DYING

Commentary: He’s just happy to root for the Dodgers again after almost dying during the last World Series

There was probably no Dodgers fan more grateful to see the Blue Crew lose badly in the opening game of the World Series than Conrado Contreras. See, the 75-year-old was happy to enjoy any Fall Classic at all.

A year ago tomorrow , the Zacatecas native suffered a heart attack and mild stroke in the moments after seeing his Dodgers win Game 2 of the World Series against the New York Yankees. He spent three days in a medically induced coma at St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood and regained consciousness to news from jubilant nurses that the Dodgers had won the championship.

The lifelong baseball fan had no idea what they were talking about. His passion for the sport was lost along with his memory.

When family members put on highlights from the 2024 championship during his rehabilitation at a clinic in Gardena throughout the end of the year, the former carpenter would shrug and change the channel. When someone told him that legendary Dodgers pitcher Fernando Valenzuela had died, Contreras swore that he had just seen his fellow Mexican pitch at the stadium.

It wasn’t until the 2025 baseball season came along that Contreras’ mind began to truly rebound. He watched games from his longtime home in the unincorporated Florence-Graham neighborhood and learned to love the Dodgers anew. But he didn’t cheer like before. Contreras followed doctor’s orders to stay calm when the Dodgers were losing instead of cursing like the past and quietly applaud when the team was winning when he would’ve previously roared.

He’s the father-in-law of my sister Alejandrina. And I wanted to hang out with Don Conrado for Game 1 of this year’s World Series to experience fandom in all its mortality.

Wearing a flat-brimmed fedora and a blue Dodgers 2024 World Series champion, I caught Contreras just as he was entering my sister’s Norwalk home holding on to his walker with the help of Alejandrina’s husband, Conrad. His father talks slower than he used to and can’t drive anymore, but Contreras is once again the same man his family knows: witty, observant and baseball-crazy.

A schoolyard pitcher in his hometown of Monte Escobedo, Contreras fell in with the Dodgers almost as soon as he migrated to the United States in 1970 to join a brother in Highland Park. He used to attend games every week “when $10 got two people into the stadium and you could also eat a hot dog,” Contreras told me in Spanish before Game 1 began.

His stories from those years were immaculate. Don Sutton throwing a shutout. The Cincinnati Reds always “ready to play to the death.” Pittsburgh Pirates slugger Willie Stargell hitting a home run out of Dodger Stadium in 1973 “and all of us just staring above our heads in awe.”

Contreras was such a fan that he took his pregnant wife Mary to watch Valenzuela pitch on the day in 1983 that Conrad was due because they were giving out “I (Heart) Fernando” T-shirts, an anecdote that left their son flabbergasted.

“What happened to the shirt?” Conrad asked his mom in Spanish.

“I threw it away,” replied the 61-year-old Mary.

“They’d cost a lot of money now!” he groaned.

“They were cheap! The color really faded fast.”

Los Angeles Dodgers two-way player Shohei Ohtani

Los Angeles Dodgers two-way player Shohei Ohtani hits a two-run home run during the seventh inning of Game 1 of the World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays at Roger Centre on Friday in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Blue Jays won, 11-4.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

The family continued to attend games through Conrad’s teenage years but stopped “when even the birds couldn’t afford to attend,” Mary said. Conrad, 42, thinks the last time he went to a game with his dad was “at least” 20 years ago. But they regularly watched games on television. It was he who administered the CPR a year ago that saved his dad’s life.

“He was walking around the house angry all that game,” Conrad said.

“No, well, Roberto was making me mad,” Conrado replied, his nickname for Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “But I can’t get mad anymore.”

I asked how he thought this year’s series would go. He mentioned Shohei Ohtani, whom he kept calling el japonés in a respectful tone because, well, his memory can be fuzzy.

“He strikes out too much, but when he hits it, he hits it. If he plays like that, they win the series. But if Toronto hits, forget it.”

One more question before game time, the one too many liberal Latino Dodgers fans are belly-aching over right now: is it ethical to root for the team considering they haven’t been too vocal in opposing Donald Trump’s deportation campaign and owner Mark Walter has investments in companies that are profiting from it?

“Sports shouldn’t get into politics, but all sports owners are with Trompas,” he said, using a nickname I’ve heard more than a few rancho libertarians use for Trump. He shrugged.

“So what’s one to do? They kept la migra out of the stadium,” referring to an unsuccessful June attempt by federal agents to enter the stadium parking lot. “If the team had allowed that, then there’d be a huge problem.”

Mary wasn’t as sympathetic. “Latinos shouldn’t let the Dodgers off so easy. But when Latinos surrender, they surrender.”

It was game time.

Conrad slipped into a gray Dodgers away jersey to match his black team cap. My sister, an Angels follower for some reason, wore a Kiké Hernández T-shirt “because he stands with immigrants.”

“The only good thing about the Dodgers is that they aren’t winning with a gringo,” said Mary, who actually doesn’t care much about baseball because she finds it boring. “It’s someone [Ohtani] who doesn’t want to speak English who’s winning it for them.”

Her husband smiled.

“Let’s see if Mary gets into baseball.”

“That’ll be the real miracle,” she snapped back.

Contreras rubbed his hands in glee as the Dodgers went up 2-0 in the top of the third and merely frowned when the Blue Jays tied it in the bottom of the fourth while we were enjoying takeout from Taco Nazo. “His anger comes in waves, it’s a trip,” Conrad said. “He’s calmer but se enoja.

“Who?” Conrado deadpanned.

When Dodger starting pitcher Blake Snell left the game with the bases loaded and no one out in the bottom of the sixth, Contreras shook his head in disgust but kept his voice calm.

“This is what gets me mad. They should’ve taken him out long ago, but Roberto didn’t. This is what I was afraid of. When Toronto get on, they get on. They won’t stop until they destroy.”

Sure enough, the Blue Jays erupted for nine runs that inning, including a two-run blast by catcher Alejandro Kirk, who had sparked the Jays’ initial rally a few innings earlier.

Earlier in the game, Alejandrina had told Conrado that Kirk was a Tijuana native. The pride in shared roots, albeit generations apart, took a little bit of sting off his home run, which made the score a humiliating 11-2.

“Thank goodness he’s Mexican,” Conrado told his son, patting his knee. “That’s what’s left for us” to be happy about the game.

An inning later, Contreras began to feel woozy. His sugar level was elevated. Mary took off his jacket to fix his insulin device. My sister’s corgi, Penny, jumped onto the couch and lay on his lap.

“They do know when someone someone’s ill, right?” he said to no one before scratching Penny’s tummy and cooing, “You know I’m ill, right? I’m ill!”

When the “massacre” finally ended, Contreras remained philosophical.

“It’s incredible that I’m able to see this. But I’m still malo. My feet hurt, my memory isn’t what it used to be, my sense of balance isn’t there. But there’s the Dodgers. But they need to win.”

