LONDON: Yulia Skripal, who was poisoned with a nerve agent in the English city of Salisbury last month along with her Russian ex-spy father, has been discharged from hospital, the BBC and Sky news reported Tuesday.
The BBC said the 33-year-old was released on Monday and taken to a secure location, while her father Sergei Skripal remains in hospital.
A spokesman for the state-run National Health Service (NHS) told AFP that a press conference had been scheduled for 08:30am (0730 GMT).
There was no comment from the Metropolitan Police, which has been leading the investigation into the March 4 poisoning.
In a statement last week, staff at Salisbury hospital said of Yulia Skripal: “Her strength is growing daily and she can look forward to the day when she is well enough to leave the hospital.”
Her father, a former Russian military official who sold secrets to Britain before moving there in a 2010 spy swap, was also said to be “improving rapidly.”
Britain and its allies have blamed Russia for carrying out the attack, the first offensive use of a nerve agent in Europe since World War II, sparking a major diplomatic crisis.
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Daughter in Salisbury poisoning discharged from hospital: reports
Daughter in Salisbury poisoning discharged from hospital: reports
China’s birth rate falls to lowest on record: official data
BEIJING: China’s birth rate fell last year to its lowest level on record, official data showed Monday, as its population shrank for a fourth year running despite authorities’ efforts to curb the decline.
There were just 7.92 million births recorded last year, Chinese officials said Monday, a rate of 5.63 births per thousand people.
It marks the lowest birth rate since records by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) began in 1949 — the year Communist leader Mao Zedong declared the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
Beijing has scrambled to boost marriage and fertility rates, offering childcare subsidies and taxing condoms as it grapples with a rapidly aging population.
China’s birth rate had declined consistently over the last decade, despite the end of the restrictive “one-child policy,” until a slight uptick in 2024 when 6.77 births were recorded per thousand.
The previous low was in 2023, when China recorded 9.02 million births — a rate of 6.39 per 1,000 people.
Marriage rates are also at record low levels, with many young couples put off having babies by high child-rearing costs and career concerns.
Meanwhile China recorded 11.31 millions deaths in 2025, a mortality rate of 8.04 per thousand — leading to a population decline of 2.41 per thousand, NBS data showed.
There were just 7.92 million births recorded last year, Chinese officials said Monday, a rate of 5.63 births per thousand people.
It marks the lowest birth rate since records by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) began in 1949 — the year Communist leader Mao Zedong declared the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
Beijing has scrambled to boost marriage and fertility rates, offering childcare subsidies and taxing condoms as it grapples with a rapidly aging population.
China’s birth rate had declined consistently over the last decade, despite the end of the restrictive “one-child policy,” until a slight uptick in 2024 when 6.77 births were recorded per thousand.
The previous low was in 2023, when China recorded 9.02 million births — a rate of 6.39 per 1,000 people.
Marriage rates are also at record low levels, with many young couples put off having babies by high child-rearing costs and career concerns.
Meanwhile China recorded 11.31 millions deaths in 2025, a mortality rate of 8.04 per thousand — leading to a population decline of 2.41 per thousand, NBS data showed.
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