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A Wall St. street sign is seen near the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., September 17, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File PhotoRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSummaryCompaniesBanks, megacap tech stocks inch up after selloffFutures: Dow adds 0.12%, S&P up 0.04%, Nasdaq off 0.03%Sept 22 (Reuters) - Wall Street futures were muted on Thursday as investors assessed the impact on U.S. economic growth from the Federal Reserve's unwavering focus to rein in inflation through aggressive interest rate hikes.The three main indexes finished more than 1.7% lower on Wednesday, with the Dow (.DJI) posting its lowest close since June 17. The Nasdaq (.IXIC) and S&P 500 (.SPX) ended at their lowest point since July 1 and June 30, respectively.The U.S. central bank lifted rates by an expected 75 basis points and signaled that its policy rate would rise by 4.4% by year end and top out at 4.6% by the end of 2023, a steeper and longer trajectory than markets had priced in. read more Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comInvestors fear the aggressive path could add to volatility in stocks and bonds in a year that has already seen bear markets in both asset classes and could potentially cause an economic downturn. read more Goldman Sachs, Barclays and a bunch of investment banks have raised their estimates for U.S. policy rates following Fed's hawkish message, with Societe Generale economists also projecting a mild recession in early 2024. read more "There are a lot of risks at this level, but the Fed has decided that they're going to go the Volcker way, which is to stay the course and try to nip it now," said Eric Schiffer, chief executive of PE firm Patriarch Organization in California."I expect to see the market retest and go lower than the lows in June and get to a valuation that more clearly reflects the environment we are in."The benchmark S&P 500 is less than 4% away from its mid-June low, its weakest point of the year. Recent set of dismal outlooks from companies including FedEx Corp and Ford Motor Co (F.N) have raised concerns about the health of corporate America.The U.S. bond yield curve inverted further, amplifying concerns about a recession in the next one to two years.Rate-sensitive bank stocks edged higher in premarket trading, while heavyweights such as Tesla Inc (TSLA.O), Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) and Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) rose between 0.4% and 0.7% after tumbling in the previous session.At 7:02 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 35 points, or 0.12%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 1.5 points, or 0.04%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 4 points, or 0.03%.Elsewhere, the yen rose sharply against the dollar after Japan intervened in the forex market for the first time since 1998 to shore up the battered currency. read more Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Sruthi Shankar, Medha Singh and Devik Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Shounak DasguptaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Interest Rates |
"The Singapore dollar is usually considered a haven currency compared to Southeast Asian peer currencies," said Max Lin, Asia FX and rates strategist at Credit Suisse.Jayk7 | Moment | Getty ImagesThe Singapore dollar has remained resilient against the buoyant U.S. dollar compared with its regional peers, and analysts say it's a relatively "safe haven" currency — especially in Southeast Asia.Singapore's currency has fallen by nearly 6% year-to-date, but other currencies in Asia have weakened even more against the greenback.The Japanese yen has depreciated by around 25% against the U.S. dollar since the start of the year, while the Philippine peso fell about 15% and the Thai baht lost 13% during the same period.It comes as the U.S. central bank continues to embrace a hawkish stance toward inflation.Last Wednesday, the U.S. Federal Reserve raised benchmark interest rates by another 75 basis points for the third consecutive time, and signaled it will continue raising rates to as high as 4.6% next year before stopping.The news pushed the U.S. dollar to a fresh two-decade high, and widened the interest rate differentials between the greenback and many other Asian currencies.Bank analysts say they are bullish on the Singapore currency even though it fell to 29-month lows on Thursday, after the Fed's hawkish policy outlook."The Singapore dollar is usually considered a haven currency compared to Southeast Asian peer currencies," said Max Lin, Asia FX and rates strategist at Credit Suisse.He named Singapore's high foreign currency reserves, a strong current account surplus and a well managed currency policy as some reasons for the Singapore dollar's resilience.Betting on the Singapore dollar1. Strong economic fundamentals"Whenever there's crises or shocks, there has been interest or [a] move into the Sing-dollar," said Saktiandi Supaat, regional head of forex research and strategy at Maybank.Singapore is one of a few countries in the world with a triple-A sovereign credit rating, strong current account surplus, and positive foreign currency reserves — factors that contribute to its position as a safe harbor for investors, Supaat pointed out. "Singapore has significant surplus reserves to tide through crises. That makes it definitely one of the elements of a safe haven currency," he told CNBC. "Given the other characteristics it has, it can play a role to fill up some of the gaps within the safe haven space."The Singapore dollar is "still one of the most resilient in the region" and its strength will benefit companies that have treasuries in the country, said Philip Wee, senior currency economist at DBS Bank."In times of exceptional dollar strength, [the Singapore dollar] is the one that preserves its value best ... it doesn't depreciate as much as the others and it's backed by its [exchange rate] policy and framework," he said.He said the Singapore dollar is "a haven for investors with currencies that are less resilient."2. Central bank policyUnlike many central banks, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) uses the Singapore dollar nominal effective exchange rate — referred to as S$NEER — policy band to keep inflation in check.Most of the other countries in Asia use interest rates as a main policy tool to manage inflation. "Singapore's small geographic size and its status as a small, open economy mean that nearly all consumable goods are imported," Lin said. "Therefore, the MAS reacts to high inflation by allowing the Singapore dollar to appreciate against peer currencies, thereby driving down the cost of imported goods in local currency terms.""I believe that investors also associate the strong [Singapore dollar] with Singapore's competence and reliability, as a partner and gateway to the region," he added.Lack of liquidityEven though the Singapore dollar has been a strong performer in the region, it won't be replacing the Japanese yen as Asia's safe haven currency anytime soon, analysts told CNBC.The Singapore dollar is not as widely traded as currencies of larger economies, Maybank's Supaat pointed out."It's not as deep enough in terms of liquidity," he said, adding that it's not as widely traded as the Australian dollar, British pound, or even the Japanese yen.The Singapore currency is not immune to the strength of the U.S. dollar either, said Wee, who warned that the Singapore dollar could lose its footing as Asia's outperformer should there be a global recession.Normally, when there's a global recession, Singapore's nominal effective exchange rate tends to drop from the top to the bottom of the [policy] band, potentially weakening the Singapore dollar to the 145 level against the dollar, the currency economist said. "This is the main risk, or chief risk, for investors seeking [the Singapore dollar] as a haven," Wee added. Maybank said it expects the MAS to continue on the path of policy tightening as the country continues to grapple with inflation that reached a 14-year high in July. However, Lin said Credit Suisse expects that "the Singapore dollar will weaken vis-a-vis the U.S. dollar," and predicted that the currency will weaken to 143 by year-end.Japan's yen interventionTo stem the yen's sharp declines, Japan reportedly intervened in the currency markets — the first intervention since 1998.The decision Thursday came after the yen weakened past the 145 level following the Bank of Japan's decision to hold interest rates steady and stick to its ultra-low interest rates.The currency strengthened more than 2% against the greenback on news of the intervention, but analysts say its upside is not likely to last."On the one hand, the Ministry of Finance is reducing yen supply via occasional FX intervention, but the Bank of Japan is still persistently boosting yen supply with its regular purchases of [Japanese Government Bonds] as it enforces its 10y JGB yield target," Lin said."Because Japan has an open capital account and much lower interest rates than the US, the 'impossible trinity' dictates that it is impossible for Japanese authorities to control its exchange rate," he said, referring to the economic theory which states that no country can have a fixed foreign exchange rate, an independent monetary policy and free capital flows."In order to prevent long-term yen weakness, the BoJ would have to raise interest rates [or] the JGB yield target, or Japan would have to impose capital controls — the latter is extremely unlikely," he added.The Japanese yen was trading at around 144.38 against the greenback early Tuesday in Asia.— CNBC's Jihye Lee contributed to this report. | Forex Trading & Speculation |
NEW YORK, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Federal Reserve policymakers agreed they needed to move to a more restrictive policy stance - and then maintain that for some time - in order to meet the U.S. central bank's goal of lowering inflation, a readout of last month's two-day meeting showed on Wednesday.The minutes of the Sept. 20-21 meeting showed many Fed officials "emphasized the cost of taking too little action to bring down inflation likely outweighed the cost of taking too much action."Many officials said they had raised their assessments of the path of interest rate increases that would likely be needed to achieve the committee's goals.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSTORY: read more MARKET REACTION:STOCKS: S&P 500 (.SPX) extended a slight gain and was up 0.15%, to 3,594.34
BONDS: U.S. Treasury 10-year yield eased price was last up 11/32 to yield 3.8962%, down from 3.939% late on Thursday.
FOREX: The dollar index turned 0.141% lowerCOMMENTS:BOB MILLER, HEAD OF AMERICAS FUNDAMENTAL FIXED INCOME, BLACKROCK (by email)"The release today of the Federal Reserve’s September FOMC meeting minutes reinforced the overall hawkish message delivered via the statement, the dot plot and the Chair’s press conference. The Fed wants tighter domestic financial conditions in order to combat persistently high levels of inflation and is determined to achieve that outcome. Broadly speaking, markets have adjusted to this reality, and various measures of financial conditions have reached new highs in terms of restrictiveness.""Not only is the change to financial conditions large and abrupt relative to history, but the levels of key inputs, like real interest rates, investment-grade yield-to-worst, the USD and mortgage rates (see graphs at bottom), have now reached levels not seen in more than a decade. And while credit spreads remain below the recessionary levels witnessed in previous periods, the all-in cost of capital has moved significantly higher, given the rise in risk free rates."JUAN PEREZ, DIRECTOR OF TRADING, MONEX USA, WASHINGTON“It's clear that they're (Fed) going to continue increasing interest rates because it seems like they feel that if they don't do that, inflation could really get out of control. So by basically looking at the minutes there's really no major surprise. Ultimately, they do think that you need to reach some very high interest rates in order to really cool down the economy. Unfortunately, that's going to be very, very dollar positive usually, in theory.”“So far it's been kind of dollar negative. So maybe there is a bit of hope within the minutes that basically officials are weighing the risk of going too hard or going too high on hiking, but that's not the number one concern right now. Number one concern continues to be inflation. And as long as the United States and the Federal Reserve are willing to fight that, then that's going to be good for the dollar.”GEORGE BALL, CHAIRMAN, SANDERS MORRIS HARRIS, HOUSTON (by email)"Wednesday's minutes report confirms the Fed's commitment to fighting inflation. The Fed has to keep talking about and implementing additional rate hikes, otherwise all it’s done to fight inflation up until now is wasted baggage. While inflation has peaked, the path to a 2% inflation rate will be long, windy and bumpy.""The Federal Reserve's current tone suggests it is committed to raising interest rates until the snake of inflation is dead.""We believe market sentiment will continue to remain negative until mid-November and at that point, Federal Reserve officials will likely start to signal that a pause in rate hikes is on the horizon sometime in early 2023. That will be the tipping point where stocks start to rise again.""While this Fed pivot may mean that the economy is in a recession, markets look ahead by about 6-months and a belief that there won't be more rate hikes after early 2023 will psychologically return the ascendancy of the bull."CHRIS ZACCARELLI, CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER, INDEPENDENT ADVISOR ALLIANCE, CHARLOTTE, NC"For the most part there's nothing to earth shattering in the Fed minutes. The fact they're saying that there is more of a risk doing too little than doing to much maybe reinforces the idea that they're more likely to continue to raise rates at a quick pace.""There were some members talking about calibrating their response. That could mean the Fed is aware that if they raise rates too quickly that could cause a lot of economic damage. They've been talking about how they're willing to risk a recession in order to bring inflation back under control but its possible that as the recession risks increase they may lose their nerve a little bit.""The market is looking ahead to the CPI release tomorrow. There's still some bulls out there hoping that if there's a slowing of inflation it will give the Fed some reason to slow down the rate increases or potentially pause them.""The bulls are hopeful inflation will start cooling more quickly than expected and the Fed won't go as high as some people fear. The bears believe the fed is going to continue to go higher, raise rates to a pretty high level and keep them there for an extended period of time and cause a recession, potentially a bad one."Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comCompiled by the Global Finance & Markets Breaking News teamOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Interest Rates |
A rare anti-monarchy protest took place this week in the UK. For many in Britain's former colonies, anti-monarchy dissent has been a big part of its stru. Photo: Marco Bertorello / AFPA storm has been brewing around the legacy of the late Queen Elizabeth II’s monarchy. Much of the UK is caught in grand gestures of grief over their queen and reportedly exhorbitant state funeral preparations are currently underway. Elizabeth II’s net worth was $442.92 million, according to one estimate. This is a pretty hefty number that, according to royal public records, is funded partly by its taxpayers – to the tune of over $100 million annually, from a country of 67 million people – and partly by the royal family’s inherited private and commercial real estate. But for many from Elizabeth II’s former colonies, the extravagance of the British monarchy – even in death – underpins the dark realities of not just violent colonisation, but also extreme drain of wealth from their countries. In the former British colony of undivided India, that number comes to a whopping $45 trillion. Indian economist Utsa Patnaik’s calculations show the massive amount of loot taken from the Indian subcontinent over a course of 200 years, up until 1938. That’s just nine years before the British monarchy gave independence, dividing the subcontinent into India and Pakistan, along with what would become Bangladesh 24 years later. “Indians were never credited with their own gold and forex earnings,” Patnaik told local media about her findings. “Instead, the local producers here were ‘paid’ the rupee equivalent out of the budget – something you’d never find in any independent country.” Had the Indian subcontinent been paid its international earnings, it would have been far more developed, with better health and social welfare indicators, Patnaik added. Pakistani historian Ammar Ali Jan told VICE World News that countries in the Indian subcontinent continue to face the repercussions of these economic extractions. “Because of this history, we have aid dependency, like you see in Pakistan and Bangladesh, and even India to some extent. We have a historical, structural disadvantage vis-a-vis Europe,” he said. “We’re still caught in a historical cycle of 250 years of plunder and structural poverty.” Even Pakistan’s ongoing super floods have been linked to the history of British colonisation. While the British took money, millions in India died when it was under the British empire, from famine and natural calamities. During one deadly famine in 1943, over 3 million Indians died partly due to terrible and extractive policies by then British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. The demands for reparations have gained credence in South Asian countries over the years. A few years ago, Indian politician Shashi Tharoor went viral for demanding reparations at Oxford University. Indian subjects during the British rule coughed up nearly $120 million in taxes to support the British empire, Tharoor said. But his demand goes beyond monetary compensation.“You can’t put a price on, for instance, the 35 million people who died total unnecessarily because of how the British dealt with famines,” Tharoor told VICE World News.Apart from a simple apology for colonial crimes, Tharoor said it’s also imperative that Britain introduce the “unvarnished” truth about British colonialism in schools as well as museums. “The British have an imperial war museum to celebrate their imperial conquests. Why not a museum for the subjugated and victims of unjust plundering and pillaging?”The British government has never worked to repay colonial loot. Former British Prime Minister David Cameron infamously said that if they were to say yes to demands, “then you would suddenly find the British Museum empty.”Britain’s conservative Prime Minister Liz Truss told the British press last year that the country should take pride in its imperial history, “warts and all.” “In fashionable circles, people talked about how we should be ashamed of our history and doubtful about our future,” she was quoted as saying. “It’s time to be proud of who we are and what we stand for. It’s time to dump the baggage holding us back.”British historian William Dalrymple, who documents the fallouts of the British empire, told VICE World News that the “incredibly dark past” of imperialism and colonialism are not widely known or talked about in British schools. “Never underestimate how little the modern British know about their own empire,” he said. The huge gap between British monarchy loyalists and the realities in former colonies are also attributed to how little the British government has done to acknowledge this side of history. “In 1947, the British packed up their ‘empire’ trunks and put them away in the attic,” he said. “They joined the European Union and saw themselves as the new nation. During Queen Elizabeth II’s reign, Britain changed from a country where one in 22 was non-white, to one where one in 6 was a person of colour. It is no longer the white supremacist monolith.”Over the years, those documenting the colonial past have been trolled by monarchy loyalists. Historian and journalist Sathnam Sanghera, author of Empireland, was trolled last year. “Empire has been weaponised by the right wing ever since Black Lives Matter,” he told Guardian. “[Imperial history has] become a proxy for patriotism and race.”Rare anti-monarchy protests are erupting in the UK at the moment, questioning their rulers and demanding democratic processes. But many have been arguing that the queen’s death is perhaps not the most “sensitive” time to rake up colonial dirt. Jan, the Pakistani historian, said that there’s never a “right time” to question power. “Questioning the monarchy doesn't mean people are disrespecting Elizabeth II, but rather, they’re paying respect to all those who were cheated, humiliated and killed by the monarchy.”Follow Pallavi Pundir on Twitter.ORIGINAL REPORTING ON EVERYTHING THAT MATTERS IN YOUR INBOX.By signing up, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy & to receive electronic communications from Vice Media Group, which may include marketing promotions, advertisements and sponsored content. | United Kingdom Business & Economics |
Wall Street is on the alert for signs of a looming economic recession as the Federal Reserve tries to tame the hottest inflation in nearly four decades, and one gauge indicated this week that a downturn could be on the horizon. A closely followed measurement from the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank suggests the U.S. economy could be headed for a second-quarter decline in gross domestic product, the broadest measure of goods and services produced in a country. The GDPNow tracker shows that economic growth in the spring was flat at 0%, a steep decline from its previous estimate of 1.3% on June 1 and 0.9% on June 8.Recessions are technically defined by two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth and are characterized by high unemployment, low or negative GDP growth, falling income and slowing retail sales, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), which tracks downturns. INFLATION TIMELINE: MAPPING THE BIDEN ADMIN'S RESPONSE TO RAPID PRICE GROWTH Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell arrives to speak at a news conference March 3, 2020, to discuss an announcement from the Federal Open Market Committee in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin / AP Newsroom) Economic growth in the U.S. is already slowing. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported last month that gross domestic product unexpectedly shrank in the first quarter of the year by 1.5%, marking the worst performance since the spring of 2020, when the economy was still deep in the throes of the COVID-induced recession.Should the economy decline in the second quarter, it could meet the technical criteria for a recession, though the NBER, the official arbiter, may not confirm it immediately.POWELL SAYS FED COULD HIKE INTEREST RATES BY ANOTHER 75-BASIS POINTS AS INFLATION ROARSA growing number of economists and Wall Street firms, including Bank of America, Deutsche Bank and Wells Fargo, are forecasting the possibility of a recession within the next two years, as the Federal Reserve moves to aggressively tighten monetary policy in order to cool consumer demand and bring inflation back down to its 2% target. A U.S. flag is placed at a gas station June 11, 2022, in Woodbridge, N.J. (Kena Betancur/VIEWpress / Getty Images)The Fed is hoping to achieve the rarest of economic feats as it moves into full inflation-fighting mode — cooling consumer demand enough so that prices stop rising, without crushing it so much that it throws the country into a recession. Although Fed policymakers are counting on finding that elusive sweet spot — known as a soft landing — history shows that the U.S. central bank often struggles to successfully thread the needle between tightening policy and preserving economic growth.The Fed already voted Wednesday to lift its benchmark interest rate by 75-basis points for the first time since 1994 as it ramps up its war on inflation. Another interest rate increase of that magnitude is expected in July, which would put the federal funds target range at 2.25% to 2.50%, the steepest since the COVID-19 pandemic began two years ago. The Federal Reserve (iStock / iStock)Hiking interest rates tends to create higher rates on consumer and business loans, which slows the economy by forcing employers to cut back on spending.GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HEREAlthough Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has said the central bank is not trying to induce a recession, he has not ruled out the possibility of a downturn and has admitted the odds of a successful "soft landing" are getting narrower."There’s a path for us to get there," Powell said Wednesday, referring to a soft landing. "It’s not getting easier. It’s getting more challenging" | Inflation |
The government has signed an agreement to join an Indo-Pacific trading bloc, although the estimated benefit could only be £1.8bn in GDP.
In announcing the formal plans to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Rishi Sunak administration highlighted the £12trn value of the combined GDPs of all the member nations if the UK is included.
But the government already has free-trade deals with all the member nations, aside from Brunei and Malaysia.
Politics latest: Chances of free trade deal with US 'very low'
Chances of a trade deal with the United States were also talked down as being unlikely anytime soon.
And analysis provided to the government estimates the new agreement will boost UK exports by £1.7bn, imports to the UK by £1.6bn and GDP by £1.8bn in the long term.
Speaking to Sophy Ridge on Sunday, Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch said these figures needed to be examined in the context of the benefits of being a member of a trading bloc.
She said: "The contents of the free trade deals that we have with these countries is different from what we're getting with CPTPP.
"That's why it's called the comprehensive - as well as progressive agreement - for the trans-Pacific partnership.
"There is one additional country, which is Malaysia, that we have no agreements whatsoever with, but it isn't just about whether or not we have an agreement.
"We've got agreements with many different countries - it is about the size, shape and scale and the cumulative impact of things like rules of origin, which are pooled between this trading bloc."
Asked about the likelihood of an agreement with the US, Ms Badenoch said: "The US is not carrying out any free trade agreements with any country, so I would say very low. It all depends on the administration."
She added: "But for now they said that that's not something that they want to do, and we need to respect that."
It is not the first time the government has lauded its own efforts with CPTPP, with Ms Badenoch and Mr Sunak praising the UK being accepted into the bloc in March.
The UK was already set to benefit from its agreements with the CPTPP regardless of the next phase of membership, with exports estimated to rise by 65% by the start of the next decade - valued at £37bn.
Ms Badenoch pointed out that the Indo-Pacific is forecasted to be where half of global growth will come from by around the middle of the 2030s, and will continue growing into the middle of the century.
Outside the UK government, there was more of a muted welcome for the UK's joining the bloc.
Chris Devonshire-Ellis, the chairman of Dezan Shira & Associates which works with investors across Asia, spoke to the Nikkei overnight.
He said: "The impact appears mainly cosmetic, for the UK to show it made a trade deal after Brexit."
Labour's shadow trade secretary, Nick Thomas-Symonds, said progress in the Indo-Pacific was "long overdue".
He added: "The government's own assessment says CPTPP is worth just 0.08% to UK GDP.
"So ministers also need to set out how this will help the economy and what support will be given to businesses to access any export opportunities.
"The government's trade record is: OBR predict UK exports to fall by 6.6% in 2023, a hit of over £51bn; No promised US or India trade deals; Their own MPs criticising the Australia deal.
"This costs the UK growth and jobs - making the Tory economic crisis even worse."
Trevor Phillips will host Sky News' agenda-setting flagship political talk show when it returns in September | United Kingdom Business & Economics |
AP/Rod Lamkey Byron Donalds As House Republicans turned a sharp focus on inflation, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla) asserted that trickle-down economic theory, which asserts that policies that benefit the wealthy will trickle down to everyone else, does work despite sharp criticism of the policy. “The late, great Margaret Thatcher said it better than any of us ever could: Joe Biden to the Democrats will prefer the poor be poor so the rich are less rich,” Donalds said in a press conference Tuesday. “Joe Biden will prefer to build an economy that doesn’t work for anybody, as opposed to letting the free market — and yes, trickle-down economics, which does work — actually flourish in the United States,” Donalds said. Trickle-down economics became widely popular during Ronald Reagan’s presidency as a way to criticize his favored policies, such as tax cuts for the wealthy. A 2020 study from the London School of Economics that analyzed 50 years of tax cuts in 18 countries found that reducing taxes on the rich leads to higher income inequality and “do not have any significant effect on economic growth and unemployment.” The comment from Donalds came shortly after President Biden denounced the economic theory in a speech at an AFL-CIO conference. “We are not going back to the false promises of trickle-down economics. We are going forward,” Biden said. Biden made similar comments opposing trickle-down economics in other recent speeches, arguing that the philosophy leads to greater inequality and slower growth. Inflation hit a four-decade high of 8.6 percent in May, according to consumer price index (CPI) data from the Department of Labor released last week. The economy and cost of living are priorities for voters heading into the 2022 midterm elections, according to numerous polls. Republicans largely blame inflation on Democrats passing large spending packages, while Democrats point to supply chain problems related to the COVID-19 pandemic. “President Biden and his team follow the siren song of the false gods of modern monetary theory that you can borrow and spin your way to prosperity,” Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.) said in the press conference. Tags Byron Donalds Byron Donalds economy Joe Biden Reagan Trickle down economics | Inflation |
In March 2019, Charles Booker was delivering an emotional speech in front of his colleagues in the Kentucky House of Representatives about threats of gun violence facing young Black men when a colleague angrily yelled at him to sit down. "I was pleading out about our need to invest in keeping everyone safe, including people in communities like mine," said Booker, now the Democratic candidate seeking to unseat two-term Republican Sen. Rand Paul in November.Booker, 37, said he later asked the colleague — who he said was GOP state Rep. Randy Bridges — why he had reacted like that. "His response was, 'You people need to know when to stop talking,'" Booker said. Bridges did not return a request for comment.This incident, Booker said, was one of many racist experiences he has had as a Black legislator "in the extreme minority in the Statehouse.""I saw a lot of hatred. I saw a lot of pain. I saw a lot of racism," he said in an interview with NBC News. "But I also saw a lot of opportunities to build new relationships and to bring people together and to lift up common bonds, which is why I'm so inspired to run this race now."Kentucky hasn't elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1992 and a January Mason-Dixon poll — the only one comparing the two — showed Paul leading Booker by 16%. Paul has also raised over six times as much as Booker, according to their April campaign finance reports. Booker, the state's first Black nominee of a major party for U.S. Senate, is hoping he can beat the odds in November. He said part of his strategy is that he won't shy away from uncomfortable conversations about racism and inequities. A 2021 report by the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce found sweeping racial disparities in the state's education and criminal justice systems and that "economic growth is not inclusive in Kentucky or the nation." The report also noted that "unemployment and poverty rates are consistently and substantially higher for Black Kentuckians than for white Kentuckians."In the 2020 race to unseat the powerful GOP leader Mitch McConnell, Booker lost in the Democratic primary by 3% to former Marine fighter pilot Amy McGrath, who outraised Booker and was supported by Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and Kentucky's Democratic governor, Andy Beshear.Booker said he has encountered many Kentuckians who want things to change, "but have really thrown their hands up or they've been disenfranchised." He hopes that he can boost turnout enough to eke out a victory by reaching out to people who don't typically vote."Georgia was not a fluke," he said, referring to the 2021 Georgia races where Democrats' victories flipped the U.S. Senate. "And Kentucky, we will shock the world."Among Booker's legislative priorities is to invest in infrastructure, "good-paying union jobs" and health care."Kentucky is one of the poorest states in the country," he said. "And so a lot of our issues really just stem out of not having resources and not having investments. Not having quality health care and families just struggling to survive."Booker, who has Type 1 diabetes, often discusses his experiences trying to afford insulin in his plan to expand health care access. He said cynicism from voters is one of the biggest challenges on the trail."A lot of people do not believe that the type of change that we're building is possible in a place like Kentucky," Booker said.He said he hopes to encourage people across the country to see that in Kentucky, "there are regular people that are fighting for real change, that are fighting for healing, that are fighting to end poverty."Janelle Griffith is a national reporter for NBC News focusing on issues of race and policing. | Unemployment |
Inflation quickened to 8.6% for the 12 months ending in May, according to the consumer price index, a discouraging sign for the prospects of the economy. The much-anticipated numbers reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday revealed that inflation is still going strong despite the Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes and is the worst it has been since 1981, when the Great Inflation helped bring President Ronald Reagan to office. JOBS REPORT GIVES FED MORE AMMO TO KEEP HIKING RATES The soaring inflation has eaten into President Joe Biden’s approval ratings as he and Democrats approach the midterm elections. Consumer prices have been rising fast since August, especially for staples such as food and gas. Until March’s CPI report, inflation had risen every month for eight months. “So much for the idea that inflation has peaked. Consumer prices blew past expectations,” said Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate. Notably, the core personal consumption expenditures price index, which strips out energy and food prices, increased after tumbling in April and is up to 6% on an annual basis. "My administration will continue to do everything we can to lower prices for the American people," Biden said in a statement. The Federal Reserve announced in March that it would raise its interest rate target by a quarter of a percentage point, the first rate hike since 2018, in an effort to rein in the higher prices, although some economists and many Republicans say the central bank should have moved sooner to reverse its pandemic emergency measures. Last month, the Federal Open Market Committee announced it would increase its interest rate target by half a percentage point. The central bank typically raises rates by just a quarter of a percentage point, so the move is synonymous with two rate hikes at once and shows that the Fed is incredibly concerned with the growing prices. The central bank is also expected to conduct more half-point hikes at its next meetings in June and July, meaning that all indications are that interest rates will continue to rise over the next year. “Any hopes that the Fed can ease up on the pace of rate hikes after the June and July meetings now seems to be a long shot,” McBride said. “Inflation continues to rear its ugly head, and hopes for improvement have been dashed again.” Further adding to the inflationary flames is the war in Ukraine. The conflict has pushed energy prices through the roof because Russia is one of the world’s largest producers of oil and natural gas. Gas prices this week also hit a new record high and are flirting with a national average of $5 per gallon of gasoline. The higher fuel prices have fanned the flames of inflation and have made it more difficult for people to make ends meet. "Prices at the pump are a major part of inflation, and the war in Ukraine is a major cause of that," Biden said. "The United States is on track to produce a record amount of oil next year, and I am working with the industry to accelerate this output." There are also concerns that the Fed’s aggressive action to hike interest rates could plunge the economy into a recession, a prospect that also doesn’t bode well for Biden and Democrats who have been running on the strong labor market and country’s ultralow unemployment. There are still some positive aspects of the economy that will bolster the Fed in its resolve to keep hiking interest rates. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER The economy beat expectations and added 390,000 jobs last month. Additionally, the country’s unemployment rate remained at 3.6%, an ultralow level that is just about where it was at right before the pandemic hit the economy more than two years ago. May was the first month that has reflected both rate hikes that the central bank has conducted, and the fact that payrolls came in higher than forecast gives the Fed ammo to keep pushing rates ever higher, especially after several previous months of positive job gains. | Inflation |
U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell testifies during the Senate Banking Committee hearing titled "The Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress", in Washington, U.S., March 3, 2022. Tom Williams/Pool via REUTERS/File PhotoRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comWASHINGTON, June 14 (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell used his first four years as the world's top central banker to reshape U.S. monetary policy around the idea that low inflation and low unemployment could coexist.It was a move intended to spread the gains of economic growth more widely and keep a focus on jobs during the rebound from the pandemic.But the assumptions on which it rested - a relatively frictionless global economy with a well-greased supply chain; a balanced U.S. labor market with just over one open job for each unemployed person - have been shattered by events that appear to have put the Fed's two goals of full employment and moderate inflation back in opposition.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReuters GraphicsUnemployment today at 3.6% is more akin to the 1950s and 1960s, with workers exercising leverage to negotiate higher wages and, given the pandemic, better working conditions. Inflation, however, is soaring at more than 8% annually, leaving Fed officials at a crossroads over how to tame it and facing the possibility that their "narrow path" back to the pre-pandemic world of low unemployment and low inflation may have all but closed.Fed officials are expected to raise interest rates for a third time this year on Wednesday, with a three-quarters-percentage point increase now seen as the likely outcome, with the possibility of signals for more large hikes as long as inflation keeps far overshooting their 2% target. [nL1N2Y02MC]In new projections, they will also provide their sense of what's at risk, and what price the economy could pay through slowing growth and higher unemployment to get inflation back into line.A HEYDAY FOR JOBSArguably Powell's approach did what was intended in the labor market. The employment rebound has been faster than many expected at the pandemic's outset.Distributionally, it has also helped, consistent with the Fed's view of maximum employment as something "broad and inclusive." Wages have risen fastest for lower-paid occupations; more Blacks and Hispanics are employed than before the pandemic, while white employment in May remained 1.6 million below February 2020's peak.Reuters GraphicsBack in March, Fed officials saw inflation receding with no unemployment rate increase, but "we're going to see some cracks" in that story in the new projections, predicted Nomura senior U.S. economist Robert Dent. The median projected unemployment rate may just rise a couple of tenths of a percentage point in coming years, as Fed officials hang onto their view of an economy that may still revert to pre-pandemic form.But "it is a tightrope...It would not be hard at all to see the economy tip into recession," with joblessness rising to 5% or higher, he said. Some Fed officials have started opening the door to unemployment rates above 4%, the level policymakers roughly consider full employment.That's likely to fall hardest on Black and Hispanic workers, whose unemployment rates typically rise faster in downturns.THE SAVINGS STOCKPILEOne unexpected outcome of the pandemic was a federal government response so strong that household incomes rose despite a recession. Some now argue the spending, in early 2021 in particular, left the economy with much more consumer demand than it can meet, adding to inflation.But it also offset what would have likely been rising poverty, hunger and homelessness. A lot of it, moreover, remains in household bank accounts. Data last week showed that through the end of March cash and checking deposits continued rising, to $4.4 trillion - more than triple the pre-pandemic level. read more Reuters GraphicsThat also provided a buffer: In a recent Fed household survey respondents said they are in the best financial shape ever.But, to some degree, it may have to be spent down to fix inflation - and may make the Fed's job harder as it gives people room to handle $5-a-gallon gas.The relationship between excess savings, its distribution across the economy, and people's willingness to use the cash to cover higher prices is a key issue in the Fed's inflation puzzle.LOW BANKRUPTCY RATESAnother pandemic shoe that never dropped: Bankruptcy rates fell as the Paycheck Protection Program and other initiatives kept firms alive.A recession or significant slowdown may well trigger the washout that never happened. According to data from Epiq, Chapter 11 commercial filings in May increased 34% from a year earlier, though overall commercial filings were down slightly.American Bankruptcy Institute Executive Director Amy Quackenboss in a statement said rising interest rates and higher prices had begun "compounding the economic challenges for financially distressed families and businesses."A RECESSION WITH NO SAFETY NET?As a result of the unprecedented effort to keep businesses and families afloat, the federal debt exploded. While the low-inflation, low-interest-rate environment of the last quarter century or so triggered a broad rethinking about public debt, some of the dynamics that argued for aggressive spending are now moving the other way. When rates on government debt exceed the rate of economic growth, for example, elected officials may not be so willing to roll out an expansive safety net next time.Given how soon that may occur - in a recent Reuters poll 40% of economists said they expect a downturn within two years - the Fed may also be constrained. It can cut rates, which may by then be high enough to provide a substantial economic boost. But it will still be carrying a very large balance sheet, run up to nearly $9 trillion during the pandemic, with policymakers less likely to begin using that second tool to support the economy.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Howard Schneider;
Editing by Dan BurnsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Inflation |
Banknotes of Japanese yen and U.S. dollar are seen in this illustration picture taken September 23, 2022. REUTERS/Florence Lo/IllustrationSummaryG7 says closely monitoring 'recent volatility' in marketsJapan's jawboning fails to stop yen's fall to 32-year lowsYellen shuns joint intervention similar to 'Plaza Accord'South Korea hikes rates as dollar pushes up import costsOnus is on Japan to support yen via solo interventionWASHINGTON, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Japan and other countries facing the fallout from a soaring U.S. dollar found little comfort from last week's meetings of global finance officials, with no sign that joint intervention along the lines of the 1985 "Plaza Accord" was on the horizon.With a strong push from Japan, finance leaders of the Group of Seven advanced economies included a phrase in a statement on Wednesday saying they will closely monitor "recent volatility" in markets.But the warning, as well as Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki's threat of another yen-buying intervention, failed to prevent the currency from sliding to fresh 32-year lows against the dollar as the week came to a close.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comWhile Suzuki may have found allies grumbling over the fallout from the U.S. central bank's aggressive interest rate hike path, he conceded that no plan for a coordinated intervention was in the works."Many countries saw the need for vigilance to the spill-over effect of global monetary tightening, and mentioned currency moves in that context. But there wasn't any discussion on what coordinated steps could be taken," Suzuki said in a news conference on Thursday after attending separate meetings of the G7 and G20 finance leaders in Washington.U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen made clear that Washington had no appetite for concerted action, saying the dollar's overall strength was a "natural result of different paces of monetary tightening in the United States and other countries.""I've said on many occasions that I think a market-determined value for the dollar is in America's interest. And I continue to feel that way," she said on Tuesday, when asked if she would consider a Plaza Accord 2.0 agreement.NO YEN SUPPORTIn 1985, a destabilizing surge in the dollar prompted five countries - France, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States and what was then West Germany - to band together to weaken the U.S. currency and help reduce the U.S. trade deficit. Following the deal, named the Plaza Accord for the famed New York hotel where it was hammered out, the dollar shed roughly 25% of its value over the ensuing 12 months.With no current U.S. interest in engineering that kind of deal, other countries have to find ways to mitigate the pain stemming from a strong dollar, which has forced some emerging economies to hike interest rates to defend their currencies even at the cost of cooling economic growth more than they want.Emerging Asian nations have seen significant capital outflows this year that are comparable to previous stress episodes, heightening the need for policymakers to build liquidity buffers and take other steps to prepare for turbulence, said Sanjaya Panth, deputy director for the International Monetary Fund's Asia and Pacific Department."The situation for Asian economies is very different from where they were 20 years ago" as countries accumulated foreign reserves that make them more resilient to external shocks, Panth told Reuters on Thursday on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank annual meetings in Washington."At the same time, the rising debt levels, particularly in some economies in the regions, are a concern," he said. "Some form of market stress cannot be ruled out."The Bank of Korea delivered its second-ever 50-basis-point interest rate hike on Wednesday and made clear the won's 6.5% slide against the dollar in September that drove up import costs played a key role in the decision.South Korea's central bank Governor Rhee Chang-yong said on Saturday he does not sense an interest among U.S. officials to stem the dollar's strength through joint intervention.But he said some kind of international cooperation on the dollar may be needed "after a certain period.""I think a too-strong dollar, especially for a substantial period, won't be good for the Unites States either, and actually I'm thinking about the long-term implication for the trade deficit, and maybe another global imbalance may happen," he said.In Japan, the onus is on the government to deal with a renewed plunge in the yen, caused in part by the policy divergence between the Federal Reserve's determination to raise U.S. interest rates and the Bank of Japan's resolve to keep borrowing costs ultra-low.At the news conference where Suzuki issued his warning about sharp yen falls, BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda ruled out anew the chance of a rate hike.The dollar jumped about 1% to a fresh 32-year high of 148.86 yen on Friday, testing authorities' resolve to combat the Japanese currency's relentless slide. The dollar/yen is now up roughly 2% from levels when Japan intervened on Sept. 22 to buy yen for the first time since 1998.Japanese policymakers have said they won't seek to defend a certain yen level, and instead will focus on smoothing volatility.Masato Kanda, the country's top currency diplomat, told reporters on Friday that authorities were ready to take "decisive action any time" if excessively volatile yen moves continued.Even moderating abrupt yen moves, however, could be a challenge as Kuroda's assurance that the BOJ will keep interest rates in negative territory gives investors a green light to continue dumping the currency."It's impossible to reverse the yen's downtrend with solo intervention," said Daisaku Ueno, chief forex strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities."Once the yen falls below 150 to the dollar, it's hard to predict where its depreciation could stop because there's no technical chart support until around 160," he said.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Leika Kihara; Additional reporting by Daniel Burns in Washington and Tetsushi Kajimoto in Tokyo;
Editing by Paul SimaoOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Forex Trading & Speculation |
Yam sellers arrange yam tubers in stacks for sale at Bodija market in Ibadan, Oyo, Nigeria August 2, 2022. REUTERS/Temilade AdelajaRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comABUJA, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Nigeria's annual inflation quickened in July to its highest level since 2005, official data showed on Monday, driven by price rises for food, fuel and clothing.The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said inflation rose for the sixth straight month, hitting 19.64% from 18.60% year on year in June.NBS data showed the July inflation reading was the highest since at least the start of 2009.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comRefinitiv data showed it was the highest since the 24.32% recorded in September, 2005 (NGCPIY=ECI).Inflation has been in double digits in Africa's biggest economy since 2016, fuelled partly by a weakening of its naira currency .Food prices were up 22.02% year on year in July, caused by increases in prices of bread and cereals, potatoes, yam, meat, fish, oil and other items.Core inflation, which excludes prices of farm produce, was up 16.26% from the same period last year, with gas, liquid and solid fuel, transportation by road and air, garments and hire of clothing among contributing factors.Rising inflation and the state of the economy are major issues as the country heads for a national election in February, when voters will choose a new president as incumbent Muhammadu Buhari steps down.The naira currency has been weakening on the parallel market due to a scarcity of foreign currency since July 2021, when the central bank stopped forex sales to retail currency traders to ease pressure on reserves and support the official market. read more The move funnelled demand towards the unofficial market, where the currency is freely traded.Policymakers argue persistent inflationary pressures are structural and largely related to imports.Analysts at Capital Economics said in a research note that Nigeria's inflation was probably not far from its peak but would remain elevated.They predicted another interest rate increase at the central bank's next policy meeting in September.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Chijioke Ohuocha, Editing by Alexander Winning and Ed OsmondOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Africa Business & Economics |
Anthony Albanese has declared Australia will “cooperate with China where we can, disagree where we must, but ... also engage in our national interest” as the prime minister arrived in the People’s Republic for a landmark three day official visit.
Albanese touched down in Shanghai on Saturday evening. After being received at the airport by senior diplomats from both countries, the prime minister went immediately to a banquet hosted by China’s premier Li Qiang to open China’s International Import Expo in downtown Shanghai.
When he returned from the banquet, the prime minister told travelling journalists Australia’s national interest was served by having a positive, constructive, respectful and open dialogue with China, our biggest trading partner.
“That’s what I hope to achieve over the coming days,” the prime minister said.
Albanese has faced some criticism at home for maintaining a hectic schedule of international travel at a time when Australians are battling cost-of-living pressure. The prime minister noted on Saturday night China was Australia’s largest trading partner and pointed out one in four jobs in Australia was “trade dependent”.
Albanese’s visit to China is the first by an Australian prime minister since 2016. He will meet the Chinese president, Xi Jinping in Beijing on Monday, and the premier on Tuesday.
The visit is intended to reboot the diplomatic relationship after a period of significant turbulence that began with Australia’s decision to exclude Chinese company Huawei from the rollout of the 5G network in 2018. The bilateral rift intensified and spiralled into a trade war after then prime minister Scott Morrison called for an independent investigation into the origins of the pandemic in 2020.
On Sunday, the prime minister will attend the trade expo in Shanghai and meet Australian and Chinese business leaders at a function organised by Tourism Australia before flying to Beijing in the evening.
Albanese has flagged that he intends to raise human rights and consular issues during this visit. On Saturday, before he left Australia, Albanese was asked what he would say to China’s premier and president about the writer, Yang Hengjun, who has been detained for four years.
Albanese said: “I’ll be saying that Dr Yang’s case needs to be resolved. And I’ll be speaking about his human rights, the nature of the detention and the failure to have transparent processes.
“We will always raise the issues of Australian citizens when we meet with international leaders. That is something that we do consistently, and I will do it again in a way that is aimed at achieving an outcome in the interests of Dr Yang and his family.” | Australia Business & Economics |
American presidents wrestle with how to balance interests and values in our foreign policy. Internationally, we have long stood for democratic principles and the protection of human rights. Yet, we have also long maintained close relations with states that have been violators of human rights and are not democracies. Our presidents have to make choices and set priorities — and those choices, oftentimes, seemingly elevate interests over values. No one would question whether Jimmy Carter made human rights a centerpiece of his foreign policy. Yet, he maintained strong support for a number of countries whose human rights records were not stellar, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia. With Egypt, peace with Israel was understandably his priority. With the Saudis, it was oil — especially, given the memory of the 1973 oil embargo, his fear of another one, and the gas lines that emerged along with the Iran-Iraq war in 1980. President Biden now plans to visit Saudi Arabia when he travels to the Middle East next month. His visit is drawing criticism. His critics see him giving the Saudis a pass and rehabilitating its Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, without creating accountability for the gruesome murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The murder was horrific. President Trump should not have dismissed it the way he did, and could have imposed a price without rupturing relations. However, those who criticize President Biden now for his upcoming visit, act as if there are no other considerations. There are. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a seismic event internationally. Imposing an unmistakable cost on Russia requires doing as much as we can to deny it the oil revenues that help sustain its war effort — one that Vladimir Putin acts as if he can win through attrition and outlasting Ukraine. But getting as much Russian oil off the market as possible also drives up the price and requires expansion of oil production to make up some of the loss. The only country in the world with any significant spare oil production capacity is Saudi Arabia. Russia’s war reminds us that there is no such thing as oil independence so long as there is one oil/ energy market globally and its disruption produces a much higher oil price for us and everyone else. Five dollars a gallon here is a testament to that. Yes, real independence will come when renewables take the place of fossil fuels, but we are decades away from that reality, with the peak of oil consumption probably still 10-15 years from now. Just as Jimmy Carter understood that Saudi Arabia was important to us, so, now we must be mindful of that as well. Of course, there are other oil-producing states like Iran and Venezuela whose oil could be added to the market if sanctions were lifted against them. But just as we do not want to sustain Russia’s aggression with its oil revenues, both Iran and Venezuela are under sanctions for good reasons, including their support for terror and the threats they pose to their regional orders. Saudi Arabia is not a revisionist state, trying to upend the regional and international orders. Both Iran and Venezuela are. (In the case of Iran, when it is increasingly removing the IAEA’s ability to monitor its nuclear program, installing two new cascades of advanced centrifuges, enriching to near weapons grade, and reducing its break-out time, this is not the moment to give them an infusion of cash by permitting their oil back on the market.) Precisely because we are in a longer-term competition now with Russia and China, we need to broaden the coalition of states that will work with us. Yes, we start with the other democracies, but we also need states that are not revisionist states, like the Saudis, to be part of the coalition. Their resources matter and alienating them is not smart, especially given what is at stake in this competition — whether we can preserve a rules-based system or Russia succeeds (with China’s tacit support) in redefining the international landscape so: borders are not inviolate and force is legitimate to change them; bigger nations can impose on smaller nations and have a right to a sphere of influence in which they dictate both the internal and external policies of the states and peoples within them; and targeting civilians is deliberate with the aim of terrorizing, demoralizing, and depopulating. Preventing these from becoming the basis of a new international (dis)order is both an interest and a value. In a similar vein, when President Biden speaks of going to Saudi Arabia, he speaks of promoting peace. He clearly wants to foster a normalization process between Saudi Arabia and Israel. In discussions I just had in the Kingdom, it was very clear that Saudis believe relations with Israel are inevitable and not just because of their common fears of Iran but because the Saudis want to build a resilient, knowledge-based economy and see Israel as a natural partner. Such a partnership would be good for those who want to build a more hopeful Middle East. (It also could be part of a plan to break the stalemate between Israelis and Palestinians since for every public step the Saudis take toward the Israelis, they could ask the Israelis to take a step toward the Palestinians.) None of this requires us to forego our concern for human rights. The Saudis should know what will trigger public responses from us. We should establish boundaries in the relationship and a “no surprises” understanding with them. Today’s international challenges give us a stake in Saudi Arabia — a stake that involves both our interests and our values. Dennis Ross is counselor and the William Davidson Distinguished Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He served as special assistant to President Obama, as Special Middle East Coordinator under President Clinton, and as director of the State Department’s Policy Planning Staff in the first Bush administration. He is the author, with David Makovsky, of “Be Strong and of Good Courage: How Israel’s Most Important Leaders Shaped Its Destiny.” Follow him on Twitter @AmbDennisRoss | Middle East Business & Economics |
Britons could save on soaring bills as ministers plan to end link between gas and electricity prices… but it won’t help struggling households until at least the winterMinisters set to bring forward new laws to overhaul the UK's energy marketThey will reportedly seek to sever the link between prices of gas and electricityThe current system is compared to train passengers always paying peak fares Published: 06:05 EDT, 13 June 2022 | Updated: 08:34 EDT, 13 June 2022 Britons could be handed relief on rocketing household bills under Government plans to sever the link between the prices of gas and electricity, it has emerged.Ministers are set to bring forward new laws under the Energy Security Bill to overhaul the UK's energy market in the face of the current cost-of-living crisis.They have promised to provide greater protection for Britons against global fluctuations in energy prices.The current worldwide crisis has been exacerbated by the Ukraine war, which has sent gas prices spiralling higher.Under the current make-up of Britain's energy market, soaring gas prices have had a knock-on effect on electricity costs.But it has now been reported the new legislation will seek to prevent future shocks in the global gas market having a similar impact on electricity prices.Yet the overhaul might not come in time to ease rocketing energy bills ahead of this winter.According to The Times, Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng will outline proposals for reforms in the coming weeks.These will then form part of the Energy Security Bill to be introduced in the autumn.The newspaper said the plans will end the current system under which the wholesale cost of gas effectively determines the price of electricity for households. Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng will reportedly outline proposals for reforms in the coming weeks Under the current make-up of Britain's energy market, soaring gas prices have had a knock-on effect on electricity costs. Under the current make-up of Britain's energy market, soaring gas prices have had a knock-on effect on electricity costs More than a quarter of Britain's electricity comes from renewable sources, such as wind farms - but it is the most expensive generator that determines the priceAlthough more than a quarter of Britain's electricity comes from renewable sources, under current market rules it is the most expensive megawatt needed to meet demand that determines the price for all electricity generation.This means that soaring gas prices have driven up all electricity costs in recent months, even though only around 40% of UK electricity comes from gas power stations.Energy experts have compared the current market to train passengers having to pay the peak-period price for every journey they make.One Government source told The Times: 'In the past it didn’t really matter because the price of gas was reasonably stable.'Now it seems completely crazy that the price of electricity is based on the price of gas when a large amount of our generation is from renewables.'It was also claimed ministers hope the reforms will make the market more transparent and emphasise to consumers the benefits of decarbonisation.A Government spokesperson said: 'The high global gas prices and linked high electricity prices that we are currently facing have given added urgency to the need to consider electricity market reform.'We are considering a range of market reform options to help bring down the cost of energy and will set these out in our summer consultation.'It is understood the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy are considering a similar intervention by the Spanish Government into electricity pricing.Michael Grubb, professor of energy and climate change at University College London, wrote in an article earlier this year that the gap between the cheaper cost of renewable energy and the final electricity price was 'becoming unconscionable'.He said: 'Since renewables and nuclear will always run when they can, it is fossil fuels – and at present, unequivocally gas, plus the cost of taxes on CO₂ pollution – which set the price almost all the time, because some gas plants are needed most of the time, and they won’t operate unless the electricity price is high enough to cover their operating cost.'It’s a bit like having to pay the peak-period price for every train journey you take.'If renewables are now so much cheaper, why can’t consumers buy electricity directly from them and avoid paying the gas and carbon costs?'It has been suggested the planned reforms will bring an end to windfall profits made by some electricity generators who are not paid under the Contracts for Difference (CfD) system.This offers low-carbon generators a fixed price for their electricity.The Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit has already forecast that increasing use of wind power - provided under a fixed price - could save consumers further in the event of future gas crises.Their analysis suggested, if another gas crisis was to occur five years in the future with wholesale prices of £200 per megawatt-hour for a year, wind farms with CfDs could provide a cost saving of £5.7billion to 6.7billion in a year, equivalent to £70 to £85 a year for each household.They added that, if that crisis was repeated in ten years’ time - by which point the Government aims to have 40GW of offshore wind as part of the move to net zero - CfDs for wind power could save £23billion to 26billion in a year, equivalent to £290 to £330 per home. 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Biden wants to take away Modi’s license to kill
Before Narendra Modi became prime minister, he said India should be quicker to kill terrorists outside its borders – carrying out extrajudicial assassinations on foreign soil, giving his spies the license to kill, James Bond-style.