Conrad went to the bedroom to grab his father’s walker.

“Do you want a Toronto shirt now?” he joked.

His dad stared silently. “No, that would give me another heart attack.”

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‘Dying’ US hotspot is losing tourists as they’re priced out of destination

A major American hotspot is thought to be ‘dying’ as tourist numbers have significantly decreased since last year. Experts have had their say on the reason for this downfall.

A beloved hotspot in the US is experiencing a dramatic drop in visitor numbers. Las Vegas stands as an internationally renowned major resort city, celebrated for its casinos, shows, exquisite cuisine and buzzing nightlife.

The most populated city in Nevada has served as the backdrop for a number of Hollywood blockbusters, including Ocean’s Eleven, The Hangover and What Happens in Vegas. Yet, tourism to this iconic American location is plummeting, with specialists revealing the reasons behind the decline. This concern was spotlighted by Race Across The World champion, Alfie Watts, who travelled to Las Vegas to investigate what’s causing the drop in holidaymakers.

He documented his latest journey to the metropolis and posted it on TikTok. The BBC TV personality said: “Vegas tourism is falling off a cliff and I went to find out why.

“This city is a neon soaked fever dream of excess. You can have dinner in Paris, cocktails in Venice and you’ll lose all of your money in New York all before midnight.”

Las Vegas boasts hotels modelled on Paris, Venice and New York that have been crafted to resemble these destinations.

Watts continued: “It’s outrageous and it’s unique but it is still incredible but back in the day the whole point of Vegas was that you didn’t have to be rich to live like it for a weekend.”

During the first half of this year, Las Vegas saw a 7.3 per cent drop in visitor numbers compared to the same period last year, with June alone witnessing an 11 per cent decrease, as reported by Investopedia.

Watts attributes this decline to the rising costs of hotels and food and drink. He elaborated: “It used to be the ultimate weekend blow-out, the wild stag do’s, the girls’ trips, the spontaneous getaway where you came back sunburnt, broke but buzzing.

“Now, it’s priced itself into special occasion only territory and when the magic costs that much, people start asking if they can get it cheaper somewhere else.”

The TV star and renowned travel content creator argued that hotel rooms which “once cost next to nothing” are now comparable to the price of a city break in Paris.

He added: “Thirty years ago Vegas was the spot for outrageous fun but now you can get a similar weekend in Dubai, Ibiza and Cancun, and very often for half the price.”

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However, he admitted that Las Vegas still holds its unique charm with its dazzling lights, vibrant energy, mind-blowing events, world-class cuisine, and the opportunity to dance at 4am in a hotel lobby “shaped like ancient Rome.”

Watts concluded: “Vegas is still a glitter cannon in the desert. It’s just that these days the glitter’s a little bit more unappealing because it’s a lot more expensive.”

Investopedia highlighted additional factors driving tourists away from Las Vegas, including fewer flights arriving in the US from Canada and other nations, partly due to escalating tensions from trade rows between the Trump administration and foreign governments.

Technology could also be playing a role, as sports betting apps and online gaming mean punters no longer need to travel to Las Vegas to gamble.

In his TikTok post’s caption, Watts argued that Las Vegas is “dying” and international arrivals are “tanking.”

The video has attracted a number of comments with viewers expressing their opinions.

One commented: “The millennials don’t gamble and if they do, it’s online and they also are smart with their money, they’re not going to go somewhere where they have to pay this, that and [the] other.”

Another remarked: “Ridiculous ‘resort fees’ and the outrageous tipping culture isn’t very attractive when everything else is getting more expensive.”

A third declared: “No one under 40 cares about Vegas.” A different viewer proposed: “Downtown Vegas is the place to be. Cheaper rooms, food and drink.”

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Mushroom murderer Erin Patterson sentenced to life in prison after meal left in-laws dying in agony

INFAMOUS mushroom murderer Erin Patterson has been sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of “horrendous” triple murder.

She will serve at least 33 years behind bars after receiving three life sentences and a 25-year sentence concurrently, with a non-parole period of 33 years.

Erin Patterson escorted to court for sentencing.

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Erin Patterson being escorted into court for sentencing on Monday morningCredit: Getty
Erin Patterson in a prison transport vehicle.

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Patterson was sentenced to life in prisonCredit: AFP
Photo of two trays of beef Wellington samples containing toxic mushrooms.

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The beef wellington Patterson cooked with death cap mushroomsCredit: AFP
Judge in black robe and glasses speaking at a podium.

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Justice Christopher Beale handed down the life sentence

The 11-week trial earlier this year gripped Australia like no other – and has now been put to bed as Justice Christopher Beale handed down the sentence at Victoria’s Supreme Court.

For the first time in history, the supreme court allowed TV cameras into the courtroom to broadcast the sentencing live.

In court, Beale said he agreed Patterson should receive life imprisonment – but the “main dispute” was whether she should be afforded the possibility of parole.

He recounted the trial evidence before concluding that the murders involved “substantial premeditation”.

Describing the toll of the triple murders on the families, Justice Beale said: “Four generations of the extended Patterson and Wilkinson families have been traumatised by your crimes.”

He added: “Your failure to exhibit any remorse pours salt into all the victims’ wounds.”

Patterson, 50, was given a life sentence for each of the murders of Don and Gail Patterson, the parents of her estranged husband, Simon, and his aunt, Heather Wilkinson.

She was handed a 25-year sentence for the attempted murder of Heather’s husband, Ian Wilkinson, when she served up a beef wellington laced with death cap mushrooms.

Both the prosecution and the defence agreed Patterson should receive a life sentence for her crime, described by Beale as “horrendous”.

Prosecutors had called for Patterson to be denied the chance of ever walking out, while her defence argued she should retain the possibility of parole.

‘Mushroom killer’ Erin Patterson GUILTY of murdering three relatives with deadly beef wellington

Colin Mandy SC, defending, previously said Beale should consider the tough conditions Patterson will naturally suffer as such a notorious criminal.

Patterson has spent most of her days since her arrest in November 2023 in isolated in her cell – which Beale previously said “doesn’t sound very humane”.

He took this – along with the added danger she faces due to her notoriety – into account when deciding on the details of the sentence.

Patterson pleaded not guilty to all the charges and claimed the deaths were a tragic accident.

She now has until October 6 to lodge an appeal against her conviction or sentence or both.

Headshot of Erin Patterson.

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Gail Patterson, Erin’s former mother-in-law, died after eating the beef WellingtonCredit: Nine
Photo of Don Patterson.

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Gail’s husband Don Patterson also diedCredit: Nine
Gail and Don Patterson.

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Heather Wilkinson, left, died while her husband Ian, right, was the sole survivorCredit: Nine

Fascination with the case was off the charts across Australia.

Journalists from around the world descended on the tiny town of Morwell – where the trial was held in one of Australia‘s smallest courtrooms.

Patterson was tried there, rather than in Melbourne, at her own request.

