While I wouldn’t put myself in the category of someone who has an intense phobia of flying (e.g. avoiding it at all costs), the cabin of a plane has always been a nightmare playground where my long-held anxiety kicks into overdrive. No matter how much I enjoy a pre-flight Nando’s, the physical steps towards the gate makes my teeth clench and my mind begin to play out a disaster film, starring me as the main character.

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For anyone out there who might be thinking that their cable provider isn’t that bad,

In front of an exuberant crowd, North Carolina’s Democratic governor vetoed legislation Saturday that would have banned nearly all abortions in his state after 12 weeks of pregnancy. Hundreds of abortion-rights activists and voters watched on a plaza in the capital of Raleigh as Gov Roy Cooper affixed his veto stamp to the bill. The veto launches a major test for leaders of the GOP-controlled General Assembly to attempt to override Cooper’s veto after they recently gained veto-proof majorities in both chambers. The bill was the Republican response to last year’s US Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v Wade. "We’re going to have to kick it into an even higher gear when that veto stamp comes down,” Mr Cooper told the crowd. “If just one Republican in either the House or the Senate keeps a campaign promise to protect women’s reproductive health, we can stop this ban.” Andrea Long, a 42-year-old mother of three from Cary, said she was honored be part of an “electric” crowd on what she called a “historic day for freedom” in North Carolina. “I couldn’t stop crying tears joy seeing the governor hold up the veto stamp, but I know it’s an uphill battle to keep this momentum going,” Ms Long said. Mr Cooper, a strong abortion-rights supporter, had until Sunday night to act on the measure that tightens current state law, which bans most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Mr Cooper spent the week on the road talking to North Carolinians about the bill’s lesser-known impacts and urging them to apply pressure upon key Republican lawmakers who hesitated about further restrictions during campaigns for office last year. The legislation passed along party lines in the last week in the House and Senate. Republicans have pitched the measure as a middle-ground change to state abortion laws developed after months of private negotiations between House and Senate GOP members. It adds exceptions to the 12-week ban, extending the limit through 20 weeks for rape and incest and through 24 weeks for “life-limiting” fetal anomalies. But Mr Cooper has said repeatedly the details contained in the 47-page bill show that the measure isn’t a reasonable compromise and would instead greatly erode reproductive rights. He cites new obstacles for women to obtain abortions — such as requiring multiple in-person visits, additional paperwork to prove a patient has given their informed consent to an abortion and increased regulation of clinics providing the procedure. Mr Cooper and allies have said those changes in practice will shut down clinics that cannot afford major upgrades mandated by new licensing standards and make it nearly impossible for women who live in rural areas or work long hours to access abortion services. Compared to recent actions by Republican-controlled legislatures elsewhere, the broad prohibition after 12 weeks can be viewed as less onerous to those in other states where the procedure has been banned almost completely. But abortion-rights activists have argued that it’s more restrictive than meets the eye and will have far-reaching consequences. Since Roe was overturned, many patients traveling from more restrictive states have become dependent on North Carolina as a locale for abortions later in pregnancy. Republicans call the legislation pro-family and pro-child, pointing to at least $160m in spending contained within for maternal health services, foster and adoption care, contraceptive services and paid leave for teachers and state employees after the birth of a child. Mr Cooper has singled out four GOP legislators — three House members and one senator — whom he said made “campaign promises to protect women’s reproductive health.” Anti-abortion groups accused Cooper of trying to bully them. One of those House members is Rep Tricia Cotham of Mecklenburg County, who voted for the bill mere weeks after she switched from the Democratic Party to the GOP. The move gave Republicans a veto-proof supermajority if all of their legislators are present and voting. Ms Cotham has spoken out for abortion rights in the past and even earlier this year co-sponsored a bill to codify abortion protections into state law. Rep Ted Davis of Wilmington — another targeted legislator — was the only Republican absent from last week’s initial House vote. The Senate margin already became veto-proof after GOP gains last November. Mr Davis said last fall that he supported “what the law is in North Carolina right now,” which was a 20-week limit. Davis has declined to comment on the bill, but House Speaker Tim Moore said recently that Davis is a “yes” vote for an override. Read More Faith leaders speak out against ‘toxic’ Christian nationalist conference arriving at Trump’s Miami resort GOP boycott in Oregon threatens abortion, transgender bills and protesters' own political careers Louisiana Republicans refuse rape and incest exceptions to state’s sweeping anti-abortion law Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide

CHARLOTTE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 16, 2023--

A kilo of tomatoes now costs more than a litre of petrol in the country. Here's why.

