Free condoms have helped teenage pregnancies in the capital reach a record low, NHS London has said.
The was a total of 960 pregnancies among under 18s in London in the first quarter of 2011, according to latest Office for National Statistics figures.
This is the first time the figure has fallen below 1,000 since records began, NHS London said.
"In the last year more than 50,000 condoms have been handed out across the capital," NHS London said.
The number of pregnancies among under-18s fell from 1,158 in the same period in 2010.
The pregnancy rate per 1,000 girls between the ages of 15 and 17 fell by 16% in the first quarter of 2011, compared with the same period the previous year.
This brought the capital in line with the national average of 32.8 pregnancies per 1,000 girls for the first time, NHS London said.
NHS London director of public health Dr Simon Tanner said: "We have worked with primary care trusts in London to develop better sexual health provision for teenagers, to improve access to contraception and education for young people about safe sex.
"We have improved access to sexual health services at further education colleges, working with young people to understand what they need and how we can provide the best service for teenagers."
Havering, in east London, was the borough that achieved the greatest decline in teenage pregnancies - a fall of 46.9% over a one year period.
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
London City Job Vacancies Rose 25% Last Month - Businessweek
Job vacancies at London’s financial- services companies increased 25 percent last month as banks added positions in areas such as foreign exchange and derivatives, recruitment firm Astbury Marsden said.
New vacancies in the British capital’s City and Canary Wharf financial districts rose to 4,320 in May from 3,455 in April, the London-based recruiter said in a statement today. The number of jobs created in May is the highest since August 2011.
“Volumes within these areas seem to have picked up over the year,” said Mark Cameron, chief operating officer at Astbury Marsden in London, referring to foreign exchange and interest rate derivatives. “The threat to the euro is now seen as a risk that businesses need to consider hedging against. That has created a lot of activity.”
Barclays Plc’s (BARC) investment banking revenue from currency trading rose 27 percent last year, “benefiting from market volatility and strong client volumes,” the London-based company said in February. HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA), Europe’s largest bank, said in May pretax profit at the investment bank in the first quarter, rose 5 percent to $3.08 billion. It profited from an improvement in trading after the European Central Bank provided unlimited three-year loans to the region’s lenders through its Longer Term Refinancing Operation.
Still, the number of jobs available from a year ago fell 35 percent, Astbury Marsden said.
“Sentiment has improved since the latter stages of 2011 but, to put this recent recovery in perspective, the jobs market is still far lower than this time last year,” Cameron said. “Given that the recent political deadlock in Greece and the banking crisis in Spain have made a swift resolution of the euro-zone crisis less likely, this significant uptick in the number of new jobs is a pleasant surprise for City staff.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Ambereen Choudhury in London at achoudhury@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Edward Evans at eevans3@bloomberg.net
Source: www.businessweek.com
London 2012: Adam Gemili may give Olympics a miss despite fast time - The Guardian
Young sprinter Adam Gemili may skip the Olympics due to a fear that competing at the Games may harm his development.
The 18-year-old ran a time of 10.08sec at the Sparkassen Gala in Regensburg, Germany last weekend, putting him at the top of the British rankings and securing the Olympic A standard. But his coach, Michael Afilaka, said Gemili is still aiming for the World Junior Championships in Barcelona in July rather than London 2012.
Competing in both as it stands presents some difficulty as the trials are less than a week apart.
"If there is leeway to get us to the Olympics we'll consider it, but right now the aim is stick to going to the World Juniors," Afilaka told The Daily Telegraph. "The management of our junior guys is something I've been really concerned about. We don't manage them very well and we do too much too soon."
Gemili, a former footballer who spent time in Chelsea's youth setup, has seen dramatic improvements since choosing to concentrate on athletics earlier this year and the teenager seemed keener than his coach on competing in London. He said: "My focus so far has been the World Juniors, but following this my coach and I will definitely be sitting down to discuss options. It's a great opportunity and a nice dilemma to have."
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
London date for pumped-up Vecks - Isle of Wight County Press
Live and Unsigned finalists The Vecks.Picture by paultuckerphotography.co.uk
THE Vecks will be playing London’s O2 after securing their place in the grand final of Live and Unsigned, Britain’s biggest original music competition.
The band’s big moment came at the southern finals held at Portsmouth Guildhall last Saturday.
They performed their own song FFFCC into Foster The People’s Pumped Up Kicks in front of 600 people, including scores of their own fans and supporters who wore T-shirts and waved flags emblazoned with the band’s name.
Frontman Jack Skinner said: "The feeling after we played was incredible. When you connect with a song and the audience connects with you, there’s no feeling like it.
"It was also said we had a standing ovation from the judges, which meant a lot to us."
The band had to endure a long, nervous wait backstage before their moment in the spotlight finally arrived.
Jack said: "We were ready from the word go. We had worked really hard to put our song together for the day. We knew we had a lot of support coming on the day and we knew we had to step up our game. And I think we did that!
"A huge thank you to everyone involved with The Vecks, Wightlink for giving us a deal on travel and everyone who come on the day."
