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NHS maternity units often cover up harmful errors in childbirth, report finds

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https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/feb/26/nhs-england-maternity-cover-up-childbirth-report

Recent rises in older motherhood and obese women having babies have contributed to maternity care becoming more complicated. Photograph: Jeff Gilbert/Alamy

Damning inquiry into services in England reveals falsification of medical records after ‘negligent’ care

What is the national maternity and neonatal investigation and why was it launched?
Cruel comments, racism and cover-ups: key findings from England’s maternity care report

Hospitals that cause harm and injury to women and babies during childbirth often resort to a “cover-up” of their mistakes, falsify medical records and deny bereaved parents answers, a damning report has found.

“Negligent” care has devastating emotional and psychological consequences for families, disputes between maternity staff have a “disastrous” impact on mothers, and ethnic minority and poorer women have worse outcomes because of racism and discrimination, Lady Amos said.

Recent rises in older motherhood and obese women having babies have also contributed to maternity care becoming more complicated, the ex-Labour cabinet minister added in a report the government commissioned amid mounting alarm about NHS childbirth services in England.

“The system is not working for women, babies and families, or for staff,” Amos concluded after spending months talking to hundreds of families and maternity staff.

“We have seen maternity and neonatal services trying to respond in difficult circumstances and dealing with competing pressures but too often failing to deliver the safe care that women, families and babies expect and deserve, at times with devastating consequences.”

NHS trusts continue to provide poor care because they are doing too little to improve its quality and safety as a result of not learning lessons from previous maternity scandals, she added.

Lady Amos, who chaired the investigation. Her final report is due in the next few months.

“It is a source of continuing distress to families, and great frustration to staff, that the areas identified in previous reviews and investigations as requiring action do not seem to have been addressed or have only been partially addressed. This cycle must stop,” she said.

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Article continues at https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/feb/26/nhs-england-maternity-cover-up-childbirth-report

Post author:dizzy
Post published:26 February 2026
Post category:Labour Party NHS Wes Streeting
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Big Tech’s ‘AI Climate Hoax’: Study Shows 74% of Industry’s Claims Unproven

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Original article by Brad Reed republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Attendees await the arrival of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai at the Google Midlothian Data Center on November 14, 2025 in Midlothian, Texas. (Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images)

“Tech companies are using vagueness about what happens within energy-hogging data centers to greenwash a planet-wrecking expansion.”

A report released on Tuesday says that the tech industry is blowing hot air with its claims that generative artificial intelligence will be beneficial for the climate.

The report, titled “The AI Climate Hoax,” was commissioned by a broad consortium of environmental advocacy organizations and authored by climate and energy analyst Ketan Joshi.

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In total, it analyzes more than 150 statements made by both big tech companies and organizations such as the International Energy Agency about the supposed benefits of generative AI.

The report finds that 74% of such claims made by these institutions are unproven, with 36% not bothering to cite any evidence whatsoever.

One key finding in the report is that many claims about the purported benefits of the technology conflate traditional AI systems with more recent generative AI systems, which require massive amounts of energy and are spurring demand for the construction of power-and-water-devouring data centers across the US.

“Even if these benefits are real,” the report writes of traditional AI systems, “they are unrelated to—and dwarfed by—the massive expansion of energy use from the generative AI industry,” which is projected to to consume 13 times as much energy as traditional AI by the year 2030.

Even the more supportable claims about the benefits of traditional AI deserve serious scrutiny, the report notes, since “they tend to rely on weaker forms of evidence, such as corporate websites, rather than published academic research,” which was only cited in 26% of claims made about AI benefits.

The report also knocks big tech companies for using assorted strategies to conceal the true extent of their energy use, including buying renewable energy certificates even while relying on fossil fuels to power their operations, and vowing to implement highly implausible solutions to mitigate the climate impact of data centers, including carbon capture technologies and even building orbital data centers in space.

Commenting on the report, study author Joshi said its findings seem to show “tech companies are using vagueness about what happens within energy-hogging data centers to greenwash a planet-wrecking expansion.”

“The promises of planet-saving tech remain hollow, while AI data centers breathe life into coal and gas every day,” Joshi added. “These claims of climate benefit are unjustified and overhyped, and could cover up irreversible damage being done to communities and society.”