Japan has announced plans to release wastewater from the stricken Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant into the...

The fashion designer who created the wedding dress of Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales, is stepping down as creative director at Alexander McQueen after two decades at the brand, luxury group Kering said

Rita Moreno has revealed the unique way she made friends after finding herself suffering from loneliness. Ahead of her 92nd birthday on 11 December, the West Side Story star opened up about her struggles with loneliness after she moved into a new home. In an interview with People published 28 November, Moreno recalled feeling “so sad” after moving from her house in California’s Berkeley Hills area to a new condominium. The Broadway alum admitted she felt so lonely that it was even “affecting [her] appetite”. It wasn’t until her daughter, jewellerly designer Fernanda Luisa Gordon, noticed something was wrong that Moreno decided to combat her loneliness. “I really didn’t understand what was happening,” she told the outlet. “I remember thinking: ‘I can’t go on like this.’ I’m in the most beautiful apartment in the world as far as I’m concerned, and this is happening. Why is this happening?” The 80 For Brady star said she used her years of “therapy” and “psychotherapy” to help her self-reflect, ultimately deciding that it was her recent move away from friends and family that was making her unhappy. Moreno, who has one daughter and two grandsons, explained that her new home made it difficult for her friends and family to visit. “So when we make plans to see each other, we have to make plans, they can’t just kind of drop by,” she said. “I was really lonely.” Moreno admitted that she was “fascinated” when it dawned on her that she didn’t actually know how to make friends because she “never had to seek people’s company”. “You know why? Because people have always come to me,” she added. When the Family Switch star finally decided to “meet some people” on her own, she went to the supermarket to do some shopping and met a “lovely” woman who she had previously seen at the store. “She had this big smile on her face and she recognised me, obviously, and we started to talk,” Moreno recalled. “I said to her: ‘Would you like to have lunch with me?’” According to Moreno, the woman was shocked when the Hollywood icon asked to have lunch with her but she ended up accepting the invite. “She sat down and she said: ‘Do you always pick people up like this in the market?’” Moreno recounted. “I told her the truth. I said: ‘No, but you always have struck me as such a lovely person. Since I’m new here and I don’t know anybody, I thought I’d take a dip.’” Since then, the woman has become one of many people that Moreno befriended, including those from her apartment building. “I’m so lucky,” she added. The Puerto Rican actor landed her breakout role of Anita in the 1961 movie musical adaptation of Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim’s original Broadway musical, West Side Story. She later won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the role. Moreno also starred as a newly-created character, Valentina, in director Steven Spielberg’s version of West Side Story. In 1965, she married cardiologist Leonard Gordon, who later became her manager. They were married for 45 years, welcoming daughter Fernanda, before his death in 2010. In May, United States surgeon general Dr Vivek Murthy declared loneliness a public health epidemic, posing health risks as deadly as smoking a dozen cigarettes daily. In a report, Murthy stated that nearly half of US adults say they’ve experienced loneliness. The report also stated that loneliness can increase the risk of premature death by nearly 30 per cent, posing a greater risk of stroke and heart disease, as well as increasing a person’s likelihood for experiencing depression, anxiety, and dementia. The crisis was worsened due to the Covid-19 pandemic, as schools and workplaces shut down and people were required to quarantine and socially distance themselves. In 2020, Americans spent about 20 minutes a day in person with friends compared to 60 minutes daily just two decades earlier. “We now know that loneliness is a common feeling that many people experience. It’s like hunger or thirst. It’s a feeling the body sends us when something we need for survival is missing,” Murthy told The Associated Press in an interview. “Millions of people in America are struggling in the shadows, and that’s not right. That’s why I issued this advisory to pull back the curtain on a struggle that too many people are experiencing.” Read More Strictly’s Amy Dowden shares health update after being rushed to hospital Sam Thompson admits fears about ADHD and parenthood on I’m a Celeb Paris Hilton says using surrogacy was a ‘difficult decision to make’ Strictly’s Amy Dowden shares health update after being rushed to hospital Sam Thompson admits fears about ADHD and parenthood on I’m a Celeb Paris Hilton says using surrogacy was a ‘difficult decision to make’

