The London Assembly has blasted the decision to select Dow Chemical Company as an Olympic partner, arguing the move damages the reputation of the games.
The company has courted controversy since it bought chemicals firm Union Carbine, owner of the pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, where a 1984 leak of poisoned gas killed tens of thousands of people. Campaigners claim the company has not cleared up the site or paid proper compensation to the victims - charges that Dow rejects.
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Dow Chemicals is a Worldwide Olympic Partner and paid for the plastic wrap around the Olympic Stadium, making its branding almost unmissable throughout the games.
But a London Assembly motion, yesterday agreed by 16 votes to seven, calls on the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to rethink its relationship with Dow Chemical.
It says the decision to name it an official partner has "caused damage to the reputation of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games" and urges the two bodies to "consider the environmental, social, ethical and human rights records of companies" when awarding partnership and sponsorship deals in the future.
Campaigners have been protesting against the major roles companies such as BP, Rio Tinto, and McDonalds have been given at the event and further protests are expected when the games start at the end of the month.
Labour Assembly Member Navin Shah, who raised the motion, said: "It is time for LOCOG and the IOC to take their ethical and sustainability code seriously and exclude Dow Chemical from future sponsorship deals.
"It's not too late to clean up their act. We owe it to the victims and their families to demand actions and implement changes to keep out the likes of Dow Chemical from future Games."
The decision was welcomed by campaign group Amnesty International, which criticised the criteria LOCOG used to assesses partnership decisions for excluding human rights.
"This should not have been used as an excuse by LOCOG to evade their ethical responsibilities by getting Dow to sponsor the wrap around the stadium," said Peter Frankental, economic relations programme director at Amnesty International UK.
"LOCOG should recommend that future Olympic hosts consider the human rights record of a sponsor, so that this sort of shameful association does not happen again. That would be a fitting legacy for the London Games."
A Dow Chemicals spokeswoman said the company was "fully committed" to its partnership with the IOC.
"We regret that the misinformed and misdirected allegations and actions of some groups are influencing others to make decisions that are not constructive to the resolution of the issue or consistent with the spirit of the Olympic Games," she said in a statement. "We are proud to be a TOP sponsor of the worldwide Olympic movement and hundreds of Dow products have contributed towards making London 2012 a success."
And a LOCOG spokesman insisted the company was appointed following a "thorough and competitive" process that was independently validated by the Commission for a Sustainable London 2012.
"We assessed all bids on the ability to deliver a sustainable solution and Dow met this criteria [sic] by some distance," he added. "Dow is a financially sound, well run international company with over 700 employees across 14 sites in the UK and has been a worldwide sponsor of the Olympic movement since 2010."
In related news, Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman will today open the One Planet Centre at the heart of the Olympic Villages, which is pitched as an "interactive hub" providing athletes with information and advice on sustainable living.
The project has been managed by leading charity BioRegional and supported by Coca Cola.
"Through similar initiatives we ran at the Beijing and Vancouver Games we know that by educating and engaging athletes about sustainable living we can get this message to a much wider audience," said Katherine Symonds, head of sustainable games at Coca-Cola.
"Better still, if we connect with them on things that they find fun, we know we get a better response - hence bringing the popular activities of pin-trading and kit-swapping into this space."
Source: www.businessgreen.com
Health Care Law Contraception Coverage Challenged By Republican Attorneys General - Huffington Post
LINCOLN, Neb. — Seven states trying to block part of the federal health care law that requires contraception coverage will continue with their lawsuit despite last month's U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upheld most of the law, according to Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning, who is leading the case.
The federal lawsuit is challenging a rule that requires contraception coverage in health care plans – including for employees of church-affiliated hospitals, schools and outreach programs. The suit argues that the rule violates the rights of employers that object to the use of contraceptives, sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs.
The U.S. Department of Justice wants the suit dismissed, in part because the president is trying to work out a compromise, but Bruning and his fellow Republican attorneys general in Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas aren't backing down.
"This rule is a brazen violation of the First Amendment rights of millions of Americans," Bruning spokeswoman Shannon Kingery said. "We will continue to fight this attack on religious liberty."
Some legal experts said that even though the nation's highest court largely upheld the law, the lawsuit is narrowing in on a separate issue and has a decent chance.
Adam Samaha, a constitutional law professor at New York University's School of Law, said other recent Supreme Court rulings suggest the court has "some sympathies with religious organizations being burdened by government." He cited a unanimous decision earlier this year in which justices sided with a religious school in an employment discrimination lawsuit.
But he also noted that President Barack Obama's administration, in response to the criticism from religious groups, delayed enforcement of the provision until next summer and has said it would shift the requirement from employers to health insurers. Samaha said that shift bolsters the administration's position in the legal challenge.
