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ABC News
2 days ago
- General
- ABC News
Queensland parents push for compulsory school bus seatbelts, 20 years after WA
Every morning, Shannon Crocker puts her sons Henry, 10, and Angus, eight, on a school bus with no seatbelts and feels torn. "They're precious little people," she said. For the Crockers, living in Muckadilla west of Roma in Queensland means the daily 80-kilometre school bus round trip is unavoidable. But more than 20 years after Western Australia mandated seatbelts on all school buses, the rest of the country still allows children to travel unrestrained, often at highway speeds. "You can get into so much trouble with a kid not having a seatbelt in your car," Ms Crocker said. Parents and advocates pushing for mandated school bus seatbelts say they are fed up, fearing only a tragedy will spur meaningful change. While the Crockers were recently told a bus with seatbelts may be introduced on their route, other parents are still waiting. Angela Hayward, who lives near Chinchilla, said her daughters Zahra, 10, and Evie, nine, also use a bus without seatbelts, causing much anxiety. "Every day you think about what would happen if they had a crash and they didn't have seatbelts on," Ms Hayward said. In Australia, passengers must wear a seatbelt if one is fitted in the vehicle. But in most states, there's no legal requirement for buses to have seatbelts installed. Only WA mandates belts on all new and existing school buses. At a recent conference of the Isolated Children's Parents' Association (ICPA) Queensland, parents were outraged to learn there were "no plans to amend legislation" to make seatbelts on school buses mandatory. A letter from Transport Minister Brent Mickelberg confirmed seatbelts remained optional except on steep terrain routes. Kindon branch ICPA president Nikki McQueen said the group was "astounded" and voted to formally lobby the government for change. Mr Mickelberg noted that under Queensland's School Bus Upgrade Scheme, "88 per cent of buses" had been fitted with seatbelts over the past five years, many fully funded by the government. Sean Dillon, the Assistant Minister for Primary Industry Development, told the ABC at the conference that awareness of the issue had "heightened in recent weeks". The lack of regulation affects more than those in the bush. Alastair Brown, who lives near Gumlu south of Townsville, said his sons, 12 and 14, had travelled daily on the Bruce Highway, often at 100kph, without seatbelts for seven years before they were finally fitted. "If they are involved in a high-speed crash without a seatbelt, without being properly restrained, children as young as five, there will be fatalities, guaranteed," Mr Brown said. He called for strong leadership to tackle the issue. "I'm yet to find one [politician] who genuinely wants to take the issue forward and offer genuine solutions," Mr Brown said. "We as parents have come up against roadblock after roadblock. "We want to see action sooner rather than later." Vehicle standards introduced by the federal government in response to the Hunter Valley bus crash that killed 10 people and injured 25 will require seatbelts in new bus models manufactured after November 2026. That will extend to all models by 2027, but key exemptions remain. Retrofitting older buses is not mandatory and "route service" buses — those that operate on defined routes such as school runs — and buses with fewer than 17 seats, are not required to comply with the design rules. At the time, the federal Assistant Minister for Regional Development Anthony Chisholm said he was working with the states and territories to strengthen rules. "These changes won't just improve safety for new buses manufactured after November 2026," he said. "They'll also set the industry benchmark standard for safety, which can be used to improve the safety standards applied for all existing buses." But various governments have long cited high costs and logistical challenges as a barrier to mandating seatbelts in buses. In 2007, Queensland's transport minister estimated a $1 billion price tag, noting that retrofitting older buses could be difficult due to rollover compliance and reducing seating capacity. It is unclear if that figure has decreased. But for safety advocates like Susan Teerds, the chief executive of Kidsafe and member of the Australasian College of Road Safety, the excuses no longer hold up. "Often it is a disaster that gets changes." Ms Teerds praised WA's model, pointing to the broader consequences of inaction. "When a person or a child is seriously or fatally injured, the cost to the economy is huge," she said. "The cost to the health system is huge. "The emotional cost to the families and the community that person or child lives in is huge."
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Will Trump help Putin escape punishment for his crimes in Ukraine?
