27 h. ago Bill Gates says his Foundation will close in 2045 and decries Musk for USAID cuts

Microsoft co-founder accuses Trump ally of ‘killing the world’s poorest children’ by slashing US aid fundingBill Gates announced plans on Thursday to shutter the Gates Foundation in 2045 and also strongly criticized Elon Musk for slashing funding to the US Agency for International Development (USAID), accusing the Tesla CEO of “killing the world’s poorest children” in new interviews.In an interview with the Financial Times published on Thursday, Gates condemned the sudden funding cuts to USAID by Musk’s so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge), saying the cuts had led to life-saving food and medicines expiring in warehouses, and could result in the resurgence of diseases such as measles, HIV and polio. Continue reading...

Politics

47 h. ago The Guardian view on bias in medical research: disregard for women’s health belongs in the past | Editorial

It is shocking that while illnesses specific to men are studied, those affecting women are ignoredSix years after Caroline Criado Perez’s bestselling book Invisible Women drew a mass readership’s attention to the long history of sexist bias in medical research, it is shocking that women and their illnesses are still underrepresented in clinical trials. Analysis by the Guardian of data gathered for a new study showed that from 2019 to 2023, 282 trials involving only male subjects were submitted for regulatory approval in the UK – compared with 169 focused on women.Health inequality is a complex and multifaceted problem. There are massive socioeconomic differences in life expectancy and infant mortality, as well as race inequalities – for example, in maternity and mental illnesses. These and other disparities, along with those relating to disability, can also be mapped geographically. Continue reading...

Science

60 h. ago I’m a woman of 48 – and as replaceable in the office as the swivel chair at my desk | Nilanjana Bhowmick

In India, as elsewhere, ‘menopenalisation’ means women in middle age are failed by their employers and wider society“If I take another pay cut, I might as well start working pro bono,” I joked with a friend recently, during another brutal round of job hunting in my home-city, Delhi. She, in her early 40s, laughed and said: “I feel the same.”A few weeks later, I had deja vu on a call with another writer friend in her early 40s. “I’m tired of trying to find a job that pays what I’m worth. No one will hire me unless I drop my expectations to entry level,” she lamented. Continue reading...

Society

4 d. ago Erin Patterson trial live: estranged husband Simon to resume evidence in mushroom murder trial

Australian woman has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and attempted murder relating to a beef wellington lunch she served at her Leongatha home in 2023. Follow live updatesWho are Erin Patterson and the other key figures in Australia’s mushroom murders trial?The jury has entered the courtroom for day five of the trial.Erin Patterson’s lawyer, Colin Mandy SC, is continuing his cross-examination of Simon Patterson, Erin’s estranged husband.The court was shown text messages where Simon and Erin communicated about her “forgotten” invitation to her mother-in-law’s 70th birthday. Simon said at this point in time there was “tension” in Erin’s relationship with his parents and between the pair.Simon told the court Erin had “struggled” with mental illness and postnatal depression after the birth of their first child.Simon said his estranged wife “hates” hospitals as he was asked about her discharging herself from Leongatha hospital against medical advice following the lunch. Continue ...

Events

6 d. ago ‘What is left of our democracy?’: freed Palestinian human rights advocate warns of US authoritarian rule

Mohsen Mahdawi, student detained by Ice last month, pens blistering attack on Trump’s deportation policiesMohsen Mahdawi, the Palestinian green-card holder and Columbia University student freed on Wednesday after more than two weeks in immigration detention, has issued a stark warning about the US’s descent into authoritarianism.“Once the repression of dissent, in the name of security, becomes a key objective of a government, authoritarian rule and even martial law are not far off. When they look at my case, all Americans should ask themselves: what is left of our democracy, and who will be targeted next?” said Mahddawi in an op-ed for the New York Times. Continue reading...

Events

7 d. ago Erin Patterson trial live updates: mushroom cook had ‘tension’ with inlaws and struggled with mental illness, estranged husband says

Australian woman has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and attempted murder relating to a beef wellington lunch she served at her Leongatha home in 2023. Follow live updatesWho are Erin Patterson and the other key figures in Australia’s mushroom murders trial?‘Important you’re all there’: Erin Patterson urged husband to reconsider skipping mushroom lunch, murder trial hearsJurors have been shown messages between Simon and Erin between 14-15 October 2022 exchanged on the app Signal.Simon says there was “a lot of tension” in his relationship with Erin at this point. He says her relationship with his parents was also tense.Hey are you coming to mum’s Birthday lunch.I’m not too sure how your dad could have been confused..... Seems that my invite tomorrow is a bit of an afterthought and not even from your parents so I might pass thanks...What I recon is everybody forgot to actually invite me to this thing and I feel very very hurt about that..I’m sorry for shouting at you this afte...