"Everybody agrees that this is far from a frivolous suit," added Samaha's colleague, NYU law professor Richard Epstein. "Intellectually, it's a very powerful suit."
The lawsuit was filed by Bruning, who was running for U.S. Senate at the time, in U.S. District Court in Nebraska. Plaintiffs also include three Nebraska-based groups – Catholic Social Services, Pius X Catholic High School and the Catholic Mutual Relief Society of America – along with a nun and a female missionary.
Justice Department lawyers say the plaintiffs have failed to show they face the immediate threat of having to offer the coverage, because the federal government delayed enforcement until August 2013 so that the groups' concerns could be addressed. The agency said the attorneys general lack the legal grounds to sue over the provision because state governments don't enjoy the same First Amendment protections as individuals.
But the lawsuit argues that the rule will effectively force religious employers and organizations to drop health insurance coverage, which will raise enrollment in state Medicaid programs and increase patient numbers at state-subsidized hospitals and medical centers. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is named as a defendant.
Donald Blankenau, an attorney for an Omaha Catholic missionary who is a plaintiff in the lawsuit, said the Nebraska case focuses on different issues than those addressed in the Supreme Court's ruling last month.
"Had the court knocked out the mandate in the case, it probably would have resolved the issues in ours. But since it didn't, our set of issues will proceed," Blankenau said.
Obama administration officials have said they don't want to abridge anyone's religious freedom, but want to give women access to important preventive care. Supporters of the rule, including the American Civil Liberties Union and women's advocacy groups, say the measure is about female health.
Officials have said the Obama administration's ruling was carefully considered, after reviewing more than 200,000 comments from interested parties and the public. The one-year extension, they said, responds to concerns raised by religious employers about making adjustments.
Administration officials stress that individual decisions about whether to use birth control, and what kind, remain in the hands of women and their doctors.
Still, Samaha noted, challenging the requirements is a win-win for Republican attorneys general, particularly those from conservative states who would benefit from being seen as standing up for religious freedom.
"If they prevail in the constitutional challenge, then they get a judicial order that might help change the state of affairs," the law professor said. "If they lose, they've indicated whose side they're on, and not just with cheap talk."
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Sean Murphy reported from Oklahoma City.
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Source: www.huffingtonpost.com
Law enforcement chiefs strongly back new 'web snooping' powers - BBC News
New powers to gather online communications data will make it easier to convict murderers and paedophiles, law enforcement chiefs have said.
The head of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection agency also told Parliament that chances to help children at risk of suicide were missed nearly every day without the powers.
Ministers argue reforms are needed to catch criminals using new technology.
But some civil liberties groups say the plans are a "snooper's charter".
The heads of a string of law enforcement agencies and associations strongly supported the government's position as they testified to a committee of MPs and peers charged with scrutinising the legislation containing the new powers.
The Joint Committee on the Draft Communications Data Bill heard details of one case where existing powers to gather data on mobile phone communications had made it possible to find and convict the perpetrators of a double murder.
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End Quote Cressida Dick Metropolitan Police assistant commissionerWhen I sit down with my senior investigating officers, both in counter-terrorism and in serious crime, they all say that they have experience of not being able to get the data that they would like, and that they are feeling that increasingly”
But Peter Davies, the chief executive of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (Ceop) agency, told them, "bluntly, there were other people involved in the conspiracy, who it might have been possible to prosecute and convict, but it was not possible" under the current regime on gathering communications data.
In a separate case involving the production and distribution of child pornography, Mr Davies said, "132 children in the UK were safeguarded and protected, nearly 200 suspects were arrested... and the four people at the heart of this operation, which was run for profit and, regrettably, for enthusiasm, were convicted.
"Without access to communications data, those outcomes would not have been possible."
But, he added, had law enforcement agencies been given access to other types of communications data, as now proposed by the government, "more people might have been brought to justice; more children might have been safeguarded".
The law enforcement chiefs were reluctant to divulge precise information about the data to which they sought access, for fear of exposing their vulnerabilities to criminals. They offered to brief the committee on such details in private.
'Ethically complex'But Mr Davies gave one very specific example of the difference that the legislation could make.
Children seeking help from ChildLine - a charity offering free counselling services - via the internet cannot be traced as easily as those using telephones.
"It is inconceivable to imagine a society where law enforcement, or people like ChildLine, are denied the opportunity to identify children at risk of suicide [who are seeking help online], locate them, and then get the right thing done about them," Mr Davies told the committee.
This situation was arising "more or less daily", he added.