Every day of the trial from April 29 to July 7, reporters jostled for the six media seats in the courtroom and hopeful spectators queued out of the door.

Described as “a ritual, habitual and pathological liar”, Patterson’s story unravelled in the dock and impossible contradictions tripped her up.

Timeline illustrating the events leading to Erin Patterson's arrest and charges for murder and attempted murder.

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Ian told the court that Erin sensationally claimed to have been diagnosed with cancer during the lunch – something she later denied.

She also initially told police she did not own a food dehydrator and had not gone foraging for mushrooms – later claiming in court these lies had been a “knee-jerk” reaction.

Incredibly, Ian said last month that he had forgiven Patterson for trying to kill him.

He said in a victim statement her felt “half alive” without Heather by his side – but insisted he harbours no “ill will” against Patterson.

Illustration of Erin Patterson in court.

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A court sketch of Patterson in AugustCredit: AFP
Ian Wilkinson holding two takeaway coffees outside a courthouse.

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Survivor Ian Wilkinson arriving in court in JulyCredit: Getty

Ian added: “Now I am no longer Erin Patterson’s victim, and she has become the victim of my kindness.”

Simon said Erin’s crimes had robbed their 16-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter of “the kind of relationship with their mother that every child yearns for”.

The Deadly Dish

In July 2023, Patterson gathered together her ex-husband Simon’s relatives for a Saturday lunch at her home in Leongatha, Victoria.

She served up a beef wellington containing death cap mushrooms, and her guests soon fell violently ill.

Her former in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson all died within a week.

Pastor Ian Wilkinson was the only person – other than Patterson – who survived the deadly lunch.

But he was left in critical condition and spent almost two months being treated in the Austin Hospital – including time spent in a coma.

Simon had also been invited to the lunch but he declined, texting her the night before that he felt “uncomfortable” about it all.

WhatsApp conversation showing Simon canceling lunch due to health concerns.

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Patterson tried to persuade her estranged husband to come to the lunch over text

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Deliveroo-style services ‘could treat dying patients 50% faster than traditional paramedics and save lives’

DELIVEROO drivers could provide life-saving treatment to people suffering cardiac arrest, a new study suggests.

Deploying defibrillators to the public via food-delivery services like Uber Eats, could save lives, scientists from Taiwan believe.

Deliveroo delivery bag on a bicycle.

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Deliveroo-style scooters could save lives by getting defibrillators to people faster than ambulancesCredit: Alamy
Yellow defibrillator cabinet mounted on a brick wall.

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Defibrillators are often too far away when someone needs them mostCredit: Getty

More than 30,000 Brits each year suffer a cardiac arrest when their heart suddenly stops beating.

It can be caused by an irregular heart rhythm or other heart disease, but often strikes without warning.

Breathing stops and the person becomes unconscious, with the lack of oxygenated blood to their organs leading to death.

Giving cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) straight away can be the difference between life and death.

The technique involves pressing hard and fast in the centre of the chest to manually pump blood around the body until help arrives.

The most effective treatment is a defibrillator, a device that gives the heart an electric shock to try and restart it.

Fewer than one in ten survive a cardiac arrest outside hospital because every minute without a defibrillator slashes their odds.

Experts warn too many victims die because the machines are out of reach and ambulances take too long to arrive.

Lead investigator Kuan-Chen Chin, from the National Taiwan University Hospital, said: “Each minute of delay in defibrillation reduces the survival rate by 7-10 per cent. 

How to perform CPR on an adult

“Our approach leverages an existing, widespread urban workforce to address a well-known weak link in the chain of survival.”

For the new study, researchers ran simulations comparing ambulance response times of six to seven minutes against delivery scooters carrying defibrillators.

Defibrillators arrived around three minutes faster, cutting delays by nearly half, they found. 

Even if just ten per cent of riders joined in, more than 60 per cent of cardiac arrests were successfully attended. 

During rush hours, only 13 per cent of riders needed to respond to cover 80 per cent of cases.

Writing in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology, Dr Jen-Tang Sun, of Far Eastern Memorial Hospital, added: “We were encouraged to see that even low response rates might yield meaningful time savings, and that the model appeared effective during off-peak hours despite reduced availability.”

Illustration of four cardiac arrest warning signs: chest pain, shortness of breath, sweating, and seizures.

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Call 911 or emergency medical services for these symptoms

How to respond to cardiac arrest

A cardiac arrest is an emergency.

If you’re with someone who’s having a cardiac arrest, call 999, start CPR and use a defibrillator if there’s one nearby.

Follow instructions from the 999 operator until emergency services take over.

Starting immediate CPR is vital as it keeps blood and oxygen moving to the brain and around the body.

A defibrillator will then deliver a controlled electric shock to try and get the heart beating normally again.

Public access defibrillators are often in places like train stations and shopping centres.

Anyone can use one and you don’t need training to do so.

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Contributor: The heat-safety law isn’t enough. Farmworkers are still dying every summer

By midmorning in the Central Valley, the light turns hard and white, bleaching the sky and flattening every shadow. The rows of melons stretch to the horizon, vines twisted low in cracked soil. Pickers move in the rhythm the crop demands — bend, twist, lift, drop — their long sleeves damp with sweat, caps pulled low, bandanas hiding heat-burned cheeks. Spanish drifts along the rows, a joke here, a warning there, carried in the heavy air.

These are the cruelest days of harvest, when the sun turns fields into slow ovens and the heat climbs before breakfast, holding on until the stars are out. By nightfall, the damage is done: another collapse in the dirt, another family handed a death certificate instead of a paycheck.

It’s an all-too-familiar old problem in California. Nearly 20 years ago, in the shadow of four farmworker funerals — Arvin, Fresno County, Kern, Imperial Valley — California enacted the nation’s first heat rules for basic worker safety: water, shade, rest. Mercies you’d think needed no law. My fellow lawmakers and I who wrote those rules, along with then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger who signed them into law, believed they were enough. But two decades on, the grim reaper still walks the rows: 110 degrees, no tree, no tarp, a single water jug growing warm, its handle slick from dust and hands. Breaks denied, not from cruelty alone, but from the unrelenting clock of the harvest.

This is not a failure of the law itself, but of enforcement. Some treated the bill’s signing as the finish line instead of the starting gun. Inspectors are too few. Penalties too light. Investigations too slow. The state auditor’s latest report read like an obituary for Cal/OSHA’s credibility: outdated rules, missed chances, offices too empty to answer the phone.

Meanwhile the climate has turned meaner. Nights that once cooled now hold the day’s heat like a grudge. And the danger in the fields isn’t just the sun. Immigration raids now sweep through the Valley like dust storms — sudden, unannounced, merciless. For more than half of California’s 350,000 farmworkers, the greater threat isn’t heat stroke but a knock on the door before dawn or a traffic stop that ends with a vehicle full of workers detained and trucked to some distant site. The food that feeds the nation is pulled from the earth by people who work under triple-digit skies yet live in the shadows, where one complaint can cost them their job, their home, their freedom.

