Junior doctors in England begin 11th strike as pay dispute rumbles on

Junior doctors in England started a new five-day strike on Thursday, the 11th such walkout to have taken place since last March, as their long-running pay dispute with the government continues.

Hundreds of junior doctors gathered near the Prime Minister's office on Downing Street on Thursday afternoon, holding signs and chanting slogans. They expressed their discontent over the lack of action, noting that despite the upcoming UK general election being just a week away, the current government has yet to make any commitments regarding potential pay rises.

The British Medical Association (BMA), the organizing body of the strike, said that when factoring in inflation, junior doctors in England have experienced a real-term pay decrease of more than 26 percent since 2008. Soaring inflation has led to increased living costs in recent years, placing a significant burden on their shoulders, according to the BMA.

Many of those taking part in the gathering in London drew attention to how many doctors are struggling to even pay bills amid the current economic climate.

"I knew of doctors at my level. So, these are doctors who had been working for six or seven years at that time, who had turned off their heating for two weeks over the winter periods, because their fuel bills almost immediately went astronomically high, but they didn't have any sort of change in their wage even in that whole year to reflect that," said Vivek Trivedi, co-chair of the BMA Junior Doctors Committee.

Statistics reveal that junior doctors in the early stages of their careers make up nearly half of the total workforce in the UK's National Health Service(NHS). Since the strike actions began 15 months ago, almost 1.5 million hospital appointments or scheduled surgeries have been canceled or postponed.

Junior doctors in England begin 11th strike as pay dispute rumbles on

China's Shenzhou-18 crew members on the Tiangong Space Station are preparing for their second extravehicular activities (EVAs) by conducting training that includes science experiments and orbital maneuvers.

Astronauts Ye Guangfu, Li Cong, and Li Guangsu have completed one-third of their six-month mission with stable physical and operational conditions in orbit, since they aboarded the Tiangong two month ago.

During their training, the astronauts used advanced remotely control systems for rendezvous and docking operations on in-orbit training systems and metacognitive training systems, practicing skills such as recognizing images, manual docking, remote docking, and safely undocking of the spacecraft under different initial conditions.

Throughout the training, the astronauts monitored the orientation and relative distance and speed of target spacecraft on screens, practicing precise control of the speed and orientation using specialized handles.

Last week, the crew also underwent exercise-based cardiopulmonary function tests. These tests assess the cardiovascular and respiratory capabilities needed for upcoming spacewalks, using methods to simulate exercise-induced metabolic demands.

The Shenzhou-18 crew was launched into space on April 25, as the third manned mission during the application and development stage of China's space station and the 32nd flight mission of the country's manned space program overall.

The crew members completed their first spacewalk on May 28, according to the China Manned Space Agency.

China's Shenzhou-18 crew trains for 2nd spacewalk