Gary Beautridge, of the Association of Chief Police Officers, told the committee about a recent investigation he had overseen into the rape of two children.
"Because of the method of communication that was used, which was web-based communications," he said, "we had to employ other techniques, which were ethically and technically extremely complex, very expensive, and very lengthy, to bring this offender to justice."
'Surveillance on the entire nation'Mr Beautridge was asked whether he believed the legislation would help to ameliorate this situation. "Absolutely, I do," he affirmed.
Metropolitan Police Service assistant commissioner Cressida Dick remarked: "When I sit down with my senior investigating officers, both in counter-terrorism and in serious crime, they all say that they have experience of not being able to get the data that they would like, and that they are feeling that increasingly."
The committee also gathered evidence from Trevor Pearce, the director-general of the Serious Organised Crime Agency, and Donald Toon, the director of criminal investigation at HMRC.
In a Commons debate in May, former shadow home secretary David Davis was scathing about the proposals.
They would be costly to implement and "pretty straightforward" for organised criminals to circumvent, he said.
"We will create something which will not be effective against terrorism but which will be a general purpose surveillance on the entire nation," Mr Davis warned.
Campaign group Liberty has also argued that the proposals threatened individual privacy and suggested the coalition had gone back on a pledge on coming to office to end the storage of web and e-mail records "without good reason".
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
London opens doors to Olympic village - Sydney Morning Herald
Testing out the facilites ... Mayor of London Boris Johnson. Photo: Reuters
London has unveiled its $1.5 billion (£1 billion) Olympic village, a mini-city in the formerly downtrodden East End boasting plush apartment blocks and facilities that mayor Boris Johnson says will provide athletes with "just about every form of legal entertainment".
Team officials began checking into the 36-hectare village on Thursday ahead of the arrival of athletes, who are due to start trickling in on Monday. About 15,500 will call the village home during the Olympic Games, which will formally kick off after the opening ceremony on July 27.
"It is more luxurious than the most luxurious Forte Village to be found on the Costa Smeralda and it knocks Club Med into a cocked hat in my view," said Johnson. "They [the athletes] can have their hair done, they can have their nails done, they can have just about every form of legal entertainment in London."
Facilities galore ... athletes can get their hair done in the village, just like Boris Johnson did. Photo: Getty Images
Australia's 410 athletes, and the accompanying team officials, will have their own designated section of the sprawling complex, set around lush parkland in the heart of Olympic Park. They will be housed within 2818 apartments, sleeping in quarters ranging from one-bedroom flats to four and five-bed townhouses. The apartments, which will primarily be rented out rather than sold after the Games, each have their own lounge, with a television and free broadband.
They will eat in a 24-hour dining room the size of a hangar and which serves everything from English favourites such as toad-in-the-hole to Caribbean and African cuisine as well as, of course, McDonald's.
Elsewhere, the athletes have their own high street of shops including a florist, convenience store, post office, dry cleaner and a beauty and grooming outlet.
Excited ... Mayor of London Boris Johnson. Photo: Getty Images
The social precinct of the village is called The Globe, which has all the hallmarks of a bar except that it does not sell alcohol. Officially the entire village is a booze and drugs-free zone, although athletes with a penchant for partying have smuggled in alcohol at previous Games. While the beverage list is limited to water and the sponsor-provided isotonic and soft drinks, there is plenty to do at The Globe. It has pool and football tables, a gaming area, an outdoor cinema, a clothing exchange and a stage where athletes will be able to sing with live acts.
Also within the village is a gym, an internet cafe, a health clinic for treating injuries and an adjoining pharmacy, which among other medicinal products will distribute up to 150,000 condoms.
The opening of the village to local and foreign media on Thursday did not begin to plan - the drivers of the double-decker red buses ferrying reporters and cameramen around initially went the wrong way - but Johnson is adamant the London Games will reach new heights. It is the first Games since Sydney in 2000 that could potentially claim its unofficial title as the "best ever".
"I think we will have the best ever Olympic Games," Johnson said. "I think the hundreds of thousands and millions of people who are going to come to this park, they're going to come to London, and they're going to have a most wonderful time."
There is danger the 16-day extravaganza could be drenched by one of England's wettest ever summers but Johnson, drawing on his well-known sense of humour, said he welcomed whatever the weather threw up.
"If there is a little bit of rain it doesn't matter. It'd be a shame if we didn't have some rain," the mayor said. "I think it would be unusual and disappointing if we didn't have a large amount of rain. People are braced for [it]. It's England in July, come on. I think, dramatically speaking, a certain amount of precipitation is probably essential and we're going to enjoy it."
