The Star Online: World Updates
The Star Online: World Updates |
- Career first, children later: Taiwan women put their eggs on ice
- Sentencing looms for convicted Fort Hood gunman
- U.S. postpones August 28 meeting with Russia over Syria gas attack
| Career first, children later: Taiwan women put their eggs on ice Posted: HSINCHU, Taiwan (Reuters) - Caught between traditional expectations and career pressures, working women in Taiwan are increasingly opting to freeze their eggs at fertility clinics as they postpone marriage and motherhood. Women play a big part in Taiwan's workforce, trailing only New Zealand and Australia for female employment among 14 countries in Asia, a recent report by MasterCard showed. A slowdown in the economy has made job security an even more pressing priority. That has been a factor in pushing the East Asian island's average marriage age to 30 these days, from 24 in the 1980s, and in driving the interest in egg freezing. "I was not sure when my ovaries would start degenerating but I was sure that I would probably marry late and I was sure that I wanted to become a mother," said Linn Kuo, 34, who chose to freeze her eggs three years ago. Kuo, a manager at Cisco System Taiwan Ltd, has a well-paid job that allows her to work from home. While her career has had a smooth trajectory, Kuo said she has not been as lucky in her love live. After her mother died, she realised the importance of having the support of children in later life. "I already had my conclusion," she said. "So I did some research and decided to freeze my eggs." Lai Hsing-hua, the clinic director at e-Stork Reproduction Centre in the city of Hsinchu, said he realised the need for egg-freezing services when many patients asked for egg donors after a late marriage. "We thought if they had frozen their eggs earlier, maybe they wouldn't need to use donated eggs," he said. "That's why we combined in-vitro fertilisation with the idea of prevention - prevent them from using others' eggs after their fertility has deteriorated." The clinic now gets more than 100 phone calls a month asking about egg freezing. Five years ago, it did just 20 of the procedures. It handled more than 70 cases in 2011, more than 50 last year and already more than 40 in the first six months of this year. The technology has matured and the embryo now has a high survival rate with egg freezing, Lai said. The service costs around 80,000 Taiwan dollars ($2,680) and the whole process of retrieving the egg takes about 20 minutes. Chen Fen-ling, a professor of social work at National Taipei University, said societal pressures were causing women to delay marrying and starting a family. "Married women are like candles burning at both ends," she said. "We say that women work two jobs. They make money with a daytime job but, when they go back home, they take care of their children and parents-in-law. This pressure often makes women hesitate when making the decision about marriage." Those realities about career, marriage and motherhood are reflected in a woefully low birth-rate. Taiwan is tied with Hong Kong in third-last place globally in terms of the average number of children born per woman, just above Macau and Singapore, the CIA World Factbook says. (Amends reference to Taiwan in paragraph 3) (Reporting by Christine Lu; Editing by John O'Callaghan) |
| Sentencing looms for convicted Fort Hood gunman Posted: FORT HOOD, Texas (Reuters) - Tuesday could be the last chance for convicted gunman Major Nidal Hasan to tell a jury his version of the November 2009 shooting rampage that killed 13 people and wounded 31 others, many of them unarmed soldiers, at Fort Hood, Texas. Once family members of the victims finish testifying in the sentencing phase of the court-martial for Hasan, convicted of 45 counts of premeditated murder and attempted premeditated murder, he will have an opportunity to address the jury deciding his fate. Hasan could face execution. The same jury of 13 military officers that convicted him is now considering his punishment. If he chooses to speak, he will not be questioned nor interrupted by the prosecution, according to military court procedure. Hasan, 42, who uses a wheelchair after being paralyzed when shot by police upon his arrest, has spoken very little during the trial, objecting less than a handful of times. The most Hasan has said was in his opening statement on August 6, when he admitted to being the gunman and said he had switched sides in what he considered to be a U.S. war on Islam. Hasan opened fire at the U.S. Army base in central Texas, one of the largest in the nation, just weeks before he was to be deployed to Afghanistan. On Monday, when a dozen witnesses testified about the impact of the slaughter on their lives, Hasan, who has acted as his own defence lawyer during the court-martial and penalty phase, spoke in a quiet voice, declining to cross examine any of them. During the trial, Hasan, a psychiatrist, did not call any witnesses on his behalf. Showdowns that had been feared between Hasan and victims of the shooting failed to materialize. On Monday, witnesses included a U.S. Army staff sergeant who said the shooting left him partly paralyzed, brain damaged and severely depressed and a young widow who has tried twice to commit suicide. "Eventually I will succumb to my wounds," Staff Sergeant Patrick Ziegler testified. "I won't be able to function." If the jury unanimously recommends death as his punishment, Hasan could face lethal injection, possibly making him the first U.S. soldier to be executed by the U.S. military since 1961. An American-born Muslim, Hasan told mental health evaluators he wanted to become a martyr and lawyers assisting him said he was actively seeking the death penalty, though Hasan has disputed that claim. Judge Colonel Tara Osborn has repeatedly reminded Hasan that military-appointed lawyers can represent him but he has declined, choosing instead to represent himself. Twelve of the dead were active-duty soldiers and one was retired. Of the 31 wounded, 30 were soldiers and one a police officer. Hasan also was charged with shooting at another police officer and missing. A death sentence by Hasan's jury would trigger a lengthy process requiring the approval of the Fort Hood commanding general, and the president of the United States, in order for there to be an execution. If he is sentenced to death, Hasan would become the sixth man on death row at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, a maximum security facility for military prisoners. (Additional reporting by Jana J. Pruet; Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Bob Burgdorfer) |
| U.S. postpones August 28 meeting with Russia over Syria gas attack Posted: WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department on Monday postponed a meeting scheduled for Wednesday in The Hague between senior diplomats from the United States and Russia due to "ongoing consultations" over the chemical weapons attack in Syria. The meeting was to have discussed plans for an international peace conference to end the civil war in Syria. But a senior State Department official said in a statement the meeting was called off "given our ongoing consultations about the appropriate response to the chemical weapons attack in Syria on August 21." The meeting was to have been between Wendy Sherman, undersecretary for political affairs at the State Department and U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford, and Russian deputy foreign ministers Gennady Gatilov and Mikhail Bogdanov. "We will work with our Russian counterparts to reschedule the meeting," the senior official said, adding that the chemical weapons attack demonstrated the need for a "comprehensive and durable political solution" to end the bloodshed. (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Eric Walsh) |
| You are subscribed to email updates from World To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 ulasan:
Catat Ulasan