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Junior doctors in India hold placards in a government hospital, calling for justice for a doctor who was raped and killed, and demanding safety in the hospital, on 11 August. Photo: AFP/ Sudipta Das Hospitals and clinics across India are turning away all patients except emergency cases on Saturday as medical professionals start a 24-hour shutdown to protest the brutal rape and murder of a doctor in the eastern city of Kolkata. More than one million doctors were expected to join the strike, paralysing medical services across the world's most populous nation. Hospitals said faculty staff from medical colleges had been pressed into service for emergency cases. The strike, which began at 6am local time (0030 GMT), cut off access to elective medical procedures and out-patient consultations, ...

This satellite image obtained from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows Hurricane Ernesto on 16 August, 2024. Photo: NOAA / GOES / AFP Hurricane Ernesto churned towards Bermuda on Friday as a Category 2 storm packing powerful winds and likely to produce life-threatening flooding and storm surges in the British island territory. Ernesto, centred about 205km south-southwest of the archipelago at 5pm Atlantic Standard Time, was producing sustained winds of up to 155km/h and had the potential to drop up to 230mm of rain, the US National Hurricane Center said. The centre of Ernesto was expected to pass near or over Bermuda on Saturday morning, making conditions ripe for storm surges and flash flooding by the afternoon. "Folks, be under no illusion. This storm is the real...

Travellers at Heathrow Airport. Photo: 123RF Hundreds of border force staff at Britain's biggest airport, Heathrow, will strike from 31 August to 3 September - a peak travel period for hundreds of thousands of holidaymakers. The four-day strike by 650 members of the PCS union will be followed by more than two weeks of industrial action, border force staff union PCS said in a statement on Friday. The strike will coincide with the end of Britain's school summer holidays when the airport to the west of London usually has one of its busiest periods. PCS said staff would work to rule and refuse to work overtime until 22 September. They blamed the industrial action on a long-running dispute over changes to terms and conditions including new inflexible rosters. "We know our strike action is li...

Actor Robin Padilla. Photo: JAM STA ROSA / AFP A senator in the Philippines has come under fire online after he asked in parliament whether husbands have "sexual rights" to their wives. Robin Padilla, a former actor, posed the query to a prominent human rights lawyer, who was invited as a resource person to a hearing on sexual harassment in the entertainment industry. He also asks what husbands should do if they are "in the mood" and their wives are not - to which lawyer Lorna Kapunan replies that they can "watch Netflix". Padilla, one of the country's most popular celebrities, ran for office in 2022 where he emerged as the country's top senatorial candidate. Padilla, who was leading a Senate probe into complaints of sexual harrassments and abuse in the media industry, made the comments...

Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris Photo: Reginald Mathalone / NurPhoto / AFP Kamala Harris has outlined proposals to cut taxes for most Americans, ban "price gouging" by grocers and build more affordable housing on Friday as part of the "opportunity economy" she plans to pursue if she wins the White House. In her first major economy-focused speech as the Democratic presidential nominee, Harris pledged to introduce a new child tax credit of as much as US$6000 (NZ$9900) for families with infants, cut taxes for families with kids and lower prescription drug costs. The vice president also called for the construction of 3 million new housing units over four years and a tax incentive for home builders who build homes for first-time buyers. Harris told supporters at a rally in Nort...

By Harold Isaac, Reuters Haitian police patrol near Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on 12 August. There have been several major prison breaks in the country this year. Photo: AFP/ Clarens Siffroy A prison break in the Haitian city of Saint-Marc left 12 inmates dead on Friday, Mayor Myriam Fievre said, the third such incident in Haiti in recent months amid a protracted humanitarian crisis fueled by gang violence. State Prosecutor Venson Francois said the situation on Friday afternoon was under control at the prison, which housed around 540 inmates, but the local population should remain vigilant and watch for escapees. "The situation is under control but the results are catastrophic. All the cops' dormitories have burnt down. The archives have burn...