Under former President Joe Biden, the U.S. took the unprecedented step of deepening cooperation with international courts of law. Washington has never been party to the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the International Criminal Court (ICC), and U.S. policy towards the Hague-based international tribunal has varied widely under different administrations. Now, since President Donald Trump returned to office, that cooperation has stalled. Among his first actions after returning to the Oval Office, Trump imposed sanctions on the ICC. Just over a month later, the U.S. withdrew from the International Center for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine (ICPA) and fired the coordinator responsible for collecting data on Russian war crimes. Since nearly the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, Kyiv has been collecting evidence of Russian war crimes to bring their perpetrators, both ordinary Russian soldiers and those giving them orders, to justice. But the Ukrainian government cannot accomplish that without international support. Washington's steady retreat from investigating Russian crimes is a poor omen for justice in Ukraine. "This is a hazardous and bad signal that the (international legal) processes aimed at holding the perpetrators accountable may be deprioritized," Maksym Vishchyk, a legal advisor at Global Rights Compliance, told the Kyiv Independent. During more than three years of war, Russia has committed nearly 152,000 war crimes against Ukrainian citizens, according to the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine. Ukraine has identified more than 800 suspected perpetrators of these crimes. But one of the country's top priorities is to bring Russian President Vladimir Putin and his inner circle to justice. The ICPA was founded in 2023 to speed up this process and collect evidence to be presented in a special tribunal aimed at prosecuting the Russian government for the crime of aggression against Ukraine. It also aims to overcome another obstacle to prosecuting the Russian leadership. Under international law, the president, prime minister, and foreign minister of a country have immunity, meaning other states do not have the right to arrest or prosecute them. There is only one way to overcome this immunity: If the leaders have committed the most serious international crimes, they can be tried by a legitimate international tribunal. This March, the Trump administration withdrew from the investigation team, citing its need to "redeploy resources" elsewhere. In April, the Trump administration dismissed the coordinator of the War Crimes Accountability Team (WCAT). Created in 2022 by then-Attorney General Merrick Garland, this entity was supposed to coordinate the U.S. Justice Department's efforts to collect and share information about the Russian nationals responsible for atrocities in Ukraine. The new U.S. president has not spared the ICC either. In February, Trump imposed sanctions on the court and Prosecutor Karim Khan after it issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. "Will it be enough for society if Putin is not held accountable for the aggression against Ukraine?" Although Trump's order only mentions individual sanctions against Khan, this list may be expanded to include other ICC employees. Human rights activists also emphasize that this decision directly affects the court's operations, as it could lead to secondary sanctions against all foreign organizations and companies that cooperate with or provide services to the ICC. Read also: European Parliament passes resolution demanding return of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia Experts interviewed by the Kyiv Independent say Trump's recent moves put the global legal order at risk. But they also believe Ukraine will not feel any significant changes, for now, at least. Vishchyk noted that the recent U.S. withdrawal from the ICPA, although a "big symbolic step backwards," will not technically affect the processes of investigating Russian crimes. "Of course, the U.S., as a major strategic partner with significant intelligence capabilities, would be very useful for this center," he said. "But to suggest that removing the U.S. would jeopardize prospects for investigating and prosecuting criminal aggression is a big statement." Kateryna Rashevska, legal advisor at the Regional Center for Human Rights in Kyiv, said that Trump's decision to distance the U.S. from the ICC was not unexpected. The U.S. has always been on the sidelines of this institution, and deeper intelligence sharing and cooperation with the court under the Biden administration was somewhat unprecedented. So was the U.S. decision to join the ICPA. "They (the U.S.) have returned to their normal state of affairs," Rashevska told the Kyiv Independent. "The first task for them now is to get the parties to stop shooting and sit down to talk." At the same time, Rashevska emphasized that the Trump administration's change of course, including its exit from the ICPA, could affect the future special tribunal for Russia, which has been in the works since 2022. "The ICC has no jurisdiction to investigate the crime of aggression. Therefore, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, there have been discussions that we need a special tribunal, because only it can lift personal immunity," Rashevska said. "And if this does not happen, who will we judge?" she asked. "Will it be enough for society if Putin is not held accountable for the aggression against Ukraine?" International human rights organizations and Ukraine's allies have called for the arrest and prosecution of Russia's top officials since the scope of the country's war crimes in Ukraine became apparent. But the goal remains elusive, at least in the near future. In 2023, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia's commissioner for children's rights, over their role in the abduction and deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia. However, in September 2024, Putin visited Mongolia, which is a member of the ICC. The Mongolian government did not detain the Russian