Ronald McDonald being arrested – YouTube
Ronald McDonald being arrested
BBC News – Health ministers ‘oppose abortion advice changes’
Health ministers ‘oppose abortion advice changes’
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Woman and doctor The proposal applies to abortion advice in England and not the rest of the UK
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The government has written to all MPs to tell them health ministers will vote against a proposal to change the advice given to women seeking an abortion.
Conservative MP Nadine Dorries has suggested abortion advice in England should not be given by organisations that carry out terminations.
The government says it is committed to making sure counselling is independent.
Some Tory MPs say they are angry at what they see as an attempt to put them under pressure during a Commons debate.
Downing Street earlier made it clear Prime Minister David Cameron opposed Ms Dorries’ amendment to the Health and Social Care Bill.
However, a spokesperson said that no pressure was being applied to Conservative MPs to vote in a particular way.
The bill is due to be discussed by MPs in the Commons on Tuesday and Wednesday but it is not yet certain that the amendment will even be heard, says BBC political correspondent Ben Geoghegan.
At present, women seeking an abortion need the consent of two doctors, which can be obtained through an NHS clinic or GP surgery, or at a private provider, such as Marie Stopes or the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), affiliated to the NHS.
In both cases, staff have a duty to provide counselling to the women who use them – and under Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists’ guidelines that advice should be impartial, objective and unbiased.
‘Nothing finalised’
Ms Dorries’ amendment – which is also supported by Labour backbencher Frank Field – would remove that duty from Marie Stopes and BPAS.
It says the NHS – specifically GPs – should provide "independent information, advice and counselling services for women requesting termination of pregnancy" – and it defines "independent" as an organisation that does not itself provide abortions.
There are no other stipulations about who those independent bodies could be. Pro-choice campaigners say they could be faith-based groups morally opposed to abortion, who will seek to persuade women that going ahead with one would be a sin.
While MPs are traditionally given a "free vote" on abortion, the Department of Health’s letter to MPs says all health ministers are against the idea.
The Department of Health says it is looking to consult over the advice available to women seeking terminations and has not finalised any proposals yet.
It says any requirement to offer independent counselling would be in addition to what is already provided by GPs and clinics, not instead of it, and the government does not propose to strip abortion charities of their ability to provide advice.
via BBC News – Health ministers ‘oppose abortion advice changes’.
BBC News – Rebecca Aylward murder: Joshua Davies given 14 years
Rebecca Aylward murder: Joshua Davies given 14 yearsJoshua Davies Joshua Davies lured Rebecca Aylward into woods before killing herContinue reading the main story Related Stories Jail killer forever, says mother A ‘senseless and barbaric’ murderA 16-year-old boy who battered his former girlfriend to death has been jailed for a minimum of 14 years.Joshua Davies lured Rebecca Aylward, 15, from Maesteg, into a wood in Aberkenfig, near Bridgend, in 2010.Davies, who denied murder, was told by the Swansea Crown Court judge: "You killed her because of a deep-seated hatred."Rebecca’s mother Sonia Oatley welcomed the sentence but said Davies deserved the death penalty.
via BBC News – Rebecca Aylward murder: Joshua Davies given 14 years.
BBC News – Ministers plan emergency law to move terror suspects
Ministers plan emergency law to move terror suspects
By Dominic Casciani Home affairs correspondent
Armed police officer at Houses of Parliament Control orders were introduced under the former Labour government in 2005
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Ministers have revealed draft emergency measures to relocate terror suspects months after pledging to scrap a similar power known as control orders.
Ministers have published a draft bill to use relocation or other restrictions in exceptional circumstances.
The power to move a suspect to a new home was ditched folllowing a review by the coalition government.
Critics say the incoming Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures (Tpims) are weak.
Tpims are the proposed replacement for control orders restrictions which are due to be scrapped at the end of the year. The measures are used against suspects who have not been charged with an offence.
via BBC News – Ministers plan emergency law to move terror suspects.
BBC Sport – Olympic Stadium bidding process ‘not compromised’
An independent probe into the decision to award West Ham United the Olympic Stadium has concluded the bidding process was not compromised.
The inquiry was launched following allegations an Olympic Park Legacy Company director was paid by West Ham during the contest with Tottenham.
A Sunday newspaper claimed OPLC director Dionne Knight was on the club’s payroll.
However, the BBC has learned Knight was "quarantined" from the stadium ruling.