Modi is popular enough in India that this should not dent his popularity or threaten his reelection bid next spring, but the news raises challenges for him internationally, not least with Canada, whose leader has been vindicated.
The US indictment alleges that on June 9 an Indian national, Nikhil Gupta, arranged for a payment of $15,000 to an American hitman to carry out a $100,000 murder contract on Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a Sikh separatist leader who lives in the United States. The problem for Gupta, and Modi, is that the “hitman” was an undercover officer with the US Drug Enforcement Agency.
Eight days later, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian Sikh separatist leader, called Pannun, who was his lawyer, to tell him that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service had just warned him his life was in danger. The next day, Nijjar was gunned down by a team of killers outside his gurdwara in Surrey, B.C. That night, the indictment says, Gupta sent a video of Nijjar’s bullet-riddled corpse to the fake hitman he had hired.
The next day, he messaged again — “we have so many targets” — and urged him to take out Pannun.
Gupta was arrested in the Czech Republic later in June on murder-for-hire charges.
The indictment alleges an Indian government official — presumably a senior spy — “directed the assassination plot from India” and that three more assassinations were planned in Canada.
This indictment makes everything that India has said since look ridiculous. When Justin Trudeau announced in September that Canada suspected Indian involvement in Nijjar’s death, Modi’s government responded with furious denials and expelled 41 Canadian diplomats. India’s media attacked Trudeau, even accusing him of being coked out in New Delhi for the G20 meeting, an entirely made-up allegation that nonetheless went viral around the world.
Joe Biden’s government was put in an awkward position by Trudeau’s accusation. Washington confirmed that it had intel that seemed to back Trudeau’s claim but also sought to calm tensions between its closest ally and India, whose cooperation it needs in containing China.
Behind the scenes, the Americans were exasperated, says Pramit Pal Chaudhuri, Eurasia Group’s practice head for South Asia, who lives in New Delhi. “I’ve heard that the Americans have yelled at both sides and said the world has some serious problems going on right now. This is just bullshit. Let’s get this off the table very quickly.”
But India kept applying pressure to Canada, motivated by long-standing resentment of Canadian inaction on Sikh separatism.
Both Nijjar and Pannun had been helping organize a diaspora referendum calling for the creation of “Khalistan,” a majority Sikh state in northern India, which enrages the Indian government. There is little support for that idea in India, but it lives on in the hearts of Sikhs around the world, and India believes Canadian Sikhs finance terrorist attacks in India.
A Canadian inquiry into the 1985 Air India bombing, which killed 329 people, blamed poor intelligence and policing for failing to prevent it, and nobody was ever convicted. India regularly complains that Canada does not do enough to crack down on separatists, alleging, for instance, that Nijjar was running a terrorist training camp. They accuse the Liberals of failing to crack down because they need Sikh votes.
India has legitimate complaints, but it now seems clear that Trudeau was entirely right and Modi entirely wrong about who was responsible for killing Nijjar.
It is easy to understand Trudeau’s moves now. He came under heavy criticism for taking the impolitic position he did, instead of trying to resolve the matter quietly, but he knew all along he would be vindicated. It’s much harder to understand Modi’s moves, especially after Gupta was arrested, and after both Trudeau and Biden raised this issue with him at the G20 meeting in September. How did he think this would end?
Biden has invested a lot of time and energy in wooing Modi, cultivating him as a crucial Asian ally in the soft-power struggle with a rising China. Wednesday’s news will inevitably raise questions about how useful an ally he can really be.
But India has now promised to investigate the matter. “The Biden administration is pushing the Indian government to make a commitment not to carry out such targeted killing on ‘friendly soil’ and against citizens of friendly countries,” says Chaudhuri.
“I suspect they have already told the Indians in no uncertain terms that this cannot happen again,” says Graeme Thompson, a senior analyst with Eurasia Group's global macro-geopolitics practice. “But Washington needs New Delhi on a range of high-priority issues, and New Delhi knows that.”
Despite this ugly business, the Americans have continued to engage on all fronts and will keep doing so. The same day the indictment came down, NASA announced it would train an Indian astronaut.
Biden is signaling that India and the United States need one another so much that the relationship will continue to deepen, whether or not Modi reins in his bumbling assassins. | India Business & Economics |
Russian 1000-rouble banknotes, 50 and 10 kopeck coins are seen on a table at a private company's office in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia November 6, 2014. REUTERS/Ilya NaymushinRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSummaryThis content was produced in Russia where the law restricts coverage of Russian military operations in UkraineMOSCOW, June 28 (Reuters) - The rouble rallied past 52 against the dollar to a more than a seven-year high on Tuesday as capital controls and month-end taxes offset the negative impact of Western statements that Russia has defaulted on its international bonds.The rouble became the world's best-performing currency this year, boosted by emergency measures that authorities have taken to shield Russia's financial system from western sanctions after Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine.The rouble hit 50.6125 against the dollar in Moscow trade for the first time since late May 2015, and jumped to 54.40 against the euro, a level last seen in April 2015.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comAs of 1523 GMT, the rouble gained nearly 3% to 51.88 against the greenback and was at 54.71 against the euro, gaining more than 2.5% on the day .The rouble is much stronger now than it was before Russia started what it calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine on Feb. 24. Back then the rouble traded near 80 against the dollar and 90 against the euro as it was in free-float mode, hammered by fears of sanctions and had no support from capital controls.Now demand for foreign currency in Russia remains below supply volumes from export-focused companies that need to convert their dollar and euro revenue to pay month-end taxes.With restrictions on forex withdrawal from banks' accounts for individuals, capital restrictions have helped the rouble shrug off Western statements that Russia has defaulted on its international bonds for the first time in more than a century.But Kremlin, which has money to make payments from oil and gas revenue, has rejected the claims and accused the West of driving it into an artificial default. read more The declared default will have no substantial impact on Russian securities as Eurobonds have long priced in the default, while the external debt market is shut for Russia in any case, said Alexander Afonin, head of debt research at Sinara investment bank.The rouble's upside could be limited given growing concerns about the impact of the strong rouble on Russia's revenues from selling commodities abroad for foreign currency.Market players "see the current levels as attractive for purchasing hard currency, especially in light of the recent comments from Russian officials indicating that the rouble has become too strong," Sberbank CIB said in a note.On the stock market, the dollar-denominated RTS index (.IRTS)rose 2.5% to 1,464.1 points. The rouble-based MOEX Russian index (.IMOEX) was 0.3% lower at 2,409.1 points.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Reuters; editing by Barbara Lewis and Shinjini GanguliOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Forex Trading & Speculation |
Washington CNN — President Joe Biden welcomes nearly 50 leaders from Africa on Wednesday for a summit intended to reset Washington’s commitment to a region where China and Russia are also working to expand their influence. The gathering, coming nearly two years into Biden’s term, will focus on issues critical to the continent’s future, including climate change, public health and food security. Already, the administration has announced billions of dollars in economic aid and voiced support for a permanent seat at the Group of 20 for a representative from the African Union. Biden is also expected to unveil plans to travel to the continent – he hasn’t visited Sub-Saharan Africa since taking office – and to appoint a new special representative for implementing the summit’s commitments. Biden will deliver remarks Wednesday at the US-Africa Business Forum in Washington before hosting a small group of African leaders at the White House “for a discussion on upcoming presidential elections in 2023 in Africa and US support for free, fair and credible polls across the continent,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters Monday, a sign of Biden’s focus on issues of democracy on the continent. Four nations’ leaders were excluded from the summit invite list following recent coups. But otherwise, all of the continents’ countries will be represented, including some with dire human rights records. On Wednesday evening, Biden will host the dozens of heads of delegation and their spouses for a dinner at the White House before kicking off Thursday’s program and closing the day “with a discussion on food security and food systems resilience” in Africa, which Sullivan said has been disproportionately affected by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The goal, according to senior administration officials, is to build more robust ties with African nations in the hopes of addressing the significant challenges the continent faces and to cultivate beneficial economic and security partnerships. It’s not the first time African leaders have heard a similar message from an American president. President Barack Obama held his own US-Africa Leaders Summit in 2014, complete with gala dinner under a tent on the White House South Lawn. He promised then to take action to help build more prosperity and security in Africa. But his predecessor Donald Trump largely ignored Africa, never visiting the continent and even rudely disparaging certain African nations in a 2018 meeting as “shithole countries.” Meanwhile, other nations have made inroads on the continent. China has worked to grow trade relations with African nations and has developed major infrastructure projects there. Russia has expanded its military influence, including through mercenaries like the Wagner Group. “We see Russia continuing to peddle cheap weapons,” US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Tuesday at a summit session. “And also, we see Russia employing mercenaries across the continent, and that is destabilizing as well.” Those countries, along with the European Union and Turkey, have each held their own summits for African leaders in recent years. In previewing this week’s US summit, American officials have been careful to avoid framing Africa as a pawn in a larger geopolitical strategy. Instead, they have sought to emphasize Biden’s interest in cultivating ties that would benefit both the US and Africa, and finding ways to harness the continent’s potential. “The Summit, just to take a step back, is rooted in the recognition that Africa is a key geopolitical player,” Sullivan said. “The continent will shape the future, not just of the African people, but also the world.” Yet the creeping leverage that Beijing and Moscow have exerted in Africa is a source of growing concern in Washington, particularly amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Some African nations have been wary of criticizing the invasion, even as they are burdened by its aftereffects, including global food shortages and high energy costs. CNN’s DJ Judd and Allie Malloy contributed to this report. | Africa Business & Economics |
Realpeoplegroup | E+ | Getty ImagesAs fears grow that the U.S. economy is headed for a recession, a number of companies have announced massive waves of layoffs.It's a stark reversal after a year or more of mass voluntary resignations and job switching amid plentiful employment opportunities nationwide, in a trend known as the "Great Resignation."Among the recent layoff announcements:Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase shared this week that it was letting go almost a fifth of its workforce, or around 1,100 people.Real estate firms Compass and Redfin announced workforce cuts of 10% and 8%, respectively.Tesla CEO Elon Musk sent an email to employees earlier this month sharing plans to cut 10% of salaried workers.Mail-order clothing service Stitch Fix said earlier this month that it was reducing its headcount by around 15%."We don't know where the labor market is headed yet," said Andrew Stettner, an unemployment expert and senior fellow at progressive think tank The Century Foundation. "But clearly many things are flashing warning signs."More from Personal Finance:What does a 'bear market' mean?10 states hit hardest by Social Security staff cutsWhy 401(k) savers may get a 'wake-up call' in statementsLosing your job and income can be incredibly disruptive, setting off a myriad of financial problems.By focusing on the first steps you should take after a layoff, though, you can prevent spiraling too much and boost your odds of a positive next chapter, experts say.1. File ASAP to collect unemployment benefitsYou should file for unemployment benefits as soon as possible, Stettner said.If you received unemployment benefits earlier in the pandemic and are facing joblessness again, you may qualify for more aid.The rules vary state by state, but generally, so long as you've worked at least 15 weeks since last receiving unemployment benefits, you're eligible to open a new claim for a partial payment, Stettner said. Most people will need to have been working for at least six months to qualify for a full benefit again.If you've been employed for more than a year, your benefit should come fairly quickly.2. Weigh health insurance optionsNext, you want to also make sure you don't find yourself without health insurance. "As overwhelming as it may be, it's important to look for coverage quickly" after a layoff, said Caitlin Donovan, a spokesperson for the National Patient Advocate Foundation, a nonprofit that helps individuals access and pay for health care. Your first step should be to speak with someone in your company's human resources department to understand when your coverage technically ends."There's no blanket rule here: For some, coverage may end immediately, for others, it may go until the end of the month," Donovan said. "Either way, you should immediately start planning to transition to a new plan." Navigating the health insurance landscape on your own can be stressful and confusing.There are resources you can turn to for help. If you have a diagnosed condition, including cancer, lupus or diabetes, you may be able to get support deciding on and enrolling in a plan with the National Patient Advocate Foundation, Donovan said. You can also consult with a local health-care "navigator." Generally, newly laid off and uninsured people will have three routes to coverage from which to pick: COBRA, the Affordable Care Act subsidized marketplace or a public plan like Medicaid or Medicare.COBRA gives those who have left a company the option of staying on their former employer's insurance plan, although it's typically very expensive. That's because people have to keep paying the part of their premium they'd been responsible for while working, as well as the remainder, which their former employer had covered.Medicaid typically involves no or low monthly premiums, and marketplace plans are the cheapest they've ever been for many people, thanks to relief legislation passed in the pandemic.3. Protect your retirement savingsMany people save for their retirement through their job. If you had access to a 401(k) plan at the company from which you were laid off, you'll need to decide what to do with that account.You may not want to do anything, said Rita Assaf, vice president of retirement leadership at Fidelity.Most employers allow you to keep your plan with them after you leave, Assaf said. (However, if you have less than $5,000 in the account, the money may be sent to an individual retirement account for you, she added.)Make sure to research fees and expenses when choosing an IRA provider.Rita Assafvice president of retirement leadership at FidelityHowever, you won't be able to continue contributing to a plan at a company you're no longer working for. And you may be limited in how much you can take as a loan or withdraw from the account.Another option is to roll over the account into an IRA, which can be opened at a bank or brokerage firm. This would allow you to continue saving. You'd also be able to withdraw money from this account if you're under 59½ without any penalties, Assaf said, if you use it for a first-time home purchase or higher education expenses."Make sure to research fees and expenses when choosing an IRA provider, if you do, though, as they can really vary," Assaf said.If you're hopping to another job right away, you may have the option to roll your old 401(k) plan into one with your new employer. Having just one savings retirement account may feel more manageable."It's important to note that not all employers will accept a rollover from a previous employer's plan, so you should check with your new employer before making any decisions," Assaf said.What you don't want to do, if at all possible, is to cash out the account, she said. You'll likely be dinged with taxes and penalties, not to mention risking your financial security when you leave work for good. | Unemployment |
MoneyWatch Updated on: June 14, 2022 / 4:45 PM / MoneyWatch Interest rates hit homebuyers’ wallets Homebuyers feel pinch as interest rates rise 03:39 With the dream of buying a home increasingly out of reach for many Americans, aspiring property owners may want to consider Pittsburgh. The Pennsylvania city is the best metro area in the country for first-time buyers, according to a new study.The Steel City offers a healthy mix of affordable housing and good neighborhoods, with a steady flow of properties coming onto the market, Bankrate found. The personal finance website examined the nation's 50 largest metro areas and ranked their attractiveness for first-time homebuyers based on 11 different metrics, including access to cultural centers and the local job market.The median home price in Pittsburgh in the first quarter of 2022 was $169,000, according to ATTOM Data Solutions, compared with the national median of $320,500. And those lower prices have become very attractive in today's competitive housing market, one Pittsburgh realtor told CBS MoneyWatch. "For newcomers to the area, especially if they're from a larger metro area, our housing values are a pleasant surprise," said John Petrack, executive vice president for the Realtors Association of Metropolitan Pittsburgh. "We tend to have a very stable housing market. We don't experience the large ups or downs of other major cities, although the last two years have seen unusually high appreciation for us." Florida is the least affordable state to live in 01:27 Rounding out Bankrate's top five cities for first-time house-hunters are Minneapolis, Minnesota; Cincinnati, Ohio; Kansas City, Missouri; and Buffalo, New York. Minneapolis ranks second in part because of its unemployment rate, which placed sixth in the study's labor market category. Housing inventory in the Twin Cities is low and prices are rising, "but the area's great schools, health care, job opportunities, and the variety of arts and entertainment options make living here a fantastic value," said Minneapolis Area Realtors President Denise Mazone.Tough marketsThe worst places for first-time homebuyers were Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Seattle because of their low housing inventory, high-priced homes and higher unemployment, according to Bankrate study,The median home price in Los Angeles in April was $1 million, up 13% from last year, according to Redfin data. Las Vegas' median home price for the same period was $435,000, up 30% from a year ago, and Seattle's median home price was $889,000, up 11% from a year ago. A million-dollar price tag is one thing, but families looking to buy in L.A. also have to generate enough funds to compete with cash buyers and institutional buyers, said Anthony Vulin, president of Greater Los Angeles Realtors. The competition is steep when there's a shortage of available homes for sale in the first place, he said. "Big picture, we need to solve L.A.'s housing production problem to truly make the region more friendly to first-time buyers," Vulin told CBS MoneyWatch.Home prices have soared this year, largely because housing demand has outstripped supply after construction companies cut back on building new homes during the coronavirus pandemic. Home prices have also climbed because some longtime homeowners chose to delay selling and stay put as the pandemic swept across the nation.The rise in prices has been widespread, with Florida cities Miami, Orlando and Tampa seeing some of the sharpest increases. High prices have snatched the dream of homeownership away from some middle-class Americans — many of whom have opted to bail on the market in recent weeks. Others have decided to stay the course and search for cheaper priced homes in other cities. Khristopher J. Brooks Khristopher J. Brooks is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering business, consumer and financial stories that range from economic inequality and housing issues to bankruptcies and the business of sports. Twitter Thanks for reading CBS NEWS. Create your free account or log in for more features. Please enter email address to continue Please enter valid email address to continue | Interest Rates |
Labour denies claims it would take UK back into EU single market and customs union Labour has denied claims it would take the UK back into the EU single market and customs union.A party spokesman said Anna McMorrin, a shadow justice minister, had been spoken to by Sir Keir Starmer after it was reported that she suggested a Labour Government may be able to renegotiate the UK's deal with Brussels.In footage obtained by The Sun Anna McMorrin was seen saying: "We need to renegotiate the deal, certainly."She added: "I hope, eventually that, we will get back into the single market and customs union, and who knows then."However, she retained her frontbench role after she issued a statement making clear that she backed the official party line that the UK had left that EU and that Labour was committed to making the existing deal work.She said: "Labour policy on Brexit is clear. We have left the EU, Labour voted for the deal. Now it is the job of all of us to make it work."The spokesman reiterated that this is "the Labour Party position."In the House of Commons, Boris Johnson taunted her about her remarks when she challenged him at Prime Minister's Questions about comments by his new cost-of-living tsar saying that he "has to go".The Prime Minister replied: "I read the other day that she wants to go back into the single market and into the customs union."If that's the real policy of the Labour Party, going back to the EU, why won't the Leader of the Opposition admit it?" While we have got you... If you enjoy reading our Politics Hub, liveblogs and Q&As, do think about downloading our free app available for both iOS and Android.Click on this link: https://skynews.com/download-appAs well as keeping across the latest breaking news, you can easily watch Sky News on the go and listen to our podcasts. Rail strikes are 'entirely pointless and counterproductive', says transport secretary Upcoming rail strikes are "entirely pointless, counterproductive... and should never have been called", the transport secretary has told the House of Commons. He said rail industry "needs to help" transform itself to make it suitable for modern times."The railway is one of the nation's greatest legacies. The Industrial Revolution was forged upon it," Grant Shapps said.But, he says the railways have "fallen behind the times" and are in "desperate need of modernising and reform" with "some working practices that haven't changed for decades". "We put our money where our mouth is and committed £16 billion to support the railways through COVID," which he says is equivalent to "£160,000 per railways worker".However, responding former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn accused the minister of "punishing those people that kept the railway system working" during the pandemic. Mr Shapps replied by comparing the median salary of a train driver (£59,000) to that of a care worker (£21,000) and nurse (£31,000). He says the medium salary within the rail sector is £44,000 - "significant above the sums of money which are paid on medium average in this country".When asked about negotiating with the unions, Mr Shapps said: "Only last month the leader of the RMT Mick Lynch says, and I quote, I do not negotiate with a Tory government." McDonnell says Starmer should apologise for 'Conservative Corbyn' comment at PMQs Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell has accused Sir Keir Starmer of "insulting" Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs and suggested the Labour leader make an apology to his predecessor.As reported in our post at 12.18pm, Sir Keir referenced a critical briefing document compiled by Tory backbenchers which referred to Boris Johnson as "the Conservative Corbyn.""I don't think that was intended as a compliment," Sir Keir added. UK 'disappointed' EU has launched legal action over NI Protocol Away from the Commons, the prime minister's spokesman has been reacting to the EU launching legal action against the UK. Brussels has taken the move due to the UK publishing legislation to override parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol.Boris Johnson's spokesman has said the UK is "disappointed" with the EU's decision.He said the latest proposals from Brussels would lead to more checks and controls and make the situation in Northern Ireland worse."We will consider these documents carefully and respond formally in due course, however we are disappointed the EU has taken this legal action today," the PM's spokesman said."The EU's proposed approach, which doesn't differ from what they have said previously, would increase burdens on business and citizens and take us backwards from where we are currently."The infractions are related to the implementation of the protocol in our recently published Bill. "It is difficult to see how scrapping grace periods and adding additional controls and checks would be the situation better." People smugglers 'abusing legal protections meant for those trafficked for modern slavery' People being smuggled across the English Channel are abusing legal protections meant for those trafficked for modern slavery, one Tory MP has said. Conservative MP Peter Bone told the Commons earlier: "People who are trafficked into this country are duped or coerced, they are exploited for sexual or labour purposes, people who are smuggled into this country willingly pay to do so and come for economic purposes."The first are victims and deserve the protection of the Modern Slavery Act, the second are not and deserve no protection from the Modern Slavery Act."That is being abused by people who are coming across in small boats. I hope the home secretary can sort this out."Priti Patel replied that it was in the "national interest" to ensure there are safeguards to protect people, but "we cannot allow people to exploit [these protections] for the wrong reasons." PMQs word cloud analysis - 'Investment' and 'economy' dominate By Daniel Dunford, senior data journalistLabour's Sir Keir Starmer tried to press the prime minister on issues concerning the economy - poor growth, tax hikes and the rising cost of living. Meanwhile, Boris Johnson tried to steer the discussion to rail strikes and Britain's low level of unemployment, as well as investment - both in the UK from abroad and in the NHS from the government.Word cloud analysis of today's session show s"investment" as the main focus of the prime minister's contributions and "economy" the most prominent term used by Sir Keir.Yesterday’s failed Home Office flight taking UK migrants to Rwanda was only mentioned obliquely at the close of Boris Johnson's final answer to Sir Keir, and not at all by the Labour leader himself, suggesting that the Conservatives still believe the policy is a vote-winner among the public.There was one mention of Jabba the Hutt, and one of Obi-Wan Kenobi, as Sir Keir accused Mr Johnson of attempting to perform "Jedi mind tricks" on the country.And mercifully the phrase "the ick" was also only mentioned once, a reference to Love Island where contestants are booted out if the public stop liking them. What is the government position on the European Convention on Human Rights? Earlier this morning cabinet minister Therese Coffey and junior minister Guy Opperman both gave interviews that seemed to play down the idea that the government would now move to pull out of the European Convention on Human Rights following the failed Rwanda deportation flight.The Convention, to which the UK is a signatory, is the basis on which the European Court of Human Rights judges cases brought before it.But as our deputy political editor Sam Coates points out in his latest update, the prime minister's spokesman has now insisted "all options are on the table" when it comes to the Convention.Sam says this suggests that contrary to the comments of ministers earlier, Number 10 is preparing to "lean in into the idea of yet another very big fight."Watch his analysis here: Government will do 'whatever it takes' to ensure Rwanda flights take off As well as hearing from Priti Patel in the Commons, the prime minister's official spokesman has been fielding questions from journalists at a regular Westminster briefing.He has said the government will do "whatever it takes" to make sure that deportation flights to Rwanda go ahead.The spokesman said ministers would be considering the ruling from the European Court of Human Rights but stressed that "all options are on the table".Asked if the government could withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights, the spokesman responded: "We are keeping all options on the table including any further legal reforms that may be necessary."We will look at all of the legislation and processes in this round."Asked if a flight could take off before legal proceedings in the UK are finished, he said: "That is my understanding." 'The home secretary has no one to blame but herself' Labour's shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper calls the immigration policy a "shambles and shameful, and the home secretary has no one but herself to blame". She says Priti Patel knew she was planning to send torture victims to Rwanda and did not have the proper screening processes in place.Ms Cooper asks: "Can she confirm that it was the Home Office itself that withdrew a whole series of these cases on Friday and yesterday because they knew there was a problem with these cases that even without the ECHR judgment, she was planning to send a plane with just seven people on board because she'd had to withdraw most of the cases at the last minute."She also asks the home secretary how much "she promised Rwanda for each of the people she was planning to end yesterday, and how many Rwandan refugees she promised to take in return.""If she was serious about tackling illegal migration she would be working night and day to get a better joint plan with France to crack down on the gangs going into the water in the first place," she continues. "But she isn't because her relationship with French ministers has totally broken down."Ms Cooper says Ms Patel spent half a million pounds chartering a plane "she never expected to fly", calling it "government by gimmick".SNP MP Stuart McDonald calls it an "unworkable, immoral and illegal policy that "does nothing to stop illegal people smugglers". He says "it's not the lawyers who caused this flight to be cancelled, or any courts" but "government illegality". | United Kingdom Business & Economics |
Blackstone's CEO Stephen Schwarzman participates in a session of the U.S.-Africa Business Forum. Blackstone has become a leading provider of private equity products to RIAs and and accredited retail investors. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)Getty Images As sinking stocks and recession fears spur interest in alternatives, fund managers and retail marketplaces are chomping at the bit for ‘mass affluent’ investors. After years of private equity firms aggressively marketing themselves to high-net-worth investors and their financial advisors, the message seems to be breaking through. Facing a bear market and bleak economic outlook, marked by inflation, supply chain imbalances and a hawkish Federal Reserve, more RIAs and high-net-worth investors are warming up to alternative investment funds – such as private equity, hedge funds, venture capital and private debt strategies – in their search for yield, according to advisors and investment managers who spoke with Forbes. “I think [retail] appetite is increasing,” says Donald Calcagni, Chief Investment Officer at Mercer Advisors, which oversees roughly $42 billion of client assets. “There is a sense among investors, broadly, that there are gains and opportunities in private equity and private credit that until recently, have not been available.” The growth in demand is especially “coming down market,” says Calcagni, referring to high net worth investors with assets between $1 million and $25 million. “The trend is 100% towards increasing [retail] allocation” into alternatives funds, says Ken Brodkowitz, Chief Investment Officer at Gries Financial Partners, a Cleveland-based advisory group that oversees about $1.15 billion in assets for high-net-worth clients. “If you can get 10% plus [returns] in alternative investments, where you can control the outcome to a much greater degree, clients are extremely interested in that.” Alternative investment firms traditionally have relied on institutions, like endowments and public pension systems, as well as the ultra rich to fund their investments. However, per the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s “accredited investor” threshold, anyone with more than $1 million in investable assets, $200,000 in annual income or who meets certain investment industry qualifications (a provision added in 2020) can legally invest in private market funds. That leaves a big untapped market for fund managers. According to a survey conducted last month at the 2022 Morningstar Conference, 84% of about 300 investment professionals and financial advisors said they now recommend qualified clients put some money into alternatives funds. The survey, conducted by private funds platform CAIS, also found that a third of advisors believe a traditional portfolio of stocks and bonds “is no longer effective”; over two-fifths said the same about the traditional 60/40 allocation between stocks and bonds. Those concerns reflect widespread investor anxiety, following a historically great run for stocks: Between 2010 and the end of 2021, the S&P 500 returned investors an annualized rate of return of about 14.5% (including the reinvestment of dividends). This year, the S&P 500 is down over 20%.
“I think what we'll start to see now that we're seeing a downturn in the market is people looking at the historical private market returns relative to the public markets,” says Stephen Brennan, head of private wealth solutions at Hamilton Lane, who says that private equity and private credit have outperformed the public markets “in at least 19 of the last 20 years.”
Private equity’s historical performance is a hotly contested topic. Industry critics say that fund managers overstate their investment performance by relying on a metric called the Internal Rate of Return (or, “IRR”), which often does not reflect a fund’s true rate of return for investors. “Even as the stock market is in free fall and interest rates are rising, private equity (PE) funds continue to pursue new investors, peddling the myth that private equity returns defy the laws of financial gravity and yield strong returns even in periods of economic turbulence and declining values of publicly-traded companies,” wrote Eileen Appelbaum and Jeffrey Hooke, two academics, in a paper out last week. Some brokers at Merril Lynch were left feeling burned by putting money into Blackstone, an early PE entrant among advisors and the high-net-worth crowd. Today, Blackstone, the world’s largest private equity firm, has sourced about a quarter of its $915 billion in assets under management from retail investors. Apollo Global Management, another leading private equity firm, acquired a retail focused asset management business earlier this year to beef up its own retail offering.
Tech platforms, in addition to buyout shops, are eyeing the retail-fueled, advisor-enabled gold rush. CAIS and iCapital, two private fund marketplaces that connect RIAs with private fund managers, have become unicorns. CAIS, which was founded in 2009, raised $225 million in January at a valuation of over $1 billion. iCapital, founded in 2013, raised $50 million that same month—at a reported $6 billion valuation. Large private equity investors, including Blackstone, KKR and Apollo, have invested in one or both of the companies. Other private fund marketplaces are looking to bypass advisors altogether. Moonfare, a Berlin-based company founded in 2016, and which gives accredited investors access to private fund placements, has facilitated roughly $1.5 billion in investments, according to its website. Moonfare clients can register and start investing “in as little as 15 minutes,” with an investment minimum of $60,000. Prometheus, another retail platform that recently exited stealth (and whose backers include Thiel Capital, the investment arm of billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel) has an even lower investment minimum of $25,000. Low minimums are core to the “democratization” of alternatives industry, says Michael Wang, a former hedge fund star who founded Prometheus last year. “The minimum at a lot of hedge funds is anywhere from $1 million to upwards of $20 million, so even if you're a wealthy guy with $5 million, [putting] $1 million into a single fund is difficult.” While private fund managers and tech startups celebrate the rotation of private wealth into private equity, industry critics are left shaking their heads. They believe that many high-net-worth investors who put money into alternatives are going to be left disappointed. “There's the fee to invest in the fund, there's the fee to pay the middleman, there's the fee to pay the brokers or the registered investor advisor… in a situation like that, fees eat up returns,” Eileen Appelbaum, the co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington D.C, tells Forbes. “I think it’s going to be a rude awakening.” | Banking & Finance |
People wearing face masks walks in front of the Hong Kong skyline on October 17, 2022 in Hong Kong, China.Vernon Yuen | Nurphoto | Getty ImagesShares in the Asia-Pacific were mixed Monday after U.S. stocks soared on Friday following a Wall Street Journal report that some Fed officials are concerned about tightening policy too much.Hong Kong's Hang Seng index plunged about 6%, with the Hang Seng Tech index down more than 8%.Tai Hui, JPMorgan Asset Management's APAC chief market strategist, said a combination of factors has been driving the Hong Kong market recently, including higher U.S. Treasury yields.Investors may also have expected policy measures to be announced during the Communist Party of China's 20th National Congress, which closed over the weekend with President Xi Jinping loyalists tapped to form a core leadership group."Since the meeting is mostly about personnel changes, the economic recovery might not come as soon as we have hoped," Tai told CNBC in an email.Mainland China markets briefly entered positive territory on better-than-expected economic data before falling again. The Shanghai Composite in mainland China was last 0.89% lower and the Shenzhen Component lost 0.725%.In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was 1.48% higher. The Kospi in South Korea gained 0.77%, and the Kosdaq added 1.87%.Japan's Nikkei 225 climbed 0.49% and the Topix was up 0.41%. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 1.18% lower.Authorities in Japan reportedly intervened in the forex market on Friday, causing the yen to strengthen sharply. But the currency continued to seesaw. On Monday in Asia, the currency briefly strengthened to 145-levels but was last at 148.85 per dollar.On Friday in the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 748.97 points, or 2.47%, to close at 31,082.56. The S&P 500 added 2.37% to 3,752.75. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 2.31% to 10,859.72.Singapore, Malaysia and India's markets are closed for a holiday Monday. Later this week, the Bank of Japan will meet, while Singapore and Australia are expected to release inflation data.Midday update: Asia-Pacific markets are mixed, with Hong Kong down sharplyHong Kong and mainland China markets were in negative territory after the morning session.The Hang Seng index fell around 5%, with the Hang Seng Tech index down more than 6%.Mainland China markets turned positive briefly before going back into negative territory. The Shanghai Composite in mainland China was down 0.89% and the Shenzhen Component shed 0.725%. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 1.18% lower.In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was 1.48% higher.South Korea and Japan stocks gave up some gains but were still higher than their last closes. Around noon in Singapore, the Kospi in South Korea gained 0.77%, and the Kosdaq added 1.87%. Japan's Nikkei 225 climbed 0.49% and the Topix was up 0.41%.— Abigail NgCNBC Pro: Oil could rise or fall — and these energy stocks are winners either way, portfolio manager saysWhether oil prices rise or fall, energy stocks are still worth investing in, according to Foord Asset Management's Brian Arcese.He names a couple of his favorite energy stocks, including one that he says will generate a "significant amount of cash" if oil prices stay high.CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.— Weizhen TanHong Kong stock movers: Tech drags down the broader indexChinese tech companies dragged down the broader Hang Seng index in morning trade, with heavyweights such as Tencent and Alibaba dropping around 6% each.Meituan shed 4.87%, while JD.com declined around 6% as well.The Hang Seng Tech index was 3.49% lower, and the Hang Seng last lost 2.73%.— Abigail NgChina says economy expanded 3.9% in the third quarterChina's gross domestic product grew 3.9% in the third quarter from a year ago, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed. Analysts polled by Reuters expected 3.4% growth.The GDP report was due to be released during the Communist Party of China's National Congress, but was delayed along with other data. The congress ended on Saturday.In the second quarter, GDP increased 0.4% compared with the same period in 2021.Retail sales missed Reuters' average estimate, coming in at 2.5% for September from a year ago, while industrial output surprised to the upside at 6.3%, compared to the forecast of 4.5%.— Abigail NgCNBC Pro: From copper to cybersecurity, Goldman Sachs picks less obvious stocks to play the clean energy trendGoldman Sachs has identified four "critical" sectors in the clean energy market, beyond the usual suspects.Dubbing them "greenablers," Goldman says they are less appreciated by ESG investors but could be "in the framework of investors potentially looking beyond Solar/Wind/Water stocks."It names buy-rated stocks to play these four sectors.CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.— Weizhen TanEarly trade: Where Asia-Pacific markets started the dayJapan's Nikkei 225 climbed 1.14% in early trade and the Topix was up 0.82%.The Kospi in South Korea gained 1.46%, and the Kosdaq added 2.05%.In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was 2% higher in its second hour of trade. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 0.7% higher.— Abigail NgBig tech earnings reports coming up this weekA slew of big tech names report third quarter earnings this week. Because of the size of many of these companies' market capitalizations, any moves after earnings will likely impact the entire market. Alphabet and Microsoft report earnings on Tuesday, followed by Meta Platforms on Wednesday. Apple and Amazon will report Friday. —Carmen Reinicke | Asia Business & Economics |
FILE – High gas prices are shown in Los Angeles, on May 24, 2022. The nationwide average price for a gallon of gasoline has topped $5 for the first time ever. Auto club AAA said the average price on Saturday, June 11, was $5.00. Motorists in some parts of the country, especially California, are paying far above that.(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File) U.S. officials are looking at various options to bring prices down at the pump as prices soar to a record national average of over $5 per gallon. Some states have sought a reprieve by implementing temporary gas tax suspensions and sources told The Hill Monday the White House is weighing a federal gas tax holiday. President Biden has also ordered an unprecedented release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and pressured oil companies to ramp up production. Experts also say Biden’s recently-announced trip to Saudi Arabia could be used to urge the country to ramp up production of oil. Prices spiked after the U.S. sanctioned Russian oil during Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine which began in February. By April, the U.S. was producing 300,000 more barrels of oil per day than it was in mid-March. That production has leveled off since, and now some companies are hesitant to invest more in oil given how much could change in the time it takes for oil to come out of the ground and industry concerns about the effect of a possible transition away from fossil fuels and towards clean energy. But prices have continued to climb. While Republicans point the finger at Biden and Democrats, the president’s defenders point out a president has relatively little control over gas prices. Here’s a closer look at the breakdown of what goes into gas prices: Crude oil prices The majority of gas prices, or 53.6 percent, comes from the price of crude oil, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s 2021 gasoline and diesel fuel update. Federal and state taxes The next largest portion comes from federal and state taxes which account for just over 16 percent of gas prices, the EIA said. In the U.S., the federal motor fuel tax for gasoline is currently $0.184 per gallon. State taxes on gasoline range from around $0.576 per gallon in Pennsylvania and $0.511 per gallon in California to $0.0895 per gallon in Alaska and $0.16 in Hawaii. When prices skyrocketed amid sanctions on Russian oil because of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, several states, including Connecticut, Maryland and Georgia, suspended their state gas taxes. New York state also suspended its gas tax as recently as this month. “Inflation is really hurting our families and they’re struggling to make ends meet so we said we need to provide relief for families,” Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said of that decision. Distribution and marketing Another 15.6 percent of gas prices comes from distribution and marketing. That figure includes shipping costs needed to move gas from the refinery to the terminal and other factors like the prices of local competitors and the fueling location. Refining costs and profits The smallest percentage of the gasoline’s price, or 14.4 percent, comes from refining costs and profits, which varies by season and can change depending on demand and the type of technology used to refine the oil. Rachel Frazin contributed to this report. | Energy & Natural Resources |
These Are Jefferies' Top Bets For August
ICICI Bank Ltd., Axis Bank Ltd., TVS Motors Co. and Larsen & Toubro Ltd. are some of Jefferies' top picks.
Jefferies has a 'buy' rating on 22 stocks for the month of August.
Six companies have been given an 'underperform' rating by the brokerage.
Among financials, top picks for the brokerage include ICICI Bank Ltd., Axis Bank Ltd., IndusInd Bank Ltd., Bajaj Finance Ltd., ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Co., Cholamandalam Investment & Finance Co., and SBI Cards & Payment Services Pvt.
In the automotive sector, it was TVS Motors Co. and Tata Motors Ltd., while the pharma and healthcare sectors included Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Medanta (Global Health Ltd.), and Max Healthcare Institute Ltd.
Other top bets are Godrej Consumer Products Ltd., Godrej Properties Ltd., Kajaria Ceramics Ltd., Larsen & Toubro Ltd., Macrotech Developers Ltd. (Lodha), Navine Flourine International Ltd., Thermax Ltd., Ultratech Cements Ltd., and Zomato.
Here's the full list of Jefferies' top picks for August
View On Financial Bets
ICICI Bank
Has a 'buy' rating on ICICI Bank, with a price target of Rs 1,240.
ICICI Bank is among Jefferies top picks across Indian financials as it sees the bank sustaining superior growth, better asset quality and higher ROEs.
Bank is well poised to leverage on growth pickup, led by deeper penetration and higher market share in urban micro-markets in metro and near metro areas.
Bank has successfully ramped up unsecured lending business for retail loans, as well as SME lending business, on the back of strong digital capabilities. This, in turn, has improved NIMs, without raising asset quality risks.
It has achieved peer-best RoA levels of 2.4% (in Q1 FY24), led by improvements in NIMs and low credit costs.
Axis Bank
Jefferies has a 'buy' rating on Axis Bank, with a price target of Rs 1,200.
The research firm upgraded Axis Bank to one of their top picks a few months back, as it says that past investments made the franchise stronger and bank is on track to deliver higher growth and RoEs on a sustainable basis.
Integration with Citibank’s India retail platform is progressing well, with limited attrition among staff and customers and significant scope for synergies on 60 areas on revenues as well as cost.
Over the past year, the bank has improved its core deposit franchise by focusing on stickier deposits with lower concentration, lower outflows, premiumisation, partly aided by Citi.
The share of retail within savings deposit has improved 900 basis points year-on-year to 55%.
"We forecast it to deliver 16% CAGR in normalised profit over FY23-26 and ROE of 19% in FY24," Jefferies said in an Aug. 18 note.
IndusInd Bank
Brokerage has a 'buy' rating, with a price target of Rs 1,750.
IndusInd Bank is on track to deliver a turnaround in ROA as it continues to improve core franchise, with a focus on building domain specialisation to ramp up on liabilities (NRI, HNI, wealth) and loans (new vehicle loans, micro-banking & SME).
Bank's deposit retail-isation is improving steadily, with a growth of 21% YoY in first quarter of FY24, taking share of retail to 43% of total. "We believe that IIB has a shot at building granular liability relationships, by focusing on business owner clients, non-resident markets, home markets and wealth products/relationships," the note said.
The brokerage sees improvement in franchise and earnings profile, as well as tailwinds from peaking/fall in funding costs.
Bajaj Finance
Jefferies has a 'buy' on the stock, with target price of Rs 8,830.
Bajaj Finance is well positioned to deliver a robust growth of 28% CAGR in AUM over the next three years, as it leverages on expansion into new markets and addition of new products.
The company has built strong digital platforms over the past few years, with an intention to improve engagement with existing customers.
The management raised guidance on credit costs by 10-15 basis points to 155-165 basis points of average loans in FY24, as it sees some pressure on rural personal loan market that forms 8% of total and plans to lower disbursements here.
"We also believe that potential opening-up of credit card business will open a large profit pool opportunity for Bajaj Finance and could account for 5-10% of profits over 2-3 years," the note said.
ICICI Prudential Life Insurance
ICICI Prudential Life Insurance is Jefferies' top pick with a price target of Rs 700.
"We were encouraged to see pick up in premium growth as a key agenda for the new CEO & CFO of ICICI Prudential Life," the brokerage said.
Growth will be supported by an expansion in agency, measures to boost productivity, and customer-centric products.
In Jefferies' view, a pick-up in premium growth, with sustainable margins around the 31-32% mark, will be a key re-rating catalyst for ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, which trades at a 20-35% discount to leading life insurance companies.
Cholamandalam Finance Holdings
The company's AUM should grow at 26% CAGR over FY23-26E. The margins have bottomed and should inch up slowly due to loan mix shift.
Cholamandalam Finance has delivered stronger asset quality through cycles versus its peers and portfolio behavior of new business is holding up well so far. "We expect asset quality and credit cost to be broadly stable over FY24-26E," it said.
It should deliver 28% EPS CAGR and best in-class ROE of 20%+ over FY24-26e.
Stronger growth outlook, reducing cyclicality due to multiple growth engines, better returns and scope for earning upgrades, if there are rate cuts, should support premium valuations.
SBI Cards and Payment Services
The brokerage has a target price of Rs 1,350.
SBI Cards and Payment Services card spends and receivables to grow at 23% CAGR over FY23-26e, given healthy growth in industry card spends and as SBI Cards should gain by increasing penetration within SBI’s large addressable customer base and leveraging its wide range of co-branded card tie ups.
NIM to trough in H1 FY24 as revolver mix (24% -Jun’23) is stabilising and rates are near a peak.
NIMs could slowly inch up over FY24-26E, led by improving EMI/ revolver mix and higher yields on EMI loans.
The company should benefit from any potential rate cuts, as 65% of its liabilities are short duration and should reprice faster.
"Credit cost should moderate from 1Q peak as share of better portfolio behavior customer cohorts generated after 2019 rises," it said.
View On Auto
Tata Motors
Has a target price of Rs 800.
Jefferies likes Tata Motors for the strong ongoing business cycle at Jaguar Land Rover, improving Indian commercial vehicle and passenger vehicle demand and a stronger India PV franchise.
At Jaguar Land Rover, a strong product cycle and easing chip constraints should drive strong operating and financial performance.
It has an order book of 185K units, with 76% of orders for new RR, RR Sport and Defender models; JLR is also raising capacity for RR & RR Sport by 30% in H2 FY24.
JLR is lagging on EVs compared to peers, but has embarked on a new roadmap, giving it a fresh chance to catch up over 2024-26.
Tata Motors' India business has turned around remarkably in last two years, but is going through a soft patch.
"By FY25E, we expect Ebitda to be 2.1x of FY23, EPS to rise to a new high, and auto balance sheet to turn net cash," it said.
TVS Motors
TVS Motors has been improving its franchise across multiple segments with attractive product propositions.
After a long period of subdued margins, TVS Motors is narrowing the gap with peers. Its Ebitda margin has improved from average of just 6.4% in FY10-17 to 10.1% in FY23 and 10.6% in Q1 FY24.
TVS has risen to second position in electric two wheelers in recent months, and has plans to expand its EV portfolio across 2Ws/3Ws in FY24, along with network expansion in India and entry in international markets.
"We see strong 39% EPS CAGR over FY23-25E; our FY24-25 EPS is 9-11% above street," the note said.
View On Capital Goods And Logistics
Larsen & Toubro
Jefferies has a target price of Rs 3,050.
Larsen & Toubro's current order book is Rs 4.1 trillion, 2.3 times FY23 sales and 14% year-on-year rise gives comfort on double digit revenue growth in FY24E-FY26E.
The brokerage expects H1 FY24E to bring order flow traction, as elections drive front-loaded order flow; 2H should benefit from margin recovery, as the execution of projects won in an inflated commodity price environment picks up.
"We believe the peak of non-core investments in behind and L&T has potential to surprise on execution and order flow expectations," the note said.
Thermax
Management focus is on leveraging its brand in green offerings, improving capital allocation, margin improvement and seeking new renewable energy growth avenues with global tie-ups.
Boiler orders received from global players in H2 FY23 is a break-through and an additional order from Taiwan has been seen as a part of China+1 growth potential.
"We believe sales momentum should continue as base order growth and capex outlook prospects are still attractive," the note said.
Lower commodity prices, improving supply chain and operating leverage should drive margin improvement.
View On Real Estate
Macrotech Developers (Lodha)
Has price target at Rs 860.
