23/07/2025 News

 

23/07/2025 News

Hello everyone. This blog is about news that I find out that happen today, that I find myself pretty interesting, and I will report every so often on the blogs I create. I get news off Google and Bing news when I through my usual daily news check. Keep in mind that most information I may gather may not be true and that I'm just summarizing what I find online off Google and Bing.

Resident Doctors plan to strike over NHS ( National Health Service ) pay:

Residents doctors will go and plan a five day strike this week after they talked with the British Medical Association ( BMA ) and the government broke down.

The BMA ( British Medical Association ) has denied the government's offer of a 5.4% pay rise this year and is calling for an insane 29% pay rise, claiming that doctors have only seen a 20% pay erosion in their salaries since 2008.

The strike will run from Friday, 25th July, until the following Wednesday, with further strike threatened towards the government every month until January unless their 29% pay rise demands are met.

For some background, Resident doctors are formerly known as junior doctors and are qualified doctors in their first years of training. A fifth of resident doctors are completing their first two foundation years, while the remainder are in core or specialty registrar training.

The newly agreed salary for those on foundation training is between £38,831 and £44,439, with specialist training salaries rising up to £73,992. That includes the 5.4% increase that had been awarded earlier this year, but does not include London weighting.

The BMA wants pay boosted to between £47,308 and £54,274 for foundation doctors, and up to a maximum of £90,989 for residents in specialist training at the highest end, over flexible negotiated period.

The NHS Confederation estimates that every 0.1% pay rise across the NHS will cost the government health service an extra £125 million each year. While the pay rise being request is only for resident doctors - which accounts for 75,000 of the workforce -, the workforce difference between what the BMA is requesting and what is currently paid could cost millions or even billions for the government.

Now let's compare how much the residents doctors are being paid compared to other doctors. Resident doctors current salaries can range from between £38,831 to £44,439 a year - with 40 hours of work per week. Keep in mind this doesn't include extra pay for working more hours or night shifts, which varies significantly per person. While doctors in core or specialist training can earn £52,656 a year, going on to earn up to £73,992 a year at the highest end. The government has said that this sits at an average of £54,300 across resident doctors of all stages of training.

Meanwhile, consultants who have specialist knowledge in particular medical field, can earn a basic salary of between £105,504 up to £139,882 a year. After two years of foundation training, it generally takes around five to eight more years before doctors can become eligible for consultant roles, though the wait can be longer than that.

Wikipedia threatens to limit UK access to website:

Wikipedia could potentially be forced to limit access in the UK unless crucial elements of Britain's online safety rules are changed, from which the High Court has been told.

Lawyers for the Wikimedia Foundation - the non profit organisation which helps run the online encyclopedia - has been warned it could be required to introduce a " quota-based " system for UK visitors if it is classified as a " category one " service under the " Online Safety Act". Services that are falling under this designation are subject to the strictest duties under the digital laws, which are intended to stop children accessing harmful online material and prevent the spread of illegal posts.

Wikipedia could also cap visitor numbers from the UK so it does not qualify as " category one " site, which are defined as those with seven million users. This would make it harder for British users to access the site when they wanted. The foundation has launched a legal challenge against Peter Kyle, the Technology Secretary, over the rules, warning that they threaten to hit Wikipedia with strict regulations intended for social media giants such as Facebook and Tiktok.

In the filing with the High Court, Wikimedia'as lawyers said such designation would " cripple the vital exchange of encyclopedic information on Wikipedia ", either by limiting the " availability and functionality of Wikipedia in the UK " or by " fundamentally changing the way in which the encyclopedic works".

Rupert Paines, a lawyer acting for the group, told the court the rules risked " very severe impacts" for Wikipedia and could reduce articles to " gibberish ".

How much do England women's players get paid?:

How much do England women's player get paid from the Lionesses' Euro 2025 prize.

England are once again through to the latter stages of a major international tournament but there still remains a significant pay gap when it comes to what the Lionesses players are likely to earn financially this summer.

To keep it short and simple, before the start of the Euro 2025, UEFA confirmed the record prize money of 41 million Euros, or about £34 million pounds for the 16-team tournament. It would represent an increase of 156% on the prize money offered at Euro 2022, where it had only stood at just 16 million Euros. The England's federation received just over 2 million Euros when the Lionesses lifted the Euro 2022, but the Euro 2025 champions can take home up to 5.1 million Euros. When performance bonuses are added on top of a base participation, a fee of 1.8 million Euros can be awarded to all the teams at the tournament.