Jill McArdle, international corporate campaigner at study sponsor Beyond Fossil Fuels, said the study shows “there is simply no evidence that AI will help the climate more than it will harm it,” and accused Big Tech companies of “writing themselves a blank cheque to pollute on the empty promise of future salvation.”

AI data centers have become a major controversy throughout the US in recent months, as their massive energy needs have pushed up utility bills and put a strain on communities’ water supplies.

A study published in the journal Nature Sustainability last year found that data centers could soon consume as much water as 10 million Americans and emit as much carbon dioxide as 10 million cars, or roughly the same amount of consumption as the entire state of New York.

Original article by Brad Reed republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.

Post author:dizzy
Post published:17 February 2026
Post category:Neo-liberalism plutocracy politics the filthy rich
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Ministers blocked publication of report warning that climate change could cause ‘global competition for food’ and trigger nuclear war in Asia

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https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/article/ministers-blocked-publication-report-warning-climate-change-could-cause-global-competition

A crowd of people watching the setting sun from a hill in Ealing, west London

MINISTERS blocked the publication of an intelligence report warning that climate change could cause “global competition for food” by the 2030s and trigger nuclear war in Asia.

The study, reportedly held back by Number 10 last autumn for being too negative, also highlights the potential for a massive increase in climate refugees.

A freedom of information request forced the release of the report put together in part by the joint intelligence committee, the body overseeing MI5 and MI6.

But the government only published an abridged version of the study, describing a “realistic possibility” that the decline of forests and glacier-fed rivers would lead to “global competition for food” beginning in the 2030s.

The unabridged version of the study goes further, according to The Times.

It describes a “reasonable worst-case scenario” in which several ecosystems could pass a tipping point as soon as 2030 after which it would be impossible to stop environmental degradation. This includes forests in Canada and Russia, as well as glaciers in the Himalayas that feed rivers on which two billion people depend.

Melting glaciers in the Asian mountain range would “almost certainly escalate tensions” between China, India and Pakistan, intelligence chiefs warned, which could potentially lead to nuclear conflict.

Britain would struggle to feed itself unless it made big investments into supply chains, the report said.

…

Article detailing this disturbing censored report continues at https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/article/ministers-blocked-publication-report-warning-climate-change-could-cause-global-competition

Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.

Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.

Post author:dizzy
Post published:24 January 2026
Post category:Climate Crisis Climate Emergency Climate Science Denial Donald Trump Nigel Farage Reform 2025 Ltd (Reform UK)
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Corporate Polluters Running Rampant Under Trump as EPA Enforcement ‘Dying a Quick Death’

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Original article by republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin listens as President Donald Trump holds a Cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, DC on August 26, 2025. (Photo by Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

“Administrator Zeldin is removing all incentives for big polluters to follow the law and turning a blind eye to those who suffer from the impacts of pollution.”

The Trump administration settled just 15 of the illegal pollution cases referred by the US Environmental Protection Agency in the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term in the White House, according to data compiled by a government watchdog—the latest evidence that Trump officials are placing corporate profits above the EPA’s mission to “protect human health and the environment.”

In the report, The Collapse of Environmental Enforcement Under Trump’s EPA, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) noted Thursday that in the first year of former President Joe Biden’s administration, 71 cases referred by the EPA were prosecuted by the US Department of Justice (DOJ).

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“Under [EPA Administrator] Lee Zeldin, anti-pollution enforcement is dying a quick death,” said Tim Whitehouse, executive director of PEER and a former enforcement attorney at EPA.

The DOJ lodged just one environmental consent decree in a case regarding a statutory violation of the Clean Air Act from the day Trump was inaugurated just over a year ago until now—signaling that the agency “virtually stopped enforcing” the landmark law that regulates air pollution.

“Enforcing the Clean Air Act means going after violators within the oil, gas, petrochemical, coal, and motor vehicle industries that account for most air pollution,” reads the report. “But these White House favorites will be shielded from any serious enforcement, at least, while Lee Zeldin remains EPA’s administrator.”

“For the sake of our health and the environment, Congress and the American people need to push back against Lee Zeldin’s dismantling of EPA’s environmental enforcement program.”

In the first year of his first term, Trump’s DOJ settled 26 Clean Air Act cases, even more than the 22 the department prosecuted in Biden’s first year.