Pre-sales of Rs 120 billion (+33%) in FY23 beat guidance and management targets 20% medium term pre-sales growth for FY24 (Rs 145 billion) as well.
The company has acquired projects worth Rs 198 billion through the partnership model in FY23 and another Rs 120 billion in Q1 FY24; which lay the path for steady growth.
Godrej Properties
Pre-sales performance was strong in FY23 (+56% to Rs122 billion). GPL's target of Rs 140 billion pre-sales in FY24 is inline with its medium term 20%+ sales CAGR target.
"We believe an improvement in profitability and cash flows will drive a rerating in the stock. Stock also trades at around the 10-yr average PB level, vs. the sector trading near +1sd levels and as such we believe it offers good value," it said.
Company has done well on new project adds with Rs 550 billion worth of projects added since FY21. Residential prices have moved significantly since then.
View On Consumer
Godrej Consumer Products
Jeffries has a 'buy' rating and a price target of Rs 1,200.
Input inflation has moderated and margins are recovering to pre-inflation levels, despite a sharp increase in ad-spends.
Indonesia business is also seeing a growth up-tick and Africa business continues to do well, although would see some near-term headwinds due to currency depreciation in Nigeria.
Under the new CEO (Sudhir Sitapati), the company has taken several structural initiatives, which should yield results over the medium term.
Zomato
Near-term industry weakness is a concern, but signs of recovery are visible.
Company guides 7-8% contribution margin and 4-5%. Adj Ebitda margin in the medium-term, in food delivery.
Zomato turned profit-after tax positive in first quarter of FY24, way earlier than guidance. Improving profitability across both food delivery and quick commerce should continue to drive sharp earnings growth.
They have $1.4 billion in cash, which is generating yield. Cash flow was positive in the recent quarters, including other income. To see limited cash drawdown going forward. Cash levels should stay well above $1 billion.
View On Chemicals
Navine Flourine International
Jefferies has a price target of Rs 5,475.
Management maintains FY24 growth guidance in specialty chemicals, despite demand volatility, as newly commissioned capacities ramp up and expects growth to accelerate in FY25.
Forecast 26% profit after tax CAGR over FY23-26; strongest in its chemicals coverage.
View Pharmaceuticals And Healthcare
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries
Has a price target of Rs 1,310.
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries is the largest player in the domestic market, with market share of 8.5%. With a very strong product portfolio on both Acute and Chronic segment, the business should sustainably clock low double-digit growth.
The company has $2 billion of cash in hand and could add more products to its specialty division, which will further augment growth for the company in medium to long term.
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries acquisition of Concert Pharma will position it with best-in-class product in a multibillion Alopecia Areata market.
Max Healthcare Institute
Jefferies has a price target of Rs 650.
Max Healthcare will be increasing bed capacity by 85% in next 4-5 years where more than 60% of the beds are brownfield beds, which will have shorter breakeven time and higher Ebitda margins.
Max Healthcare will get 400 new bed capacity in FY24, while 100 new brownfield beds came up in Q4 FY23, where the breakeven was within first month of operation. These beds will help to drive near term growth for the company.
Global Health (Medanta)
Medanta's mature hospitals demonstrate a steady margin profile, while its new hospitals in Lucknow and Patna are expected to ramp-up strongly and drive overall Ebitda CAGR of 18% over FY23-25E.
Flagship unit in Gurgaon has started new specialties and ramped up on doctor hiring in high demand areas, this will result in healthy growth numbers in this mature unit also.
View On Cement
Ultratech Cement
Cement demand growth has seen sharp uptick in the last two years, with double digit growth in FY23 at 11% and Q1 FY24 at 16%.
The strong growth is driven by real estate pickup and increased infra segment allocation by central government.
"We expect the rest of FY24 to continue to have strong growth, driven by pre-election spending. UltraTech with pan-India presence and 26% market share is a key beneficiary of this demand," note said.
View On Midcaps
Kajaria Ceramics
Jefferies retains a 'buy' on the stock, with price target of Rs 1,620.
The company is the domestic market leader in tiles and is likely to benefit from market share gains from the unbranded segment.
"We estimate FY23-26E sales/profit after tax CAGR at +15%/+32%," the note said. | India Business & Economics |
A man counts Indian currency notes inside a shop in Mumbai, India, August 13, 2018. REUTERS/Francis MascarenhasRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comMUMBAI, Aug 23 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee was trading little changed to the dollar on Tuesday, hovering just under the psychological 80 level, amid rising concerns about the deteriorating global risk mood.The rupee was trading at 79.8800 at 0530 GMT, barely changed from 79.8675 in the previous session. The local unit opened at 79.83 and has so far traded in an about 7 paisa range.The rupee in recent sessions has struggled in the backdrop of a resurgent dollar and risk aversion, and analysts reckon that the local currency could come under more pressure.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com"The rupee is very vulnerable now as a potential wave of risk aversion can be triggered if the next (U.S.) inflation print is worse than expected," said Srinivas Puni, managing director at forex advisory firm QuantArt Market Solutions."Persistent fall in equities is the factor to watch out for."Major Asian equity gauges extended losses on Tuesday, a day after the S&P 500 index suffered it worst drawdown in two months as investors worried about slowing growth outlook and rate increases.The U.S. benchmark index tumbled more than 2% on Monday. read more Fed fund futures are assigning a more than 50% probability that the U.S. central bank will hike rates by 75 basis points for the third straight time in September to quell inflation.The dollar index briefly climbed above 109 on Monday, supported by the equity selloff and hawkish Fed expectations. The index since the beginning of last week is up more than 3%.The BSE Sensex(.BSESN) on Tuesday fell to its lowest level in over two weeks. The gauge slipped 1.4% in the previous session. According to preliminary BSE data, foreign investors were net sellers of 4.5 billion rupees ($56.34 million) of Indian shares on Monday.($1 = 79.8660 Indian rupees)Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Nimesh Vora
Editing by Dhanya Ann ThoppilOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Forex Trading & Speculation |
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Fox News contributor Ari Fleischer asserted that President Biden is the first president to say while in office that "the American people are wrong" Tuesday on "Hannity."BIDEN LOSES CONTROL OF INFLATION, AND THE TRUST OF AMERICAN PEOPLEFLEISCHER: It just shows how out of touch and out to lunch the Biden administration is when it comes to what's on the minds of the American people. Joe Biden's not the first president, Sean, who's been running in an economy or in a country where the overwhelming majority of the people think the country is on the wrong track, things are bad. But he's the first president to run by saying that the American people are wrong.…I think what [the Biden administration] really believe[s] is that the economy is good because unemployment is low and historically people responded to unemployment numbers. But Joe Biden's kind of like a World War One general in France. The problem was Germany, so build the Maginot Line and prevent Germany from attacking. Germany went right around the Maginot Line and invaded through Belgium into France and started World War Two. The issue's inflation. It's not unemployment. And that's what Joe Biden doesn't understand. And so when he can talk about all these other issues, the American people are sensible. They get it. They know what's going on in their lives. It's economics, and it's inflation, and it's killing the American people. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPWATCH THE FULL DISCUSSION BELOW: This article was written by Fox News staff. | Inflation |
SYDNEY, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Asian shares were mostly higher on Wednesday, with U.S. corporate earnings aiding sentiment, while traders awaited British inflation readings later in the day for clues on how hawkish central banks need to be to fight inflation.MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) edged up 0.2%, but further gains were capped by slight falls in Chinese shares. China's mainland bluechips (.CSI3000) lost 0.2% while Hong Kong's Hang Sang index (.HSI) fell 0.1%.Elsewhere, stocks tracked Wall Street higher. Japan's Nikkei (.N225) advanced 0.4%, Australia's resources-heavy shares (.AXJO) gained 0.4%, while South Korea (.KS11) rebounded 0.5%.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comU.S. S&P 500 futures rose 0.8% and the Nasdaq futures jumped 1.3%. Netflix Inc (NFLX.O) reversed customer losses that had hammered its stock this year and projected more growth ahead, sending shares 14% higher in after-hours trading.Better-than-expected quarterly results from Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) and Lockheed Martin (LMT.N) helped U.S. stocks rally. Both the Dow Jones (.DJI) and the S&P 500 (.SPX) gained 1%."While shares have managed to find technical support in recent days and could bounce further... the near-term downside risks for shares remain high," said Shane Oliver, chief economist at AMP Capital.Chris Turner, global head of markets at ING, said a quiet week for U.S. data could also see the dollar correction extend a little."But a core view of not just the Fed, but other central banks hiking into a looming recession should mean that the core dollar bull trend remains intact."The U.S. dollar was little changed on Wednesday and hovered close to the weakest level in almost two weeks. It, however, hit another fresh 32-year high of 149.34 yen overnight, before stabilising at 149.16 amid risk of intervention from the Japanese authorities. FOREX/Sterling gained 0.14% against the greenback to trade at $1.1335 after easing slightly in the previous session.The U.K., which has been roiled by a historic crisis in the government bond market, will report inflation readings for September later in the day, with annual inflation likely running at a double digit of 10% last month.That would likely pressure the Bank of England to hike more aggressively. The BoE said overnight that it would start selling some of its huge stock of British government bonds from Nov. 1, but would not sell this year any longer-duration gilts."Amid rapidly fluctuating views/market price on what the Bank of England will decide to do with rates on 2 November, a key data point of reference will be today's September UK inflation data," said Ray Attrill, head of FX strategy, at National Australia Bank.A surprising strong inflation report from New Zealand on Tuesday prompted markets to sharply revise up the expected tightening pace for the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.Oil prices recovered some ground on Wednesday, after plunging more than 3% in the previous session on fears of higher U.S. supply and the economic slowdown in China.Brent crude futures rose 0.9% to $90.87 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude jumped 1.5% to $84.03 per barrel.U.S. President Joe Biden will announce a plan on Wednesday to sell off the last portion of his release from the nation's emergency oil reserve by year's end, and detail a strategy to refill the stockpile when prices drop, a senior administration official said.U.S. Treasury yields were largely steady on Wednesday after edging lower.The yield on benchmark ten-year notes was little changed at 4.0148% while the yield on two-year notes stabilised at 4.4435%.Gold was slightly lower. Spot gold was traded at $1651.09 per ounce.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comEditing by Ana Nicolaci da CostaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Asia Business & Economics |
The 2026 Commonwealth Games are in doubt after the Australian state of Victoria cancelled its plans to host due to budget blowouts.
Organisers had struggled to find a host city before Victoria volunteered in April 2022.
At the time, the tournament was billed as a boom for the state's regions, which would host most events.
But the premier said the projected cost had now tripled and become "well and truly too much" for Victoria to bear.
"I've made a lot of difficult calls, a lot of very difficult decisions in this job. This is not one of them," Daniel Andrews told a press conference on Tuesday.
Mr Andrews said his government had informed Commonwealth Sport - who are yet to comment - of the decision to seek to terminate the contract, adding that "amicable and productive" meetings had occurred in London overnight.
He said Victoria had been approached by the governing body last year and had been "happy to help out" but "not at any price".
Organisers had originally estimated the event - hosted across cities including Geelong, Bendigo and Ballarat - would cost A$2.6 billion (£1.4bn; $1.8bn).
But now the 12-day tournament was expected to cost more than A$6 billion, Mr Andrews said, adding that the new figure was "more than twice the estimated economic benefit the games would bring" to Victoria.
"Frankly... we're not doing that... That is all cost and no benefit," he said.
Victoria will still complete the stadium upgrades it had promised ahead of the games, while using the money it is now saving on housing and tourism initiatives.
Opposition Leader John Pesutto said the decision is a "massive humiliation" for the state.
"The cancellation of the Commonwealth Games is hugely damaging to Victoria's reputation as a global events leader," he said in a statement.
Australia has hosted the Commonwealth Games six times - including on the Gold Coast in 2018 and in the Victorian capital of Melbourne in 2006. | Australia Business & Economics |
JERUSALEM, Dec 5 (Reuters) - The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange said on Tuesday a report by U.S. researchers suggesting there were investors in Israel who may have profited from prior knowledge of Hamas' Oct. 7 attack was inaccurate and its publication irresponsible.
Research by law professors Robert Jackson Jr from New York University and Joshua Mitts of Columbia University found significant short-selling of shares - when investors bet on share prices to fall - leading up to the attacks, which triggered Israel's ongoing war with Hamas.
The activity, they said, "exceeded the short-selling that occurred during numerous other periods of crisis" such as the 2008 financial crisis and COVID-19.
They wrote that for Leumi (LUMI.TA), Israel's largest bank, 4.43 million shares sold short over the period Sept. 14 to Oct. 5 yielded profits of 3.2 billion shekels ($859 million).
But the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) said the authors miscalculated, since share prices are listed in agorot, which are similar to cents and pence, rather than shekels - putting the potential short sale profit at just 32 million shekels.
Yaniv Pagot, head of trading at the exchange, said that in looking at short interest in Leumi, there was an increase of some 4.5 million shares in the week ending Sept. 21 and it then remained stable.
"I don't see in the data something even close to what they wrote in the paper," Pagot told Reuters, adding the researchers didn't speak to the TASE or members. "There was nothing unusual in short positions in the stock exchange in the two months before the attack."
Mitts told Reuters via email that the 67-page report had now been corrected, but that the currency issue did not affect the "highly unusual" exchange traded fund (ETF) and short-dated options activity also identified by the researchers.
Their report said "short interest in the MSCI Israel Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) suddenly, and significantly, spiked" on Oct. 2, based on data from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).
Pagot said he did not understand "the theory about the ETFs".
He also said the short position in Leumi was taken by an unidentified Israeli bank known to the TASE.
"We know their compliance is very strict so it's unlikely that such a position that came from a terror organisation can pass through this member's compliance for money laundering or something like that," he said, referring to media speculation that Hamas itself was behind the short selling.
Israel's securities regulator said it had been aware of the report for a week and was in contact with the researchers, but declined to comment while it investigates the TASE's rebuttal.
($1 = 3.7243 shekels)
Reporting by Steven Scheer Editing by Mark Potter
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Stocks Trading & Speculation |
Australia to build six 'cyber shields' to defend its shores
Local corporate regulator warns boards that cyber is totally a directorial duty
Australia will build "six cyber shields around our nation" declared home affairs minister Clare O'Neill yesterday, as part of a national cyber security strategy.
Detailed in a speech before a summit on cyber security, the strategy's six "shields" comprise:
- Education so that businesses and citizens are informed about the threats they face online, how to defend their interests, and the support available after incidents;
- Safe technology, as defined by "clear global standards for digital safety in products that will help us drive the development of security into those products from their very inception." The minister's goal is that "just as you can't go into a car yard and buy a car that will not be safe to use, when you buy a digital product on sale in our country we know that it's safe for you to use";
- Threat-sharing and threat-blocking, so that "threat intelligence can be exchanged between government and business at real-time machine speed and then threats blocked before they cause any harm to the Australian population";
- Critical infrastructure protection, largely through improvement to government digital defenses;
- Sovereign infosec capability, in the form of a "thriving cyber ecosystem where we have the skills we need, where cyber security is a really desirable profession for young people around the country and that we are making sure that we have the system that's adaptable in itself";
- Coordinated global action "and pushing for a more resilient region," by increasing engagement and partnerships to improve security. Assisting Australia's neighbors to improve their security is part of this agenda.
All of the above is scheduled to be in place by 2030, when O'Neill expects Australia to lead the world in all things cyber.
O'Neill wasn't the only senior Australian leader speechifying on Monday. Joe Longo, chair of corporate regulator the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), warned the nation's boards to get serious about infosec.
"Cyber security and resilience are not merely technical matters on the fringes of directors' duties," he argued. “ASIC expects directors to ensure their organization's risk management framework adequately addresses cyber security risk, and that controls are implemented to protect key assets and enhance cyber resilience."
Then came the warning: "Failing to do so could mean failing to meet your regulatory obligations."
That's a serious sentence. Failure to carry out directors' duties in Australia can leave board members liable for losses, or subject to civil or even criminal penalties.
- Australian Senate committee recommends bans on Chinese social media apps
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- Oz opposition backs the 'regulatory hallucinogen' of anti-piracy laws
Longo advised directors "never make the mistake of subscribing – consciously or unconsciously – to the 'vaccination theory of cyber security."
"This is the belief that you've done everything you need to do, and you don't need to worry anymore. That just isn't true. It's not enough to sign a contract with a third-party supplier – you need to take an active approach to managing supply chain and vendor risk. Setting it and forgetting it, does not, cannot, and will not work," he opined.
He also called for boards and directors to develop crisis plans to communicate with customers, regulators, and the market when things go wrong – plus a "clear and comprehensive response and recovery plan."
"It's worth highlighting that any incident response plan, if it is to be truly comprehensive, must include third-party suppliers and vendors," he added, and called for the same inclusive approach to incident response testing so that all participants are drilled in advance. The chair also noted that "nobody guards what they don't have," and cited data from an ASIC survey that found almost half of respondents "indicated they don't identify critical information and business critical systems."
"Just as any country preparing against potential invasion must identify key strategic resources to be protected, so too an organization must identify the most critical information it holds so it can prioritize its protection."
Doing so is "even more essential if a third party is managing critical systems or holding information," he concluded. ® | Australia Business & Economics |
New Zealand goes to the polls Saturday in a general election that’s shaping up to be a tight race between the two major parties, with the economy and a cost of living crisis dominating campaigning nine months after former prime minister Jacinda Ardern suddenly resigned.
Final polls showed the main opposition center-right National Party, led by Christopher Luxon, with a slight lead over Ardern’s successor Prime Minister Chris Hipkins but there appeared a late rise in support for his center-left Labour Party ahead of the vote, according to CNN affiliate Radio NZ.
The election takes place on the same day as Australia’s Voice referendum to recognize Indigenous Australians in the constitution and create a permanent body to allow them to speak directly to government.
In New Zealand, neither party is expected to win enough seats to form a government outright, which means nationalist NZ First party and its leader Winston Peters could potentially become kingmaker in a coalition administration.
Coalitions are the norm under New Zealand’s mixed-member proportional system, which was introduced in 1996.
The only party to win a majority of votes and govern alone in the current political system was Labour in 2020, when Ardern won a landslide second term buoyed by her success at handling the country’s coronavirus outbreak.
A progressive global icon, Ardern’s time in power was defined by multiple crises, including the Christchurch terrorist attack, a deadly volcanic explosion, and a global pandemic.
Overseas she became famous for being a leader unafraid to show empathy and compassion at a time when populist demagogues were coming to the fore in many other western democracies.
But back home her popularity ebbed amid a rising cost of living, housing shortages and economic anxiety. And she faced violent anti-lockdown protests in the capital Wellington, with threats made against her.
Hipkins inherited these issues which have since been compounded by a sluggish economy, an historically high inflation rate of 6% and an accounts deficit that has concerned ratings agencies.
Sophia Ha, who is from Auckland but has lived in Sydney for last five years, was an ardent supporter of Ardern but is now unsure who to vote for.
“(She) was such a great representation for younger women in politics,” Ha told CNN. “I think she’s left a huge void that would be difficult to fill, but I think New Zealand really, economically speaking, needs assistance.”
Alex Wareham, a bartender from Auckland, said she wants to see the next government take real action on the climate crisis and fix the rising cost of living, but feels the parties are split on these issues.
“Some are more willing to take on cost of living, crime, fixing the economy after Covid, and other parties are taking the climate crisis a bit more seriously. But I think climate change will be on the back burner this election. It’s looking to be a bit more of a tax election, a bit more money talking,” she told CNN.
It’s also the first election in New Zealand following the end of strict coronavirus lockdown measures that have been a source of contention for many. The government’s “go hard and go early” approach to the pandemic saw New Zealand impose some of the world’s strictest border rules, separating families and shutting out almost all foreigners for almost two years.
It meant New Zealand suffered far fewer Covid infections and deaths compared to many countries, like the United States or United Kingdom. But many residents felt the government went too hard on its measures.
“They were damned if they did and damned if they didn’t,” said Wareham, who added that because people didn’t “have the human toll to focus on they are thinking our economy was ruined, the country was shut down.”
“It was always going to be a lose-lose for Labour, no matter which way you look at it… but it feels a National government during Covid would have done it the same way,” she said.
The big issues
All the main parties have pledged to improve the economy, provide relief for the cost of living crisis, boost jobs, and improve health and education facilities, as well as housing.
Central to National’s 100-day plan is its promise for myriad tax cuts, including cutting a regional fuel tax. It also is pledging to change the Reserve Bank’s mandate to focus on inflation, remove what it calls red tape for businesses, extend free breast cancer screenings, crack down on crime and give police greater powers to search gang members, and roll back a raft of policies implemented by Labour over the past six years.
Labour’s policies include extending free dental care to under 30s, easing rising food prices by removing the goods and services tax from fruit and vegetables, teaching financial literacy in schools and expanding free early education, and extending financial support to working families.
Hipkins, 44, was first elected to Parliament in 2008 and spearheaded the country’s Covid-19 policies in 2020. Before becoming prime minister, he was minister of education, minister of police, minister for the public service, and leader of the house.
His campaigning was briefly hampered by a positive Covid-19 diagnosis at a critical juncture just two weeks out from the election, which prevented him from being on the road for five days.
Hipkins’ main contender Luxon is a businessman and former CEO of Air New Zealand who became leader of the National Party in 2021. Before becoming leader of the opposition, Luxon, 53, was party spokesman for various government departments and a member of several select committees.
Just under 1 million people have already cast their ballot as early voting began for those overseas late last month and in New Zealand on October 2.
Voters get two votes on the ballot: one for a candidate in their local constituency and one for the party. A party needs at least 5% of the vote or a winning constituency candidate to claim a seat in parliament.
To form a government, a party or coalition needs 61 of the 120 seats in New Zealand’s single-house parliament – about 48% of the popular vote.
Official results will be announced by the election commission about three weeks after the vote.
CNN’s Angus Watson contributed reporting. | Inflation |
Unions have welcomed the minimum wage increase, saying it will "make a significant difference" to low paid workers but industry groups have labelled the rise "a very significant risk" to the economy. Unions have hailed the Fair Work Commission's decision to increase the minimum wage by 5.2 per cent but industry groups have warned the rise will hurt small businesses and the economy. The FWC's decision, handed down on Wednesday, will see the minimum wage lift from $20.33 per hour ($772.60 per week) to $21.38 per hour ($812.60 per week) or the equivalent of an extra $40 to the household budget.Unions had argued for a 5.5 per cent lift to prevent a further real wage cut for one quarter of workers amid the rising price of every day items such as fuel, power and groceries.But secretary of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, Sally McManus, said she was "really happy" with the decision and believes it will make a "significant difference"."The union movement is really happy with this outcome. We think it's going to make a significant difference to the pressures that low paid workers are under with cost of living rising," Ms McManus said. Stream more finance news live & on demand with Flash. 25+ news channels in 1 place. New to Flash? Try 1 month free. Offer ends 31 October, 2022"The union movement fought so hard for this increase across pretty heavy cross winds. We also had to oppose what the employers were arguing for which was very significant real wage cuts at a time when their profits are up 20 per cent and productivity is up as well as unemployment being low."This decision is one that is reasonable and it's fair. Low paid workers... will have a better ability to pay rent and pay for the groceries and to pay for energy bills as well."But Ms McManus said it was disappointing the increases were delayed until October for those working in hospitality, aviation and tourism sectors. "We know airlines and aviation at the moment is actually very busy and has recovered and we believe that is not a reasonable thing to withhold those increases for that period of time," she said.The Australian Industry Group pushed for a smaller increase of 2.5 per cent, fearing it would put pressure on inflation and interest rates.The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry CEO Andrew McKellar described the 5.2 per cent lift as a "very significant risk" to the economy, arguing businesses will have to bear a "very significant burden"."It veers very much towards the upper end of the range of possible outcomes that we could have expected to have seen today. In particular, this adds very significant costs to the Australian economy and to business," Mr McKellar said. "By our calculations, this will add $7.9 billion in costs to the affected businesses over the year ahead, so that will be a very considerable burden that those businesses will either have to take to the bottom line, or pass onto their customers. "It comes at a time when inflation is emerging as one of the most urgent challenges facing the Australian economy and if we are to address that, if we are to remain competitive, then, clearly, this is not a decision that will help in those circumstances." Reserve Bank Governor Philip Lowe warned overnight inflation could hit seven per cent by Christmas and it would not begin to fall until the first quarter of 2023."That's halfway through this pay increase. We're always mindful of that problem which is why we were asking for a 5.5 per cent increase and we thought that was very reasonable," Ms McManus said. "We don't know what is going to happen into the future, in terms of inflation, whether or not it's a spike that will quickly come off or whether or not it's going to be something that continues longer than a year."If it continues longer than a year, obviously, we'll need to make sure workers do get pay rises that mean they keep their heads above water. We've always been very mindful of not adding to inflation, that's why we've never asked for a pay increase, that's more than inflation and more than productivity." Alexi Boyd, CEO, Council of Small Business Organisations Australia told Sky News Australia she believed most small businesses would be "disappointed" with the FWC's decision. "I think most small business when they hear this news will be disappointed and a little bit concerned about the viability of their business with any increase," Ms Boyd said. "If we were talking about wages as a standalone issue, it would be a different conversation but the business situation at the moment is increased input costs, increases to freight, fuel, energy as we all know is going up and up."And the cost of hiring workers, including superannuation, which is going up to 10.5 per cent in July, all of these increased costs to doing business are really hitting small businesses hard." FWC President Iain Ross said the findings from the Annual Wage Review for 2021/22 led the commission to lift the minimum wage that will come into effect from July 1 for most workers."The increased cost of non-discretionary items will particularly impact low income households and many low paid workers," Mr Ross said."We have concluded that the changes in the economic context weigh in favour of an increase in the national minimum wage and in modern award minimum wages."The review in 2019 resulted in a three per cent pay increase, while in 2020 it rose by 1.75 per cent, and in 2021 it lifted a further 2.5 per cent. | Australia Business & Economics |
ISTANBUL, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Turkish annual inflation climbed to a new 24-year high of 83.45% in September, data showed on Monday, still lower than forecast, after the central bank surprised markets by cutting rates twice in the last two months.Despite soaring prices, the central bank was seen cutting its policy rate again this month, after President Tayyip Erdogan called for single-digit interest rates by the end of the year.Inflation has surged since November last year, as the lira slumped following cuts to the policy rate by the central bank, in an unorthodox easing cycle long sought by Erdogan.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comMonth-on-month, consumer prices rose 3.08%, the Turkish Statistical Institute said, less than a Reuters poll forecast of 3.8%. Annually, consumer price inflation was forecast to be 84.63%.It was the highest annual figure since July 1998, when it stood at 85.3% and Turkey was battling to end a decade of chronically high inflation.September inflation was driven by transport prices, which surged nearly 118% year-on-year, while food and non-alcoholic drinks prices jumped 93.05%.Despite the relentless rise in inflation, Erdogan said last week he had advised the central bank to lower its policy rate at its upcoming meetings, a day after saying he expects interest rates to come down to single digits by year-end.JP Morgan said inflation was likely to remain in the "abnormally high range until policies get orthodox", adding that it expects the easing cycle to "continue until it cannot.""Monetary policy decisions have become disconnected from macro fundamentals and have become almost irrelevant for short-term inflation dynamics," it said in a note.'RECESSIONARY FORCES'Global recessionary forces, their impact on commodity prices and the pace of lira's depreciation will be the main determinants of inflation, JP Morgan added.After the data, the lira traded at 18.5620 against the dollar, weakening from a close of 18.5060 on Friday. It stood at 18.5660 at 1302 GMT.The currency has been less reactive to economic data and Erdogan's comments than in the past, largely due to the central bank adopting a more dominant role in the forex market since December.The bank cut its policy rate by 200 basis points to 12% in the last two months, going against a global tightening cycle despite the sustained rise in inflation, surging energy prices and the lagged effect of the lira's decline.Last year's rate cuts had triggered a currency crisis that wiped 44% off the lira's value against the dollar in 2021. It has weakened some 29% this year to fresh all-time lows.Last week's Reuters poll had shown that annual inflation was expected to decline to 72% by the end of 2022.The government has said inflation will fall with its economic programme prioritising low rates to boost production and exports with the aim of achieving a current account surplus.The domestic producer price index was up 4.78% month-on-month in September for an annual rise of 151.50%.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Berna Suleymanoglu, Halilcan Soran in Gdansk and Marc Jones in London; Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Jonathan Spicer and Andrew HeavensOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Inflation |
MELBOURNE, Nov 23 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Lawmakers in South Korea blasted the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act as a betrayal. European Union leaders worried it would leave the bloc’s companies at a disadvantage. And big miners like Australia’s Fortescue (FMG.AX) said it left them little choice but to direct a lot of spending to the United States. Yet concerns about market distortion from the policy intended to stimulate investment in the energy transition and signed into law by President Joe Biden in August 2022 are easing. Other countries are realising they need to adapt the blueprint.
The Biden administration’s willingness to negotiate on its package of $370 billion of tax breaks and other measures has helped. That has mollified fears among major U.S. allies that the legislation’s push to boost manufacturing stateside would shut them out. Seoul lobbied hard with decent success, for example, to allow electric vehicles manufactured in South Korea and sold in the United States to be eligible for the IRA’s $7,500 tax credit. Australia struck a deal with Washington in May over critical minerals that paves the way for companies Down Under to gain access to the legislation’s financial benefits, while the European Union is still in discussions over those and other issues.
Such progress has allowed the law’s real power to shine: its ability to unlock private capital for green products. The IRA contains tax credits to stimulate consumer demand for everything from electric vehicles to heat pumps, and funds to jolt companies into action. In the first 12 months of the act, more than 270 new clean energy projects with some $130 billion-worth of investments were unveiled, per Bank of America.
All in, the IRA could spur $3 trillion in renewable energy technology investment by 2032 – and by 2050 encourage up to $11 trillion of total investment in infrastructure, Goldman Sachs reckons. That means jobs – almost 1.5 million new ones in the U.S. by 2030 – per Labor Energy Partnership estimates.
It’s an enticing mix of emissions reductions, more employment and a boost to productivity for politicians around the globe to try to emulate. The trick is finding how to pay for it. Granted, over time the increased economic activity and concomitant tax revenue – not to mention environment-based disasters averted if rising temperatures can be stopped – could cover the initial outlay many times over.
Trouble is, governments also need to show that they will be fiscally responsible stewards of the energy transition in the short term – especially with inflation still a threat and budgets under pressure.
The U.S. national debt, for example, stands at some 120% of GDP, offering no wiggle room even before considering Congress’ increasingly frequent battles over funding the government. So the flipside of the IRA’s ledger mandated that big companies pay at least a 15% tax on their earnings, regardless of whatever legal ways exist to reduce what they hand over to Uncle Sam. It also introduced a 1% levy on share buybacks and allowed the federal government’s health insurance programme, Medicare, to negotiate what it pays for some drugs and cap how much prices increase. On paper at least, that offsets most of the headline cost of the act.
Japan chose a different path for its Green Transformation Act which parliament passed in March. It involves using the proceeds from selling some 20 trillion yen ($135 billion) of government debt to entice 150 trillion yen ($1 trillion) of private capital over the next decade. By one metric, that is a massive stretch: the country’s debt to GDP already stands at a whopping 220% or so but with interest rates still negative for now, borrowing costs remain very low. And the plan envisages using revenue from a future carbon levy and an emissions trading scheme to pay off the debt.
Yet while Washington is aiming to catalyse demand for green products made mostly with existing technology, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s administration has other ideas. It intends to channel more than a third of the cash raised into technologies that are either in the early stages of development, like clean hydrogen and ammonia, or are older but niche like carbon capture and storage. Their success at reducing greenhouse-gas emissions is far from guaranteed and could take a decade or more to be useful at scale, leaving Japan on a slow path to decarbonisation.
The EU is in a tougher spot as it generally does not allow its member countries, with diverse credit ratings and funding costs, to borrow money as a group. So it has suspended some rules prohibiting state aid and is diverting some of its remaining pandemic-era funds into clean energy projects. That is a piecemeal, knee-jerk reaction to IRA concerns. Plus, last week Germany’s constitutional court ruled as unconstitutional the government’s 2021 decision to divert 60 billion euros of unused debt from to its climate and transformation fund.
One country that is well placed to follow the U.S.' climate funding lead is Australia. Though inflation remains stubborn Down Under, Canberra is running a small budget surplus. Net federal debt is relatively low at just 40% or so of GDP and there’s money to be found elsewhere, political will allowing. Options range from capping diesel subsidies, per think tank Climate Energy Finance, to halting some of the inflationary-looking tax cuts due to start next July.
Jim Chalmers, the finance minister, has dropped hints that he may be working on IRA-style incentives, stating at the start of this month that they “can be part of an answer but they’re not the whole answer” to sparking the energy transition. The numbers are compelling: A$100 billion ($65 billion) of federal support could bring in around three times that in private investment, research by Climate Energy Finance and the Climate Capital Forum shows.
The government has been pursuing individual policies to date. The latest, expected to be unveiled on Friday, involves more than tripling to 32 gigawatts the amount of renewable power and storage Canberra is willing to help underwrite, local newspaper AFR reported on Wednesday. That will speed up its pledge of having solar, wind and hydropower provide 82% of Australia’s electricity by 2030, up from around a third last year.
A broader Aussie plan could offer IRA-style incentives to electrify power supply, cars and homes, but it could also be adapted to leverage the country’s strengths. These include a wealth of critical minerals for batteries and grids. There’s also some 10,000 times more solar radiation each year than Australia requires, and offshore wind potential that could exceed the capacity of the world’s current coal-fired power stations, per Chalmers. Harnessing all this for processing more minerals onshore, developing green hydrogen and electrifying supply chains could increase the range and economic value of exports and boost manufacturing that’s currently stuck at a lowly 6% of GDP, almost half the 2005 level. A well-targeted green stimulus along such lines could yield A$435 billion a year, Deloitte and National Australia Bank estimate.
Done right, it would send a valuable lesson to other countries that climate subsidies aren’t just about chasing the United States' tail. And Chalmers is right that financial incentives alone are not enough to foster the shift. Change requires everything from accommodative policies to developing a trained workforce. The chance to quicken the pace of decarbonisation while powering a long-term economic boost, though, ought to make devising comprehensive, IRA-inspired legislation worth the effort.
Follow @AntonyMCurrie on X
CONTEXT NEWS
Germany’s constitutional court on Nov. 15 ruled that the coalition government’s decision to allocate 60 billion euros of unused debt from the pandemic era to its climate and transformation fund was unconstitutional.
In a speech on Nov. 2 about enabling Australia’s energy transition, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said that “incentives like the type we’ve seen in the Inflation Reduction Act in the United States can be part of an answer but they’re not the whole answer”.
Editing by Una Galani and Thomas Shum
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Renewable Energy |
In a four-story apartment building in Brooklyn, New York, a very small company is implementing a very big idea: Electrify every building in the United States by leasing landlords the necessary equipment to make the transition.BlocPower is a Brooklyn-based start-up that has "greened" more than 1,200 buildings in New York City and has similar projects in two dozen other cities. It uses a lease-to-own platform, offering landlords and homeowners green heating and cooling systems, electric appliances and solar panels. It installs the equipment and manages its upkeep. Landlords make monthly payments that cover those costs and offer returns to investors.The company reports it has reduced building energy costs by 30% to 50% and reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 40% to 70% in current projects. It says it can reduce U.S. greenhouse gases up to 25% in 10 years and recapture up to 30% of the millions of dollars in wasted energy spent."I know what's inside these buildings, right? And therefore I can see the investment opportunity," said BlocPower CEO Donnel Baird, who grew up in Brooklyn. "My job as a CEO is to make it transparent to potential climate investors.""We're going to decrease the amount of oil and gas and fossil fuels that these buildings consume, decrease the amount of emissions that are created," Baird said. "We're going to save the building owners money, and hey, you're actually going to make 10% financial returns by investing in these buildings."BlocPower is electrifying this Brooklyn, NY buildingLisa Rizzolo | CNBCIn the Brooklyn building's basement, Baird made his way through a web of old wiring and outdated systems that were being pulled out, including ancient boilers and carbon-emitting gas lines."We look at this and we say, my God, like what a great opportunity to save the planet and make a little bit of money by focusing on what's down here, right?" Baird said.BlocPower leases the equipment for about 10 or 15 years, and after enough money has been taken in to pay back investors and for BlocPower to collect its fees, the ownership of the equipment is transferred to the building owner. The company is behind the first plan by a U.S. city — Ithaca, New York — to be entirely net zero by 2030. It's starting with the city's building stock."When we started working together towards developing this program, we realized that this is possible," said Luis Aguirre-Torres, sustainability director for the city of Ithaca. "You know, it's not only about being the first city in America, in the entire planet to fully decarbonize. It is really is about showing that it is possible.""If you work in climate change, you think this is possible; you are always thinking about ways in which you can actually make a dent on this," Aguirre-Torres said. "And the reality is that the technology wasn't there a few years ago and the financial innovation that was required wasn't there a few years ago."Early BlocPower backers included Andreessen Horowitz, Exelon, American Family Insurance, the Schmidt Family Foundation, Goldman Sachs Urban Investment, Kapor Capital and Salesforce. Then in January it got a big debt infusion from Microsoft, bringing its total funding to about $100 million. It also just got a $5 million grant from the Bezos Earth Fund to digitally map about 125 million buildings across America so that each one of those buildings will have a free plan for how to become environmentally sustainable.The company is now negotiating with several cities in California, New York, Massachusetts and Georgia to decarbonize. | Renewable Energy |
Nov 7 (Reuters) - Palantir Technologies Inc (PLTR.N) posted its slowest quarterly growth in revenue since going public in 2020 due to weak demand for its data analytics software in Europe, while a strong dollar weighed on its profit, sending its share down 8.5% on Monday.The company, known for its work with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, has been trying to cut its reliance on uncertain government contracts by seeking more commercial business.But in the third quarter, revenue from the segment declined nearly 3% to $204 million from the previous three months, raising doubts among Wall Street analysts about sustained revenue from commercial deals amid rising cost of borrowing."What I believe and other people should talk about is that we are going to see negative impacts because of strong dollar... because of sluggishness to adopt new technologies in Europe," Chief Executive Alexander Karp said on an earnings call.The company once again leaned on renewals and expansions of existing U.S. military deals in the third quarter, which helped it close about $1 billion in government contracts.Analysts had expected the Ukraine war to draw in more business to Palantir, but finance chief David Glazer said the timing of new government contracts remained uncertain."We saw some improvement in backlog, but government only grew by 4% quarter-over-quarter and commercial was actually down quarter-over-quarter, which is not something we want to see in a subscription model," RBC Capital Markets analyst Rishi Jaluria said.Palantir's revenue rose only 22% to $477.9 million. Excluding items, it earned 1 cent per share compared with expectations of 2 cents.Adjusted earnings per share narrowly missed market expectations, also due to its investments in special purpose acquisition companies, finance chief Glazer said.Palantir said it expects fourth-quarter revenue to be between $508 million and $510 million, excluding a $5 million forex impact. Analysts on average expect revenue at $502.7 million.Reporting by Chavi Mehta in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V and Arun KoyyurOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Stocks Trading & Speculation |
Alexandra Ryan-Yavaşca wanted to settle down in her childhood hometown of San Diego, California, to raise a family with her husband Utku. But due to soaring housing costs, the 34-year-old can't afford to live there like her parents — a teacher and public relations professional — could on middle-class salaries. Her childhood home, purchased in 1996 for more than $300,000, is now worth more than $1.2 million.More from Grow:This millennial quit her $180K job in Atlanta and moved to LisbonWhy this millennial picked Lisbon to build her ‘happiest life’Americans flocked to these states in 2021In the summer of 2021, the Yavaşcas moved to Lisbon, Portugal, citing the affordable cost-of-living and laid-back culture as key reasons."It's liberating to leave America," Alexandra says. "Where can you live in the center of the city in America and look at the ocean and eat fresh seafood and work in your freelance entrepreneur lifestyle?"Alexandra and Utku Yavaşca couldn't afford to settle in her childhood hometown of San Diego, California, so they moved to Portugal.Helen Zhao | CNBCThe Yavaşcas are part of a wave of expats and digital nomads settling in Portugal in search of a better life. The number of foreign citizens living in Portugal — more than 714,000 — is at an all-time high, making up about 7% of the population in 2021, according to the Portuguese Immigration and Borders Service.The number of Americans residing in Portugal is at its highest level in more than a decade, according to agency data. There were about 7,000 Americans living in the country at the end of 2021, more than double three years earlier. The U.S. is the 24th most represented country among foreign residents in Portugal.As the pandemic and remote work transform the way we live and work, people are moving and changing careers based on what fulfills them most.The number of foreign residents living in Portugal is at an all-time high.Portuguese Immigration and Borders Service"Previously, it seemed like Portugal was the destination to retire. And now it seems like it's a cool destination to just start over," says Mateusz Zurek, 35, who moved to Lisbon from Poland in early 2021 to co-found a restaurant with his American-Canadian business partner, Jahmarley Grant, 28. "The barrier to entry, to open a business is super low," Grant adds.The number of Americans living in Portugal is at its highest level in more than a decade. Portuguese Immigration and Borders ServiceI've spoken to dozens of people who moved to Portugal in the last few years, to start a new venture or revamp their lifestyle. Many spoke about their move with a sense of renewal and hope, like they could finally live the life they envisioned, one that seemed unattainable where they came from.What is it about this small European country, about as populous as the state of Georgia, that holds so much promise for so many people? In late 2021, I traveled to Portugal for the first time, to find out.I took in the red rooftops of Lisbon from one of the city's many viewpoints.Aziz TaziPortugal is cheaper than many Western countriesWhat many foreigners say draws them to Portugal is its low cost of living and high quality of life. If a basket of goods and services cost $1 in the U.S., it would cost 57 cents in Portugal, according to 2020 World Bank data.The reason Portugal is cheaper than many Western countries is because the country "is poorer," says Portuguese economist Ricardo Reis, a professor of economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science. "A lot of the costs of the services that you buy are labor costs. Portugal's poorer. Wages are lower. Therefore the costs of most things that require a lot of labor are cheaper."As an American tourist from Los Angeles, California, daily living in Portugal feels cheap. One evening, I enjoyed a three-course meal — including soup and salad, fresh fish, ice cream, and sangria — for about $17, in the small seaside town of Carvoeiro. A three-hour boat ride along the Algarve coast cost $30. An Uber ride across town in Lisbon at nearly 1 a.m. on a Friday night set me back about $19. In comparison, I cry inside anytime I need a late night Uber in Los Angeles or New York City, my previous home — typically costing me $50-$70.I took in epic views from Castelo dos Mouros in Sintra, Portugal.Aziz TaziI met a few Americans who have significantly upgraded their standards of living since settling in Portugal.Samantha Hayden says she always lived in a "closet-sized space" in Singapore and New York City. After moving to Lisbon in the summer of 2021, the 32-year-old consultant now rents a three-story house, complete with two offices, a dining room and a garage, just outside the city center.Shar Wynter spent three months in Lisbon in 2020, before officially relocating from Atlanta, Georgia in the summer of 2021. The 37-year-old's monthly expenses now range between $2,100-$2,500/month, compared with $4,000-$5,000/month in Atlanta. She spends $1,250/month on a renovated one-bedroom two-bathroom apartment in the city center, with a balcony and plenty of natural sunlight. In contrast, Wynter was paying $1,800/month for a studio apartment in Atlanta.Foreign residents also have access to the country's free national healthcare.Wynter lives in a one-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment in Lisbon's city center.Helen Zhao | CNBC'I came here for a lot of healing'Portugal is often referred to as "the California of Europe." Except you get California temperatures and beaches without California prices. I visited in October and enjoyed sunny 80-degree weather for 10 days straight.There's natural beauty, but also culture. Expats tell me they haven't struggled to assimilate. Much of the Portuguese population speaks English because they learn it in school from an early age and they're generally welcoming to foreigners.Portugal is also safe. The country ranks as the fourth-most-peaceful nation in the world on the Global Peace Index, which assesses things like crime rate, violent demonstrations, political stability, and involvement in domestic and international conflict. The U.S. ranks #122.Racial violence in the U.S. motivated Wynter and her friends to move to Portugal. "Black Americans will normally find that they're treated well here and won't have the same type of lethal racism that you see in the U.S.," Wynter says.Wynter says the black experience in Lisbon has been very pleasant.Helen Zhao | CNBC"I really came here for a lot of healing, honestly," says Diara Parker, a 32-year-old equity consultant who moved to Lisbon from Madison, Wisconsin in early 2021. "Healing from past traumas, healing from all of the things that make the U.S. the U.S. — that in a lot of ways keep us in these really rigid boxes. And for me, as a black woman doesn't really give me the space to thrive, and to be my full, authentic self."I also spoke to many expats recovering from burnout, who told me they're finally able to find personal fulfillment beyond work."I used to almost fear requesting vacation. And here, my office is shut in August," Hayden says. "Especially in a lot of big cities in the States, there's a real focus on the grind, and kind of getting ahead and rising up the ladder. I think here, there's definitely a much more balanced approach. Family is huge. Spending time with friends is huge."Samantha Hayden says she's found a lot more work-life balance in Portugal after leading a high-octane lifestyle in Singapore and New York City.Courtesy Samantha HaydenAs a freelancer living in Lisbon, Ryan-Yavaşca says she doesn't have to work eight-hour days to get by. That frees her up to prioritize her family and well-being."We alternate sometimes who works, who takes care of our child. And we don't have to check in with anyone," she says. "Coming from America, this is impossible. I couldn't just take days off, say I'm closing my computer for the next four days to go on a meditation retreat."Parker says she's finally learning to savor all the simple moments in life. "I never thought that I would enjoy hanging up my laundry outside … and to pull out the clothes and to smell the fresh air. To be able to focus on myself and thrive as a full human that's not just a worker bee is life-changing, really."Diara Parker moved to Portugal in early 2021 "for a lot of healing."Courtesy Diara Parker'I wouldn't have started this business in America'Despite the laid-back culture, a lot of young workers aren't moving to Portugal to slack off. It's somewhere many expats feel capable of taking a risk and starting a new venture.When you can afford to live somewhere comfortably without working around the clock, "I think it makes it a lot easier to have space to pursue your creative entrepreneurial desires and aspirations because you have time," Wynter says. In December 2021, she launched the Xpat App, a mobile app that connects black expats around the world.In 2021, the Yavaşcas launched Sebze Lisboa, an Anatolian and vegetarian kitchen that caters events, fills to-go orders and hosts pop-up dinners.Courtesy Alexandra Ryan-YavaşcaDuring the pandemic, Margo Gabriel was laid off from her job in academia. Then the 35-year-old moved from Boston, Massachusetts, to Lisbon in 2020, where she can finally "pursue a lot of my creative projects that I've had on the back burner for literally years," she says. Gabriel is now a full-time freelance food and travel writer, whose clients are mostly based in the U.S.In 2021, the Yavaşcas launched Sebze Lisboa, an Anatolian and vegetarian kitchen that caters events, fills to-go orders, and hosts pop-up dinners. "I wouldn't have started this business in America, because first of all, there's food regulations, business licenses, high fees to get things started," Alexandra says. "There's so much bureaucracy and red tape that you have to go through that I can't even imagine in two weeks, we could have a start-up business."In contrast, "starting businesses is quite easy in Portugal," says economics professor Reis. "You can open a business in one hour with a relatively limited amount of paperwork."Yavaşca says she wouldn't have started this business in America, due to the red tape involved in starting a new venture.Alexandra Ryan-YavaşcaPortugal is becoming increasingly known for its start-up scene, mostly concentrated in Lisbon. Funding to tech startups headquartered in the country grew to over €180 million in 2021, up from about €1.2 million in 2016, according to the 2021 Portugal Startup Outlook.According to the report, a third of founders who established startups in Portugal between 2015 and 2020 were not Portuguese.Many Portuguese locals 'are very frustrated'As more people come to start anew and build their dreams, Portugal as a country is also undergoing a dramatic transformation. I saw lots of cranes and construction in Lisbon, bringing to life the infrastructure necessary to serve the city's new inhabitants and visitors.In some ways, the city is getting a whole new lease on life. And in other ways, what makes Lisbon authentically Lisbon is being stripped away.Tech sales executive Luisa Pilo has lived in Lisbon on and off for more than 30 years. She says she has seen the city transform dramatically in that time — from a "quiet city, small town … in need of a lot of love" to a much more "cosmopolitan" hub.Pilo says the influx of new residents and tourists has resulted in a "better city, more mobility, better housing." She describes her life as "better, more colorful."Longtime Lisbon resident Luisa Pilo shows me what used to be a traditional Portuguese jewelry shop from the 1920s, that closed because it couldn't keep up with the rising cost of rent.Helen Zhao | CNBCBut not all this change is positive. Many locals and small businesses have been priced out of the city center due to rising rents. Furthermore, many apartments have been taken off the market and converted into short-term vacation rentals.Living in Portugal isn't cheap for those earning local wages. The monthly minimum wage is about $800. The average annual wage in 2020 was about $28,000, according to OECD data."They are very frustrated. If you talk to a lot of Portuguese, especially before the pandemic when tourism was booming, people were fed up," Pilo says.Overall, Reis says the growth in foreign residents and tourism has a positive impact on the country, because it stimulates the economy and helps create jobs. "You have people that come with high skills, that come with desires to create businesses, that come with buying locally produced goods," he says.Lifting Portugal out of recessionAttracting foreigners was all part of a government plan to help lift Portugal out of recession in the 2010s. As recently as 2015, people were not moving to Portugal for a better quality of life and more opportunity. In fact, young workers were leaving the country."Between 2010 and 2012, Portugal went through a fairly deep recession associated with a sovereign debt crisis," Reis says. "What that implied was that the lack of job opportunities, as well as quite large increases in taxes to pay for those past debts — led to many young professionals especially to leave the country looking for jobs, a little bit all over the European Union in particular."Unemployment peaked at about 18 percent in 2013, while GDP shrank three years in a row, between 2011 and 2013.Statistics Portugal, EurostatUnemployment peaked at about 18% in 2013, while GDP shrank three years in a row, between 2011 and 2013.To help stimulate the economy, Portugal welcomed immigration in a couple different ways: the relative ease of obtaining a residence visa and tax benefits for new foreign residents. Moving to Portugal is relatively easyThe most common visa, the D7, requires applicants to show monthly income of at least the Portuguese minimum wage, currently €705. Demand for the D7 has "increased exponentially in the last two to three years," says Mary Kuffel, an investment advisor at Get Golden Visa.She notes the D7 is "very attainable" with proof of income, and getting one doesn't involve too much bureaucratic headache. The entire application and approval process typically takes around six to seven months, says Bernardo Corrêa de Sá, legal counsel for Get Golden Visa.Praça do Comércio is a popular tourist destination in Lisbon's city center.Imazins | Image Bank Film | Getty ImagesAnother increasingly popular option is the Golden Visa, for those who invest €250,000 to €1.5 million in real estate, an investment fund, a charitable donation, or other options.After five years of holding a residence visa, you can apply for permanent residency and then citizenship. The relative ease of obtaining a Portuguese visa makes it one of the most popular options for foreigners seeking a European passport, Kuffel says.Corrêa de Sá says he has numerous U.S. clients seeking D7 and Golden visas in order to obtain EU citizenship. "They want a plan B … for political reasons, for safety reasons."I hit the beach along the southern coast of Portugal, called the Algarve.Aziz TaziPortugal is incentivizing immigration by giving foreigners a tax break under what's called the non-habitual resident tax regime. New foreign residents are tax exempt on any taxable income they receive from abroad. That means, if I moved there, I would not pay taxes in Portugal on the income I earn from CNBC for the next 10 years, as long as I'm being taxed in the U.S.These incentives seem to have worked. But very few people I spoke to mentioned them as reasons for moving. Their motivation was the promise of a better life.Growing up, I mostly heard about people moving to the U.S. to chase the American dream. But now it seems like many Americans are chasing that dream elsewhere, like in Portugal. The article "‘A Cool Destination to Just Start Over’: Burned-out Millennials are Flocking to Portugal″ was originally published on Grow (CNBC + Acorns). | Real Estate & Housing |
UN expert sounds alarm over ‘contemporary forms of slavery’ in Canada
An independent UN human rights expert on Wednesday expressed concern over Canada's temporary foreign worker programmes, describing them as “a breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery”.
