North Carolina's Republican-controlled legislature has voted to override Democratic Governor Roy Cooper's veto of a bill banning most abortions after 12 weeks. The Care for Women, Children and Families Act was passed by the state Senate along party lines on 4 May, but was subsequently vetoed by Cooper, who described it as a block to progress. The new law bans abortions at 12 weeks, mandates that those after that time be carried out in hospital and restricts the use of abortion pills after 10 weeks. Official figures indicate the number of abortions rose 37% in North Carolina after a 2020 Supreme Court ruling ended US-wide abortion rights.
Lori Vallow has been found guilty of murdering her two children and conspiring to murder her new husband's previous wife. She was convicted of first-degree murder, conspiracy, and grand theft. The remains of Vallow's daughter, Tylee Ryan, 16, and son Joshua "JJ" Vallow were found buried on Chad Daybell's property in June 2020. Tammy Daybell, Chad's wife, died in October 2019, and prosecutors argued that Vallow conspired with her husband and brother Alex Cox to kill the three victims out of greed and their doomsday cult beliefs. Vallow's sentencing will take place within 90 days, where she could face a life sentence.
The End of the Game by Holly Watt, set in the football world, is recommended by the Telegraph in its list of the best thrillers of the season. The fourth in Watt's Casey Benedict series, Watt steps out of her usual mode to infiltrate the world of game fixing as an WAG. The journalist's musings inject a moral edge into the story, making it thought-provoking and gripping. The list also includes A Death in the Parish by Richard Coles, an entertaining and sensitive portrayal of Canon Daniel Clement's attempts to guide the bereaved, Clyde Morton's Viper’s Dream by Jake Lamar, and #Panic by Luke Jennings.
The UK current fertility rate of 1.6, compared to the replacement rate of 2.1, continues to fall, according to an opinion piece by Miriam Cates, the Conservative MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge. Cates argued that since government policies either encourage or discourage family formation, public discussion should be openly held on how reforming policies such as the tax system and housing regulations could promote the creation of families. The piece also argued that the challenges facing public services outlined by Left and Right politicians will only worsen unless the UK takes measures to avoid population decline.
A hillside temple in Miyajima, Hiroshima has been holding ritual burnings of millions of origami cranes sent to the city as a tribute to Sadako Sasaki, who died at the age of 12 of leukemia she developed after the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Ash from the burned cranes has been used since 2015 to glaze ceramic incense burners and candle holders. The third-generation potter running the studio, Kosai Yamane, whose mother suffered burn scars from the bomb, has been producing the delicately designed and symbolic items to convey a message of peace from Hiroshima.
A scheme to support young children who witness domestic violence at home will now be extended to schools across Northern Ireland. Operation Encompass will be rolled out in all Northern Ireland's 1,162 schools. If an officer attends a domestic violence call-out where children are present, they will contact the child's school before 09:00 the following morning to share this information with the school's safeguarding team. The initiative recognises children as unseen victims of domestic abuse. Since the start of the 2021 school year, officers attended 2,121 domestic incidents with 3,774 children affected, and a total of 3,160 referrals were made.
A South Korean court has ordered the country's largest adoption agency to pay £60,000 ($82,000) in damages to a man who was adopted as a young boy to the US, suffering abuse through his childhood, reported The Telegraph. Adam Crapser, now 48, was adopted along with his sister in the 1970s during a period described as "child export" from South Korea. Raised by two sets of abusive parents, he was deported in adulthood after being unable to gain US citizenship. The ruling may embolden other South Korean adoptees to file lawsuits over corruption allegations in historical international adoption cases.
Seven primary school children in Melbourne have suffered life-changing injuries including amputations, after the bus they were travelling in collided with a truck and rolled over. The students, aged between five and 11, were on their way home from Exford Primary School on Tuesday afternoon when the crash happened. Eleven other children were also taken to hospital and seven, who are in a stable condition, remain at Royal Children's Hospital. The bus driver was injured and subsequently charged with four counts of dangerous driving. Victoria Police Superintendent Michael Cruse said: "This incident was avoidable".
Relief organisations are waiting for permission from Myanmar’s military rulers to access areas of Rakhine State that were supposedly devastated by Cyclone Mocha three days ago, according to UN agencies. Hundreds of people are thought to have died as a result of the cyclone, which triggered a storm surge that inundated the state capital Sittwe, including members of the Rohingya Muslim minority population. The UN has requested unrestricted access so they can assess damage, ascertain needs and provide emergency assistance, much of which has yet to take place.
Children in Turkey are still affected by the 6 February earthquakes. Caregivers and school staff have observed that children are demonstrating more aggression and there has been an increase in both physical and emotional bullying, as well as self-harming. Families have also reported that their children are still wetting their beds at night, having not been able to process their emotions regarding the disaster. In some cases, this manageable issue, usually a sign of distress or abuse in children, has turned into a source of distress and shame for families as they still do not have access to facilities where they can wash soiled sheets. Save the Children is providing psychological assistance to parents who resort to negative coping mechanisms and referring those in need to partners who provide free psychological support. Children are also suffering from overcrowding, which can expose them to physical, mental and emotional abuse and robs families of the privacy they need.
