UK Abortion Clinic Targeted by US Religious Group

By Meera Selva

London - One of Britain's main abortion providers said Wednesday that a campaign run by a U.S.-based religious group is intimidating women who use its services.

The British Pregnancy Advisory Service said activists from the 40 Days for Life group have been holding vigils outside one of their central London clinics and had on occasion filmed people coming in and out of the building. A spokeswoman said she asked the activists to stop filming but they refused.

The spokeswoman, who requested anonymity because she said she had received hate mail, said the protests were bigger than many other anti-abortion protests.

"We've always had sporadic outbursts down the years, but I think we are seeing something, seeing protest on a scale we haven't seen before," she said.

Robert Colquhoun, a campaign director of 40 Days for Life's London campaign, said its members are carrying out a peaceful Christian prayer vigil outside BPAS's central London clinic.

The 40 Days for Life movement began in Texas in 2004, and has now spread around the world. Its members hold vigils outside abortion clinics for a 40-day period.

"It's totally unfounded to say we want to intimidate women," Colquhoun said. "We are there to pray and to show there is love in the community out there."

Colquhoun said the group did not intend to film people using the BPAS clinic but some activists did have cameras to film passers-by who were insulting them.

Britain's debate over abortion has become louder in recent years. A number of young, socially conservative lawmakers were elected to the House of Commons after the last election, including many who support more restrictive abortion laws.

Lawmaker Nadine Dorris tried unsuccessfully last year to bar abortion providers such as BPAS from counseling women about their decisions on whether to terminate their pregnancies. She wanted the counseling services to be provided by an independent body.

Dorris's campaign failed but it drew attention to providers such as BPAS and Marie Stopes International, which between them carry out around half of Britain's 200,000 annual abortions.

Last week, a man was arrested for hacking into the BPAS website and stealing sensitive data, but police did not indicate that the man is linked to those holding the vigil.

Britain's Abortion Act, first drafted in 1967, allows surgical abortions up to 24 weeks into a pregnancy. It also permits abortions after 24 weeks if doctors believe the mother's life is in danger or there is strong evidence that the fetus would be born with a severe disability. Two doctors must approve every referral to an abortion clinic.

Don't Believe Bankers' Warnings About a Robin Hood Tax

By Avinash Persaud

London - In Merchants of Doubt, the scientific historian Naomi Oreskes describes how a group of high-level scientists, with deep connections in politics and the tobacco industry, ran effective campaigns to mislead the public and deny well-established scientific knowledge on the link between tobacco and cancer. The same tactics are being used by London bankers today with regards to the proposal for a financial transaction tax (FTT), or Robin Hood tax. It is not the activity of bashing bankers that draws me to this debate, but the deliberate obfuscation by the industry. Doubt is their product, as a tobacco executive once said.

We know the UK government is opposed to the idea, and yet as finance ministers meet in Brussels to iron out the details of the 0.1%-0.01% tax on transactions that could raise as much as £48bn a year (£8.4bn in the case of the UK), nine of Europe's economies are in support.

Listening to some London bankers, you would think that a 0.1% tax would usher in a nuclear winter. Bankers are effectively saying that, while they justify their high pay with claims of superior creativity, credibility and connectivity, all of that cannot compete with a tax on each transaction of just one tenth of one per cent. If, despite the industry receiving billions in implicit public subsidies and guarantees, the largest sector in the UK economy hangs by such a thin thread, its value-added must be seriously questioned.

After hearing some of the bankers' responses, you would be forgiven for thinking that transaction taxes are a peculiar poison, but the economic and market impact of such taxes is no different than any other transaction cost (such as trading commissions; dealer spreads; fees for clearing, settlement, using exchanges; administration costs and the price impact of trading). This poses two problems to the nuclear-winter argument. First, just 10 years ago, these costs were collectively greater than they are today in the equity markets by the amount of the proposed tax, yet the sky did not fall on our heads. Indeed, and not unrelated, markets were a little more robust then than they are now. Second, the US is the largest and most efficient market in the world, yet a few years ago Professor Kenneth French documented that fees and charges by banks and funds on trading activities amounted to $100bn in the US, or 0.67% of the value of portfolios. By the nuclear-winter logic, this would hit investment, jobs and the wider economy far harder than a 0.1% transaction tax.