Twenty harvest seasons later, I’m calling for action — not another bill signing on the Capitol steps, but dollars, real and committed, and the regulations to match. With that will and funding, four simple fixes can turn promise into protection.

First, bring 21st century tools to the fields. In 2005, the “high-tech” solution was a plastic water jug in the shade and a flapping pop-up canopy. Today, for $50 — the price of two boxes of gloves — employers can deploy a wearable sensor clipped to a worker’s arm to track core temperature and heart rate, sending a warning before the body crosses the edge into heatstroke. That’s not Silicon Valley moonshot money. It’s pocket change for agribusiness, and for workers it could mean the difference between walking out of the rows or being carried out.

Second, enforce in real time. If a worker drops to one knee in the heat, the state shouldn’t hear about it days later in a report. Imagine a network linking growers, regulators and emergency crews to the same pulse of information — turning a slow, reactive system that documents tragedies into one that can act quickly and prevent many of them.

Third, train before the first row is picked. Ten minutes — no more — for workers to stand upright and learn, in their own language, the signs: dizziness, nausea, the creeping fog in the mind that means it’s time to stop. Not a photocopied handout in English tucked into an envelope behind a paycheck, not a rushed talk in Spanish at the field’s edge, but a verified safety course — certified by labor contractors and farmers alike. Knowledge here is as life-saving as water and shade.

Lastly, match the urgency we see in other arenas. While Cal/OSHA limps along, starved of staff and mired in red tape, Immigration and Customs Enforcement charges in the opposite direction — spurred by $170 billion in new funding, an immigration-enforcement and border-security blitz hiring thousands, dangling $50,000 signing bonuses, paying off student loans, waiving age limits, even pulling retirees back for double-dip salaries. That’s what happens when a government decides the wrong mission matters most. We pour urgency into chasing farmworkers from the fields, yet can’t muster the will to protect them in the heat. Until Cal/OSHA gets that same drive — inspectors recruited in every corner of the state, incentives to bring in a new generation, hurdles stripped away — the laws we wrote will remain a promise without a witness.

Some will say it’s too much, that the industry can’t bear the cost. But I’ve walked behind the hearses through Valley dust, stood in the gravel lots of farm town funeral homes, watched wives clutch work shirts as if they still held his warmth, seen children in Sunday clothes staring at the dirt. No budget line can measure that loss.

The Valley will keep feeding the nation. The question is whether we will keep feeding the graveyards too.

Once, by enacting heat safety rules, California declared that a life was worth more than a box of produce. If we let that promise wither in the heat, all we wrote back then was a press release. Government systems can fast-track billion-dollar projects, but until this much more affordable priority gets that kind of attention, the rules are just ink on paper, and the roll call of the dead just grows longer.

Dean Florez is a former California Senate majority leader, representing portions of the Central Valley.

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Missing girl, 18, ‘lay dying alone after cops called to her flat branded her “medium” risk and left’

A MISSING girl lay dying in her flat alone after police deemed her a “medium” risk and left, an inquest heard.

Alex Duce, 18, was reported missing by her worried mum after she struggled to get in touch with her.

Selfie of a woman in a black top and gray sweatpants.

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Alex Duce died after her worried mum reported her missing

A police officer went to her flat in Tredegar, South Wales, at 11am to try to speak to the beauty student but failed to get an answer.

An inquest heard PC Michael Lammert left the home because Alex was only deemed a “medium risk” because a pal told him “she does this from time to time”.

PC Lammert said: “To me I took that as she shuts off from people and doesn’t want contact with friends and family sometimes.”

This was despite Alex’s mum telling police she had been struggling with her mental health and had self harmed five weeks earlier.

PC Lammert said: “There was no immediacy. If there was a clear message relaying she was contemplating suicide then that would definitely have been a higher risk.”

The incident at that point was not deemed serious enough to allow Gwent Police to use powers of entry as there was not enough evidence that Alex was inside the flat.

The court heard police returned at 4pm to find Alex’s loved ones outside banging on the door.

But in another tragic delay, the officers had to wait for heavy equipment needed to gain entry to the flat.

At the time, there was only one entry kit per police station that contained the apparatus needed.

PC Lauren Smith, who had gone to the home, said it was common for officers not to be able to locate the kits and admitted it was “frustrating”.

The court heard it took 30 minutes to retrieve the kit – with police finally gaining entry at around 5pm.

Alex was discovered hanged in her room still showing signs of life before being rushed to hospital, the inquest was told.

She was put on advanced life support but her machine was switched off and she died five days later on September 16, 2022.

PC Smith said she began to realise more about the case after being told Alex had self harmed and in her mind the risk became higher.

She said: “That information was never made available to me. The sense of urgency increased while I was there as I gained more information.”

The inquest continues.


If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this article, please call the Samaritans for free on 116123.


Photo of Alex Duce.

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Alex had previously struggled with her mental healthCredit: WNS
Woman in black pants and patterned halter top.

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The beauty student was deemed a ‘medium’ risk by police
Black and white photo of Alex Duce.

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She was rushed to hospital but sadly couldn’t be savedCredit: WNS

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British dad suffered two symptoms before dying from ‘half cooked hotel chicken’

A British grandad has died after falling ill from eating ‘half cooked’ chicken at a luxury hotel in Fuerteventura. His wife is urging others to be aware of the signs as she shares her heartbreak

Julie and Leslie Green
Julie and Leslie Green on their holiday in the Canary Islands, (Image: SWNS)

A British dad suffered two major symptoms before he died from eating “half cooked” chicken at a luxury hotel resort, an inquest has heard.

Leslie Green, 70, passed away after contracting salmonella during his holiday at the Occidental Jandia Playa resort in Fuerteventura. The grandfather-of-one was celebrating his milestone birthday with his family when he fell ill during the second week of the £2,300 stay.

He was admitted to a Spanish hospital where he developed complications, including kidney failure and sepsis. Leslie, of Little Lever, Bolton, Greater Manchester, sadly died in hospital around four weeks later from multi-organ failure.

READ MORE: British dad dies after eating ‘half-cooked’ chicken in plush 4-star holiday hotelREAD MORE: Throat cancer warning signs as man develops disease from bedroom activity

Leslie on holiday
Leslie was celebrating his milestone birthday

An inquest has now determined that the man passed away from food poisoning he contracted as a result of eating partially cooked chicken on holiday. Leslie, a retired newspaper delivery driver for the Manchester Evening News, fell ill on October 9 last year with symptoms including diarrhoea, which led to dehydration.

Julie, Leslie’s wife of 38 years, said the couple had concerns a carbonara sauce they ate one day was lukewarm while she found her chicken undercooked during another meal. She also claimed she didn’t see any staff washing their hands and newly cooked food would be mixed with food that had been stood.

