WebProNews » england http://www.webpronews.com Breaking News in Tech, Search, Social, & Business Wed, 22 May 2013 05:38:59 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 14-Year Old Forced To Get Pregnant By Adoptive Mom http://www.webpronews.com/14-year-old-forced-to-get-pregnant-by-adoptive-mom-2013-04 http://www.webpronews.com/14-year-old-forced-to-get-pregnant-by-adoptive-mom-2013-04#comments Mon, 29 Apr 2013 17:43:07 +0000 Amanda Crum http://www.webpronews.com/?p=227292 A 14-year old girl was forced into pregnancy by her adoptive mom after the woman was told she couldn’t adopt any more children.

The woman was desperate for another baby and hatched a plan to inseminate her daughter with syringes and donor sperm she procured online. The girl says she went along with the plan because she thought it would make her mother love her.

The woman, an American transplant in the U.K., has been given a 5-year prison sentence for child cruelty after a successful pregnancy yielded a baby boy born in 2011, when the daughter was just 17. The children were put into foster care after a hospital employee overheard the mother admonishing her daughter about breastfeeding because she didn’t want the baby to become attached to her.

]]> http://www.webpronews.com/14-year-old-forced-to-get-pregnant-by-adoptive-mom-2013-04/feed 8 Big Ben Renamed, To Be Called Elizabeth Tower http://www.webpronews.com/big-ben-renamed-to-be-called-elizabeth-tower-2012-06 http://www.webpronews.com/big-ben-renamed-to-be-called-elizabeth-tower-2012-06#comments Tue, 26 Jun 2012 18:16:38 +0000 Chris Gabbard http://www.webpronews.com/?p=175793 Britsh Parliament’s clock tower, famously known as “Big Ben” to the world, will be renamed Elizabeth Tower in honor of the Queen’s diamond jubilee. The name change comes after a campaign by dozens of MPs to change the official name from “Clock Tower”, to honor Queen Elizabeth II’s 60 years on the throne.

Technically, Big Ben is the name of the bell that sits at the top of Clock Tower, and was named for the Benjamin Hall, an engineer who’s name is inscribed on the bell. The 316 foot tower is one of London’s most well-known landmarks.

“The House of Commons Commission welcomed the proposal to rename the Clock Tower Elizabeth Tower in recognition of HM The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, and will arrange for this decision to be implemented in an appropriate manner in due course,” a spokesman said to AFP.

MPs realize that the colloquial term “Big Ben” will likely still be used, but wanted to honor the second queen to reach her diamond jubilee. Queen Victoria, who celebrated her diamond jubilee in 1897, lends her name to the tower at the west end of parliament.

[source: AFP]

]]> http://www.webpronews.com/big-ben-renamed-to-be-called-elizabeth-tower-2012-06/feed 1 English Police To Investigate Racist Tweets Following England’s Euro 2012 Loss http://www.webpronews.com/english-police-to-investigate-racist-tweets-following-englands-euro-2012-loss-2012-06 http://www.webpronews.com/english-police-to-investigate-racist-tweets-following-englands-euro-2012-loss-2012-06#comments Mon, 25 Jun 2012 17:55:47 +0000 Chris Richardson http://www.webpronews.com/?p=175117 Losing in the knockout stages of UEFA’s European Championship is never easy for fans or players alike, and as you might expect, fans of England’s football team were absolutely distraught following yesterday’s loss to Italy. England went down after losing yet another penalty shootout, thanks to the back-to-back misses by Ashley Young and Ashley Cole, both of which are black.

During the aftermath of the loss, some English fans took to Twitter and stupidly used racial insults aimed at the two Ashley’s to express their anguish; and now, as reported by the BBC, it appears as if some of these fans may be facing some criminal charges for their tweets. The pushback was spearheaded by the West Midlands Police force, which also made extensive use of Twitter to counteract these misguided tweets, going as far advise Twitter users who may have been offended by the comments to also file reports.