The Vecks were one of only two bands to go straight through to the final on July 14, with the chance to win £10,000, a recording contract and the chance to appear at 15 festivals.
Cowes band Blue Motion won the exposure award for their efforts with publicity, and won a brand new TC Electronic amp.
LaCode 4, however, did not make it through to the national final.
The band’s Johnny Green, from Freshwater, said: "We were on stage for three-and-a-half minutes and did two songs, one of our own, Dirty Little Something, and a cover version of Nancy Sinatra’s These Boots Are Made For Walking.
"We had a fantastic time. It was all so professional with people looking after us backstage and helping us to set up our equipment and do a sound check.
"It was a great experience and we can only learn from it."
Reporter: martinn@iwcpmail.co.uk
Comments
Source: www.iwcp.co.uk
Law appears to let towing firms charge as much as they want to - Athens News
Just who, exactly, regulates towing fees and impound costs in the state of Ohio?
The answer appears to be, no one in particular – meaning that there may be no legal limit on what a towing company could charge you for hauling your car away. And recent legislation meant to clarify the issue may have actually made it more ambiguous.
The Athens Police Department held its annual tow round-up in May, where officers and parking enforcement personnel target cars with owners who have unpaid parking tickets. Those cars are then impounded until payment of the tickets is arranged.
This process led some citizens who have emailed The Athens NEWS to question why towing companies in the city are charging rates above those allowed by city law.
The answer, according to city officials, dates back to 2003, when Ohio's state Legislature passed a law designating the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio as the regulator of towing operations.
"Any person, firm… company or corporation… that is engaged in the towing of motor vehicles is subject to regulation by the public utilities commission," Ohio Revised Code 4921.30 states. "Such an entity is not subject to any ordinance, rule or resolution of a municipal corporation, county or township that provides for the licensing, registering or regulation of entities that tow motor vehicles."
That language – giving the PUCO regulatory authority and exempting towing companies from municipal regulation – has led to a situation in Athens where towers are allowed to set their own rates without government oversight.
Prior to 2003, the city of Athens had a number of ordinances on the books regulating towing companies and their fee rates. Those ordinances were never repealed, rescinded or otherwise removed from city code.
Athens Police Chief Tom Pyle said Friday, however, that his department has been told that those local ordinances were nullified by the 2003 state law change, and is operating on that assumption.
"If you talk to the PUCO they'll tell you that they don't regulate rates, so in Ohio currently, tow rates are left up to the individual tow companies," he said. "It's kind of a real gray area… For years it's been maintained that Athens regulations with regard to towing were nullified in 2003."
Indeed, city prosecutor Lisa Eliason sent an email to the PUCO over a week ago. In that email, Eliason noted Athens code mandating a maximum "show-up" fee – when a vehicle owner shows up as her car is getting towed – of $20.
"That section was never repealed; however, the city has recognized since 2003 that (the ORC law) applies and that the city cannot by ordinance regulate entities that tow motor vehicles," she wrote. "Those that tow in Athens charge over $20. A citizen has recently challenged the amount being charged by private entities and has threatened a class action suit alleging the entities can only charge $20."
Eliason inquired whether the PUCO agrees that towing entities are allowed to set their own rates. She said she has not yet heard back from them. A PUCO spokesperson said Friday that the PUCO is only involved in the licensing and registration of tow companies and has no authority setting rates.
A spokesperson for the Ohio Legislative Service Commission, which provides analysis on Ohio Revised Code, suggested Friday that a new law passed by the current General Assembly complicates the matter further.
House Bill 487 was recently passed and is waiting Ohio Gov. John Kasich's signature. The law maintains the old language about PUCO regulating towing entities and those entities not being subject to municipal regulation. It goes further, however, in stating that PUCO is not responsible for regulating rates. But it does not designate any government entity as being responsible for such regulation.
"They are subject to PUCO as a for-hire motor carrier and they are not subject to regulation by the locals," the spokesperson said. "However… the bill had the effect of removing all rate-regulation authority from the PUCO. So, the section says the same thing, but for for-hire motor carrier rate regulation, authority from the PUCO does not exist."
The spokesperson acknowledged that if the PUCO doesn't have this authority, the question then becomes: Who does?
The citizen Eliason mentioned wished to remain anonymous for this story, but said that in a number of other cities throughout Ohio, including Columbus and Cincinnati, the municipalities still do regulate towing company fee rates. He said that in the absence of any other regulatory authority, the city of Athens is obliged to either honor the ordinances on its books or to repeal them so they are no longer on the books.
While The Athens NEWS found examples of towing rate regulations on the books for various other municipalities around the state, nobody was able to provide clear answers on whether those local laws were being enforced. Athens likewise still has the towing regulation ordinances on its books, but they are not being enforced as per the city officials' current interpretation of Ohio Revised Code.
The Athens Police Department has a list of local tow companies that it rotates through when having a vehicle impounded.
While the rates for the local companies are similar, they are not the same across the board.
Athens Towing charges $45 for "show-up" fees, $125 for police impoundment and $20 per day storage.