Despite Knight, the OPLC director of Corporate Services, declaring she was in a relationship with West Ham director Ian Tompkins, she was accused of failing to tell her employers that she also received around £20,000 from the club for consultancy work.
Now, following a six-week inquiry, forensic accountants from Moore Stephens have concluded there is no evidence to suggest that Knight had any influence over the OPLC’s internal stadium processes or that she had access to any sensitive material or papers.
via BBC Sport – Olympic Stadium bidding process ‘not compromised’.
BBC News – Phone hacking: Reports of James Desborough arrest
Phone hacking: Reports of James Desborough arrestJames Desborough James Desborough’s exclusives include TV host Fern Britton getting a gastric bandContinue reading the main story Phone-hacking scandal Q&A: Phone-hacking scandal Key people and profiles Timeline Inquiries and legal challengesA 38-year-old man has been arrested as part of the investigation into phone hacking, Scotland Yard has said.The man, named by the Guardian as former News of the World journalist James Desborough, was arrested by officers on Thursday morning.Meanwhile, actress Leslie Ash has settled a claim against the paper.Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator at the heart of the hacking scandal, has filed a legal action against News International.The action being brought by Mulcaire, who has admitted phone hacking on behalf of the Sunday tabloid, is a contractual dispute understood to relate to the decision by News International to stop paying his legal costs
via BBC News – Phone hacking: Reports of James Desborough arrest.
Cameron blames UK riots on ‘moral collapse’ – CNN.com
London (CNN) — Prime Minister David Cameron blames the riots that shook Britain over the past 10 days on a "slow-motion moral collapse … in parts of our country," he said Monday.
Cameron listed problems including "Irresponsibility. Selfishness. Behaving as if your choices have no consequences. Children without fathers. Schools without discipline. Reward without effort. Crime without punishment. Rights without responsibilities. Communities without control," in a speech in his constituency in Oxfordshire.
And he promised that the government will "review every aspect of our work to mend our broken society" in the coming weeks.
Thousands of people have been arrested and processed through courts working around the clock since violence erupted over the killing of a man in London during a police operation.
BBC News – Mark Duggan death: IPCC ‘may have misled journalists’
Mark Duggan death: IPCC ‘may have misled journalists’
Mark Duggan who was shot dead by police in Tottenham The police watchdog said there was no evidence Mr Duggan had fired at police
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The police watchdog has admitted it may have misled journalists into believing police shooting victim Mark Duggan fired at officers before he was killed.
Mr Duggan, 29, was shot by officers last Thursday in Tottenham.
His death sparked the initial riots in London which were followed by disorder in other English cities.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission later released a statement to make it clear that Mr Duggan did not fire a gun at police.
Ballistic tests found that a bullet which lodged itself in one officer’s radio was police issue.
It was reported by many media outlets at the time that a police officer had been shot before Mr Duggan was killed.
In other developments surrounding the riots in England:
A 68-year-old man who was critically injured while he tried to stamp out a fire during riots in west London has died. A 22-year-old man has been arrested.
A clearer picture is emerging of the people who were involved in rioting and looting as magistrates’ courts continue to sit throughout the night in London and late into the evening in Birmingham and Manchester. An Olympic Games ambassador and a care worker are among those in the docks
Association of Chief Police Officers president Sir Hugh Orde has denied a rift with ministers, saying it was the police and not MPs who devised the “more robust” approach that restored calm after four nights of rioting in England
Ed Miliband has blamed the riots that swept English cities on a “me first” culture and accepted Labour must share the blame for creating it.
More than 1,000 arrests have now been made in London alone and 1,600 across England since the unrest began on Saturday. The Ministry of Justice said 796 had appeared in court
An 18-year-old man from Salford is charged with criminal damage, recklessly endangering life after a fire at a Miss Selfridge store in Manchester city centre.
The inquest into the deaths of Haroon Jahan, 21, Shazad Ali, 30, and Abdul Musavir, 31, will be opened and adjourned at Birmingham Coroner’s Court later
More than 100,000 people have signed an online petition calling for anyone convicted of taking part in the riots to lose any benefits they receive – becoming the first such petition to be considered for a Commons debate
The government has launched a website with advice to the public on how to cope with the unrest
The IPCC said in a statement on Friday: “Analysis of media coverage and queries raised on Twitter have alerted us to the possibility that we may have inadvertently given misleading information to journalists when responding to very early media queries following the shooting of Mark Duggan by Metropolitan Police Service officers on the evening of 4 August.”
Police-issue bullet
It said the IPCC’s first statement made no reference to shots fired at police.