There are benefits to the services provided by dealers and fund managers for which they charge a fee, but if we are including benefits, then we must also consider the potential benefits of the use of FTT revenues. In the UK, it would likely raise £8.4bn that could reduce corporation tax by five percentage points to 19%, which would be the lowest in the world's rich countries bar Ireland, or eliminate all of the planned cuts to public education or double aid to the poorest.

It is interesting to note that the impact on the cost of capital of the alleged manipulation by some bankers of the British Bankers Association's Libor reference rates, on which $375tn of transactions are priced every day, was for many months greater than the impact on the cost of capital of a 0.1% tax on transactions in the secondary markets. But none of this will be equated and the heavyweights will be brought in to brush it all off with soothing platitudes: "These things happen" and "Isn't it good that this is now being put right?". In their foaming zeal to come up with examples of complicated off-balance sheet transactions that could potentially evade this tax, some bankers appear to have forgotten they are a regulated activity, and that today supervisors will require capital to be put aside for activities that seek to hide exposures, risks and clients.

Amid the obsfucation, we must take a broader perspective. Financial crashes are not random events – they almost always follow booms, and the bigger the boom the bigger the fall. One of the lessons of the last boom-bust cycle is that while low transaction costs are generally good, it is bad for the wider economy if they are so small as to be of no hindrance to financial activities that, through rapid turnover, give the impression of gleaming citadels of value when markets are rising, propelling the boom, but turn out to be nothing more than mirages when the boom busts, deepening the crash.

A little sand in the wheel of finance will help to smash the mirages that lure our economies in the wrong direction to the detriment of all. Taking this into account, a small transaction tax would be good for growth – helping to boost investment and jobs. Fast finance, like fast food, does not deliver sustainability.

FBI: Irish Nisstep Led to Conference Call Leak

By Raphael Satter

London - An Irish police officer's email blunder led to the spectacular leak of a sensitive conference call between the FBI and Scotland Yard, U.S. law enforcement said Tuesday.

An indictment unsealed in a New York court alleges that a teenager linked to the Lulz Security group of hackers was able to eavesdrop on the call after an unnamed officer with Ireland's national police force forwarded a work message to his insecure personal email account.

The email, which apparently originated from the FBI's Timothy Lauster, invited dozens of law enforcement officers from across Europe and the United States to coordinate their efforts against LulzSec and its amorphous umbrella group, Anonymous.

The FBI's indictment said that 19-year-old Donncha O'Cearrbhail intercepted the email and used the information in it to access and secretly record the Jan. 17 call, which hackers subsequently broadcast across the Internet.

The indictment said O'Cearrbhail was charged with one count of computer hacking conspiracy, and one count of intentionally disclosing an unlawfully intercepted wire communication.

O'Cearrbhail was one of five people charged in a multinational operation targeting hackers linked to Lulz Security. His indictment was unsealed on Tuesday as authorities revealed the group's ringleader had secretly become an FBI informant and turned against his comrades.

A spokesman for the Irish police, known as the Garda Siochana, refused to comment either on the details of the O'Cearrbhail charge or on the nature of the email blunder.

There appear to be only two Garda-linked names in Lauster's email: Paul Gillen and Colm Gallagher.

Neither officer returned messages seeking comment.

Tabloid Editor Got Free Horse from UK Police Force

By Jill Lawless and Meera Selva

London - British police gave former News of the World tabloid editor Rebekah Brooks a retired police steed to look after, the force confirmed Tuesday — but they insisted it was not a gift horse.

The Metropolitan Police said the horse was loaned to Brooks — former chief executive of Rupert Murdoch's British newspapers — in 2008 under a program that allows people to care for retired service animals and ride them.

Brooks' spokesman, David Wilson, confirmed that Brooks had been a "foster carer" for the animal and paid for the upkeep of the horse while it was stabled at her rural home.

"This is just a charitable thing Rebekah did," he said.

Brooks is married to horse trainer Charlie Brooks and has a country home near Chipping Norton, northwest of London, a posh rural enclave whose residents include Prime Minister David Cameron. Wilson said the couple "share a passion for horses."

The force said when the horse — which was not identified by name — got too old it was rehoused with a police officer in 2010. It has since died of natural causes, police said.

Britain's media ethics inquiry is currently looking into claims of crooked relations between the press and police.

Brooks is one of several current and former Murdoch executives who have been arrested and questioned over wrongdoing by the News of the World, whose journalists routinely intercepted the voicemails of people in the public eye in a quest for scoops.

Murdoch closed the paper in July amid public revulsion over the revelations.