The report warns that plummeting enforcement actions are likely to contribute to health harms in vulnerable communities located near waterways that are filled with “algae blooms, bacteria, or toxic chemicals” and near energy and chemical industry infrastructure, where people are more likely to suffer asthma attacks and heart disease caused by smog and soot.

“Enforcing environmental laws ensures that polluters are held accountable and prevented from dumping their pollution on others for profit,” said Joanna Citron Day, general counsel for PEER and a former senior counsel at DOJ’s Environmental Enforcement Section. “For the sake of our health and the environment, Congress and the American people need to push back against Lee Zeldin’s dismantling of EPA’s environmental enforcement program.”

EPA’s own enforcement and compliance database identifies 2,374 major air pollution sources that have not had a full compliance evaluation in at least five years, and shows that no enforcement action has been taken at more than 400 sources that are marked as a “high priority.”

Nearly 900 pollution sources reported to the EPA that they exceeded their wastewater discharge limits at least 50 times in the past two years.

The agency has also repealed its rules limiting carbon pollution from gas-powered cars, arguing that the EPA lacks the authority to regulate carbon.

As public health risks mount, PEER noted, Zeldin is moving forward with plans to stop calculating the health benefits of rules aimed at reducing air pollution, and issued a memo last month detailing a “compliance first” policy emphasizing a “cooperative, industry-friendly approach” to environmental regulation.

“Administrator Zeldin is removing all incentives for big polluters to follow the law,” said Whitehouse, “and turning a blind eye to those who suffer from the impacts of pollution.”

Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes' concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country's economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy. — Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.

Post author:dizzy
Post published:24 January 2026
Post category:Climate Crisis Climate Emergency Climate Science Denial Donald Trump Neo-liberalism plutocracy the filthy rich
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At least 98 Palestinians died in Israeli prisons over 2 years, rights group says

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This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

A view of the site as Israeli forces take measures in front of the Ofer Prison in West Bank, in Jerusalem on January 19, 2025. [Mostafa Alkharouf – Anadolu Agency]

At least 98 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons since the start of Gaza war in October 2023, an Israeli human rights group said Monday, Anadolu reports.

The findings were published in a report issued by Physicians for Human Rights–Israel, which said the report is based on official responses, medical documents, autopsy reports, testimonies from medical staff and released detainees, and other human rights sources.

The organization said Israel has concealed the causes of death among Palestinian detainees in its prisons and continues to hide the true number of victims, warning that the real figure is likely much higher.

It accused Israel of carrying out a policy of systematic killing, ill-treatment, and medical neglect against Palestinian prisoners.

“The unprecedented toll, together with extensive findings and evidence of deaths caused by torture and medical neglect, points to a deliberate Israeli policy of killing Palestinians in custody,” said Oneg Ben Dror, a project coordinator in the organization’s Prisoners and Detainees Department.

The rights group said 98 Palestinians lost their lives in Israeli custody, including 94 documented deaths between October 2023, and August 2025. It added that four other fatalities were recorded during October and November of this year alone.

The report includes only deaths that occurred inside Israeli prisons and detention centers and does not include seven additional documented cases of Palestinians executed by gunfire shortly after their arrest.

The rights group said that the fatalities included 52 detainees from Gaza.

There was no comment from the Israel Prison Service nor the army on the report.

READ: Palestinian rights group reports systematic sexual violence against detainees in Israeli prisons

Severe violence

The Israeli group said the report revealed a repeated pattern of severe violence by prison guards alongside serious medical neglect of Palestinian detainees.

It said that an examination of ten autopsy reports showed signs of physical violence in nearly half the cases, including head injuries, internal bleeding, and rib fractures.

Other medical reports documented cases of extreme malnutrition, denial of insulin for diabetic patients, failure to treat cancer, and the presence of life-threatening infections.

The organization noted that these findings correspond with extensive documentation over the past two years of hunger, dehydration, and prolonged exposure to extreme cold and heat in Israeli detention centers.

The report dedicated significant space to describing the methods used by Israeli authorities for “concealing the causes of death and obstructing families from uncovering the truth about the circumstances in which their relatives died.”

The Israeli army launched a brutal offensive on Gaza in October 2023, killing more than 69,000 people, mostly women and children, injuring over 170,000 others, and arresting thousands. The assault came to a halt under a ceasefire agreement that took effect on Oct. 10.

READ: Autistic Palestinian boy allegedly sexually assaulted in Israeli prison

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.