He called on the Canadian Government to intensify its efforts to safeguard workers’ rights and offer a clear pathway to permanent residency for all migrants.
Migrant workers at risk
“I am deeply disturbed by the accounts of exploitation and abuse shared with me by migrant workers,” he said
“Employer-specific work permit regimes, including certain Temporary Foreign Worker Programmes, make migrant workers vulnerable to contemporary forms of slavery, as they cannot report abuses without fear of deportation,” Obokata said.
He acknowledged recent policies enacted to promote human rights across the business sector such as the creation of a Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise (CORE) and other codes of conduct.
But he emphasized the need to regularize the status of foreign migrant workers, citing their valuable skills the bring to the economy.
“I urge the Government to bring forward legislation requiring Canadian companies to implement mandatory human rights due diligence, and expand the independence, powers, and mandate of the CORE,” he said.
Trauma twice over
While visiting, Mr. Obokata noted that the communities at the highest risk of contemporary slavery and exploitation were those already experiencing structural discrimination and violence.
This included individuals with precarious migrant status, Indigenous Peoples, those with disabilities, individuals of African descent, former prisoners, and the homeless.
He drew a line between Canada's colonial history and the disproportionate effect of contemporary forms of slavery on Indigenous Peoples, such as First Nations, Métis, and Inuit, who have reported instances of unresponsiveness from law enforcement over the issue.
“I am extremely concerned by the extent to which Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit people go missing or are murdered, often as a result of being trafficked for forced labour or sexual exploitation,” Mr. Obokata said.
He said they were reportedly targeted by traffickers when traveling to seek employment or services.
Legal challenges and solutions
Canada's efforts to address slavery within domestic frameworks have improved. However, the independent expert said he had witnessed a lack of trauma-informed personnel and human rights-centered approaches within law enforcement and the judicial system.
“Victims and survivors are forced to relive their trauma in their interactions with law enforcement and the court systems, and the outcome of legal proceedings often fails to provide adequate compensation,” he said.
He said there was not enough consultation with survivors over policymaking and insufficient protections and remedies for victims.
“I am also seriously concerned about the misuse of anti-trafficking legislation to target sex workers, which seriously impacts their human rights,” said Obokata. “Full decriminalization of sex work is necessary to prevent further abuses.”
Special Rapporteurs and other UN experts are not UN staff and are independent from any government or organisation. They serve in their individual capacity and receive no salary for their work. | Workforce / Labor |
A Euro banknote is displayed on U.S. Dollar banknotes in this illustration taken, February 14, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File PhotoRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSummaryEuro still above $1 but U.S. CPI a stern testRBNZ, BOK hike rates but currencies sit near lows vs USDSterling adrift as markets wait for Tories to choose leaderSINGAPORE, July 13 (Reuters) - The euro hovered a whisker above parity on the dollar on Wednesday ahead of U.S. inflation data, with traders wary a sky-high reading could force it to lows not seen in decades.The greenback was firm in Asia trade, with 50 basis point rate hikes in New Zealand and South Korea that came in as expected failing to offer much support to the kiwi or won. read more The euro languished at $1.0036. It is down nearly 12% this year and fell to a 20-year low on Tuesday as the war in Ukraine has triggered an energy crisis that has hurt the continent's growth outlook.Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comIt dropped as low as $1.00005 on the most widely used Electronic Broking Services' dealing platform and touched $1 on Reuters dealing overnight.Analysts say it could fall further if fast-rising U.S. consumer prices keep investors betting on U.S. rate rises.Economists forecast headline U.S. inflation accelerated to 8.8% year-on-year in June, a 40-year high, which is likely to reinforce expectations of interest rate hikes and help the dollar."I think the U.S. dollar will keep increasing if the U.S. CPI is stronger than expected," said Commonwealth Bank of Australia strategist Joe Capurso in Sydney. "There's definitely a very good chance that the euro falls below parity tonight."The euro fell below parity with the Swiss franc last month and is flirting with a drop beneath its 200-day moving average against the pound .Weakness in the euro and yen has lifted the U.S. dollar index , which scaled a two-decade peak of 108.560 this week and was hovering at 108.13 in Asia trade on Wednesday.The Japanese yen has taken a beating this year as the Bank of Japan sticks with its ultra-easy monetary policy in contrast with tightening nearly everywhere else.It was under pressure at 137.055 per dollar on Wednesday after hitting its lowest since 1998 on Monday at 137.75.The Australian dollar steadied at $0.677, just above a two-year trough of $0.6712 made on Tuesday.Sterling has also slipped on the stronger dollar and analysts see it adrift in the wake of the resignation of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson last week.It last bought $1.19025, with gross domestic product data due at 0600 GMT the next hurdle. Traders expect May brought zero growth.Eight Conservatives are vying to succeed Johnson. read more "The combination of slow growth, debt and high inflation is likely to prove very tricky for the new Tory leadership," said Rabobank senior strategist Jane Foley. "Sterling may suffer a lack of fresh direction until the new PM is in place."In New Zealand and South Korea, the rate hikes came in largely as expected. The South Korean won was marginally firmer, while the New Zealand dollar dipped a fraction to $0.6127 - barely above Monday's two-year low of $0.6098."There was no real change in tone," said Jason Wong, strategist at BNZ in Wellington, of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand decision, adding that left U.S. CPI likely to drive the kiwi's next move. "We're at the whim of the U.S. dollar."========================================================Currency bid prices at 0247 GMTAll spotsTokyo spotsEurope spotsVolatilitiesTokyo Forex market info from BOJRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comReporting by Rae Wee and Tom Westbrook in Singapore; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Edwina GibbsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Forex Trading & Speculation |
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Congressional candidate April Becker is looking beyond Tuesday's Republican primary in Nevada to the November election, where she says she's confident she'll beat Rep. Susie Lee, D-Nev."The state's going to be flipped, it's just a very winnable state and I think that especially with the current environment, it's just kind of a known thing that we're going to win this seat back," Becker told Fox News Digital.Becker is far ahead of the four other Republicans vying for the nomination in fundraising, and has the endorsement of the Nevada Republican Party and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. She said she's "very confident" of securing the nomination Tuesday. "I just keep trucking along, I'm doing everything I'm supposed to do," she said.INFLATION HITS FRESH 40-YEAR HIGH IN MAY WITH NO LET UP IN SOARING CONSUMER PRICES Beyond Tuesday, Becker believes voters in her district will reject incumbent Lee, who is seeking her fourth term, along with the Biden administration's policies. "She votes with Biden 100% of the time," Becker says of Lee."This as a very swing district, and I think people are fed up with what's going on and what they're seeing. People feel like they don't have a voice," Becker said. Nevada's 3rd Congressional District, which extends south and west of Las Vegas to the California border, is rated as a toss up race by Cook Political Report. With Democrats across the nation facing headwinds due to spiking inflation, crime and Biden's sinking approval ratings, Becker is confident her district will be among those that flip red.Lee has been on the defensive for months, and in March touted the economic recovery in Nevada. "Two years ago, we had an unemployment rate of 34%," Lee told the Nevada Independent. "Today, I think we're hovering around 6%. We have an unprecedented number of new business starts in our state … there was no prediction that in 2021, anything like that would have happened."On concerns of increasing crime in Las Vegas, Lee has stressed that she is not opposed to law enforcement and rejects calls from the progressive wing of her party to gut police budgets. Rep. Susie Lee speaks during the news conference outside the Capitol on May 12, 2022. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)"I always open these up and say I do not want to defund the police, and in fact have voted multiple times to increase funding to police departments," Lee told representatives of law enforcement recently, the Washington Post reported this week.In Becker's analysis, however, Nevada voters – and people across the country – will likely vote based on the pain in their pocket books regardless of political messaging.TRUMP-BACKED ADAM LAXALT SAYS TUESDAY’S PRIMARY IN NEVADA ‘GREAT DRY RUN’ FOR NOVEMBER SENATE SHOWDOWN"There are a lot of people who don't pay attention to politics, but when it comes to putting gas in their tank, everybody has to do that, everybody has to buy groceries," she said."We have Susie Lee on video acknowledging prices going up, but she wasn't going to apologize for it. That pretty much encapsulates exactly what her attitude is, and I think people are seeing it, and they're just fed up with it," she added.Becker says she never desired a career in politics, but she got fed up with the politicians representing her. She ran for a state Senate seat in 2020 and narrowly lost, but the current race is tilted in her favor. Nevada House candidate April Becker says she is confident she can beat incumbent Susie Lee. (Winning for Women)"I never really planned on doing this. I'm 51 years old, my youngest just graduated high school, my husband is ready to start traveling – but I just felt that if I didn't step up, who's going to?" she said.Becker, a real estate attorney, has done pro bono legal work that she says kept people from losing their houses."I always compare politicians to attorneys because most attorneys don't care. They do their jobs, they do their jobs well, but they're not passionate about it. I feel the same way about politicians. They go through the motions, but maybe they've become jaded."DEMOCRATIC REP. RO KHANNA SAYS BIDEN CAN DO ‘WAY MORE’ TO FIGHT INFLATIONBecker says she's convinced that "when Republicans are in charge, Americans' lives are better," and with Democrats in power during a nationwide slump, voters are likely to express disapproval at the polls. But what Republicans do once in power is another matter."I think the biggest thing is to stop spending money we don't have," Becker said when asked what Congress should do to fight inflation. Republican candidate for U.S. Congress April Becker poses in the window of her campaign van, a converted ice cream truck, in Las Vegas on May 29, 2022. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)BIDEN CLAIMS 'INFLATION IS LARGELY THE FAULT OF PUTIN,' NOT DEMOCRATIC SPENDING"I think a lot of programs need to be audited. There are automatic increases, and I just don't agree with that. As a family, when you can't afford to live what you're living and spending, you have to step back and re-evaluate your budget. This is the same concept, just on a much larger scale."Focusing on other issues, particularly protecting abortion access in Roe v. Wade and passing gun control, Becker said are "red herrings" pushed by Democrats to "take the public's focus away from the economy and what they've done to crush the economy."CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP"If candidates focus on what's important to the people of this country, they will manage to glide through this election," she said.If Republicans don't act, they'll get the boot, she said. Thomas Phippen is an Editor at Fox News. | Inflation |
A study conducted by a personal finance website ranked Washington, D.C., dead last in the United States in terms of racial equality in the economy. A survey from Wallethub released this week compared 50 states and the District of Columbia using eight metrics weighing data between White and Black Americans in several areas such as annual income, unemployment rate and homeownership."Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the most equality," Wallethub said. "We determined the level of equality by subtracting the values attributed to Whites and Blacks for a given metric, using only the most recent available data."The survey found that the economy of the District of Columbia ranked dead last in racial equality, with a score of 15.25, while Alaska ranked first with a score of 85.36. PROGRESSIVES ARE RE-SEGREGATING AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS UNDER THE GUISE OF 'RACIAL EQUITY' The west facade of the U.S. Capitol and Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington. (iStock / iStock) Washington, D.C., registered the highest median income gap, the highest labor force participation rate gap, the highest unemployment rate gap, and the highest homeless rate gap, but did register the lowest gap in rates of homeownership.Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser speaks at a news conference (Reuters/Yuri Gripas / Reuters)TRAFFIC REFORMS TO PROMOTE RACIAL EQUITY ARE '100%' RELATED TO INCREASES IN VIOLENT CRIME, EXPERT SAYSNew Mexico and Arizona ranked second and third, respectively, with Texas, Florida, Hawaii and South Dakota appearing in the top 10.California, where legislators have actively pushed for racial equity and established a task force to provide reparations to Black Americans, ranked 21st in the country in terms of racial equality in the economy.'RACIAL EQUITY' A 'CENTRAL TENET' IN DISPERSING AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN FUNDS AT STATE, LOCAL LEVEL: US TREASURYNew York, where Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul declared racism a "public health crisis" in 2021, ranked 41st in racial equality in its economy with a score of 59.71.Several Rust Belt states rounded out the bottom 10 in the list’s rankings including Illinois at 50th, Wisconsin at 49th, Michigan at 46th, and Ohio at 43rd. Protesters gather on Black Lives Matter Plaza after they attempted to pull down the statue of Andrew Jackson in Lafayette Square near the White House. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images / Getty Images)CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPJohn L. Campbell, Class of 1925 professor emeritus at Dartmouth College, told Wallethub that "some progress" has been made on racial equality in the United States, but there is a lot more work to be done."Yes, there has been some progress," Campbell said. "But the wealth racial wealth gap remains. Affirmative action and anti-discrimination laws, for instance, in the labor market helped close the racial income gap, which helped reduce the racial wealth gap. But those gaps persist so there is still a long way to go on both counts." | Unemployment |
When Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese meets US President Joe Biden in Washington this week, deterring an assertive China will be on the agenda. At home, Darwin - a city key to the US-led defence alliance in the Pacific - will be watching.
War first came to Australia's shores on a Thursday morning in 1942, when 188 Japanese aircraft appeared over the centre of Darwin.
Bombs rained down on the coast, spraying red dirt and shrouding the turquoise harbour in smoke and fire. The two air raids nearly flattened the town, killing at least 230 people.
That day - 19 February - was a precursor to some 200 raids across northern Australia, but it remains the deadliest attack on the country.
Eighty years on, Darwin is a laid-back holiday spot that bears few visible scars of war. But there are simmering fears that this city may find itself in the crosshairs of a global conflict again.
Home to several key military bases which could prove crucial in any clash with China, Darwin is at the heart of deepening ties between Canberra and Washington, and the focus of massive investment from both governments.
But while American interest is reassuring for those who are wary of Beijing's power, there is alarm for some who worry it makes their home a target.
"You're inviting conflict," says local Billee McGinley, part of the Top End Peace Alliance, a local activist group. On a recent October afternoon, the group took turns sharing their concerns in the shadow of the city's war memorial Cenotaph.
"We feel like a sacrifice," she says.
Face of the north
Darwin has long been a military town. You can drive across the sparsely populated city in about 15 minutes, but it is home to two military bases. Another one sits on its fringe.
It is more common to see someone in military fatigues than a suit. And the roar of aircraft overhead is just another soundtrack to life here.
Defence families are a large chunk of the population - and that doesn't include the thousands of international troops that arrive each year for war games and training. The industry is an even larger proportion of the economy.
And it's clear the military footprint in the so-called "Top End" is only going to grow.
Australia had maintained it didn't have to choose between the US and China. But that calculation has changed. Ties have soured between Washington and Beijing, and the latter's claims over the South China Sea and Taiwan have become more expansive and threatening.
So Canberra says it has woken up to its vital role in ensuring security and stability in the region, with fresh commitments to allies and a massive overhaul of its defence spend.
Enter, Darwin - "the face of the north".
"Looking at a map, the strategic importance of Darwin is obvious," says defence analyst Michael Shoebridge.
The Australian government has announced it's moving hundreds more troops to Darwin and other northern cities, and it has also promised a large chunk of its new defence budget will go towards fortifying the region.
While the US has historically focussed on Guam, Hawaii or Okinawa, it too is now pouring money into Australia.
It already operates year-round at the Pine Gap spy base outside Alice Springs in central Australia, and has since 2011 been sending annual rotations of US Marines - this year some 2,500 of them - to the Northern Territory (NT), where Darwin is located.
But in recent years it has promised about $2bn for base upgrades and new facilities. In Darwin, that includes a mission planning and operations centre and 11 jet fuel storage tanks. A couple of hours south - at the Tindal air base - storage hangers for nuclear-capable bomber planes and a huge ammunition bunker will be built.
Australia and the US have also signed bilateral defence agreements and further military cooperation is expected to be high on the agenda during Mr Albanese's trip to Washington.
Experts say the military build-up in the Top End - by both Australia and the US - is aimed at dispersing resources, and risk, around the region to "complicate" any war strategy by Beijing. But it is primarily about preventing war.
"It's obvious that diplomacy and all of the fora and meetings that exist in the region are not preventing China's aggression and intimidation," Mr Shoebridge says.
"So, to deter conflict, there needs to be enough hard power, not in China's hands, so that Beijing understands the cost of conflict would be too great... [and] no collective defence strategy makes any sense in our region without the Americans being part of it."
Target on Darwin
But that's making some Darwin locals uneasy.
Though there's differing opinions on the likelihood of a conflict with China, they're worried the build-up won't deter Beijing, but rather escalate tensions. They fear the US presence in Darwin could pressure Australia into a war it simply shouldn't be involved in, and make their city a target.
"If you position yourself as neutral and peaceful, it would be a war crime to come here," Ms McGinley says.
She's so terrified about Darwin's future she's considering her family's place in it: "It's definitely a consideration, with a young daughter, whether I stay here or not."
There are more immediate concerns too. In recent months, a US marine has been charged with rape and an American Osprey helicopter crashed and exploded near a school. And there's the impact these expanding bases - and any potential attack - could have on the Aboriginal cultural heritage and natural beauty the NT is known for.
Because so few people live in the NT, it is treated as "expendable", says Diana Rickard, who runs the Top End Peace Alliance.
"This has always been considered the wasteland⦠it still is," she adds.
"The risks and impacts and threats are externalised onto people that live here. But any kind of perceived benefit... is for people elsewhere," Naish Gawen, another local, says.
But the Peace Alliance says their concerns don't seem to be resonating with the community or being heard by people in power.
They certainly don't appear to be widespread. Walking around Darwin, it can feel like there is a general mood of nonchalance about the military presence.
"It's not something that I've heard much about," one local, 30-year-old Brianna, says.
The local business chamber and politicians from across the aisle sell the economic benefits of the defence investments.
The NT Chief Minister Natasha Fyles and national Defence Minister Richard Marles did not respond to the BBC's request for comment. But Mr Marles has previously said Darwin is a "significant" national "asset", something that is "good news for the Territory's economy".
"It is fundamentally important that we have the footprint here," he said in April.
Experts, though, don't rule out the possibility that Darwin will become a target.
Defence strategist Becca Wasser has spent years wargaming what might happen in the event of a conflict in the region. In most of the scenarios she's run, China does attempt missile attacks on Australia.
But they have limited success given the technology Beijing possesses and the more than 4,000km (2485 miles) between mainland China and Australia.
"In fact, most of them usually don't reach even the most northern bases," she says. But it's not the existence of the bases that makes Darwin a target, she stressed - whether Australia uses them to send troops is the key factor.
Australia has joined almost every single coalition operation that the United States has fought in recent years, she adds, but that is no guarantee Australia will choose to join any future wars.
"The decision to contribute forces to any conflict, it's a political decision, and it's one that Australia makes on its own. It's not something that the United States can just determine," she says.
Even those whose families lived through the 1942 bombing of Darwin seem to accept the city's new military reality.
Richard Fejo recounts stories that have been passed down from his grandfather, Juma Fejo, and his great uncle Samuel Fejo. The Larrika elder says the pair never recovered from the loss of human life they witnessed, and the impact on their ancestral home.
"In Aboriginal culture, we say the land is our mother⦠and so something as terrible as the bombing of Darwin, as a Larrakia person, would have been like putting a knife through their heart," he says.
While he's daunted by the prospect of war returning to his home, "I consider myself to be a realist," he says.
"These people who would stand up and argue about Americans being on Larrakia land, what option are you offering us? We must⦠remember our past, but we also must be prepared for the future." | Australia Business & Economics |
The first minister has confirmed that free bus travel will be provided in Scotland to people seeking asylum.
Humza Yousaf said £2m had been set aside in next year's Budget to pay for the scheme.
The Scottish Greens, who pushed for the move as part of their power-sharing agreement with the SNP government, said it could be "life-saving".
The party said talks would be held with the Home Office as part of the scheme's development.
Campaigners have said free bus travel would help prevent isolation among people in the asylum system, allowing them to more easily attend GPs, solicitors, language lessons and volunteering projects.
People applying for asylum in the UK are unable to work under Westminster employment law.
The Home Office provides £47.39 per week, about £6.80 a day, for people in uncatered accommodation, while those in hotels get just £9.58 per week, about £1.40 a day.
Green MSP Mark Ruskell said during First Minister's Questions that the measure could be "life-saving" for people seeking asylum.
"When those people, having escaped from persecution, war and suffering, are now forced to live on just £6 a day, the very least that we can do is to extend a hand of help," he said.
'Fair to all'
Mr Yousaf supported those comments, telling MSPs the UK government's "inhumane" asylum processes leave people destitute.
He added: "This announcement is the next step in making sure that our transport system, our country is fair and accessible to all."
Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie, who announced an agreement had been reached for the scheme at his party's conference last weekend, said it would "take time" to implement".
He said ministers at Holyrood would "need to step up the pressure on the current UK government, or the next one, to do the right thing".
The Maryhill Integration Network, which offers support to people seeking asylum in Glasgow, said it was "thrilled" about the funding announcement.
The group's human rights and advocacy co-ordinator, Pinar Aksu, told BBC Scotland News: "We know that currently the immigration system in its form is extremely difficult, however in Scotland we are creating pathways to show we can make positive changes.
"Having free bus travel will allow people to freely travel, meet friends, attend groups, appointments and more. It will create some form of freedom in a system where movement is restricted."
In a recent report, Holyrood's equalities, human rights and civil justice committee said extending free bus travel to people in the asylum system would be "transformative".
It called on Scottish ministers to develop a plan for a nationwide rollout - based on analysis from pilot, free-travel schemes that have operated in both Aberdeen and Glasgow - before the end of this parliamentary session.
The government will set out its budget later this year.
The Home Office has said it works "continually to ensure the needs and vulnerabilities of those residing in asylum accommodation are identified and considered, including those related to mental health and trauma". | United Kingdom Business & Economics |
President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday ordered Russia's first mobilisation since World War Two, warning the West that if it continued what he called its "nuclear blackmail", Moscow would respond with the might of all its vast arsenal. read more The euro tumbled to a two-week low against the dollar, European stock markets slipped, and investors piled into safe-haven bonds, pushing yields on German and U.S. government debt down.MARKET REACTION:Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSTOCKS:The S&P 500 (.SPX) after the open had gained 22.46 points, or 0.58%, to 3,878.39Europe's STOXX index briefly fell to its lowest since early July (.STOXX), while the euro stocks volatility index jumped to its highest in more than two weeks.GOLD: Bullion was up 0.7% around $1,675 per ounceFOREX: The euro neared two-decade lows, and the dollar index rose to two-decade highs , .EMERGING MARKETS FX: Hungary's forint , Poland's zloty and the Czech crown weakened around 1% or more against the dollar, and were also softer versus the euro. Russia's rouble slumped to a more than two-month low, heading towards 63 to the dollar.EMERGING MARKETS EQUITIES: (.MSCIEF) are down more than 1% to flirt with a fresh 28-month low. Russian stocks dived 10% in early trading, but later recouped most of those losses. (.IMOEX)COMMENTS:TOM DI GALOMA, MANAGING DIRECTOR, SEAPORT GLOBAL HOLDINGS LLC, GREENWHICH, CONNECTICUT“Geopolitical development like this will overhang the markets through the fall and winter, this is not rhetoric. it seems to me that Putin is making a significant statement in regards to his country. We’re all hoping that it doesn’t come to this, but I believe that markets are going to be very sensitive to these types of rhetoric from both China and from Russia.“China now plans to at some point assume Taiwan, whether it’s this year or in the next five year, and Russia is making threats of using nuclear weapons in some form in eastern Europe. Those are things that the market is not necessarily set up for and developments like these could affect the Fed dramatically. A lot of people are talking about 100 basis point hike today all of a sudden.“The entire rhetoric on Ukraine has been, ‘the Ukrainians are winning.’ But in reality we have to believe that’s not necessarily the case and that Russia is going to make a powerful move some time in the fall or winter. Whether it leads to a nuclear retaliation on the West is another question. But I don’t think that this Ukraine-Russia situation is going to end in the next few months. This is going to go on for probably a number of years and make it darker before it gets completely resolved.”THOMAS SIMONS, MONEY MARKET ECONOMIST, JEFFERIES, NEW YORK“I think it’s partly why we’re seeing the market (Treasuries) trade a little bit better today. I think even with this Russia stuff it’s hard to see the market really rally a lot more from here ahead of the FOMC. Yesterday we sold off quite a bit, at least in the morning, and I think that that was partly a buyers’ strike - not really willing to take risk, mess with positioning before the FOMC meeting. I think that maybe this Russia stuff brings some buyers off the sidelines, but I don’t think that it is enough to really motivate a big position shift without knowing the Fed too. It could compound some move after the Fed, but I don’t think that it’s really going to drive the market until after.”“The comments that Putin made are pretty long-term in terms of when they’re actually going to manifest themselves in reality with the deployment of reserve troops, or if there is eventually some sort of nuclear conflict, that’s not today. It puts the market on alert, but I don’t think it necessitates a big position shift. Obviously the comments on a surface read are quite negative because it suggests that there’s this escalation of the war effort, but on the other hand it also I think could be interpreted as a big sign of weakness too, which is this desperation that this huge country of Russia can’t close the door on this war with Ukraine…Obviously they’ve seen massive foreign aid come in that has helped their resistance effort, but it’s not the same. Russia and Ukraine shouldn’t be on equal footing from a military power standpoint and if Russia is having to go to a mandatory draft is this the beginning of the end of Putin’s reign? These things don’t tend to end well. I think that there are some two-sided risks in the long run that you can take away from these comments, it’s not purely negative.”PETER TUZ, PRESIDENT, CHASE INVESTMENT COUNSEL, CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA"It's regrettable but the U.S. market is driven by interest rates and inflation and earnings for the rest of the year absent some catastrophic use of force over there like nukes or chemical weapons. That's the end of him, and probably the end of the country, Russia as a member of the world community. That's a pretty drastic step. I think it doesn't happen.""U.S. interest rates, inflation and earnings at the forefront now (for stock market) at least and probably until the end of the year. There's small odds of something catastrophic happening but it's small odds. I don't think it's on people's minds so much right now. It happened last night. Futures are already looking up today."MARC CHANDLER, CHIEF MARKET STRATEGIST, BANNOCKBURN GLOBAL FOREX, NEW YORK“Putin’s move has contributed to the firmer dollar and weaker euro ahead of the FOMC meeting. There already was risk-off. The dollar bloc sold to new two-year lows today, and sterling made a new low since 1985 and China, the dollar got to a new two-year high against the RMB. In some ways, as far as the affects go, Putin pushed on an open door. We were taking risk off ahead of the FOMC meeting in any event."“When Russia initially invaded, I thought that all they wanted was the eastern parts. I was wrong. That becomes the back-up plan, Plan B. He calls for these referendums, annexes the territory and now he’s fighting for his homeland. And what I point out in my commentary the other day was that NATO and many of the U.S. allies did not like U.S. action in Vietnam. The U.S. did not call it a war, it called it a police action. We didn't lose our allies over it and I think that China and India have a broader relationship with Russia than just Russia’s foreign policy."“As long as Putin is there, Russia has to regear, redirect its economy eastward and that means tighter commodity trade with China and India, with military ties with India, Iran and Turkey. The other thing it means as NATO has gone east against Russia’s frontier, China is coming up through the underbelly and the old central Asian republics. They just announced new railroad ties that basically go to Europe but bypass Russia in a quicker route. Part of this represents the reorientation of Russia eastward. Turkey is interesting in this too. It’s the first NATO country to try to join the Shanghai organization.”ART HOGAN, CHIEF MARKET STRATEGIST, NATIONAL SECURITIES, NEW YORK“It’s amazing how little we are paying attention to that and to me the fact that this 3-day war turned into 210 days, shows the sort of diminishing returns of shock value we get from what clearly is an escalation. The market’s view of that has only been expressed in a slight bump up in the defence industry stocks. and energy prices. But it is relatively shocking, if this were six months ago, the market would have a much larger reaction but in the here and now and we are 210 days into this now and it feels like Ukraine continues to put up strong resistance with a united NATO support so to the extent that what would otherwise be a very market moving event, markets have moved that to the back burner, even with the threat of using nuclear weapons, which is the most shocking part of the news story.”“To the extent that we heard some rumblings of this yesterday that may well have been part of yesterday’s drawdown but it’s really hard to know the combination of advance notice of this escalation being priced in yesterday and yet the defence industry stocks and the energy component didn’t make the move until today so it’s hard to rationalize that.”“It was also equally surprising and unrelated that we got relatively good news yesterday on China easing back on some of their covid restrictions and all that did was show up in casino stocks and nothing else. Frankly, that is one of the largest impediments to supply chains in all sorts of industries and yet the casino stocks were the only sector that applauded that, which just tells you that everything is about the domestic focus and monetary policy. It seems like all markets care about is whether the Fed goes 75 basis points or a full percentage point which again is equally ludicrous because it’s all about where they stop, not the steps along the way.”PETER CARDILLO, CHIEF MARKET ECONOMIST, SPARTAN CAPITAL SECURITIES, NEW YORK“It’s affecting the commodities markets - we’re seeing oil move up. And the dollar continues to strengthen even further. War news is giving metals and oil a temporary move to the upside.”“The news is sensational. From a geopolitical standpoint, Putin is frustrated that the war isn’t going his way and he’s threatening the west. It’s not the first time.”“It’s something that would move the commodities market, but the stock market today is focused on what the Fed will do or say.”“Why aren’t (stock index futures) reacting negatively? Stock investors are putting this mobilization on the back burner. It could just be a temporary factor.”“Yields are going down ahead of the Fed announcement. Yields and the dollar are getting boosted, falling into the safety trade.”CHRIS WEAFER, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, MACRO-ADVISORY (A CONSULTANCY TO COMPANIES ON DOING BUSINESS IN RUSSIA)“There had been a sense in Europe that Russia would look for a compromise. Today’s announcement makes it clear that is incorrect. Russia is digging in for the long haul. They are prepared to tough it out.”“Russia is prepared for a winter where there is no Russian energy going west. They have been able to build up strong financial reserves. This year, Russia has made so much money exporting oil and gas. There is enough money in the system … to maintain stability. They will not have an economic crisis.”“Moscow woke up to … its dependence on Europe. It has done a great deal about that, whereas Europe has done nothing until this year.”“Russia is much better prepared for this confrontation than Europe is.”“It indicates that Russia will be less ambitious … for territory than it was.”“The footprint of war shrinks but becomes more entrenched. There is no point in having peace talks.”GUNTRAM WOLFF, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, GERMAN COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS, BERLIN“The next six months are going to be tough. Germany was too reliant on Russian gas – that was clearly a mistake. Now this is being addressed big time. January and February are covered by gas storage. Russia has lost a very important customer and they are not going to get it back.”“The public sees the cruelty and nihilism of Putin’s Russia and they are not willing to give in to blackmail.”ARNE PETIMEZAS, SENIOR ANALYST, AFS GROUP, NETHERLANDS"I strongly think of his February speech. That was also ignored at first."It is not yet a total war for Russia because there is no full mobilization. But I think Putin is underestimated. He has escalated every time. For him it is life and death. I don't see why his next move will be de-escalation unless he wins. Which of course isn't good either. He keeps going."It's a bit difficult to see structurally lower yields. The war has led to higher yields."SUSANNAH STREETER, SENIOR INVESTMENT AND MARKETS ANALYST, HARGREAVES LANSDOWN, UK"I think there will be more of a flight to safety. We're likely to see the dollar gain strength again. And I think there will be a rally to funds which perhaps offer security."The ECB came out saying that the rate hikes are going to be much stronger, but it didn’t seem to impact the German bond yields which have fallen, which is an indication that investors are fleeing into assets that are considered more safe."GILES COGHLAN, CHIEF MARKET ANALYST, HYCM, UK"If the market was taking those threats seriously you would see markets crash, and the fact that we haven't seen any such movement shows that the Russian threat for now is being perceived as sort of sabre rattling, because we've heard these threats before."It's not perceived to be likely that Russia is about to start a global nuclear war that's going to end civilization. So, I think that's the right response from the markets now."If you look at when the Russian-Ukraine crisis started, there were two currencies that fell sharply, the euro and the pound, and that was due to their geographical proximity."The general rule of thumb is, the worst the conflict gets, the more pressure is on the euro and the pound. But conversely, if the conflict is resolved - say, there's some peace agreement or arrangement that brings peace back to the euro region - you'd expect the euro and the pound to gain."If it gets really, really bad, I'd expect the dollar to rise."COLIN ASHER, SENIOR ECONOMIST, MIZUHO CORPORATE BANK"The initial implications are clear: it’s a potential escalation which is negative for the outlook in the euro zone, and so it's unsurprising that the euro is weaker. It has boosted risk aversion more broadly, so the dollar is stronger."It was interesting to me that dollar/yen dipped on the news of the announcement, potentially indicating a return of the yen’s safe-haven credentials which have been absent for much of the year."If the conflict in Ukraine escalates then that’s clearly negative for growth, but it's not clearly disinflationary. An escalation may add to supply chain strains."JUSTIN TANG, HEAD OF ASIAN RESEARCH, UNITED FIRST PARTNERS, SINGAPORE"A partial mobilization will affect the Russian economy at a time when it can least afford it, with the government being able to call on businesses and civilians to contribute to the war time effort not just financially but also physically."Given the passage of time that the 'special operation' has taken, the partial mobilization will not be taken warmly domestically. Any resulting economic downturn will lead to increased resentment. The mobilization is a sign of Putin's desperation and the effectiveness of Ukraine's recent counter offensive."While Putin's move is calculated to help him win the war, it may just hasten his demise and spark a virtuous cycle in the global economy by easing food and energy supply issues that will see inflationary pressures subside."GARY NG, SENIOR ECONOMIST, NATIXIS, HONG KONG"It creates an extra layer of uncertainty. In a world with high geopolitical tension, the Russia-Ukraine (war) is still on the radar of many investors. Recently, there are really two major things that investors will be looking at – the first is the Fed, the second is Russia-Ukraine.""If there is greater movement from Russia, then obviously we would probably see higher pressure in the market like in equities, and money will probably flow back again to safe haven (assets) such as the dollar, which will make it even stronger."DANNI HEWSON, FINANCIAL ANALYST, AJ BELL, LONDON"The potential (is) that the situation that we have witnessed in Ukraine could get worse and spiral into something that nobody wants to see. The potential that we could get into a situation where the nuclear threat is used as more than just blackmail, as more than just a deterrent is terrifying for investors."What it seems to be doing is affecting the dollar. Obviously we have a situation where investors flock to safe havens, and we've also got the anticipation that we are going to see another rate hike from the Federal Reserve today."So the dollar was already looking quite punchy and clearly just the proximity to Ukraine of countries in Europe does make people consider what the situation might look like if the war in Ukraine becomes something bigger. So it's a double-edged sword, which is impacting the euro, sterling and the dollar in different ways."CARLOS CASANOVA, SENIOR ECONOMIST ASIA, UBP, HONG KONG"Everyone has been extremely nervous about the FOMC meeting this week, and we’ve seen very defensive positions. This announcement by Putin to intensify the escalation in Ukraine definitely doesn’t help."It is fueling risk-off sentiment and adding to anxious expectations among global investors. We are seeing a flight to safe havens as a result."It’s definitely pushing the dollar up. Most of the impact is in Europe - naturally, given the proximity to the conflict - so a lot of depreciatory pressure (is) on the euro and also the pound, but also in Asia on the yen and the RMB (Chinese yuan), so across the board we are seeing the FX market react to this."I would anticipate this is not positive news for other risk classes like equities."JUSSI HILJANEN, CHIEF RATES STRATEGIST, SEB, FINLAND"The escalation of the situation in Ukraine is definitely affecting the risk appetite, and bond yields are falling this morning because of this."It definitely has an impact on the bond market, especially because we've seen an extended stretch of increasing central bank rate hike expectations. It might be time for a breather and this geopolitical tension adds to the correction potential, at least temporarily, for lower yields."MICHAEL HEWSON, CHIEF MARKETS STRATEGIST, CMC MARKETS"It’s the fact that he’s decided to dust off the nuclear card that obviously hasn’t gone down well, and the euro has really been feeling the effects of that as well. I think there is a perception that he’s really upped the ante, and how does the West respond to it?"I think he’s realised he’s in trouble and he’s doing the only thing he knows how to do, and that is up the ante and find out if the appetite is there amongst NATO leaders and EU leaders to call him and, to be honest, with the stakes being as high as they are, they’ve got no choice."Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comEditing by Jan HarveyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. | Forex Trading & Speculation |
Concerns about insurance are stopping Australians from having life-saving genetic testing.
Genetic screening can help prevent, diagnose and treat some conditions, however the life insurance industry is still allowed to ask for results when issuing some policies.
The industry’s peak body introduced a moratorium in 2019 designed to stop discrimination but a new report funded by the federal government has found it is inadequate.
Some 88% of patients with experience in genetic testing and 90% of health professionals who took part in the study said laws were needed to regulate the issue.
“Insurance fears can also act as a barrier by deterring people from having potentially life-saving genetic testing that could match them to tailored interventions and treatments,” the report said.
Companies are only allowed to ask for genetic tests if coverage exceeds $500,000 for death and total permanent disability.
It also applies to trauma and critical illness policies greater than $200,000 and monthly income protection of more than $4,000.
But the report found instances of insurance companies asking about genetic testing contrary to the moratorium and flagged concerns about how the agreement was enforced.
Genomic scientists said worries about insurance coverage stopped some people from taking part in research.
Lead author and Monash University academic Jane Tiller said the federal government needed to protect consumers from genetic discrimination.
“Our research shows, overwhelmingly, that Australian stakeholders believe current protections against genetic discrimination are inadequate,” Tiller said.
The report called for updates to the Disability Discrimination Act and suggested the Australian Human Rights Commission ensure it was enforced.
A spokesman for the Financial Services Council, the industry’s peak body, said the genetics moratorium had been reviewed, strengthened and extended indefinitely.
The agreement will now be enforced and overseen by an independent committee.
“[The committee] will also have the power to impose financial sanctions on subscribing life insurance companies that do not comply with their obligations,” he said. | Australia Business & Economics |
Malaysia To Allow Visa-Free Entry To Indian Citizens From December 1; Details Here
China and India are Malaysia's fourth and fifth-largest source markets respectively.
Malaysia will scrap entry visa requirements for citizens of India and China visiting the nation beginning Dec. 1, Bloomberg reported on Sunday.
Indian and Chinese nationals may stay for up to 30 days visa-free, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said in a speech at his People’s Justice Party’s annual congress in Putrajaya on Sunday. This would be subject to security screening, he added.
Malaysia is counting on extra tourist arrivals — and their spending — to support economic growth, the Bloomberg report said. China and India are Malaysia's fourth and fifth-largest source markets respectively.
Reuters citing Malaysian government data reported that the country recorded 9.16 million tourist arrivals between January and June this year, with 4,98,540 from China and 2,83,885 from India.
This comes days after reports emerged that Vietnam is in line to consider the possibility of introducing visa-free entry for Indian tourists.
Sri Lanka and Thailand are allowing visa-free entry for Indians. Thailand has granted visa-free entry for Indian nationals since November 10.
Last month, Sri Lankan Cabinet approved the policy to issue free tourist visas to travellers from India and six other countries. Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Ali Sabry in a statement said that this would be carried out as a pilot project effective until March 31, 2024.
Describing India's relationship with Malaysia as “very precious”, India's envoy in Kuala Lumpur has said that there is a huge potential for enhanced bilateral trade and investments to bolster their strategic ties.
“This is one relationship which is very important for the region given the proximity, diaspora connect, and the desire of both governments to realise this enhanced strategic partnership,” India’s High Commissioner to Malaysia B N Reddy said.
Talking to a group of Indian journalists who visited Malaysia as part of the ASEAN-India Media Exchange Programme 2023, Reddy said there is a huge potential for both trade and investments between the two countries.
He described the relationship with Malaysia as “very precious” for India and said the two countries just concluded 65 years of diplomatic relations last year and they are in the process of now realising the enhanced strategic partnership established during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit in 2015.
(With PTI inputs) | Asia Business & Economics |
Sri Lanka's inflation has set a new record of 69.8 per cent in September, up from 64.3 per cent a month earlier, data from the state statistics office said on Friday, highlighting the challenge for the central bank as the island reels under its worst economic crisis in seven decades. The Colombo Consumer Price Index (CCPI), a leading indicator that gauges inflation in Sri Lanka's biggest city, rose 69.8 per cent from a year ago, from 64.3 per cent in August. The contribution from the food sector was 30.82 per cent in September, the statistics department said. Based on the CCPI, the moving average inflation in September was 33.4 per cent over 28 per cent recorded in August. Most basic food items other than rice and eggs had seen increases. The government recently hiked utility services rates of water and electricity alongside the high cost of food. Import restrictions imposed in the ongoing economic crisis have caused scarcities. The worsening foreign exchange crisis in April caused the government to announce debt default. The International Monetary Fund staff-level agreement to be reached soon for a USD 2.9 billion facility is hampered by the need to restructure debt. On September 1, the IMF announced that it will provide Sri Lanka with a loan of about USD 2.9 billion over a four-year period to help the island nation overcome the unprecedented economic turmoil. Sri Lanka is facing the worst economic crisis since independence in 1948, which has led to an acute shortage of essential items like food, medicine, cooking gas and fuel across the country. The severe economic downturn, weak Sri Lanka revenues, rising health expenditure and energy needs led to a worsening of the fiscal situation. While the decline in growth partly led to shrinking revenues, Sri Lanka had to increase spending to safeguard its population from a double-pronged health and energy crisis, primary balance, revenues and expenditures. In mid-April, Sri Lanka declared its international debt default due to the forex crisis. The country owes USD 51 billion in foreign debt, of which USD 28 billion must be paid by 2027.(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) | Inflation |
Australia’s Prime Minister To Meet With Xi Jinping In Beijing
Anthony Albanese will be the first Australian leader to meet with President Xi Jinping in China in more than seven years.
(Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will be the first Australian leader to meet with President Xi Jinping in China in more than seven years on Monday, sealing a rapid recovery in diplomatic relations between the nations.
Albanese flew to Beijing on Sunday after starting his historic visit in Shanghai, where he attended the China International Import Expo and delivered a speech in which he praised the “mature relationship” between the two countries.
Sitting beside Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Shanghai, Albanese pledged to keep working with China. “It is in all of our interests to have a relationship where there is dialog,” he said.
The import expo has special significance for Albanese, as Australia is still waiting for trade restrictions to be lifted on a number of agricultural products, including wine, beef and rock lobsters. Beijing imposed punitive trade actions at a low point in relations in 2020, after then-Prime Minister Scott Morrison called for an investigation into the origins of Covid-19, infuriating the Communist Party leadership.
Albanese told reporters on Sunday that he wanted to see all the remaining curbs removed, to allow trade to flow normally again. “We want to see China be able to benefit from receiving that and we want to see Australian businesses benefit as well,” he said.
Prior to traveling to China, Albanese visited Washington, where President Joe Biden warned the Australian leader to “trust, but verify” anything Beijing told him during the trip.
Monday’s talks will be the second meeting between Albanese and Xi, after they sat down on the sidelines of the Group of 20 meetings in Indonesia in November 2022. The Australian leader is in China until Nov 7, after which he will fly to the Cook Islands for the Pacific Islands Forum.
Relations between Australia and China have improved since the election of Albanese’s center-left Labor government in May 2022. High-level ministerial meetings restarted and restrictions on imports of Australian coal, timber and barley have been lifted.
In the run-up to the prime minister’s visit, China released Australian journalist Cheng Lei who had been detained for more than three years. However another Australian, writer Yang Hengjun, is still in detention after being taken into custody in 2019. His family has asked Albanese to fight for his release amid concerns around his health.
©2023 Bloomberg L.P. | Australia Business & Economics |
Ministry committee wants to speed up the process by which women can obtain pills.
Morning-after pills are available in Japan, where they’re known as “after pills” or kinkyuhininyaku (meaning “urgent contraceptive medicine”). In practice, though, they process of obtaining them is time-consuming enough to render them all but meaningless.
Under current Japanese laws, the only way to get morning-after pills is by prescription. That means a woman needs to make, and wait for, an appointment with a doctor, then, after securing a prescription, go to the pharmacy and wait for the medicine to be made. That’s a lot of time spent waiting around for a very time-sensitive issue, and while morning-after pills are generally still effective up to 72 hours after intercourse, for women who can’t jump through all those hoops in that amount of time morning-after pills may as well not exist.
That looks like it’ll be changing soon, though. A Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare committee has concluded its review of Japan’s current morning-after pill regulations and proposed that the medicine be made commercially available without a prescription, with the ministry approving the proposal on Monday in Tokyo.
Approval of the legal revision has been a long time coming. The ministry discussed doing away with the prescription requirement in 2017, with the measure failing to pass due to concerns over misuse of the medicine. A few years later the topic came up again amongst legislators, but the wheels of government, as they so often do, seem to have turned slowly.