president, as required by the Rome Statute. The ICC later declared that Mongolia had failed to fulfill its international obligations under the statute, but it has, so far, not been penalized. "The International Criminal Court is a powerful institution as a symbol," legal expert Vishchyk told the Kyiv Independent. "But it has big constraints, and we must be realistic about that. It will not punish everyone." Rashevska of the Regional Center for Human Rights emphasizes that such failures are not unique. In January, the Italian government deported Osama Elmasry Njeem, the chief of the Libyan judicial police, back to Libya, despite an ICC warrant for his arrest. No one can clearly predict when the perpetrators will be punished. Almasri Njeem stands accused of overseeing killings, torture, and sexual assault in Tripoli's Mitiga prison. According to Rashevska, such failures by member states are even worse for the ICC than sanctions from non-member states like the U.S. "When you are a member state, you have made commitments and must fulfill them," she said. Both experts emphasized that, despite such incidents, it is necessary to continue investigating Russian war crimes at the national level and work with international partners in order to achieve justice. Over 20 countries have now opened investigations into Russia's war crimes, according to the Office of the Prosecutor General. But international justice can take years due to its complexity. No one can clearly predict when the perpetrators will be punished. "Unlike general criminal offenses, the investigation of these crimes has to go through so many levels to at least reach the perpetrators in the chain of command," Vishchyk said. He notes that the perpetrators of the 1995 genocide in Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina were only convicted in the late 2010s. Moreover, in Ukraine, investigators often do not have access to witnesses, victims, or evidence, as much of it is located in Russian-occupied areas. This also means that the number of crimes could be significantly higher than the figure recorded by Ukrainian law enforcement. "We are moving at the pace we can at the national level," Vishchyk said. "We are now advising prosecutors to aggregate proceedings, prioritize them, and move on to cases involving (Russian) commanders. This is what Ukraine can do now." Read also: Who are Russia's allies, and can Kremlin's war machine survive without them? We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump admin fires coordinator responsible for collecting data on Russia's war crimes in Ukraine, WP reports
The Trump administration fired a coordinator responsible for collecting data on war crimes committed by Russia during its full-scale war against Ukraine, the Washington Post (WP) reported on April 22, citing its undisclosed sources. The news comes as the U.S. is trying to get Russia and Ukraine to sign a deal to end the all-out war while steadily scaling down its support of Kyiv. The White House also disbanded the Justice Department's War Crimes Accountability Team, headed by a coordinator, and dismantled a program to seize assets of sanctioned Russian oligarchs, the WP reported. The Russian war crimes coordinator position was created in accordance with a law co-authored by then-Congressman Mike Waltz, the current national security advisor to U.S. President Donald Trump. Democratic Congressman Jason Crow, another co-author, told the Washington Post that if Trump and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard "want to achieve lasting peace, they must be willing to hold (Russian President Vladimir) Putin accountable for the crimes he's committed in Ukraine." In mid-March, Washington exited from the International Center for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine (ICPA). The ICPA, which the U.S. joined in 2023, was established to collect evidence for the special tribunal for Russia that aims to bring the Russian government to justice for the crime of aggression against Ukraine, as well as to strip Putin and his associates of their immunity. Read also: Trump hopes to 'end war' this week. Here's what you need to know We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Buzz Feed
14-04-2025
- Health
- Buzz Feed
This Doctor Revealed How Much Sperm Quality Impacts Pregnancy, And Now We Have Something Else To Blame On Men
Being pregnant has to be one of the toughest human endeavors. But one doctor is blowing people's minds after revealing just how much sperm impacts pregnancy. Dr. Marcia Schaefer is a 42-year-old chiropractic doctor from Madison, Wisconsin, and a clip of her discussion at the Mile High Chiro Conference went viral with 10.4 million views. "When men get a semen analysis, the World Health Organization has created the standard of acceptable levels at the fifth percentile," she explained. @icpa4kids Many parents do not realize the vast impact that dad's contribution has on pregnancy and beyond. From conception, to preeclampsia, to morning sickness and beyond, half of the epigenetic expression of the child comes from the male! Follow @ Schaefer for more on preconception! Clip from @Mile High Chiro conference hosted by Dr. Danny Knowles. DCs can learn more in Dr. Schaefer's seminar, Perinatal Health: Epigenetics and Parental Nutrition. Register now at the link in our bio or by going to: ♬ original sound - ICPA, Inc. TikTok: @icpa4kids / Via "So that semen analysis, if he 'passes' cool, 95% of men have better sperm than you." "But it's more understand, you know, you're 50% and actually 60% of the epigenetic expression of your child." "You know, she's carrying YOUR child. The quality of her pregnancy is directly tied to HIS health. I've watched it time and time again," she said. " Preeclampsia is now tied to men. Morning sickness, dudes. He builds the placenta. So I think it's in the doc knowing more of like, who builds what, right?" "Cause it's a partnership all the way through. And if you want her to have a better pregnancy — and cause, they'll say, 'You've had three loses, but you can get pregnant, but you can't stay pregnant, so it's not him.'" "Three out of four