The early headlines reflects the IVF voting,
Women win the right to have children without fathers says the Times
Single women and lesbian couples won landmark parental rights last night as MPs voted to remove the requirement that fertility clinics consider a child’s need for a father.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill will replace the rule with a “need for supportive parenting” after opponents were defeated in two votes by unexpectedly wide margins.
The Government had been prepared for defeat but won the free votes by majorities of 75 and 68. The decisions mean that the legislation will grant the most significant extension to homosexual family rights since gay adoption was sanctioned.
Fathers not required says the front page of the Mail
Fathers were last night effectively declared an irrelevance in modern Britain.
The requirement for fertility doctors to consider a child's need for a male role model before giving women IVF treatment was scrapped by MPs.
The Guardian says
After a second day of passionate debate over the human fertilisation and embryology bill, MPs last night rejected a cross-party amendment tabled by the former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith which would have strengthened existing laws to make IVF clinics consider the "need for a father and a mother" before allowing women to begin fertility treatment.
On a free vote, MPs defeated the plan to tighten the law by 292 votes to 217.
The later headlines reflect the abortion vote,the Independent reporting
Abortions will remain legal for up to 24 weeks into pregnancy after MPs rejected a series of attempts to cut the limit after an impassioned debate in the House of Commons.
In the first test of parliamentary opinion on abortion for 18 years, supporters of a reduction called votes on reducing the limit to 12, 16, 20 and 22 weeks.
But they were thrown out by decreasing majorities, with calls for the 22-week maximum defeated by 304 to 233 votes, a margin of 71. Cheers erupted in the Commons chamber as the final result was announced late last night
The Telegraph saying
Last night's vote marked the failure of a concerted campaign to reduce the abortion limit.
Nadine Dorries, the Tory MP for Mid Bedfordshire and a leading anti-abortion campaigner, proposed a reduction in the limit to 20 weeks.
Edward Leigh, a senior Tory backbencher, led the call for a cut to 12 weeks. He said public opinion had shifted in favour of a reduction and the UK was now "out-of-step" with many other countries.
Elsewhere the Times reports
Number of new British citizens under Labour hits 1.2m mark
A record number of foreigners became British citizens last year, bringing the total since Labour came to power to almost 1.2 million, according to figures published yesterday.
Three quarters of those getting a British passport came from Asia and Africa with the main nationalities being Indian, Philippine, Afghan, South African and Pakistani.
The figure is 7 per cent up on the previous year and was the highest number ever granted in any year
The Mirror asks Why was the cop driving so fast
A witness yesterday claimed a police car that killed 16-year-old Hayley Adamson as she crossed the road was doing up to 100mph.
Chris Broatch, 23, said the patrol car that ploughed into the schoolgirl was one of two that sped along a 30mph street with no sirens sounding or blue lights flashing. He added: "I estimate they were both doing 100mph. I don't know why they were going so fast. They were going too fast to see her
Another travel fatality is widely reported,the Mail reports
Woman estate agent, 23, killed by falling branch as bus crashes into tree near Tower Bridge
Emily Diamond, 23, was walking just behind the bus as the tree smashed into the front windows of the bus.
She was crushed by falling branches and died on the roadside near Tower Bridge, in Central London.
Just moments before, Miss Diamond had left the office where she worked as an estate agent, to inspect nearby flats let by her company.
Put UK airport expansion on hold, demands green group says the Guardian
The government should completely rethink its aviation policy and shelve plans to expand Heathrow and Stansted airports, according to an influential advisory body.
The Sustainable Development Commission, chaired by Sir Jonathon Porritt, said there were big question marks over the environmental and economic arguments underpinning the proposals for British airport expansion. It warned that the government faced a wave of legal challenges if it did not hold an independent review of its 2003 aviation white paper, which sanctioned new runways at Heathrow, Stansted and other airports.
The Independent adds
Controversy over issues such as the contribution of air travel to climate change and its benefits to the economy is so deep that only a special commission, similar to the Turner commission on pensions, can dispel the atmosphere of "rising distrust" on aviation between the Government, voters and environmentalists, according to the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC). The body, which was set up by Labour and is charged with advising ministers on contentious environmental and economic issues, said making a decision on major projects such as the third runway at Heathrow, expected this summer, and a second runway at Stansted on the basis of current heavily disputed evidence was "impossible" in the current climate of "conflict and controversy".
Much of the focus abroad is on South Africa,the same paper reports that
Mbeki is to blame for xenophobic attacks, says watchdog
The Institute for Race Relations, a respected think-tank, blames the ANC government and President Thabo Mbeki for the violence, the worst South Africa has seen since the dying days of apartheid. Its chief executive, Frans Cronje, said corruption, failing law and order, economic mismanagement and lack of proper border controls "contributed to create a perfect storm of lawlessness, poverty and unfulfilled expectations which has now erupted into violence".
Most of the papers report that
Senator Edward Kennedy diagnosed with brain tumour
Senator Edward Kennedy, the elder statesman of America’s fabled political dynasty, is suffering from a malignant brain tumour.
Doctors treating him after he suffered a seizure at the weekend announced yesterday that a biopsy had shown a form of cancer known as a glioma in the left side of his brain. The prognosis appears gloomy.
The 76-year-old Democratic senator has been in hospital in Boston since Saturday, when he was airlifted from the family’s Cape Cod compound. His wife, Victoria, and children have been with him each day but have made no public comment.
The Guardian reports that
UN chief to meet Burma leader in effort to speed up delivery of aid
The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, will hold talks with the Burmese leader General Than Shwe to try to speed up the relief effort for the millions affected by Cyclone Nargis when he arrives in Rangoon tomorrow.
The meeting with the reclusive regime's leader is a step forward for the international community that has raged against Burma's failure to allow relief to get to those in desperate need
Back to home affairs and the Sun leads with the headline
Boot him out
THE Sun today calls on hooligan star Joey Barton to be BANNED from football after he was jailed for six months for drunken 5.30am attacks on two strangers.
We believe the persistent thuggery of the Newcastle United midfielder proves he has no place in our national game.
The paper adds
YOB Joey Barton tried to ban reports of the jail term yesterday — but failed thanks to a legal victory for The Sun.
The Newcastle United star’s lawyers argued it could prejudice his upcoming assault trial over an alleged training ground attack on his ex-Manchester City teammate Ousmane Dabo, 31.
The better side of fottball on many of the pages,the Mirror reports
About 50,000 English fans poured into Moscow yesterday ahead of tonight's historic Champions League showdown between Manchester United and Chelsea.
Finally the Telegraph reports that
The Cornish language makes a comeback
For hundreds of years a band of scholars have fought to get the Cornish language recognised and revived in Britain, but they hit upon a major stumbling block when no-one could agree on how it should be written.Now, after more than two years of passionate negotiations, the different factions have finally streamlined the many versions of their language to create a new Standard Written Form.
The resolution means the path has been cleared for Cornish to get official acceptance and funding, with support from the EU. It will be used in education, on brochures, pamphlets and on street signs
No comments:
Post a Comment