Society

8 d. ago Warning signs of melanoma and how to tell if a spot is cancerous

Your age and having pale skin can be big factors to developing melanoma

Events

8 d. ago US funds supported Nepal's growing LGBTQ+ community. Now that money is gone

Many support centers for Nepal’s LGBTQ+ community have closed since the Trump administration began dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development

Economics

8 d. ago Memorial wall to fallen USAID staffers is removed from the agency's former building

Contractors hired by the Trump administration have removed a memorial wall to fallen staffers from the now-closed headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development, with no immediate word on where it will wind up

Politics

9 d. ago Florida to become second state to ban fluoride in water, alarming experts

Following Utah, Florida passes DeSantis-backed bill to block flouride use, ignoring CDC guidance on child health risksFlorida is poised to become the second state to ban fluoride in public drinking water despite concerns of dentists and public health advocates who say the mineral is a safe, effective way to protect people of all ages from developing cavities.Florida lawmakers approved the bill Tuesday after Utah became the first state to pass a ban last month. The Republican-led states are following a push led by the US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, who has railed against the mineral and set the gears of government in motion to stop community water fluoridation. Continue reading...

Events

9 d. ago Unrwa says Israel has abused detained staff and used some as human shields

Accusation from UN agency comes as Red Crescent medic held since deadly Israeli attack on ambulances is freed The embattled UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, has accused Israel of abusing dozens of its staff in military detention and using some as human shields.The head of the agency, Philippe Lazzarini, said that more than 50 staff members, including teachers, doctors and social workers, had been detained and abused since the start of the 18 month-long war in Gaza. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Being shouted at by parents can alter child’s brain, experts tell UK MPs

Meeting will hear how exposure to verbal abuse leads to biological changes and can make mental ill-health likelierBeing shouted at by their parents reshapes children’s brains and makes them more likely to have mental ill-health and struggle to maintain friendships, MPs will hear on Monday.Verbal abuse by adults can leave children unable to enjoy pleasure and seeing the world as threatening, experts in child development and mental health will tell a meeting at Westminster. Continue reading...

Society

1 week ago The United States is witnessing the return of psychiatric imprisonment | Jordyn Jensen

From ‘wellness farms’ to expanded involuntary commitment policies, the US is embracing psychiatric incarceration under the guise of compassionAcross the country, a troubling trend is accelerating: the return of institutionalization – rebranded, repackaged and framed as “modern mental health care”. From Governor Kathy Hochul’s push to expand involuntary commitment in New York to Robert F Kennedy Jr’s proposal for “wellness farms” under his Make America Healthy Again (Maha) initiative, policymakers are reviving the logics of confinement under the guise of care.These proposals may differ in form, but they share a common function: expanding the state’s power to surveil, detain and “treat” marginalized people deemed disruptive or deviant. Far from offering real support, they reflect a deep investment in carceral control – particularly over disabled, unhoused, racialized and LGBTQIA+ communities. Communities that have often seen how the framing of institutionalization as “treatment” obscu...

Events

1 week ago Trump admin brainstorms aggressive tactics to clear homeless camps in cities and forcibly hospitalize people, report claims

Justice Department asks employees for ideas on how to ‘more efficiently shift chronic vagrants away from the public square and into a more concentrated space’ to better deploy services

Politics

1 week ago Qualifying PIP claimants can receive up to £36,000 from DWP to do

The Personal Independence Payment is a benefit for people aged between 16 and State Pension age who may need help because of a long-term illness, disability or mental health condition

Economics

2 w. ago Lady Mary Charteris reveals battle with mystery illness that left her unable to eat for 10 days

The 38-year-old London-based model and aristocrat, whose father is the 13th Earl of Wemyss, shared an emotional video on TikTok revealing the mental toll the illness has taken.

Events

2 w. ago ‘I’ve killed my kid with cancer’ Woman’s words to police after killing her six

Karolina Zurawska killed her son Alexander while gripped by a mental illness which had overwhelmed her, likely as a result of the stress caused from dealing with his medical conditions, a court heard

Events

2 w. ago Nigel Farage blasted over 'fake news' claim about children's health

Nigel Farage was branded 'completely out of touch' and accused of spreading fake news after crass claims that mental illness is being 'overdiagnosed' by GPs

Society

2 w. ago Campaigners criticise Farage’s claims that UK is ‘massively overdiagnosing’ mental illness

Charity say that Reform leader is ‘wildly inaccurate’ after he says system is creating a ‘class of victims’Nigel Farage says the UK is “massively overdiagnosing those with mental illness problems” and creating a “class of victims”.In comments, which have drawn criticism from campaigners and charities, the leader of Reform UK said it was too easy to get a mental health diagnosis from a GP. Continue reading...

Science

2 w. ago Charities attack Farage claims of ‘mental illness problems’ overdiagnosis

Reform leader accused of ‘wildly inaccurate’ remarks as he complains about UK creating ‘class of victims’Nigel Farage says the UK is “massively overdiagnosing those with mental illness problems” and creating a “class of victims”.In comments, which have drawn criticism from campaigners and charities, the leader of Reform UK said it was too easy to get a mental health diagnosis from a GP. Continue reading...

Events