Xu Zaozao’s case is widely followed in a country where women’s rights have become increasingly prominent
A single Chinese woman has begun an appeal in her legal battle for the right to freeze her eggs, a procedure only available in China to married couples.
Xu Zaozao took legal action in 2019 after a Beijing hospital refused to freeze her eggs but a Beijing court dismissed her case in July 2022.
Continue reading...Children’s commissioner for England calls for ‘robust’ measures in UK’s online safety bill to protect young people
England’s children’s commissioner has called for the “most robust” online protections for under-18s after publishing research examining links between sexual abuse cases and pornography.
In the second of a series of reports exploring the impact on children, Rachel de Souza said she wanted to “turn the tide on pornography’s harms to children”.
Continue reading...Measure also requires teachers to tell parents if student is trans and bars them from using bathroom matching their gender
North Dakota’s governor has signed a bill into law that allows public school teachers and state government employees to ignore the pronouns their transgender students and colleagues use, the governor’s office announced on Monday.
The new law, signed by the Republican governor, Doug Burgum, also requires teachers to tell a parent or legal guardian if the student is transgender. It also prohibits transgender students from using the appropriate bathroom without prior approval from a parent or guardian.
Continue reading...Mohamed Ahmed and Mohamed Jamal went missing last week while working to reopen a hospital in Bahri
Activists in Sudan have expressed outrage after two medical volunteers were seized from the ambulance they were driving in northern Khartoum and detained for days by army intelligence officers, as airstrikes and clashes continued across the capital.
Mohamed Ahmed and Mohamed Jamal went missing last week while working with other volunteers to reopen the Haj al-Safi hospital in Bahri, which had been forced to close amid heavy fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
Continue reading...‘Pay as you feel’ celebration in Armley, one of city’s most deprived wards, is one of more than 67,000 across bank holiday weekend
Parishioners had put out enough chairs in the grounds of Christ Church in Armley, Leeds, to seat about 80 people for their Coronation Big Lunch – but it was starting to become clear they may have underestimated.
Helped by sunny weather on Sunday, numbers were nearly twice as high, and it was not long before pews were being brought outside to seat the diverse gathering, one of more than 67,000 Big Lunches being held across the bank holiday weekend as part of the official coronation celebrations.
Continue reading...Advocates say cancellations may embolden anti-LGBTQ+ groups to target other events and state needs stronger anti-vilification laws
LGBTQ+ advocates are urging the Victorian government to do more to protect the queer community after threats from far-right groups led to five Melbourne drag events being cancelled in the past six months.
They say that while cancellations may protect people at an individual event, calling them off may embolden anti-LGBTQ+ groups to target other events.
Continue reading...Modern slavery team reveals further allegations of people being trafficked to London for body parts
The Metropolitan police is investigating more cases of organ trafficking in the UK after new victims came forward following the first conviction for the offence under modern slavery laws.
Detectives from Scotland Yard’s modern slavery and child exploitation team have said they are investigating more allegations of people being trafficked for their body parts to London and other areas of the UK.
Continue reading...Opposition leader hails ‘very, very good’ outcome of local elections after his party takes control of key councils
Keir Starmer has said the Labour party is on track to win the next general election, after taking control of key councils in the English local elections, including Medway, Plymouth and Stoke-on-Trent.
Based on results counted early on Friday morning, the Labour leader said the party was heading for a result that if repeated across the country at a general election would give it an eight-point lead over the Conservatives.
Continue reading...UN children’s agency welcomes drop in number of underage brides, but warns 12 million girls still getting married each year
The number of child marriages is declining worldwide, but at too slow a pace for any hope of eliminating the practice this century, Unicef, the UN children’s agency, has said.
In a new report, Unicef tentatively welcomed the reduction but warned that it was nowhere close to meeting its sustainable development goal of ridding the world of the practice by 2030.
Continue reading...Philip Davies lobbied culture minister to include measure after being entertained at Mayfair casino
The Conservative MP Philip Davies lobbied the government on behalf of a casino to introduce a measure that was then included in last week’s gambling white paper, it has emerged.
The MP for Shipley, in West Yorkshire, wrote in February to the culture secretary, Lucy Frazer, after being entertained at Les Ambassadeurs luxury casino in Mayfair, central London.
Continue reading...Perinatal mental health services do not meet national quality standards, report finds
Women’s lives are being put at risk by substandard mental health care during their pregnancy and in the first year after childbirth in most parts of the UK, a report has found.
About one in every five women develops a mental illness at some point during the perinatal period, the stage from pregnancy up to a year after giving birth. However, none of the health and social care boards in Northern Ireland or Wales met the national quality standards created by the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ Perinatal Quality Network (PQN).
Continue reading...Exclusive: YouGov survey in seven countries tested backing for government and individual action on crisis
Many Europeans are alarmed by the climate crisis and would willingly take personal steps and back government policies to help combat it, a survey suggests – but the more a measure would change their lifestyle, the less they support it.
