Unconscious children rushed to hospital but are now stable, weeks before new CO detector law goes into effect in Allentown
A malfunctioning heater sent a dangerously high level of carbon monoxide into a Pennsylvania daycare center early Tuesday, sickening dozens of children – some of whom were unconscious as they were rushed to the hospital – and several adults.
More than 30 people were hospitalized. All were listed in stable condition.
Continue reading...Dame Rachel de Souza says No 10’s focus on carer-to-child ratios is ‘depressing’ and now is the time to redefine childcare
The children’s commissioner for England has poured cold water on Liz Truss’s proposal to scrap regulations governing child-to-staff ratios in nurseries, describing it as tinkering around the edges and calling instead for ambitious and transformative reform of the childcare sector.
In an interview with the Guardian, Dame Rachel de Souza said children’s safety and wellbeing must be “paramount” in any plans to reform childcare and she said she thought it was “really depressing” if the current conversation about childcare focused purely on ratios.
Continue reading...Research from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation shows impact of increasing benefits in line with earnings, not inflation
At least one in five working-age families in most UK constituencies – including in Liz Truss’s seat – would lose out by hundreds of pounds on average if real-terms benefit cuts go ahead, a study has found.
The scale of the impact of a below-inflation rise on already struggling households and by extension, local shops and businesses, is revealed in a study by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF). It would amount to the biggest-ever real terms cut to benefits in a single year.
Continue reading...Analysis of budgets finds rich nations, including UK, ‘exacerbated explosion of economic inequality’
Many of the world’s poorest countries have cut health spending during the last two years, sometimes to make debt repayments to rich creditors, according to a report by Oxfam that shows inequality between rich and poor nations worsening during the coronavirus pandemic.
Analysis of national budgets across 161 nations found that despite the biggest global health emergency in a century, half of low- and lower-middle-income countries cut health spending, while almost half cut their welfare budgets and almost three-quarters cut education spending.
Continue reading...Experts say loss of 50,000 workers exposes ‘absolute crisis’ facing system still reeling from impact of Covid and Brexit
The social care workforce has shrunk for the first time in almost a decade despite rising demand and bed congestion in hospitals fuelled by a lack of care places.
England is projected to need close to 500,000 more care staff by the middle of the next decade, but last year there was a net fall in the workforce of 50,000 people, leaving about 165,000 jobs vacant, according to new figures from Skills for Care.
Continue reading...Government officials struggle to end demonstrations sparked by death in police custody of Kurdish woman
Gunshots and explosions were heard in the Iranian Kurdish city of Sanandaj on Monday as the protests over the death of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini continued to unfold across the country and for first time spread to Iran’s crucial oil industry.
Government officials are struggling to end the protests led by young Iranians, especially women, previously regarded as uninterested by politics.
Continue reading...Britain is no longer the key humanitarian player and ‘great ally’ it once was, says envoy trying to get support for Somalia’s drought
The UK has lost its leadership role in the world and is letting down its allies, a senior official in the Somali government has said.
Abdirahman Abdishakur Warsame, the presidential envoy for Somalia’s drought response, said Britain used to be second only to the US as a key player in international forums and advocacy, but has since slipped, saying that countries such as Somalia were being left without support to face “the new climate reality”.
Continue reading...Guardian analysis of hundreds of documents also finds complaints of rodents, bed bugs, overcrowding and fire safety issues
Raw sewage leaking into a living room, rodents, bed bug and mite infestations, overcrowding and fire safety issues make up just some of the complaints levelled at rogue landlords in tribunal filings in the past year.
The findings come after the Guardian analysed hundreds of documents from the first-tier property tribunal involving tenants renting house-shares of five or more people (or three or more in parts of London) sharing kitchen and bathroom facilities, known as houses of multiple occupation or HMOs.
Raw sewage leaking from a toilet and seeping through the living room ceiling, which had to be collected in plastic containers.
Multiple properties that had no fire detection system or smoke alarm; lacked an adequate central heating system; had infestations of rodents, bed bugs and pigeon mites, which were not adequately dealt with.
A London landlord renting out a property through a company the tribunal found did not exist.
A converted church rented to students was inadequately secured after a burglary and the burglar was later found to be living in the attic. At the same property, a fire took place when smoke alarms were not working.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Tory MPs warn PM she would lose vote on increasing benefits only in line with earnings rather than inflation
Liz Truss is teetering on the edge of performing another big U-turn as Tory MPs warned she would lose a vote on delivering a real-terms cut to benefits while new research showed the move could push an extra 450,000 people into poverty.
Despite desperate pleas for party unity from senior ministers after weeks of bitter infighting, the row over welfare threatened to overshadow the prime minister’s attempt to reassert her authority when the Commons returns from recess on Tuesday.
