United Kingdom

The largest women's health services provider in Britain is offering women a gift over the Christmas season that has angered some pro-life groups in the country: free morning-after pills.

With a photo of the word “sex” lit up in Christmas tree lights on its website, the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), which boasts on its website that it is Britain's largest single abortion provider, is offering women a chance to get free morning-after pills and condoms sent to their homes after they answer a few questions to ascertain their “medical suitability” after a 15-minute medical consultation.

A spokesperson said the reason BPAS picked December to hand out free morning-after pills was not to anger religious conservatives, but because “we see more women with an unplanned pregnancy in January than any other time of the year,” according to the BPAS website. more >>

The first pair of breeding giant pandas in more than 17 years arrived in Britain on Sunday amid much media attention after China lent the animals to the Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland.

The move is seen as an attempt to strengthen the political ties between China and the United Kingdom, as well as to aid in conservation efforts. There are fewer than 1,600 pandas currently living in the wild in China, and wildlife societies are pushing hard to move them off the endangered species list in recent years.

A crowd of 450 people waving Scottish and Chinese flags, Yahoo News reported, greeted the two pandas, Tian Tian and Yang Guang, or Sweetie and Sunshine in English. They were carried in large transparent crates, and they seemed largely unaffected by the flight. more >>

The Church of England will not allow civil partnerships for people of the same sex to be registered on their premises despite the passage of a new law in England and Wales that gives the church and other religious premises the opportunity to do so.

Announcing their decision on Thursday, the Church of England made their stance clear through a written statement from the Secretary General, William Fittall.

“No Church of England religious premises may become ‘approved premises’ for the registration of civil partnerships without there having been a formal decision by the General Synod to that effect.” more >>

British Prime Minister David Cameron fired back at Richard Dawkins comments on religious schools, and said the atheist author "just doesn't really get it."

Dawkins recently asked Cameron in a Guardian article: “Why do you support faith schools for children who are too young to have chosen their faith, thereby implicitly labeling them with the faith of their parents, whereas you wouldn’t dream of so labeling a ‘Keynesian child’ or a ‘Conservative child'?”

Cameron replied in an interview: “Comparing John Maynard Keynes to Jesus Christ shows, in my view, why Richard Dawkins just doesn’t really get it." more >>

Christmas is a time of joy and celebration for many people, but the newest EP record from Welsh recording artist Gruff Rhys makes the holiday season seem nothing less than dark and hopeless.

The record, titled “Atheist Xmas EP,” is to be released Dec. 19, and will feature three songs titled “Post Apocalypse Christmas,” “At The End Of The Line” and “Slashed Wrists This Christmas.” The cover art shows a bottle with a label that features a city that is burning, a Christmas tree that has fallen to the ground and a cartoon man on his knees with his face buried in his hands.

In the song “Post Apocalypse Christmas,” Gruff examines Christmas "through the semi-melted eyes of a nuclear holocaust survivor.” “Slashed Wrists This Christmas” runs from traditionally jolly Christmas songs by tackling “the seasonal [but] taboo subjects of manic depression and suicide,” BBC reports. more >>

An international team of archeologists identified what might be a huge lead into the mystery of Stonehenge.

It is believed the two uncovered pits found at the site were part of a large ancient sun-worship ceremony that took place before the stones were erected.

The old English legend is a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage Site and has fascinated people for centuries. more >>