Health

Intense smoke blanketed the northeastern United States for a second day Wednesday, turning the air a yellowish gray and prompting warnings for people to stay inside and keep windows closed.

WASHINGTON — A hazy, acrid shroud lingered over some of America's largest cities Wednesday as Canadian wildfire smoke continued to drift south, touching off "code red" air quality alerts from Massachusetts to North Carolina.

SURREY, B.C. — British Columbia's health minister acknowledged that chronic issues of overcrowding and staffing level concerns at one of the province's largest hospitals are leading to people becoming aggressive over patient care.

Quebec has adopted a new law that expands access to medical aid in dying and allows early requests for the procedure.

A growing shortage of common cancer treatments is forcing doctors to switch medications and delaying some care, prominent U.S. cancer centers say.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Most transplanted hearts are from donors who are brain dead, but new research shows a different approach can be just as successful and boost the number of available organs.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.

LONDON (AP) — Pope Francis emerged from a three-hour abdominal surgery at a Rome hospital on Wednesday evening, with no known complications, the Vatican said.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.

Pope Francis has had three hospitalizations since he was elected pope in 2013, and underwent major surgery as a young man to have part of one lung removed.