Source: www.smh.com.au
London 2012: Security forces get ready for Games - BBC News
It was only in December that organisers had to review the number of security staff at venues - from 10,000 to 23,500, leading to a £271m increase in costs to £571m.
That review saw the number of military involved jump to 13,500. Now it has gone up again because G4S have not been able to train enough staff in time.
Organisers had to review the number of security staff at venues back in December. Photo: Getty
Huge numbers of recruits failed to show up for interview or training, leading to last-minute attempts to plug the gaps. Many who did show up were simply not up to the task.
So why did G4S leave it so late to train the security staff? And if they knew they couldn't cope with the Government's demands, why didn't they flag it up before?
While this is an embarrassment so close to the Games, it is worth pointing out that the overall number of security staff has not changed. Many people may feel reassured that the military are performing these tasks rather than private officers.
But the heavy military presence at the Olympic Park will likely divide opinion. Some will feel safer, others may find it intimidating. Seb Coe, chairman of the London Organising Committee, has said countless times he doesn't want the Olympics to be a security event with a bit of sport attached. The military presence will change that perception.
A document has been doing the rounds in Whitehall assessing London's readiness for the Games. Unsurprisingly it concludes London is ready - but there are concerns.
Transport remains the big question. Yesterday it took almost an hour to make the one-mile journey from Fleet Street to Trafalgar Square.
The organising committee and Transport for London keep saying they are sure the city will cope but the big danger is what happens if there is a signal failure or a problem with a major road? This will be exacerbated when the Olympic Route Network - which is supposed to ensure athletes get to their events on time - comes into force just before the Games.
There are also worries about how Britain's border controls will hold up once thousands of people start arriving.
This Sunday is a crucial test as it is the first day when all immigration desks will be fully staffed in anticipation of the rush.
With the world's media arriving looking for a story, the smallest things before an Olympics can suddenly take on huge significance.
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Today is the deadline for bidders for the Olympic Stadium. If you feel like you've read that line before, it's because you have - at least twice.
This is the third attempt to shoehorn West Ham United into the stadium after the Games. The first was scrapped after legal challenges from Tottenham, the second after opposition from Leyton Orient.
Daniel Moylan is the new man in charge of the body overseeing the future vision for the Olympic Park and its venues. He is a key ally of London Mayor Boris Johnson and a former deputy chair of Transport for London. He is confident the renamed London Legacy Development Corporation will get it right this time.
But as the only bidder in town, West Ham are trying to drive the hardest possible bargain. They may also demand more costly changes to the stadium scope - with a full roof and retractable seating adding an extra £50m to the conversion costs, taking the total to around £150m.
The challenge for Moylan is to finally clinch a deal with West Ham - the only viable long-term tenant - at the same time ensuring the taxpayer doesn't end up subsidising a wealthy Premier League football club.
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Weather forecasters are predicting the damp, unsettled conditions could continue well into August. London 2012 organisers say contingency plans are in place for the sport and for spectators but if it does keep raining expect some awkward questions for Locog as to why so many of the venues are uncovered.
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Fourteen NHS hospitals broke law over abortion procedure - Daily Telegraph
As a result of these unannounced inspections, CQC identified clear evidence of pre-signing at 14 locations. Internal audits and staff training have taken place at these hospitals to ensure staff follow the law.
Inspectors also found irregularities with the consistency and completeness of assessment at a number of other providers where no evidence of “pre-signing” was identified.
In March, Mr Lansley said he was “shocked and appalled” to learn that some clinics may be allowing doctors to pre-sign abortion certificates.
“I was appalled,” he said. “Because if it happens, it is pretty much people engaging in a culture of both ignoring the law and trying to give themselves the right to say that although Parliament may have said this, we believe in abortion on demand.”
He said it was not just a matter of enforcing the law. “There is the risk that women don’t get the appropriate level of pre-abortion support and counselling because, if your attitude is that, 'You’ve arrived for an abortion and you should have one,’ well actually many women don’t get the degree of support they should,” said Mr Lansley.
At Hereford Hospital, for example, inspectors looked at a random sample of medical records for 20 people who had undergone a termination of pregnancy at the hospital.
The inspectors found that in ten of the patient records correct procedures had not been followed – and in nine cases the first signature on the certificate appeared to be a photocopy as it was black and was exactly the same as the signature on eight other certificates.
The rest of the information on these nine certificates had been completed by the doctor who was the second signatory. The second doctor had dated both signatures with the date they had completed the information.
At King’s College Hospital in London, the inspectors looked at nine medical records.
In all nine cases both doctors’ certification of opinion on the certificates predated the referral to the hospital and the initial assessment of the person attending for treatment.