Under the proposal, non-prescription sales of morning-after pills could start, on a test basis, as early as this summer nationwide in Japan. However, picking up morning-after pills won’t be as easy as picking up a bottle of tea at the convenience store. In order to sell morning-after pills without a prescription, drugstores must meet certain requirements, such as having trained pharmacists on staff who’re available nights and weekends, facilities to protect purchasers’ privacy, and coordination with local OB/GYN clinics. | Women’s Health |
Adding an extra cup of unsweetened coffee each day was associated with a reduced risk of gaining weight over a four-year period, according to a study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition on Oct. 1.
The benefit, however, was canceled if a person added a teaspoon of sugar to the hot beverage.
Adding "cream or non-dairy coffee whitener" did not have an effect on weight, the published report said.
Researchers from the Department of Nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts, collected data from three prospective cohort studies: the Nurses’ Health Study (1986-2010), the Nurses’ Health Study II (1991-2015) and the Health Professional Follow-up Study (1991-2014).
The research zeroed in on the relationship between coffee consumption habits and body weight changes during four-year increments.
Participants completed questionnaires about the foods and beverages they consumed.
The researchers looked at both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee consumption and considered whether the drinks were prepared with sugar, non-sweeteners or cream, the study said.
The findings revealed that one additional cup of unsweetened coffee per day was associated with a decrease of .12 kilograms or .26 pounds over a four-year period.
Participants who increased their daily intake by one teaspoon of sugar, however, gained .09 kilograms or .20 pounds over that same period.
These associations between coffee and sugar consumption with changes in body weight were more significant among younger participants and those who were considered overweight or obese.
Nutrition experts who were not involved with the study shared their thoughts with Fox News Digital on the findings.
"Increasing intake of a warm, low- to no-calorie beverage may improve body weight, as increasing fluids, especially warm fluids, can improve the feeling of satiety, which may lead to fewer overall calories consumed throughout the day," Erin Palinski-Wade, a New Jersey-based registered dietitian, told Fox News Digital.
Adding sugar could negate the benefit of weight loss associated with coffee, as sugar can be a source of extra calories without providing a feeling of satiety, Palinski-Wade said.
However, adding certain creamers/whiteners may have benefits, she indicated.
"Milk and creamer additions can add protein/fat, which may help with satiety," she said.
"In addition, few individuals use excessive quantities of milk or creamer as they do with added sugar, due to a preference for sweets."
The study did have some potential limitations, Palinski-Wade noted.
"It is important to remember that these findings show an association and not a causation," she said.
"Individuals who add sugar to coffee may also be more likely to eat added sugar in other ways throughout the day, which can impact body weight and health."
On the other hand, those who consume unsweetened coffee may be more likely to focus on reducing added sugar in their overall diet, she added.
Kim Kulp, a registered dietitian-nutrition and owner of the Gut Health Connection in San Francisco, told Fox News Digital that the study shows an association between sweetened coffee and long-term weight gain — but that’s very different from showing that a small amount of sugar added to coffee actually causes weight gain.
"A teaspoon of sugar contains 16 calories and only 4 grams of carbohydrates," she said.
"This tiny increase in calories by itself isn’t likely to cause weight gain, but it may tell us something about those who prefer to start their day with a little sweetness."
There are other associations to explore aside from adding sugar to coffee, the expert noted, such as whether they eat more sugar each day than those who don’t, as well as any other diet and lifestyle factors.
"Most of the time, weight gain is about so much more than just one food," Kulp said.
Experts emphasized the importance of discussing any dietary concerns or weight loss efforts with a health care professional. | Nutrition Research |
- Antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which the World Health Organization refers to as the "silent pandemic," is an often overlooked and growing global health crisis.
- AMR occurs when microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites develop the ability to persist or even grow despite presence of drugs designed to kill them.
- Making matters worse, research has shown that climate change is exacerbating the AMR phenomenon in several ways.
Already recognized as one of the leading public health threats facing humanity today, it is feared that a warming world is making it harder to stop the insidious spread of drug-resistant superbugs.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which the World Health Organization has referred to as the "silent pandemic," is an often overlooked and growing global health crisis.
The United Nations health agency has previously declared AMR to be one of the top 10 global threats to human health and says an estimated 1.3 million people die every year directly due to resistant pathogens.
That figure is on track to "soar dramatically" without urgent action, the WHO says, leading to higher public health, economic and social costs and pushing more people into poverty, particularly in low-income countries.
Antimicrobials, which include life-saving antibiotics and antivirals, are medicines used to prevent and treat infections in humans and animals. Their overuse and misuse, however, is known to be the chief driver of the AMR phenomenon.
AMR occurs when microorganisms such as bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites develop the ability to persist or even grow despite the presence of drugs designed to kill them.
Making matters worse, research has shown that climate change is exacerbating the AMR crisis in several ways.
"Climate change is intrinsically important because of what's going on with our planet and the problem is that the more our temperatures rise, the more infectious diseases can transmit — and that includes AMR bacteria," Tina Joshi, associate professor of molecular microbiology at the U.K.'s University of Plymouth, told CNBC via videoconference.
"AMR bacteria is known as a silent pandemic. The reason its known as silent is that no one knows about it — and it's really sad that no one seems to care," Joshi said.
A report published by the UN Environment Program earlier this year, entitled "Bracing for Superbugs," illustrates the role of the climate crisis and other environmental factors in the development, spread and transmission of AMR.
These include higher temperatures being associated with the rate of the spread of antibiotic resistant genes between microorganisms, the emergence of AMR due to the continuing disruption of extreme weather events and increased pollution creating favorable conditions for bugs to develop resistance.
Scientists said earlier this month that an extraordinary run of global temperature records means 2023 is "virtually certain" to be the warmest year ever recorded. Extreme heat is fueled by the climate crisis, which makes extreme weather more frequent and more intense.
Robb Butler, director of the division of communicable diseases, environment and health at WHO Europe, described AMR as "an extremely pressing global health challenge."
"It's a huge health burden and it costs just the EU member states somewhere in the region of 1.5 billion euros ($1.6 billion) per annum in health costs but also in loss of productivity. So, it's a phenomenal challenge," Butler told CNBC via telephone.
Butler said he hoped the upcoming COP28 climate conference in the United Arab Emirates could provide a platform for international policymakers to start to recognize the association between the climate crisis and AMR. The UAE will host the U.N.'s annual climate summit from Nov. 30 through to Dec. 12.
"The problem is that, of course, antibiotics or antimicrobials, are not that attractive for industry to develop. They are expensive, they are high-risk — and we haven't seen over the last 20 years antimicrobial drugs developed with enough unique characteristics to avoid resistance."
"We hear people talking about this 'silent pandemic,' but it shouldn't be silent. We should be making more noise about it," Butler said.
"You would imagine the [coronavirus] pandemic could have been a wake-up call, but we still don't see enough attention to AMR."
Butler said that perhaps his biggest concern was how to incentivize industry leaders to tackle AMR at a time when they are fully aware they may be better off investing in other research and development areas — such as producing a highly profitable obesity drug, for example.
"For me, that's the one that keeps me awake at night," Butler said. "I can think about how society might change through shocks to more prudently use antibiotics so that we don't build resistance to antibiotics. But if there is absolutely nothing in the pipeline with innovative characteristics then we've kind of lost," he added. "And that really, really concerns me."
The University of Plymouth's Joshi echoed this view, describing the AMR diagnostics pipeline as "completely broken" and calling for policymakers to urgently reinvigorate this process.
"It's not profit-making," she added. "It kind of boils down to the fact that it's not economically viable to actually invest in antibiotics and their development. And that is something that is rocking the antimicrobial world."
Thomas Schinecker, chief executive of the Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche, said last month that policymakers were in danger of failing to learn the necessary lessons from the coronavirus pandemic — adding that this could have serious ramifications for the AMR health crisis.
"I don't believe that we have learned the lessons that we should have learned in the last pandemic, and I don't think we are better prepared for the next pandemic," Schinecker told CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe" on Oct. 19.
"I think it is important that we take those learnings, that we implement what we need to do to be prepared because the next pandemic will come," he continued.
"One of the concerns I have is that potentially antibiotic resistant bacteria could be that pandemic. With that, we need to focus on preparing for such situations in the future." | Disease Research |
- Reproductive technology startup Orchid is launching the first commercially available whole genome sequencing test for embryos.
- The test can identify a child's birth defects, neurodevelopmental disorders, chromosomal abnormalities and pediatric and adult-onset cancers before a pregnancy begins, Orchid said.
- It said the technology is for couples undergoing IVF, which is a type of treatment for people who are experiencing infertility or are at risk of passing on genetic problems.
Reproductive technology startup Orchid on Tuesday announced a comprehensive new genetic test that may help many prospective parents across the U.S. breathe a little easier.
The company is launching the first commercially available whole genome sequencing report for embryos, designed for couples undergoing in vitro fertilization, which is a type of treatment for people experiencing infertility or who are at risk of passing on genetic problems.
With IVF, after a woman has had around two weeks of daily hormone injections, her mature eggs are extracted and fertilized in a lab, and the viable embryos are later transferred into the uterus.
Orchid said its new test will help couples identify whether their embryos present genetic risks such as birth defects, neurodevelopmental disorders, chromosomal abnormalities, or pediatric and adult-onset cancers that were previously only detectable after birth.
"This is a major advance in the amount of information parents can have," Noor Siddiqui, Orchid's founder and CEO, told CNBC in an interview. "The way that you can use that information is really up to you, but it gives a lot more control and confidence into a process that, for all of history, has just been totally left to chance."
Orchid's technology sequences more than 99% of an embryo's genome, while existing tests typically read around .25%, the company said in a release.
IVF is a taxing process that can cost an average of more than $12,000 in the U.S., according to the Institute for Reproductive Health. Success is not guaranteed, and some people go through multiple rounds of IVF before a pregnancy develops.
Orchid's genetic test will cost couples an additional $2,500 per embryo sequenced, but it does not add any new steps or risks to the IVF process, Siddiqui said. She added that the cost of the report should come down as the company is able to scale up its operations and introduce more automation.
"We want to make this something that's accessible to everyone," Siddiqui said.
Beginning Tuesday, Orchid's technology will be available at IVF clinics in major cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami and Austin, and Siddiqui said Orchid can be made available at additional clinics at the request of patients.
Couples will receive their report back from Orchid after about three weeks, the company said, and a board-certified genetic counselor will help them understand the results.
Orchid has secured $12 million in funding from investors such as Prometheus Fund and Refactor Capital. Anne Wojcicki, the co-founder and CEO of 23andMe; Dylan Field, the co-founder and CEO of Figma; Fidji Simo, the CEO of Instacart; Brian Armstrong, the co-founder CEO of Coinbase, and others are also backers.
For many hopeful parents, the peace of mind is worth Orchid's steep price.
Roshan George, a 35-year-old engineer in San Francisco, began the IVF process with his wife, Julie, in the fall.
George said they were feeling some anxiety about having a baby at an older age, and their nerves were amplified after their IVF clinic discovered they are both carriers for nonsyndromic hearing loss, which can result in a partial or total loss of hearing.
George had heard of Orchid through some friends, he said, and the couple decided to sequence all three of their viable embryos with the company. He said getting the embryos tested was very straightforward, and when the results came back, they discovered that two out of the three embryos were healthy.
"We were super relieved right off the bat," George told CNBC in an interview. "That was very gratifying to hear."
"Just having some degree of certainty — you're going to make sure they're not sick when they're born and all that sort of stuff — it's a huge amount of anxiety that's been lifted off," George said.
George Church, a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, is an investor and an adviser at Orchid. Church developed the first direct genome sequencing method, he said, and Orchid's technology will give parents the ability to access a hundred times more information about their baby than they could attain previously.
Church said it is "perfectly logical" for parents to care about helping their children, whether it pertains to their genetic health, the quality of their food or whether they get enough sleep and exercise.
He added that people often think that genetic risks don't apply to them, or that there's nothing they can do if something is wrong. But with Orchid, Church said parents have the detailed information they need to make informed decisions.
"If you went to Las Vegas with a 97% chance of winning, you would definitely go to Las Vegas," Church told CNBC in an interview. "But it's different when you're talking about quarters as opposed to children."
Orchid's primary focus after the launch Tuesday will be on scaling up its technology and making it more accessible, Siddiqui said.
She said Orchid has spent an "enormous amount of effort" identifying the mutations that will cause severe disease during pregnancy or early childhood or result in serious chronic conditions. She wanted to ensure the company is able to provide parents with information that is "super meaningful."
"I think this has the potential to totally redefine reproduction," Siddiqui said. "I just think that's really exciting to be able to make people more confident about one of the most important decisions of their life, and to give them a little bit more control." | Medical Innovations |
Ohm my God! How a £100 session on an electric chair delivering 25,000 shocks over a 30-minute session can provide relief for women blighted by bowel incontinenceThe PelviPower chair targets the entire pelvic muscle with each electric shockTraditional squeezing exercises only provide a work out to 40% of the muscleMany woman suffer debilitating bowel problems after they have had a baby Published: 17:00 EST, 14 January 2023 | Updated: 17:00 EST, 14 January 2023 A chair that pumps out electromagnetic waves could help people whose lives are blighted by bowel incontinence.The embarrassing condition is often a result of a weakness in the pelvic-floor muscles which form a hammock supporting the pelvic organs – the bladder, uterus, cervix, vagina and rectum.While sufferers have traditionally been advised to try to improve their symptoms by repeating exercises ten times each day that squeeze and strengthen the pelvic-floor muscles, the PelviPower chair triggers up to 25,000 contractions in each 30-minute session.It also targets the entire muscle, rather than the 40 per cent activated by squeezing exercises. Grandmother Jan Swan, from Aintree in Merseyside who had started to suffer from embarrassing bowel accidents about five times a day believes the shock therapy is helping her condition Jan, pictured on the PelviPower chair triggers up to 25,000 contractions during each 30-minute sessionMaria Elliott, a private physiotherapist in London, has used the PelviPower chair with more than 50 clients, mainly women struggling with bowel-control problem after having a baby.About one in 20 first-time mothers suffer injuries while giving birth that damage their pelvic-floor muscles and the back passage, leaving them at high risk of becoming incontinent, according to The Masic Foundation, a charity for women who have been affected.These injuries can have a devastating impact on quality of life, affecting their health, intimate moments, family relationships and employment.Using the PelviPower alongside other pelvic-floor exercises and diet changes can help women recover and avoid surgery, says Ms Elliott. ‘Women travel for hours to access the chair. I’ve been using it for bowel incontinence since before the pandemic and more and more mums are coming to the clinic with this problem.‘Combining the PelviPower training with other exercises at home gives excellent results.’Ms Elliott recommends two 20-minute sessions a week on the PelviPower over ten weeks.Jordan Haworth, a gastrointestinal physiologist from the Functional Gut Clinic in Manchester, is setting up a pilot study to look at the impact in this area. He points out that the chairs, which use high-intensity focused electromagnetic technology, are normally used for urinary incontinence but ‘it makes sense’ they can help with bowel problems as a weak pelvic floor is often a key contributor.Mr Haworth says: ‘People often think the pelvic floor is associated with leakage from the bladder, but it also controls all the muscles in your back passage. The chair is popular with patients as it is non-invasive, pain-free and doesn’t even require getting undressed.’Currently treatment is only available privately, with sessions starting at about £100 each. One of those who has benefited is Jan Swan, a grandmother from Aintree in Merseyside who had started to suffer from embarrassing bowel accidents about five times a day.The retired 69-year-old had to carry spare underwear and wipes at all times, and often had to dash home to shower and change.Jan’s story is told on Tuesday in a Channel 4 documentary on digestive health called Know Your S**t: Inside Our Guts, which aims to reveal what is and what isn’t normal about the bowels.Jan, who bravely reveals her struggles with this little-talked-about form of incontinence, says: ‘I felt unclean all the time. It brings you down.’Tests carried out during filming revealed that the muscles supporting her bowel area were weak. But after a session on the PelviPower chair alongside pelvic-floor exercises and tweaks to her diet, she has suffered only one accident in the past few months.She says: ‘After using the chair I understood how to do my pelvic-floor exercises properly. I felt stronger straight away. Now I do my exercises every day, starting before I have even got out of bed.’In 2018, The Mail on Sunday was the first to report on the technology when a similar chair, the Emsella, was launched to treat urinary incontinence.Dr Shirin Lakhani, an expert in women’s health at Elite Aesthetics which offers the Emsella to patients, said it seemed plausible it could also benefit bowel incontinence. ‘It is linked to pelvic-floor weakness, so it is not a surprise this kind of treatment could help improve symptoms,’ she said.A study of 50 women with bowel incontinence in Egypt found that employing the same technology the chair uses and pelvic-floor exercises gave better results than exercises alone, and a study in the US also suggested it gave women temporary improvements in their symptoms.For Ms Swan, the changes have been transformational and she says she no longer needs to worry about mishaps.‘I can’t describe how amazing the change is,’ she says.‘Now I know I don’t have to start having bowel issues just because I am getting older, it is joyous.’ Know Your S**t: Inside Our Guts is on Channel 4 at 8pm on Tuesday. Advertisement | Women’s Health |
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This story was originally published by The 19th on Sept. 7, 2023.
Pregnant people exposed to extreme heat are at higher risk of developing life-threatening complications during labor and delivery, according to new research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association on Thursday. The research adds to a growing body of evidence showing the impact extreme heat has on a pregnancy, while also making a distinction between long-term exposure and events like heat waves.
“I think this [distinction] is really important,” said Ashley Ward, director of the Heat Policy Innovation Hub at Duke University who was not involved in the study. “Most of the research around pregnant women has centered on acute events like a heat wave … but honestly, what we are all experiencing this summer is an excellent example of really what I would consider chronic heat exposure.”
READ MORE: How extreme heat can hinder effectiveness of pregnancy tests, some contraception
The researchers used data provided by Kaiser Permanente Southern California, a health care network, to identify over 400,000 pregnancies in the region that took place between 2007 and 2018. They then looked at temperature data from that same time period and used the daily maximum temperature to figure out how many days of heat — characterized as moderate, high or extreme — pregnant people were exposed to throughout their pregnancy, breaking it down by trimester.
The study found significant associations between both short- and long-term exposure (usually defined as 30 days of more) of environmental heat during a pregnancy and severe maternal morbidity. Severe maternal morbidity is a term used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to define 21 unexpected outcomes during labor or delivery that are considered near misses for maternal mortality. This could include cardiac arrest, eclampsia, heart failure, sepsis and ventilation. (The primary findings excluded whether a blood transfusion occurred during delivery, usually an indicator of severe maternal morbidity, because the data wasn’t detailed enough.)
Researchers found that a high exposure to extreme heat through the duration of the pregnancy or in the third trimester was associated with a 27 percent increase in these risks. Exposure to a heat wave during the last gestational week was also associated with an increased risk of life-threatening delivery complications.
Globally, this summer was the hottest on record. Phoenix broke a record when the temperature topped 110 degrees 31 days in a row. Dozens of other cities including in Texas, Louisiana and California have experienced their own record-breaking temperature streaks.
READ MORE: U.S. maternal deaths more than doubled over 20 years. Here’s who fared the worst
While the study did not find significant demographic differences when breaking down the data by race and ethnicity, it did find that people with lower education levels had higher heat-related risk of severe maternal morbidity, said Anqi Jiao, an author of the study. This finding points to possible mitigation strategies that doctors, nurses and others in public health could take.
“They may pay more attention to these mothers with lower education levels as a targeted intervention,” she said. “Those mothers with lower educational attainment may have very limited knowledge to understand extreme heat as an environmental hazard, and they may not understand why the extreme heat could affect their pregnancy outcome.”
Importantly, the study also found associations between heat exposure and cardiovascular events during labor and pregnancy. Cardiovascular conditions are now a leading cause of pregnancy-related deaths in the United States, a crisis that has only gotten worse in recent years despite medical advances.
Ward applauded the decision to focus on severe maternal morbidity in the study. Other studies have looked at the impact of heat on birth outcomes or maternal health issues like gestational diabetes.
“This is really important because severe maternal morbidity is basically very nearly maternal mortality,” Ward said. “It is the most extreme of health outcomes for pregnant women. And so it’s very serious.”
She points out that it would also be useful if a study like this looked at overnight temperatures, which could further pinpoint what other underlying factors may contribute to heat exposure, she said. “Overnight temperatures indicate maybe a lack of access to cooling at night, where your body doesn’t have the time to recover,” she said, as an example.
Further research could also highlight what kind of exposure people face during the day, related to different socio-economic factors like the type of job a pregnant person has, Ward said.
“A lot of times when we think about occupational exposures we tend to think about men, but that’s just not true. Women work in high-exposure jobs too. They work in the food industry in kitchens that have high heat, a lot of them may be caregivers in an environment in which there is not adequate cooling. A lot of women work in manufacturing, where indoor heat exposure is a thing,” she said. “So it’s about thinking through the underlying factors that are contributing to this.”
READ MORE: New workplace accommodations for pregnant people are now in effect. Here’s what they cover
Jiao said she and others from her research team plan to look at other temperature metrics in future studies, as well as different climate factors like wildfire smoke.
Ward finds this study to be a significant contribution to our understanding of heat and says it has important implications for emergency planners who can use this research to better understand the dangers of exposure to chronic heat.
“These kinds of studies help inform those kinds of planning and preparedness activities so that they are targeted and that they have the most impact,” she said. “Anytime we get research that helps us understand … the nuances of heat exposure, it helps us protect people better, and that information gets incorporated into the planning and preparedness infrastructure — at least that’s the hope, right?”
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Aug 05 | Women’s Health |
Image source, ALISON MCMATH PHOTOGRAPHYImage caption, Ms McMath said she wanted the images to give the women "an uplifting feeling"A photographer and a make-up artist have launched a project to help women recovering from breast cancer "feel beautiful".Alison McMath and Anya Pogodzinska have offered free makeover and photography sessions to 40 women who have undergone a single or double mastectomies.The pair said they wanted to help the women "feel empowered"."What was important to a lot of them was to show that cancer doesn't define them," Ms Pogodzinska said.She said it was "beautiful to see these women, who've been through so much... open up to us" and tell their stories and "how they are triumphant".Image source, ALISON MCMATH PHOTOGRAPHYImage caption, Ms Pogodzinska said it was an advert for a cancer charity that inspired the projectMs Pogodzinska, whose grandmother died from cancer and whose mother was recently diagnosed with the disease, said she wanted use all her skills as a professional make-up artist, body painter and stylist to capture each women's story.She said the "subject of cancer has been close to my heart and quite prominent in my family", but it was after seeing an advert for the Macmillan Cancer Support charity, in which a woman shows a tattoo where she had a mastectomy, that "the lightbulb switched on".The Manchester-based artist teamed up with Chorley photographer Alison McMath in February 2022 to start the MastectoME Beauty Project.Ms McMath said they did struggle to get the first woman to model for them, but once they shared that photo, they were "inundated" with women wanting to take part.Each woman who takes part has been given a bespoke makeover and a photography session, with some of those involved travelling from all over the UK to take part.Both Ms Pogodzinska and Ms McMath donate their time and skills for free but have been fundraising to help to cover the cost of props, paints and studio time.Image source, ALISON MCMATH PHOTOGRAPHYImage caption, Ms Sharp said the photoshoot felt like "a massive celebration"Bev Sharp, from Wirral, who is recovering from breast and lymph cancer, said taking part in a photoshoot was a "celebration" she had "got through this".She was diagnosed in October 2021 and had a mastectomy and reconstruction."It's such a big life-changing thing for a women, especially [because] you lose part of you, and it's great to put it out there that it is OK," she said.She said to go from a place where "everything is clinical, very clean, not much colour or anything like that" to the photoshoot felt like "a massive celebration and an expression more than anything [that] I've got through this"."The colours; for me, it's more like fighting colours, you know," she added.Image source, ALISON MCMATH PHOTOGRAPHYImage caption, Ms Pogodzinska and Ms McMath intend to exhibit the photos, along with each woman's storyMs McMath said it was a "dream" project due to the variety of the different colour schemes and styles the women had each chosen, but more than anything, it was also a joy to see them revelling in the experience. "We wanted these women to feel beautiful and we wanted them to feel empowered by the images," she said.The pair said they were now planning to exhibit the photographs, along with each woman's story, and feature them in a charity calendar.Ms McMath said while those plans were important, what mattered most was what the women themselves got out of the experience."Every time I photograph a woman, I want it to be a strong image," she said."Hopefully, they will look at the image and it will give them an uplifting feeling and they will feel strong and like they can keep going.Why not follow BBC North West on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? You can also send story ideas to [email protected] photos subject to copyright.The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.Metropolitan Borough of WirralPhotographyChorleyManchesterBreast cancerMastectomy | Women’s Health |
It's already a cult favourite and it's hoped these Dragon eggs will be worth their weight in gold.
Lush has turned its best-selling bath bomb gold to raise money in honour of their co-founder's grandson, Dexter Constantine-Tatchell, who they call 'their master of dragons.'
The seven-year-old died in July last year after being diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS), a rare type of soft tissue cancer.
Now his family aim to raise £500,000 in his memory to put towards developing better and kinder treatments for childhood cancers.
It turned gold – the colour synonymous with fighting against childhood cancer to mark International Childhood Cancer Awareness Day this month.
All proceeds will go towards Dexter's Arc, a fundraising platform raising funds for non-animal testing research into the disease.
It was created with the support of the cancer charity Alice's Arc, which supported Dexter and his parents, Jack and Rachel Constantine, 38.
'He loved dragons and created a whole fantasy world full of them,' said Mrs Constantine, a freelance writer.
'When he was in Southampton Hospital and just about to start chemo, I bought him a dragon that was called Dexter', said Mrs Constantine, a freelance writer.
'He decided we couldn't have two Dexter's so renamed him Crackle. Crackle was with him to the end, through every treatment and hardship he went through.'
In December 2019 the couple, from Poole, Dorset, noticed what they thought was a polyp in one of his nostrils.
Within days it had grown, causing a severe nosebleed which hospital doctors initially dismissed as most likely caused by putting lego up his nose.
Scans later revealed it was a large cancerous tumour, with chemotherapy started the next day.
Doctors said the position of the tumour meant it was inoperable, putting their hopes into chemotherapy and proton beam therapy, which they hoped would shrink the tumour.
He underwent 33 days of intense proton radiation therapy, numerous biopsies', lumber punctures and blood transfusions before six months of maintenance chemotherapy, giving the family 15 months of hope that the tumour had been killed off.
In March they were told the cancer had returned and in May they stopped treatment, with Dexter battling on until July 27.
One of seven, Dexter's parents are now desperate to help find better treatments and work towards a cure for the type of cancer, which has only an eight percent survival after relapse.
'Because it was such an aggressive cancer, he had the highest doses of treatment with terrible side effects,' said Mr Constantine.
'He had so much radiation that it hurt his eyes to look at the Christmas tree lights and he had to wear sunglasses outside.
'As parents your job is to protect your children but you know the treatment is hurting and damaging them. You just hope it is damaging the cancer more than them.
'Treatments like chemotherapy haven't really changed since the 1970s and the side effects are terrible.
'He was so stoic and never complained and we asked him to do awful things with these treatments.
'But even in the hardest of times, he was still funny. There wasn't a moment until the last few days or weeks that he didn't relish every moment of life.'
The limited edition bath bomb will be sold online and in stores worldwide.
Alice's Arc works with Cancer Research UK, who the Daily Mail teamed up with to launch the Fighting to Beat Children's Cancer campaign and this year's Race for Life.
We are asking generous readers to dig deep and help turn the tide on cancer, which remains the leading cause of death by disease in youngsters.
All money raised will support Cancer Research UK's work on cancers affecting children and young people, so that more 0-24-year-olds can survive cancer with a good quality of life. | Disease Research |
A GP who was suspended after asking a Muslim woman to remove her veil has been allowed to return to work amid NHS staff shortages.
Dr Keith Wolverson, who was working as a locum at a walk-in centre at Royal Stoke University Hospital, asked a patient to take off her niqab three times as he could not hear her describing her daughter’s symptoms.
He was suspended for nine months after being found guilty of or admitting a total of 17 charges of misconduct relating to incidents between January and May 2018 while working as a locum at urgent care centres in Derby and Stoke.
Although he recently told a review hearing he “deeply regretted” the episode and had learned from his mistakes, the Medical Practitioner Tribunal Service (MPTS) decided to follow his suspension with sanctions for a further year after ruling he had not shown sufficient “insight” into his actions nor taken a course in “cultural diversity”.
The GP will now be assigned a “responsible officer” and a “workplace reporter” to monitor him, and was told he must “design a personal development plan to address... equality, diversity and inclusion with particular reference to cultural diversity”.
Dr Wolverson told the tribunal “it would be completely wrong to maintain the suspension and prohibit a doctor further from doing his duty to his patients when there are such grave shortages within the NHS currently”.
‘No repetition of misconduct’
He told the review hearing that in the years he continued practising before his suspension he had not asked any other patients to remove their veil and there had been no “repetition of his misconduct”.
Dr Wolverson had asked a Muslim woman, named as Mrs Q, to take off her niqab three times during a consultation on May 13 2018, saying he could not hear her describing her daughter’s symptoms.
She refused his initial request, saying she did not want to for religious reasons, but he then repeated it.
Her husband complained and the woman told last year’s hearing she felt “victimised and racially discriminated” against during the consultation.
The incident provoked outrage among nurses and doctors online, with a petition calling for the General Medical Council (GMC) to “treat this man fairly and look at all the evidence” gaining more than 20,000 signatures in little over a day.
The GMC, which brought the case against Dr Wolverson to the MPTS, does not have any specific guidelines on how to examine women wearing full-face veils.
Conditions on registration for further 12 months
In its new ruling, the tribunal stated: “He accepted the gravity and the findings of the Tribunal but did not accept that he was dishonest.
“The Tribunal was surprised that Dr Wolverson had not focussed any of his remediation by undertaking any courses on cultural diversity.
“He accepted the previous Tribunal’s findings were justified but qualified this by stating that he did not accept that it was his intention to be dishonest.
“The Tribunal noted that Dr Wolverson explained he has undertaken a course on insight and described how he has changed his practice in relation to patients who wear a face veil.
“However, when questioned, Dr Wolverson was unable to articulate how he has put his learning into practise.”
The tribunal ruled that Dr Wolverson had not “provided evidence of his increased insight into his actions to a sufficient level” and so his “fitness to practise remains impaired by reason of his misconduct”.
The tribunal decided not to extend his suspension but imposed conditions on his registration for a further 12 months. | Health Policy |
The mystery behind the deaths of thousands of crabs and lobsters along England’s north-east coast has developed a further twist, with experts saying it could be down to a new disease.The die-offs, which began in autumn 2021 and recurred at various points in 2022, affected at least 70km (43 miles) of the coastline, with some of the crustaceans showing an unusual twitching while dying.An initial government investigation, published in May 2021, said the phenomenon could have been caused by a naturally occurring harmful algal bloom. However, research commissioned by the North East Fishing Collective (NEFC) and carried out by researchers at the universities of York, Newcastle and Durham and Hull suggested pyridine, a common industrial chemical, was a more probable cause.Now a report by an independent panel of experts, convened by the chief scientific adviser to the Department for the Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs, has said that while it was not possible “to identify a clear and convincing single cause for the unusual crustacean mortality” it was unlikely algal blooms were to blame, as they were unlikely to explain the twitching or deaths during winter months.The team also add it is very unlikely that the die-offs are a result of a pyridine or another toxic pollutant.Crispin Halsall, a professor of environmental organic chemistry at Lancaster University and an author of the report, said the team scrutinised the findings from Newcastle University and other sources carefully – although it did not collect or analyse new samples.“The finding of the panel and my group was that we just could not find evidence for high levels of pyridine in the coastal seawater at levels, which are going to cause acute toxicity to crabs,” he said.The report noted that a prolonged, substantial release of a toxic chemical would be necessary to result in the observed die-offs, which Halsall said was not the case, adding that the paper put “the pyridine story to bed”.Another suggested cause, capital dredging on the Tees, was deemed exceptionally unlikely to be the reason for the die-offs.However, the report suggested another possibility: the deaths could be down to a novel pathogen, a cause deemed “about as likely as not” – however they stress there is a lack of direct evidence of such a pathogen.The report added it was possible that several of the stressors considered could have operated together to lead the die-off, a point reiterated by Dr Tammy Horton, a research scientist at the National Oceanography Centre and co-author.“For example if there was a harmful algal bloom, that could have given greater stress to the environment generally, there could have been slightly lower oxygen as a result of that, and that could have triggered the mass mortality as they are less able to cope with viral load, for example, of this potential new pathogen,” she said.The report was met with criticism by academics from the universities of York, Newcastle and Durham.“Given that the weight of evidence indicates an industrial source for the die-offs, it is disappointing to see that the independent expert panel have reached the conclusion that the die-offs were probably caused by an unknown pathogen, despite there being no direct evidence for this. The academic team will continue to undertake research into these events,” they said in a statement.Joe Redfern, the secretary of Whitby Commercial Fishing Association, said he and the NEFC were surprised and disappointed at the conclusions of the report.“Cefas [Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science] had previously screened [for] many diseases both native and international. There is only one known pathogen know to jump from species to species and that was tested for,” he said. | Disease Research |
Cats are notoriously fond of milk and mice, but giving them a vegan diet may have health benefits - at least according to their owners.
Researchers surveyed more than 1,300 cat owners, almost 10 per cent of whom fed their animals vegan pet food.
Cats on vegan food were less likely to require medication, according to answers from their owners, and less likely to be unwell, to end up on a medicated diet for health problems, or to visit the vet more than once a year.
However it cannot be certain that these individual results are accurate, as there were only 127 vegan cats in the study, making it hard to be sure the health benefits were not due to chance.
When researchers looked at 22 health conditions, 15 of these were seen less commonly among the cats eating vegan food, including gastrointestinal problems like diarrhoea and vomiting, hormonal disorders like diabetes, skin problems and respiratory tract issues.
But the results were again uncertain, because of the small number of vegan cats, and the British Veterinary Association currently does not recommend a vegan diet for cats, as they require an adequate amount of essential nutrients, such as taurine and a type of vitamin A, which occur in animal products but they say are minimal or missing in plant foods.
Also the study found a significantly greater risk of kidney disease in vegan cats compared to meat-eaters, although this was based on only four cats given a vegan diet.
Professor Andrew Knight, who led the study from the University of Winchester, said: 'These results suggest vegan food has exciting potential to improve feline health, whist offering very large environmental benefits.
'However, to safeguard the health of our feline friends, it is important that pet owners feed cats only commercial vegan pet foods labelled as nutritionally complete, produced by reputable companies with good standards.'
The study looked at seven health benefits potentially linked to the diet of cats, which owners were asked about.
This is the next best approach after giving the cats thorough veterinary examinations, which is time-consuming and expensive, and has not been done in very large scientific studies.
Owners of cats on a vegan diet were 23 per cent less likely to say their pet was severely ill, although they were only eight per cent less likely to say a vet had diagnosed their cat with severe illness.
Owners of vegan cats were 15 per cent less likely to report their pet was on medication other than routine vaccinations or flea and parasite treatments, compared to cats on meat diets.
They were seven per cent less likely to say their cat had visited the vet twice or more in the past year, which can be a sign of illness.
Owners of cats on vegan diets also reported their pets having almost 16 per cent fewer health disorders in the previous year, out of the list of 22.
Owners of vegan cats were slightly less likely to say their cat's vet would consider it to have been unwell in the past year, and 55 per cent less likely to say their cat had ended up on a therapeutic diet - which can sometimes be prescribed for health issues like skin conditions.
However this last result may be partially due to owners of cats on vegan diets refusing these therapeutic diets because they contain animal products.
Because of the small number of vegan cats, there were no individual health disorders or benefits which could be linked to diet with 'statistical significance' - using the gold-standard analysis which scientists require in their studies.
However the authors say when all the seven health measures are taken together, using one type of statical analysis, and taking into account cats' age, sex and whether they were neutered, they are confident they have found a link.
There was a suggestion that vegan cats were less likely to be overweight than meat-eaters, and perhaps as a result less likely to have musculoskeletal problems.
Behavioural problems appeared more common in cats with a vegan diet, but the researchers note that these behavioural issues are more common on cats mainly kept indoors - and cats on a vegan diet are more likely to be indoor pets, the survey showed.
Responding to the results, published in the journal PLOS One, Justine Shotton, senior vice-president of the British Veterinary Association, said: 'There is increasing interest amongst pet owners around alternative diets for pets and whilst there is a lot of ongoing research into the impacts of vegan diets in particular, there has been a lack of robust data mapping the health consequences of this diet over time. '
The BVA, which has a working group looking at pet diets, said owners should speak to their vet if they are considering changing their pet's diet. | Nutrition Research |
Delores Lowery remembers vividly the day in 2016 when she was working in a weaving plant near her home in Bennettsville, South Carolina, and the world around her seemed to go dim.
She turned to her co-workers. “And I asked, I said, ‘Why y’all got it so dark in here? They said, ‘Delores, it’s not dark in here.’ I said, ‘Yes, it is. It’s so dark in here.'”
She landed in the hospital. Her A1C level, which shows the average percentage of sugar in someone’s blood over the past few months, was 14%.
A reading of 6.5% or higher indicates diabetes.
Lowery’s home in Marlboro County is at the heart of what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls the “Diabetes Belt” — 644 mostly Southern counties where rates of the disease are high.
And of those counties, NPR found that more than half have high levels of medical debt. That means at least 1 in 5 people have medical debt in collections.
That’s much higher than the national rate, which is 13%, according to the Urban Institute, a social-policy nonprofit. In Marlboro County, 37% of people have medical debt in collections.
NPR measured the overlap of Diabetes Belt counties and high medical debt counties by merging the institute’s medical debt database with the CDC’s list of Diabetes Belt counties.
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Urban Institute economist Breno Braga said medical debt, like diabetes, is concentrated in the South.
“The single most important predictor of a county’s medical debt is the prevalence of chronic conditions. So it’s basically the share of the population that has disease, such as diabetes, hypertension, and other types,” he said.
That finding is from an analysis conducted by the Urban Institute for KFF Health News and NPR as part of an investigation into medical debt published last year. The investigation found, among other things, that 100 million people in the U.S. have some kind of health care debt, a burden that can be devastating for people with chronic illnesses such as diabetes and cancer.
Lowery has been dealing with both the medical and financial challenges of Type 2 diabetes, and much more. The years since her diagnosis have been extremely difficult, with one life-changing event having overwhelming health and financial consequences.
In 2017, she came home one day to find her daughter, Ella Shantrica, on the floor, stabbed to death. The body of her granddaughter, 8-year-old Iyana, was found 12 days later in a nearby creek. In February, a man was found guilty of the killings and sentenced to life in prison.
In an interview in the front room of that tidy single-family home in Bennettsville, Lowery said it took time before she could bring herself to return to the house.
“Every day, 24 hours a day, that incident is in my head,” she said. “It will never, ever go away.”
She credits her church’s pastor with helping her go back to the house, which she shares with grandson Tyreon, a teenager on the autism spectrum. With her daughter gone, Lowery said, she is Tyreon’s sole caregiver.
Paying for diabetes care along with bills for food and housing has been a constant financial strain that eventually put her in debt.
“The cost of living was so extremely high in trying to raise my grandson that I just got behind,” she said.
Many Americans are facing similar hardships. In addition to NPR’s findings, research from the American Diabetes Association said people with the disease have more than twice the medical expenses annually as those without the disease.
“Because diabetes is a chronic illness, there are always six-month appointments,” said Donna Dees, who lives in Georgia and was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 2008. “Every six months, go to the doctor, you’ve got lab work. So that’s how the costs keep building up and building up.”
Dees built up thousands of dollars in medical debt and got help from RIP Medical Debt, a nonprofit group that says it has wiped out more than $8 billion in medical debt.
Lowery will tell you that she gets high-quality and compassionate health care from a local provider. But the financial challenge of living with diabetes has put her health into decline.
A drug that once helped her, Ozempic, is now too costly for her. She said the medicine had been helping bring her diabetes under control. She was getting it delivered to her home, but she didn’t meet her copays, and the bills piled up as unpaid debt. Soon, the deliveries stopped and Lowery tried to renew the prescription at the local pharmacy.
“I went to get it and the woman told me, ‘I don’t think you’re going to be able to afford this.’ I said, ‘Why not?’ She said, ‘Because it’s seven hundred and some dollars.'”
Worse, as the drug’s profile skyrocketed in recent months as a treatment for weight loss among celebrities, demand increased and a shortage developed.
Lowery said this year that she hadn’t been able to get Ozempic for several months and that her diabetes was getting worse. Her insurance company has been of no help.
“Nobody is willing to work with me with Ozempic. I don’t know what to do,” Lowery said. “They won’t send me the medicine.”
She and her provider even talked about getting physician samples, but given Ozempic’s growing popularity, that didn’t work.
A Changing Economy
In Lowery’s hometown, others are struggling too.
More than 1 in 3 residents of the surrounding county have medical debt in collections, and 1 in 3 live in poverty.
It wasn’t always this way, locals told NPR. The area once hummed with manufacturing companies, restaurants, and other amenities. There were plenty of good jobs to go around.
But one by one, employers moved out. Today, downtown Bennettsville is pretty quiet. South Carolina as a whole has nearly 100,000 fewer manufacturing jobs than it did in 2000.
“Bennettsville used to be a more thriving community years ago,” said Lowery’s health care provider, nurse practitioner Pat Weaver. “With a lot of our plants leaving for, you know, overseas in the last 15-20 years really made a devastating impact. We used to have a hospital here and now we no longer have that. It is very poor.”
Weaver works for CareSouth, a nonprofit health center that has a federal government designation as a safety-net provider.
As she walks the halls of the clinic, checking on colleagues and patients, she says that of the 3,300 appointments she takes every year, more than 90% of the people she treats have Type 2 diabetes.
She and others point to Bennettsville’s changing economic fortune as a source of health problems in the community. Half the households in the city have an income of less than $32,000. Lower-income residents often can’t or don’t choose the kinds of healthy meals that would help them control their diabetes, she said.
“The fast foods don’t help at all, and a lot of people just eat it every day, and that’s a problem. It truly is,” Weaver said. “But we have programs to help them. We even have a program where we take patients to the grocery store and we teach them what to buy.”
CareSouth takes other steps, too, to fight the effects of poverty and disease in Bennettsville. The center has a sliding-fee scale based on ability to pay and an in-house pharmacy that uses a federal program to keep drug prices down.
For Lowery, having a medical provider like Weaver has been a lifeline. “She’s seen me through so much,” Lowery said. “She tried different medicines to get my diabetes intact.”
Finding Weaver came at a time when her family’s murders threw her into depression, her finances spiraled out of control, and her diabetes worsened. Weaver, she said, helped get her into counseling.
“When she found out what had happened, I honestly believe in my heart that she cried just like I cried,” Lowery said. “She did so much for me.”
South Carolina’s Choice on Medicaid
While there is no easy solution for Lowery, who is over 65 and enrolled in Medicare, the Urban Institute and others say a simple policy change could prevent others from getting to such a difficult stage in their disease and finances: Expand Medicaid.
“Seventy-nine out of the 100 counties with the highest levels of medical debt are in states that have not expanded Medicaid under the ACA,” the Urban Institute’s Braga said, referring to the Affordable Care Act.
Also known as Obamacare, the ACA offered states the option to expand their health insurance programs for the poor.
South Carolina is one of 10 states that have declined to do so, and where NPR identified more than two dozen counties that fall within the Diabetes Belt and have high rates of medical debt. There’s evidence from other states that people became healthier and owed less money to medical providers after Medicaid expansion.
A Boston University researcher looked at health centers just like CareSouth — more than 900 of them serving nearly 20 million patients.
The centers in states that did expand Medicaid reported better diabetes control than those in states that didn’t expand the program, and the effect was quick — within three years of the expansion.
Those improvements happened consistently among Black and Hispanic patients, who have higher rates of diabetes.
A study in Louisiana found that people who gained Medicaid coverage after an expansion there had reduced medical debt.
Lowery said that going forward she will continue to rely on her faith and her church community to help her through the tough times.
Still, she worries about the possible worsening of her diabetes and the financial stress of daily life.
“I wish things would get better,” she said. “I think I would sleep a little better, because sometimes it’s kind of hard for me to try to keep some food on the table.”
This article is from a partnership with NPR, where it was edited by Robert Little and Kamala Kelkar and produced by Meg Anderson; the photos were edited by Virginia Lozano.
About This Project
“Diagnosis: Debt” is a reporting partnership between KFF Health News and NPR exploring the scale, impact, and causes of medical debt in America.
The series draws on original polling by KFF, court records, federal data on hospital finances, contracts obtained through public records requests, data on international health systems, and a yearlong investigation into the financial assistance and collection policies of more than 500 hospitals across the country.
Additional research was conducted by the Urban Institute, which analyzed credit bureau and other demographic data on poverty, race, and health status for KFF Health News to explore where medical debt is concentrated in the U.S. and what factors are associated with high debt levels.
The JPMorgan Chase Institute analyzed records from a sampling of Chase credit card holders to look at how customers’ balances may be affected by major medical expenses. And the CED Project, a Denver nonprofit, worked with KFF Health News on a survey of its clients to explore links between medical debt and housing instability.
KFF Health News journalists worked with KFF public opinion researchers to design and analyze the “KFF Health Care Debt Survey.” The survey was conducted Feb. 25 through March 20, 2022, online and via telephone, in English and Spanish, among a nationally representative sample of 2,375 U.S. adults, including 1,292 adults with current health care debt and 382 adults who had health care debt in the past five years. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points for the full sample and 3 percentage points for those with current debt. For results based on subgroups, the margin of sampling error may be higher.
Reporters from KFF Health News and NPR also conducted hundreds of interviews with patients across the country; spoke with physicians, health industry leaders, consumer advocates, debt lawyers, and researchers; and reviewed scores of studies and surveys about medical debt. | Disease Research |
By Shilpi Khetarpal, MD, as told to Sarah Ludwig Rausch
The path to getting a diagnosis of atopic dermatitis (AD) can be long. Many times, people have tried over-the-counter treatments, home remedies, or products that are marketed for eczema that may or may not help.
It can sometimes be a long journey, with trying a lot of things that don't necessarily improve or relieve symptoms because the condition isn’t being treated properly. For example, I’ve heard people say they’ve read about the benefits of using something like apple cider vinegar on their skin. Even though it's natural, apple cider vinegar can actually make the skin worse and make it more uncomfortable by causing irritation called irritant dermatitis.
Atopic dermatitis is a subset of eczema. We see it many times in people who have a personal or family history of eczema, seasonal allergies, or hay fever. Eczema is a broader term, but for the most part, the two terms are often used to mean the same thing.
Challenges and Changes
When you’re newly diagnosed with AD, there may be several challenges.
The first -- and we see this all the time with our patients -- is that you have to change everything you do in terms of caring for your skin. You may enjoy products that have fragrance, but you will have to switch them all to ones that are fragrance-free. This can be a real change for people, and often for everyone in the household too, since they're going to have to change the soaps and moisturizers the family uses.
Another frustrating thing about AD is that sometimes, it’s really itchy and uncomfortable, but your skin looks normal. In dermatology, we sometimes call eczema “the itch that scratches.” It looks normal, but then it starts itching, so you scratch it, and then you get the rash or the typical appearance of eczema. Kids, especially, sometimes feel that their parents don't believe them because the skin can look normal. Yet they get these sensations of itching and discomfort that may not show up as classic eczema for days to weeks after they get that sensation.
Continued
You’ll have changes to make after your diagnosis, too. Depending on how severe the eczema is, we give most of our patients prescriptions -- medications to either put on your skin or take by mouth -- to help calm down the inflammation.
But a big part of treatment involves changing your entire skin care routine. For example: Using specific moisturizers multiple times a day with ingredients like ceramide and hyaluronic acid. These ingredients trap water in the skin and repair that barrier.
You’ll need to use fragrance-free, gentle soaps and change your laundry detergents, fabric softeners, and fabric sheets to free and clear products. Everything that touches your skin will need to be changed to a simple, allergen-free product. For people with severe eczema, we recommend sticking with simple 100% cotton clothing because some of the polyester blends can actually irritate the skin.
You definitely have to be dedicated to stick with your treatment. You need to use your moisturizer after you shower and then use your prescription medications on the areas of eczema. All the changes can be a big challenge for some people or, at the very least, quite different from what you're used to doing.
Misconceptions
There are a couple of mistaken beliefs when it comes to atopic dermatitis. The first is that it’s contagious. Kids at school might tease kids with eczema or say, "They have that rash; it's contagious." A married couple will say, "He has eczema. I don't want to get it from him, so we sleep in separate beds." We know that's not the case. It's just a defect in the skin barrier that makes it less able to trap water.
