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...Hospitals chief says action ‘will pile even more pressure’ on already overstretched services and calls for talks
Ambulance staff in the south-east of England are to strike over pay for the second time on Tuesday, prompting warnings from hospital bosses of further pressure on overstretched emergency services.
Members of the Unite trade union employed by two ambulance trusts are striking after rejecting the government’s pay offer of a lump sum cash payment for 2022-23 and a below inflation increase of 5% for 2023-24.
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...Advocates say people on student visas, who are initially ineligible for reproductive healthcare, risk dropping out if they fall pregnant
International students are being denied pregnancy care, leading to them dropping out of university, having “reluctant abortions”, and or undertaking sex work to pay for antenatal care, advocates say.
Those on student visas are not eligible for Medicare and instead must take out overseas student health cover (OSHC). The terms of that cover – agreed via a deed between the federal government and insurers – exclude any pregnancy care for the first year.
Continue reading...Victorian capital’s CBD recorded most fatal heroin overdoses in country between 2020 and 2022, with 12,000 syringe kits now handed out each month
Stronger heroin on the streets of Melbourne is resulting in a spike in overdoses in the CBD, with community health organisations saying they are buckling under the increased strain.
The most recent data from the Victorian coroner’s court shows between July 2020 and June 2022 Melbourne’s city centre had the highest amount of fatal heroin overdoses of any local government area. There were 29 deaths, followed by 28 in Brimbank and 23 in the City of Yarra.
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.
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Albanese added he is concerned about Assange’s mental health.
There was a court decision here in the United Kingdom that was then overturned on appeal that went to Mr Assange’s health, as well, and I am concerned for him.
It’s frustrating. I share the frustration. I can’t do more than make very clear what my position is.
… I think that the Assange case needs to be looked at in terms of what occurred, what the allegations are, and whether the time effectively that has been served already is in excess of what would be reasonable if it were proved that this had occurred.
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Senators Jacqui Lambie and Tammy Tyrrell have agreed to back the government’s housing affordability legislation.
The housing minister, Julie Collins, has told ABC Radio the deal was struck after the government agreed to build 1,200 social housing homes in every state and territory:
We’ve agreed to make sure that every state and territory gets a fair share of housing from the housing future funding from other federal government programs.
What we want to do is make sure that every state and territory gets their fair share of funding.
Many of these deaths occurred in the home. There is opportunity for others present to avert death and reverse the effects of an opioid overdose if they administer a medicine called naloxone.
The Australian Government has funded the availability of naloxone for free, without a prescription, for anyone who may be at risk of witnessing or experiencing an overdose.
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).
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James Cleverly, the foreign secretary, has also been giving interviews this morning. He told Sky News that Keir Starmer would have “some serious questions to answer” if today’s Cabinet Office report says she started talks about taking a job with Labour while still working with the civil service team giving advice to the privileges committee in relation to its inquiry into Boris Johnson and Partygate.
Labour sources have told the Telegraph that Gray was not involved in the Cabinet Office propriety and ethics team’s (PET’s) work with the privileges committee while she was in contact with Labour.
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Chalmers promises ‘substantial cost-of-living relief’ for most vulnerable
Asked if the age of 55 is the distinction Jim Chalmers thinks should be made on jobseeker, the treasurer says:
The reason I’m using 55 is because the reports that we received women’s economic equality taskforce and the economic inclusion advisory committee, which has been, in welcome ways, discussed quite a lot on your program, say that women over 55 are the most vulnerable group amongst unemployed Australians.
We’ve indicated before that we want to do something to help them in particular, but again, without pre-empting what’s in the budget in a week’s time, there will be a number of elements to our cost-of-living relief. Not all of them will be determined by age. For example, our energy bill relief plan, which will be in the budget in a week’s time, is for people on pensions and payments right across the board, not limited by age.
Will you increase jobseeker for people aged over 55?
