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BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountLiveNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityWorldAfricaAsiaAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastUS & CanadaShip damaged after missile attack in Gulf of Aden – maritime authoritiesPublished33 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingRelated TopicsIsrael-Gaza warImage source, ReutersImage caption, The Greek-flagged cargo ship Sea Champion was able to deliver grain to Yemen despite a Houthi missile strike on MondayA ship was damaged after being targeted with two missiles in the Gulf of Aden, authorities say, in another apparent attack by Yemen’s Houthis.The UK Maritime Trade Operations agency said the vessel and crew were safe and proceeding to their next port of call. It initially reported a fire on board.A maritime security firm identified it as a Palau-flagged cargo ship.There was no claim from the Houthis, but they have been targeting merchant vessels in the region since November.The Houthis, who are backed by Iran and control much of north-western Yemen, say their attacks are a show of support for the Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. They have claimed – often falsely – that the targeted ships are linked to Israel, the US or the UK.Maritime security firm Ambrey said the ship attacked about 70 nautical miles (130km) south-east of the Yemeni city of Aden on Thursday morning was British-owned, but the registered owner told BBC Verify that it was not involved with the vessel.The ship’s AIS transponder gave its destination as “Syrian crew on board”, but it appeared to be heading in the direction of the Red Sea from Thailand.In another development on Thursday, the Israeli military said its air defence system had successfully intercepted a “launch which was identified in the area of the Red Sea and was en route to Israel”.Earlier, the US military said its forces had carried out four “self-defence” strikes against seven mobile cruise missiles and one mobile ballistic missile launcher in Houthi-controlled areas that were prepared to launch towards the Red Sea on Wednesday. They also shot down a one-way attack unmanned aircraft system (UAS), or drone, it added.New images show British ship in Red Sea has not sunkWho are the Houthis attacking Red Sea ships?On Monday, the crew of a Belize-flagged, British-registered cargo vessel Rubymar had to abandon ship in the Bab al-Mandab Strait – which connects the Gulf of Aden with the Red Sea – after it was hit by a Houthi missile and started letting in water.Images of the ship from Wednesday, which were obtained by the BBC, showed the ship was down by the stern but had not sunk, as the Houthis initially claimed. It is carrying 22 tonnes of a fertiliser classified as “very dangerous”.The Houthis also said they had attacked two US-owned cargo ships in the Gulf of Aden on Monday. The US military confirmed that two missiles were fired at one of them, the Greek-flagged Sea Champion, which was able to continue its journey to Aden to deliver grain.The US state department condemned the attacks as “reckless and indiscriminate”, warning that they had delayed deliveries of critical humanitarian aid to Yemen, Sudan and Ethiopia.It also said the US and its allies would continue to take “appropriate action” to protect freedom of navigation and commercial shipping in the critical waterway, which accounts for about 12% of global seaborne trade.US and British warships have been deployed in the region as part of an international maritime task force.US forces, occasionally backed by British warplanes, have also been striking Houthi military targets in Yemen in response to the attacks since mid-January, but so far the Yemeni rebels have not been deterred.In a televised speech on Thursday, their leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi said a total of 48 ships had now been targeted and that 13 operations had been carried out in the past week because the US and UK had “failed”.”Operations in the Red and Arabian Seas, Bab al-Mandab Strait, and the Gulf of Aden are continuing, escalating, and effective,” he declared.He also announced that the Houthis had introduced “submarine weapons”, which he described as “worrying for the enemy”.Related TopicsIsrael-Gaza warYemenGlobal tradeHouthis Shipping industryMore on this storyCrew abandon cargo ship after attack off YemenPublished1 day agoUS and UK strikes fail to slow Houthi attacksPublished1 FebruaryTop StoriesLive. 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[ad_1] Earlier, the US military said its forces had carried out four “self-defence” strikes against seven mobile cruise missiles and one mobile ballistic missile launcher in Houthi-controlled areas that were…
![BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountLiveNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityWorldAfricaAsiaAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastUS & CanadaMajor Alabama hospital pauses IVF after court rules frozen embryos are childrenPublishedJust nowShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, Carlos DuarteImage caption, In vitro fertilization is a common form of fertility care in the US.By Kayla EpsteinBBC NewsA ruling from the Alabama Supreme Court that frozen embryos are considered children, and that a person could be held liable for accidentally destroying them, has opened up a new front in the US battle over reproductive medicine.The southern US state’s largest hospital has paused its in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) services in the wake of the decision, over fears it could expose them to criminal prosecution.The University of Alabama at Birmingham health system said it would continue retrieving eggs from women’s ovaries. But it said it would halt the next step in the IVF process, in which the eggs are fertilised with sperm before being implanted into the uterus.”We are saddened that this will impact our patients’ attempt to have a baby through IVF,” the leading state medical provider said in a statement.”But we must evaluate the potential that our patients and our physicians could be prosecuted criminally or face punitive damages for following the standard of care for IVF treatments.”Medical experts and reproductive advocacy groups warned the ruling could have negative consequences for fertility treatments in Alabama and beyond. Conservative groups welcomed the ruling, arguing that even the tiniest embryo deserved legal protection.Why did this lawsuit occur and what did the court rule?The case stems from a wrongful death lawsuit brought by three couples whose embryos were lost at a fertility clinic in 2020.A patient had wandered into the place where the embryos were stored, handled them, and accidentally dropped them. As a result, the embryos were destroyed.The couples sought to sue the Center for Reproductive Medicine and the Mobile Infirmary Association under the state’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act. That law covers foetuses, but did not specifically cover embryos resulting from IVF.A lower court had ruled that the embryos did not qualify as a person or child, and that a wrongful death lawsuit could not move forward. But in its ruling, the Alabama Supreme Court sided with the couples, and ruled that frozen embryos were considered “children”. The wrongful death law applied to “all unborn children, regardless of their location”, the decision said.Concurring with the majority opinion, Chief Justice Tom Parker wrote: “Even before birth, all human beings have the image of God, and their lives cannot be destroyed without effacing his glory.”What are the implications for Alabama fertility patients?The ruling does not ban or restrict IVF and in fact, the couples who brought the case actively sought out the procedure.But the decision may cause confusion about whether some aspects of IVF are legal under Alabama law, experts say. If an embryo is considered a person, it could raise questions about how clinics are allowed to use and store them.Elisabeth Smith, director of state policy at the Center for Reproductive Rights, told the BBC in a statement: “Not all [IVF] embryos are used, nor can they be. “To enact legislation granting legal personhood to embryos could have disastrous consequences for the use of IVF – a science many people rely on to build their families.” Ambiguity over the law could also extend to patients themselves, who may worry about whether the procedure remains available or legal.The Medical Association of the State of Alabama said in a statement: “The significance of this decision impacts all Alabamians and will likely lead to fewer babies – children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and cousins – as fertility options become limited for those who want to have a family.”How does this tie in with the US abortion debate?When the US Supreme Court struck down a nationwide right to abortion in 2022, it opened the door for states to make their own laws on the issue.Since the decision, Democratic-controlled states have expanded access while Republican-controlled states have restricted it.Alabama already has a total ban on abortion, at all stages of pregnancy.The White House called the Alabama ruling “exactly the type of chaos that we expected when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade and paved the way for politicians to dictate some of the most personal decisions families can make”.Abortion opponents are also watching this ruling closely. The question of when an embryo or a foetus is legally considered a person is a factor in many state abortion restrictions.The Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian legal group, described the Alabama ruling as a “tremendous victory for life”.”No matter the circumstances, all human life is valuable from the moment of conception,” spokeswoman Denise Burke said in a statement to the BBC. “We are grateful the Court correctly found that Alabama law recognises this fundamental truth.”Other anti-abortion activists said IVF was not as clear-cut an ethical issue in their eyes, compared to terminating a pregnancy.Eric Johnston, a lawyer who helped draft Alabama’s constitutional language on abortion in 2018, told the BBC: “By and large the pro-life community would say that fertilised eggs are in need of protection.”But he acknowledged there