This is a huge gap compared to the total prize money on offer at the Men's Euro 2024, which was at 331 million Euros, with the champions, Spain, winning a maximum of 28.25 million Euros. The participation prize money for all 24 teams at the Men's Euros was 9.25 million Euros.

I'm not particularly saying that this gender pay gap is based on just the gender, but we have to also consider the audience that watches these matches. The audience for the Men's Euro is evidently more bigger and evidently more profitable, therefore more revenue is being bought into the Men's Euro tournaments. While the women's Euro tournaments is evidently getting less revenue and a small audience from its lower prizes. But still, the prizes they both get, regardless of the insane gap and amount of money they both get, regardless their genders, making a few millions or even a few hundred thousands from a tournament is definitely something that I wouldn't argue about, I also think that the players contracts should give them a wage, so the tournament prizes are more of a bonus towards the team, and the players.

Columbia students involved in Pro-Palestine protest banned from campus:

Although this may be a bit on the political side of news, and a bit old as it happened in May, there has been new reports in the upcoming months of the event. Colombian students that were involved in a pro-Palestine protest were banned from campus. Pro-Palestinian protesters who stormed Columbia University's library have been banned from campus. A source told by The Telegraph has reported that 56 or more of the 70 students involved in the incident would not be allowed to return back to the campus.

These bans will last for between one and three years, - the New York Post said. All of the 70 students involved in the unrest were formally disciplined on Monday. Some of the students that were part of the protest had their degrees revoked or were permanently expelled, according to a statement on the university's website.

The incident took place in May, with masked and hooded protesters swarming the New York-based university's library and refusing to leave. At the time, authorities said that 80 protesters were arrested with those involved facing up to three months in jail. Columbia alumni and students from other universities were among those detained.

Two campus public safety officers were injured as the protesters had forced their way into the Butler Library, where the students were revising ahead of their final exams before the summer break. Protesters were demanding an amnesty for students facing disciplinary action after last summer's protests.

They also demanded the release of an activists facing deportation including a person named, Mahmoud Khalil, a green card holder, who was arrested and detained by ICE agents in March, in which he was flown to an immigration jail in Louisiana. Since then Mr Khalil has been released.

The Secretary of State Marco Rubio said those on student visas are facing deportation. Students that were involved in similar demonstrations have previously been suspended or had their degrees revoked. The university, one of the most prestigious in the US, called police after protesters refused to leave. The university took around five hours to call in the police report, according to Fox News.

In spite of the delay, the Trump administration praised the university's acting president for meeting the moment " with fortitude and conviction". The move came in stark contrast to the university's handling of the pro-Palestinian protests in the summer, when a pro-Gaza encampment remained in place for more than six weeks.

The university is currently trying to come to an agreement with Donald Trump - President of the United States of America - and his team to restore the government funding, after the government withheld $400 million in federal grants. The money was kept back amid the concerns by the White House over Columbia's handling of pro-Palestinian protests and anti-Israel sentiment on campus.

Although this part I may go on a bit of a rant, but it is necessary as it is quotes that need to be understood clearly. "Violations will generate consequences". In March, Columbia was accused by the Trump administration of "continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students."

In a statement regarding the sanctioning of students involved in the library incident, a Columbia University spokesperson said; "Immediately, following the disruption at Butler Library during reading period, which affected hundreds of students attempting to study, the university began an investigation into rules violations, banned participating individuals from affiliated institutions and non affiliates from campus, and placed Columbia participants on interim suspension. Our institution must focus on delivering on its academic mission for our community."

"And to create a thriving academic community, there must be respect for each other and the institution's fundamental work, polices, and rules."

"Disruptions to academic activities are in violation of university policies and rules, and such violations will necessarily generate consequences. The speed with which our update UJB system has offered an equitable resolution to the community and students involved is a testament to the hard work of this institution to improve its processes."

Those are some news that I found interesting today throughout Bing and Google. This is my first blogger, so over time I should be able to adapt and learn to make these more shorter, summarized and hopefully, more informative. Thank you for reading.