They suggest women should keep an emergency pill in their cupboard over the holiday period in case they need it. Campaigners said it was a 'despicable ploy' by the charity, which performs abortions under contract for the NHS, to drum up business and promotes promiscuity.

Girls under the age of 16 will be given the kits if the doctor believes they are capable of making decisions about their health on their own, in line with Government guidelines. The morning after pill can be bought over the counter from a pharmacist without the need to see a GP for £26. The pill does not protect against sexually transmitted diseases.

The number of abortions carried out in January of this year compared with December last year was 25 per cent higher. The emergency contraceptive pill works by preventing the ovaries from releasing an egg and altering the lining of the womb so a fertilised egg already present cannot implant in the womb.

In the Times, he accused the PM of being "irresponsible" and suggested he "doesn't care" how much he borrows. STERLING HAS FALLEN SHARPLY IN RECENT WEEKS AMID FEARS ABOUT A UK RECESSION. Labour has accused Mr Osborne of "talking down" the economy, with the prime minister dismissing the attack on his handling of the crisis. But a former advisor to three Thatcher chancellors said he had been right to raise the issue.

There has been a so-called convention that opposition spokespeople do not say anything that might damage the economy and talk down the pound, said BBC political correspondent David Thompson - and Mr Osborne would appear to have broken that. But the Tories say Mr Osborne is the shadow chancellor and is meant to give a critique.

The trip, which the sources said would most likely take place in the spring, would be Benedict's first to the Holy Land since his election in 2005. Two of his predecessors in modern times, John Paul II and Paul VI, visited the Holy Land. It also would help to ease recent tensions between Catholics and Jews over the role of wartime Pope Pius XII, who some Jews have accused of turning a blind eye to the Holocaust.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz said the pope had accepted an invitation by Israeli President Shimon Peres to visit in May. A Vatican spokesman said he could not comment on the Haaretz report but Vatican sources said discussions were under way.

THE VATICAN SUPPORTS ISRAEL'S RIGHT TO EXIST WITHIN SECURE BORDERS ALONGSIDE AN INDEPENDENT PALESTINIAN STATE and hopes a papal trip can help political and religious DIALOGUE AIMED AT A COMPREHENSIVE MIDDLE EAST PEACE. Vatican officials repeatedly have condemned Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's denials of the Holocaust and his calls for Israel to be wiped out.

THOSE WRONGLY ACCUSED BY THE CRB FACE HAVING THEIR CAREERS BLIGHTED. They also have to go through an appeals process to clear their names. By the time that has finished, they may have been stigmatised and their chance of obtaining a job or training post dashed - disclosures are sent to the potential employee and the applicant on the same day. The CRB's annual report indicates that only 680 inaccurate disclosures were made last year - fewer than two each day.

But figures seen by the Daily Mail reveal there were 2,785 last year. That is almost eight trainee teachers, nurses or childminders waking up each day to find a letter on their doormat wrongly branding them an offender. SINCE 2003-2004, MORE THAN 12,200 HAVE BEEN WRONGLY STIGMATISED AS CRIMINALS. They contested their cases, and were proved to be right.

The number of vetting checks is being expanded. From next autumn, MORE THAN 11 MILLION ADULTS - one in four of the adult population in England - will have to be vetted and registered on the Independent Safeguarding Authority's database. THEY WILL BE FORCED TO PAY £64 EACH FOR BACKGROUND CHECKING.

His remarks in a speech in Berlin represent the start of a coordinated assault on THE NEED FOR GERMANY TO TAKE A MORE INTERVENTIONIST ROLE IN AFGHANISTAN. He will also warn Germany that it must become one of the biggest contributors to the Nato defence budget and must not use the credit crunch as an excuse to hack back its defence spending commitments.

US president-elect Barack Obama has made Afghanistan his chief diplomatic and military objective, and intends to demand far greater sharing of the burden, especially from Germany. Hutton will warn: "Success in Afghanistan is fast emerging as the test of Nato's relevance in this new post-cold war age, a test that we must pass because the security of all members depends upon it. "If Nato does not adapt to cope with modern conflict, if individual members do not work to make this happen, NATO WILL RISK BEING IRRELEVANT, A TALKING SHOP WHERE PROCESS IS EVERYTHING AND PROGRESS IS AVOIDED."