The following tweet embed contains some of the racist language in question:

 

The West Midlands Police also responded directly the person who tweeted the racist language, @johnbcfcmillman, informing him of his offense:

Another Twitter user, @Lapwnage, thought he could apologize his way out of the mess he created by tweeting, “All I got to say is this was just a joke, you guys need to relax, police know I was kiddin around and they won’t bother me hopefully, cheers.”

The WMP shut that nonsense down in a hurry:

It should be noted that both @Lapwnage and @johnbcfcmillman’s Twitter accounts no longer exist, but the WMP was prepared for that, as well:

London’s Metro Police force as also acknowledged these incidents and is taking the appropriate action:

Last week, I said something about “so much for sports being a unifying force.” Unfortunately, thanks to the “it was just a joke” stupidity of a few Twitter users, that adage once again is proven to be suspect. It could be argued, however, that the responses of the fans who issued complaints against these tweets also prove there may be some truth to that statement after all. In other news, how does the notion that Twitter interactions can be considered hate crimes fly in the United States?

]]> http://www.webpronews.com/english-police-to-investigate-racist-tweets-following-englands-euro-2012-loss-2012-06/feed 0 Stonhenge Function May Have Been Discovered http://www.webpronews.com/stonhenge-function-may-have-been-discovered-2012-06 http://www.webpronews.com/stonhenge-function-may-have-been-discovered-2012-06#comments Mon, 25 Jun 2012 16:11:38 +0000 Richard Stalker http://www.webpronews.com/?p=174985 The mysteries surrounding Stonehenge have baffled scientists for a very long time. Who built them? Why were they built? How did they even manage to get the stones to the spot? Aliens? Druid priests? All of these questions have been burning holes into peoples brains for centuries.

Teams of archaeologists from the universities of Sheffield, Manchester, Southampton, Bournemouth and University College London have all been working on the project for well over 10 years now. They used a combination of the Stonehenge site itself and their extensive knowledge of the time period in general to piece together a hypothesis.

“When Stonehenge was built, there was a growing island-wide culture – the same styles of houses, pottery and other material forms were used from Orkney to the south coast. This was very different to the regionalism of previous centuries,” Prof Mike Parker Pearson from Sheffield University explained to the Register.

The stones, according to researchers, were put in place by communities as a gesture of the unification of farming communities who decided to lay down their arms and make peace.

The undertaking wasn’t an easy one though. As Prof Pearson explained, “Stonehenge itself was a massive undertaking, requiring the labour of thousands to move stones from as far away as west Wales, shaping them and erecting them. Just the work itself, requiring everyone literally to pull together, would have been an act of unification.”

They also have answers as to why the stones are arranged the way they are. The researches believe that the eight stones stand for different groups of Britain’s earliest farming communities. And that the area that they decided to build Stonehenge wasn’t a mistake either. “The solstice-aligned avenue sits on a series of natural landforms that, by chance, form an axis between the directions of midsummer sunrise and midwinter sunset.”

The place already had some sort of significance to the farmers, “this might explain why there are eight monuments in the Stonehenge area with solstitial alignments, a number unmatched anywhere else. Perhaps they saw this place as the centre of the world,” Prof Pearson wondered.

How they got the monolithic stones to the site is another story though. This has been pondered upon for a while. The stones are thousands of pounds and some are believed to have been moved from as far away as west Wales. The same issue has come up at Easter Island and they may have solved the problem by “walking” the stones. Here is the video:

]]> http://www.webpronews.com/stonhenge-function-may-have-been-discovered-2012-06/feed 2 Google Maps To Add English, Welsh Waterways http://www.webpronews.com/google-maps-to-add-english-welsh-waterways-2012-06 http://www.webpronews.com/google-maps-to-add-english-welsh-waterways-2012-06#comments Wed, 20 Jun 2012 14:27:25 +0000 Chris Richardson http://www.webpronews.com/?p=172717 ]]> Google is preparing to add 2000 miles of additional travel routes to the map for the British Isles, specifically, Wales and England. While these waterways, like the River Thames, for instance, are already visible on Google Maps, they aren’t included as travel routes. To accomplish this goal, Google is working with the Canal River and Trust organization, which will identify pertinent information for Google to include like bridges and waterway access points.

