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Warning: This article contains references to suicide

On Friday this week, MPs will debate if England and Wales should legalise assisted dying.

The proposed legislation restricts it to adults with six months or less to live.

Canada introduced assisted dying in 2016 for adults with a terminal illness. In 2021, it was extended to people with no terminal illness and the disabled.

On 17 March 2027, anyone with a serious mental health problem will also be eligible.

Campaigners in Canada argue that the programme, known as MAID [medical assistance in dying], has gone too far.

Orlando Da Silva has struggled with crippling depression since he was a nine-year-old boy.

More on Assisted Dying

The high-flying Ontario lawyer is 56 years old now and has tried to take his own life a number of times.

Orlando Da Silva
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Orlando Da Silva

He says if MAID had been offered to him when he was at his lowest, he would have taken the option to end his life.

But he argues that people like him need help with their condition – not help to die.

“You just think you’re a worthless little boy and eventually a worthless teenager, and then one day, a worthless man,” Orlando says, describing the impact of his mental health on his childhood and later into his adult life.

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Assisted dying: Lessons from Canada

Working as a top barrister in the province of Ontario helped Orlando. It was a distraction from the suicidal thoughts that would overwhelm him when he left his office on the 47th floor of a downtown Toronto skyscraper.

“If you could measure it on a scale of zero to 10 [where] 10 is the happiest you’ve ever been, and zero is suicidal, my cruising altitude is about five or six, so I rarely get better than that.”

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Orlando has received almost all of the conventional therapies available for his condition.

“Now I have a condition called treatment-resistant depression, which means I’ve been on more than 40 different kinds of antidepressants. I’ve had 13 electroconvulsive shock treatments. I’ve been on ketamine treatments. And nothing works.

“So the critical problem for me with this condition is that it escalates into a major depressive episode every 18 to 24 months.”

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What happens if assisted dying bill passes?

Safeguards in place for Orlando

He says he has now learned how to manage his depression by reminding himself that the cycle will eventually end no matter how impossible the situation might feel at the time.

“I just push myself through one day at a time. Sometimes it’s one hour at a time, one minute at a time, one breath until the next one. Because I know it doesn’t last forever, but when I’m in that moment, I think it will, and there’s nothing anyone can say to convince me.”

Read more:
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Wes Streeting to vote against assisted dying

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MPs split ahead of assisted dying vote

He also has safeguards in place designed to protect him from himself.

“I’ve developed tools and a support network and even a 10-point scale that I share with my family and friends, so they can see how I’m doing, and they know I’m at a three or below, it’s time for an intervention.”

Orlando nearly died in 2008 after a failed suicide attempt. It led to six months in hospital.

He is now using his experience to try and help others like him who might choose an assisted death when they are allowed to in just over two years.

“It scares me to death. If it was available earlier, I would have chosen it in 1994. I would have tried it and I would have asked for it in 2002, in 2004, in 2008 and when I attempted my suicide in 2012, in 2014. And I’m alive because it’s not available now and because I failed in 2008.”

Fears over Canada’s programme

The move to include mental illness in Canada’s assisted dying programme was delayed twice because of fears around the impact it will have on the country’s health system.

By offering people with mental health issues an assisted death, Orlando warns, it further reinforces their sense of worthlessness.

“You want the pain to end, right? And the last thing you need is someone in a white coat who says: ‘Well, I see it’s kind of rough for you. How about we help you and your life? Do you like that?

“Now, does that say you’re worthwhile if you hear that? Does that say you have value? Does that contradict that voice in your head? Or does it reaffirm and confirm it?”

“We need to help. We need to give hope. Don’t need an easy death, like I want us to be a better society than that. If they say we’re judged by how we treat our most vulnerable. How do we treat people with mental illness who want to die?”

Orlando’s struggle is not over. But for him life is worth living no matter how hard it gets.

“Thank God I didn’t succeed, thank God I failed because if I had succeeded, I would never have met my wife.

“I never would have had my three beautiful daughters. I never would have had the rewarding personal and professional career I’ve had since and I would never have learned all that’s beautiful in this world from them.”

Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK

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Gaza food situation ‘worst it’s ever been’, charity says – as tank attack reportedly kills 12 at camp

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Gaza food situation 'worst it's ever been', charity says - as tank attack reportedly kills 12 at camp

An aid worker in Gaza has told Sky News the food situation in the enclave is “absolutely desperate” and “the worst it’s ever been”.