The other misconception is that people with eczema don't have good hygiene -- they're not clean enough, or their skin is dirty -- which is also not true. It doesn't come up often, but we definitely do hear those two.
Education and Support
I think it's important for people with AD to have a support group. There are some online resources for that. Education about the condition itself is crucial, too. I find that visual aids can help explain what it is and how it works.
It’s really important to teach people how to care for their skin to prevent flare-ups. Once it's flared, we give them prescriptions, but what can they do to keep their skin healthy and prevent those flare-ups from happening? They need to be educated about the clothing they wear and the products they use, things that may not be as obvious as we think.
Continued
You Have Options
Trying all these new things can be very frustrating, so seek care from your dermatologist if you're not sure what's going on with your skin or your routine isn't working. There are so many other conditions that can look like eczema that may or may not actually be eczema. Plus, there are a lot of new medications that are fantastic and can greatly improve your quality of life.
And don't discount how much good skin care can actually help. Just following simple recommendations can go a long way in preventing flare-ups in the future. | Disease Research |
The power of plants and how they are changing the way we eat and live
Plant-based eating and veganism have been around for decades, but more people are choosing plant-based diets than ever before. Plant-based eating means eating more fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains and beans while eating less or no meat, dairy or animal products. A UNM business school researcher has studied the reasons behind this trend.
Lama Lteif, an assistant professor of marketing at the UNM Anderson School of Management, in her 2023 article, "Plant Power: SEEDing our Future with Plant-based Eating," shared a new way to look at why people are choosing plant-based diets and the benefits of this shift. She built on data from the 2021 Rockefeller Foundation report to explain people's food choices. Her work features a framework showing the values that drive consumers toward plant-based eating. The framework is called SEED: Sustainability, Ethics, Equity and Dining for Health.
Plant Power is the first research article of its kind, "because it is at the intersection of consumer health and the climate crisis. Understanding the reasons that drive consumers to choose a plant-based diet is good for people and the environment," said Lteif.
The SEED Framework
As more people relate to the values in the SEED framework, they are changing their food habits to reflect these beliefs.
"By understanding how these values influence decision-making, individuals and marketers alike can make better choices for themselves, inform their marketing strategies, and give more attention to the issues that mean the most to them," Lteif explained.
Those who relate to the Sustainability value have growing concerns about animal farming and its role in climate change. People have learned that eating less meat can reduce their carbon footprint and help ease the effects of global warming.
Next, Lteif explained that a person's belief system, or code of Ethics, can also affect their eating choices. Within this group is a growing concern for animal safety and well-being during meat and dairy production. Animal handling practices can include cramped living conditions, overcrowding or inhumane treatment. By not eating these foods, those holding this value hope to show their concern and support better animal treatment.
Food Equity refers to offering all people affordable access to food and the ability to cook and store the food that allows them to thrive. There is a growing awareness that many people do not have access to plant-based food or the means to keep it fresh. More so, underserved communities, including communities of color, often have less access to healthy, affordable, plant-based foods. Improving access can improve people's health and well-being by eating more healthy foods and allowing them to make choices that reflect their values.
Lastly, the Dining for Health value supports the connection between food and health. A plant-based diet is rich in fiber, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, which help improve gut health and absorbing of nutrients that support the immune system. Because of this, a diet that is rich in fruits and vegetables can help reduce the risk of certain cancers, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and more.
Plant-based eating and its impact on the future
Lteif, a former nutritionist, combines her passion for helping others make healthy food choices with a curiosity about the drivers behind people's eating choices. She likens these value-based choices to a seed's root system, where the "SEED values connect and as a group can influence a person's eating habits. If embraced by society as a whole, these values can transform systems to be more friendly to our environment, more fair and more nourishing."
Lteif explained that Gen Z, those aged 35 and younger, are leading the way with alternative food choices due to their concerns about climate change and the environment. She believes learning more about the other value groups and the reasons keeping others from making healthy food choices is important. She would also like to explore ways to encourage more people to adopt a plant-based diet.
A great benefit of eating more fruits and vegetables is more demand for restaurants, grocery stores and eateries that offer vegan-friendly options. This increase in offerings makes it easier for people to make healthier choices today than ever before.
The work is published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology.
More information: Melissa G. Bublitz et al, Plant power: SEEDing our future with plant‐based eating, Journal of Consumer Psychology (2022). DOI: 10.1002/jcpy.1328
Journal information: Journal of Consumer Psychology
Provided by University of New Mexico | Nutrition Research |
NEW YORK -- More than 100,000 people in the U.S. have become allergic to red meat since 2010 because of a weird syndrome triggered by tick bites, according to a government report released Thursday. But health officials believe many more have the problem and don't know it.
A second report estimated that as many as 450,000 Americans have developed the allergy. That would make it the 10th most common food allergy in the U.S., said Dr. Scott Commins, a University of North Carolina researcher who co-authored both papers published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Health officials said they are not aware of any confirmed deaths, but people with the allergy have described it as bewildering and terrifying.
“I never connected it with any food because it was hours after eating,” said one patient, Bernadine Heller-Greenman.
The reaction, called alpha-gal syndrome, occurs when an infected person eats beef, pork, venison or other meat from mammals — or ingests milk, gelatin or other mammal products.
It’s not caused by a germ but by a sugar, alpha-gal, that is in meat from mammals — and in tick spit. When the sugar enters the body through the skin, it triggers an immune response and can lead to a severe allergic reaction.
Scientists had seen reactions in patients taking a cancer drug that was made in mouse cells containing the alpha-gal sugar. But in 2011 researchers first reported that it could spread through tick bites, too.
They tied it to the lone star tick, which despite its Texas-themed name is most common in the eastern and southern U.S. (About 4% of all U.S. cases have been in the eastern end of New York’s Long Island.)
One of the studies released Thursday examined 2017-2022 test results from the main U.S. commercial lab looking for alpha-gal antibodies. They noted the number of people testing positive rose from about 13,000 in 2017 to 19,000 in 2022.
Experts say cases may be up for a variety of reasons, including lone star ticks' expanding range, more people coming into contact with the ticks or more doctors learning about it and ordering tests for it.
But many doctors are not. The second study was a survey last year of 1,500 U.S. primary care doctors and health professionals. The survey found nearly half had never heard of alpha-gal syndrome, and only 5% said they felt very confident they could diagnose it. Researchers used that information to estimate the number of people with the allergy — 450,000.
People with the syndrome can experience symptoms including hives, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, severe stomach pain, difficulty breathing, dizziness and swelling of the lips, throat, tongue or eye lids. Unlike some other food allergies, which occur soon after eating, these reactions hit hours later.
Some patients have only stomach symptoms, and the American Gastroenterological Association says people with unexplained diarrhea, nausea and abdominal pain should be tested for the syndrome.
Doctors counsel people with the allergy to change their diet, carry epinephrine and avoid tick bites.
The allergy can fade away in some people — Commins has seen that happen in about 15% to 20% of his patients. But a key is avoiding being re-bitten.
“The tick bites are central to this. They perpetuate the allergy,” he said.
One of his patients is Heller-Greenman, a 78-year-old New York art historian who spends summers on Martha's Vineyard. She has grown accustomed to getting bitten by ticks on the island and said she has had Lyme disease four times.
About five years ago, she started experiencing terrible, itchy hives on her back, torso and thighs in the middle of the night. Her doctors concluded it was an allergic reaction, but couldn't pinpoint the trigger.
She was never a big meat eater, but one day in January 2020 she had a hamburger and then a big, fatty steak the following evening. Six hours after dinner, she woke up nauseated, then suffered terrible spells of vomiting, diarrhea and dizziness. She passed out three times.
She was diagnosed with alpha-gal syndrome shortly after that, and was told to avoid ticks and to stop eating red meat and dairy products. There have been no allergic reactions since.
“I have one grandchild that watches me like a hawk," she said, making sure she reads packaged food labels and avoids foods that could trigger a reaction.
“I feel very lucky, really, that this has worked out for me," she said. “Not all doctors are knowledgeable about this.”
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content. | Disease Research |
By Teresa CraigBBC News NIImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Patients must be referred to a clinic either by their GP or by a hospital consultantTwo thirds of people referred to Northern Ireland's specialist long Covid clinics have yet to receive a first appointment.Long Covid is an umbrella term for a range of symptoms including fatigue, breathlessness and brain fog.Of more than 1,900 people referred to the clinics, just over 600 have had an appointment.The Department of Health said work to evaluate the current service was "being taken forward".Funding is in place to run the clinics until September this year, the department said.Londonderry father-of-five Neil McCafferty is among those waiting for an appointment."My hurt and the hurt of a lot of other people that have been waiting patiently for this is that we were given false hope," he told BBC Radio Foyle.Image source, McCafferty familyImage caption, Medical staff told Neil McCafferty's family that he wouldn't make it through Covid-19Northern Ireland's long-Covid clinics were launched in November 2021.Department of Health figures show that as of the end of April, a total of 1,908 people had been referred to the long Covid clinics.Of those referrals, 617 people had an appointment, with 172 people having been seen face-to face and the rest seen remotely.Mr McCafferty was admitted to Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry in October 2020 with a gall bladder infection.He was also treated for sepsis before developing Covid-19 and spent several weeks being treated in intensive care.Mr McCafferty said he initially recovered well after leaving hospital.But about six months into his recovery, his health began to deteriorate.His mobility reduced, he had pains and fatigue and walking long distances became challenging.Long Covid, he added, was "wearing him down"."It becomes psychological after the physical impact. I am probably only about 20% of the man I was before Covid," he said.'False hope'He was referred by his GP to the specialist long Covid clinic in the Western Trust area, but has not yet been seen."We have been sold false hope," he said."It is a terrible thing to do to people who are suffering".The Western Trust told BBC News NI that its post-Covid syndrome service had been running since March 2022, with the majority of patients referred by their GP.A recent update on the service was "circulated to all GPs within the Western Trust area", a spokeswoman said."If a patient wishes to access the service they can speak to their GP."Patients, she added, were assessed at three sites, the South West Acute Hospital, Omagh Hospital and Derry's Waterside Hospital.Image caption, Dr Alan Stout said GPs are seeing a significant number of people with long lasting symptomsDr Alan Stout, the deputy chairman of the British Medical Association, said he could understand the frustrations of those waiting to be seen."What is actually happening is these have become signposting services as opposed to services that are seeing a lot of people, dealing with them and taking ownership of them."A sign-posting service just makes people feel like they are being passed around the system, ending up on a different waiting list."Dr Stout said within current provision, a patient was referred to a specialist service after an initial consultation.That might include physiotherapy, occupational therapy or psychology services, he said."But really what we need is that all under one roof, that physical assessment of the patient," Dr Stout said.The Department of Health said there were multidisciplinary post-Covid clinics in each of Northern Ireland's five health trust areas and were "supported by a lead GP or hospital doctor, occupational therapists, physio therapists and nurses"."The service also includes access to healthcare assistants, diagnostic and administrative support," a DoH spokeswoman said.Funding is currently in place, she said, to run the clinics until September.She added: "Work is being taken forward regionally to evaluate the services currently provided with a view to securing funding for post Covid-19 services on a longer term basis". | Epidemics & Outbreaks |
Scientists at the University of California, Davis, in partnership with the Mars Advanced Research Institute, have announced a significant breakthrough in the production of low-calorie sugar substitutes, such as allulose. This discovery could help address one of the primary obstacles to the widespread adoption of these alternatives: production costs.
Allulose, also known as D-psicose, is a naturally occurring rare sugar that provides a viable alternative to sucrose (table sugar). It has a similar taste, texture and functionality, making it an attractive option for those seeking to reduce their sugar intake. By activating a natural process in a microorganism, researchers have developed a method for high-yield and high-purity production through precise fermentation. This advance has the potential to greatly enhance the affordability and accessibility of these products.
Allulose provides nearly 70% flavor and sweet taste as sucrose, yet it is minimally metabolized as it passes through the body. By incorporating it into food products, individuals can reduce their calorie intake from sugar while still satisfying their desire for sweet flavors. Additionally, allulose has an imperceptible effect on blood glucose and insulin levels.
"Allulose is a great alternative to sugar, but we have not had a cost-effective way to manufacture it," said Shota Atsumi, professor of chemistry at UC Davis and corresponding author on the paper published Oct. 14 in npj Science of Food. "Our new method is efficient, economically feasible and could be scaled up for commercial production."
The new approach has a more than 99% theoretical yield with high purity, and therefore only requires minimal processing to isolate the desired product. Current methods of allulose production are normally limited to much lower levels of yield and purity, requiring expensive separation techniques to isolate allulose from the glucose and fructose starting material.
Redirecting existing process
Atsumi, Ph.D. candidate Jayce Taylor, Professor Justin Siegel and a number of co-workers in the Department of Chemistry and from Mars Advanced Research Institute looked for a more efficient way to manufacture allulose. They found an industrial microorganism that has the enzymes to make allulose -- it just isn't using them in that way. They were able to edit the organism's metabolism to get the cells to convert glucose into allulose. The cells consume all the glucose they are fed and convert it to allulose with a noteworthy concentration, a yield of over 60%, and purity of over 95%, outperforming the existing production methods.
"Once flux was redirected, it turns out the cells have everything they need to do it; they just needed to be turned on and undesired pathways turned off," Atsumi said.
UC Davis has filed patent applications on the process and modified organisms. Researchers are working with a commercial partner to discuss scaling up the process.
Additional co-authors are Dileep Sai Kumar Palur, Angela Zhang, Jake Gonzales, Augustine Arredondo, Timothy Coulther, Amiruddin Bin Johan Lechner, Elys Rodriguez and Oliver Fiehn at UC Davis; and John Didzbalis, Mars Incorporated, McLean, Virginia.
The work and research by UC Davis were supported and funded by Mars, Incorporated.
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'How could this happen?': Qld boy Mateoh Eggleton's bone marrow transplant 'in transit' after agonising delays
A Queensland mum has opened up on how her six-year-old's potentially life-saving bone marrow transplant was delayed from the United States, after waiting months for the "last hope" treatment.
A Queensland boy is in the fight for his life as he waits for an urgent bone marrow transplant his mother claims was left on the tarmac in the United States.
The bone marrow transplant is a “last hope” for six-year-old Mateoh Eggleton who was initially diagnosed with chronic granulomatous disease in 2019.
In the last 18 months alone, little Mateoh has had multiple blood transfusions, undergone adult chemotherapy and trialled nine experimental medications, all which have failed to cure his condition.
His mum Shalyn described her anger when she found out that after waiting months for a bone marrow transplant match, that would hopefully prolong her son’s life, the donation was left on an airport tarmac.
“Everything was ready to go last Thursday and we were in chemotherapy when our oncologist told us that someone had not loaded the cells on the plane,” she told Skynews.com.au.
“Nothing has worked and our last option was either stopping treatment or going on to do another bone marrow transplant.
“We don’t know if it's going to work but this is our last hope.”
Despite the ordeal of the past three-and-a-half years, Shalyn has been comforted by Mateoh's cheeky nature and his ability to pull tricks and tell jokes while zooming around the ward on a donated electric BMW.
Mateoh’s first transplant in 2020 cured his initial condition but prompted the development of haemolytic uraemic syndrome, causing his body to attack itself and stop its ability to produce critical red blood cells.
The mother-of-four said the timing of the transplant was critical and she was frustrated because as well as pinning her last hopes on the procedure, Mateoh had undergone weeks of treatment to prepare for the operation.
“I’m really angry and annoyed and frustrated because I just don't understand how this could happen. It should be supervised. It shouldn't be left alone,” Shalyn said.
“It’s not like putting a letter in the mail and hoping it gets to the centre, it’s a medical procedure.”
A spokesperson for Queensland Children’s Hospital has confirmed the viable transplant was now on its way and expressed “disappointment” over the unforeseen delay.
“Mateoh has been a long-term patient at the Queensland Children’s Hospital and his care team understands and shares the family’s disappointment at this unforeseen delay in the delivery of his donor cells,” the statement read.
“Mateoh’s donor cells are currently in transit to Australia and their delayed arrival will not adversely impact Mateoh’s care.
“At all times our priority has been ensuring the donation remains viable so Mateoh’s bone marrow transplant can safely proceed.”
Shalyn praised the team that has worked around the clock to help the family but she continues to push for more answers around the “unacceptable” delay that has caused her son to “suffer longer than he should”.
While the specifics of the delay are unknown, it is a stressful wait for eight out of 10 patients who rely on overseas donors for the bone marrow transplants due to a lack of donors in Australia.
Shalyn urged Australians to join the stem cell donor list because if there were more donors, Mateoh would not have to wait for a transplant from overseas.
“People need to be aware it exists and get on the registry,” she said.
“If we had a match in Australia we wouldn't be waiting for a flight and that would be life changing.” | Disease Research |
Amanda Biggs, Social Policy
|Key issue
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A number of reports highlight the growing burden on governments to fund health care services. This is being driven by population ageing, expensive medical interventions, community expectations and the rise in the incidence of chronic diseases. While Australia has a good health system by international standards, rising health costs represent an obstacle to future reform.
It is widely recognised that despite some failings, Australia has a good health system. Life expectancy of 81.5 years is among the highest in the world, while expenditure on health services (totalling $130 billion in 2010–11) as a percentage of GDP (around 9%), is below the average for comparable countries (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: Health expenditure, 1990 to 2010
Source: OECD.
In its favour, Australia is a relatively wealthy country, with well-developed public health programs (such as immunisation) and good infrastructure (water supply, food quality). There are numerous other positive components which contribute to the Australian system – world class medical researchers, low smoking rates, a population that is generally accepting of health promoting regulations, such as seat belts and random breath testing, and the existence of political leadership and bipartisanship on big health issues such as HIV-AIDS.
Still, it is recognised that the Australian health system has room to improve, particularly with regards to Indigenous health, quality of care and affordable and timely access to services.
Some challenges in health care
In addition, new health challenges are emerging: the baby boomers are ageing – the number of people over 85 years old will increase from 0.4 million now to 1.8 million in 2050. Risk factors for chronic diseases like diabetes are increasing – many people are overweight or obese and do not get enough exercise. Meeting community expectations of ever higher health standards is also a challenge. While medical research is providing better drugs, devices and interventions to keep people healthier and living longer, subsidising these is increasingly expensive.
There are concerns therefore that the level of funding for health care will soon become a significant burden for governments.
Treasury’s Intergenerational Report 2010 (IGR) estimated that spending on health care by government as a percentage of GDP will nearly double by 2050. A recent report from the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) warned that current health funding arrangements are not sustainable; new models will need to be considered. Independent think tank the Grattan Institute has also expressed concern over the future sustainability of health funding.
The universal Medicare rebate, high levels of bulkbilling (where consumers pay nothing) and free public hospital care means that there are limited price signals which can act directly to moderate demand for subsidised health services. Similarly, fee-for-service payments to doctors encourage them to provide more services, which in turn increases the use of services.
Out-of-pocket spending on health care by consumers is also growing, but much of this is for non-subsidised health care, such as over the counter medicines, or areas with limited subsidies, such as dental services and those provided to private patients. Hence, it has limited impact on government spending (for further information see ‘Out-of-pocket payments for health care – finding a way forward’).
How much a country spends on health reflects its social priorities, as well as its capacity to pay. While richer countries tend to spend more on health services, there is variability in the amounts each spends. For example, Japan is one of the few countries where people live longer and have healthier life expectancy than Australia, but Japan spends less per capita on health than Australia.
The IGR predicts that Australian GDP per person will grow by 1.5% per year. Whether this will be enough to sustain an expanded health system and meet the health costs of the future remains an issue for debate.
Some argue that a dramatic shift in thinking about how health care is funded is required if government finances are not to be overwhelmed by increased demand for health services.
Prospects for further reform
In recent years, a number of reform options have been discussed, examined and implemented. The National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission (NHHRC) established by the Rudd Government recommended a number of reforms, around hospitals, prevention and primary care. Some of these, such as the establishment of Medicare Locals have been implemented, and it appears they have widespread support.
But health reform is not always easy. Both the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and Medicare, which now have bipartisan support, faced considerable opposition when they were first introduced, and this persisted for some time.
A major dilemma for government is developing effective approaches while maintaining wide-spread support for reforms. There are a number of obstacles to achieving these aims: political lobbying from vested interest groups, for example, is a problem, as a recent proposal to introduce a star food labelling system illustrates. While the labelling system has the potential to help address obesity, it is facing industry opposition, despite widespread support among health groups.
Former chair of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG), Paul McClintock, warned that a lack of clarity between levels of government over responsibilities hampers reform. Writing in the Australian Financial Review McClintock expressed frustration with the political processes surrounding COAG meetings and the ways in which these derailed proposed health reforms.
Recent controversy over hospital funding arrangements in Victoria illustrates how the issue of health care funding remains subject to bitter disputes between governments. Although a new hospital funding formula has been agreed in that state, it remains to be seen if this can operate without recourse to the frequent disputes which characterised previous arrangements.
These examples suggest that future reform efforts may face considerable obstacles. Yet unless political machinations are set aside, and vested interests overcome, genuine long-term reform of health funding may remain an elusive goal.
Further reading
A Boxall, What are we doing to ensure the sustainability of the health system?, Research paper, 5, 2011–12, Parliamentary Library, 18 November 2011.
R de Boer, A Boxall, A Biggs, L Buckmaster, J Gardiner-Garden and R Jolly, The interim report of the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission—a summary and analysis, Research paper, 24, 2008–09, Parliamentary Library, 19 March 2009.
R de Boer, ‘The missing billion? Revisions to health funding not unprecedented’, FlagPost weblog, 1 February 2013.
For copyright reasons some linked items are only available to members of Parliament.
© Commonwealth of Australia | Health Policy |
The US is enduring a sharp spike in cases of babies born with syphilis, an illness that not only threatens infants’ health, but also shows that the system providing healthcare for pregnant women is fracturing.Congenital syphilis has risen to its highest rate in 30 years, according to a recent report by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reaching 3,761 cases in 2022. That might sound like a minuscule portion of US births, which exceed 3.6 million per year. But because the illness is so serious in newborns, health authorities are ringing the alarm. Those cases included 231 lost pregnancies and 51 infant deaths. Surviving babies are at risk of blindness, deafness, and developmental delays.Pinpointing the immediate cause of the illness is not complicated: Pregnant women with syphilis did not receive the single shot of penicillin that would have cured their own infections and kept them from passing it on to their children. But the reasons why that intervention didn’t take place varied: Some women were never tested, some didn’t receive the appropriate treatment, and some weren’t treated at all. Two out of five women whose children were born with syphilis last year never received any prenatal care.The single biggest risk for having a child with syphilis, according to the report, was simply living in a county where syphilis rates are high—and that covers 38 percent of them in the US, and 72 percent of the national population. “I think that many jurisdictions are aware of their problems with increases in syphilis and congenital syphilis,” says Robert McDonald, a physician and medical officer in the CDC’s Division of STD Prevention, and the report’s lead author. “But I am not sure that providers and the public at large fully understand how much of a problem syphilis has become.”To understand the striking rise in congenital infections—by tenfold between 2012 and 2022, and a third just between 2021 and 2022—it helps to recognize several trends. The first is that the epidemiology of the disease has been changing. What had been mostly an infection of men who have sex with men has been crossing into heterosexual men as well, and from them into women. Because the sore that indicates infection may be less noticeable in women, they may not know they are infected—a problem, because untreated syphilis can lead to grave health problems even outside of pregnancy.The second trend is the dismantling of the national infrastructure that once worked to control sexually transmitted infections. As the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine documented in 2021, the CDC’s budget for STD control—much of which is sent to states—has been cut 40 percent since 2003. And the third is the patchwork nature of American healthcare, in which many people don’t have a single medical professional overseeing all their needs. Women who rely on publicly-funded medicine have even less continuity.Those trends have combined to affect “women from vulnerable communities … usually women who are Black or brown, with lower financial means, lack of access to transportation, [and] inability to take time off work,” says Natasha Bagdasarian, a physician and the chief medical executive for the state of Michigan, which had 38 congenital cases of the disease in 2022. “What we're seeing when we review cases of congenital syphilis are individuals who, rather than have a single healthcare provider through their pregnancy, have gone to urgent cares or ERs, or gone to one physician and then switched to another because of life circumstances.”A study presented on Sunday, November 12, at the American Public Health Association’s annual meeting in Atlanta demonstrated who the most vulnerable women are, using one state’s hospital discharge data, which contains diagnosis codes for insurance billing. In Mississippi, 367 infants were born with congenital syphilis between 2016 and 2022, according to Manuela Staneva, an epidemiologist with the Mississippi State Department of Health; there were 10 cases in 2016 and 110 in 2022, a 1,000 percent increase. Among the mothers, 93 percent were on Medicaid, indicating they were poor; 58 percent lived in rural areas; and 71 percent were Black—a signal of the unequal influence of race on health, because the state population is only about 38 percent African American. (This data was also published recently in Emerging Infectious Diseases.)“This is the price paid by babies,” Staneva said in her presentation. “It’s pretty disturbing.”At this point, most states require women who make it to doctors’ offices during their pregnancies to be tested for syphilis at least once. Some jurisdictions, including New York, require a third-trimester test in addition to a first-trimester one. Mississippi instituted first and third trimester screening last March, just a few months after its health department, including Staneva, began investigating congenital syphilis there. Still, a handful of states have no such laws.Yet mandating testing hasn’t solved the nationwide problem because the process of syphilis testing doesn’t match the reality of the lives of marginalized women. The gold standard for detection is to perform a blood test, send it off to a lab, receive the results several days later, and then bring the woman back to her healthcare provider for the shot. That is more follow-up than some women can navigate. “There are times when we test somebody and it can take more than a week for the results to come back,” says McDonald, who sees patients in Atlanta. “It's really hard to track people down again: They've forgotten about their concerns, other things have come up in their lives, sometimes their phones get disconnected.”Aside from condoms, there are few effective options for protecting women; the “morning after pill” that is now recommended for men who have sex with men has not worked well in cisgender women. The best solution, so far, is to make tests—including fast but less-precise rapid tests—a routine procedure at any point where a pregnant woman might be medically checked: not just ERs and urgent care centers, but syringe exchange programs and jails. That’s not easy, Bagdasarian points out: “Emergency department physicians are used to taking care of the issue that is brought to them, and this would be very outside routine care.”To solve that mismatch, her department is negotiating an arrangement in which ERs in Michigan would offer syphilis tests and the health department would pick up from there, making sure that the test result is logged, and that the woman is notified and gets transportation to wherever she can receive the shot. In New York City, which had 24 cases of congenital syphilis in 2021 compared with 17 two years earlier, the Department of Hospitals and Mental Health assigns social workers to any pregnant woman diagnosed with syphilis to ensure she gets followup, and links her to public and private maternal health programs as well.Some state efforts have demonstrated that it is possible to make a difference in congenital syphilis. Louisiana, which five years ago had one of the highest rates in the US, instituted a suite of programs, including conducting a medical review of every case and notifying healthcare providers when some other entity had diagnosed a case they’d missed. But its health department also created simple innovations that nevertheless required regulatory changes and extra staff time. They began shipping the single-shot penicillin regimen to community health centers, and created teams of nurses and infectious disease investigators who visit women’s homes to administer it.In 2022, 115 babies with congenital syphilis were born in Louisiana—but the state health department estimates that it prevented 209 cases, the number of pregnant women diagnosed with syphilis whom it was able to reach and treat in time.“Everyone's goal is to make treatment available and have it happen as quickly as possible,” says Samuel Burgess, director of the state’s STD/HIV/Hepatitis program. “The less amount of hours and effort that we have to spend—trying to follow up with people, seeing if they made it to the doctor, following up with doctors’ offices to see if they got treatment documented—the better.” | Epidemics & Outbreaks |
Vape maker Supreme has said it will stop making brightly coloured products, use plain packaging and bring in "age-appropriate" flavour names.
It comes after the government promised to crack down on the marketing of vaping products to children.
Supreme said its items would become "plain black, white or grey" and promised it was "fully committed to eradicating underage vaping".
Health Secretary Steve Barclay has said the marketing of vapes makes them "look like sweets" despite them being illegal to sell to under-18s.
An eight-week consultation is considering options such as a total ban on disposable vapes, restricting their sale and stopping flavours and colours that appeal to youngsters.
On-the-spot fines could also be issued to shops that illegally sell vapes.
According to figures from the charity Action on Smoking and Health, the number of children using vapes in the past three years has tripled, with 20.5% of youngsters aged between 11 and 17 having tried vaping in 2023.
Supreme said "shelf appeal for underage vapers" would be reduced by renaming flavours.
For example, Peach Dream will become Peach and Sweet Strawberry will become just Strawberry.
The items themselves will also no longer use bright colours to try to reduce their appeal to under-18s.
Read more:
Children 'can't last lesson without a vape'
Quarter of pupils are vaping, headteacher says
Labour vows to come down 'like a ton of bricks'
Supreme's products are sold in a range of shops - from discounters, such as Home Bargains, B&M and Poundland, to supermarkets.
However, the changes will only affect its own 88Vape brand and not those it imports, such as ElfBar and Liberty Flights.
Labour has warned it will come down on the vaping companies "like a ton of bricks" if it wins power.
Supreme chief executive Sandy Chadha said the company still believed vapes were "critical" in helping smokers to quit.
But he said he was "desperate to ensure that those flavours do not spark any interest in younger people".
Mr Chadha said the firm fully supported any new laws and that it would remove or change products "that could be deemed compromising".
"As government guidance evolves, we may seek to re-assess this approach," he added.
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England's chief medical officer, Sir Chris Whitty, has said that while vaping is less dangerous than smoking, it "still has risks and can cause addiction".
There is also concern over the environmental impact as an estimated five million disposable vapes are discarded every week in the UK. | Health Policy |
Ever felt mentally or physically drained after a video conference call? You're not alone.
A recent study found a connection between video conferencing in educational settings and physical symptoms of exhaustion. Concern about the impact of so-called "Zoom fatigue" took hold as the use of video calls expanded during the .
In an interview with CBS News, Dr. Arjun Venkatesh, a professor and chair of emergency medicine at Yale University, called the study "small but mighty in many ways."
The study focused on 35 college students split into two groups — half of them watched a lecture live and the other half got it over video conference. All participants wore EEG and EKG monitors to measure the electrical activity in the brain and their heart rate, respectively.
"What they found is something new," Venkatesh explained. "It wasn't just that on surveys people reported fatigue after having the video, but it was actually true based on their physiology, they could measure it in the brainwaves. They could see it in their heart rate. They were more inattentive, they were more sad and they reported more fatigue."
What is Zoom fatigue?
At its simplest level, Venkatesh says Zoom fatigue is something most people have likely experienced in the past — that exhausted feeling you get after you've been on Zoom call after Zoom call.
"But scientifically, what we find is that people will report feelings like sadness, feeling fed up, feeling very tired," he says. "And we know based on these measurements of heart activity and brain activity that the brain actually slows down a little bit, that the heart rate goes up and down. There's more signs of stress on the body."
According to research from Stanford University, video calls can also lead to fatigue due to:
- Intense, excessive close-up eye contact
- Seeing yourself during video chats
- Reduction in mobility
- Higher cognitive load
"It's both the science of our body as well as how we're feeling at the same time," Venkatesh adds.
How can you prevent Zoom fatigue?
Since the study focused on college students in lectures, it may not be as applicable to video conferences in other settings like the workplace. However, Venkatesh says there are some things you can do to make smarter choices during your work day.
"There's times when you may be in an office setting and you have the chance to choose between the Zoom meeting or doing it in person but walking down the hall — choose the latter," he suggests.
You can also make an effort to schedule breaks between your video meetings.
"Stacking those meetings back to back so that there's no break, no chance for the brain to recharge, the heart to relax again, probably makes this these kinds of symptoms worse," he says. "So making those smart choices within a workday can really help people maybe mitigate or prevent some of these symptoms."
for more features. | Stress and Wellness |
The pandemic has led to a rapid acceleration in cognitive decline among the over-50s, regardless of whether or not they contracted Covid-19, and had a “real lasting impact” on their brain health, a study has found. So how do you know how healthy your brain is and what can you do to improve your brain health?
Brain function slowing down is a natural part of ageing. “This process starts in mid-life and everyone experiences this differently,” says Prof Anne Corbett, professor of dementia research at the University of Exeter and the Protect study lead.
“Look out for lapses in memory, difficulty concentrating and problem-solving or changes in language or behaviour that are unusual for you and which carry on for several months. Friends and family are often the first to notice these changes.”
Good brain health means keeping the brain working properly, according to Dr Susan Mitchell, head of policy at Alzheimer’s Research UK.
“One of the main signs that our brain health is in decline is a change in how well we can cope with our day to day lives,” Mitchell said. “This includes things like our ability to concentrate, our motivation, navigation, memory, and sleep.”
How can you measure your own brain health?
“Brain health is not something we can measure as an exact science,” says Mitchell. “Doing regular tasks that stimulate our brains, and tracking our ability to cope with those tasks is one possible way that we could measure brain health.”
Everyone’s brain is different so there is no one-size-fits-all quick test, adds Corbett. “We can look for subtle changes over time using sensitive computerised tests like in our Protect study.
“At home you can also use brain training games to test yourself, although these won’t give you a clear answer about your health. Your GP can also assess your brain function.”
What are the likely reasons for the decline in brain health in over-50s during the pandemic?
Researchers don’t know for sure, says Corbett. “But we know that some key factors were linked, including people doing less exercise, drinking more alcohol, increased depression and loneliness, and these all increased in lockdown.”
Could a decline in brain health just be a result of natural ageing?
Absolutely. Everyone experiences some natural decline as they age. “Much like the rest of our body, our brain does age,” says Mitchell. “This means it does not function as it did when we were younger.
“However, there are a range of health and lifestyle factors which can influence good brain health.
“These factors include social isolation and regular exercise, both of where were significantly affected by the pandemic. If you do notice that you are having trouble doing things you used to find easy, you can talk to your doctor who can help find out why.”
What can you practically do to improve brain health?
“The best ways to protect your brain include regular physical activity, maintaining a healthy weight, managing medical conditions such as depression, high blood pressure and hearing loss, and keeping your brain active through brain training and social interaction,” says Corbett.
Eating a balanced diet is also key, says Mitchell.
How likely is it that a decline in brain health is a sign of dementia?
Poor brain health in isolation isn’t necessarily a sign of dementia. But having poor brain health in midlife could mean you have a higher risk of developing dementia later in life.
“If you feel that you are experiencing signs of dementia it is important to talk to your doctor,” says Mitchell. | Mental Health Treatments |
Image caption, Abigail Wooding was still shielding after restrictions were lifted because her body didn't produce Covid antibodiesA woman who shielded from Covid-19 for two-and-a-half years has spent more than £2,000 getting a drug to improve her immunity.Abigail Wooding took Evusheld because she has a weak immune system and is less protected by Covid vaccines.There have been calls for the Covid prevention drug to be made available for free on the NHS.The Welsh government said it was awaiting guidance from the medicines regulator.Evusheld is an antibody treatment taken twice a year to protect people like Abigail who have a weaker immune system.The 50-year-old from Narberth, Pembrokeshire, has common variable immunodeficiency which puts her at a higher risk of getting seriously ill from Covid. The treatment is currently only available privately after the UK government said it would not supply Evusheld due to a lack of evidence over how well it works against the Omicron variant.Abigail had six Covid vaccines but her body failed to produce the antibodies needed to fight the virus. So she and her family remained cautious, even after restrictions ended."You're seeing people go out about their business and wanting to do the same and wanting to see your friends and family," she said. Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, The antibody treatment boosts protection against Covid for those whose immune systems do not respond well to vaccines"If you are still the one shielding or wearing a mask, maybe [people may think] you're a bit hysterical, which is quite hard."Ms Wooding's teenage daughter started home-schooling because she was was anxious about bringing the virus into their home."It wasn't fair to her more than anything else. It's just too difficult, it's too restrictive. So, I didn't really feel I had much of an option," said Ms Wooding, who said it prompted her to pay for Evusheld in November.Image caption, Abigail felt it was not fair to her family to continue shielding so she bought a dose of Evusheld on her credit cardAs well as the cost of the dose she had to pay for a private consultation, for the drug to be administered, and for her own travel to London, costing her around £2,000 in total.She said: "I didn't have the money, I had to put it on credit card. And I will have to with the next dose again."'Pay for normality'Testing after the Evusheld jab showed she had Covid antibodies for the first time, and she said the impact on her and her children's lives has been huge."Going in and out of friends' houses, having friends over for lunch, going to restaurants, cafes, the pub," she said. "It's normality. But I shouldn't have to pay for normality" she said. Image source, Family photoImage caption, Abigail says not having to shield is "normality" something she thinks she should not have to pay forEvusheld was approved for use in March, but was reviewed after the Omicron variant emerged.Data published in July last year showed people who had taken it were half as likely to get Covid-19 as those who did not take the drug.Its manufacturer AstraZeneca said there was "ample real-world data" that it worked. It is currently available in 32 countries, including the United States, France, and Canada.Richard Stanton, professor of virology at Cardiff University, said: "Having these kinds of drugs available is really important to provide immunocompromised people with some confidence that, if they catch the virus, there's a way of treating it and a way of preventing them ending up in hospital."'Completely unacceptable'The UK government announced in August that it would wait until Evusheld had been appraised by the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) before deciding if it will be made available on the NHS.NICE began evaluating whether Evusheld is clinically and cost effective in July, with the full appraisal expected to take around a year.People who take immunosuppressants, including leukaemia, kidney, and pulmonary fibrosis patients, could also benefit from Evusheld.Steve Jones, chair of Action for Pulmonary Fibrosis, said: "We are in a situation now where even if it NICE are positive, it is unlikely that Evusheld will become available until after Easter. One full year after America and other developed countries. This is completely unacceptable to patients."Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, The Welsh government said there are no plans to offer Evusheld on the NHSA Welsh Government spokesperson said: "There are no plans to procure Evusheld at this time. There has been no significant new evidence to suggest it is effective against omicron variants and recent research suggests its effectiveness is compromised against newer variants this winter."NICE is currently considering the evidence for Evusheld and we will review the position once the guidance is published." | Drug Discoveries |
Sunscreen is a skincare essential all year round. Regularly using sunscreen is one of the best ways to avoid sunburn, reduce the risk of skin cancer and prevent premature aging of the skin, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation (SCF). Yet, with so many different products available on the market, it's easy to be confused by the terminology on sunscreen labels and common to feel unsure about which option is best suited for each individual.
Many U.S. adults could be struggling to decode sunscreen labels, according to a small survey published in 2015 in the journal JAMA Dermatology. The researchers interviewed 114 participants and found that only 43% of them understood the definition of "SPF value," while only 22.8% of participants correctly identified the terminology that indicated how well the sunscreen protected against sunburn.
To help you avoid similar confusion, here is a complete guide to understanding sunscreen labels.
What is water-resistant sunscreen?
Taking a dip in the pool or swimming in the ocean are among the great joys of summer. However, that cooling water washes sunscreen off the skin. No sunscreens are completely "waterproof," and labeling them as such is misleading, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Under current FDA regulations, sunscreens that may have once been labeled water- or sweat-proof are now labeled as either 40- or 80-minute "water-resistant" products, meaning they remain effective for up to 40 minutes or 80 minutes when a person is swimming or sweating. The reason behind this change is that these products only protect skin from the sun for a limited period of time once a person is exposed to water or sweat, Dr. Adam Friedman, director of dermatologic research at Montefiore Medical Center in New York, told Live Science.
"Choose an 80-minute water-resistant sunscreen, and reapply after getting out of the pool, ocean or even toweling off from a good workout," Friedman said.
What is broad-spectrum sunscreen?
Sunburn is damage to the skin's outermost layers caused by ultraviolet rays: ultraviolet A (UVA) and ultraviolet B (UVB). These are types of light that fall between visible light and X-rays on the electromagnetic spectrum, and both types of radiation can be harmful.
UVB rays can lead to redness of the skin and sunburn, while UVA rays can penetrate deeper into the skin and accelerate the skin's aging process. Both types of skin damage increase the risk of skin cancer. The "broad-spectrum" label indicates that a sunscreen protects from both UVA and UVB rays, Dr. Paul Banwell, a cosmetic surgeon and founder of The Melanoma and Skin Cancer Unit (MASCU) in East Grinstead, England, told Live Science by email.
What is SPF?
The sun protection factor (SPF) shows the degree of sunburn protection offered by a product. Note that this measure is only for UVB rays, and there is no specific rating for UVA rays, according to the FDA. (Again, a sunscreen's "broad-spectrum" label is what confirms that it protects against both UVA and UVB.)
The SPF value indicates the amount of UVB radiation exposure it takes to cause sunburn when using a sunscreen compared with how much UVB exposure it takes to cause sunburn without any skin protection.
"So if you wear SPF 50, you can expect it to take 50 times longer to burn than if you were not wearing anything. An SPF 15 offers protection from 93 percent of UVB rays, whereas SPF 50 offers 98 percent protection of UVB rays," Banwell said in an email. Sunscreens with high SPF ratings block slightly more UVB rays than those with low ratings, but none offer 100% protection, he said. In addition, it's important to note that a higher SPF does not mean that the product can be reapplied less often, he added.
Under current FDA regulations, products that have an SPF 2 to SPF 14, or that are not broad-spectrum must carry a warning label, stating that they've been shown to help prevent sunburn but not to protect skin against skin cancer or premature aging.
To achieve the best protection possible, "generously apply" about a shot glass' worth of broad-spectrum sunscreen over the whole body, covering all the exposed skin; that sunscreen should have an SPF of at least 30 to 50, Friedman advised. Do this about 15 to 20 minutes before sun exposure and every two hours thereafter, he said.
What's the difference between a chemical sunscreen and mineral sunscreen?
There are two main types of sunscreen available on the market: Chemical sunscreens and mineral sunscreens. Chemical sunscreens, also known as organic or synthetic sunscreens, work by absorbing UV rays and converting them into heat that can then be released from the skin. Physical sunscreens, also known as inorganic or mineral sunscreens, or "sunblocks," work by sitting on top of the skin to form a shield. Physical sunscreens effectively scatter and reflect damaging UV rays away from the skin, Banwell said.
Mineral and chemical sunscreens offer similar levels of protection from UV rays, but they differ in terms of their consistency and ease of application.
"Mineral sunscreens leave a white cast on the skin, makes the SPF thick in consistency and can be hard to rub in," Banwell said. "Chemical sunscreens are easier to rub in and often feel nicer on the skin." Chemical sunscreens take 20 to 30 minutes to absorb into the skin, whereas mineral sunscreens offer immediate protection but need to be applied more frequently, as they can rub, sweat or rinse off relatively easily, especially if a person is doing sports, Banwell said.
Mineral and chemical sunscreens contain different types of active ingredients. Mineral sunscreens use zinc oxide, titanium dioxide or both compounds to block the sun's rays and are free of potentially harmful chemicals, such as parabens and phthalates. Compared with chemical sunscreens, mineral sunscreens are less likely to aggravate eczema and other inflammatory skin conditions and are generally very skin-friendly, Banwell said. That's because they don't convert UV to heat, like chemical sunscreens do.
Mineral sunscreens may also be better for the environment. Because they are made from minerals, they tend to dissolve more easily in the water than chemical sunscreens do, and as such, they may be less harmful for marine life, according to a 2022 review published in the journal Oceans. For this reason, places like Hawaii have banned specific ingredients in chemical sunscreens — including oxybenzone and octinoxate — that may pose a threat to corals. However, the real-world impact of such chemicals on marine life is not fully understood and still being studied.
It's been suggested that certain ingredients in chemical UV filters may also pose potential health risks to humans. Oxybenzone, for example, is recognized as safe for use in topical cosmetics, but some studies have found that this chemical can sometimes trigger allergic reactions, according to a 2018 review published in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology. Avobenzone, a UVA filter used in chemical sunscreens, may contribute to weight gain by changing how cells metabolize fats, scientists reported in a 2019 study published in the journal Archives of Toxicology. However, this study was conducted only in cells in lab dishes, not in animals or people, so it's unclear what real-world effects avobenzone might have on human health.
Much more research is needed to fully understand the extent of health risks linked to chemical sunscreen use. And crucially, "using any sunscreen is better than not using sunscreen at all," the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) advises.
This article is for informational purposes only and is not meant to offer medical advice.
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Anna Gora is a health writer at Live Science, having previously worked across Coach, Fit&Well, T3, TechRadar and Tom's Guide. She is a certified personal trainer, nutritionist and health coach with nearly 10 years of professional experience. Anna holds a Bachelor's degree in Nutrition from the Warsaw University of Life Sciences, a Master’s degree in Nutrition, Physical Activity & Public Health from the University of Bristol, as well as various health coaching certificates. She is passionate about empowering people to live a healthy lifestyle and promoting the benefits of a plant-based diet.
- Agata Blaszczak-BoxeStaff Writer | Medical Innovations |
Former Mayor of London Ken Livingstone who earned the nickname 'Red Ken' for his left-wing politics has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease aged 78.
The one-time figurehead of the Labour left, who ran the capital from 2000 until 2008 when he was defeated by Boris Johnson, is being 'well cared for by his family and friends' as he retires from public life.
The news comes after other high-profile figures such as journalists Alastair Stewart and Fiona Phillips decided to share their own battles with the disease.
'Red Ken', as he is widely known, had fierce clashes with Margaret Thatcher's government as head of the Greater London Council (GLC) in the 1980s, which eventually led to the authority's abolition.
He then became Labour MP for Brent East in 1987 before being elected as the first modern-day Mayor of London, during which time he introduced the Congestion Charge, supported the capital's bid to host the 2012 Olympics and led the response to the London bombings in 2005.
But Red Ken has also been involved in a number of scandals around antisemitism, most recently in 2016 when he was suspended from the Labour Party for suggesting that Adolf Hitler supported Zionism - the movement supporting the creation of a Jewish state in what is now modern-day Israel.
They said: 'The Livingstone family today announce that Ken Livingstone, ex-MP for Brent and former mayor of London, has been diagnosed with and is living with Alzheimer's disease.
'Although a previously prominent public figure, Ken is now retired and lives a private life. He will no longer be available for any media interviews or requests and we will not be responding to any media questions or enquiries.
'Ken is being well cared for by his family and friends and we ask you for your understanding and to respect his privacy and that of his family.'
Kate Lee, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Society, said: 'We are really sorry to hear that Ken Livingstone is living with Alzheimer's disease. Our thoughts are with him and his family.
What is Alzheimer's and how is it treated? Alzheimer's disease is a progressive, degenerative disease of the brain, in which build-up of abnormal proteins causes nerve cells to die. This disrupts the transmitters that carry messages, and causes the brain to shrink. More than 5 million people suffer from the disease in the US, where it is the 6th leading cause of death, and more than 1 million Britons have it. As brain cells die, the functions they provide are lost. That includes memory, orientation and the ability to think and reason. The progress of the disease is slow and gradual. On average, patients live five to seven years after diagnosis, but some may live for ten to 15 years.
Becoming anxious and frustrated over inability to make sense of the world, leading to aggressive behavior
The majority will eventually need 24-hour care There is no known cure for Alzheimer's disease. However, some treatments are available that help alleviate some of the symptoms. One of these is Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors which helps brain cells communicate to one another. Another is menantine which works by blocking a chemical called glutamate that can build-up in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease inhibiting mental function. As the disease progresses Alzheimer's patients can start displaying aggressive behaviour and/or may suffer from depression. Drugs can be provided to help mitigate these symptoms. Other non-pharmaceutical treatments like mental training to improve memory helping combat the one aspect of Alzheimer's disease is also recommended.
'We can see from the high profile individuals who have recently spoken about their dementia diagnosis, including Alastair Stewart and Fiona Phillips amongst others, how prevalent dementia is. One in three people born in the UK today will go on to develop this devastating condition.
'We're grateful to Ken's family for being open about his diagnosis which will really help increase public understanding. It's crucial we get people talking because a problem of this scale won't go away on its own.'
Alzheimer's Research chief executive Hilary Evans said: 'We hope this will put a further spotlight on the desperate need to find new treatments for all forms of dementia.
'As it stands, there are no treatments available to slow or stop dementia. But in recent months, we have seen the tide beginning to turn on Alzheimer's disease, with the first ever drugs that can slow its progression showing positive results in clinical trials.
'However while we wait to hear from regulators on whether these drugs are safe and effective, we know more needs to be done, and we'll work tirelessly to bring about a world free of the fear, harm and heartbreak of dementia.'
While having largely retreated from public life in recent years, Mr Livingstone was a prominent figure in London politics for more than four decades starting in the 1970s.