She was also left seriously ill after she too got salmonella on the day of her 60th birthday and spent a week in hospital. Julie said she and Leslie had only eaten from the buffet in the hotel during their holiday. The hearing at Rochdale Coroner’s Court concluded Leslie died of multi-organ failure as a result of sepsis, caused by salmonella.

After the hearing, Julie said: “It’s almost impossible to find the words to describe the last few months and trying to come to terms with Leslie’s death.

Leslie Green
Leslie Green was described as ‘one of the good guys’

“Leslie was such a loving and caring husband and dad. He was my best friend and life without him will never be the same. I still struggle to comprehend how we went on holiday, but Leslie didn’t come home. Leslie was the head of our family and someone everyone looked to for help and guidance.”

“There’s now a gaping hole in our family that can never be filled. I’d do anything not to be in this position and for Leslie to be in our lives, but I know that’s not possible.

“Listening to the evidence has been difficult but it was something I was determined to do to honour Leslie’s memory. I just hope that by speaking out I can prevent anyone else suffering like Leslie did. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.”

Leslie, who had turned 70 in July 2024 and was placed in an induced coma after falling ill, died hours after his life-support machine was switched off on November 4. His body was repatriated a week later. The Occidental Jandia Playa was approached for comment.

Salmonellosis develops after ingesting salmonella bacteria, and symptoms usually take between 12 and 72 hours to develop.

Seven main signs of food poisoning:

  • Diarrhoea
  • Stomach cramps
  • Vomiting
  • Fever
  • High temperature
  • Aches and pains
  • Generally feeling unwell

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‘We are dying’: Palestinians slam world’s inaction as hunger ravages Gaza | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are pleading for help as more people have starved to death under Israel’s unrelenting blockade of the coastal enclave.

The Gaza Health Ministry said in a statement on Friday that local hospitals recorded nine new malnutrition deaths in the previous 24 hours.

That brings the total number of such deaths to 122 since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October 2023, including at least 83 children.

“We urgently demand an immediate end to the famine, the opening of all crossings, and the entry of infant formula now, along with 500 aid trucks and 50 fuel trucks daily,” the Health Ministry said.

“We hold the Israeli occupation, the US administration, and other states complicit in this genocide—such as the UK, Germany, and France—as well as the international community at large, fully responsible for this historic crime.”

Sources at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, told Al Jazeera early on Saturday that a six-month-old infant also succumbed to starvation-related medical complications.

Starvation deaths have steadily increased in Gaza this week as Israel continues to maintain a strict blockade on the territory, preventing a steady flow of food, water, medicine and other supplies from reaching Palestinians.

The United Nations has warned that children are especially vulnerable as the crisis worsens.

Noor al-Shana, an independent journalist in central Gaza’s Nuseirat, told Al Jazeera that extreme hunger is affecting all aspects of life in the Strip.

She said she now struggles to find enough for one meal per day, while four of her relatives were killed while seeking food at aid distribution points run by the notorious Israel- and United States-backed GHF.

“The world is just saying ‘Free Palestine’ … We don’t want words, we want solutions,” she said.

“Enough, we are tired,” al-Shana added, fighting back tears. “We are suffocating. We are dying here.”

‘Deliberate mass starvation’

Separately, sources at hospitals in Gaza told Al Jazeera that at least 38 people were killed by Israeli attacks across the enclave since the early hours of Friday morning.

Of that, at least six Palestinians were killed while trying to collect food at aid distribution sites.

Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), on Friday reiterated criticism of the GHF, calling it a “cruel” politically driven effort that “takes more lives than it saves”.

Lazzarini called for the UN agency’s aid stockpiles to be let into Gaza, warning that the enclave is suffering from “deliberate mass starvation”.

“Today, more children died, their bodies emaciated by hunger,” he said in a post on X. “The unfolding famine can only be reversed by a political will.”

The Israeli military has blamed international organisations for the crisis, claiming that aid trucks are inside Gaza but that the UN has refused to distribute the assistance.

UN officials have rejected that, saying repeatedly that they have not received the necessary approvals from the Israeli authorities to distribute the aid.

The UN and other humanitarian groups have also refused to work with the GHF aid distribution scheme, which they say does not adhere to humanitarian principles such as impartiality and independence.

As the crisis continues to spiral, United States President Donald Trump on Friday solely blamed Hamas for the apparent collapse of Gaza ceasefire talks, saying the group is going to be “hunted down”.

“Hamas didn’t really want to make a deal. I think they want to die, and it’s very, very bad,” Trump told reporters at the White House.

The US president’s comments came a day after his Middle East envoy said US negotiators had withdrawn from ceasefire talks in Qatar.

Hamas responded to the US’s announcement with surprise, saying on Thursday that it had submitted a positive and constructive response to the latest proposal it was offered.

Despite Hamas’s insistence that it is ready to work towards a deal, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel and the US are weighing ways to secure the release of captives in Gaza that do not depend on a negotiated agreement with the Palestinian group.

“Together with our US allies, we are now considering alternative options to bring our hostages home, end Hamas’s terror rule, and secure lasting peace for Israel and our region,” Netanyahu said.

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 59,676 Palestinians and wounded 143,965 others. An estimated 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attacks and more than 200 were taken captive.

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Slovenia’s parliament votes to legalise assisted dying | Health News

Slovenia will join several other countries that have legalised the practice, including Australia and Belgium.

Slovenia’s parliament has passed a law giving terminally-ill adults the right to end their lives, after a majority of voters backed the move in a referendum.

Lawmakers approved the bill on Friday, with 50 votes in favour, 34 against and three abstentions, meaning that assisted dying will be allowed in cases of unbearable suffering in which all treatment options have been exhausted.

The right to assisted dying will not be available in the case of unbearable suffering resulting from mental illness, according to Slovenia’s STA news agency.

It is expected to come into force in the coming weeks.

In a consultative referendum last year, 55 percent of Slovenians voted in favour of assisted suicide. Opponents of the law may try to gather enough support to force another referendum.

The country’s Commission for Medical Ethics said this week that it remained firm in its position that the bill carries high ethical risks despite several amendments during its passage through parliament.

Tereza Novak, a lawmaker from the governing Freedom Movement, which had supported the bill, told parliament that the “right [to assisted dying] does not represent a defeat for medicine”.

“It would be wrong for medicine to deprive people of their right to die if they want to and medicine cannot help them,” the liberal MP said.

The conservative Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) has denounced the bill, saying it “opens the door to a culture of death, the loss of human dignity and the minimisation of the value of life, in particular of the most vulnerable”.

The vote means the central European country will join several others that allow terminally ill people to receive medical help to end their lives, including Australia, Canada, the Netherlands and Belgium, as well as some states in the United States.

Last month, the UK parliament voted to legalise assisted dying, although the bill must still clear the upper chamber of parliament.

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Dozens killed by Israel at aid site in Gaza, children dying of malnutrition | Israel-Palestine conflict News

At least 79 Palestinians have been killed since dawn in Israeli attacks across Gaza, with dozens of children dying from malnutrition during Israel’s punishing months-long blockade, as ceasefire talks reportedly stall.

Among the victims on Saturday, 14 were killed in Gaza City, four of them in an Israeli strike on a residence on Jaffa Street in the Tuffah area, which injured 10 others.

At least 30 aid seekers were killed by Israeli army fire north of Rafah, southern Gaza, near the one operating GHF site, which rights groups and the United Nations have slammed as “human slaughterhouses” and “death traps”.

According to Al Jazeera Mubasher, Israeli forces fired directly at Palestinians in front of the aid distribution centre in the al-Shakoush area of Rafah.

Reporting from Deir el-Balah, Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud said the Israeli army opened fire indiscriminately on a large crowd during one of the attacks.

“Many desperate families in the north have been making dangerous journeys all the way to the south to reach the only operating distribution centre in Rafah,” he said.

“Many of the bodies are still on the ground,” Mahmoud said, adding that those who were wounded in the attack have been transferred to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.

Amid relentless daily carnage rained upon starving aid seekers and the ongoing Israeli blockade, Gaza’s Government Media Office said 67 children have now died due to malnutrition, and 650,000 children under the age of five are at “real and immediate risk of acute malnutrition in the coming weeks”.

“Over the past three days, we have recorded dozens of deaths due to shortages of food and essential medical supplies, in an extremely cruel humanitarian situation,” the statement read.

“This shocking reality reflects the scale of the unprecedented humanitarian tragedy in Gaza,” the statement added.

Israel is engineering a “cruel and Machiavellian scheme to kill” in Gaza, the head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said on Friday, as the world body reported that since May, when GHF began its operations, some 800 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid.

“Under our watch, Gaza has become the graveyard of children [and] starving people,” UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said.

Mass displacement, expulsion ‘illegal and immoral’

As the Israeli military announced on Saturday that its forces attacked Gaza 250 times in the last 48 hours, Israeli officials have continued to push a plan to forcibly displace and eventually expel Palestinians.

Earlier this week, Defense Minister Israel Katz announced a plan to build a so-called “humanitarian city” which will house 2.1 million Palestinians on the rubble of parts of the city of Rafah, which has been razed to the ground.

But Palestinians in Gaza have rejected the plan and reiterated that they would not leave the enclave. Rights groups, international organisations and several nations have slammed it as laying the ground for “ethnic cleansing”, the forcible removal of a population from its homeland.

Israeli political analyst Akiva Eldar told Al Jazeera on Saturday that the majority of Israelis are “really appalled” by Katz’s plan, which would be “illegal and immoral”.

“Anybody who will participate in this disgusting project will be involved in war crimes,” Elder said.

The message underlying the plan, he said, is that “there can’t be two people between the river and the sea, and those who deserve to have a state are only the Jewish people.”

As Israel announces its intention to force the population of Gaza into Rafah, Middle East professor at the University of Turin, Lorenzo Kamel, told Al Jazeera that the expulsion of Palestinians from their land and their concentration in restricted areas is nothing new.

In 1948, 77 years ago to this day, 70,000 Palestinians were expelled from the village of Lydda during what became known as the “march of death”.

“Many of them ended up in the Gaza Strip,” Kamel said, adding that the Israeli authorities have been forcing Palestinians into spaces similar to concentration camps for decades.

“This is not something new, but it has accelerated in the past months,” he said. The plan to gather the Gaza population on the ruins of Rafah is therefore “nothing but another camp in preparation for the deportation from the Gaza Strip”.

Ceasefire talks hang in the balance

Negotiations taking place in Qatar to cement a truce are stalling over the extent of Israeli forces’ withdrawal from the Strip, according to Palestinian and Israeli sources familiar with the matter, the Reuters news agency reported on Saturday.

The indirect talks are expected to continue, despite the latest obstacles in clinching a deal based on a US proposal for a 60-day ceasefire.

A Palestinian source said Hamas has not accepted the withdrawal maps which Israel has proposed, as they would leave about 40 percent of the territory under Israeli occupation, including all of Rafah and further territories in northern and eastern Gaza.

Matters regarding the full and free flow of aid to a starving population, and guarantees, were also presenting a challenge.

Two Israeli sources said Hamas wants Israel to retreat to lines it held in a previous ceasefire, before it renewed its offensive in March.

Delegations from Israel and Hamas have been in Qatar since Sunday in a renewed push for an agreement.

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‘Dying city’ in the hills of Italy crumbling as tourists flock to historic town

Civita di Bagnoregio, in the Alta Tuscia region of central Italy, is slowly disappearing as the tuff hill it was built on crumbles – but tourists are still flocking in their droves

The Italian hilltop town on a clear day
Civita di Bagnoregio is one of Italy’s most picturesque and distinctive towns(Image: Karl Hendon via Getty Images)

A quaint town tucked away in the Lazio hills, less than two hours from Rome, is experiencing a tourist boom as visitors flock to see it before it’s too late. Civita di Bagnoregio, situated in central Italy’s Alta Tuscia region, perches atop a fragile tuff hill that’s gradually eroding.

Dubbed “the dying city” since the 1960s, recent studies in 2020 revealed that the hill shrinks by an average of seven centimetres annually. Researchers have calculated that the land surrounding Civita has diminished by 20 to 25% over the last half-millennium – a decline that’s expected to persist.

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Boasting a rich history that dates back around 2,500 years, Civita di Bagnoregio was established by the Etruscans, reports the Express. The city once lay on a crucial route linking the Tiber River to Lake Bolsena, serving as a key communication pathway.

The Etruscans, cognisant of the area’s seismic volatility, undertook measures to safeguard it from earthquakes by constructing dams and drainage systems for effective rainwater management.

Following the Etruscans, the Romans continued these protective efforts, but subsequent neglect led to rapid deterioration and eventual desertion.

Compounding the issue, the tuff hill beneath Civita is continuously worn away by the erosive forces of two rivers in the valley below, along with the relentless wear of rain and wind.

Civita di Bagnoregio is undeniably one of Italy’s most picturesque and distinctive towns, appearing to float in mid-air on foggy days. Currently, the ancient village is home to around ten steadfast residents, their deep love for their homeland keeping them rooted there.

Thanks to these individuals, Civita retains its predominantly medieval characteristics, enchanting the numerous tourists who visit each year.

Access to the village is provided by a towering 300m concrete bridge, constructed in 1965, which links Civita to the nearby town of Bagnoregio. At the end of this bridge, the Porta di Santa Maria opens onto the quaint alleyways that define Civita.

The streets are adorned with the Renaissance palaces of the Colesanti, Bocca and Alemanni families, alongside typical low houses featuring small balconies and external stairs characteristic of medieval architecture.

There’s certainly no shortage of sights to see and activities to enjoy in Civita. Highlights include the compact Antica Civitas Museum, housed within a residential building, and the cave of San Bonaventura.

This ancient chamber tomb, carved into the tuff wall, is named after Friar Bonaventura da Bagnoregio (1217-1274), the biographer of Saint Francis of Assisi.

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UK Parliament approves assisted dying bill: How would it work? | Explainer News

The British parliament has narrowly voted in favour of a bill to legalise assisted dying for terminally ill people, marking a landmark moment of social reform in the country’s history.

The legislation passed by a vote of 314-291 in the House of Commons on Friday, clearing its biggest parliamentary hurdle, and will now undergo months of scrutiny in the House of Lords, Britain’s upper chamber.

The process could result in further amendments when it goes to the Lords, but the upper house is usually reluctant to block legislation that has been passed by elected members of parliament in the Commons.

Friday’s vote came after many hours of emotional debate, including references to personal stories, in the chamber. It followed a vote in November that approved the legislation in principle.

Prior to that, the House of Commons voted on the issue in 2015, when it rejected legalising assisted dying.

What is in the assisted dying bill?

The “Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life)” Bill gives mentally competent, terminally ill adults in England and Wales, who have six months or less left to live, the right to choose to end their lives with medical assistance.

Patients will have to be capable of taking fatal drugs by themselves after receiving a green light from doctors and a panel including a social worker, a senior legal figure and a psychiatrist.

Assisted suicide is different from euthanasia, where a healthcare practitioner or other person administers a lethal injection at a patient’s request.

Under current legislation, someone who helps a terminally ill person end their life can face a police investigation, prosecution and a prison sentence of up to 14 years.

Changes to the original draft of the new bill were made to include the appointment of independent advocates to support people with learning disabilities, autism or mental health conditions and the creation of a disability advisory board.

Logistics still need to be thrashed out, including whether the practice or any services supporting it would be integrated into the National Health Service (NHS) or would operate as a separate unit made available through third parties.

The bill will not apply in Northern Ireland or Scotland, which is holding its own vote on the issue.

What are the arguments for assisted dying?

Supporters of the bill say it will ensure dignity and compassion for people with a terminal diagnosis, who must be given a choice over whether or not to relieve their suffering.

Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, who introduced the bill, told The Guardian newspaper that terminally ill people should be given rights over their bodies similar to those that allow a woman to choose an abortion.

“As much as I will fight for the rights of disabled people to be treated better by society, I will also fight for the rights of dying people,” she said.

Some advocates for the bill also argue that current legislation discriminates against the poor, who face possible prosecution for helping their loved ones die, while the wealthy can travel abroad to legally access the services.

Conservative MP Peter Bedford spoke against this perceived inequality. “At least one Brit every week is taking the stressful and often lonely journey to Switzerland for an assisted death, at the cost of £12,000 ($16,100),” he said. “This bill isn’t about shortening life, it is about shortening death.”

Labour MP Maureen Burke spoke about her brother David, who suffered from pancreatic cancer. “He could never have known that I would ever have the opportunity to stand in this place and ask colleagues to make sure that others don’t go through what he went through,” she said. “I’ve done right by my brother by speaking here today.”

Opinion polls show that a majority of United Kingdom citizens back assisted dying. Sarah Wootton, chief executive of the UK-based Dignity in Dying campaign, said the vote sent “a clear message” and that “parliament stands with the public and change is coming”.

While there is no timetable for the implementation of the bill, under the terms of the legislation, it must begin within four years of the law being passed.

What do opponents say?

Opponents worry that vulnerable people could be coerced into ending their lives or feel pressured to do so for fear of becoming a burden to their families and society.

Protesters who rallied outside parliament as the vote was taking place on Friday held up banners urging politicians not to make the state-run health service, the NHS, the “National Suicide Service”.

Several MPs withdrew their support for the bill after the initial vote last year, saying safeguards had been weakened. One of the most important changes to the bill from last November was the dropping of the requirement that a judge sign off on any decision. The latest vote passed by a majority of 23, a narrowing of support from the 55 majority (330 votes to 275) in November.

Care Not Killing, a group that opposes the law change, called the bill “deeply flawed and dangerous” and argued that politicians had not been given enough time to consider its implications.

“Members of Parliament had under 10 hours to consider over 130 amendments to the bill, or less than five minutes per change. Does anyone think this is enough time to consider changes to a draft law that quite literally is a matter of life and death?” said the group’s CEO, Gordon Macdonald.

Opponents also raised concerns about the impact of assisted dying on the finances of the state-run NHS, whether it could allow it to sidetrack requests to fund improvements to palliative care and how it might change the relationship between doctors and their patients.

Outright opponents of the legislation include Tanni Grey-Thompson, a disabled MP and Paralympic medallist. In an interview with Sky News, she said nobody needs to die a “terrible death” if they have access to specialist palliative care.

“I’m really worried that disabled people, because of the cost of health and social care, because that’s being removed, that choice is then taken away, so the only choice they have is to end their lives,” she said.

Assisted dying laws have been introduced in several countries. About 300 million people around the world have legal access to this option, according to Dignity in Dying.

In March, the Isle of Man became the first place in the British Isles to pass an assisted dying bill, allowing terminally ill adults with a prognosis of 12 months or less to choose to end their lives.

Switzerland legalised assisted dying in 1942, making it the first country in the world to permit the practice on the condition that the motive is not selfish.

In Europe, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain, Portugal and Austria have some form of legalised assisted dying.

In the United States, the practice is known as “physician-assisted dying” and is legal in 10 states, while in Australia, it has been legal in every state since 2022.

In Latin America, Colombia legalised euthanasia for terminally ill adult patients in 2014, while Ecuador opted to decriminalise euthanasia and assisted suicide in 2024.

Canada has one of the most liberal systems of assisted dying in the world. It introduced MAID, or Medical Assistance in Dying, in 2016 for terminally ill adults. In 2021, the requirement of suffering from a terminal illness was removed and it is now debating opening the scheme to people who suffer from a mental illness as well.

Which other countries are considering legalising it?

A bill on assisted dying is being considered in Scotland. It passed an initial vote in May, but it will now need two more rounds of parliamentary scrutiny before it can become law.

French President Emmanuel Macron has backed a bill allowing some people in the last stages of a terminal illness to access assisted dying. That was approved by the National Assembly in May and will now go to the Senate before a second reading in the lower house.

According to Death with Dignity, 17 US states are considering assisted dying bills this year.

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James Gunn says movie industry is dying because of unfinished scripts

James Gunn has his own theory about why the movie industry is “dying.”

The filmmaker, screenwriter and co-head of DC Studios contends that the reason for bad movies is Hollywood’s tendency to begin productions before screenplays are complete, he told Rolling Stone in a new interview.

“I do believe that the reason why the movie industry is dying is not because of people not wanting to see movies. It’s not because of home screens getting so good,” Gunn said. “The number one reason is because people are making movies without a finished screenplay.”

That’s why one of his main rules at DC Studios is that movies must have finished scripts before they go into production. In fact, Gunn just scrapped a project because the screenplay wasn’t ready, he said. On the other hand, he described the scripts for the upcoming DC films “Supergirl,” “Lanterns” and “Clayface” as “so f—-ing good.”

Before taking the reins of DC Studios in 2022, Gunn co-wrote and directed three “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies for now-competitor Marvel Studios, which he said has been “killed” by Disney’s directive to increase output.

“We don’t have the mandate to have a certain amount of movies and TV shows every year,” Gunn said of DC Studios. “So we’re going to put out everything that we think is of the highest quality.”

During the interview, Gunn also addressed rumors that Matt Reeves’ sequel to “The Batman,” starring Robert Pattinson, has been axed. The film, which Gunn confirmed is still titled “The Brave and the Bold,” has been delayed a year and is now expected in October 2027.

“That’s the other thing I hear all the time — that ‘Batman Part II’ is canceled. It’s not canceled,” Gunn said. “We don’t have a script. Matt’s slow. Let him take his time. Let him do what he’s doing. God, people are mean. Let him do his thing, man.”

Finishing the scripts for the “The Batman” sequel and “Wonder Woman” are among DC Studios’ top priorities, Gunn noted.

Additionally, Gunn reflected on the 2018 scandal that saw him briefly fired from “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” when tweets resurfaced of him joking about pedophilia and rape. He said without that experience, his script for “Superman” — hitting theaters July 11 — would have been much different.

“That opened the door for me to stop creating so that people would like me. That’s downplaying it — so people would love me,” Gunn said. “I think on some level, everything I had done came from a pleasing place.”

When asked whether he’s worried about ever running out of ideas, Gunn didn’t seem too concerned.

“If I do, then I’ll go raise goats,” he said. “I really am fine. There’s a lot of directors who get worse as they get older, and I don’t wanna do that. Or maybe I do — I don’t know. It’s like, if it runs out — it hasn’t so far. But who knows?”

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French lawmakers approve assisted dying bill | Health News

Legislation likely to eventually pass as polls say 90 percent of French in favour of laws that give people with terminal diseases the right to die.

France’s lower house of parliament has approved a right-to-die bill in the first reading, taking an initial step in the lengthy process to pass legislation.

A total of 305 lawmakers in the National Assembly approved the legislation on Tuesday while 199 deputies voted against the bill to grant patients medical assistance to end their lives in defined circumstances.

The text has the backing of President Emmanuel Macron but is opposed by some conservative groups.

In a statement on X, Macron praised the approval of the bill as “an important step” on “the path of fraternity”.

“The National Assembly’s vote on legislation concerning the development of palliative care and assisted dying is an important step,” Macron posted. “With respect for sensitivities, doubts and hopes, the path of fraternity that I hoped for is gradually opening up.”

A screen shows the vote's results on bill on assisted-dying in France
A screen shows the results of the vote [Stephane de Sakutin/AFP]

The legislation will be sent to the French Senate for further debate. Months could be required to schedule a definitive vote on the measure, given France’s long and complex parliamentary process. The National Assembly has the final say over the Senate.

The legislation is expected to eventually pass as polls indicated that more than 90 percent of French people are in favour of laws that give people with terminal diseases or going through interminable suffering the right to die.

The proposed measure defines assisted dying as allowing people to use lethal medication under certain conditions. They may take it themselves, or those whose physical conditions don’t allow them to do so alone would be able to get help from a doctor or nurse.

Strict conditions

To benefit, patients would need to be over 18, be French citizens or live in France.

A team of medical professionals would need to confirm that the patient has a grave and incurable illness “at an advanced or terminal stage”, is suffering from intolerable and untreatable pain, and is seeking lethal medication of their own free will.

Patients with severe psychiatric conditions and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease will not be eligible.

A person would initiate the request for lethal medication and confirm the request after a period of reflection.

If approved, a doctor would deliver a prescription for the lethal medication, which could be taken at home, a nursing home or a healthcare facility.

A 2023 report indicated that most French citizens back legalising end-of-life options, and opinion polls showed growing support over the past 20 years.

Initial discussions in parliament last year were abruptly interrupted by Macron’s decision to dissolve the National Assembly, plunging France into a months-long political crisis.

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Heartbreak for Roger Teal as Lead Artist runs down Dancing Gemini in dying strides of Lockinge

LEAD ARTIST wore down Dancing Gemini in the final strides to deny Roger Teal a fairytale Lockinge win at Newbury.

Teal’s well-backed 2-1 favourite headed the eventual winner with a furlong to run, but the petrol tank began to empty and John Gosden’s runner got back up close home.

Two jockeys race their horses neck and neck.

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Lead Artist (left) edged out Dancing Gemini in the Lockinge StakesCredit: Getty

It was heartbreak for nice guy Teal, who was seeking just his third Group 1 win, but he took it on the chin and is up for another crack at the winner.

There was promise, too, from Richard Hannon’s Classic winner Rosallion, who was a few lengths away in third on his first run for nearly a year.

But it was Gosden who had the last laugh, winning a Group 1 just 10 days after sacking Kieran Shoemark as his stable jockey.

He will no doubt feel his decision has been vindicated after Oisin Murphy steered home 17-2 shot Lead Artist by a neck, a result Gosden admitted he didn’t see coming.

He said: “It was a very strong Lockinge and if you’d asked me beforehand I’d have said we’d be in the first three, I didn’t expect him to win.

“He is a lovely horse and he’s won over nine furlongs before, so Ryan came at us from off the pace and used up petrol and we’ve just been able to get back past him.

“We’ll go to the Queen Anne at Royal Ascot now where I expect we’ll meet several of these horses again, and it should be a hell of a race.”

Dancing Gemini will definitely be there, and Teal said he won’t duck and dive his way through the season with his stable star.

The Lambourn trainer said last month he wanted to emulate last season’s top miler Charyn, and so far the four-year-old is sticking to the script.

Teal said: “We said we were going to try and do a Charyn and he was second in the Lockinge last year, so it’s not the end of the world. We’ve run better than Charyn did, he ran great.

“Ryan said the ground was probably a bit lively for him, it was the quickest ground he’s been on.

“We don’t duck and dive, we’ve only gone down a neck and he has put the rest of the field to bed so we’ll go to the Queen Anne now.

“It was a bit of an awkward draw, we had to take him back further than we wanted to. He’s gone down on his sword and he’s a Group 1 winner waiting to happen.”

Hannon was a bag of nerves before Rosallion’s long overdue return to action, but he was pleased with the colt after such a long lay-off.

He said: “It was a very good run, he was pretty fit coming here but there is nothing like race fitness.

“I’ve no doubt he’ll improve loads for that, so we will go again and head to Ascot.”

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