Her comments to chief presenter Mark Austin come amid fresh outcry over aid restrictions, with the UK joining 24 other countries to urge an immediate end to the war.

It also comes as at least 12 more Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded when tanks shelled a tent encampment in western Gaza City, according to health authorities.

Middle East latest: Key points from UK statement on Gaza

Medics, speaking early on Tuesday, said two shells were fired at tents housing displaced people from tanks positioned north of the Shati camp.

Israel hasn’t yet commented on the reports.

Rachael Cummings, humanitarian director for Save The Children, spoke to Sky News from Deir al Balah, a city where tens of thousands of people have sought refuge during repeated waves of mass displacement.

More on Gaza

She said: “One of my colleagues said to me yesterday, ‘We are all walking together towards death’. And this is the situation now for people in Gaza.

“There is no food for their children, it’s absolutely desperate here.”

Palestinians gather to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, July 20, 2025. REUTERS
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Palestinians gather to receive food from a charity kitchen. Pic: Reuters

“The markets are empty,” she said. “People may even have cash in their pockets yet they cannot buy bread [or] vegetables.

“My team have said to me, ‘There’s nothing in my house to feed my children, my children are crying all day, every day.”

Israel launched a ground assault on southern and eastern Deir al Balah for the first time on Monday after having issued an evacuation order.

Local medics said at least three people were killed when houses and mosques were hit by tank shelling.

Sources told Reuters news agency that Israel believes some of the hostages kidnapped by Hamas in October 2023 could be in the area.

Smoke rises during Israeli strikes amid the Israeli military operation in Deir Al-Balah.
Pic: Reuters
Image:
Smoke rises during strikes amid the Israeli operation in Deir al Balah. Pic: Reuters

Ms Cummings’s remarks came as the UK and 24 other nations issued a joint statement calling for a ceasefire.

The statement criticised aid distribution in Gaza, which is being managed by a US and Israel-backed organisation, Gaza Health Foundation (GHF).

Hundreds of people have reportedly been killed while trying to get food in recent weeks, both from GHF and UN convoys.

“The Israeli government’s aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity,” the joint statement said.

The 25 countries also called for the “immediate and unconditional release” of hostages captured by Hamas during the 7 October 2023 attacks.

Lammy promises £40m for Gaza

Foreign Secretary David Lammy has promised £40m for humanitarian assistance in Gaza.

He told MPs: “We are leading diplomatic efforts to show that there must be a viable pathway to a Palestinian state involving the Palestinian Authority, not Hamas, in the security and governance of the area.

“Hamas can have no role in the governance of Gaza, nor use it as a launchpad for terrorism.”

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Lammy: ‘There must be a viable pathway to a Palestinian state’

Addressing the foreign secretaries’ joint written statement, charity worker Liz Allcock – who works for Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) in Gaza – told Sky News: “While we welcome this, there have been statements in the past 21 months and nothing has changed.

“In fact, things have only got worse. And every time we think it can’t get worse, it does.”

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“Without a reversal of the siege, the lack of supplies, the constant bombardment, the forced displacement, the killing, the militarisation of aid, we are going to collapse as a humanitarian response,” she said.

“And this would do a grave injustice to the 2.2 million people we’re trying to serve.

“An immediate and permanent ceasefire, and avenues for accountability in line with international law, is the minimum people here deserve.”

The war in Gaza started in response to Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, which killed 1,200 people and saw about 250 taken hostage.

More than 59,000 Palestinians have since been killed, with more than half being women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count.

In recent weeks hundreds of Palestinians have reportedly been killed while waiting for food and aid.

The Israeli military has blamed Hamas militants for fomenting chaos and endangering civilians.

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Trade war: Is August escalation on – or will Trump chicken out?

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Trade war: Is  August escalation on - or will Trump chicken out?

Donald Trump is clearly seething over the term ‘TACO’ (Trump always chickens out) – a phrase that has characterised financial market trading over the past few months.

It suggests that for all the president’s bluster and threats during his on-off trade war to date, he rarely follows through.

When asked by a reporter about TACO in late May, as his “liberation day” escalation remained on pause, he declared it a “nasty” question and said he wanted negotiations.

