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Nearly seven months after it was first debated, the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill has now completed all its steps in the House of Commons…. Bill sponsor Kim Leadbeater said she’s “over the Moon” as the bill will now give terminally ill patients a “choice and dignity where they might not otherwise have it”.
Hong Kong is still facing threats from “soft resistance,” which may take the form of performance content, song lyrics, and storylines, Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Rosanna Law (above) said in an interview with Beijing-backed newspaper Wen Wei Po published on Friday. Law said the authorities must “remain vigilant” at all times and that safeguarding national security was an “ongoing process.”
It’s also unclear what level of age estimation error the government may be willing to accept in implementing a social media ban. The legislation says technology companies must demonstrate they have taken “reasonable steps” to prevent under 16s from holding social media accounts. What is considered “reasonable” is yet to be clearly defined.
If the 190 rural hospitals estimated in a recent Center for American Progress report as collateral damage of the Republican cuts close, all of their patients must find treatment at the remaining health care providers. Many of these new-arrival patients are likely to be uninsured (many thrown off Medicaid or Obamacare by Republicans), crushing hospital finances and potentially adding more closures on top. This means overcrowded hospitals and overburdened staff, in addition to the serious hardships for patients traveling long distances for care.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s affiliation with the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches – commonly called the CREC – drew attention even before his confirmation hearings in January 2025. More recently, media reports highlighted a Pentagon prayer led by Hegseth and his pastor, Brooks Potteiger, in which they praised President Donald Trump, who they said was divinely appointed.
In federal court in Central Islip, Renee Hoberman, also known as “Rina,” a licensed social worker, pleaded guilty to receipt and distribution of child pornography…. When sentenced, Hoberman faces a minimum sentence of five years’ imprisonment, and up to 20 years in prison.
Members of law enforcement agencies search for shooting suspect Vance Boelter at a house on June 15, 2025, in Belle Plaine, Minn.
House Bill 612, which sponsors call the Fostering Care in NC Act, would give the state more power to hold county-run social services departments accountable.
PIP, a Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) benefit, provides financial support to individuals living with long-term health conditions or disabilities to help cover their additional expenses. Recent DWP data obtained by Benefits and Work highlighted that people with back pain, arthritis, and other regional musculoskeletal diseases could be disproportionately affected by the changes. More than 70 percent of those receiving the daily living rate within these categories risk losing their entitlement, reports the Mirror.
Britain took a historic step towards allowing euthanasia on Friday when MPs backed contentious legislation that would introduce assisted dying for terminally ill people. Lawmakers in the lower House of Commons chamber voted 314 in favour to 291 to send the proposal to the upper House of Lords for further scrutiny following four hours of emotional debate.
London is a city that loves to dance after dark. These days, though, the music is fading. In the first two decades of the 2000s, the number of gay bars, pubs and nightclubs in the capital fell by a staggering 58 per cent—125 venues dwindled to just 53. The story is much the same in other places. In the United States, an average of 15 gay bars have closed every year since 2008. Today, there are 45 per cent fewer gay bars than in 2002. In 1976, there were 2,500 gay bars in just the U.S. Today, there are fewer than 1,400 worldwide.
“When AI/AN people are misclassified in life and in death, it distorts public health data and drives inequities even deeper,” said Star. “Accurate data isn’t just about numbers — it’s about honoring lives, holding systems accountable and making sure our communities are seen and served.” Above: The Taos Pueblo Cemetery in Taos, N.M., in 2023
A burgeoning writer’s zip code should not determine the quality of her education, but if she’s born in Greenwich, Connecticut instead of, say, western Kentucky, her prospects will be considerably altered.
Psychopathy sits at the uncomfortable intersection of mental illness and morality, with symptoms such as cruel behavior and remorselessness that inherently raise questions about the line between medicine and criminal law…. Treating adult psychopathy is extremely difficult, but there is hope for children with CU traits.
Isle of Wight council has been charged £29,000 per week for the placement in a semi-detached house leased by the local authority, at which the boy was the only resident. The home is not registered with Ofsted, the education and care watchdog, which makes operating it a criminal offence…. Social workers took the boy into care last year. He had been traumatised by witnessing domestic violence and deemed beyond parental control, and has since been placed in a series of illegal children’s homes.
The ASYE is a 12-month, employer-based programme of support and assessment for newly qualified social workers. It forms a vital part of Hull City Council’s approach to ‘growing our own’ social workers.
‘This decision is both cruel and calculated. We know from decades of research that LGBTQ youth are four times more likely to attempt suicide than their straight peers.’ — Dr. Perry Halkitis, Rutgers School of Public Health
More than half a billion people around the world, including Mike (not his real name) have downloaded products such as Xiaoice and Replika, which offer customizable virtual companions designed to provide empathy, emotional support and — if the user wants it — deep relationships. And tens of millions of people use them every month, according to the firms’ figures.
The line of people in the post office is a mass of unimportant fools; it’s a felt injustice that you must wait while they bumble with their requests. The flight attendant is not a potentially interesting person with her own cares and struggles but instead the most available face of a corporation that stupidly insists you shut your phone. Custodians and secretaries are lazy complainers who rightly get the scut work. The person who disagrees with you at the staff meeting is an idiot to be shot down. Entering a subway is an exercise in nudging past the dumb schmoes.
We need a theory of jerks.
Congressional Republicans want to continue to allow states to impose waiting periods before families can enroll in CHIP and to lock them out of the program if they fail to keep up with premiums. They also propose changing Medicaid to include a first-ever national work requirement…. Senate Republicans propose going even further, with a part-time work requirement including parents of children over 14.
Seventy years after President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned about the cost of a military-industrial complex, America is still stealing from its own people to fund a global empire…. It’s about preserving a military-industrial complex that profits from endless war, global policing, and foreign occupations—while the nation’s infrastructure crumbles and its people are neglected.
A monitor appointed by a federal court has found that a New York City Police Department unit has been unjustly stopping and searching New Yorkers, almost all of them Black and Hispanic men. The report on the NYPD’s Community Response Team echoes a recent ProPublica investigation that found the unit, championed by Mayor Eric Adams, has been ridden with abuses.
Governments worldwide are dramatically reshaping higher education, challenging long-held models and academic autonomy
As part of the administration’s efforts aimed at stopping diversity, equity and inclusion, the government has been restricting how it monitors public health. Along with cuts to federally funded research, the administration has targeted public health efforts to gather information about sexual orientation and gender identity.
“In interviews, veterans said the impact of the new policy would probably fall hardest on female veterans, LGBTQ+ veterans and those who live in rural areas where there are fewer doctors overall.”
The tragic case of Qianya “Amy” Huang, a 24-year-old San Francisco State University social work graduate who disappeared in early April, has been confirmed following her identification by Alameda County authorities after nearly two months of uncertainty. Huang’s case highlights concerning trends in Bay Area missing persons incidents, particularly those involving young adults and bridge-related disappearances.
Bitcoin, internet, EVs, private dinners for hire – the list of pay-for-play and quid quo pro goes on, and on … and on
Professor Lucie Cluver, also Honorary Professor in Psychiatry and Mental Health at the University of Cape Town and Professorial Fellow at Nuffield College, has led research to provide evidence to improve the lives of children and adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa for over 20 years.
The Labour Government has confirmed that it will be going against its campaign promise to raise foreign aid to 0.7 per cent of gross national income, and will instead be cutting it further to 0.3 per cent. Gloria Novović argues that the Government’s new framing of foreign aid as charity is a gross misrepresentation of the UK’s domestic and international commitments.
Chief social work adviser role will be put on statutory footing as part of creation of social work agency within Scottish Government, following passage of the Care Reform (Scotland) Bill
It is not just a Spanish problem. Cities across the world are struggling with how to cope with overtourism and a boom in short-term rental platforms, such as Airbnb, but perhaps nowhere has surging discontent been so evident as in Barcelona Above: Demonstrators use water pistols during a protest against mass tourism
And as a scholar of terrorism and targeted violence, I believe a close reading of available data on military recruitment suggests U.S. gun violence may be largely to blame for the lack of interest in joining the military…. Very rarely are introspective questions publicly debated today about the objective attractiveness of military service or the appetite for violence among young people. The problem, I believe, is not that young people are insufficiently patriotic – it’s that they have already been fighting a war, daily, for their entire lives.
“It’s slash, slash, slash, slash,” said Dawn Godshall, chief executive officer of Community Action Lehigh Valley, summarizing the shrinking the federal bureaucracy… The nonprofit Community Action, known as CALV, serves a six-county area, administering programs that fight hunger, homelessness and other social ills.
This week I’m talking with Arlie Russell Hochschild. She’s an eminent sociologist who a decade ago coined the term, “the great paradox.” It describes the fact that hatred of government often seems to be most intense among people who most rely on government. And that working-class voters are increasingly turning against policies and politicians that seem to benefit those voters.