But it said: “However, having reviewed the information the IPCC received and gave out during the very early hours of the unfolding incident, before any documentation had been received, it seems possible that we may have verbally led journalists to believe that shots were exchanged, as this was consistent with early information we received that an officer had been shot and taken to hospital.
“Any reference to an exchange of shots was not correct and did not feature in any of our formal statements, although an officer was taken to hospital after the incident.”
Mr Duggan was a passenger in a minicab which was stopped by police near Tottenham Hale Tube station.
A non-police issue handgun, converted from a blank-firing pistol to one that shoots live rounds, was recovered close to the scene of his death.
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(From left) Haroon Jahan, Shazad Ali and Abdul Musavir
Haroon Jahan, Shazad Ali and Abdul Musavir died when they were hit by a car during the disorder in Birmingham
The bullet lodged in the police radio was a “jacketed round”, a police-issue bullet consistent with being fired from a Metropolitan Police Heckler and Koch MP5, the IPCC said.
An inquest into Mr Duggan’s death, which opened at North London Coroner’s Court in High Barnet on Tuesday, heard the father of four died from a single gunshot wound to the chest.
Mr Duggan’s death sparked the riots in Tottenham, which were followed by disorder and looting in other parts of London and other English cities.
Richard Mannington Bowes, 68, was critically injured while he tried to stamp out a fire during riots in west London and later died.
Police have said four other deaths – a man found shot in a car in Croydon and three men hit by a car in Birmingham – may be linked to the recent disorder.
Home Secretary Theresa May said the high numbers of police officers on the streets will be “sustained” until further notice.
Speaking during a visit to Enfield, north London, Ms May said: “We have had some quieter nights but we are not complacent about that.
Car chase
“The police will maintain their tough arrest policy, their presence on the streets.”
She said officers would be brought in from areas not affected by the riots to help maintain levels if necessary.
The number of officers patrolling the streets of London has almost trebled to 16,000 since last weekend to help tackle the violence.
Trevor Ellis, 26, of Brixton Hill, died after being found with bullet wounds in a car in Croydon, south London, on Monday night.
Police believe Mr Ellis and his friends were involved in an altercation with another group of nine people, resulting in a chase involving three cars. Mr Ellis was shot during the pursuit.
Haroon Jahan, 21, Shazad Ali, 30, and Abdul Musavir, 31, were struck as they stood in a crowd on the pavement in Winson Green, Birmingham, on Tuesday night. They were protecting property at the time.
The inquests into their deaths were opened and adjourned on Friday.
Four people have so far been arrested in connection with their deaths.
BBC News – Mark Duggan death: IPCC ‘may have misled journalists’.
BBC News – New arrest in phone-hacking inquiry
A 61-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of phone hacking, Scotland Yard has said.
The BBC understands he is former News of the World news editor, Greg Miskiw.
He was arrested by officers from the Met Police’s hacking investigation, Operation Weeting, after visiting a police station by appointment.
Scotland Yard has also confirmed that the Met’s Head of Public Affairs, Dick Fedorcio, has been placed on a period of extended leave.
Former news editor Mr Miskiw is the 12th person arrested and is being held on suspicion of unlawful interception of communications and conspiring to intercept communications.
The Metropolitan Police’s Operating Weeting is investigating claims some reporters for the News of the World hacked into the messages of celebrities and public figures between 2005 and 2006.
Mr Fedorcio meanwhile, will be working from home while the Independent Police Complaints Commission investigates whether he has committed an act of "gross misconduct".
A statement from Scotland Yard stressed that he had not been suspended and remained on full pay but added: "To allow Mr Fedorcio to prepare for the IPCC investigation it has been agreed that he can work from home on a period of extended leave until the matter is resolved.
"Mr Fedorcio also accepts that it would be inappropriate for him to continue to come into the office whilst there was on an going investigation and until other staff had been interviewed."
Last month, the IPCC revealed that it had been asked to examine Mr Federcio’s links to ex-News of the World executive Neil Wallis whose company was given a contract to provide PR advice to the Met in 2009.
At that time Scotland Yard was resisting calls to re-open the inquiry into phone-hacking at the News of the World.
In 2006, the paper’s former royal editor, Clive Goodman, and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire were jailed for hacking into royal aides’ voicemails.
Five alleged victims have reached out-of-court settlements with the newspaper, including celebrity publicist Max Clifford, who received a reported £1m.
The paper was shut down in July after it emerged that the phone of murder victim Milly Dowler may have been hacked.