The seven-country YouGov survey tested backing for state-level climate action, such as banning single-use plastics and scrapping fossil-fuel cars, and individual initiatives including buying only secondhand clothes and giving up meat and dairy products.
Continue reading...RCN leader urges health secretary to resolve ongoing pay dispute as one-day strike affects cancer and emergency care for first time
Parliamentary security guards confiscated reports and leaflets about Hong Kong from attenders of an event in Westminster in case they caused political upset, Kiran Stacey and Tom Burgis write, in a move condemned by a senior Conservative MP as “completely daft”.
Officers on the parliamentary estate forced people attending a meeting of the all-party parliamentary group on Hong Kong last Monday to hand over copies of a report by the group about press freedom there, as well as leaflets campaigning for the release of the media tycoon Jimmy Lai.
This is a culmination of our pay not reflecting the hours we are working. The last decade has made things considerably worse. Our colleagues are out in force because things have got so bad that we cannot pay our rent or our bills, we are relying on food banks.
We have spent the last few years fighting the pandemic. It matters to us and the care we provide matters to us. The fact the government are not looking at our pay has caused us to do this.
It’s a profession that I love, I love caring for people, and when I started the job it was not like this. The money was small, but it was sufficient, and we were proud of being a nurse.
The definition of nursing is about caring for people and making them comfortable if they are at the end of their lives, but how is that possible when there is one nurse having to look after 10 patients at a time because we’re short-staffed?
How am I supposed to live? If I don’t pay my council tax, they take me to court, or if I don’t pay my rent, I lose my home. At 70, I’m still working; what life is that?
They are clapping for us but refuse to pay us properly. If they (politicians) were here, I would tell them to their faces.
Continue reading...The actor, who was diagnosed aged 29, said advancing disease had caused him a string of injuries but he was still able to remain optimistic
Back to the Future star Michael J Fox described Parkinson’s as a “gift that keeps on taking” in an interview on CBS Sunday Morning, in which he described his struggles with the illness.
The 61-year-old activist and former Hollywood actor was diagnosed with young-onset Parkinson’s disease a year after Back to the Future Part III was released in 1990.
Continue reading...Nurses union head clashes with Steve Barclay over plans to protect patients and RMT rows with Mark Harper about striking on eve of Eurovision final
The Royal College of Nursing has clashed with the government over whether sufficient exemptions have been made to protect patient safety during the nurses’ strike in England that started on Sunday evening.
The clash came as a row erupted between the leader of the train drivers’ union and the transport secretary, who had criticised a planned strike on the eve of the Eurovision song contest final for its impact on Ukraine.
Continue reading...Complexity of system and perception of government handouts as ‘shameful’ stopping people from accessing much-needed support
Millions of UK households are collectively missing out on at least £19bn a year in unclaimed welfare benefits, at a time when many are forced to use food banks or run up debt as they struggle with rising living costs, according to new estimates.
Lower income households are failing to claim benefits and other cash support for which they are eligible, according to a study by the consultancy Policy in Practice. Some families could be forgoing as much as £4,000 a year.
Continue reading...Leader pledges a radical, reforming Labour government with aid to first-time buyers and a revamp of tuition fees among the party’s targets
• Read more: ‘I want Labour to be the party of home ownership,’ says Starmer
Keir Starmer today pledges to lead a radical, reforming Labour government that is bolder than Tony Blair’s on public service reform, as he announces plans to accelerate housing building and get more young people on to the property ladder.
In an interview with the Observer before Thursday’s local elections, the Labour leader insists he will more than match Blair for radical ideas on overhauling public services including the NHS. “This will be a bold and reforming Labour government bringing about real change that I hope will be felt through the generations,” Starmer said.
Continue reading...With local polls on Thursday, the Labour leader must convince voters his party can fix the Tories’ mistakes – and make bold, eye-catching pledges
• Read more: ‘I’ll be bolder than Blair on public service reform,’ says Starmer
Keir Starmer is being shown around the Royal Crown Derby factory in the east Midlands city, and the reasons for choosing the venue are clear. We are days away from crucial local elections on Thursday and the coronation of King Charles III will take place two days later.
The visit has been carefully choreographed to convey messages about respect for tradition, and how Labour has changed. A big party media team is up from London and their attention to detail is impressive – reminiscent of New Labour before the 1997 general election.
Continue reading...MP questions police response that troll who tried to have her children removed was ‘entitled’ to call her an ‘extremist’
The Labour MP Stella Creasy believes police have given online trolls “the green light to target the children of politicians” after she was subject to a baseless complaint to social services.
Creasy was investigated by her local council after it received a report from a troll who was trying to have her children taken away from her.
Continue reading...Health ministry gives green light to two-step treatment made by British pharmaceutical firm Linepharma
The abortion pill will become available in Japan for the first time after the health ministry approved a drug used to terminate early-stage pregnancies.
Abortion is legal in Japan up to 22 weeks, but consent is usually required from a spouse or partner, and until now a surgical procedure had been the only option.
Continue reading...