PA MediaTemperatures have dropped as colder arctic air spreads across the UK, with amber cold weather health alerts in place ahead of a weekend of snow forecast for much of the country.

Stuart Woodward/BBCVisits have been severely restricted at a hospital battling a surge in flu cases.

Getty ImagesThe proportion of patients diagnosed with cancer at an early stage has risen to its highest level on record, NHS figures in England show.

Officials in other countries are warning about the health hazards of alcohol in any amount. Americans are still told that moderate drinking is safe. What gives?A report that is intended to shape the next edition of the U.S. Dietary Guidelines has broken sharply with an emerging scientific consensus that alcohol has no health benefits.The evidence review, by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in December, revived a once-dominant hypothesis that moderate drinking is linked to fewer heart attack and stroke deaths, and fewer deaths overall, compared with never drinking.Many scientists now take issue with that view. And some fear that, based on the new analysis, the influential dietary guidelines may fail to address recent research into the harms of drinking.The guidelines are revised once every five years, and there have been growing concerns about rising alcohol consumption in the United States in recent decades.“This report is a thinly veiled effort to undo the growing evidence that alcohol causes cancer and is increasingly associated with serious health outcomes,” said Diane Riibe, who co-founded the U.S. Alcohol Policy Alliance, a nonprofit focused on the harms of alcohol.The report did note a small but significantly heightened risk of breast cancer associated with moderate drinking, but said there wasn’t enough evidence to link moderate consumption to other cancers. The National Cancer Institute, among other scientific bodies, disagrees.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

Passengers on several of the carrier’s flights said the biting pests were on seats, blankets and in overhead bins and that the airline did not take action.Shortly after boarding her Turkish Airlines flight from Johannesburg to Istanbul last March, Patience Titcombe, 36, from Phoenix, noticed a small bug crawling on her seat when she got up to use the restroom.“I almost flicked it away,” she said, “But my friend stopped me and said, ‘That’s a bedbug.’” Ms. Titcombe, who had experience with the bugs when she lived in Philadelphia, realized her friend was right and photographed the bug on her seat.She then called over the flight attendant, who disposed of the bug. When Ms. Titcombe and her friend confronted the flight attendant about its being a bedbug, she said, the attendant dismissed their concern.“I had to strip down at the airport and change clothes because I have kids — what if I brought bedbugs home?” Ms. Titcombe said. She said her complaints to Turkish Airlines after her flight were met with denials, despite her photographic evidence. After posting about her experience on multiple social media channels, Ms. Titcombe said other users in a Facebook travel group reported similar experiences.Patience Titcombe photographed this bug on her Turkish Airlines flight from Johannesburg to Istanbul and says the airline dismissed her concerns. Patience TitcombeIn October, two other travelers said they encountered bedbugs on the airline’s flights. On Oct. 5, Matthew Myers and his girlfriend were flying from Istanbul to San Francisco when Mr. Myers, 28, from San Francisco, said the passenger seated next to him tapped him on the shoulder to show him there were bedbugs on the seats and falling from the ceiling. Mr. Myers said he saw bugs fall onto the person’s lap. “Multiple passengers were asking to move seats after discovering bugs,” Mr. Myers said. According to his account, one passenger relocated to the flight attendant jump seat when bugs were seen falling from the ceiling. He said a flight attendant told the passengers she had filed an official complaint during the flight.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

We asked researchers, couples counselors and sex therapists for some simple strategies to strengthen your romantic relationship in 2025.Traditional New Year’s health resolutions can feel punishing: Eat better, drink less, hit the gym. Worthy goals … but also, kind of a drag.The good news? Relationships have a big effect on health and happiness, too. So in 2025, why not focus on a different wellness goal: Give your romantic life a little T.L.C.Well reached out to couples counselors, sex therapists and relationship researchers and asked a simple question: What is one resolution you recommend for couples looking to experience greater connection and intimacy in the coming year?1. Cultivate curiosity.Approaching your partner with a sense of curiosity can help you learn new things about who they are — and open up conversations you’ve never had before — even if you’ve been together for years, said Justin Garcia, executive director at the Kinsey Institute, the sexuality and relationships research center at Indiana University.“Curiosity is a powerful, powerful tonic — that we should all invest in more,” Dr. Garcia said. It sends an irresistible message: I am interested in you.One simple way to foster a more curious mind-set within your relationship is to ask your partner something new every week or so, he suggested.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

Getty ImagesWelsh ambulance service chiefs have urged the public to “drink sensibly” at New Year to help reduce demand on emergency services that suffered a 340-call backlog on Monday.

Getty ImagesOlympic gold-medallist Dame Laura Kenny is Britain’s most successful female athlete. She has two young boys but also had a miscarriage and an ectopic pregnancy, and has always wondered if the physical toll of elite sport had damaged her fertility. The BBC News Health team has investigated.

TEAM MIKAYLAA teenager who has lived with cancer since she was four has been recognised in the New Year Honours List for raising money for other children with the disease.

Getty ImagesMyleene Klass has been recognised in this year’s New Year Honours for services to women’s health, miscarriage awareness and to charity.