In a veiled reference to Germany, he will say: "Ad-hoc coalitions of the willing that form outside the Nato structure are a growing reality. But if they become the security vehicle of choice, then Nato will have failed."

Every year on this day, the UN passes a number of pro-Palestinian resolutions that blast Israel, and one diplomatic official said that Jerusalem had concluded it was useless to invest much in fighting those resolutions BECAUSE OF THE BUILT-IN ARAB AND THIRD-WORLD MAJORITY IN THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY.

"We pick our battles, and this is one that, because of the numbers, we simply can't win," one senior diplomatic official said. While Israel is not planning any significant counter action, Anne Bayefsky, editor of a UN monitor site called EYEontheUN.org , said in a statement that the event was "AN ANNUAL REMINDER THAT THE UN'S REAL AGENDA IS TO DELEGITIMIZE THE BIRTH - AND THE PERSEVERANCE - OF THE STATE OF ISRAEL."

According to Bayefsky, "The '60 years of struggle' is telling. It puts a lie to the alleged root cause of the Arab-Israeli conflict as an 'occupation' that began with the 1967 war. THE REAL COMPLAINT IS THE ALLEGED WRONG OF THE CREATION OF THE STATE OF ISRAEL ITSELF."

The decision came after a week packed full of dueling expert testimony over whether any evidence supports the state's contention that children are put at risk when raised by gay parents. The answer, said Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Cindy S. Lederman, is not at all: "THE DEPARTMENT'S POSITION IS THAT HOMOSEXUALITY IS IMMORAL. Yet, homosexuals may be lawful foster parents in Florida and care for our most fragile children who have been abused, neglected and abandoned. As such, THE EXCLUSION FORBIDDING HOMOSEXUALS TO ADOPT CHILDREN DOES NOT FURTHER THE PUBLIC MORALITY INTEREST IT SEEKS TO COMBAT."

Yet, despite the good news for gays contained in the ruling, the decision is hardly the last word on the issue. The state has vowed to appeal, and the issue is likely to end up before the Florida Supreme Court, which upheld the ban once before in 1995. On the federal level, the U.S. Supreme Court has already let stand lower court rulings that upheld Florida's law, the nation's strictest ban on gay adoption.

Meanwhile, conservative activists across the country are working hard to make sure that no court, at any level, has the final word on gay adoption. Like gay marriage before it, conservatives are looking at the issue of who can raise children as one best decided at the ballot box, not in the courthouse. Those efforts received a boost on Election Day in Arkansas, where voters easily passed a law that restricts any unmarried couple living together from adopting children. Arkansas joined Florida, Nebraska, Utah and Mississippi as THE ONLY STATES WITH LAWS THAT EITHER DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY BAN ADOPTION BY GAYS.

"Excessively cheap money in the US was a driver of today's crisis," she told the German parliament. "I am deeply concerned about whether we are now reinforcing this trend through measures being adopted in the US and elsewhere and whether WE COULD FIND OURSELVES IN FIVE YEARS FACING THE EXACT SAME CRISIS."

There have been calls from outside Germany for it to beef up fiscal support, but Ms Merkel has been wary of raising public borrowing to stimulate demand, fearing that the extra income could boost Germans' savings rate, which is already high. The chancellor defended her government's modest fiscal stimulus – worth €12bn over the next two years – as a "measured and proportional response, tailored to the situation".

A European slowdown was one of the factors contributing to a decision by the Chinese authorities to slash interest rates by 108 basis points, THE BIGGEST CUT IN A DECADE. The move reflects concern about a weak housing market and declining export demand.

A panel at Leeds Employment Tribunal today awarded Miss Fletcher £186,896 from the Ministry of Defence for her sexual harassment ordeal at the Royal Artillery stables based at RAF Topcliffe. The payout included a punitive award of £50,000 in exemplary damages, £20,000 in aggravated damages and £30,000 for hurt feelings - the maximum possible.