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Mr Trump wants a deal but to effectively bully America’s trading partners into agreeing better terms.

It’s a playbook that has defined his time in the White House and, as things stand, more than 20 nations and territories, including Japan and South Korea, face heightened tariffs of up to 40% on their exports to the US from 1 August.

Financial markets don’t really believe it. Stock markets, for example, are still hovering near or at record levels in both the US and in Europe. The FTSE 100 closed above 9,000 points for the first time on Monday evening. TACO is ingrained in those values.

More on Donald Trump

But are markets in for a shock, especially when it comes to the fight with America’s single largest trading partner, the European Union? It was created, Mr Trump has previously claimed, to “screw” the United States.

It’s fair to say there was great optimism in the EU earlier this month that a deal, similar to that agreed between the US and UK, was looming to avert the worst of a threatened 30% baseline tariff from 1 August.

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Explained: The US-UK trade deal

But the mood music in Brussels changed at the back end of last week and now EU diplomats are even briefing that a broader range of retaliation measures is being considered beyond additional tariffs on US goods.

The seriousness of this fight should not be underestimated.

EU figures show trade in goods and services between the bloc and the US account for almost a third of all global trade, at a value in 2024 alone of €1.68trn (£1.45trn).

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Trump ‘reigniting global trade war’

EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic has warned that a 30% tariff would “practically prohibit” the bloc’s transatlantic trade, according to remarks via diplomats reported by the Reuters news agency.

We’re told that, even if time runs out, a truce could theoretically be agreed soon after 1 August.

Much will depend on the EU’s response.

Does it go down the route taken by the UK and not retaliate, pending the conclusion of talks?

There is growing pressure on Brussels to call Mr Trump’s bluff.

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Trump tariff threats all ‘bluster’

The EU has a package of tariffs on €21bn of US goods ready to go from 6 August. An additional package is yet to be finalised.

France is demanding US services are hit too, with even Germany now saying such an escalation should be considered.

The so-called “anti-coercion” instrument, as it’s known, would also potentially allow the bloc to limit US companies’ access to financial service markets in the EU.

So what happens after 1 August could be even more explosive.

But there is every reason to believe that a tit-for-tat escalation is unlikely, at least for long.

The very reason Donald Trump rowed back on his “liberation day” tariffs in April, allowing 90 days for talks, was likely the dire financial market reaction that followed news of the widespread duties.

You have a president demanding interest rate cuts (at a time when inflation is on the rise due to the impact of tariffs) in a bid to boost flagging economic growth.

Mr Trump says his trade war is all about boosting US manufacturing jobs but, at the end of the day, no powerbase of voters is going to accept a threat to the value of their investments for long.

No big US company will stand by and see its sales suffer.

TACO? It’s a solid bet.

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Plane crashes into college campus in Bangladesh – at least 19 people dead

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Plane crashes into college campus in Bangladesh - at least 19 people dead

At least 19 people have died after a Bangladesh air force plane crashed into a college campus, the military said.

The aircraft crashed into the campus of Milestone School and College in Uttara, in the northern area of the capital Dhaka, where students were taking tests or attending regular classes.

The pilot was one of the people killed, and, according to the military, 164 were injured in the incident.

The Bangladesh military’s public relations department added that the aircraft was an F-7 BGI, and had taken off at 1.06pm local time before crashing shortly after.

Video shows fire and smoke rising from the crash site, with hundreds looking on.

Pic: Reurters
The wreckage of an air force training aircraft after it crashed into Milestone College campus, in Dhaka.
Pic: Reuters
Image:
Pics: Reuters

The cause of the crash was not immediately clear.

Bengali-language daily newspaper Prothom Alo said that most of the injured were students with burn injuries.

Firefighters and volunteers work after an air force training aircraft crashed into Milestone College campus, in Dhaka.
Pic: Reuters
Image:
Pics: Reuters

Citing the duty officer at the fire service control room, Prothom Alo also reported that the plane had crashed on the roof of the college canteen.

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Six arrests after nearly 250 children poisoned by lead in food

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Rafiqa Taha, a 16-year-old student at the school who was not present at the time of the crash, told the Associated Press that the school has around 2,000 students.

“I was terrified watching videos on TV,” she added. “My God! It’s my school.”

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