keep participants from coming into contact with ordinary Japanese or visiting restaurants to sample the sushi.

Sydney tightens lockdown amid 'stubborn' outbreak

Australian authorities ordered more businesses to close Saturday along with a slew of new restrictions in the country's largest city as a weeks-long lockdown failed to quash an outbreak of COVID-19.

European nations impose incentives, penalties to boost shots

European nations are scrambling to ramp up vaccination drives, using a carrot-and-stick approach to persuade the reluctant to get their shots as the more transmissible delta variant drives a surge in infections.

Thailand tightens measures as daily cases cross 10,000

Thailand has tightened coronavirus restrictions and warned of further measures as daily cases surpassed 10,000 and the death toll hit a record 141 on Saturday despite an overnight curfew in Bangkok and several other provinces.

First vaccinations given in Haiti since start of pandemic

Health care workers and senior citizens were the first people vaccinated on Friday in Haiti as part of a test run after the country recently received 500,000 doses from the United Nations.

Experts: Europe floods shows need to curb emissions, adapt

Just as the European Union was announcing plans to spend billions of euros to contain climate change, massive clouds gathered over Germany and nearby nations to unleash an unprecedented storm that left death and destruction in its wake.

New Merck pneumonia vaccine OK'd in US weeks after Pfizer's

U.S. regulators have approved a new pneumonia vaccine from Merck, more than a month after OK'ing an improved version of rival Pfizer's shot.

Erratic Oregon wildfire destroys dozens of homes, expands

Firefighters scrambled Friday to control a raging inferno in southeastern Oregon that's spreading miles a day in windy conditions, one of numerous wildfires across the U.S. West that are straining resources.

New score measures health-related quality of life in patients with kidney failure

Results from a new study support the validity of a score that considers various patient-reported measures and preferences for assessing health-related quality of life and promoting patient-centered care in individuals with kidney failure. The study appears in an upcoming issue of CJASN.

Dapagliflozin found effective and safe in adults with advanced kidney disease

Studies have shown that diabetes drugs called sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors can provide kidney- and cardiovascular-related benefits to individuals with or without diabetes and with or without impaired kidney function. An analysis appearing in an upcoming issue of JASN now provides insights about the efficacy and safety of SGLT2 inhibitors in people with advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD), an especially vulnerable population.