Britain: Two British women lost a desperate court battle yesterday to have babies using frozen embryos their former partners want destroyed.
A High Court judge ruled against Natallie Evans (31) and Lorraine Hadley (38), who had asked the court to allow them to complete the in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment they started with their ex-partners.
The men in both cases withdrew their consent for the frozen embryos to be used after the couples separated. The women had challenged the 1990 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act (HFEA), which states embryos must be destroyed unless both parties consent to their continued storage and use. - (Reuters)
French PM's poll rating plummets
PARIS - The popularity of French Prime Minister, Mr Jean-Pierre Raffarin, has fallen to its lowest point since his centre-right government took office last year, a survey for France's Le Figaro magazine said yesterday. With unemployment near 10 per cent and the govern- ment struggling to contain its deficit, only 37 per cent trust Mr Raffarin to solve the country's problems, a slump of 27 percentage points since he came to power in May 2002. - (Reuters)
Genetic link to SARS reported
WASHINGTON - A genetic susceptibility may explain why SARS raged last year in south-east Asia and nowhere else in the world outside of Toronto, Taiwanese researchers reported this week. They found that a variant in an immune system gene called human leukocyte antigen, or HLA, made patients in Taiwan much more likely to develop life-threatening symptoms of SARS.
The gene variant is common in people of southern Chinese descent, the team at Mackay Memorial Hospital in Taipei reported. - (Reuters)
Ballerina sacked in row over weight
KIEV - A Russian ice-cream- loving prima ballerina says her career is virtually in ruins after the Bolshoi Theatre fired her for being too heavy for her dance partners to lift.
Despite support for her case from Russia's Labour Ministry, Anastasia Volochkova said the prestigious Moscow theatre was still not letting her back.
Volochkova (27), one of Russia's best-known ballet stars, said her reputation was in tatters after a public feud over her contract and the theatre's criticism of her height (5 ft 6 in) and her weight, about 50 kg ( just under 8 stone). - (Reuters)
Girls win right to inherit from father
JOHANNESBURG - A South African court has ruled that two girls can inherit their father's property because the tradition that the nearest and oldest male relative takes precedence if there is no will is unconstitutional.At stake in the case was the home of the two girls, aged nine and two, in a Cape Town township where they lived until their father died last year. The mother had no claim to the house because the couple never married.