US study finds that 'sextortion' is common

WASHINGTON • Sextortion - using nude photos of someone to press for even racier content or other goods - is surprisingly common, a US think-tank said in what it called the first in-depth study of another danger lurking in cyberspace.

Most victims are minors, the predators are almost always men who prey on multiple targets, and almost all adult victims are women, the Brookings Institution said.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Greater threat of attack on UK by IRA factions

LONDON • Britain has raised the threat level from Northern Ireland's dissident Irish Republican Army (IRA) factions to "substantial", meaning an attack on the British mainland is considered a strong possibility, Home Secretary Theresa May said on Wednesday.

She said the decision by domestic intelligence agency MI5 to increase its risk assessment reflected an ongoing threat posed by groups in the British province opposed to the 1998 Good Friday accord that ended decades of violence.

REUTERS

Abortion rates down in rich countries

PARIS • Abortion rates have dropped 40 per cent in wealthy nations since 1990 but remain unchanged in developing countries where procedures to end pregnancies are often unsafe, according to a study released yesterday.

Between 1990 and 2014, an average of 56 million abortions took place each year worldwide, reported the study, published in the medical journal The Lancet.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE