
-
Deutsche Bank asset manager DWS fined 25 mn euros for 'greenwashing'
-
UK drawing up new action plan to tackle rising TB
-
Nigerian president sacks board of state oil company
-
Barca never had financial room to register Olmo: La Liga
-
Spain prosecutors to appeal ruling overturning Alves' rape conviction
-
Heathrow 'warned about power supply' days before shutdown
-
Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre 'stable' after car crash
-
Myanmar quake survivors plead for more help
-
Greece to spend 25 bn euros in 'drastic' defence overhaul: PM
-
Maresca non-committal over Sancho's future at Chelsea
-
WHO facing $2.5-bn gap even after slashing budget: report
-
Real Madrid coach Ancelotti tells tax trial did not seek to defraud
-
Chinese tourists pine for Taiwan's return as Beijing jets surround island
-
Singapore detains teenage boy allegedly planning to kill Muslims
-
What is the 'Qatargate' scandal roiling Israel?
-
AI coming for anime but Ghibli's Miyazaki irreplaceable, son says
-
Swedish insurer drops $160 mn Tesla stake over labour rights
-
Hunger returns to Gaza as Israeli blockade forces bakeries shut
-
Rubio heads to Europe as transatlantic tensions soar
-
Like 'living in hell': Quake-hit Mandalay monastery clears away rubble
-
'Give me a break': Trump tariffs threaten Japan auto sector
-
US approves $5.58 bn fighter jet sale to Philippines
-
Tsunoda embracing pressure of Red Bull debut at home Japanese GP
-
'Outstanding' Hay shines as New Zealand seal Pakistan ODI series
-
El Salvador's Bukele flaunts 'iron fist' alliance with Trump
-
Stock markets mixed as uncertainty rules ahead of Trump tariffs
-
China probes for key target weak spots with 'paralysing' Taiwan drills
-
'Top Gun' and Batman star Val Kilmer dies aged 65: New York Times
-
US lawmakers seek to rename street for Hong Kong's jailed Jimmy Lai
-
Greece to spend big on 'historic' military shake up
-
Trump faces first electoral setback after Wisconsin Supreme Court vote
-
Hay shines as New Zealand beat Pakistan for ODI series win
-
Israel says expands Gaza offensive to seize 'large areas'
-
Curry drops 52 as Warriors win, Jokic bags career-high 61 in Denver loss
-
South Korea mobilising 'all resources' for violence-free Yoon verdict
-
Myanmar quake victim rescued after 5 days as aid calls grow
-
Real Madrid coach Ancelotti tax fraud trial set to begin
-
Warner showcases 'Superman' reboot, new DiCaprio film
-
'Incredible' Curry scores 52 as Warriors down Grizzlies, Bucks edge Suns
-
Asian markets edge up but uncertainty rules ahead of Trump tariffs
-
Nintendo's megahit Switch console: what to know
-
Nintendo to unveil upgrade to best-selling Switch console
-
China practises hitting key ports, energy sites in Taiwan drills
-
Oil, sand and speed: Saudi gearheads take on towering dunes
-
All eyes on Tsunoda at Japan GP after ruthless Red Bull move
-
'Image whisperers' bring vision to the blind at Red Cross museum
-
Hay shines as New Zealand make 292-8 in Pakistan ODI
-
Other governments 'weaponising' Trump language to attack NGOs: rights groups
-
UK imposes online entry permit on European visitors
-
How a Brazilian chief is staving off Amazon destruction

UK assisted dying bill hopes to end 'inhumane' suicides
Molly Meacher's voice quivers with emotion as she tells how her aunt took her own life after her liver cancer tumour grew to the size of a football.
"One night, she took a whole lot of pills and whisky, and her husband found her dead in the morning," said Meacher, a member of British parliament's upper House of Lords.
"It seemed to me terribly sad that somebody would end their life alone in the middle of the night without even their dear husband knowing that this was what they were doing," she told AFP.
Meacher, 81, has drafted a law to legalise assisted dying in England for the terminally ill with less than six months to live, an act currently punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
"It just was clear to me that this was just inhumane. You wouldn't treat a dog or a cat like that. But we treat our own people like that," said the former social worker.
The UK parliament examined the question of assisted dying in 2015 and decided against legalising it, but since then other countries have decided to approve what many see as an act of mercy.
"Things are moving in the right direction, there are a number of British Isles jurisdictions that are looking at changing the law," said Sarah Wootton, head of the Dignity in Dying campaign group.
- 'Discriminatory' -
Last September, the influential British Medical Association ended its opposition to "physician-assisted dying", taking the "historic step" of adopting a neutral position.
According to a poll by YouGov, 73 percent of Britons questioned in August said that doctors should be able to help terminally ill patients die.
By contrast, only 35 percent of MPs approved.
Campaigner Alex Pandolfo says the law "needs changing immediately (because) of the discriminatory practice that takes place in this country".
"It actually exists already for the privileged," says Pandolfo, in his 60s and terminally ill with Alzheimer's.
If you have £10,000 (about 12,000 euros, 13,500 dollars) for flights, hotels and food, you can go to a country such as Switzerland to die, he said.
Pandolfo has already booked his assisted death at a Swiss clinic and in recent years has accompanied around 100 Britons to die in Switzerland.
But he would rather die in England, to be near loved ones and allow them to have a more natural grieving process.
"I'm in no hurry," he jokes, saying he was given "a death sentence" in 2015.
"I am already dying of a condition that I've got no control over," he said.
"All I'm asking for is somebody to assist me with that death when it will be unbearable, to accelerate things. It's a rational act."
Sitting on his sofa in Lancaster, northwest England, the white-haired Pandolfo says his illness has already had a "massive impact" on his quality of life.
It affects his memory, movement, ability to speak and drive, and watch a football match.
As a result, he would never qualify for assisted dying under the terms of the draft law before parliament, which he says is "extremely restricted".
"By the time I've got six months to live, I won't have capacity to say that I want assisted dying," he said.
- 'Unacceptable pressure' -
Meacher said her bill's restrictions are "a political decision based on realities" in a "fairly conservative country", particularly where religious leaders and the faithful are involved.
"It's pretty hard to get a bill through parliament with these rather narrow limits," she said.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, told parliament that euthanasia could expose the most vulnerable to unacceptable pressure to die from some "loved ones".
Welby, the most senior cleric in the worldwide Anglican communion, also told the BBC that "sadly people make mistakes in their diagnosis".
Meacher's bill "has done a great job at raising the issue," said Wootton.
While it will not necessarily become law a similar bill before the Scottish Parliament has much more chance of success "within a year-and-a-half", she said.
"It will be very difficult for medical regulators to have something lawful in one part of the country and not lawful in other parts of the country.
"I think that's an unsustainable situation in the long term."
Similar draft laws are being looked at in the self-governing Crown dependencies of Jersey and the Isle of Man.
Even strictly Roman Catholic neighbour Ireland is studying the possibility of euthanasia, giving people like Pandolfo a measure of hope.
Once he had his place booked in Switzerland, Pandolfo said: "I stopped worrying about dying and suffering and started focusing and concentrating on enjoying what life can."
J.Bergmann--BTB