were couples with anti-abortion views who had used IVF to have children, and said he would never condemn them.”It’s a dilemma, and a dilemma is something where you don’t have a satisfactory answer,” he added.What is IVF? Invitro fertilisation offers a possible solution where a woman faces challenges getting pregnant. Around 2% of US pregnancies are the result of IVF, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The process involves retrieving the woman’s eggs with a needle from her ovaries and combining them with a man’s sperm in a lab. The fertilised embryo is then transferred into the woman’s uterus, where it may create a pregnancy. But the process is not guaranteed, and it can take multiple attempts to create a successful pregnancy. In some cases, as in the Alabama trial, the fertilised embryos are frozen and stored in tanks containing liquid nitrogen. They can be held for up to a decade, experts say. What could happen in other states?US states often tend to replicate each other’s legislation, and the US has seen this pattern play out with abortion. Often, states will take cues from each other about what laws or policies have successfully passed legislatures or withstood legal challenges.Though the Alabama ruling only applies within the state, experts said other states could see legislative attempts or lawsuits aimed at advancing the concept that frozen embryos should legally be considered children or people.But they said it appeared unlikely this particular case would end up at the US Supreme Court, as the issue of abortion did, because the Alabama ruling originated in state court and concerns an interpretation of state, not federal, law.According to the Centers for Disease Control, 97,128 babies were born in the US as a result of IVF treatments in 2021.How could this ruling affect US politics?The right to abortion has been a winning issue for Democrats since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, which guaranteed the constitutional right to abortion up to the point of foetal viability, about 23-25 weeks. In the wake of the Alabama ruling, Democratic candidates could run on a platform of protecting access to fertility treatment across the United States.Republican politicians, meanwhile, often side with religious conservatives who want abortion banned or limited in the US.Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley, the only significant contender remaining in the race against Donald Trump for the party’s nomination, endorsed the Alabama Supreme Court’s decision on Thursday.”Embryos to me, are babies,” she said. “When you talk about an embryo, you are talking about, to me, that’s life and so I do see where that’s coming from when they talk about that.”You may also be interested in:This video can not be playedTo play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.Media caption, Manon and Chris have been unable to conceive since having their daughter EfaRelated TopicsIVFAlabamaUnited StatesMore on this storyAlabama passes bill banning abortionPublished15 May 2019Four ways the end of Roe v Wade has changed AmericaPublished24 June 2023Top StoriesLive. 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![BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountLiveNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityWorldAfricaAsiaAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastUS & CanadaProsecutor faces political glare after Biden reportPublished30 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingRelated TopicsUS election 2024Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, The White House has rushed to defend Mr Biden in the wake of the reportSpecial Counsel Robert Hur placed a spotlight on US President Joe Biden’s biggest political weakness – his age – by describing him as “an elderly man with a poor memory” who had difficulty recalling key milestones in his own life.On Friday, as the president’s team went on the offensive to attack Mr Hur’s report – the result of a year-long inquiry into Mr Biden’s handling of classified files – Vice-President Kamala Harris accused the special counsel of being “clearly politically motivated”.A White House spokesman said the report was “inappropriate” and suggested legal experts held the same view.Some former federal prosecutors and attorneys told the BBC that it was not typical for prosecutors to include highly personal details in these kinds of cases. But others said Mr Hur – a Republican who was tapped for this role by Mr Biden’s own attorney general – was justified in commenting on the president’s memory and age in explaining his decision not to prosecute him for keeping classified documents.Many emphasised the challenge for special counsels to both investigate sensitive issues and explain their ultimate conclusions to the public – a high bar made even harder when the subject is the sitting president on the verge of an election.In his report, released on Thursday, Mr Hur found Mr Biden, 81, had “willfully” retained classified files after leaving the vice-presidency in 2017.But he said he would struggle to secure a conviction because of how Mr Biden would come across to jurors given his age and demeanour.In one passage, Mr