“We found that the name of both of the doctors, their signatures and the reason for the termination had been completed on the HSA1 forms and these forms had been photocopied in advance of women attending the hospital,” noted the inspectors.
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
3 doctors challenge new Arizona law banning abortions after 20 weeks - msnbc.com
Three doctors who perform abortions asked a federal judge Thursday to block the state from implementing a new law which bans terminating a pregnancy after 20 weeks.
The lawsuit contends the statute, set to take effect on Aug. 2, runs directly afoul of prior U.S. Supreme Court rulings.
“Prior to viability, states can’t ban abortions,” said attorney Janet Crepps of the Center for Reproductive Rights. That point at which a fetus can live outside the mother, which is reflected in current Arizona law, is generally considered to be in the 23-week range.
But Cathi Herrod, president of the anti-abortion Center for Arizona Policy, brushed aside those prior rulings.
“That’s not the issue here,” she said. “The issue is whether states have the right to protect the health and safety of women because there’s an increased risk to the health of women having abortions after 20 weeks.”
And Rep. Kimberly Yee, R-Phoenix, the sponsor of the legislation, said lawmakers heard evidence that a fetus at 20 weeks has a sufficiently developed nervous system to feel pain which “can actually be more significant than an adult.”
The outcome of the Arizona case could set some precedents nationwide.
Kate Bernyk of the Center for Reproductive Rights said seven other states also have bans on abortions at 20 weeks. And none have been overturned.
But she said the Arizona law is different. And the key is how the time is counted.
In Arizona, the clock starts running as of the last day of a woman’s menstrual cycle. Bernyk said that includes two weeks before a pregnancy probably has occurred.
By contrast, she said the laws in other states have doctors determine the probable gestational age of the fetus. That adds two weeks to the period where abortions are allowed.
Potentially more significant, the lawsuit says the “medical emergency” exception to the ban in the Arizona law is far narrower than exists elsewhere. That exception covers only conditions which would result in the woman’s death or “serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function.”
Challengers said that provides no relief to a woman at or after 20 weeks whose pregnancy simply threatens her health. The result, according to challengers, is denying that woman an abortion — or having her delay the procedure until her condition worsens to the point where she now has a medical emergency.
The lawsuit also charges that a 20-week ban denies women the right to make certain decisions about their pregnancies.
It says many women undergo prenatal testing at about 18 to 20 weeks of gestational age seeking information on the development of their child
“As a result of this testing, some women will be learning that their fetus has a medical condition or anomaly that is incompatible with life or that will cause serious lifelong disability,” the lawsuit said. And under current Arizona law, they have the option to terminate that pregnancy.
That option, the challengers say, is foreclosed under the Arizona law.
“It’s just really an unbelievable display of hostility toward women’s lives and health and fundamental rights,” Crepps said. “And that why we felt we had to challenge it.”
Yee, however, said other doctors told lawmakers that any diagnosis of abnormalities “should occur well before that 20th week.”
Attorney General Tom Horne sidestepped questions of whether he believes the statute is legal.
“Arizonans expect their attorney general to vigorously defend the state’s laws,” he said in a prepared statement. “As attorney general I am committed to doing that, and this law will be no exception.”
In challenging the law, the Center for Reproductive Rights, along with the American Civil Liberties Union, said the law presents the doctors they represent with “an untenable choice: to face criminal prosecution for continuing to provide abortion care in accordance with their best medical judgment, or to stop providing the critical care their patients seek.”
Source: www.msnbc.msn.com
Sussex hosts own Highland Games - wscountytimes.co.uk
The fun day at Long House, Long House Lane, Cowfold, will take place from 10am and finish at 5pm on Saturday July 21.
The event will provide the sound of bagpipes from The Pinstripe Highlanders.
Activities will include a pentathlon and decathlon competition, a dog show, pony rides, terrier racing, ferrets, side shows and a tug of war.
Attendees will be well catered for with a hog spit roast, burger van, bar and a fizz tent.
There is free parking and entry to the event which is all in aid of three charities: Sussex Community Foundation, St Catherine’s Hospice and Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
The Tregear family have been given big thanks for organising the event.
St Catherine’s helps people to live as independently as possible with medical conditions that, although they are incurable, can be treated and quality of life improved.
Care is provided free of charge at home, outpatients, day therapy and overnight in the Hospice.
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation claims to be the number one diabetes charity, improving lives until we find the cure. It funds research to cure, treat and prevent type one diabetes.
For further details about the High Weald Games call 01403 864966 or email s.lodge.estate@btconnect.com.
Source: www.wscountytimes.co.uk
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