Hearing the underwater mechanical thumping of an ultrasound machine monitoring a fetal heartbeat felt miraculous. And terrifying. I was sleeping on the floor of an apartment with no furniture and going to the food bank at my parents’ church to have enough to eat. And I was going to be a father. I had so little knowledge of what that was going to entail that I wasn’t particularly worried about it. I was a kid about to have a kid. But there was no whooshing thumping sound at the next OBGYN appointment. The fetus was there on the monitor. The…
Author: World News Intel
UK consumers are tightening their belts in the run-up to the festive period, according to new data that showed retail sales growth lagging far behind inflation in November and pointed to the impact of the cost of living crisis. The value of retail sales rose 4.2 per cent year on year in November, according to a report published on Tuesday by the British Retail Consortium, a trade body, in association with professional services group KPMG. As Black Friday offers launched this winter’s shopping season, November’s figure was an improvement on the 1.6 per cent annual growth rate recorded in the…
A coalition of patient advocacy groups on Monday urged members of Congress to include bipartisan legislation in the year-end budget package that proponents say will lower prescription drug prices—in part by reforming a citizens’ petition process often abused by pharmaceutical companies to delay approval of cheaper generic medications.”Passing the bipartisan citizen petition bill would be a win-win for Congress.””As Congress works toward finalizing an end-of-year budget package, we urge the chambers to include bipartisan legislation to address abuse of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) citizen petition process in order to reduce drug prices and save the government hundreds of…
Ukraine’s forces launched unmanned aerial drone attacks on two military bases deep inside Russia on Monday amid the latest wave of Russian missile strikes on Ukrainian cities, raising fears of an escalation in the nine-month war. In what The New York Times described as “its most brazen attack into Russian territory,” Ukraine’s military fitted antique Soviet-era Tupolev T-141 photo-reconnaissance drones with explosive warheads and launched them at two bases hundreds of miles from the Ukrainian border. One of the strikes reportedly killed three Russian troops and wounded four others, while damaging two warplanes.According to the Times:The Engels airfield, on the Volga…
From ordering household items to purchasing the latest fashions, the internet has reshaped how, when and where people can make purchases. At the same time, social media has become an important tool for consumers, with some Americans – particularly younger adults – following and turning to influencers for recommendations, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in July. As the busiest shopping season looms, Americans have several ways to shop online, but smartphones have become a top way to do so. Roughly three-quarters of U.S. adults (76%) say they ever buy things online using a smartphone, while a somewhat…
While crown-of-thorns starfish on the Great Barrier Reef have long been ecological villains in the popular imagination, sea urchins have mostly crawled under the national radar – until now. Long-spined sea urchins (Centrostephanus rodgersii) have invaded Tasmania and Victoria from their historical range in New South Wales. Where it occurs, this species dominates near-shore reefs to create “barrens habitat”. This is where at high densities sea urchins remove all large brown algae (kelp), and few abalone and other important species for fishers remain. Both climate change and over-fishing of its main predators have been blamed for the urchin’s southward extension.…
Choir members attend a religious service at the Methodist Church of Trinity in March 2020 in compliance with government restriction on social gatherings in Lagos, Nigeria. (Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP via Getty Images) During the COVID-19 pandemic, countries around the world restricted large gatherings to reduce the spread of the virus. Religious events, including in-person worship services, were banned in many places. In every region of the globe, at least some religious groups protested these regulations. Pew Research Center’s 13th annual report on restrictions on religion in 2020 includes a new analysis of how public health measures related to the coronavirus…
Awaab Ishak, a two-year-old boy from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, died in 2020 from a severe respiratory condition caused by prolonged exposure to mould in his home, an inquest has heard. The right to an adequate standard of living – which includes decent housing conditions – ought to protect people in the UK from living in a home which causes them harm. Awaab’s death was caused by “environmental mould pollution”. Joanne Kearsley, the coroner, asked: “How does this happen? How in the UK in 2020 does a two-year-old child die due to exposure to mould?” Kearsley explained that the issue is…
Remote work has established itself throughout the past two years. The change to labour suddenly taking place in the private sphere of our own homes has led to drastic changes and raised a debate about what exactly can be called ´real´ work. During 2020 around 40% of workers in the European Union switched to working from home. This marked a rise of 35% compared to 2019 where only 5,4% of EU-employees worked remotely—the majority of them being women. But even before facing the challenges of a global pandemic, working from home has been the only practicable way to combine both their…
The Mental Health Parity Collaborative is a partnership between The Carter Center’s Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism, The Center for Public Integrity, and news outlets in Arizona, California, Georgia, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Texas, and the District of Columbia. More than 40 reporters and editors from 15 news outlets are working to produce data- and solutions-driven stories that examine access to mental health care in their states and why mental health parity hasn’t been achieved. Check out the latest stories below. Background In 1996, the breakthrough Mental Health Parity Act was passed — the first legislation to require that certain…