It is believed to be the first time an employment tribunal has ever awarded exemplary damages in this country. The payout exceeds the £161,000 recently offered to 21-year-old double amputee Marine Ben McBean. McBean, of 40 Commando, was hailed 'the real hero' by Prince Harry after losing an arm and a leg in a blast in Afghanistan. It is also higher than the £152,150 that Lance Bombardier Ben Parkinson, 24, received after losing his legs in Afghanistan.

Spokesman Shaun Rusling said: "We don't agree with anyone being picked on but it is just Miss Fletcher's feelings that have been hurt. She will get better. YOU DO NOT GET BETTER WHEN YOUR ARMS AND LEGS HAVE BEEN BLOWN OFF. It seems that there is one law in peacetime and another law when you are at war, fighting for Queen and country." The MoD faces a further bill of £100,000 for its defence costs. And Miss Fletcher has THREE MORE VICTIMISATION CLAIMS PENDING AGAINST THE ARMY, which could increase her compensation by further tens of thousands of pounds.

But they also seem to be part of a new campaign to hit busy urban targets, popular with foreigners and wealthy Indians, in a bid to cause maximum damage to India's economy and international reputation. Many of the targets - especially the Taj and Oberoi hotels - are popular with visiting tourists, diplomats and foreign business people as well as the city's own wealthy elite.

India has blamed most of the recent terror attacks on its soil on Islamist militant groups based in Pakistan or Bangladesh which it says have links to Pakistan's intelligence service. Other alleged culprits of recent attacks include Maoist rebels and separatist groups in India's remote northeast, on the borders of China, Bangladesh and Myanmar. However, an apparently new Islamist group calling itself the Indian Mujahideen has claimed responsibility for several multiple bomb attacks in the last year.

Last year, out of 22,000 people killed in terrorist attacks worldwide, 2,300 people, or 10.5 per cent, were in India, according to the US State Department's latest report on global terrorism. Yet India rarely arrests, let alone convicts, the culprits, because of its poorly-trained and under-staffed law enforcement agencies and its chronically overloaded judicial system, experts say.

UPDATE:- Indian security forces have been exchanging fire with gunmen holding dozens of hostages in two luxury hotels in the Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay). Troops surrounded the premises shortly after armed men carried out a series of co-ordinated attacks across the city, killing 101 people and injuring 287.

The President-Elect's intention to shift the focus of the fight against terrorism to Afghanistan has been bolstered by Robert Gates agreement to stay on as Defence Secretary. Mr Gates is a strong believer in an Afghan surge, which would not only put thousands more boots on the ground but involve negotiations with malleable branches of the Taliban.

It would also aim to boost co-operation with Iran and Pakistan where some elements have supported the anti-Western insurgency. The need for more US troops in addition to the 32,000 already serving, has been accelerated by the Afghan presidential election in September 2009, and the voter registration process that begins in the New Year, Mr Gates said.

Some analysts believe Washington ultimately will need more than 100,000 troops to stabilise Afghanistan before the Afghan army is ready to take over security. "I suspect that to succeed in Afghanistan, we're eventually going to have to swing a sizeable fraction of what we now have in Iraq into Afghanistan," said Stephen Biddle of the Council on Foreign Relations. "The scale of the shift will be large, and the time needed to pull it off will be long," he said.

In an era where EU member states, MOST NOTABLY THE UK, VIOLATE PRIVACY RIGHTS TO A DEGREE INCONCEIVABLE EVEN TWO DECADES AGO, Europeans would be justified in expecting that their unelected officials in Brussels would at least make a show of protecting their rights. The forces, internal and external, in favour of reducing personal data protection are formidable.

"National security" and the "War on Terror" have taken the entire western legal order into dangerous territory in terms of reversing advances human rights law has made since its inception after World War II. Even in the United Kingdom, no reduction in criminal activity has been noted. Initially designed to weed out "terrorists," this movement now feels justified to undertake FULL-SCALE SURVEILLANCE OVER ALL INDIVIDUALS.