Born in south London, to a working-class family, Mr Livingstone, the son of an acrobatic dancer and a ship's master in the Merchant Navy, he became a councillor in 1971.
As the head of the Greater London Council (GLC) he frequently went head-to-head with Margaret Thatcher when he became involved in national issues, supporting everyone from striking miners to Sinn Fein's leaders at the height of the IRA's bombing campaign.
He goaded Mrs Thatcher across the Thames in Parliament during the turbulent 1980s by displaying the unemployment figures on City Hall.
The Conservatives resorted to legislation to dissolve the GLC, distributing its powers among the London boroughs.
However, with the creation of the Greater London Authority under Tony Blair's Labour government, Mr Livingstone saw a chance to return to his political spiritual home.
Attempts by Labour to see off Mr Livingstone by throwing its weight behind Frank Dobson - with the backing of trade unions - failed after the public overwhelmingly backed him as an independent candidate, for which he was expelled from the party.
Mr Livingstone ultimately had the last laugh, being welcomed back into the fold as the official Labour candidate for the 2004 election.
His time as London mayor led to sweeping changes across the capital, not all of which were popular - his decision to phase out the original Routemasters and replace them with 'bendy buses' was derided, while the Congestion Charge laid the groundwork for other charges such as the LEZ and ULEZ.
But during his second term, Mr Livingstone won widespread praise for the way he stood up for London after the July 2005 suicide bombings and he helped win the 2012 Olympic Games for the capital.
However, his his time in the party ended ignominiously, when he quit the Labour Party in 2018 amid furious demands for his removal over allegations of antisemitism.
In 2006 a High Court judge said he made 'unnecessarily offensive' and 'indefensible' remarks likening a Jewish reporter to a Nazi concentration camp guard.
His time in office was ended in 2008 when he was defeated by an equally maverick and colourful opponent in Boris Johnson and a failed bid to return to City Hall in 2012 marked the end of his electoral ambitions.
The election of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader in 2015 appeared to have given him a fresh lease of life politically, as he enthusiastically backed the policies of his old ally on the left.
However, he found himself at the centre of a new storm the following year when he came to the defence of MP Naz Shah who had been suspended over offensive social media posts.
Mr Livingstone insisted that, while her remarks were 'over the top', she was not antisemitic, and that he had never encountered antisemitism in 40 years in the Labour Party.
He then sparked fury by going on to claim in a radio interview that Hitler 'was supporting Zionism before he went mad and ended up killing six million Jews'.
Despite being suspended by the party, he insisted he stood by the comments which he said referred to an agreement in 1933 between the Nazis and some German Zionists to resettle Jews in Palestine.
He caused further anger by talking about 'collaboration' between the Nazis and Zionists.
After the protest against antisemitism outside Parliament in March, campaigners demanded his permanent expulsion as proof the Labour leadership was serious about dealing with the issue.
Mr Livingstone announced his resignation from Labour on May 21 2018, although he maintained his support for Mr Corbyn as leader of the party.
Nearly four years later, in January 2022, Mr Livingstone announced his intention to join the Green Party, although at the same time urging other socialists to remain with Labour, but his application was rejected. | Mental Health Treatments |
Many teens say they've driven while they feel drowsy — and they believe that it’s not as dangerous as driving while drunk or distracted.
That’s just one of the findings revealed in the 2023 Drowsy Driving Survey from the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) in Washington, D.C., which explored 1,124 American teens’ attitudes and behaviors about drowsy driving.
One in six teens reported having driven while drowsy during their first two years behind the wheel, the survey found.
A vast majority (95%) of teens acknowledged that drowsy driving is dangerous — but they don't think it's as dangerous as drunk driving, drugged driving or distracted driving.
"It is important to note that drowsy driving is impaired driving, unequivocally — just like drunk, drugged and distracted driving," said Joseph Dzierzewski, PhD, vice president of research and scientific affairs for the NSF, in a statement to Fox News Digital.
As far as the reasons for drowsy driving, a majority of teens cited schoolwork and jobs as the biggest reasons for their sleep deprivation.
"Drowsy driving is impaired driving, unequivocally — just like drunk, drugged and distracted driving."
Teens who have jobs said they were twice as likely to have driven while fatigued, to the point that they "had a hard time keeping their eyes open."
Study limitations
The survey did have one chief limitation, Dzierzewski noted — which is the potential underreporting of drowsy driving.
"However, this would mean that the actual rates of drowsy driving are even higher than what we found, suggesting the problem may be more widespread than currently believed," he added.
"Something we found surprising is that even though motor vehicle crashes are the second leading cause of death among teenagers, most teens rated drunk, drugged and distracted driving as more dangerous," Dzierzewski noted.
"Clearly, there is an opportunity for more education."
Drowsy driving is entirely preventable, Dzierzewski said, emphasizing the need to teach young drivers about the importance of getting the necessary amount of sleep before operating a vehicle.
In a corresponding survey of 1,349 adults, the NSF found that the adults were even more likely to drive while drowsy — with six in 10 reporting having done so.
Tips for safe driving
Drowsy driving prevention is "everyone’s responsibility," Dzierzewski emphasized.
"Always be on the lookout for drowsy driving warning signs when behind the wheel," he advised.
Some of those signs include having a hard time focusing on the road, yawning, blinking frequently, having trouble remembering the last few miles driven, having difficulty maintaining lanes, tailgating — or getting irritated with common traffic occurrences.
If any of those situations occur, it’s important to pull over to a safe place, said Dzierzewski, and get some rest, stretch or drink a caffeinated beverage.
"Only return to the road when you are sure it is safe to drive," he said.
It’s also essential to get the recommended amount of sleep the night before your trip, said Dzierzewski.
NSF recommends seven to nine hours of sleep per night for adults and eight to 10 hours for teens.
"While [drinking] caffeine, rolling down the windows and playing loud music might help you get safely to your destination, they are not a substitute for sleep."
"Plan long trips with a companion who can not only look for early warning signs of fatigue, but also help drive when needed," Dzierzewski suggested.
"A good driving companion is someone who stays awake to talk to you and will be aware of your alertness."
When on a long trip, he advises scheduling regular stops every 100 miles or two hours.
"Remember, while [drinking] caffeine, rolling down the windows and playing loud music might help you get safely to your destination, they are not a substitute for sleep."
Roughly 20% of all motor vehicle crashes are related to drowsy driving, according to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.
Among drowsy driving-related crashes, 20% of them involved teens and young adults aged 16 to 24.
Drowsy driving causes thousands of car crashes each year, killing an estimated 6,400 people in the U.S. each year. | Stress and Wellness |
Millions of Americans face poor air quality advisories assweeps across the Northeast, afflicting outdoor workers, commuters and just about anyone else forced to venture outside Wednesday in affected areas.
Although health experts say it's best to stay indoors when the air quality is poor due to wildfires, that's not possible for people whose work requires them to be outdoors, noted Dr. Panagis Galiatsatos, a lung specialist who is a spokesperson for the American Lung Association.
"Ideally, a lung doctor would say, 'If you can stay home, stay home'," Dr. Galiatsatos told CBS MoneyWatch. "But people are going to come back to me and say, 'I need to go outside and work'."
If you can't stay inside and must be outdoors, Dr. Galiatsatos recommends a few precautions to keep your lungs and heart safe. First, he said, wear a tight-fitting mask, ideally with a one-way valve, that will filter out particulates from the smoke. If you have masks left over from the pandemic that don't have one-way valves, like N95s or surgical masks, wearing one of those can also help protect your lungs, he noted.
"If you work outside, I would urge you to please, please wear a mask to protect yourself," he said.
To avoid both large and small particles carried by smoke, the Environmental Protection Agency says dust masks aren't enough.
"Paper 'comfort' or 'dust' masks — the kinds you commonly can buy at the hardware store — are designed to trap large particles, such as sawdust," the EPA said on its website. "These masks generally will not protect your lungs from the fine particles in smoke."
Change your clothes after working outside
Dr. Galiatsatos also recommends that people who work outside change out of their clothes when they get home and put them directly in the wash. Particulates can infiltrate clothing and then be inhaled by the person or their family members once they return indoors.
"It's like the old days of asbestos — the child breathed it in from their parents' clothes," he noted.
Is it safe to work outside?
Spending time outdoors without a mask during periods of poor air quality can lead to health problems in both the near- and longer-term, Dr. Galiatsatos said.
Landscapers, construction workers, highway maintenance personnel and outdoor recreation workers like lifeguards spend the greatest potion of their workdays outside, according to the Labor Department. Such workers should mask up and wash their clothes when they are done working, experts advise.
But others, like delivery people, bike messengers, preschool teachers and truck drivers, also spend part of their time outdoors and should wear masks while outside.
People with underlying lung or heart problems, like asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), are most at risk, but even people without such conditions can be impacted by the particulates from wildfires, Dr. Galiatsatos said.
"Brief exposure to poor air quality can make you a patient later on," he said.
Is it safe to go outside?
People who live farther away from the fires, such as in New York City or Washington, D.C., may in fact be at more risk because the particulates are smaller by the time they reach those locations, compared with people who live closer to the fires, Dr. Galiatsatos said. Smaller particles are more likely to reach the narrowest airways in the lungs, where they can do damage, he added.
Check your air quality levels on your weather app. If theis below 100, a range considered moderate, that should be safe for you to be outside, he said. But if the air quality is poor, it's best to wear a mask — even if you are working in your garden or taking your dog for a walk.
"I would try to minimize the time you spend outside," he said.
for more features. | Epidemics & Outbreaks |
Regular daytime naps linked to bigger, healthier brains
Napping. Some people do it, and some people don’t. A new study has found that those who are genetically predisposed to taking regular daytime naps may have larger, healthier brains as a result.
Pretty much all of us take daytime naps when we’re toddlers, with many ditching the habit when we’re in school and throughout adulthood. But almost a third of us (27%) resume napping when we’re 65 and over.
Previous studies have suggested that napping can boost cognitive performance, with a brief, five-to-15-minute nap providing a benefit that can last for between one and three hours. Aging reduces reaction times and memory and often sees an increase in the prevalence of cognitive impairment. With the world’s population aging, it’s important that modifiable risk factors associated with cognitive performance, such as sleep habits, are identified.
To that end, researchers from University College London have led a study looking at whether there is a causal link between daytime napping and brain health.
The researchers recruited 378,932 participants of European ancestry aged between 40 and 69, drawn from the UK Biobank. Using a technique called Mendelian randomization, they looked at snippets of DNA to determine people’s likelihood of habitual napping. Mendelian randomization is a method of using measured variation in genes of known function to examine the causal effects of modifiable risk factors.
Cognitive tests of visual memory and reaction time were administered to all participants, and the researchers viewed some participants’ magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scans for structural brain changes. The participants were also asked to self-report their napping habits.
The researchers compared the brain health and cognitive functioning of people genetically ‘programmed’ to nap to those who weren’t and found that, overall, people programmed to nap had a larger total brain volume, a marker of brain health, especially in older adults. A reduction in brain volume, also called atrophy, is associated with cognition-related diseases such as mild cognitive impairment and dementia.
The researchers estimated that the average difference in total brain volume between predisposed and non-predisposed nappers was equal to 2.6 to 6.5 years of aging. But in other measures – hippocampal volume, reaction time, and visual processing – there was no difference in performance between the two groups. The hippocampus is a complex structure buried deep in the brain with a major role in memory and learning. Hippocampal volume, in particular, has been linked to a decline in cognitive function.
Based on their findings, the researchers say there is a “modest causal association” between habitual daytime napping and larger total brain volume.
“This is the first study to attempt to untangle the causal relationship between habitual daytime napping and cognitive and structural brain outcomes,” said Valentina Paz, the lead author of the study. “By looking at genes set at birth, Mendelian randomization avoids confounding factors occurring throughout life that may influence associations between napping and health outcomes. Our study points to a causal link between habitual napping and larger total brain volume.”
While the current study didn’t specify the duration of naps taken by participants, previous studies suggest that naps of 30 minutes or less provide the best short-term cognitive benefits, with napping early in the day less likely to disrupt nighttime sleep.
The researchers note a particular limitation of their study, namely that all participants were of white European ancestry, meaning the results may not be generalizable to other ethnicities. Nonetheless, they say their study’s findings demonstrate the benefits that can be gained from taking short naps.
“I hope studies such as this one showing the health benefits of short naps can help to reduce the stigma that still exists around daytime napping,” said Victoria Garfield, one of the study’s co-authors.
The study was published in the journal Sleep Health.
Source: University College London | Mental Health Treatments |
Boris Johnson told senior advisers that the Covid virus was “just nature’s way of dealing with old people” and he was “no longer buying” the fact the NHS was overwhelmed during the pandemic, the pandemic inquiry has heard.
In a WhatsApp message sent to his top aides in October 2020, the former prime minister said he had been “slightly rocked” by Covid infection rates and suggested he was, as a result, unconvinced that hospitals were on the brink despite public warnings from NHS chiefs and frontline staff.
The former chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, in his diaries described a “bonkers set of exchanges” in a meeting from that August. He noted that Johnson appeared “obsessed with older people accepting their fate” and letting younger people get on with their lives during the pandemic.
Another note from Vallance, after a meeting in December 2020, hinted at the power wielded by the right of the Conservative party during the pandemic: “PM told he has been acting early and the public are with him (but his party is not).
“He says his party ‘thinks the whole thing is pathetic and Covid is just nature’s way of dealing with old people – and I am not entirely sure I disagree with them. A lot of moderate people think it is a bit too much.’”
Vallance’s diary also recounts how then chief whip Mark Spencer told a cabinet meeting in December 2020 that “we should let the old people get it and protect others”. He said that Johnson then added: “A lot of my backbenchers think that and I must say I agree with them”.
Johnson, despite Covid infection numbers going up at that time, told the meeting that he wanted to move to tier 3 restrictions instead.
The documents emerged during a bruising session of the Covid inquiry for the former prime minister, with the former senior aides Lee Cain and Dominic Cummings questioning in evidence his suitability for the role during the pandemic.
Cummings had previously, in July 2021, claimed that Johnson was not prepared to impose lockdown restrictions to stop the spread of Covid in autumn 2020 because “the people who are dying are essentially all over 80”.
In response to the messages published by the inquiry, Cain told the inquiry’s lawyers on Tuesday: “I think he was concerned about the damage on society as a whole and he was trying to view it through that lens.
“Some of the language is obviously not what I would have used but for me the core argument was always the same, which was your choice is that we lock down and control the virus and we do so as quickly as possible to minimise cost to health and cost to the economy at the same time.”
In a WhatsApp exchange between the then prime minister and Cain in October 2020 Johnson wrote: “I must say, I have been slightly rocked by some of the data on Covid fatalities. The median age is 82 – 81 for men, 85 for women. That is above life expectancy. So get Covid and live longer.
“Hardly anyone under 60 goes into hospital (4%) and of those virtually all survive. And I no longer buy all this NHS overwhelmed stuff. Folks I think we may need to recalibrate. There are max 3m in this country over 80.”
In his evidence to the inquiry, Cain said: “I think he [Johnson] acted too late on some of the … particularly the later lockdowns, but he did actually do what I believe to be the moral and responsible course of action. It was just later than it should have been.”
However, the former No 10 director of communications said he and other officials were concerned that the lessons of the previous lockdown had not been learned.
“I think you can forgive some of the errors in the first lockdown because things are moving at incredible speed. We were, you know, this sort of building the train tracks as the train was moving,” Cain said.
“By the time we moved into this later period, I think the rump of No 10 felt that while we’ve learned all these lessons from the first period of lockdown, why are we now trying to ignore them again and repeat the exact same mistakes?”
Brenda Doherty, spokesperson for Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK, said: “While Covid-19 was ripping through the country and I was doing everything I could to protect my mum, Boris Johnson was unable to take decisions, and left the country at the mercy of the virus he was supposed to be protecting them from.
“By the time the second wave came around and thousands, like my mum had died, he was saying that if you caught Covid you would ‘live longer’, that he didn’t buy ‘all this NHS overwhelmed stuff’ and agreeing that ‘we should let the old people get it’.
“He clearly didn’t see people like my mum as human beings, and thousands others died unnecessarily after the same mistakes were repeated because of Johnson’s callous and brutal attitude. I’d do anything to spend another day with my mum, and now we know that we might have had years and years together if only the country had a more humane prime minister when the pandemic struck.” | Epidemics & Outbreaks |
Largest ever study on light exposure proves its impact on mental health
The world’s largest study on light exposure and its impact on mental health, with almost 87,000 participants, has found that increased exposure to light at night increases a person’s risk for psychiatric disorders such as anxiety, bipolar and PTSD severity as well as self-harm.
Importantly, the study also found that increasing exposure to daytime light can act like a non-pharmacological means for reducing psychosis risk.
In those exposed to high amounts of light at night, the risk of depression increased by 30 per cent – while those who were exposed to high amounts of light during the day reduced their risk of depression by 20 per cent. Similar patterns of results were seen for self-harm behaviour, psychosis, bipolar disorder, Generalised Anxiety Disorder, and PTSD.
These findings indicate that the simple practise of avoiding light at night and seeking brighter light during the day could be an effective, non-pharmacological means of reducing serious mental health issues.
The study, led by Associate Professor Sean Cain, from the Monash School of Psychological Sciences and the Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health in Melbourne, Australia, is published today in the journal, Nature Mental Health.
“Our findings will have a potentially huge societal impact,” said Associate Professor Cain.
“Once people understand that their light exposure patterns have a powerful influence on their mental health, they can take some simple steps to optimise their wellbeing. It’s about getting bright light in the day and darkness at night.”
The study’s 86,772 participants were all from the UK Biobank, and were examined for their exposure to light, sleep, physical activity and mental health. Associate Professor Cain said the impact of night light exposure was also independent of demographic, physical activity, season and employment.
“And our findings were consistent when accounting for shiftwork, sleep, urban versus rural living and cardio-metabolic health,” he said.
Humans in modern, industrialised times have literally turned our biological systems upside down. According to Associate Professor Cain, our brains evolved to work best with bright light in the day and then with almost no light at night.
“Humans today challenge this biology, spending around 90 per cent of the day indoors under electric lighting which is too dim during the day and too bright at night compared to natural light and dark cycles. It is confusing our bodies and making us unwell,” he said. | Mental Health Treatments |
Playing music such as a Mozart lullaby to babies may help reduce their suffering during painful procedures, research suggests.
Minor medical procedures such as injections or heel-prick blood tests are commonly performed on newborn infants, and while some people have argued that babies’ brains are not developed enough for them to really feel pain, recent research has suggested that they experience it much like adults do.
Dr Saminathan Anbalagan, a neonatal and perinatal medicine fellow at Thomas Jefferson University hospital in New York, US, who led the new research, said: “Studies have [also] demonstrated that early pain experiences may alter pain responses later in life and lead to other long-term adverse outcomes. Hence establishing an easy and reliable method to reduce pain in newborns is crucial.”
Anbalagan and his colleagues measured the pain levels of 100 newborn infants undergoing a heel-prick blood test as part of routine screening for rare but serious conditions such as cystic fibrosis and inherited metabolic disorders. All were given a small dose of sugar solution two minutes before the procedure, while 54 of the infants were also played an instrumental Mozart lullaby for 20 minutes before, during and for five minutes after it. The other babies did not listen to any music.
An investigator wearing noise-cancelling headphones assessed the babies’ pain levels using a standard scoring system that assessed facial expressions, crying, breathing patterns, limb movements and alertness, with a maximum possible score of seven.
The study, published in Pediatric Research, found that while pain scores were zero for both groups before the heel prick, the average pain score of infants who listened to the lullaby was significantly lower during and immediately after the procedure compared with those who did not listen to music.
The pain scores of infants who listened to the lullaby were four during the procedure, dropping to zero a minute later. Average pain scores for infants who didn’t hear the lullaby were seven at the time of the heel prick, dropping to five and a half after one minute, and to two at two minutes.
“Music intervention is an easy, reproducible and inexpensive tool for pain relief from minor procedures in healthy, term newborns,” said Anbalagan. “We suggest that future studies should also strongly consider exploring the effects of similar interventions, such as recorded parental voice instead of Mozart music.”
Previous research has suggested that premature babies may feel less pain during medical procedures when they are spoken to by their mothers, and that hearing their mother’s voice boosted levels of oxytocin in their saliva. Oxytocin is a hormone known to be involved in attachment processes, and may also help to protect against the effects of pain.
“Involving parents as partners in neonatal care is an underutilised approach,” Anbalagan said.
Rebeccah Slater, a professor of paediatric neuroscience at the University of Oxford, UK, who studies infant pain perception, said: “Finding the best methods to comfort babies during painful procedures is extremely important. This new research suggests that auditory stimulation through music may reduce pain scores. Comforting interventions such as listening to music should be considered when babies require essential clinical procedures.” | Medical Innovations |
Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images
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A summer of extreme heat is raising alarms of health risks. Here, a child plays in a waterfall feature at Yards Park in Washington, D.C., on June 26.
Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images
A summer of extreme heat is raising alarms of health risks. Here, a child plays in a waterfall feature at Yards Park in Washington, D.C., on June 26.
Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images
Extreme heat poses health risks to everyone — and it's a unique challenge for kids who love to be outdoors in summertime. Small children can be especially at risk in the heat, but experts say they can still play safely — if grownups follow a few guidelines.
Extreme temperatures can cause dangerous stress to the heart, kidneys and other organs, and humidity and dehydration can compound the risks. People can also sustain burns from pavement and other surfaces — including playground equipment.
Several factors put children at risk from heat, from physical characteristics to the likelihood that they're not attuned to notice signs of their own heat exhaustion. One basic rule to keep in mind is that the younger they are, the more carefully they should be monitored.
Here are some tips from experts, for people looking after small children and big kids:
Think of small kids as potatoes
Children under 9 can be at a particular risk for heat stress. Part of the reason is behavioral — many kids can get so distracted that they might not notice the effects of high temperatures — but other factors are physical.
"Imagine that you had a potato and you want to cook that potato," climate scientist Camilo Mora, a professor at University of Hawaii at Manoa, told NPR.
If it's a big potato, heat will have a hard time getting to its core. But smaller potatoes cook much faster, as heat can quickly reach their center.
"That's exactly what happens with the kids," Mora said. "The kids are like the small potato in which the heat can get faster to the core. While in an adult, that heat had a harder time getting to the middle and cooking us."
That makes kids more vulnerable to high temperatures. Another mechanism is the way they handle water.
"Children's bodies take longer to increase sweat production and otherwise acclimatize in a warm environment than adults' do, research shows," according to KFF Health News. "Young kids are also more susceptible to dehydration because a larger percentage of their body weight is water."
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
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A woman wipes her son with a wet cloth as her family waits at a bus station in Tucson, Ariz. On Wednesday, Tucson set a new record for consecutive days of 100-plus-degree temperatures with 40, dating back to June 16.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
A woman wipes her son with a wet cloth as her family waits at a bus station in Tucson, Ariz. On Wednesday, Tucson set a new record for consecutive days of 100-plus-degree temperatures with 40, dating back to June 16.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
Look for changes in kids' behavior
It could signal that the child is in distress from too much heat.
"One of our biggest signs is kids who are normally upbeat and having a great time and are really in it are not [doing that]," nurse Camille Hatcher of the Lake Nixon Summer Day camp in Little Rock, Ark., recently told NPR.
Hatcher says her camp "is 100% outdoors," but it has added a cooling spot where kids can play cards. Staff also direct campers toward shade and swimming — and they look for kids who seem out of sorts, and even irritable.
"These are all signs of a kid who is not feeling well but is not able to communicate it," Hatcher said. "They can also complain of, like, 'Oh, my tummy hurts. I don't feel good. I want to go home.' "
When staff notice those signs, Hatcher said, they get the kids away from the sun and heat.
Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images
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Children play with a dog in a water fountain in New York City on Wednesday, during a heat wave.
Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images
Children play with a dog in a water fountain in New York City on Wednesday, during a heat wave.
Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images
A bit of water can help cool a child in a stroller
Infants can struggle to regulate their body temperature. And while many parents drape a thin muslin cloth over strollers to give shade to babies, research suggests that can actually make the temperature inside the stroller hotter — by as much as 7 to 9 degrees Fahrenheit.
Instead, parents should try wetting the cloth, according to Ollie Jay, a professor of heat and health at the University of Sydney.
"What we found is that if you then wet that cloth, it cools the temperature inside of the stroller to approximately 4 degrees Celsius below what it is in the shade outside," Jay said.
In Fahrenheit, that's about 7 degrees cooler. So while it's best to keep babies in a cool room indoors when temperatures reach high extremes, if they're outdoors in a stroller, a wet thin cloth on top of their stroller can act as a sort of makeshift AC unit.
A few steps can help kids (and adults) cool down
Finding shade and, ideally, an air conditioned space are best. But kids who develop a headache, dizziness or lethargy from the heat need to cool down — fast — and drink water.
"A 10-minute cool shower can effectively lower your internal body temperature. If you are in a situation where you lose power and don't have air conditioning, that's one way to do it," says Ashley Ward, director of the Heat Policy Innovation Hub at Duke University, on a call with journalists about the heat.
Ward and other experts say immersing feet in cold water is another quick way to lower core body temperature. She also notes that even plunging your arms into water past the elbows has been shown to help.
When our bodies reach a core temperature of about 104 degrees Fahrenheit, that's a sign of heatstroke.
Make sure children stay hydrated
Kids should have water before they head out. In general, when tweens are active outside, they should drink water frequently — 3 to 8 ounces every 20 minutes — and older kids should have up to a liter or more (approximately 34 to 50 ounces) each hour, according to a guideline from the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Here are a few more tips:
- Avoid sugary and caffeinated drinks in extreme heat — they can cause dehydration.
- Our bodies' hydration level is reflected in our urine. A light yellow color is fine; dark yellow or orange suggests the body needs more water.
- "If you are sweating a lot, combine water with snacks or a sports drink to replace the salt and minerals you lose in sweat," the Red Cross says.
If kids in your care are tired of water, milk can also be a good choice, especially for young athletes, as it contains protein, vitamin D and calcium.
"After a hot practice, drink enough water to be able to urinate. Then drink 8 ounces of milk after some cooling off time inside," the University of Kansas Health System recommends.
Speaking to the kid in all of us, it adds, "Chocolate milk with a minimal amount of sugar offers some carbohydrates as well and may be more desirable than plain milk." | Stress and Wellness |
Rebecca Blackwell/AP
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Disposable vapes in many kid-friendly fruity flavors, are displayed for sale at a shop in Pinecrest, Fla., Monday, June 26, 2023. Since 2020, the number of different vaping devices for sale in the U.S. has exploded, driven by a wave of disposable models from China.
Rebecca Blackwell/AP
Disposable vapes in many kid-friendly fruity flavors, are displayed for sale at a shop in Pinecrest, Fla., Monday, June 26, 2023. Since 2020, the number of different vaping devices for sale in the U.S. has exploded, driven by a wave of disposable models from China.
Rebecca Blackwell/AP
Nancy Heredia-Villanueva recalls the day in the fall of 2021, shortly after her oldest daughter started high school, when she went to zip her open school backpack. Her daughter defensively pulled it away.
"A fight ensued, it was like a tug of war over the backpack," Villanueva says, with her daughter eventually wresting it away, then locking herself in the bathroom. Afterward, Villanueva and her husband "tore apart" the bathroom, finding four sweet-flavored vapes wedged behind the bathroom mirror.
Villanueva was shocked, wholly unaware her 14-year-old daughter had gotten hooked on vaping the year prior. She'd never seen nor smelled the fruit-flavored vapors from the brightly colored devices.
Sale of those are illegal under both federal and New Jersey state law. But her daughter and other underage friends bought them at a gas station in a town next to Dunellen, N.J., where they live. Enraged, Villanueva and another parent confronted the store's cashier. Villanueva recorded a video, and posted it to a mom's group. She says it went viral.
The response startled her. She and her family received a litany of threats from e-cigarette users – including children – who bought their vapes there. "I didn't even realize until that happened that it was such a huge issue; all the kids in all the local towns and cities all knew about that place," she says.
Nancy Heredia-Villanueva
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Nancy Heredia-Villanueva and her daughter speak out about the health risks of vaping. And Heredia-Villanueva is campaigning for more enforcement of illegal sales of the products.
Nancy Heredia-Villanueva
Disposable, flavored vapes are not supposed to be sold in the U.S. The Food and Drug Administration began cracking down on vaping in 2020, by requiring e-cigarettes get regulatory approval in order to sell. To date, the agency has authorized only 23 specific e-cigarette products, all of which are tobacco-flavored alternatives to cigarettes, targeted at adults.
Yet illegal products — most notably the disposable and flavored vapes that are most popular among youth and young adults — remain widely available, online and in stores.
Why? The answer, in part, stems from how rapidly the market is growing.
The number of brands increased by 46% over three years to about 260 brands, each of which might market thousands of different products, explains Kristy Marynak, a senior scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and lead author of a recent study quantifying that explosive growth of unapproved products between 2020 and 2022.
Each of those products should, under the law, apply for and receive approval from the FDA before being sold. But the ever-changing complexity of the industry makes it too complex to realistically police, and easy for brands to evade regulation.
"This is an industry that is very motivated to stay in business and continue marketing products that are highly addictive and heavily flavored," Marynak says.
The rise in vaping reversed declines in nicotine use among teens and young adults; cigarette smoking has been declining since the late 1990s, but it has been substantially replaced for young people by newer nicotine technologies. Today 16.5% of high school students use some kind of nicotine product and 14% vape.
There's been a huge increase in the use of disposable vapes by high school students, despite the fact that "the FDA has said is illegal, that is contraband," says Richard Marianos, a former assistant director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and professor at Georgetown University, citing an internal study based on recent CDC data on youth tobacco use.
Nearly all the world's e-cigarettes — 90% — come from factories in Shenzhen, China, Marianos says, but poor diplomatic relations make it hard to stop the influx.
"As you can see — from dealing with the economy, or spying, or balloons being flown over the United States — that stopping producing vapes to kids is not their top priority," he says of the Chinese government.
Recently, the FDA took additional steps to try to address the problem from within the U.S. borders. In May, it banned imports of some popular black-market products, including Elf Bar and Esco Bar. It also sent warnings to nearly 200 retailers selling them.
Will such measures work? Dorian Fuhrman, co-founder of Parents Against Vaping E-Cigarettes, isn't sure.
"Hopefully we will see a slow down in the flood of products that are coming in through China," she says. But, the constant introduction of new brands and products makes it hard to close loopholes. "Tomorrow you might have a totally different brand ... which means that they're going to have to be very comprehensive in the names of the brands that they put on these lists," she says.
Andrew Harnik/AP
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Disposable vapes, like Elf Bar and Esco Bar, come in youth-friendly fruity flavors. Recently the FDA has begun trying to block imports of some brands.
Andrew Harnik/AP
Disposable vapes, like Elf Bar and Esco Bar, come in youth-friendly fruity flavors. Recently the FDA has begun trying to block imports of some brands.
Andrew Harnik/AP
That's why many anti-smoking advocates argue local inspection of retailers — backed up by hefty fines and punishments for violations — are necessary.
But Nancy Heredia-Villanueva, the mom who stormed the gas station, says local authorities in her area haven't shown interest in enforcing sales of illegal vapes – even though they're specifically banned in New Jersey law.
First, she reported the store to police: "I had to actually email ordinances to the detective," she says. "And even then, he was like: 'Well, what am I supposed to do about it?'
Then, she complained to the mayor. "And I pretty much got nowhere with that, either," she says. "There are lots of laws in the state of New Jersey, and even in our own town, but there's not a plan as to how to enforce it."
It need not be complicated, argues Frank Armstrong, the long-time owner of Blue Ridge Tobacco, a chain with seven tobacco stores in North Carolina and Virginia. Local inspectors already monitor his stores for underage sales, and would issue hefty fines if they found violations. They should crack down the same way on sales of illegal vapes, he says.
Armstrong removed products the FDA has cited from his shelves — but noticed they're still available, elsewhere. "I went online and said, 'Okay, if I wanted to get Elf Bars, where would I get them." His search turned up numerous options. "Look at all the people that are selling them," he says.
So Armstrong says the FDA needs to give stores more clarity about which products are legal to sell, as well as funding for inspections. Otherwise, the rules will only apply to those willing to follow them, he says. "If there's no enforcement, then we're the only ones that are taking them off the shelves and our competition is not."
Meanwhile, New Jersey mom Villanueva has not stopped her campaign, a year and a half after discovering her daughter's vapes. She says education — and even awareness — remain a challenge.
Parents often think their children aren't the ones vaping, she says, in part because the devices are designed to be stealthy. "Oh my kid's not doing that," they tell her. "I was one of those parents," she says. She blamed her daughter's mood on hormones, not realizing that sometimes it was because of nicotine withdrawal.
Villanueva says schools don't talk about vaping, either. And her daughter, now 16, thought vapes were harmless, like inhaling fruit-flavored water vapor. But she says, in addition to withdrawals, vaping affected her daughter's mental health, even after she quit. "I just feel like she wasn't the same after that," she says.
Villanueva still gets threats for her activism, she says, but it's made her more outspoken. "I'm not the type of person — especially when it comes to my children and their safety and their well-being — I'm not going to back down." | Epidemics & Outbreaks |
FUMIKO CHINO: My name is Fumiko Chino and I'm a treating Radiation Oncologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. And I specialize in the treatment of breast and gynecological cancers. I have a research focus on access, affordability, and equity in cancer care. And my primary research topic is on the financial toxicity of cancer care.
The term financial toxicity has really evolved to mean the costs that are borne by patients and the downstream effects of how those are really impacting their lives, their ability to afford their treatments, the sacrifices that patients and their families are having to make, and sometimes the negative consequences in terms of increased symptom burden, uncontrolled disease, and unfortunately, death. We know our patients are making sometimes incredible sacrifices in order to afford their care. They are going into bankruptcy. They may be losing their house. And there can be generational poverty associated with a cancer diagnosis.
We know the concept of financial toxicity is not limited to cancer. There are many health states in the United States that are incredibly expensive. We know that people are unable to afford their asthma medication. They're unable to afford their diabetes medication. But my focus has always been in cancer.
One of the growing and evolving research topics here at ASCO, the world's leading oncology conference, is this concept of administrative burden that we are placing on patients. So let's say you have a cancer diagnosis and you're just trying to deal with the treatment and the side effects, and also balancing your family and maybe work. But what we found over time is that because care has become more complex and costly, more and more of these administrative burdens are being placed on patients. So that means that patients may have to file for short-term or long-term disability. They may have to fill out paperwork for FMLA. And they may have to actually make an insurance appeal for their prior authorizations.
All of these things are meaningful because they create additional stress and anxiety for our patients. And ultimately if these do not go as planned, they can actually create real and measurable barriers to care. So that may mean a delay of essential cancer treatment. Or it may mean that people have to skip out on treatments altogether. And that actually can lead to, again, worse outcomes for our patients. That could be increased symptom burden or even, again, death. So that is why our focus has always been on trying to improve outcomes. But the shift has been more towards, how do we actually make the lived experience of cancer better?
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FUMIKO CHINO: So I'm at ASCO, which is the world-leading cancer conference, where 40,000 oncologists and providers that treat cancer are gathered. And what we're identifying is new and novel treatments for cancer. And that means new drugs or new care delivery plans, but it also means an increasing focus on patient-centered care.
So instead of only focusing on drugs, we also want to make sure that the patient experience, so how people are tolerating their treatment, how they're being able to afford their treatment, and to make sure that they're actually not just surviving cancer, but thriving after cancer treatment is complete. That's become a new and evolving focus in our field. And I hope that that extends to all aspects of medicine, not just cancer care, that we're always focused on what truly makes the patient's life longer and better. | Global Health |
Spending time in the great outdoors has long been linked to greater health and wellness, many studies have shown — and cultivating a green thumb can grow those benefits even more.
"Gardening goes beyond just beautifying outdoor spaces — it can have a profound impact on our physical and mental well-being," Brian Clayton, CEO and co-founder of the online lawn care company GreenPal in Nashville, Tennessee, told Fox News Digital via email.
Gardening involves physical activity that works all the major muscle groups, which is beneficial for overall health.
"Activities such as digging, planting, weeding and harvesting require movement and can contribute to improved cardiovascular fitness, strength and flexibility," said Clayton.
"Engaging in these activities regularly can help burn calories, maintain a healthy weight and reduce the risk of chronic diseases."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that people get 150 minutes of "moderate-intensity exercise" each week, and gardening is listed as a qualifying activity.
Tending a garden for at least 2-½ hours each week can reduce the risk of obesity, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, osteoporosis, stroke, depression and colon cancer.
Beyond burning calories and building muscle, numerous studies have shown that gardening can give the immune system a boost, Clayton said.
"Exposure to soil and plants introduces beneficial microorganisms that can strengthen our immune response and improve overall resilience to diseases," he told Fox News Digital. "Additionally, spending time outdoors exposes us to natural sunlight, promoting vitamin D synthesis and supporting healthy bone and immune function."
Starting a garden can also introduce a beneficial social component.
"Gardening provides an opportunity for social connection and community engagement," Clayton explained. "It can be a shared activity among family members, friends or neighbors, fostering relationships and a sense of belonging."
Community gardens and gardening clubs also offer spaces for collaboration, knowledge-sharing and camaraderie, he added.
There are also mental health benefits associated with maintaining a garden, the expert said.
"Spending time in nature and tending to plants has a calming and therapeutic effect," Clayton said. "Gardening allows us to connect with the natural world, reducing stress, anxiety and depression."
Then there is the sense of purpose, accomplishment and satisfaction that comes with witnessing the growth and transformation of plants, he added.
"Spending time in nature and tending to plants has a calming and therapeutic effect."
Gardening also offers cognitive benefits, Clayton said, as it stimulates the senses, enhances focus and encourages problem-solving and creativity.
"It provides an opportunity to learn about plants, ecosystems and the environment, fostering a deeper understanding and appreciation for nature," he said.
Research has even shown that gardening can help to improve the brain nerve growth factors related to memory, according to a 2019 study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.
For those cultivating a vegetable or herb garden, there is also a nutritional benefit.
"Growing our own fruits, vegetables and herbs allows us to have access to fresh, organic produce," Clayton explained. "It encourages a healthier eating pattern, as we become more connected to the food we consume and develop a greater appreciation for nutritious choices."
Research has shown that gardening can help to improve the brain nerve growth factors related to memory.
Starting a garden doesn’t have to require a lot of space, money or time.
Dr. Joe Alton, a physician, preparedness advocate and Florida Master Gardener graduate, recommends starting small if you’re new to gardening.
"Many people go hog-wild and take on way more than they can handle, leaving them more stressed out than before," he told Fox News Digital. "Begin with just a few plants to avoid getting overwhelmed. You can always increase the size of the garden later on."
It’s also important to learn about which plants grow best in your time zone.
"If you live in Alaska, you probably won’t have much luck growing coconut palms, mango trees or banana plants," he said. "Learn about your grow zone and you’ll increase your odds of success."
Getting to know other gardeners can be a great help as you get started, Alton added.
"Many areas have garden clubs or co-ops, which allow you to network with like-minded people," he said. "Most are happy to share their expertise with newbies. You might even consider going through the Master Gardener program, which is available in many states through the agricultural extension office."
To read more pieces in Fox News Digital's "Be Well" series, click here. | Stress and Wellness |
Amid rising COVID cases and hospitalizations throughout the country, several hospital systems or hospitals have reinstated mask-wearing requirements for patients and staff, as reported by Becker’s Hospital Review.
These announcements come as COVID-related hospitalizations have risen 21.6% in the most recent week and deaths have risen 21.4%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The numbers, however, are still far below the levels that were seen during the pandemic.
As of Aug. 25, the following hospitals and health systems are now requiring masks, as confirmed by Fox News Digital.
Here is the list.
United Health Services in New York
This New York health system reinstated masking policies at its facilities on Aug. 23.
"Because of an uptick in COVID-19 cases, masks are once again required in all clinical areas at UHS Wilson Medical Center, UHS Binghamton General Hospital, UHS Chenango Memorial Hospital and UHS Delaware Valley Hospital, as well as primary and specialty care sites," UHS wrote in an announcement on its website.
"The new policy is in effect immediately for all patients, visitors, employees, medical staff, volunteers, students and vendors," the statement continued.
"Masks are required at nurses’ stations and in conference rooms within clinical departments, including areas where patients register, wait, transport through, or receive testing and care."
Masks are also required in "common spaces."
These include patient care units, lobbies, public hallways, stairwells, elevators and cafeterias (with the exception of when people are eating or drinking).
Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa Medical Center, California
This California medical center has reinstated the mask mandate amid a rise in positive COVID tests as of Aug. 22.
"To ensure that we are helping protect the health and safety of our patients, our workforce and our community, we have reintroduced a mask mandate for physicians, staff, patients, members and visitors in the hospital and medical offices in the Santa Rosa Service Area," Kaiser said in a statement.
On its website, the hospital states that "currently, masks are required upon entrance to the hospital and throughout your visit."
Auburn Community Hospital, New York
This New York hospital is again requiring masks — just one month after ending the mandate, as reported on Aug. 19.
All staff, patients and visitors must wear masks in clinical areas at Auburn Community Hospital in Auburn, New York.
"Face coverings are mandatory inside our facilities, regardless of your immunization status," the hospital states on its website.
"If you do not arrive with one or yours is deemed inappropriate, a mask will be provided to you. It must be worn at all times and must cover your nose and mouth."
Hospitalized COVID patients may only see one visitor at a time — who must also wear full personal protective equipment (PPE).
University Hospital in Syracuse, New York
As of Aug. 17, University Hospital in Syracuse has reinstated its masking requirement.
"Effective immediately, mandatory masking is required by all staff, visitors and patients in clinical areas of Upstate University Hospital, Upstate Community Hospital and ambulatory clinical spaces," as stated in a staff memo obtained by Syracuse.com.
"Clinical areas are defined as any location patients gather, wait, transport thorough or receive care."
What happened to the ‘end of universal masking’?
In April 2023, a group of health care epidemiologists and infectious diseases experts from across the country published a paper in the Annals of Internal Medicine, in which they called for an end to universal masking in hospitals and other health care settings.
"After three years of universal masking in health care, the risk-benefit calculation has shifted," said Shira Doron, M.D., chief infection control officer for Tufts Medicine health system and hospital epidemiologist at Tufts Medical Center, in a press release on the Mass General Brigham website.
"Masks do have downsides, such as impaired communication and disrupted human connection. We are at a stage of the pandemic where it now makes sense to end mandatory masking."
Dr. Marc Siegel, clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center and a Fox News medical contributor, said he supports mask requirements in hospitals that have vulnerable, high-risk patients.
"I still wear a mask inside my medical center, though many don't," he told Fox News Digital.
In one observational study at Mass General Brigham in July 2020, health care workers appeared to show decreased case numbers as a result of masks, Siegel noted.
In cases where masks are used or required, the doctor said they should be "KN95 or better" and that people should receive instructions for proper use.
Added Siegel, "They should only be considered for a high volume of circulating respiratory viruses."
"The mandates did not work. They’ve been studied over and over, and they didn’t decrease spread."
The doctor said he does not support universal mask mandates, however.
During an appearance on "Fox & Friends Weekend" on Saturday, Siegel spoke about today’s available antiviral drug, vaccines and widespread immunity.
"Most of us have had COVID, or people have had a vaccine and booster, and they have what’s called immune memory," he said.
"Most importantly, the mandates did not work," Siegel continued. "They’ve been studied over and over, and they didn’t decrease spread."
Studies have shown that many people wear masks improperly, the doctor noted.
"If you actually wore a mask in the proper way and it was the proper mask and you used it in the right setting, like a doctor’s office, it probably does something," Siegel said. "But does anybody do that? Certainly not 5-year-olds."
He added, "So mandating masks makes no sense whatsoever." | Epidemics & Outbreaks |
Each day Ron and Maxine Flewett wait for the phone to ring, hoping it is the news they have waited 20 months for.
Mr Flewett has a health condition causes scarring on the lungs - he relies on a constant supply of oxygen and now he is waiting for a transplant.
His wife, who is also his carer, says the call could come at any time - "no pre-warning, the call will just come out of the blue," she told Sky News.
But as his situation becomes more desperate, the nurses' strike, which began earlier tonight, has added another complication to an already difficult set of circumstances.
It is expected that NHS services will see "exceptionally low" staffing numbers between now and when the strike ends just before midnight on Monday.
NHS England has warned that the number of rescheduled appointments due to strike action is set to hit half a million next week.
Mr and Mrs Flewett have not been told that transplant services will be hit but, with a transplant requiring two operating theatres and two sets of medical staff, they can't help but be nervous.
Mr Flewett said: "I've waited 20 months - with strikes, I don't know if I'll lose my one opportunity - I'll never know, but that may be the case."
His wife added: "If he has to go to hospital (during the strike), will he get the treatment he needs? I shall be glad when it's over and will feel a lot more relaxed."
The nurses are driven by the failure of their wages to keep up with the increased cost of living but Health Secretary Steve Barclay has called the strike "premature" and "disrespectful" to other unions.
Pat Cullen, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said there were exemptions in place for services including emergency departments, intensive care units, neonatal units and paediatric intensive care units.
But she said the bigger risk to patients was from a massive shortage of nurses, saying there are "tens of thousands of vacant nursing posts".
Mrs Flewett said that the nurses she and her husband had met had been "worked off their feet" but concerns about her husband's health at such a time are playing on her mind.
She said: "Something has to be done to make sure the NHS is as good as it was in the past.
"At the moment we're dangling on a piece of string that it could not only be down to the lungs but down to whether they've got enough staff and doctors needed to work at the efficiency they need to.
"It's a matter of life and death - it's as simple as that.
"If Ron doesn't get a transplant, he won't be here."
The strike comes ahead of a meeting of the NHS Staff Council, made up of health unions, employers and government representatives, which will discuss the government's 5% pay offer. | Health Policy |
Heading into back-to-school season, the ongoing shortage of ADHD medications has sparked concern among some parents of children who have attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) first announced the medication shortage in October 2022.
New data from SingleCare, an online prescription savings service based in Columbus, Ohio, showed there was a 33% spike in ADHD medication fills for children between 6 and 17 years of age in August-September 2022, as compared to June-July 2022 ahead of the school season.
Given today's shortage, many of those children may not have access to the medication for the start of the 2023-2024 school year.
Although drug shortages are usually caused by manufacturing disruptions, unprecedented demand is another big factor in the scarcity of ADHD medications.
That's according to Dr. Jennifer Bourgeois, PharmD, a pharmacy and health expert at SingleCare.
"Because Adderall is a Schedule II drug, there are limitations on its production by the FDA and DEA," she told Fox News Digital.
"The active ingredients in the stimulant medications used to treat ADHD are strictly controlled by the DEA," she added.
"When the pharmaceutical companies try to scale up production to meet the increased demand, I suspect the DEA regulatory process may be adding to the delay."
Adderall (amphetamine mixed salts) is the medication that's most affected by the shortage, Bourgeois said, along with variations of methylphenidate, sold under the brand names Ritalin or Concerta.
"Adderall is one of the most commonly prescribed ADHD medications in the U.S., so this shortage is causing widespread impact," she said.
While some pharmaceutical and manufacturing companies predict the shortage will end between August and December 2023, it is still unclear when the medication will be widely available again, the doctor noted.
How the shortage will impact the back-to-school season
The shortage of ADHD medications is not just impacting the patient — it's also affecting the families and practitioners, Bourgeois said.
"Parents are driving long distances and calling a multitude of pharmacies just to obtain these medications," she said.
"Practitioners are having to reissue prescriptions to alternative pharmacies or change medications to another option in that same class or a different class entirely."
In the worst-case scenario, kids with ADHD may have to go without their medication completely, leading to worsened symptoms and making it more difficult for the parents and teachers to manage.
"This could not only impact patients' grades in school, but could also create concerns for classmates of these children," Bourgeois told Fox News Digital.
"Parents are driving long distances and calling a multitude of pharmacies just to obtain these medications."
Parents should plan ahead when filling medications for ADHD, the doctor recommended, as there is typically an increased demand in August as kids prepare to return to school.
"Understand that pharmacies may not be able to fill medications on the same day, so I advise dropping off your prescription at least two days before the medication is needed," she suggested.
"Consult with your health care provider regarding possible substitutions if the medication is unavailable," she added.
Parents may be tempted to give lower doses of ADHD medications in an attempt to make them last longer — but Bourgeois warned that this approach may have negative implications on the patient.