In the BBC’s Technology section, a spokesperson from the Canal River and Trust offered these comments about the Google Map expansion:

“Say, I’m by a canal in Paddington and I want to go to Camden, and I put this information into Google Maps as a walking route – it wouldn’t send me to the canal, even though it’s a nice green route to get there, it would send me by road,” the Trust’s spokesman Jonathan Ludford told the BBC.

While English canals are not as famous as their Venetian counterparts, they are extensively used by British citizens and the inclusion of the waterways data will only be beneficial:

“It’s a very exciting project – Google is basically putting the canal network of England and Wales on the map, and people will be able to put in a route and if it’s appropriate to go by canal, they would go by canal,” [Ludford] said. “A lot of people live by canals, and we want them to use these canals – so to have Google promoting the waterways is a really exciting initiative.”

Aside from assisting those that already use canals as transportation routes, you get the idea that Google and the Canal River and Trust collective is suggesting these waterways as alternative routes for travelers. Naturally, having a vehicle capable of water travel is a necessity.

]]> http://www.webpronews.com/google-maps-to-add-english-welsh-waterways-2012-06/feed 0 Shin Kicking is a Sport: With a Championship and Everything http://www.webpronews.com/shin-kicking-is-a-sport-with-a-championship-and-everything-2012-06 http://www.webpronews.com/shin-kicking-is-a-sport-with-a-championship-and-everything-2012-06#comments Wed, 06 Jun 2012 21:21:28 +0000 Chris Gabbard http://www.webpronews.com/?p=166590 Anytime a British person tries to belittle Americans by saying we are crass and stupid, you can point to this video to defend yourself and your country.

That is the “sport” of shin-kicking. The object is simple. Kick your opponents shins until they fall over. That’s pretty much it.

Well I guess there are rules. There is no tripping, or no martial arts sweep kicks allowed… Which pretty much leaves only shin-kicking. Never mind.

The sport has been around since medieval times, and is taking seriously in the rural parts of England. This years Championship took place in Gloucester:

“It’s a bit like wrestling, but with a lot of contact below the knees.” In other words, shin-kicking.

[source: NBC Sports}

]]> http://www.webpronews.com/shin-kicking-is-a-sport-with-a-championship-and-everything-2012-06/feed 0 Google Disagrees With UK Porn Blocking Plan http://www.webpronews.com/google-disagrees-with-uk-porn-blocking-plan-2012-05 http://www.webpronews.com/google-disagrees-with-uk-porn-blocking-plan-2012-05#comments Wed, 23 May 2012 17:02:14 +0000 Richard Stalker http://www.webpronews.com/?p=160643 A couple of weeks ago the Parlament and the Prime Ministerin the United Kingdom began a debate over whether pornography should be automatically banned from the internet. The blocking would be at the network level and people would have to contact their Internet Service Providers (ISP) to opt in to the viewing of the adult images.

Google favors education over technical measures saying “We believe that children shouldn’t be seeing pornography online. We disagree on the mechanisms. It’s not that easy. There is a problem about the extent to which we deskill parents by giving them simple solutions.”

Sarah Hunter, Google’s head of public policy had this to say in regards to ISPs being criticized for not doing more to stop children from accessing pornography through the internet: “We should be making more effort than we’ve done in the past to make sure parents really do know the risks children face online.” But Google doesn’t believe that taking away legal pornography is the way.

There are serious worries that this automatic ban on pornography will eventually lead to censorship. “There is a world of difference between offering sensible child safety, and trying to persuade adults to live with layers of censorship,” said Jim Killock, executive director of the Open Rights Group.

Google has the problem of thinking that the UK has the freedoms that the United States has, when in reality the government there has a stranglehold on the people and can and will dictate what they must buy and what is appropriate for their citizens (see TV License). This act will happen, it is just a matter of when. Mostly because no one will come out and defend their right to watch pornography without sounding like a perv!

