By: Andy Coghlan, 12/12/2013

The practice of feeding antibiotics to healthy farm animals to fatten them up is being phased out in the US, a move that should help quell antibiotic resistance. However, the Food and Drug Administration has been criticised for failing to make the move compulsory. Antibiotic-resistant microbes are thought to kill 23,000 Americans each year and infect 2 million. In the US, 80 per cent of the antibiotics are given to farm animals. Since resistance develops when microbes are repeatedly exposed to antibiotics, giving them to healthy animals exacerbates the problem.

The FDA, which first proposed a ban in 1977, has told pharmaceutical companies that manufacture medically important antibiotics given to animals to voluntarily withdraw them from use as growth promoters. The manufacturers have three years to change labels on the antibiotics and other antimicrobials to state that they can only be given to animals for veterinary reasons, and prescribed by a vet.

By: Tom Gardner, 12/13/2013

It's a festive scene that's adorned countless Christmas cards... and, for once, the Holy Land actually became a snow covered winter scene. The ancient city of Jerusalem, which normally basks in fierce heat, was dusted with a light covering of snow during a freak blizzard. And snow fell on the streets of Egypt for the first time in 112 years as one of the worst winter storms to hit the Middle East in living memory set in. The rare sight of pristine white precipitation greeted stunned residents of Cairo this morning who took to social media to express their shock at the unsettling weather in the usually sweltering capital.

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AP, By: Mark Scolforo, 12/15/2013

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — At this rate, the Northeast will be tired of winter before winter even arrives. Another shot of wintry weather moved through Ohio and Pennsylvania on Saturday as it headed into New England, hampering travel by car and airplane and complicating shoppers' plans less than two weeks before Christmas. Nearly a foot of snow was reported in parts of central Pennsylvania late Saturday as the sprawling storm moved into New England, where the National Weather Service warned Maine could see near-blizzard conditions Sunday due to heavy snow and strong winds before the storm moves out.

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The Huffington Post, By: Roque Planas, 12/14/2013

After more than 50 years leading the fight to legitimize attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Keith Conners could be celebrating. Severely hyperactive and impulsive children, once shunned as bad seeds, are now recognized as having a real neurological problem. Doctors and parents have largely accepted drugs like Adderall and Concerta to temper the traits of classic A.D.H.D., helping youngsters succeed in school and beyond.

But Dr. Conners did not feel triumphant this fall as he addressed a group of fellow A.D.H.D. specialists in Washington. He noted that recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that the diagnosis had been made in 15 percent of high school-age children, and that the number of children on medication for the disorder had soared to 3.5 million from 600,000 in 1990. He questioned the rising rates of diagnosis and called them “a national disaster of dangerous proportions.”

For more on this story visit www.nytimes.com