Autotech charges $95 for police impound plus $3.50 per mile and $20 a day for storage; their "show-up" fee is $45 for a vehicle hooked-up and $30 if it's not.
IBX Towing charges $90 for police impound and $12 per day for storage; and a $45 "show-up fee" if the vehicle is hooked up, and $20 if it's not.
Pete's B-P/William's Towing charges $90 for police impound and $12 per day for storage and a $30 show-up fee.
Curtis Towing hung up on The Athens NEWS after learning the rates were being requested for a story.
Source: www.athensnews.com
London orchestra to mime Games opening - ABC Online
Updated
There is outrage in London about the decision by Olympic Games organisers to have the London Symphony Orchestra mime its performance at the opening ceremony.
It has emerged the world renowned orchestra will pretend to perform while a recording made six weeks ago blasts out of the stadium speakers.
Considered to be one of the best orchestras in the world, it was awarded the contract for the 2012 Games.
But when the athletes walk in to the stadium in front of a worldwide audience of 4 billion people, the orchestra will in fact be pretending.
Twitter has been abuzz with outrage.
"What a bloody joke," one person said, "The London Symphony Orchestra told to mime at games opening."
"You'll see the London Symphony Orchestra at the Olympics, but you won't hear it - how ridiculous, what a farce," another posted.
The decision was made by the London Games organising committee, which is worried about the acoustics and the uncertainties of the British weather.
"Due to the complexity of everything involved in staging the ceremonies, it's not possible for all the music in all the shows to be live," a committee spokesperson said in a statement.
"There will be live musical elements, but many of the songs will be recorded to track in advance of the shows.
"This is standard practice for an event of this scale, and the performers have no issue with it."
The music to blare out of the stadium at the opening games ceremony was recorded at the famous Abbey road studios.
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra operations director Lou Oppenheim says the decision to pre-record the music is not unreasonable.
"Performances such as the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games are incredibly complex from an operational perspective," she said.
"The inter-relationships between a whole lot of different elements, including the musical elements, the pyrotechnics, the announcements, the lighting of the cauldron - everything has to be done to split-second timing."
Ms Oppenheim says a whole lot of different things can influence what can happen with the timing which is calculated to the tenth of a second.
"The wonderful thing obviously, the audiences will be still hearing the sounds of the fabulous London Symphony Orchestra, so it's not as if they're miming to, you know, another orchestra," she said.
"But if that's what's happening I would understand that that's possibly why that might be the case."
What might come as a surprise to many is that the Sydney Symphony Orchestra mimed its performance at the opening of the Sydney Games in 2000, and the backing tape was recorded, in part, by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.
Ms Oppenheim says live outdoor performances are difficult to manage and it is important that nothing is left to chance.
"I think it's important that we hear orchestras in the best fantastic light and if they've actually had to make a call that that's the way they've got to do it for this, I think you know, some understanding around that and to make sure that all of the elements of the ceremony can come together as smoothly as possible," she said.
Topics: music, olympics-summer, england
First posted
Source: www.abc.net.au
Essex County seeks higher sales-tax rate - Press Republican
ELIZABETHTOWN — Essex County is still hoping for a higher sales tax.
The County Board of Supervisors has so far been unsuccessful in getting the State Legislature to act on a request for an extra one-quarter percent.
But Essex County lawmakers may get to add up to a full 1 percent extra instead, if currently pending bills pass and are signed by Gov. Andy Cuomo.
So the county is throwing its support behind those bills, which would allow any county to set its own sales tax, up to 4 3/4 percent.
Essex County is now at 3 3/4 percent, while the state collects a 4 percent sales tax statewide.
County Attorney Daniel Manning III said the bills pending in the Assembly and Senate would allow counties to have a combined state and local sales tax up to 8 3/4 percent.
“It would be an increase of a percentage point over what we have. That bill allows for any counties and cities across the state to pass a resolution to get the (tax).”
UNANIMOUS VOTE
At a recent meeting, Supervisor Thomas Scozzafava (R-Moriah) said they should endorse the statewide sales-tax increase authorization, instead of specific Home Rule legislation just for Essex County.
“I talked to Senator (Betty) Little, and she does support it (the one-quarter percent bill), but she did tell me that she did not think it would ever make it out of the Senate. I think we have a much better shot doing this with everybody, (rather) than trying to go out there alone.”
The problem is that the Legislature will soon take its summer recess, Supervisor Daniel Connell (D-Westport) said.
“If we could get a bunch of counties together to support this, we might have a chance with this, but probably not this term. Our intent is to ask the State Legislature to move those bills through that will allow counties to determine what their sales tax would be.”
The 18-member board voted unanimously to support the bills allowing New York state counties to establish sales-tax rates.
Essex County has been trying unsuccessfully for the last two years to increase its sales tax by one-quarter percent, as the Legislature has not passed any of the Home Rule bills required to allow that to happen. Most surrounding counties took the option to increase their sales tax by 1 percent several years ago, but Essex County chose only 3/4 percent before the option expired.
Email Lohr McKinstry:
lmckinstry@pressrepublican.com
Source: pressrepublican.com
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