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Doctors in England begin six-day strike

pay and workforce does not go far enough to address long-standing concerns, including historical below-inflation pay increases. The pay offer includes a 3.5% increase this year, which the government said would represent an above-inflation rise, and take total pay increases over three years to around 35%, plus reimbursements of mandatory exam fees, which can cost doctors thousands of pounds. Jack Fletcher, chair of the BMA’s resident doctors’ committee, has said the union was concerned the level of investment in the deal had been reduced, the proposed reforms were spread over several years, and uncertainties remained over the implementation of new training posts. Fletcher said the government’s threat to withdraw parts of the deal had also undermined confidence. “No one wants to strike. But without a credible offer on the table, doctors are left with no alternative,” the BMA said in a post on X. – Reuters

estimating the strike would cost the health service about £50 million (RM267.6 million) a day, or £300 million over the six-day walkout. Speaking on Times Radio yesterday, Streeting said resident doctors had secured the largest pay uplift of any public sector group under the Labour government, but had rejected the offer without putting forward a counter proposal. Streeting had said that the offer “doesn’t get better than this” when urging the union to reconsider last month. The BMA represents about 55,000 of the resident doctors, formerly known as junior doctors, who make up nearly half of the medical workforce. Since early 2023 the BMA has held more than a dozen rounds of industrial action over pay, strike action that successive governments has blamed for frustrating efforts to reduce waiting lists in the state-run service. The union says the government’s offer on

LONDON: Resident doctors in England started a six-day walkout yesterday after rejecting an offer the government said would not get better, with the British Medical Association saying it failed to reverse years of pay erosion and staffing pressures. The strike action is due to run until April 13 after a 48-hour ultimatum from Prime Minister Keir Starmer passed without agreement. The government has now withdrawn a pledge to fund 1,000 additional speciality training posts that it said had been contingent on the deal being accepted. Health Minister Wes Streeting said the government was not prepared to spend money needed for patient services on a settlement it viewed as unaffordable, o Union cites pay erosion, staffing pressures

Roberts-Smith leaving the Federal Court in Sydney on May 1, 2025. – AFPFILEPIC Decorated soldier held over war crimes SYDNEY: Australia’s most decorated living soldier was arrested yesterday and will be charged with five counts of war crime murders relating to the killing of unarmed civilians while on deployment in Afghanistan. The man, whom police identified as a 47-year old former Australian Defence Force (ADF) member and media named as Ben Roberts Smith, was arrested at Sydney Airport yesterday morning. He will be charged with five counts of war crimes in connection to the murder of five people in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012, Australian Federal Police said. The maximum penalty for each charge is life imprisonment. Roberts-Smith was hailed as a national hero after being awarded several top military honours, including the Victoria Cross, for his actions during six tours of Afghanistan from 2006 to 2012. “It will be alleged the victims were not taking part in hostilities at the time of their alleged murder in Afghanistan,” police commissioner Krissy Barrett told a press conference. “It will be alleged the victims were detained, unarmed and were under the control of ADF members when they were killed.” Police would also allege the victims were shot by the accused or shot by subordinates acting on his orders and in his presence, she said. Roberts-Smith has consistently denied allegations of wrongdoing during his service, some of which were first reported by Nine Entertainment newspapers in a series of articles starting in 2018.

Among the accusations reported were that Roberts-Smith had shot dead an unarmed Afghan teenager and kicked a handcuffed man off a cliff before ordering him to be shot dead. Roberts-Smith unsuccessfully challenged the reports in what became Australia’s most expensive defamation trial, with a Federal Court judge ruling in 2023 the newspapers proved four of the six murder accusations they levelled. A final appeal bid was dismissed by the High Court in September 2025. – Reuters Astronauts start trip home after lunar flyby Resident doctors holding placards in London yesterday. – REUTERSPIC

HOUSTON: The Artemis II astronauts wrapped up their lunar flyby as they continue their journey back to Earth yesterday, bringing with them rich celestial observations including little-known lunar craters, a solar eclipse and meteor strikes that scientists hope will open doors. Their eyes glued to the spacecraft windows for nearly seven hours, the team of four who spent their day breaking records and making history were treated to a view of the Moon unlike any other. “Humans probably have not evolved to see

everything we’re doing, and we will continue to lead the whole thing into the stars, this incredible journey into the stars.” He probed the astronauts about their favourite moments. The journey wrapped up late on Monday and had plenty of milestones including when the Artemis II team broke the distance record set by the 1970 Apollo 13 mission, which they surpassed by more than 6,000km when they reached the journey’s furthest distance from Earth 406,771km. – AFP

But even after becoming the furthest humans ever to travel from Earth, their day was not over: the bleary-eyed astronauts remained in good spirits as they took a late-night call from President Donald Trump. Unlike the Artemis astronauts and Nasa administrator Jared Isaacman, Trump at age 79 is old enough to remember the Apollo programme. “You’ve really inspired the entire world,”Trump said, calling them “modern-day pioneers” who have “a lot of courage doing what you’re doing.” “America will be second to none in space and

what we’re seeing,” said Victor Glover. “It is truly hard to describe. It is amazing.” The crew reported in detail features of the lunar surface and later witnessed a solar eclipse, when the Moon passed in front of the Sun. They also described flashes of light, meteor strikes, on the Moon’s surface. “I can’t say enough how much science we’ve already learned,” Kelsey Young, lead scientist for the Artemis II mission, told the astronauts. “You really brought the Moon closer for us today, and we cannot say thank you enough.”