Institute of Cancer Research in London isolates gene that allows tumours to spread through the body
Skin cancer cells produce “molecular drills” to penetrate healthy tissues and spread around the body, according to research that raises the prospect of new therapies for the disease.
Researchers used robotic microscopy to capture the formation of the drills by melanoma cells that were being grown in 3D skin-like material in the laboratory.
Continue reading...Outage that affected services across system may not be fully resolved until next week, says IT provider
Ministers are working to coordinate a “resilience response” after a cyber-attack caused a significant outage across the NHS computer system.
The outage affected services across the system such as patient referrals, ambulances being dispatched, out-of-hours appointment bookings, and emergency prescriptions.
Continue reading...Independent review recommends home buybacks for NSW flood victims. This blog is now closed
NSW residents warned to avoid fire in Croydon and Ashfield
Fire and Rescue NSW is advising residents living near a structural fire in Croydon and Ashfield to stay inside and avoid the area.
Continue reading...Music festival organisers say they are notifying patrons after two infections reported in people who visited Byron Bay site
Authorities have told people who attended Splendour in the Grass to be on alert for symptoms of meningococcal disease, after reporting that one man who attended the festival had since died of the disease.
Two cases of meningococcal have been confirmed in people who attended the Byron Bay music festival, including the man in his 40s from Sydney, who died this week.
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Continue reading...Lawyers had requested that 12-year-old be moved from Royal London hospital to spend his last moments in private
A ruling on whether 12-year-old Archie Battersbee can be moved from hospital to a hospice to die is expected at the high court on Friday morning.
Lawyers for the boy’s family took part in an hours-long legal hearing on Thursday, with the court in London sitting until late in the evening.
Continue reading...The parliament will sit at 9am – once the morning proceedings are done, it will be into the climate bill – people are getting ready to head to the galleries to watch it pass the house.
It has been a very, very long decade. There are a lot of people who need to see this, even if there is still a very, very long way for us to go to actually start acting.
The inclusion of an Objects clause that addresses targets, accountability, expert advice and the need for climate action in line with the science makes it clear that this is the beginning of a new era in Australia,” Chaney said in a statement.
Continue reading...Jab will be prioritised for at-risk groups including gay and bisexual men – especially those who travel
The Australian government has bought 450,000 doses of the monkeypox vaccine, including 22,000 that will arrive this week and next.
The third-generation Bavarian-Nordic vaccine will be prioritised for at-risk groups including gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men, especially those travelling to countries with a significant outbreak.
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Continue reading...Study finds reduced risk of cervical cancer recurring after HPV vaccination post-surgery, though further research is needed
Giving women the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine when precancerous lesions are removed from their cervix may cut the risk of cells recurring and them getting cervical cancer, a study has found.
Cases of cervical cancer in the UK have fallen hugely since school pupils aged 13 and 14 – first girls and later boys – began being offered HPV jabs in 2008 as protection against the disease.
Continue reading...Defence review to be announced
The government is announcing a defence force review today, which it wants completed in about six months. Is this in response to China?
It’s because we need an ADF that is well-positioned to meet our security challenges over the next decade and beyond.
And we have inherited, as you all know, some real capability issues, some of which have been well publicised in the media. It is important that we look at how we ensure the Australian defence force can meet our security challenges, not just now, but in the years ahead. So, you know, I welcomed this and the prime minister and the defence minister will be having – we’ll have more details about this later today.
Continue reading...Lawsuit is DoJ’s first piece of litigation aimed at protecting abortion access since the supreme court overturned Roe v Wade
The Biden administration’s Department of Justice is suing Idaho over the state’s near-total abortion ban, set to take effect on 25 August.
The lawsuit is the justice department’s first piece of litigation aimed at protecting abortion access since the US supreme court in June overturned the landmark Roe v Wade decision that established federal abortion rights nearly 50 years earlier.
Continue reading...The resources minister, Madeleine King, has taken the first step in reining in the big three LNG exporters by ‘triggering the trigger’
Labor unlikely to extend the fuel excise cut
Asked about the fuel excise in that same interview, Jim Chalmers said:
I’ve been really upfront with people, Charles, for some time now – before the election, during the election and after the election – and pointed out that extending that would cost some billions of dollars and the budget can’t afford that. We’ve inherited a budget which is absolutely heaving with a trillion dollars in Liberal party debt. And when interest rates are rising, it actually costs more and more to service that debt.
The fastest-growing area of government spending in the budget is actually servicing the debt that we’ve inherited because, as interest rates rise, it becomes more expensive to pay that back. So every dollar borrowed, whether it’s by our predecessors or by the new government costs more to pay back and we need to be conscious about that. We need to be responsible about that and upfront about that. And that’s what we’re being.
This isn’t about any one individual. This is about a difficult day for Australians with a mortgage, another difficult day I think everybody is bracing for the interest rate rise that the governor and the Reserve Bank board has flagged.