On Tuesday the inquiry published a written statement from Canadian singer Bryan Adams, who said he was shocked when The Sun, another Murdoch tabloid, ran a story about him being stalked at his London home in 2008.

Adams, 52, said he had reported to police that a man and his mother were harassing him by waiting outside his home and ringing his doorbell incessantly. He said he had not discussed the incident with others and believed that police had leaked the information to the newspaper.

"I had not consented to this information being made public and I was very annoyed that what I saw as a private issue was being reported without my knowledge or consent," he wrote. "Although I have no proof, and therefore it is of course speculation, I do not believe that there could be any other explanation than the fact that the source must have been someone related to my call to the police."

Also Tuesday, former police detective Jacqui Hames told the inquiry that she believed the News of the World had placed her and her police officer husband under surveillance to intimidate them over a murder inquiry her husband was working on.

Hames' husband David Cook had led an investigation into the 1987 death of private investigator Daniel Morgan, an unsolved murder that has been blighted by police corruption. The most recent attempt to prosecute the case collapsed in March 2011, and the Guardian newspaper later reported alleged corrupt links between the suspects involved and the News of the World.

Hames said she had asked Brooks in 2003 why they had spied on her and her husband and said she did not receive a satisfactory answer.

"I believe that the real reason for the News of the World placing us under surveillance was that suspects in the Daniel Morgan murder inquiry were using their association with a powerful and well-resourced newspaper to try to intimidate us and so attempt to subvert the investigation," Hames testified to the inquiry.

Jordani Cleric Released From English Jail

London – A cleric deemed Osama bin Laden's “right-hand man in Europe” is finally free, but on certain conditions. He must be home 22 hours a day, wear an electronic tag, isn't allowed to use the internet or cell phones, and any guests he has must first be vetted by British authorities. He is also not allowed to go to mosques or lead prayer sessions.

England says the measures are necessary because Abu Qatada (aka Omar Othman), who is said to have made three videotapes made by three of the 9/11 terrorists, is still a national security risk.

Qatada was released from Long Lartin prison in England Monday night after he was arrested in 2002. Because he was never charged of any crimes, the European Court of Human Rights ruled his detention was unlawful. However it was also decided he shouldn't return to his native country of Jordan because he wouldn't receive a fair trial due to evidence extracted from others through the use of torture.

Under fire from members of his Conservative Party, David Cameron told reporters "We are committed to removing him from the country. We want to see him deported and we are looking at all the options for doing that."

Human rights groups say he should stand trial in Britain, which is highly unlikely due to fears some of the evidence against him was obtained using using torture.

Odd Stories: Coin With Sex Imagery Discovered

London – An amateur archaeologist with a metal detector has discovered a coin with the image of a man and woman having sex. On the opposite side is XIIII – note we currently use the Roman numerals XIV for the same number – which historians say may represent the original owner of the coin paid Roman coins, or one day's pay in the first century, to get it.

At the moment experts say it's the first of its kind found in England. The bronze coin was preserved by mud for approximately 2,000 years until it was found.

The amateur archaeologist is pastry chef Regis Cusan, who found it in West London. “The day I made the find it was a very low, early tide and raining heavily. At first I thought it was a Roman coin, because of the thickness and diameter,” he said. “When I rubbed the sand off the artefact the first thing I saw was the number on one side and what I thought was a goddess on the other. Little did I know at the time it was actually a rare Roman brothel token. To find something like that is a truly exciting find.”

The coin, which brings the harsh realities and history of the sex trade industry to light once more, has been donated to the Museum of London. It will be on display for the next three months.

Odd Stories: Sex Video Game to Get a Sequel

By Jonathan Sher

London, Ontario, Canada – London health officials are launching a sequel to their controversial online sex-ed game for young people that features such characters as Wonder Vag and the Sperminator.

In the sequel, the virgin with the Barbie-doll figure will be caged and the Sperminator will have lost his penis-arms and become a force for good.

The original Adventures in Sex City, an online game from the Middlesex-London Health Unit, was banned by officials with the London District Catholic school board because it ran afoul of the school's official stance on abstinence.

In the original version, the infected Sperminator fired sperm from penis-shaped arms at characters such as virginal Wonder Vag, who when struck might say, "Aggg! Right in the face."
While the original will be kept available at Getitonlondon.ca, a second version will officially launch Feb. 14 during Sexual Awareness Week.

In the new version, Wonder Vag has been kidnapped by her evil twin, Bloody Mary, and placed in a cage at a bar where, unless she's rescued, she'll be forced to drink alcohol.

