As US President Barack Obama promised the Pope yesterday to try to reduce the number of abortions in the States, a new poll found that 86 per cent of Americans want restrictions to abortions.
According to the poll, 86% of Americans would significantly restrict abortion and 60% would limit abortion to cases of rape, incest or to save the life of a mother, or would not allow it at all, Newsmax reports.
53% of Americans believe abortion …

Foreign Secretary David Miliband said today that British troops in Afghanistan are fighting for the future of Britain, the Times reports.
In 24 hours, eight British soldiers died in Afghanistan, which brings the death toll since combat began in 2001 to 184, overtaking the 179 troops killed in Iraq.
“We must ensure that Afghanistan can not again become an incubator for terrorism and a launching pad for attacks on us,” Miliband said today. “This is about the …

Former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith says in an interview with The Guardian that she became a poster girl for the expenses scandal, but she is sorry for some of the expenses and also for the fact that she tried to claim for her husband’s porn films.
In fact, I almost felt sorry for her while reading the interview, but only almost. She might be somewhat regretful now that she’s out of job, but we still remember …

US President Barack Obama promised Pope Benedict XVI yesterday that he would try to reduce the number of abortions in the United States, the Daily Telegraph reports.
“The pontiff told me that President Obama affirmed his personal commitment to try to reduce the number of abortions in the United States,” Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said.
The president and the pontiff also discussed Middle East peace, immigration reforms, and sensitive bioethics matters in their first face-to-face meeting.
On …

Pentagon health experts are urging US Defence Secretary Robert Gates to ban troops from smoking and end the sale of tobacco in PXs, the military base shops where cheap tobacco has always been popular, the Daily Mail reports.
The investigation by the Institute of Medicine, commissioned by the Pentagon, found that a third of the country’s three million servicemen and women uses tobacco, compared with a fifth in the general population.
The heaviest smokers were soldiers and …

Hundreds of terrified people on a British Airways jet were evacuated on slides just before take-off today after smoke poured into the cabin, the Daily Mail reports.
The Heathrow-bound Boeing 747 had just pushed back from the departure gate at Phoenix Airport in Arizona, US, when the smoke was seen.
The pilot promptly decided to evacuate all 298 passengers on board using the emergency slides.
British Airways said everyone was evacuated safely from the plane, with around 15 …

The bell in St Stephen’s Tower of the Westminster Palace – Big Ben – celebrates its 150th birthday today – it was on 11th July 1859 when it struck its first hour.
A giant birthday message is to be projected on to the tower to mark 150 years since the first ringing of Big Ben, the BBC reports. The message reading “Happy Birthday Big Ben, 150 years, 1859 – 2009″, will be beamed on to the …