Foreign News
Man Goes Looking For Sperm Donor Dad, Discovers 25 Siblings In US
A British man who went looking for his sperm donor dad was shocked to discover he has 25 half-brothers and sisters in the US.
Oli Benjamin, whose story is being told in a new BBC documentary, was born in 1999 after his mothers decided they wanted to have a child via IVF and embryo transfer.
His mum Jody and her female partner conceived him with an American donor, who remained anonymous, at a clinic in San Francisco, and when Oli turned 18 he began his search for his biological father.
The Londoner, who works in the events industry, eventually found his dad Daley Dunham, but after flying to California to meet his new-found relatives he decided he was “not interested” in having a relationship with his father because they were just “too different”.
Oli found Daley, who no longer wanted to remain anonymous, a few months after he signed up for the US-based Donor Sibling Registry (DSR).
He was contacted by a woman named Jordan who said she was his half-sister. He was stunned when he found out he has 25 American half-brothers and sisters.
Oli, who was diagnosed with Asperger’s as a child and grew up feeling like an outsider, was hoping to establish relationships with Daley, 48, and his half-siblings, but things didn’t go as hoped.
Speaking before the debut of the 25 Siblings and Me documentary, he told the Sunday Times that he had “no interest” in having a relationship with Daley, and his half-siblings are more like cousins to him.
He said: “Genetics are the door to relationships, but they’re not relationships.”
He wanted his first meeting with Daley to be like a scene from a film, but when they met his biological dad “was a bit like, ‘Hi, No 20-whatever’.”
Oli added: “He’d been through it quite a number of times. It’s funny because Daley and I are really not that alike at all. We’re very different people.”
In the documentary, Oli and his half-siblings tell their story. Some reveal they had no idea they were conceived via a sperm donor.
Finding Daley and his half-siblings has brought him peace.
He added: “It’s much better for someone to be made aware of their donor and who their biological family are and choose not to have relationships with them, than to not know and to never meet them and never be able to make that decision for themselves.”
Oli has noticed that he and his half-siblings look similar in certain ways, be he feels he is “quite different” to them.
In a separate interview, he told the Daily Mail it was “scary” meeting his relatives and the group reunion was “difficult” because it was such a large gathering.
He added: “I never saw Daley as a father figure, always like a cousin or an uncle. We aren’t anything alike personality-wise. But I did get his good teeth.
“The trip has shown me that your family are those who stick by you, who you grow up with, who care about you, as opposed to biological status.
“I have also learned to be more accepting of myself. It’s not about getting along with as many people as possible. It’s about getting along with the people that are right for you.
“And I think I have found a few of those [among the siblings], so I am very happy. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a win.”
Oli’s mum Jody, 46, and her now-former partner travelled to San Francisco in 1998 to conceive their son via a method that was not available to them in the UK.
They chose a donor and were adamant that it had to be a man who wanted to remain anonymous to avoid a potential conflict in the future.
Jody, a director who lives in Oxfordshire and also has twins aged nine, carried the egg that her then-partner supplied for IVF.
Foreign News
Kemi Badenoch Pledges To Ban Doctors’ Strikes If Conservative Party Takes Power In The UK
Leader of the United Kingdom’s Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has vowed that doctors’ strikes will be banned under a Conservative government.
The Tory party leader today announced she would amend the law to bar the protests as she insisted the British Medical Association (BMA) is ‘out of control’.
It comes following 11 strikes in the past 18 months, which Ms Badenoch said had resulted in patients dying.
Her comments were made on GB News amid the ongoing five-day series of strikes by resident doctors in support of a pay claim.
Urging Sir Keir Starmer to take similar action, Ms Badenoch said: ‘The BMA has become militant, these strikes are going too far, and it is time for action.
‘Doctors do incredibly important work. Medicine is a vocation – not just a job. That is why in government we offered a fair deal that supported doctors, but protected taxpayers too.
‘These strikes will have a significant economic effect, but they will also mean cancelled operations, worry for families of the sick, and suffering for those who are unwell. We know that previous strike action by doctors even led to some patients losing their lives.
‘That is why Conservatives are stepping in, and setting out common sense proposals to protect patients, and the public finances. And we are making an offer in the national interest – we will work with the Government to face down the BMA to help protect patients and the NHS.’
Police, the military, and prison officers are banned from taking strike action under the 1992 Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act in the UK. The Conservatives would amend this to include doctors.
Foreign News
Saudi Arabia’s ‘Sleeping Prince’ Dies After 20 Years in Coma Following London Car Crash
A Saudi prince who spent more than two decades in a coma after a car crash in London has died at the age of 36.
Prince Al-Waleed bin Khalid Al-Saud suffered severe brain injuries and internal bleeding in the horrific accident when he was just 15 years old in 2005.
He was dubbed the ‘Sleeping Prince’ and was kept on a ventilator in hospital but never regained full consciousness.
Prince Al-Waleed was the eldest son of Prince Khaled bin Talal Al Saud, who announced his death in a heartbreaking post on X today.
He said: ‘O reassured soul, Return to your Lord, well-pleased and pleasing [to Him], And enter among My [righteous] servants, And enter My Paradise.
‘With hearts believing in Allah will and decree, and with deep sorrow and sadness, we mourn our beloved son: Prince Al-Waleed bin Khaled bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, may Allah have mercy on him, who passed away today.’
Prince Al-Waleed was studying at a military college in London when he was involved in the devastating car crash.
After the accident, he was hospitalised at King Abdulaziz Medical City in Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh where he remained in a coma.
Prince Al-Waleed’s father, who is the brother of business tycoon Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, never gave up hope his son would one day make a full recovery.
He remained involved in the prince’s care and opposed withdrawing life support.
Clips shared on social media in 2020 showed Prince Al-Waleed lifting his fingers as a woman greets him.
‘Hi, Didi hello, hello let me see, hi,’ she says as the prince wiggles his fingers in response.
She then asked if the prince could do ‘one more, one more, higher, higher’ and he could be seen lifting his whole hand off the bed momentarily.
However, despite the signs he could be recovering Prince Al-Waleed remained in a critical condition.
Funeral prayers for the prince will be held tomorrow at Imam Turki bin Abdullah Mosque in Riyadh.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in an interview released on Monday that Israel, which last month fought a 12-day war with Iran, had attempted to assassinate him.
“They did try, yes. They acted accordingly, but they failed,” Pezeshkian told US media figure Tucker Carlson in response to a question on whether he believed Israel had tried to kill him.
“It was not the United States that was behind the attempt on my life. It was Israel. I was in a meeting… they tried to bombard the area in which we were holding that meeting,” he said according to a translation of his remarks from Persian, in apparent reference to an alleged assassination attempt during the recent war.
On June 13, Israel launched an unprecedented bombing campaign against Iran, killing top military commanders and nuclear scientists.
The Israeli attacks took place days before Tehran and Washington were set to meet for a new round of nuclear talks which began on April 12.
More than 900 people were killed in Iran during the conflict, according to the judiciary.
The Israeli attacks drew waves of retaliatory drone and missile fire, killing 28 people in Israel, according to authorities.
The 12-day war between Iran and Israel saw it, along with the United States, launching strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities at Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz.
During the interview with Carlson, Pezeshkian said his country has “no problem” restarting nuclear talks, provided that trust can be reestablished between the two countries.
“We see no problem in re-entering the negotiations,” the Iranian president said.
“There is a condition … for restarting the talks. How are we going to trust the United States again? We re-entered the negotiations, then how can we know for sure that in the middle of the talks the Israeli regime will not be given the permission again to attack us.”
VIDEO:
AFP
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