(Reuters) – A court in Utah has stopped the state’s Republican-dominated government from enforcing a new law that would effectively end abortions by making it impossible to get a license for a clinic where they are performed.

Judge Andrew H. Stone of the Third District Court of the state of Utah ruled on Tuesday that abortion rights group Planned Parenthood, which had sued to block the law, was likely to prevail in its argument that the law is not reasonable.

Planned Parenthood said the measure, which would eliminate the licensing process for abortion clinics and thus effectively make it impossible to get an abortion anywhere but in a hospital, violated the state constitution’s rights to privacy and bodily integrity.

Stone last year issued a preliminary order preventing the state from enforcing an earlier abortion ban while he hears a legal challenge by Planned Parenthood. The judge said at a hearing in that separate case that it was prudent to pause a “seismic change in women’s health treatment” until the lawsuit, which remains pending, is finally decided.

Utah is one of numerous conservative-led states that have restricted or attempted to restrict abortion access after the U.S. Supreme Court last year overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that recognized women’s constitutional right to abortion.

(Reporting by Sharon Bernstein; Editing by Himani Sarkar)

By Sharon Bernstein

(Reuters) – Republican lawmakers in North Carolina said on Tuesday they had reached agreement on a plan to limit most abortions to the first trimester of pregnancy, a sharp drop from the state’s current limit of 20 weeks gestation.

If passed, the proposed legislation would reverberate beyond North Carolina, limiting options for women who have been traveling there to obtain abortions after the deeply conservative Southern states where they live banned or more severely limited the procedure.

The proposal is the latest effort by lawmakers in Republican-dominated state legislatures to limit abortions after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to end a pregnancy last year. 

“The bill that has been developed is a commonsense, reasonable approach to restricting second and third trimester abortions,” state senate leader Phil Berger said at a news conference.

The legislation would limit elective abortions to 12 weeks’ gestation, with exceptions for rape, incest, life-limiting fetal anomalies and the life of the mother.

The measure also includes funding for contraception, foster care, paid parental leave and other measures that backers said were meant to support mothers and children.

It drew immediate condemnation from Democrats.

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, a Democrat, said on Tuesday he “strongly opposed” the measure.

“This proposal erodes even further the freedom of women and their doctors to make deeply personal health care decisions,” Cooper said on Twitter.

But Cooper’s power to veto the bill if it passes is limited. Republicans now hold a large enough majority in both houses of the legislature to override his veto.

The move by North Carolina Republicans comes days after a far more restrictive anti-abortion bill was successfully blocked in neighboring South Carolina by a group of five women lawmakers, three of them Republicans.

(Reporting by Sharon Bernstein; Editing by Ross Colvin and Stephen Coates)

By Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A former FBI agent has been arrested for his alleged role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and charged with four misdemeanor counts, including unlawfully entering a restricted building and disorderly conduct, according to court filings.

Jared Wise, 51, who served as an FBI agent and a supervisory agent from 2004 to 2017, was taken into custody on Monday and released home with conditions, according to court filings. Until last June he resided in New Braunfels, Texas, but he has since moved to Bend, Oregon.

Wise was captured on closed-circuit TV footage entering through the U.S. Senate wing door and raising his arms “in triumph,” according to a sworn statement filed in federal court.

In body-worn camera footage captured by D.C. Metropolitan Police officers, Wise addressed them directly, saying: ““You guys are disgusting. I’m former — I’m former law enforcement. You’re disgusting. You are the Nazi. You are the Gestapo. You can’t see it. … Shame on you! Shame on you! Shame on you!”

The camera footage also captured Wise’s reaction as other surrounding protesters began to attack police officers trying to defend the Capitol, the filing added. In the video, he can be heard egging them on by shouting: “Kill ‘em! Kill ‘em! Kill ‘em!”

An attorney for Wise could not be immediately reached for comment.

A spokesperson for the FBI declined to comment beyond what is contained in public court filings.

More than 1,000 people have been charged to date for their roles in storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in a failed bid to keep Republican then-President Donald Trump in power by blocking Congress from certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.

Five people died during and shortly after the riot, and about 140 police officers were injured.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; additional reporting by Susan Heavey; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

By Muvija M

LONDON (Reuters) – More than 11,000 police officers will patrol London’s streets for King Charles’ coronation on Saturday, the biggest ceremonial event staged in the British capital for 70 years, and they are well prepared to handle any incident, officials said on Wednesday.

Security forces have spent months preparing for the event, which about 100 heads of state will attend as well as huge crowds of spectators. Thousands of military personnel will take part in a procession.

However, demonstartions are also planned by anti-monarchists in Trafalgar Square and along the procession route.

Security Minister Tom Tugendhat told Times Radio the event was one of the most important security operations the country has ever mounted.

“The police are, to put it mildly, all over it, and our intelligence and other security forces are extremely aware of the challenge that we face,” he said.

Readiness for the event had been shown by the swift response to an incident on Tuesday evening when a man was detained after throwing what were believed to be shotgun cartridges outside Buckingham Palace, Tugendhat told Sky News. Police carried out a controlled explosion.

“We’re in no way complacent” Tugendhat said.

Charles, along with his wife Camilla, will be crowned at Westminster Abbey on Saturday and Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan of London’s Metropolitan Police said there was no intelligence of any specific threat to the event.

The biggest issue is likely to be protesters seeking to use the occasion to highlight their causes, although a new law passed this week gives police extra powers to deal with these.

Climate activists caused a disturbance during a parade at the start of celebrations for the late Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee last June, while eggs have been thrown at Charles by protesters at engagements since he became king.

“What we will not stand for and what we will not have is anyone committing criminal acts in the name of protest,” Adelekan said.

“We will come down very swiftly to intervene, to make sure that people that are going about their normal business that just want to enjoy the coronation are not interfered with.”

The campaign group Republic said it still planned to stage protests despite receiving a letter from the Home Office setting out the new policing powers – a move it said “could be interpreted as intimidation”.

Republic leader Graham Smith said the group had met with the police and were told they had no concerns about its plans.

“Republic will not be deterred and we will be protesting on Trafalgar Square and along the route of the coronation procession on Saturday,” Smith said in a statement.

(Reporting by Sarah Young; writing by Muvija M, editing by Paul Sandle and Angus MacSwan)