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Parents and campaigners have called on education and health authorities to end the practice of requiring children to strip off for school health checks

“My chest was completely exposed and I felt embarrassed,” writes a Japanese girl after undergoing an annual health checkup at her middle school. Another says: “Before the exam our teacher told us we would have to lift up our tops and bra … I didn’t want to do it but I couldn’t say no.”

The testimony from two 13-year-olds, seen by the Guardian, is typical of the discomfort – and in some cases trauma – felt by children attending schools in Japan that can require boys and girls as young as five – and as old as 18 – to strip to the waist during health examinations.

It has sparked anger among parents and campaigners who have called on education and health authorities to end the practice before the new academic year begins in April.

Driver Chris Begley’s death in August underscores a list of alleged heat-related incidents across Texas

Neysa Lambeth was in Florida caring for her ailing father on 23 August 2023 when she received a call from her husband, Chris Begley, who had worked as a UPS driver for 28 years in Texas.

Begley, 57, had collapsed from the heat while delivering packages. Lambeth said a manager picked him up and took him home to recover. He had fallen ill a couple of times from the heat over the previous two years, Lambeth said, and she had picked him up from the UPS service center on those occasions.

“This time I wasn’t home, and so instead of taking him to the hospital or dialling 911, they took him home to an empty house and left him,” said Lambeth.

Children's perception of time is relatively understudied. Learning to see time through their eyes may be fundamental to a happier human experience.

My household is absorbed in debate over when time goes the fastest or slowest.

"Slowest in the car!" yells my son.

"Never!" replies my daughter. "I'm too busy for time to go slow, but maybe on weekends when we are on the sofa watching movies."

There's some consensus too; they both agree that the days after Christmas and their birthdays dawdle by gloomily as it dawns on them they have to wait another 365 days to celebrate once more. Years seem to drag on endlessly at their age.

Robot mowers damage biodiversity and harm many creatures, including hedgehogs, according to German conservationists. Some of them are calling for a ban on nighttime mowing.

Conservationists and scientists in Germany have called for a ban on the nighttime use of robot mowers in order to protect hedgehogs, with a study showing that many of the animals die after being lacerated by the devices.

According to the study from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, almost half of the 370 hedgehogs that were examined after being cut by the mowers' blades died of their injuries or had to be put down.

Hedgehogs are particularly in danger from mowers operating at night, as the animals are nocturnal feeders and do not flee when in danger, instead relying on their spines as defense — an inadequate protection against the sharp metal blades of a robotic mowing machine.

New voter registrations surged among Black women and young people in Pennsylvania when Kamala Harris became the Democratic nominee for president, according to newly released data.

In the week that Joe Biden announced he would not run for re-election, new registrations increased by 262 per cent among Black women under 30 compared to the same week in 2020.

Registrations among Black voters increased by 110 per cent, and among voters under 30 years old by 59 per cent, also compared to the same week in 2020. 

All of those demographic groups lean heavily towards voting for Democrats.

Tenet Media is no more.

The conservative media network folded Thursday night, just one day after the Department of Justice unsealed an indictment accusing it of being funded by Russian state-controlled media, according to Tenet Media field reporter Tayler Hansen.

The indictment accused Tenet and its founders of receiving nearly $10 million from employees of Russia Today as part of “a scheme to create and distribute content to U.S. audiences with hidden Russian government messaging,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement.

The populist BSW and far-right AfD parties, both of which did well in recent state elections in Saxony and Thuringia, are opposed to arms deliveries to Ukraine. This stance is having an impact on federal politics.

• Russia's yuan reserves are nearly depleted due to Chinese banks' fear of US sanctions.
• Lenders have urged Russia's central bank to address the yuan deficit, causing the ruble to drop.
• China's hesitance stems from US threats of secondary sanctions over Russia's Ukraine war financing.

The US has promised Ukraine a new military aid package including more Bradley infantry fighting vehicles.

The US-made armored vehicles, which offer maneuverability, versatility, and sufficient firepower, have proven valuable to Ukraine efforts on the battlefield — more so than the main battle tanks and other heavy armor it's received.

The US Department of Defense announced the aid package, estimated at $250 million, on Friday, noting that it "will provide Ukraine additional capabilities to meet its most urgent needs, including: air defense missiles; munitions for rocket systems and artillery; armored vehicles; and anti-tank weapons."

Nick Pickles gave shocking testimony in Australia last year that didn't get much coverage in the U.S.

Researchers say procedure not yet tested on people could eventually be used to help locate injuries or tumours

Researchers have peered into the brains and bodies of living animals after discovering that a common food dye can make skin, muscle and connective tissues temporarily transparent.

Applying the dye to the belly of a mouse made its liver, intestines and bladder clearly visible through the abdominal skin, while smearing it on the rodent’s scalp allowed scientists to see blood vessels in the animal’s brain.

Treated skin regained its normal colour when the dye was washed off, according to researchers at Stanford University, who believe the procedure opens up a host of applications in humans, from locating injuries and finding veins for drawing blood to monitoring digestive disorders and spotting tumours.