Trying to rescue her is a team of superheroes that now includes the Sperminator, cured of his sexually transmitted illness and with no more penises as appendages.

Players are asked questions related to sexual health and risky behaviour brought on by the use of alcohol and drugs. If enough questions are answered correctly, Wonder Vag is freed and Bloody Mary falls in a drunken stupor and vomits.

The point of the game is to teach youth how getting intoxicated can lead to risky sexual practices.

"It's really for the youth," said Shaya Dhinsa, manager of sexual health for the health unit.

Scott's Lost Antarctica Photographs Bought

By Maev Kennedy

The last photographs taken by Captain Robert Scott, lost for most of the 20th century, have been bought for the nation in time for the centenary of his doomed expedition to reach the south pole on 17 January 1912.The anniversary is being marked by many institutions, including:

• The Natural History Museum in London, where an exhibition on the venture featuring a recreation of Scott's hut which survives in Antarctica, opens on Friday.
• A conference at the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge, where there is an exhibition with many surviving artefacts.
• The Historic Dockyard at Portsmouth, where a single white rose will be laid at the foot of his statue – sculpted by his widow, Kathleen, and commissioned and paid for by the officers of HMS Vernon in 1915.
• And the British Services Antarctic Expedition in Antarctica, which is currently hauling scientific equipment across the ice on a research and exploration expedition.

The Scott Institute was founded with money left over from the fund for the widows and orphans of Scott and his four companions, who starved and froze to death with him on their heartbreaking return after learning that the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen had beaten them to the pole. It has bought the 109 photographs, never seen by Scott himself – they were developed after he set out on the last fatal stage – for about £750,000 with a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund of £704,000. They will be reunited with Scott's camera, presented by his daughter-in-law Lady Philippa Scott, in 2008. Professor Julian Dowdeswell, head of the Scott Polar Research Institute, said: "Scott's photographs bring to life, in vivid detail, his party's sledging journey into the interior of Antarctica. From men and ponies struggling through deep snow, to panoramas of the Transantarctic mountains, the images are very powerful."

In 2004 the institute acquired the 1,700 glass-plate negatives taken by the expedition photographer, Herbert Ponting.

Scott had asked him for photography lessons because Ponting was not fit enough and his equipment too heavy to cover the final part of the journey. Scott's photographs were developed by the geologist Frank Debenham, who founded the institute.

The photographs were returned to the UK with Ponting's, and kept out of the public gaze by a copyright row. The nitrate film disintegrated, but a single set of surviving prints was mislaid in a photography archive after his death.

When they eventually resurfaced, they were bought at an auction in New York in 2001 by a London-based American antiquarian book dealer, Richard Kossow. He was surprised to be able to afford them, he told the Guardian when they were first published in October. "Most collectors didn't know about the sale, and those who did didn't take it seriously," he said.

More Proof the Murdochs Knew About Hacking

London – Private investigator Derek Webb admitted to the BBC he was hired by News of the World to follow more than 90 people who were selected by journalists at the paper.


Some of the targets over the course of eight years, were the parents of Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe, Prince William, government chief legal adviser Peter Goldsmith, and ex-footballer/soccer player Gary Lineker. Ninety percent of the people he was hired to follow are celebrities or politicians.  More than 100 people were being watched by the paper.


“I was working for them extensively on many jobs throughout that time. I never knew when I was going to be required. They phoned me up by the day or by the night. … It could be anywhere in the country,” Webb stated.


Webb also kept extensive logs about his movements and observations. The BBC claims to have seen the documents.

Fracking Possibly Linked to Britain's Tremors.

London – Cuadrilla Resources, the only company in Britain using the process known as hydraulic fracturing (aka “fracking”) stated on Wednesday probably is what caused the country's tremors in April and May of this year. In its report however it said they were the result of a mix of geology and operation and aren't likely to happen again.

Fracking has come under fire from environmental and health activists. Environmental actvists say it can poison water supplies and health advocates state it has unforeseen consequences on those who drink the water. Fracking became more well-known in the last few years thanks to the movie “Gasland” in which a man demonstrates how water is able to be set on fire.

The report states if fracking did start another tremor the strongest one would be around a 3 on the Richter Scale, meaning it would barely be felt by anyone.

Fracking as been put on holdas of May 27^th after a tremor was detected outside the town of Blackpool.

Currently five people are protesting one of the company's rigs. Four of them attached themselves to the machinery.