]]> http://www.webpronews.com/google-disagrees-with-uk-porn-blocking-plan-2012-05/feed 0 Olympic Torches on eBay http://www.webpronews.com/olympic-torches-on-ebay-2012-05 http://www.webpronews.com/olympic-torches-on-ebay-2012-05#comments Mon, 21 May 2012 14:27:52 +0000 Kyle Brown http://www.webpronews.com/?p=159169 Apparently the Olympics are more than just a time to show pride in one’s country. British Olympic torchbearers are selling the torches for a profit of up to $237,000 on eBay. 8,000 people were chosen to be torchbearers because of contributions to their communities, according to the AFP.

The Olympic torch is a symbol of purity and is being turned into a quick buck. Actually a quick euro. Even though the example below only has one bid. The rational explanation is some people just don’t need a trophy to display the part they played in the Olympic games. They are selling it to someone that will appreciate the torch. But not all people are using the money for personal profit. One torchbearer is taking her profits and making a donation to a charity and a hospital who treated her son for cerebral palsy.

London torche

The relay started Saturday and will make it’s way around England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. It runs through the start of the London Olympics on July 27.

]]> http://www.webpronews.com/olympic-torches-on-ebay-2012-05/feed 0 UK Police Can Now Access Cell Data On The Fly http://www.webpronews.com/uk-police-can-now-access-cell-data-on-the-fly-2012-05 http://www.webpronews.com/uk-police-can-now-access-cell-data-on-the-fly-2012-05#comments Thu, 17 May 2012 21:23:41 +0000 Richard Stalker http://www.webpronews.com/?p=158316 In what is another erosion of freedom for the people of the UK, the police now have the ability to access the information on your cell phones while out in the field with mobile device data extraction system called the Radio Tactics’ ACESO data extraction system. The system is being rolled out across London’s 16 boroughs and is expected to substantially reduce the costs associated with traditional, outsourced methods of processing evidence, which can lead to months of delays, particularly for low level criminal cases.

“Mobile phones and other devices are increasingly being used in all levels of criminal activity,” said Stephen Kavanagh, deputy assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. “When a suspect is arrested and found with a mobile phone that we suspect may have been used in crime, traditionally we submit it to our digital forensic laboratory for analysis.”

The system will be used by “trained officers to examine devices and gives immediate access to the data in that handset.” The data extraction system will be available to around 300 Met officers. It is not clear at this stage as to what will happen to the extracted data off a suspect’s phone if he or she is not charged with an offense after being arrested.

Let us all hope tha this does not end up coming to the United States. I don’t think it will because we have much higher freedom of speech laws, and much more stringent laws in the due process system that we give police officers.

photo courtesy of ACESO

]]> http://www.webpronews.com/uk-police-can-now-access-cell-data-on-the-fly-2012-05/feed 0 A Brits Guide To Avoiding The Olympics [Infographic] http://www.webpronews.com/a-brits-guide-to-avoiding-the-olympics-infographic-2012-05 http://www.webpronews.com/a-brits-guide-to-avoiding-the-olympics-infographic-2012-05#comments Wed, 16 May 2012 18:41:56 +0000 Richard Stalker http://www.webpronews.com/?p=157288 The festivities for the summer Olympic games in London, England starts on July 21st with the torch carrying ceremonies, and ends August 9th with the closing ceremonies of the Paralympic games. As it turns out, the only people really excited about the games being in London are people who don’t live in England right now.

In fact nearly 36% of all Brits that are traveling during that time period are leaving England just to avoid the games. That number equates to nearly 4 million people or about a third of the population of London.

The people at Confused.com decided to create an infographic about this exact topic. It gives you the places to avoid and when you should avoid them, and it even tells you the percentage of people by region who are trying to skip the games.

]]> http://www.webpronews.com/a-brits-guide-to-avoiding-the-olympics-infographic-2012-05/feed 1