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British woman killed fighting for Kurds in Syria
A British woman has died while fighting with a Kurdish armed unit in Syria – Anna Campbell is the first British woman, and the eighth Briton so far, to have been killed in Syria while working with Kurdish forces.
The 26-year-old, from Lewes, East Sussex, died in Afrin on 15 March while fighting with the Kurdish Women’s Protection Units (YPJ), her father, Dirk Campbell, said. It is thought she was killed by Turkish air strikes; two Kurdish women also died in the strike.
Mark Campbell, who is not related to Ms Campbell, is co-chairman of the Kurdistan Solidarity Campaign, and said: “Anna is a woman who seemed to have more humanity in her little finger than the whole of the international community. She is an inspiration and a hero.”
The YPJ is an all-female brigade of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units YPG, which has around 50,000
Kurdish men and women fighting against Islamic State in northern Syria.In a statement YPJ commander and spokeswoman Nesrin Abdullah said Ms Campbell’s death was a “great loss”.
BBC’s new-look weather disappointing, says Bill Giles
The former senior BBC weatherman Bill Giles has described the corporation's new-look weather forecasts as “disappointing as a downpour in high summer”. The state broadcaster ditched the Met Office in favour of MeteoGroup last year and has revamped its forecasts.
New graphics – which were previously provided by MetraWeather – include new map projections and a globe graphic that allows presenters to move around the world to display weather-related data. But Giles, who led the BBC weather team for 17 years until he retired from the Met Office in 2000, said the new “state-of-the-art graphics” are “a severe disappointment" which fail to give "a clear idea of what might be in store tomorrow”.
Writing in the Radio Times, he said the UK map “appears a lot smaller on the screen now” and that he struggles to distinguish between “cloud and sunshine”, which he said is “almost impossible to detect”.
“For the life of me, I don't understand why they have to show the lights on during the night time," he said. "This is supposed to be a weather map not an aerial photograph.”
Cardinal Keith O’Brien dies after fall
Cardinal Keith O’Brien, formerly the Catholic Church’s most senior cleric in Britain, died yesterday at the age of 80. He had recently been injured in a fall and died in a Newcastle hospital. Cardinal O’Brien resigned as Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh in 2013 after admitting sexual misconduct.
Confirmation of his death was announced by his successor, Archbishop Leo Cushley. He said: “At 1am on 19 March 2018, his eminence Keith Patrick Cardinal O’Brien, Archbishop Emeritus of St Andrews & Edinburgh, died at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Newcastle-upon-Tyne surrounded by family and friends and fortified by the rites of Holy Church. RIP.
“In life, Cardinal O’Brien may have divided opinion – in death, however, I think all can be united in praying for the repose of his soul, for comfort for his grieving family and that support and solace be given to those whom he offended, hurt and let down. May he rest in peace.” His successor gave him the last rites on Friday. The cardinal had resigned in February 2013 after three priests and a former priest alleged improper conduct during the 1980s.
GPs with complementary medicine training less likely to prescribe antibiotics
GP surgeries with doctors who have training in complementary and alternative medicines appear less likely to prescribe antibiotics to patients, a study suggests. Researchers say the finding, published in the British Medical Journal Open, could hold the key to reducing over-prescribing of the drugs.
Experts have previously warned that resistance to antimicrobial drugs could cause a bigger threat to mankind than cancer. Cuts in antibiotic use have been shown to be associated with a reduction in some resistance. In the UK, 74 per cent of antibiotics are prescribed in primary care. Prescribing rates between GPs vary due to factors including different views on medicalisation, guidelines between countries and use of complementary and alternative medicine.
Researchers from the UK, Germany and the Netherlands, led by the University of Bristol, used NHS Digital monthly prescribing data for 2016 from 7,274 GP surgeries. This was compared with nine practices that had GPs with training in integrative medicine, looking at overall prescribing of antibiotics and prescribing of these drugs for respiratory tract infections and urinary tract infections. Practices with GPs who had additional training in integrative medicine had significantly lower antibiotic prescribing rates
than those with conventional GPs, the study found