Continue reading...Exclusive: UK’s most senior female bishop calls for long-awaited white paper promising ‘bold action’
The most senior female bishop in the country has launched a scathing attack on the government, accusing it of “burying its head in the sand” over “shocking” and “rampant” health inequalities.
Dame Sarah Mullally, the bishop of London, spoke out after the Guardian reported that Thérèse Coffey was dropping the government’s long-promised white paper on health disparities.
Continue reading...Unnecessary policies and overpayments for services are draining the accounts of vulnerable customers
Elderly and vulnerable customers are being routinely overcharged by utility and insurance firms in a hidden scandal highlighted today by one of the country’s senior financial services executives. Unfair practices are putting them at risk of being unable to afford food and heating, he warns.
Michael Donald, a former director of Visa UK, said he was staggered to discover hundreds of pounds of overcharging when he carefully checked the direct debits on his 79-year-old mother’s accounts.
Continue reading...With 22 days hitting 110F or higher, suspected heat deaths in the Arizona capital topped 450
Extreme heat contributed to as many as 450 deaths in the Phoenix area this summer, in what could be the deadliest year on record for the desert city in Arizona.
The medical examiner for Maricopa county, which includes Phoenix, has so far confirmed 284 heat-related deaths, while investigations into 169 more suspected heat fatalities are ongoing. The highest number of deaths – and emergency hospital visits – coincided with the hottest days and nights.
Continue reading...Chancellor must top up budgets or face industrial action and further recruitment issues, thinktank warns
More than 100,000 public sector workers would lose their jobs this year if the government refuses to fund higher than expected pay awards for nurses, doctors, teachers and care workers, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
The IFS said the chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, faced a choice of either topping up public sector budgets or accepting the likelihood of industrial action, further problems recruiting and retaining staff, and a decline in quality of services already under extreme strain.
Continue reading...As litigation continues, abortions up to 22 weeks of pregnancy remain legal in state
The American Civil Liberties Union and other abortion rights groups have won a ruling from a lower court in Ohio that has indefinitely blocked the state’s ban on terminating pregnancies after six weeks.
In a statement released on Friday, the ACLU announced that Judge Christian Jenkins of the Hamilton county court of common pleas said that it would grant abortion providers’ and advocates’ request for a preliminary injunction against Ohio’s senate bill 23 (SB 23), a law that prohibits abortions starting at roughly a month and a half of pregnancy.
Continue reading...PM said to be planning shake-up of subsidy system whereby parents, rather than nurseries, get cash to spend as they see fit
Liz Truss is said to be considering a shake-up of the childcare subsidy system whereby parents, rather than nurseries, would be given government cash to spend as they see fit.
At present, all three and four-year-olds in England are entitled to 15 hours’ free childcare a week during term time, while some families can claim up to double that amount.
Continue reading...Campaigner against violence against women was told her views on transgender issues conflicted with its rights policies
A city council has apologised to veteran feminist and lesbian activist Julie Bindel after cancelling a talk because of “the speaker’s views on transgender rights”.
In June, Bindel was due to give a talk, organised by the Nottingham Women for Change group at Aspley library in Nottingham, one of three earmarked for closure.
Continue reading...Higher obesity risk linked to maternal diet of ultra-processed food is not affected by other lifestyle factors, US researchers say
Children of mothers who consume ultra-processed foods such as ready meals, sugary cereals and biscuits are more likely to grow up overweight or obese, a study suggests.
The link between a mother’s diet and her child’s obesity risk is independent of other lifestyle risk factors, including the child’s own consumption of ultra-processed food, according to the research. The findings are published in the BMJ.
Continue reading...Floods, militia raids and hunger mean a third of children are not in school at all, while the rest have too few teachers, aid groups warn
Nearly every school-age child in Sudan is missing out on education, either completely or facing serious disruption, aid organisations have warned.
Schools in some states reopened this week after delays due to severe flooding but millions of children are still unable to go, leaving the country facing a “generational catastrophe”.
Continue reading...PM facing fresh battle with MPs as she declines to commit to raising benefits in line with inflation
Liz Truss has refused to commit to raising benefits in line with inflation, amid a fresh battle with MPs over cuts to spending including concern from among her cabinet.
The prime minister said pensions would rise in line with inflation, having committed to the pensions “triple lock” during the leadership campaign. But she said people on welfare benefits were in a “different situation” and said they were more able to look for more work.
Continue reading...Calls for more support after England research shows those diagnosed under 65 also at greater risk
People who have recently been diagnosed with dementia, or who are diagnosed with the condition at a younger age, are among those at increased risk of suicide, researchers have found. The findings have prompted calls for greater support for those experiencing such cognitive decline.
While previous research has explored a potential link between dementia diagnosis and suicide risk, the results have been inconclusive, with some suggesting a raised risk and others a reduced risk.
•In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is at 800-273-8255 or chat for support. You can also text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis text line counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
Continue reading...