The annual cost of diagnosing and treating melanoma in Australia has ballooned by nearly seven times to A$200 million in the past 16 years. The QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute says costs have risen from A$30 million in 2001 while the number of people with the disease has soared from 8885 to 13,000 despite the potentially deadly skin cancer being largely preventable by avoiding the sun and wearing protective clothing. QIMR Berghofer health economist Associate Professor Louisa Gordon says the findings show the need for new messages encouraging Australians to be sun safe, much like the successful Slip, Slop, Slap campaign that began in the early 1980s.
US transgender soldiers, sailors, airmen and other members of the military, with others who want to enlist, sued President Donald Trump, hoping the federal courts will stop him from preventing their service. One federal lawsuit was filed in Baltimore by the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland on behalf of six transgender individuals currently serving in the Army, Navy, Air Force, National Guard and Naval Reserve. Another was filed in Seattle by Lambda Legal, on behalf of a 12-year Army veteran and two young transgender men who hope to enlist, along with Human Rights Campaign and the Gender Justice League.
Justine Damond's grieving Australian family and friends may be forced to wait until the end of the year to find out if the Minneapolis police officer who shot her dead will be charged. The prosecutor heading the investigation into the July 15 shooting, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman, estimated it would take four to six months to decide if charges are laid against Officer Mohamed Noor. "The truth is, we are following the same procedure we have with the three previous officer-involved shootings. Usually from the time of the officer firing the shot until our office's announcement of a decision, four to six months have elapsed," he said.
The leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Spain agreed on a new policy to grant asylum to vulnerable migrants who apply for protection while in Africa instead of their destination countries. At a Europe-Africa summit in Paris aimed at finding long-elusive solutions to illegal migration, the European leaders also agreed to help the African countries through which Europe-bound migrants usually pass with border controls. In a joint statement, the four leaders acknowledged the need to initiate a process in Chad and Niger that would lead to the resettlement of "particularly vulnerable migrants" in Europe. The process would allow migrants to immigrate legally to Europe if they are on an eligibility list provided by the UN refugee agency and registered with authorities in Niger and Chad.