This new role will provide strategic leadership for social work leaders and social work professionals in developing services and providing care and support to people from minority ethnic communities. Forming part of the Welsh Government’s Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan, the will help deliver change for people from minority ethnic communities. Singeta Kalhan-Gregory has accepted the position
“We won’t collect the crumbs falling from the tables of those who continue to enrich themselves stomping over people’s rights and freedoms, accumulating more and more wealth in their hands,” the group No Space for Bezos wrote… after the protest. “Oligarchs are not welcome in Venice.”
The Institute expressed satisfaction with the President’s Renewed Hope Agenda, particularly in recognising and supporting the Institute’s role in institutionalising social work practice through the enactment of its charter. Above: President Bola Tinubu
Rather than creating an individualized “culture of giving,” we should be challenging capitalism’s institutionalized taking.
Immigrant parents are grappling with how much to share with their kids about ICE raids and the potential family risk. Experts say it’s important to keep an open dialogue with children, answer questions and check in on them consistently as the situation continues to unfold.
The authors contacted the journal and asked for “significant changes” to the article text and figures, including edits to the “statistical analysis, meta-analysis, discussion, figures and supplementary material,” plus the removal of two figures and the addition of four others, according to the retraction notice. In addition to changes to the article’s content, the requested corrections included a change in authorship.
What drives the rural very poor into the arms of politicians like whose servility to large corporations and billionaires is so transparently obvious? Pike County in eastern Kentucky exemplifies, in extreme form, this confounding pattern as part of the second poorest Congressional district out of 435. It ranks lowest on a “well-being” index of all counties in the nation. Across the United States in 2021, the rate of deaths from drug overdoses in the United States was 32 per 100,000; in Pike County, the rate was 91 per 100,000.
Medical staff are still required to treat veterans regardless of race, color, religion and sex, and all veterans remain entitled to treatment. But individual workers are now free to decline to care for patients based on personal characteristics not explicitly prohibited by federal law. Language requiring healthcare professionals to care for veterans regardless of their politics and marital status has been explicitly eliminated. Doctors and other medical staff can also be barred from working at VA hospitals based on their marital status, political party affiliation or union activity, documents reviewed by the Guardian show. The changes also affect chiropractors, certified nurse practitioners, optometrists, podiatrists, licensed clinical social workers and speech therapists.
Thousands of British nationals are charged with drug smuggling abroad every year. The UK charity Prisoners Abroad reports a rise in the number of British people imprisoned abroad for drug offences in 2024-25, compared to the previous year, especially women under 34. Above: Three British nationals on trial for alleged drug smuggling in Indonesia, where they may face the death penalty.
The game, named The Cards You’re Dealt, features an image and statement on each of the playing cards with something the children feel is important to their lives.
When Jonathan Gluck learned he had cancer, he was struck dumb. Just thirty-eight-years-old and the first-time father of a seven-month-old daughter, he had no family history of the disease and, besides a sore hip, no other symptoms of illness. He was told he had eighteen months to live.
Mamdani’s campaign is as fresh in substance as it is in style. He’s framed his mayoral run around the most pressing issue for working-class New Yorkers: the cost of living. He’s not leading with vague invocations of equity — he’s leading with rent relief, housing justice, public transit expansion, and raising the minimum wage. And he’s doing it without cozying up to the city’s entrenched political machines or its constellation of institutional donors.
Terminations were handed down April 1 to more than 8,000 employees at the Department of Health and Human Services, including roughly 500 from the Administration for Children and Families.
Allyson began spending many hours a day using ChatGPT, communicating with what she felt were nonphysical entities. She was drawn to one of them, Kael, and came to see it, not her husband, as her true partner. She told me that she knew she sounded like a “nut job,” but she stressed that she had a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s in social work and knew what mental illness looks like. “I’m not crazy,” she said. “I’m literally just living a normal life while also, you know, discovering interdimensional communication.” This caused tension with her husband, Andrew (above).
From spending time by yourself to making the most of being single, flying solo can be fulfilling – a philosophy championed by a new wave of books.
Child poverty is shaped by how our welfare and benefits system is organised, insecure and low-paid work, the high costs of housing and bills, and the absence of high-quality services and community resources that help children thrive. Only by tackling all of these issues in a coordinated and progressive way will be able to make child hunger and poverty things of the past, which is where they belong.