Not The BBC News: 17 November 2013

Not The BBC News: 17 November

The head of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, a charity which carries out more than a quarter of all the abortions in England and Wales, has claimed that the law does not prevent women from choosing an abortion on the grounds of the gender of their baby. Her argument is that “while it is true that the sex of the foetus is not a legal ground for abortion, nor is rape, or incest, or being 13 years old. Nor is being homeless, or abandoned, or just feeling there's no way you can bring a child into the world... yet they are all reasons why a doctor may believe a women has met the legal grounds of abortion [because] the pregnancy would damage the mental health of the mother."

Meanwhile, a pregnant 17-year old in Louisiana has been charged with second degree foeticide after her cocaine use led to the death of her unborn child, say police. She is being charged because the foetus had passed the legal limit for abortion in Louisiana. She said she snorted cocaine after her boyfriend broke up with her, several days prior to the baby’s death. An autopsy showed the baby was developing normally but had traces of cocaine.

The Catholic bishop of Springfield, Illinois will lead prayers of supplication and exorcism “in reparation for the sin of same-sex marriage” at his cathedral on November 20 as Governor Pat Quinn signs a state law redefining marriage. The bishop says he was inspired by Pope Francis, who had condemned same-sex marriage as a “machination of the Father of Lies” in 2010 when Argentina was preparing to redefine marriage.

At a recent meeting of the United Nations, an interpreter who was unaware that her microphone was switched on said to a colleague, “I think when you have… like a total of ten resolutions on Israel and Palestine, there’s gotta be something, c’est un peu trop, non? [It’s a bit much, no?] I mean I know… There’s other really bad shit happening, but no one says anything about the other stuff.” Her words were broadcast to every UN delegate, and to a live webcast audience worldwide.

Britain faces a growing shortage of schools. The Catholic church had previously said it was willing to provide new school places to help meet demand, but has now said it will not open any new ‘academy’ schools until the Government’s cap on children from a particular faith background (50% if the school is oversubscribed) is removed. Catholic officials describe the cap as “perverse”, effectively forcing schools to turn children from Catholic families away to meet a quota of non-Catholics.

In sport, Sachin Tendulkar’s final Test cricket innings produced a score of 74 before he was caught in the slips. A commentator described his final shot as a “one day cricket shot “ – i.e. the kind of shot that is effective in one day cricket, when the field is usually set differently. India won the test against the West Indies by an innings and 126 runs, thus denying Tendulkar the opportunity to bat again.

Also in sport, England beat France 34-6 in the quarter finals of the Rugby League World Cup to set up a semi-final against  New Zealand, who comfortably beat Scotland 40-4. The other semi-final will see Australia, who beat the USA 62-0, face either Samoa or Fiji.

And finally, there is a new phone app that can act as a remote control for a home full of smart devices. The app is compatible with items like Yale electronic locks, Philips Hue bulbs, the Nest thermostat, and the Sonos Playbar sound system, as well as motion sensors and plug sockets. It can program actions when a particular event occurs, such as you arriving home; the system simply recognizes your GPS location and sends separate commands to each device. However, the $299 app currently only works on iPhones; has a limited range of operations for each device; and makes no mention of what to do if the app somehow crashes (or gets hacked), locks you out of your house, and turns on cheesy music at full blast.