times, losses in the first 12 weeks is him, not her. All chromosomal abnormalities is coming from him," she concluded. In an interview with BuzzFeed, Dr. Schaefer clarified that this isn't new information. "It's just not something our healthcare system is built for, and it's ignored in mainstream medicine... We have studies linking poor sperm quality to higher rates of miscarriage, preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, and even metabolic disorders in kids. But because the medical system is hyperfocused on treating women when fertility challenges show up, men are left out of the conversations almost entirely, evidenced by how they're treated." "There's also the financial incentive when fertility is focused on the woman. Fertility treatments are a multi-billion dollar industry, and if men's health was emphasized more, a lot of these interventions may not be necessary." Dr. Schaefer shared the differences in reactions men tend to have compared to women when she shares this information with couples struggling to conceive. "Men tend to have different reactions. They're often defensive and almost always incredibly skeptical. I get it. They've never had a medical doctor or fertility specialist mention their role, but once I break it down and show them how it works, from the research to the physiology behind it, it starts to click." ABC / Via "When they realize their health isn't just about conception but also impacts the long-term well-being of their future children and grandchildren, that's when the shift happens. Some men take immediate action and want to know what to do, others take longer to process." "Women, especially if they have gone through a long fertility journey or had complications with pregnancy before finding me, very often have 'aha' moments in our consultation." DNC / Via "So many of them have spent years focusing on their health, trying protocols, medications, and treatments from holistic to medical, and are never told their partner's health could be a major factor. They usually feel a mix of relief because someone finally had insights they hadn't heard elsewhere, and also frustration because they wish they had found me earlier." "One of the most powerful aspects of this work is when couples come together and start to see that fertility isn't a one-person journey. It's a shared experience, opportunity, and responsibility. The shift from 'her fertility issue' to 'our health journey' is where the doors open for transformation to begin." NBC / Via "For real change to happen, there has to be a shift in how we educate both doctors and the public. Right now, research is there, but it's not making its way into clinical practice." "That's why independent researchers, holistic practitioners, and those willing to challenge the status quo are so important. When we start talking about this through education, social media, and direct conversations with our own patients, change happens from the ground up... Until we shift the lens from treating infertility to creating health, the information will continue to be buried instead of shifting the health of our future generations."
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump administration withdraws from Russian war crime investigations
The US government has defunded one programme and left another that both document alleged Russian war crimes in Ukraine. The Trump administration cut funding for Yale University's Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL), which had detailed the mass deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia. It has also withdrawn from a multinational group meant to investigate the leaders responsible for Russia's invasion of Ukraine, including President Vladimir Putin. These moves come after Trump spoke with Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to negotiate a ceasefire in Ukraine, breaking with the previous US administration's approach to try and hold Putin responsible for the Russian invasion. The Humanitarian Research Lab said in a statement that they had been notified "that government funding for their work on the war in Ukraine has been discontinued". A bipartisan group of 17 members of Congress pushed back on the funding cut for the HRL, saying their work is a "vital resource" in preserving evidence of children abducted from Ukraine. In a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the lawmakers said the HRL has compiled data on 30,000 children abducted from Ukraine and is "absolutely crucial" to ensuring that they are returned home. It said these abductions were taking place amid a "concerning reduction in American leadership in countering these crimes". It added that the HRL's work can be credited with being the basis for the International Criminal Court's indictment of Putin over the abduction of Ukrainian children. The US State Department responded to the letter saying it has not deleted any of the data collected by the HRL. On Wednesday, Trump's Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responded to claims that the US government had cut funding to the HRL, saying the White House had nothing to do with them. She added that Trump spoke to Volodymyr Zelensky about the abducted children, and promised to "work closely" with both the Russian and Ukrainian sides to ensure those children are returned home. But the US has also withdrawn from the International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine (ICPA). In a statement, the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation - the ICPA's parent organisation - confirmed to the BBC that it had been informed by US authorities that they were leaving the programme. The ICPA was created to hold Russian leaders accountable for the "crime of aggression" in Ukraine, according to their website, and to preserve evidence and prepare cases for their trials in the future. In addition to these, Reuters reported that several US national security agencies have stopped work on a coordinated effort to counter Russian cyberattacks and disinformation. Rosenberg: Trump-Putin call seen as victory in Russia Ukraine's missing children traced by digital sleuths