These decisions are taken independently by the Reserve Bank, by its board and by its governor. People are expecting this outcome today. But it won’t make it any easier.
Continue reading...Committee calls for licensing regime and warns non-surgical cosmetic procedures like anti-ageing fillers can be risky
Vulnerable people worried about their appearance are being exploited by unregulated clinics offering potentially dangerous cosmetic procedures, MPs have warned.
A rise in body image dissatisfaction, driven by social media and unscrupulous advertising, has fuelled the growth of an industry that promises to change how people look using lasers, injections of anti-ageing fillers, chemical peels and other non-surgical procedures.
Continue reading...Former paediatric neurologist was speaking about the risk of long Covid when opposition MPs, most of whom were not wearing masks, interjected
Independent MP Monique Ryan, a former paediatric neurologist, has rebuked Coalition MPs for not wearing masks in the House of Representatives.
Ryan, who unseated Josh Frydenberg from his inner Melbourne seat of Kooyong at the May election, was heckled from the Coalition benches after she asked the health minister, Mark Butler, about how the government planned to manage the looming burden of long Covid.
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Continue reading...The housing minister, Julie Collins, says Australia’s rate of homelessness is “unacceptable”, as she promises a greater leadership role from the federal government in the sector.
Australia today marks the beginning of Homelessness Week, with social agencies calling on governments nationwide to do more to address housing and rental affordability, as well as the underlying factors contributing to homelessness.
Our reforms aim to ensure every Australian has access to safe and affordable housing to improve social and economic outcomes for all Australians, including those at risk of, or experiencing, homelessness,” she said on Monday.
According to the 2016 Census, in Australia there are over 116,000 people experiencing homelessness, and this figure is unacceptable.”
We all need to be heading in the same direction.
We need to be ambitious ... we all need to be working together to solve the housing affordability issues we have.
What’s happened is the states and territories have been doing their own thing and I don’t think there’s been enough national leadership.
In its gas inquiry 2017-2025 interim report released on Monday, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said the east coast gas market is facing a gas shortfall of 56 petajoules in 2023.
This gap is about 10% of annual domestic demand, ‘signifying a substantial risk to Australia’s energy security’, the report says.
Continue reading...Breaking down the data: which demographic groups have suffered the most and the least
Continue reading...Increased workloads, class sizes, low pay and Covid legacy are leading to more absences and an exodus of staff
Teachers have spent at least 1.5 million days off work owing to stress and mental health issues, new figures have revealed, amid continued concerns over the increasing pressures they are facing in the classroom.
With long-running concerns about workloads and growing class sizes, new data seen by the Observer suggests that the number of days lost to mental health issues in some council-controlled schools in England and Wales has increased by 7% from the previous year. It is also up by almost a fifth compared to three years ago.
Continue reading...Health minister says real number of infections twice what is known, as one in 12 public hospital beds is filled by a Covid patient
Australia is getting closer to chalking up 12,000 Covid-related fatalities, as one in 12 public hospital beds across Australia is filled by someone with the virus.
The nation has recorded three straight days of 100-plus deaths related to the virus.
Continue reading...Woman was reportedly handed information from the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children at London clinic
A pregnant woman who told her GP she was considering having an abortion says she was left “shocked and traumatised” after being given a leaflet for an anti-abortion group.
The woman, 38, says she was seeking treatment for a bladder problem on 19 July when a doctor at All Saints Medical Centre in Plumstead, south-east London, asked whether she was pregnant.
Continue reading...Employment conditions can tie staff to roles for up to five years and impose fees of £14,000 for an early return home
• Trapped and destitute: how foreign nurses’ dreams turned sour
The NHS must halt the use of “repayment clauses” in contracts for international healthcare workers, MPs have said.
Members of the Commons health and social care committee came to this finding after an Observer investigation in March revealed how some workers were being forced to pay thousands of pounds if they wish to quit their jobs before their agreed contract ends. Widely used in both the private health and social care sector and in the NHS, the clauses are designed to help with retention of workers and recouping costs associated with overseas recruitment.
Continue reading...Anthony Albanese announces draft wording of referendum question in Garma festival speech. This blog is now closed
AFP says reports of human trafficking and slavery reach highest ever level
Reports of human trafficking and slavery to the AFP have increased to their “highest ever reported”, according to new data released today.
This is the first time in Australia’s history where the uptake of a unified training and awareness-raising protocol to combat human trafficking and slavery will be delivered across all frontline agencies and jurisdictions.
This represents a critical step to addressing the scourge of human trafficking in the Australian community and it’s a job the AFP and our partners will work together to combat.
Dr Khorshid was elected AMA president during the first peak of the pandemic and quickly became the voice of reason, of calm and of urgency when needed – lobbying government, and fronting the media, along with hard-working vice-president Dr Chris Moy, to send clear messages about the pandemic.
His leadership was particularly critical during the early stages when there was no vaccine, and the focus was on implementing effective public health measures to ensure the safety of the community and healthcare workers.
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