Once the state has full access to our personal data, communicated or stored in our hard disks or held by internet service providers, NO ONE IS SAFE and there is no reason to believe that good faith will prevail.

Meanwhile, official data confirmed the British economy shrank by a devastating 0.5 per cent between July and September. Consumer spending dropped by 0.2 per cent over the three months - its biggest drop since 1995 and the first consecutive quarter fall since the 90s recession.

The 0.5 per cent reduction in total output is in line with predictions last month. It is the first time the economy has shrunk in 16 years. IT CONFIRMS BRITAIN IS SET TO BE IN AN OFFICIAL RECESSION - classed as two quarters of negative growth. 'There is nothing here to suggest that the economy is not going to carry on contracting for a prolonged period,' says economist Jonathan Loynes. 'We continue to expect GDP to fall by around 1.5 percent next year and by another one percent or so in 2010.

Woolworths' is hoping it can persuade its backers to accept a restructuring plan which would avoid the 800-strong chain going under and COSTING 30,000 jobs. MFI, which runs 110 stores and employs more than 1,000 staff in the UK, was also struggling to avoid collapse. Meanwhile, 100 jobs were lost when cross-Channel company SpeedFerries went into liquidation.

THE YEAR IN WHICH BRITAIN WAS TO HAVE BEEN TRIUMPHANT, BASKING IN INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC GLORY, WILL BE THE YEAR WHEN THE DEBT HITS HOME. In schools and hospitals and social services departments, in libraries and nurseries and courts, 2012 will be the year that high times turn to hard times. The Institute for Fiscal Studies estimated yesterday that the country faces spending cuts of £19 billion in 2012-13. Cabinet ministers have already begun fighting over who takes the hit. The unemployed, the homeless, the destitute will join the athletes parading through London.

IT WILL BE PAYBACK TIME, BIG TIME. In 2011-12 the tax increases strike: the 45p top rate, the rise in national insurance. In 2012 national debt is forecast to reach the magic £1 trillion. And in 2012 we throw billions of pounds at the Olympics. Oh, that we could cancel them instead. We obviously cannot afford them any more. THE OLYMPICS BUDGET HAS SOARED FROM AN ORIGINAL GUESSTIMATE OF £2.7 BILLION, winner of the gold medal for kite-flying, TO £9.3 BILLION, AND WILL RISE FURTHER: there is as yet no clear security plan, the issue that was the biggest cause of cost overruns in Sydney and Athens. Only £500 million is still unspoken for in the £2.7 billion contingency fund, and there are four years still to go.

I have another question: why can't we have this in Beijing? All the expensive stadiums are already there and the Games have been moved before: in 1906 the decision was taken to move the 1908 Olympics from Rome to London after Mount Vesuvius erupted and the Italians needed the money to rebuild Naples. Now the world financial system has erupted, and WE NEED THE MONEY TO HELP TO REBUILD THE ECONOMY, not a dozen deserted stadiums and thousands of empty homes.

By mid-November, with the financial crisis growing worse by the day, it had become obvious that one President was no longer enough (at least not the President we had). So, in the days before Thanksgiving, Obama began to move — if not to take charge outright, then at least to preview what things will be like when he does take over in January.

He became a more public presence, taking questions from the press three days in a row. He named his economic team. He promised an enormous stimulus package that would somehow create 2.5 million new jobs, and began to manoeuvre the new Congress toward having the bill ready for him to sign — in a dramatic ceremony, no doubt — as soon as he assumes office.

Bush could have boosted the public spirit — and the auto industry — by announcing that he was scrapping the entire federal automotive fleet, including the presidential limousine, and replacing it with hybrids made in Detroit. He could have jump-started — and he still could — the Obama plan by releasing funds for a green-jobs program to insulate public buildings. He could start funding the transit projects already approved by Congress. In the end, though, it will not be the creative paralysis that defines Bush. It will be his intellectual laziness, at home and abroad. He is less than President now, and that is appropriate. He was never very much of one.