Lori Vallow, the woman dubbed the "doomsday cult mom," has been found guilty of her two youngest children's murder. Tylee Ryan, 16, and Joshua “JJ” Vallow, 8, disappeared in September 2019, and their mother married new husband Chad Daybell while they were missing. The children's bodies were later discovered buried in a pet cemetery on Daybell's property in Idaho. Vallow was also found guilty of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the death of Daybell's first wife and separately charged with conspiring to murder her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, with the help of her now-deceased brother, Alex Cox. Daybell is due to stand trial for the murder of his former wife, Tammy, as well as for his involvement in the children's deaths. The case spans a deeply disturbing pattern of deaths and bizarre cult beliefs about killing zombies. Vallow has been committed to a psychiatric facility for treatment after being ruled unfit to stand trial.
After the conviction of 55-year-old David Boyd, 31 years after the murder of seven-year-old Nikki Allan in 1992, Northumbria Police have issued an apology to George Heron, who was tried and cleared of the murder in 1993. Heron was subjected to “oppressive” questioning and denied having any involvement in the murder 120 times during three days of interviews before making some kind of confession. Boyd was finally identified through advances in DNA techniques and sentenced on 14 May 2021.
Wayne McGregor, Royal Ballet artist-in-residence and founder of his own dance company, has choreographed a 70-minute contemporary dance, inspired by the ecological overtones and much maligned dark fable, The Dark Crystal. The dance, called Atomos, is a mirrored projection of Thra, the dying planet depicted in The Dark Crystal, with poignant relevance to contemporary planet Earth, now "ailing and riven". As a "tremendously inventive shriek of horror", in a stunning digital wizardry that is both eye wideningly impressive and thought-provoking, the show runs at London's Royal Opera House until 4 June.
The use of handcuffs and rub-down searches on migrant children at UK Border Force short-term facilities has been criticised following an inspection by HM Inspectorate of Prisons. The watchdog also found that children were frequently held for excessive periods. DBS checks were not undertaken on all staff, complaints procedures were inadequate and vulnerable refugees were also mistreated. In one instance, two self-harming men on board a ship were held until the vessel departed. The government was found to be underreporting the number of arrivals to such sites. In the six months to November 2022, 83 children were detained.
A mother has caused controversy on social media by revealing that she tracks the location of her two daughters using Apple AirTags. Vada Stevens posted a TikTok video in which her children reacted to the beeping sound emitted by the devices, which she kept in bracelets. Stevens suggested that parents could “train” their children to respond to the noise. The move was seen as either a safety feature or “traumatising” by social media users. Apple introduced the devices earlier this year to help find lost items, but Stevens’ video was not the first to show them being used for child tracking.
Lori Vallow has been found guilty of several charges related to the murders of her children and her husband's late wife. The jury took six weeks to reach a verdict, with one juror initially holding out before ultimately switching his stance. Mr Hernandez, the juror who hung up, told press that the experience changed his perspective on life. An alternate juror, Tiffany, who spoke to Law & Crime, also noted how Vallow appeared unemotional during the trial, calling it one of the strongest pieces of evidence.
A Russian family has asked for permission to change their son's name from Putin back to Rasul. The family renamed the boy Putin in honour of the president when he was one-and-a-half years old, but in an unexpected move asked registry officials in the town of Aleksandrov, 90km north-east of Moscow, to restore his original name. No reason for the request to change the boy's name has been given. His grandfather is a strong supporter of Putin.
Choking is responsible for 40% of unintentional injuries in infants under the age of one in Canada, says Dr. Natasha Collia, a pediatric emergency physician at The Hospital for Sick Children. She warns that children can choke on anything, with common causes being food, toys and household items. Typical foods that can cause choking include pieces of hotdog, grapes, hard candy, popcorn and fish bones. For babies and young children who are choking, Dr. Collia advises turning them upside down, giving them several back blows between the shoulder blades, looking quickly inside the mouth then doing several chest compressions. For older children, stand behind them, wrap your arms around their waist and give them quick thrusts of the stomach.
According to data from Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), the number of children and teens trying vaping has increased by 50% in a year. The data found that 11% of 11- to 17-year-olds experiment with vaping, up from 7.7% last year. In addition, the data revealed that 69% of all young vapers use a disposable vape most frequently, up from 52% in 2022, and corner shops are now the main point of purchase for young vapers, with 26% buying from a shop such as a newsagent or off-licence.
A vote on whether to research the possible impact of water fluoridation on tooth decay on the Isle of Man has been delayed for a month. Health Minister Lawrie Hooper proposed a study into whether the process could improve children's dental health, while a bid by the Council of Ministers called for research into other ways of improving oral health. A report proposed seven recommendations to improve oral health for under-11s on the island. The Isle of Man Dental Association has backed the safe and effective use of fluoride in the water supply.