Hur wrote that Mr Biden’s recall of certain events was “significantly limited”. In another, he provided a pointed example, writing that Mr Biden did not remember “even within several years when his son Beau died”. Democrats rally around Biden after age worriesWho is the special counsel in the Biden probe?Political grenade puts spotlight on Biden’s ageSteven Tyrell, a corporate attorney and former chief of the US justice department’s fraud department, said he believed the level of detail Mr Hur included in his lengthy report was justified.”It is very important for a special counsel to articulate the basis for any charging decision,” he said. “If, as seems to be the case, the president’s mental state and acuity were considered important in determining his intent, then Special Counsel Hur is to be commended for including that.” Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Robert Hur, a Republican, was tapped by Attorney General Merrick Garland to run this investigationUnfortunately for Mr Biden, the precise details were at times damning for a political candidate already fighting criticism over his advanced age. Some experts told the BBC that some of these details – especially the references to his son’s death – were not strictly necessary. “Some of the examples were telling and justifiably included,” said Ty Cobb, former White House counsel under Donald Trump. “But some of them gave me great pause.”Mr Cobb, like many of the lawyers who spoke to the BBC, stressed he had great respect for Mr Hur. “But I think it might have been better here to simply say that the president would have been a sympathetic defendant rather than go into the memory issues at the level that they did,” he said.Former US assistant attorney Renato Mariotti went further, saying the amount of detail regarding Mr Biden’s memory represented “poor judgement”.”Prosecutors are supposed to be fair in how they handle people they are investigating, and I don’t think he [Mr Hur] was here,” he said. The experts who spoke to the BBC mostly agreed that special counsels are usually aware of the political reaction their report could ignite, though it should not change any findings. That may have been no more true than for Mr Hur, who released the findings of this investigation just nine months before November’s presidential election. Mr Biden is running for a second term. It is a stressful position, said Seth DuCharme, a former federal prosecutor who held senior posts at the justice department during the Trump administration. “You look at it, and you probably breathe a heavy sigh, and you go: ‘No matter what I say, or even if I’ve done my best, the reality of the situation is that somebody’s gonna go nuts over this,'” he said. “‘And it may have real collateral political consequences. But do I stand by what I’ve said?'”This video can not be playedTo play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.Media caption, Watch: Biden responds to special counsel – “I’m elderly and know what the hell I’m doing”Related TopicsUS election 2024United StatesJoe BidenMore on this storyDemocrats rally around Biden after age worriesPublished3 hours agoWho is the special counsel in the Biden probe?Published1 day agoPolitical grenade puts spotlight on Biden’s agePublished19 hours agoTop StoriesIsraeli soldier videos from Gaza could breach international law, experts sayPublished6 hours agoClapham attack suspect died in Thames, police believePublished8 hours agoEx-Fujitsu boss ‘shocked’ by Post Office’s actionsPublished1 hour agoFeaturesDinosaur Island: 40 years of discoveries on SkyeThe Papers: Gaza bloodbath fears and King bonds with FergieIs Iceland entering a new volcanic era?Celebrities and the perils of oversharing daily routinesCash-strapped clubbers make their nights out countHave we lost faith in tech?Swift, swimming and snow: Photos of the weekAn ‘impossible’ country tests its hard-won democracyWeekly quiz: Who beat Miley to win Song Of The Year?Elsewhere on the BBCBritain’s toughest job interview is backLord Sugar’s class of 2024 chase the ultimate investmentAttributioniPlayerThe art of healthy eatingProfessor Tim Spector offers a new approach to the way we eat foodAttributionSoundsThe sound effect that became the ultimate movie in-jokeIt’s used in everything from Toy Story to Reservoir Dogs, but what is the Wilhelm Scream?AttributioniPlayerExpensive vs High Street skincare products…investigating whether more expensive face creams really are worth the moneyAttributionSoundsMost Read1Man’s indefinite sentence a ‘serious injustice’2Ex-Fujitsu boss ‘shocked’ by Post Office’s actions3Clapham suspect died in Thames, police believe4Mum found under coat in A&E died days later5Israeli soldier videos from Gaza could breach international law, experts say6Gaza bloodbath fears and King bonds with Fergie7Invasive alligator snapping turtle found in Cumbria8German chancellor finds doppelganger in US senator9Cash-strapped clubbers make their nights out count10Celebrities and the perils of oversharing daily routines](https://newsinsightplus.com/wp-content/uploads/https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/branded_news/103CF/production/_132611566_gettyimages-1988742643.jpg)
