China court tosses case of single woman barred from freezing eggs

AFP

A Chinese woman who was denied permission to freeze her eggs on the grounds that she was unmarried has had her case dismissed by a Beijing court.

Xu Zaozao took legal action in 2019 after a Beijing hospital refused to freeze her eggs, a procedure only available in China to married couples suffering from infertility.

Her case was widely followed in China, where women’s rights have become an increasingly prominent issue, and where the birth rate has markedly slowed in recent years.

But a Beijing court ruled the hospital’s refusal to freeze Xu’s eggs was not illegal and “does not constitute an infringement of (her) rights”, a judgment made public on Friday showed.

According to the judgment, the hospital said it “understood” Xu’s complaint, but had to apply the law.

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“I’m not going to let it end like this,” Xu said in a video posted on the social network WeChat, promising to appeal.

“We can’t say that this is a blow to the reproductive rights of single women,” she added. “But it may be a small temporary setback.”

Egg freezing consists of removing the oocytes before preserving them in liquid nitrogen to be used in a subsequent pregnancy.

Women across the world choose to freeze their eggs to give them a greater chance of having children later in life. But obstacles remain, with the proceedure often only available to married women.

Xu, then 30, was told by the hospital in 2018 that the procedure was only available to women who could not become pregnant naturally, and not to healthy patients.

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In addition to the risks associated with egg retrieval, the hospital also noted that later pregnancies were more risky for both mother and child, and cited the difficulties faced by single mothers.

Economic development has pushed more Chinese women into the job market in recent decades, leaving many choosing to marry later in life.

Many face great pressure from parents to get married and have a child after the age of 30.

Tehran engulfed in toxic cloud after strikes on fuel facilities

Tehran woke up under a sky that shifted from gray to black following strikes on fuel infrastructure, as the city has become engulfed in a toxic cloud that is turning daily life into a public health and environmental emergency.

Residents warn that what is falling from the sky is no longer just rain, but a mixture of oil and pollutants. Attacks on fuel depots have triggered prolonged fires, releasing thick plumes of smoke that continue to spread across the العاصمة.

For several days, facilities have remained ablaze, while a dark layer has settled over streets, homes, and even water reserves. Authorities have urged the population—more than nine million people—to remain indoors, especially vulnerable groups.

The extreme toxicity is linked to mazut, a dense petroleum byproduct with high sulfur content still used in Iran due to industrial limitations and sanctions. When burned, it releases hazardous particles that, when combined with moisture, result in contaminated rainfall.

The situation is worsened by Tehran’s geography. Surrounded by mountains, the city is affected by a temperature inversion phenomenon that traps pollutants near the ground, preventing their dispersion and creating a stagnant layer of toxic air over the population.

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Residents have reported symptoms such as eye and skin irritation, headaches, and respiratory difficulties. Emergency agencies have also warned of potential chemical burns caused by acid rain.

Long-term concerns are mounting, as prolonged exposure to fine particles and heavy metals could lead to serious health conditions, including lung damage and cancer.

Contamination is also spreading to water sources and agricultural land, threatening the food supply in a country already facing water scarcity.

At a regional level, the environmental impact is expanding, with oil spills reported in the Persian Gulf, affecting marine ecosystems and fishing communities.

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Sin categoría

FBI Most Wanted Fugitive Arrested in Mexico and Deported to U.S.

Authorities in Mexico announced Thursday that Samuel Ramírez Jr., a U.S. citizen accused of murdering two women and listed among the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, was arrested in the northern state of Sinaloa.

Ramírez Jr., 33, was detained Tuesday in Culiacán just 1 hour and 13 minutes after being added to the Federal Bureau of Investigation Ten Most Wanted list, the agency said in a statement.

The suspect, who was born in California, has already been deported to the U.S. state of Washington, where he faces charges related to the fatal shooting of two women at a bar in Federal Way in May 2023.

A court issued an arrest warrant for Ramírez in November last year, and the FBI initially offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to his capture, later increasing the amount to up to $1 million.

“To protect individuals’ privacy and ensure continued cooperation from the public, the FBI does not confirm the identity of those who provide information,” the agency said in its statement.

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Sin categoría

UN experts warn Nicaragua runs vast transnational network to monitor exiled dissidents

Nicaragua maintains an “extensive” transnational network to monitor and intimidate opposition figures living in exile, affecting “hundreds of thousands” of people, the United Nations Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua warned on Tuesday.

In a statement, the experts said their report “details an extensive transnational architecture of surveillance and intelligence used to monitor, intimidate and attack the hundreds of thousands of Nicaraguans living abroad.”

The report, which will be presented on March 16 to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, states that the structure maintained by the government of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo includes the army, the police, migration authorities and diplomatic missions.

According to the statement, “the government has arbitrarily stripped 452 Nicaraguans of their nationality, left thousands more exiled in a situation of de facto statelessness, and prevented many from returning to Nicaragua.”