There will be responsible cost-of-living relief in the budget, and it will focus on the most vulnerable people. There will be a number of elements to it. It won’t all be limited to one cohort or another. But it will all be made clear in the budget.
First of all, the jobseeker payment already makes a distinction between workers closer to the age pension, older workers, it already pays a different rate at the moment for people over 60. And that’s in recognition that it is harder to find a new job at that end of your working life. That’s the first point.
The second point is related. All of the expert advice a lot of the analysis I’ve heard it on your show, and it’s been right, says that the group that’s most likely to be long-term unemployed – people over 55 – that that group is dominated by women that the most vulnerable part of the unemployed population in Australia is at the moment women over 55. And so that’s another issue that people need to factor in.
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...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...Exclusive: Proposed amendment would make North Richmond facility permanent and widen eligibility criteria
The Victorian Greens will introduce changes to a government bill in a push to make it easier to open more safe injecting rooms and allow greater access for the “most vulnerable and marginalised” drug users.
The government’s drugs, poisons and controlled substances amendment (medically supervised injecting centre) bill 2023, which will make the currently facility in North Richmond permanent, will be debated and voted on in the upper house when parliament resumes this week.
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Marles on Australians caught in Sudan conflict
Asked about Australians caught in Sudan and the conflict there, Richard Marles says “there are still options out of Port Sudan which is on the Red Sea, which is, I think it’s about 800km out of Khartoum” to leave “what is obviously a deteriorating situation”:
There are ferries there and there may be other options coming out of that. I mean, the important thing is this – Australians in Sudan, and there do remain a number of Australians in Sudan, really need to make sure that they register.
We will continue to work with friends and allies and do everything that we can within our power to provide options for Australians who want to leave. Because we understand how difficult this situation is now.
Ultimately, our ambition is to establish a production line with companies in this country which would provide for the manufacture of those long-range strike missiles and doing as much of that as possible in the next couple of years. We hope that we can begin with the assembly of the strike missiles that go in the Himars system. But we want to build on that so that we’re actually manufacturing the full suite of these weapons in Australia.
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...Two trusts and one children’s hospital to receive emergency nursing staff after RCN had said there would be no derogations
The Royal College of Nurses appears to have U-turned on its decision to allow no exemptions to hospitals during this weekend’s strike action, with nurses now due to work in an emergency capacity in dozens of hospitals across England.
Nurses will be working across several NHS trusts – including Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS foundation trust, in London, and University Hospitals Birmingham NHS foundation trust – in wards including intensive care and A&E. This is despite the RCN vowing when strike action was announced that exemptions would not be made for any hospitals.
Continue reading...Move is apparently designed to isolate the Royal College of Nursing, which is due to begin another strike
Ministers plan to impose a pay deal on NHS workers even as nurses continue to reject it, the Observer understands, as health service unions prepare to hold crunch talks on the package this week.
Both the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) and the Unite unions continue to oppose the deal offered to NHS workers, after protracted negotiations that have led to strikes and hampered attempts to shorten waiting lists. All 12 unions involved in the talks will gather on Tuesday to vote on whether to accept an improved deal covering the last two years.
Continue reading...Health service bosses say patient safety could be at risk when nurses in England stage 28-hour stoppage from Sunday evening
An NHS leader has urged the Royal College of Nursing to let striking nurses leave picket lines and go back to work in their hospital if emergencies occur during their strike this weekend.
Matthew Taylor made the appeal as the NHS braced itself for renewed disruption to services as a result of the first strike by nurses since they rejected the government’s improved pay offer.
Continue reading...Nation’s guidelines say no donor should father more than 25 children in 12 families
Dutch judges have ordered a man suspected of fathering more than 550 children through sperm donations to stop donating, in the latest fertility scandal to shock the Netherlands.
The man, identified in Dutch media only as Jonathan M, 41, was taken to court by a foundation protecting the rights of donor children and by the mother of one of the children allegedly fathered from his sperm.
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