"Parents should work with the pharmacist and practitioner to create a solution that supports the needs of the patient, such as trying a different medication or taking ½ of a 10 mg tablet, versus 1 whole 5 mg tablet," she suggested.
Because each child will have different symptoms when going without medication, the approach should be tailored to each individual, the doctor said.
Non-drug alternatives to managing ADHD
Dr. Willough Jenkins, inpatient director of psychiatry at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego, typically prescribes non-drug ADHD treatments to younger, preschool-aged children, and offers a mix of drug and non-drug treatments to school-age children.
"Evidence shows that combining treatment (forms) is the most effective course of action."
"Parents often think that drugs are the only treatment method — but in reality, there is no one-size-fits-all approach," he told Fox News Digital.
"Evidence shows that combining both forms of treatment is the most effective course of action."
For non-drug treatment, Jenkins pointed to several alternative methods.
With cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), children learn strategies to manage the difficulties associated with ADHD, including emotion regulation, social anxiety and self-esteem issues, he said.
"Despite commonly held beliefs, ADHD is not just a lack of focus and attention," Jenkins added.
Parent training and education is another important non-drug method.
"There are a lot of programs aimed at supporting parents of children with ADHD, which is important because many kids with ADHD have behavioral issues," the doctor said.
"Parents may learn strategies such as ‘triple P’ — positive parenting program — that make it easier to manage conflict with their child."
Schools can also provide support through classroom accommodations and individualized education programs (IEPs).
"Ensuring the child has regular physical exercise of at least 30 minutes a day can make a huge difference."
It’s also important to "go back to the basics," Jenkins said, with a focus on healthy daily habits.
"Ensuring the child has regular physical exercise of at least 30 minutes a day can make a huge difference," he said. "Getting enough sleep — 10 to 12 hours for children — is crucial, but that can be difficult for some kids with ADHD, as their brain won’t wind down at night."
Many sleeping issues can be remedied by enforcing sleep hygiene, consistent sleeping patterns and reduced screentime at night, Jenkins suggested.
Mindfulness and meditation techniques can also help children with ADHD manage difficult emotions.
"By learning these skills from a therapist, children can reduce impulsivity and pause before they act," Jenkins noted.
When it comes to food, the doctor said that although there is no specific evidence-based diet for ADHD management, a balanced diet incorporating protein, fruits and vegetables is recommended.
ADHD coaching is another non-drug treatment method that can be useful for older, school-aged children, Jenkins said.
With this approach, a coach teaches social or organizational skills, such as how to plan ahead, make lists and set reminders.
"Parents often think drugs are the only treatment method — but in reality, there is no one-size-fits-all approach."
"It can be challenging for some families to get therapists and have the financial resources or time to access alternative methods," Jenkins said. "For example, ADHD coaching is not usually included with insurance."
He also said, "Fortunately, online tools are often effective and are making non-drug treatments more accessible."
The FDA is also working to provide alternative treatment options, including a "game-based digital therapeutic" designed to improve attention function in children with ADHD, according to a letter the agency published on August 1.
In the letter, the agency also detailed the steps it is taking to help resolve the shortage, including working with drug manufacturers to make sure they're producing the full amount as permitted by the DEA.
"We are calling on key stakeholders, including manufacturers, distributors, pharmacies and payors, to do all they can to ensure access for patients when a medication is appropriately prescribed," the statement said.
The FDA also pledged to "do all we can to prevent stimulant drug shortages, limit their impact and resolve them as quickly as possible."
Around six million children between 3 and 17 years of age have received an ADHD diagnosis, per CDC data. | Drug Discoveries |
Rishi Sunak is facing questions over a possible conflict of interest after it emerged that a private healthcare firm handed a government contract to reduce regional NHS waiting lists is linked to a No 10 policy adviser.
Bill Morgan, a founding partner of the PR and lobbying firm Evoke Incisive Health (EIH), joined Downing Street as a health policy adviser last November to help drive through NHS efficiencies.
InHealth, a fee-paying client of EIH when Morgan was a founding partner, has since been awarded a contract as an independent sector-led diagnostic centre, to run the south-west network.
There are about 114 NHS diagnostic centres, with those run by private providers set to increase from four to 12. Five of the new centres in the south-west from Cornwall to Bristol will be run by InHealth, which was founded by a British entrepreneur, Ivan Bradbury.
Morgan is also a member of the elective recovery taskforce (ERT) convened by the health secretary, Steve Barclay, to cut waiting lists. It is understood Morgan no longer works for Incisive Health and has no financial connection or continuing interest in his former employer or InHealth.
In a letter to the health minister Will Quince, who is chair of the ERT, Liz Kendall, the shadow social care minister, has questioned what measures were taken to manage potential conflicts of interests when the contracts were awarded, and whether Morgan was required to declare his past connection to InHealth when taking the No 10 job.
A Labour source said: “This stinks. Rishi Sunak brought a private healthcare lobbyist into Downing Street and has now handed his former clients a plum NHS contract.
“Sunak has to come clean about what appears to be a clear conflict of interest. The government should be focused on pulling the NHS out of the biggest crisis in its history, not rewarding private healthcare chums.”
The Guardian understands the decision to approach InHealth and other independent sector providers to deliver the five diagnostic centres in the south-west announced on 4 August was taken before the formation of the ERT.
Kendall said in her letter to Quince: “The [elective] taskforce recommendations advocate the use of spare private sector capacity – a proposal put forward by Labour back in January 2022 which, if adopted at the time, would have resulted in 330,000 fewer patients waiting for treatment today.
“I understand that, of the 13 of the community diagnostic centres you now plan to launch, eight of these will be run by the private sector. I note in particular that an organisation named ‘InHealth’ has been awarded the contract to run the south-west network.
“I further understand that the company is a former fee-paying client of Mr Bill Morgan – both a special political adviser to the prime minister and member of the elective recovery taskforce – and that the CEO of InHealth was one of seven private healthcare bosses present at the launch event for the elective recovery taskforce in December 2022. Your department has declined to publish the attendee list for this meeting and no minutes appear to have been taken.”
Kendall also asked Quince what steps the government’s health department has taken to mitigate its exposure to future potential conflicts of interest. Downing Street says it has robust processes in place to manage any potential conflicts.
Stella Vig, the NHS England clinical director for elective care, said the NHS had already increased use of the independent sector by more than a third since April 2021.
Record numbers of people are paying for private healthcare, spending up to £3,200 on having a cataract removed and £15,075 on a new hip, amid growing frustration at NHS waiting lists.
Across the UK last year 272,000 people used their own funds to cover the cost of having an operation or diagnostic procedure at a private hospital. That was up from 262,000 the year before and a sharp rise on the 199,000 who did so in 2019, the year before the Covid pandemic struck.
There had been renewed focus on the prime minister’s views on private healthcare after the Guardian reported he was registered with a private GP practice that charges £250 for a consultation. | Health Policy |
Health Secretary Victoria Atkins has apologised to a patient waiting for a back operation who said she "can't go on much longer like this".
Ms Atkins was confronted by a video message from Lynn on the BBC's 'Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg' programme, as she battled to defend the Government's efforts to curb spiralling NHS waiting lists.
Lynn told the top Tory: "I have been on the waiting list for back surgery and have been for over a year. I've been told the waiting list is years and I'm not likely to get the surgery any time soon.
"I'm restricted as to what I can do and I can't go on much longer like this. What are you going to do about the NHS waiting list?"
Ms Atkins, who was appointed in Rishi Sunak's reshuffle, said: "First of all, I'm so very sorry that she is suffering in pain like that. I want to help Lynn and everybody else in the country that is facing these waiting lists.
"This is why, in fairness, the Prime Minister has made the waiting list one of his priorities." Presenter Laura Kuenssberg interjected to point out that waiting lists have risen since Mr Sunak made that commitment, despite more money and more staff.
There were a record 7.77 million waits for non-emergency care at the end of September, according to data from NHS England. The figure rose from 7.75 million in August.
Analysis by NHS England found that around one million people are waiting for more than one treatment, many of whom will be elderly patients waiting for things like hip and knee replacements.
Ms Atkins sought to heap blame on industrial action in the NHS for the long waits, despite her predecessor Steve Barclay's refusal to meet striking consultants. An end to the bitter pay dispute is now in sight after a deal was struck that will now go to members.
The new Health Secretary said she had a "really constructive" relationship with consultants and said she was keen to resolve the row with junior doctors, who are still in dispute with the Government.
The presenter also raised the case of Denise, in Suffolk, who turned to private healthcare as she was in too much pain to wait. "She took a bank loan and crowdfunded a new hip.
"She now worries she needs the other hip done but would have to sell her house to do that. Is that acceptable?"
Ms Atkins said: "Of course not, and this is why the PM has focused on waiting lists as I say and we are trying to get those down. We are making some progress, we have seen some of the longest waits virtually eliminated. But there is no easy answer to this."
Pressed on whether the Government would hit its targets before the election, she said: "We are looking to meet those targets but I need the consultants to pass this settlement we have put forward. I hope very much that doctors in training will be able to reach a settlement with us as well.
"If we've removed the threat of industrial from the NHS, then those people who, for example in October set of actions, we have 40,000 appointments being rescheduled each day. Then that stops and we are able to get on with the business of looking after people."
Ms Atkins also admitted to using private healthcare once in the past to get a second opinion. She added: "I've use the NHS my entire life. I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes on the NHS and it has supported me every year of my life since."
Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Sarah Olney accused the Government of "flying blind" into a fresh NHS winter crisis. She said: "This Conservative Government has already broken its promise on recruiting new GPs, now it looks likely that the promise to cut waiting lists will also be broken.
"Atkins couldn't provide any reassurance for patients stuck waiting for surgery and treatment. With no extra money for the NHS during the Autumn Statement, we're flying blind into another winter crisis and Atkins wouldn't even deny it." | Health Policy |
The ongoing Marburg fever outbreak in Equatorial Guinea is significantly larger than has previously been acknowledged, according to new information released Wednesday by the World Health Organization, which warned there may be undetected chains of transmission of the deadly virus in the West African country.
The update, the first in nearly a month, shows that the number of confirmed and probable cases has grown from nine to 29, with cases having been reported in three different provinces over a range of about 90 miles. Some have links to known cases, others do not.
“The wide geographic distribution of cases and uncertain epidemiological links in Centre Sur province suggests the potential for undetected community spread of the virus,” the WHO said in the statement. “WHO assesses the risk posed by the outbreak as very high at the national level, moderate at the regional level, and low at the global level.”
All three provinces share international crossings with Cameroon and Gabon. “Cross-border population movements are frequent, and the borders are very porous. Although no [Marburg] cases have been reported outside Equatorial Guinea the risk of international spread cannot be ruled out,” the WHO said.
This outbreak of Marburg, a close cousin to Ebola, is the first the country has had to contend with and it is unclear that it has all the expertise and the scientific capacity it will need to do so. The WHO said it has sent experts in epidemiology, case management, infection prevention and control and risk communication to support the national response efforts. A mobile laboratory from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — and the CDC staff to run it — is already in the country.
There are currently two Marburg outbreaks underway in central Africa. On Tuesday, Tanzanian authorities announced they had detected the country’s first Marburg outbreak. To date there have been at least eight cases, five of them fatal.
While the Tanzanian officials quickly disclosed their situation, authorities in Equatorial Guinea have been much less forthcoming with their news. The WHO typically issues more frequent updates when there are active filovirus outbreaks — Marburg and Ebola are both filoviruses — but the agency must liaise with affected countries in order to do so. The length of time between this update and the one that preceded it is notable.
There are many unanswered questions about the outbreak, but here are some details that are known:
The first probable case died on Jan. 7. In the weeks that followed, about seven people in two villages in the eastern province of Kié-Ntem fell ill and died. In mid-February, the Institut Pasteur in Dakar, Senegal confirmed there was Marburg virus in one of eight samples it was asked to test. The following week the WHO issued an update saying there were 9 cases so far — one confirmed and eight probable or suspect.
In a filovirus outbreak, laboratory confirmation of all cases is uncommon. Some people die before it is known an outbreak is underway. Even when authorities realize an outbreak is ongoing, some people who die are buried by their families before samples can be taken for testing. In some instances samples aren’t properly taken or handled.
Genetic analysis conducted by the Institut Pasteur showed the virus is closely related to a strain of Marburg that triggered the largest Marburg outbreak on record, in Angola in 2004 and 2005. During that outbreak, 252 people were infected and 227 of them died.
Marburg outbreaks are generally smaller than Ebola outbreaks. With 29 confirmed and probable cases, this outbreak is already the fourth largest on record.
Since the last update in late February, an additional eight confirmed cases have been detected, the WHO said. Of the nine confirmed and 20 probable cases, all but two are dead. The most recent confirmations of cases date to March 20.
In addition to Kié-Ntem province, cases have been detected in Litoral — roughly 93 miles away — and in Centre Sur provinces. In some cases, epidemiological links to other cases have been established; in others, it’s not clear how they became infected. Genetic analysis of the viruses — when it is conducted — could shed some light on this.
The Marburg virus was first detected in 1967, and is named after the Germany city where one of the first outbreaks was seen. (The people who fell ill were laboratory workers infected after handling imported green monkeys.) Rousettus aegyptiacus fruit bats are considered the natural hosts for Marburg virus.
The virus spreads through direct contact with broken skin, blood or other bodily secretions from an infected person, as well as from handling materials such as bedding contaminated with such bodily fluids.
There are currently no approved vaccines or antiviral treatments for Marburg. Patients are treated with supportive care, primarily oral or intravenous fluids to replace those lost through the vomiting and diarrhea the disease triggers.
In mid-February, the WHO convened a meeting of global experts to explore whether there were supplies of experimental vaccines or drugs that could be tested in the outbreak. But while there are a number of vaccines in early stages of testing, there are very few doses that would be available for testing at present.
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ASD jab: Chinese scientists reach milestone in revolutionary gene therapy for autism
- A genome editing system developed by Chinese scientists successfully modified a mutated gene linked to autism when tested on mice
- It is the first effective treatment of mice with ASD-related mutations using base editing in the brain, according to the researchers
The treatment, developed by researchers in Shanghai, showed positive results when tested on mice.
Mice given the injection containing the editing system registered a decrease in ASD-associated behaviour.
In a paper on their research, published in the journal Nature Neuroscience on November 27, the scientists said the potential treatment method could not just be used for patients with ASD, but also other genetic neurodevelopmental disorders.
The disorder can affect a person’s ability to interact and communicate, as well as cause repetitive behaviours and intense interests.
To study the impact of genomic editing for the treatment of ASD, the researchers created mice with mutations in the MEF2C gene, which they said was “strongly associated” with the disorder.
Mutations in this gene were thought to cause developmental deficits, speech problems, repetitive behaviours and epilepsy, the paper said.
The male mice given the mutation were found to have lower levels of the MEF2C protein in the brain, and had symptoms that mimicked ASD-like hyperactivity, problems with social interaction and repetitive behaviour.
To limit unintended mutations, the researchers used a single-base editing system – which they called AeCBE – that is able to work on individual DNA base pairs without creating any cuts.
Li Dali, a professor of Life Sciences at East China Normal University, who is not an author on the paper, said this was the first effective treatment of mice with ASD-related mutations using base editing in the brain, according to Shenzhen-based autism media platform Dami & Xiaomi.
To deliver the system into the brain, it needs to pass through the blood-brain barrier, which is a group of cells that tightly regulate the entry of molecules into the brain.
Researchers overcame this barrier by packaging their editing system on to an adeno-associated virus vector – capable of crossing over into the brain.
The combined editing system and virus vector was administered to mutant mice through a single injection into a tail vein. A few weeks later, the mice were examined.
“The treatment successfully restored MEF2C protein levels in several brain regions and reversed the behavioural abnormalities in MEF2C-mutant mice,” the paper said.
Through examining brain cells of the mice, the team found that the editors were able to perform repairs across the brain at an accuracy rate of 20 per cent, which was enough to raise levels of the MEF2C protein.
The samples taken were a mixture of neurons along with other cells, so the team said that the editing rate of the neurons alone could be higher, as base editing happens preferentially in these cells.
Researcher Chen Jin and his student Zhu Junjie at ShanghaiTech University, who are not authors on the paper, said that “although cases of ASD are extremely complex” this study provides guidance in using base editing to treat neurodevelopmental disorders, according to Dami & Xiaomi.
Expansion of the technology and lower costs would make treatment using base editing more prevalent, the team added.
“Individualised gene editing therapy could become feasible and affordable for patients in the near future,” the paper said.
ASD is a complex disorder, and hundreds of mutations have been found to be related to it, said Zou Xiaobing, chief physician in child development behaviour at the Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou’s Sun Yat-sen University, according to Dami & Xiaomi.
For some patients, the disorder may not be caused by a single nucleotide variation like it was for the mice in the study, but rather more complex mutations that would be difficult to edit.
“Even if an effective gene therapy method is found in a specific single nucleotide variation, it is at least a very valuable thing for people with autism caused by this gene,” said Zou, who is not an author on the Nature Neuroscience paper.
“Continuing scientific, targeted and personalised intervention and training based on the child’s specific situation is still the main way to deal with autism.”
“This work suggests that in vivo base editing might be a feasible approach for intervening in genetic brain disorders in humans,” the paper said.
While the target scope of the team’s genetic editing – as well as that of other scientists – was still limited, the paper said base editing systems with broader targets “would notably facilitate the development of genetic tools to intervene in genetic disorders”. | Disease Research |
Covid variant Orthrus now accounts for one fifth of Covid cases in England, figures show.Virus-tracking surveillance data shows the strain, scientifically called CH.1.1, has snowballed since it was first detected in November. Health chiefs have warned it — or another Omicron lineage dubbed 'Kraken' — could soon become dominant. The latter, known as XBB1.5, has sparked fears that it could trigger a Covid resurgence, piling even more pressure on the NHS at a time when it is being battered by its worst ever winter. Maps, taken from the Sanger Institute, which tracks Covid variants in England using data from genomic testing, show Omicron spin-off Orthrus has spread up and down the nation as of January 7, the latest available data. It now accounts of 23.3 per cent of all Covid test analysed up from 1 per cent on November 12 when it was first spotted in Blaby in the south west of LeicestershireData from the Sanger Institute, one of the UK's largest surveillance sites tasked with analysing strains circulating in the UK, shows Orthrus, nicknamed after a mythical two-headed dog, accounted for 23.3 per cent of all Covid tests analysed in England on January 7, the latest data available.Fascinating maps show it now accounts for 100 per cent of genomic tests of the virus in some broughs. These include Northumberland, Bradford, Wakefield, Blackburn with Darwen, North West Leicestershire, Breckland, Central Bedfordshire, Oxford, Reading, Woking, Enfield, Havering, Sevenoaks, Carwely, and Adur. It shows how far the new variant has come since when it was first spotted in Blaby in the south west of Leicestershire on November 12.But the Sanger data is only based on hundreds of samples, meaning it does not reflect the true picture. The majority of Covid-positive samples are not sequenced by the lab, which was analysing thousands every day during the height of the pandemic Kraken, nicknamed after a mythical sea monster, currently accounts for 3.6 per cent of cases in England, according to the same data. However, it was only spotted in mid-December.While Orthrus is behind more infections, experts have said Kraken appears to be growing faster and is thought to be more transmissible and immune evasive than other strains in circulation. UK Health Security Agency data suggested that Kraken has a 39 per cent growth rate advantage over BQ.1, the current dominant variant. This chart, taken from the Sanger Institute, shows the growth of both Orthrus (salmon colour) and Kraken (purple) since November 12. However, Omicron strain BQ.1 (yellow) is still the dominant variant. Other Covid variants on the chart include other BA.5 sub-lineages (maroon), BA.2 (light blue) and BA.4 (thin orange line) The latest ONS Covid infection survey shows that 4 per cent of England's population was infected on any given day last week — a drop from 4.5 per cent last week. In Scotland, levels increased by 3 per cent in Scotland to 219,600, meaning one in 25 people (4.1 per cent of the population) were infected in the week to December 31. Around 157,000 people in Wales (one in 18, 5.7 per cent) were thought to be carrying the virus in the seven days to January 3, down 9.4 per cent in a week. In Northern Ireland, 129,100 people were infected (one in 14, 7 per cent) — an increase of 9.3 per cent. However, the ONS said the weekly trend is uncertain COVID: The number of people infected with Covid taking up hospital beds in England fell 11 per cent from 9,414 in the week to January 4 to 8,404 in the seven days to January 11. NHS data shows the figure peaked at 9,533 on December 29 and has since fallen 19 per cent to 7,743Meanwhile, the advantage rate for Orthrus was 22 per cent.However, the UKHSA cautioned Kraken's current low prevalence in the UK makes any estimate of its growth 'highly uncertain'. Neither Covid variant has been escalated to being declared a 'variant of concern' by the UKHSA.This suggests there are no signs they cause more severe disease than other, similarly mild Omicron strains, nor are sufficiently genetically divergent as to cause Covid vaccines to be less effective. However, scientists have found both host concerning genetic quirks.Orthrus has a mutation called P681R — which was also on the Delta variant — and is thought to make it better attack cells and cause more severe illness. Scientists have also spotted it has R346T, which is thought to help the strain fight-off antibodies that were generated in response to vaccination or previous infection.And Kraken has one called F486P, which helps it to bypass Covid-fighting antibodies. Another mutation — S486P — is thought to improve its ability to bind to human cells.Concerns over the two new strains, combined with the unfolding NHS crisis and a 'flu-nami', has triggered calls for the return of pandemic-era restrictions like masks and working-from-home in a bid to ease pressure on the ailing health service. But the latest data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) suggests Covid cases have actually fallen in England.According to the data, 2.2million people, or one in 25 people, were infected with the virus in the week to January 3.ONS analysts estimated that the total was 11 per cent lower than the week before. However, as many as one in 14 people were still infected in the worst-affected parts of the UK.And some have suggested it could be the calm before another wave of infections. Data for England showed cases fell in all regions apart from the North East, where 4.1 per cent of people were infected — up from 3.8 per cent one week earlier.Infections were highest in the East Midlands, South West and South East, where 4.5 per cent were thought to be carrying the virus.Cases were lowest in London and the North West, where 3.5 per cent were infected, according to ONS estimates. But the ONS, which swabs thousands of people across the UK to estimate how prevalent the virus is, noted that these estimates are based on a lower than usual number of swabs due to the festive period. Warnings about the new variants also came as the number of people infected with Covid taking up hospital beds in England is falling. The figure dropped 11 per cent from 9,414 in the week to January 4 to 8,404 in the seven days to January 11. NHS data shows Covid patients peaked at 9,533 on December 29 and has since fallen 19 per cent to 7,743. Just one in three so-called Covid patients are primarily admitted to hospital because of the virus. The remaining two-thirds were taken into NHS care for another ailment, such as a broken leg, but happened to test positive. If the downwards trend continues, it means the wave will have peaked below 10,000, which is well below the figures seen in previous waves. The number topped 14,000 during summer 2022 and reached 17,000 last winter. | Epidemics & Outbreaks |
Health officials in Omaha, Nebraska, are wasting no time in testing over 500 infants, toddlers, and children who may have been exposed to an active tuberculosis case at a local daycare. The Douglas County Health Department (DCHD) declared a public health emergency Friday.In a press release, DCHD said the exposures occurred at a daycare at the Westview YMCA, which provides "drop-in" care, allowing members to drop off their kids as they use the facility. The exposures occurred between May 21, 2023, and October 30, 2023.
Children’s Nebraska pediatric hospital quickly set up a clinic this weekend to test children ages 4 and under who were potentially exposed in the last 10 weeks. Children in this age group need "window prophylaxis" treatment to prevent the development of tuberculosis as testing is underway. Later this week, DCHD will set up a clinic to test children ages 5 and up who were potentially exposed.
In addition to immediate testing, those exposed between August 21, 2023, and October 30, 2023, should undergo additional testing eight to ten weeks after their most recent exposure.
Justin Frederick, deputy health director in Douglas County, called this an "urgent situation" in a briefing with reporters.
"If this was a situation with a lot of adults, we would probably be handling this a little bit differently; we'd have a little bit more time. Knowing that it's children and that they can progress to very severe disease very quickly, we're taking [it] very serious[ly], and we're wanting to get them in, get them seen, evaluated, chest films, and on preventative treatment if they fall within that 10 weeks and they're under the age of 4," Frederick said.
Tuberculosis is a bacterial infection that spreads through coughing, sneezing, speaking, or singing during prolonged, direct contact with an active case.
Officials declined to give details about the person with active tuberculosis at the daycare, including whether it was a child or an adult. They only noted that symptoms began in late August, but the person wasn't tested for tuberculosis until last week.
In an interview with The Washington Post, Douglas County Health Director Lindsay Huse said officials should start getting testing results from the younger children midweek and should have a better picture of transmission and the full scope of testing needed by sometime next week. Huse estimated that there are about 250 children in the 4-and-under group and 300 in the 5-and-up group. Any children infected will further expand the number of people potentially exposed.
"It could certainly grow," Huse said. "We are cautiously optimistic that it won't have gotten that far yet." | Epidemics & Outbreaks |
The 37-year-old was then told it may have been a prolapsed bladder from having children and was insulted by the suggestion it could’ve been an STI.
But after eventually being correctly diagnosed the mum has now tied the knot with her sweetheart Tom Cronin, 35, after they were told they might not have long left together.
Tom popped the question on the day they were given the heartbreaking news.
Then, on Monday, the couple said their vows in front of close family during a tear-jerking ceremony at Stratford-upon-Avon Registry Office.
The newlyweds then headed to The Royal Oak pub in Whatcote, Warwickshire - where they met as teenage work colleagues - for a meal with 44 guests.
Katie said she was delighted to finally marry the love of her life after 17 years together.
She described the day as “perfect” from start to finish and said she felt like the “cancer didn't exist” during their celebrations.
The nurse manager who works at Horton General Hospital in Banbury, Oxfordshire, said: "It was perfect and very fun with lots of laughter and silliness.
"The wedding was held 10 days post chemo. The week after chemotherapy I am usually bedbound and yesterday was the first day I had got my energy back.
"I felt really good all day and we all totally forgot about my cancer. It feels wonderful to finally be married to Tom. The day felt cancer-free with lots of love and celebration.
"Tom and I are both so lucky to have the amazing families we do and we thank them for all their support."
On the day, Katie wore a pink jumpsuit and Tom was dressed in a green suit - as the pair wanted to wear something bright and uplifting.
She was walked down the aisle by her dad Peter and the couple's two young boys Percy, four, and Cass, two, were ring bearers.
Katie, of Tysoe, Stratford-upon-Avon, added: "I didn't wear a traditional wedding dress, but a pink jumpsuit and Tom was dressed in green.
"Cass put the ring on me at the registry office before Tom got a chance to, which we all found very funny.
"The wedding was lovely because it allowed us to have all our family under one roof. Tom's dad lives in Canada, so we don't get to see him that often and it was nice for all my family to meet his.
"We also could not have asked for better pub owners and managers at the Royal Oak where our reception was held.
"They made it so special and put the meal on at the reception for everyone for free which was overwhelming and we are so grateful."
After she was initially diagnosed, Katie was forced to wait an agonising three months for her treatment to begin, by which point the cancer had spread.
She began five weeks of gruelling radiotherapy, chemotherapy and brachytherapy in April last year and was told the treatment had been a success.
But tragically, in December, after undergoing further scans, she received the devastating news that the cancer had returned and she was given just months to live.
At the start of this year, Katie was diagnosed with lung, shoulder, spine, and pelvic cancer and started palliative chemotherapy three weeks ago.
She’s now crowdfunding £200,000 for a private drug which could help prolong her life.
Tom has set up a GoFundMe page to help raise money for a private immunotherapy drug for Katie to take alongside her ongoing treatment.
The drug named Pembrolizumab costs an eye-watering £6,000 every three weeks and so far, the fundraising page has racked up over £139,000 in donations.
Katie added: "I will continue on it for as long as my body can tolerate it or as long as I live.
"I want to tell people how important it is to live your life and to go on lots of adventures.
"Turn off Netflix and go outside and enjoy yourself. You need to live for now and not for the future."
Tom, a Geography teacher, said: "The day that they said Katie was going to have months rather than years, I proposed at the spot where we first met.
"It's a lane near to the Royal Oak pub in Whatcote, where Katie's family lived when we met as teenagers.
"We've got a to-do list, which includes a will and making videos for the boys. So, if the worst does happen, we're prepared for it.
"We're being realists and positive at the same time. It's a weird balance."
To make a donation towards Katie's treatment, click here. | Disease Research |
Rishi Sunak is considering a recommendation that would effectively ban cigarettes for the next generation.
The prime minister could introduce some of the world's toughest anti-smoking measures by steadily increasing the legal age for consuming tobacco, according to The Guardian, citing Whitehall sources.
The paper said it also understood Mr Sunak's leadership pledge to fine people £10 for missing a GP or hospital appointment could be under consideration once more.
Downing Street did not deny Mr Sunak was considering adopting a more stringent approach to smoking.
Last year a major review led by Dr Javed Khan backed England following New Zealand's plan to impose a gradually rising smoking age to prevent tobacco being sold to anyone born on or after 1 January 2009.
Dr Khan recommended "increasing the age of sale from 18, by one year, every year until no one can buy a tobacco product in this country".
If implemented by 2026, it would mean anyone aged 15 and under now would never be able to buy a cigarette.
However, health minister Neil O'Brien appeared to reject adopting that approach in April, when he said the government's policy for achieving a smoke-free nation by its 2030 target would focus on "helping people to quit" rather than applying bans.
But it is now understood Mr Sunak is looking at different policy advice on how to reach England's smoke-free target.
In his government-commissioned report published in June 2022, Dr Khan said without urgent action England would miss the 2030 target by at least seven years, with the poorest areas not meeting it until 2044.
He put the annual cost to society of smoking at about £17bn - £2.4bn to the NHS alone.
Read more:
Sunak's popularity at lowest point ever after net zero announcement
Starmer insists UK will not be a 'rule-taker' after backlash over stance on EU
A government spokesperson said: "Smoking is a deadly habit - it kills tens of thousands of people each year and places a huge burden on the NHS and the economy.
"We want to encourage more people to quit and meet our ambition to be smoke free by 2030, which is why we have already taken steps to reduce smoking rates.
"This includes providing one million smokers in England with free vape kits via our world first 'swap to stop' scheme, launching a voucher scheme to incentivise pregnant women to quit and consulting on mandatory cigarette pack inserts."
The legal age for buying cigarettes and other tobacco products in England and Wales is 18, having been raised from 16 in 2007 by the previous Labour government. | Health Policy |
For expectant parents Shakina Rajendram and Kevin Nadarajah, the doctor’s words were both definitive and devastating: Their twins were not “viable.”
“Even in that moment, as I was hearing those words come out of the doctor’s mouth, I could still feel the babies very much alive within me. And so for me, I just wasn’t able to comprehend how babies who felt very much alive within me could not be viable,” Rajendram recalled.
Still, she knew that there was no way she would be able to carry to term. She had begun bleeding, and the doctor said she would give birth soon. The parents-to-be were told that they would be able to hold their babies but that they would not be resuscitated, as they were too premature.
Rajendram, 35, and Nadarajah, 37, had married and settled in Ajax, Ontario, about 35 miles east of Toronto, to start a family. They had conceived once before, but the pregnancy was ectopic – outside the uterus – and ended after a few months.
As crushing as the doctor’s news was, Nadarajah said, they both refused to believe their babies would not make it. And so they scoured the Internet, finding information that both alarmed and encouraged them. The babies were at just 21 weeks and five days gestation; to have a chance, they would need to stay in the womb a day and a half longer, and Rajendram would have to go to a specialized hospital that could treat “micropreemies.”
The earlier a baby is born, the higher the risk of death or serious disability, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. Babies born preterm, before 37 weeks gestation, can have breathing issues, digestive problems and brain bleeds. Development challenges and delays can also last a lifetime.
The problems can be especially severe for micropreemies, those born before 26 weeks gestation who weigh less than 26 ounces.
Research has found that infants born at 22 weeks who get active medical treatment have survival rates of 25% to 50%, according to a 2019 study.
Rajendram and Nadarajah requested a transfer to Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, one of a limited number of medical centers in North America that provides resuscitation and active care at 22 weeks gestation.
Then, they say, they “prayed hard,” with Rajendram determined to keep the babies inside her just a few hours longer.
Just one hour after midnight on March 4, 2022, at 22 weeks gestation, Adiah Laelynn Nadarajah was born weighing under 12 ounces. Her brother, Adrial Luka Nadarajah, joined her 23 minutes later, weighing not quite 15 ounces.
According to Guinness World Records, the pair are both the most premature and lightest twins ever born. The previous record holders for premature twins were the Ewoldt twins, born in Iowa at the gestational age of 22 weeks, 1 day.
It is a record these parents say they want broken as soon as possible so more babies are given the opportunity to survive.
“They were perfect in every sense to us,” Rajendram said. “They were born smaller than the palm of our hands. People still don’t believe us when we tell them.”
‘They’re definitely miracles’
The babies were born at just the right time to be eligible to receive proactive care, resuscitation, nutrition and vital organ support, according to Mount Sinai Hospital. Even an hour earlier, the care team may not have been able to intervene medically.
“We just didn’t really understand why that strict cut off at 22, but we know that the hospital had their reasons. They were in uncharted territory, and I know that they had to possibly create some parameters around what they could do,” Rajendram said.
“They’re definitely miracles,” Nadarajah said as he described seeing the twins in the neonatal intensive care unit for the first time and trying to come to terms with what they would go through in their fight to survive.
“I had challenging feelings, conflicting feelings, seeing how tiny they were on one hand, feeling the joy of seeing two babies on the second hand. I was thinking, ‘how much pain they are in?’ It was so conflicting. They were so tiny,” he said.
These risks and setbacks are common in the lives of micropreemies.
Dr. Prakesh Shah, the pediatrician-in-chief at Mount Sinai Hospital, said he was straightforward with the couple about the challenges ahead for their twins.
He warned of a struggle just to keep Adiah and Adrial breathing, let alone feed them.
The babies weighed little more than a can of soda, with their organs visible through translucent skin. The needle used to give them nutrition was less than 2 millimeters in diameter, about the size of a thin knitting needle.
“At some stage, many of us would have felt that, ‘is this the right thing to do for these babies?’ These babies were in significant pain, distress, and their skin was peeling off. Even removing surgical tape would mean that their skin would peel off,” Shah told CNN.
But what their parents saw gave them hope.
“We could see through their skin. We could see their hearts beating,” Rajendram said.
They had to weigh all the risks of going forward and agreeing to more and more medical intervention. There could be months or even years of painful, difficult treatment ahead, along with the long-term risks of things like muscle development problems, cerebral palsy, language delays, cognitive delays, blindness and deafness.
Rajendram and Nadarajah did not dare hope for another miracle, but they say they knew their babies were fighters, and they resolved to give them a chance at life.
“The strength that Kevin and I had as parents, we had to believe that our babies had that same strength, that they have that same resilience. And so yes, they would have to go through pain, and they’re going to continue going through difficult moments, even through their adult life, not only as premature babies. But we believed that they would have a stronger resolve, a resilience that would enable them to get through those painful moments in the NICU,” Rajendram said.
There were painful setbacks over nearly half a year of treatment in the hospital, especially in the first few weeks.
“There were several instances in the early days where we were asked about withdrawing care, that’s just a fact, and so those were the moments where we just rallied in prayer, and we saw a turnaround,” Nadarajah said.
Twins could be trailblazers
Adiah spent 161 days in the hospital and went home on August 11, six days before her brother, Adrial, joined her there.
Adrial’s road has been a bit more difficult. He has been hospitalized three more times with various infections, sometimes spending weeks in the hospital.
Both siblings continue with specialist checkups and various types of therapy several times a month.
But the new parents are finally more at ease, celebrating their babies’ homecoming and learning all they can about their personalities.
The twins are now meeting many of the milestones of babies for their “corrected age,” where they would be if they were born at full-term.
“The one thing that really surprised me, when both of them were ready to go home, both of them went home without oxygen, no feeding tube, nothing, they just went home. They were feeding on their own and maintaining their oxygen,” Shah said.
Adiah is now very social and has long conversations with everyone she meets. Their parents describe Adrial as wise for his years, curious and intelligent, with a love of music.
“We feel it’s very important to highlight that contrary to what was expected of them, our babies are happy, healthy, active babies who are breathing and feeding on their own, rolling over, babbling all the time, growing well, playing, and enjoying life as babies,” Rajendram said.
These parents hope their story will inspire other families and health professionals to reassess the issue of viability before 22 weeks gestation, even when confronted with sobering survival rates and risks of long-term disability.
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“Even five years ago, we would not have gone for it, if it was not for the better help we can now provide,” Shah said, adding that medical teams are using life-sustaining technology in a better way than in previous years. “It’s allowing us to sustain these babies, helping keep oxygen in their bodies, the role of carbon dioxide, without causing lung injury.”
Adiah and Adrial’s parents say they’re not expecting perfect children with perfect health but are striving to provide the best possible life for them.
“This journey has empowered us to advocate for the lives of other preterm infants like Adiah and Adrial, who would not be alive today if the boundaries of viability had not been challenged by their health care team,” Rajendram said. | Medical Innovations |
WASHINGTON -- About 10% of people appear to suffer long COVID after an omicron infection, a lower estimate than earlier in the pandemic, according to a study of nearly 10,000 Americans that aims to help unravel the mysterious condition.
Early findings from the National Institutes of Health’s study highlight a dozen symptoms that most distinguish long COVID, the catchall term for the sometimes debilitating health problems that can last for months or years after even a mild case of COVID-19.
Millions worldwide have had long COVID, with dozens of widely varying symptoms including fatigue and brain fog. Scientists still don’t know what causes it, why it only strikes some people, how to treat it -– or even how to best diagnose it. Better defining the condition is key for research to get those answers.
“Sometimes I hear people say, ’Oh, everybody’s a little tired,'" said Dr. Leora Horwitz of NYU Langone Health, one of the study authors. “No, there’s something different about people who have long COVID and that’s important to know.”
The new research, published Thursday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, includes more than 8,600 adults who had COVID-19 at different points in the pandemic, comparing them to another 1,100 who hadn’t been infected.
By some estimates, roughly 1 in 3 of COVID-19 patients have experienced long COVID. That’s similar to NIH study participants who reported getting sick before the omicron variant began spreading in the U.S. in December 2021. That's also when the study opened, and researchers noted that people who already had long COVID symptoms might have been more likely to enroll.
But about 2,230 patients had their first coronavirus infection after the study started, allowing them to report symptoms in real time -– and only about 10% experienced long-term symptoms after six months.
Prior research has suggested the risk of long COVID has dropped since omicron appeared; its descendants still are spreading.
The bigger question is how to identify and help those who already have long COVID.
The new study zeroed in on a dozen symptoms that may help define long COVID: fatigue; brain fog; dizziness; gastrointestinal symptoms; heart palpitations; sexual problems; loss of smell or taste; thirst; chronic cough; chest pain; worsening symptoms after activity and abnormal movements.
The researchers assigned scores to the symptoms, seeking to establish a threshold that eventually could help ensure similar patients are enrolled in studies of possible long COVID treatments, as part of the NIH study or elsewhere, for apples-to-apples comparison.
Horwitz stressed that doctors shouldn’t use that list to diagnose someone with long COVID — it's a potential research tool only. Patients may have one of those symptoms, or many -– or other symptoms not on the list — and still be suffering long-term consequences of the coronavirus.
Everyone's doing studies of long COVID yet "we don’t even know what that means,” Horwitz said.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content. | Disease Research |
England’s top nurse has backed bereaved parents who have voiced fears over a health conference promoting a “dangerous ideology” of “normal” births – just miles from the scene of one of the UK’s worst maternity scandals.
Dame Ruth May told parents she would be writing to organisers of the International Normal Labour and Birth Research Conference, taking place at Grange-Over-Sands, Cumbria, in April, to “express my concerns about the language they continue to use”.
Parents who lost their children in hospital maternity scandals had written to Dame Ruth, chief nursing officer at NHS England, urging her to speak out against the conference, organised by the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan).
Their distress has been compounded by the fact it is taking place near the scene of the Furness General Hospital (FGH) scandal, one of the worst maternity scandals in the history of the NHS.
Next month will mark the eighth anniversary of the Morecambe Bay Investigation report, which concluded a “lethal mix of failures” contributed to the avoidable death of mothers and babies at the hospital between 2004 and 2012.
It will also mark the first anniversary of the final Ockenden Report into the failings at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, which found that 201 babies and nine mothers could have survived if the trust had provided better care.
The parents wrote: “A major theme identified from the Morecambe Bay Investigation was that maternity care became ‘strongly influenced by a small number of dominant individuals whose over-zealous pursuit of the natural childbirth approach led at times to inappropriate and unsafe care.’
“The report quotes one midwife who said during her evidence ‘there were a group of midwives who thought that normal childbirth was the… be all and end all… at any cost’.”
Since the Morecambe Bay investigation, similar issues have been identified in other trusts, all of which found an ideological drive for “normal birth” had contributed to the deaths of babies and mothers.
The parents wrote: “The language and focus of this conference in previous years has caused a high degree of distress and trauma to families who have suffered poor maternity care in circumstances (examples of which are clearly documented in major inquiry reports) where care was influenced by a focus on achieving ‘normal birth’ rather than a multi-professional team working together to prioritise a safe and healthy outcome.
“The distress and trauma this year’s event will cause will be greater still as there is the added sense that the organisers have clearly no regard whatsoever for the feelings of hurt expressed. We do wonder why this location was chosen.”
Maternity scandals
Morecambe Bay investigation
The inquiry into deaths of 11 babies and a mother at Furness General Hospital in Cumbria found midwives were so cavalier they were nicknamed “the musketeers”. There was a growing move among midwives to pursue normal childbirth “at any cost”, the report said. The investigation into deaths at the hospital in Barrow between 2004 and 2013 found maternity services were beset by a culture of denial, collusion and incompetence.
Ockenden Review into Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust
An investigation into the deaths of hundreds of babies and mothers between 1998 and 2017 found mothers were pressured into having a “normal” birth. Some 201 babies and nine mothers could have been saved had standards been better, the revie found.
Donna Ockenden, the senior midwife who chaired the review, said: “At that trust there was a multi-professional… focus on normal birth at pretty much any cost. It is very clear… that there were times… when had a baby been delivered by a Caesarean section the outcome may well have been better, and almost certainly would have been safer.”
East Kent inquiry
At least 45 babies died needlessly between 2009 and 2020 because of substandard care over more than a decade, a report into East Kent hospitals found. Although there was no policy of staff focusing on a “normal birth”, the report found that the way in which “normal birth” was spoken about and set out in material for mothers created an expectation that it was an ideal that staff and women should strive to achieve.
“On some occasions, this pressure of expectation seemed to contribute to staff decisions not to escalate concerns or to intervene, decisions that were otherwise inexplicable,” the report said.
In her letter to the parents, seen by i, Dame Ruth said no one from NHS England will attend and told parents she was “committed to drive improvement in maternity and neonatal services and will continue to do so”.
The conference is not an NHS England event. However, at least one NHS consultant is listed as a keynote speaker.
Dame Ruth said: “I hear the concerns you raise about the conference, and I understand and appreciate your view on the language being used.”
She pointed to a letter NHS England sent to trusts in April 2022 about their approach to language to ensure that women are supported to make informed decisions. “I will also be writing to the conference organisers to express my concerns about the language they continue to use,” she said.
The event was first held at the Grange Hotel in 2002 and takes place there every two years. Every other year, the conference is organised and held overseas, in a different country each time.
James Titcombe, who pushed for the Morecambe Bay investigation after his son Joshua died as a result of failures in care at FGH in 2008, said: “When there is so much evidence of the harm the campaign for so called ‘normal birth’ has caused and a general consensus in the maternity safety community that we need to move away from this language and approach, it’s utterly appalling that the University Of Central Lancashire are again running this harmful and divisive event on the doorstep of Morecambe Bay.”
Emily Barley, whose daughter Beatrice died during labour at Barnsley Hospital in May 2022, said: “If we’d have had a Caesarean section when we needed it, my daughter would be alive. Instead Beatrice, just like hundreds of other babies in the UK each year, died because so-called ‘normal birth’ was prioritised. This harmful agenda should have no place in healthcare.
“The bereaved families who signed this letter did so because they see a direct path between messages that have come out of this conference and the negligent care that led to the deaths of their babies. The conference has been hugely influential in spreading so-called ‘normal birth’ ideology in the UK.”
A UCLan spokesperson said: “We have a huge amount of empathy for the parents and families whose children have died: it is an unimaginable loss, and they have our very deepest sympathies. Maternity care is a complex issue, and we are looking to meet with some of those who have signed this letter, to discuss and better understand their concerns.”
Dr Bill Kirkup, who chaired both the original Morecombe Bay inquiry, and the most recent East Kent review into maternity failings, will be the first keynote speaker.
The spokesperson said: “’Normal’ labour and birth is an internationally-recognised phrase. Indeed, current NICE guidelines use this term. However, we recognise the debate in the UK about this terminology, and one of our keynote speakers will be addressing this issue from the perspective of a recent Royal College of Midwives report.
“While evidence shows that, for healthy women and babies who choose this option, a physiological labour and birth is most likely to generate positive outcomes for both mum and baby, clearly, the safety of mothers and babies needs to be at the heart of all decisions.
“That’s why conferences like this are so important for sharing learnings: if we cannot understand and support physiological labour and birth safely, then we also cannot recognise, understand and respond effectively to labour and birth that is not proceeding as it should.
“Undertaking, sharing and disseminating research in this area is therefore vital in order to help protect the safety and well-being of all women and babies.” | Women’s Health |
Need Plan B? Tap your credit card and enter B6.
Since last November, a library at the University of Washington has featured a different kind of vending machine, one that's become more popular on campuses around the country since the U.S. Supreme Court ended constitutional protections for abortion last year. It's stocked with ibuprofen, pregnancy tests and the morning-after pill.
With some states enacting abortion bans and others enshrining protections and expanding access to birth control, the machines are part of a push on college campuses to ensure emergency contraceptives are cheap, discreet and widely available.
There are now 39 universities in 17 states with emergency contraceptive vending machines, and at least 20 more considering them, according to the American Society for Emergency Contraception. Some, such as the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma, are in states where abortion is largely banned.
Over-the-counter purchase of Plan B and generic forms is legal in all 50 states.
The 2022 ruling overturning Roe v. Wade “is putting people’s lives at stake, so it makes pregnancy prevention all the more urgent,” said Kelly Cleland, the ASEC's executive director. “If you live in a state where you cannot get an abortion and you can’t get an abortion anywhere near you, the stakes are so much higher than they’ve ever been before.”
Washington this year became first U.S. state to set aside money — $200,000 to fund $10,000 grants that colleges can obtain next year through an application process — to expand access to emergency contraceptives at public universities and technical colleges through the automatic dispensers.
The University of Washington's machine was installed after a student-led campaign. It offers boxes of generic Plan B for $12.60, about a quarter of what the name-brand versions sell for in stores, and more than 640 have been sold.
The drug is even cheaper in some machines than it is in UW’s, as low as $7 per box. That’s because it is sold at just above wholesale cost, compared with pharmacy retail prices that might go up to $50.
In Illinois and New York, lawmakers are developing legislation that would require at least one vending machine selling emergency contraceptives on state college campuses.
In Connecticut, Yale had to drop plans to install an emergency contraceptive vending machine in 2019 after learning it would violate state law.
But this year the state approved a measure allowing Plan B and other over-the-counter medications to be sold from vending machines on campuses and other locations.
The machines can't be placed in K-12 schools or exposed to the elements, and they must have temperature and humidity controls and include plans for power outages and expired items.
“This just enables people to have better access and easier access,” said Rep. Nicole Klarides-Ditria, one of several Republicans in Connecticut's Democratic-controlled General Assembly who supported the measure. “You may need Plan B, as we all know, in the middle of the night, and you won’t have access to a pharmacy until the morning.”
Although the morning-after pill has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for over-the-counter sale, many stores and pharmacies keep it behind the counter or locked up, require identification for purchase and make the experience of purchasing it intimidating.
“There is a stigma associated with getting access to these medications,” said Zoe Amaris, a University of Washington pharmacy student and board member of UW Pharmacists for Reproductive Education and Sexual Health. “Having a vending machine is so easy. You don’t need to go to a pharmacy. You don’t need to go through your health care provider.”
Plan B is more effective the sooner it is taken, and vending machine access could be particularly crucial for victims of rape when pharmacies are closed. The anonymity the machines afford may also be important to some assault victims. | Women’s Health |
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