On its surface, Jaws is about a killer shark terrorizing a beach town at the

Kitty Song-Covey (Anna Cathcart) might have just usurped Lara-Jean (Lana Condor) and Peter (Noah Centineo)

The brain’s appetite control centre is different in the brains of people who are overweight or live with obesity, a new study suggests. The researchers said their findings add further evidence to the relevance of brain structure to weight and food consumption. Current estimates suggest that more than 1.9 billion people worldwide are either overweight or obese. And, according to the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, almost two-thirds of adults in the UK are overweight or living with obesity. This increases the risk of developing health issues like type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke, cancer and poorer mental health. The last two decades have given us important insights about appetite control and how it may be altered in obesity Professor Paul Fletcher, University of Cambridge A number of factors influence how much people eat and what they eat, including genetics, hormone regulation, and the environment they live in, researchers say. However, it is not entirely clear what happens to the brain to tell us that we are hungry or full. Past studies have shown that the hypothalamus – a small region of the brain about the size of an almond – plays an important role. Dr Stephanie Brown, from the Department of Psychiatry and Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge, said: “Although we know the hypothalamus is important for determining how much we eat, we actually have very little direct information about this brain region in living humans. “That’s because it is very small and hard to make out on traditional MRI brain scans.” Professor Paul Fletcher, the study’s senior author, from the Department of Psychiatry and Clare College, Cambridge, said: “The last two decades have given us important insights about appetite control and how it may be altered in obesity. “Metabolic researchers at Cambridge have played a leading role in this. “Our hope is that, by taking this new approach to analysing brain scans in large datasets, we can further extend this work into humans, ultimately relating these subtle structural brain findings to changes in appetite and eating and generating a more comprehensive understanding of obesity.” The majority of evidence for the role of the hypothalamus in appetite regulation comes from animal studies, which indicate complex interacting pathways within the hypothalamus, with different cell populations acting together to tell us when we are hungry or full. To get around this researchers used an algorithm developed using machine learning to analyse brain scans taken from 1,351 young adults across a range of BMI scores. They looked for differences in the hypothalamus when comparing individuals who are underweight, healthy weight, overweight, or living with obesity. According to the findings, the overall volume of the hypothalamus was significantly larger in the overweight and obese groups of young adults. The researchers describe a significant relationship between volume of the hypothalamus and body mass index (BMI). The differences were most apparent in those sub-regions of the hypothalamus that control appetite through the release of hormones to balance hunger and fullness. While the exact significance of the finding is unclear, one explanation is that the change relates to inflammation, the researchers suggest. Eating a high-fat diet could trigger inflammation of our appetite control centre Dr Stephanie Brown, University of Cambridge Previous animal studies have shown that a high-fat diet can cause inflammation of the hypothalamus, which in turn prompts insulin resistance and obesity. In mice, just three days of a fat-rich diet is enough to cause this inflammation. Other studies have shown that this inflammation can raise the threshold at which animals are full – in other words, they have to eat more food than usual to feel full. Dr Brown added: “If what we see in mice is the case in people, then eating a high-fat diet could trigger inflammation of our appetite control centre. “Over time, this would change our ability to tell when we’ve eaten enough and to how our body processes blood sugar, leading us to put on weight.” More research is needed to confirm whether increased volume in the hypothalamus is a result of being overweight or whether people with larger hypothalami are predisposed to eat more in the first place. It is also possible that these two factors interact with each other, causing a feedback loop, the study published in Neuroimage: Clinical, and supported by the Bernard Wolfe Health Neuroscience Fund, Wellcome and the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre, with additional funding from Alzheimer’s Research UK, suggests.