Not The BBC News: 28 October

A court in Iran has sentenced 4 Christians to 80 lashes each, for drinking wine during a Communion service.

A police raid in Manchester uncovered what is believed to be Britain’s first 3D-printed gun. A plastic trigger mechanism and a magazine capable of holding bullets were found next to a state of the art 3D printer. Plastic guns are attractive to criminals because they don’t show up on metal detectors.

Investigators in the USA who arrested the alleged head of the “Silk Road” black market website have seized $30 million worth of Bitcoins, the digital Internet currency, from his computer.

David Cameron was awarded “Politician of the Year” by a gay rights group, but he declined to collect the award, or to send any other senior Tories to collect the award, at the group’s upmarket annual awards ceremony. Instead Ed Milliband collected the award, “on behalf of everyone who voted for gay marriage”.

Three of this weekend’s Premier League football matches were effectively decided by refereeing decisions. When Tottenham played Hull, a Hull defender was struck on the foot by the ball, which ricocheted upwards and hit his hand. The referee gave a penalty, and Tottenham won 1-0. In Swansea v West Ham (a game in which West Ham played six midfielders and no striker), one of West Ham’s defenders unwitting blocked a cross with his elbow. The referee did not award a penalty, and the game finished 0-0. And in Norwich v Cardiff, the Cardiff goalkeeper kicked the ball into touch so that one of his team’s injured players could receive treatment. Protocol dictates that the ball should be returned to the keeper, but instead it went to a Norwich player who scored a goal. With both sets of players surrounding the referee to argue their case, and the Norwich manager privately promising the Cardiff manager that he would instruct his players to let Cardiff score if the goal stood, the referee defused the situation by ordering the throw-in to be re-taken because he had not given permission for the first one. The game ended 0-0.

The problem of sun reflecting from the “walkie talkie” building at 23 Curzon Street in London and overheating the far side of the street has been solved by hanging a dark translucent screen over the south side of the building. See photo above.

And finally, a man who died of prostate cancer at the age of 61 in the village of Brattleby, Lincolnshire, arranged for his son to read a eulogy at the funeral which confessed that father and son were responsible for the appearance of garden gnomes at random locations around the village in the previous 10 years. A TV crew had visited the village once, but failed to solve the mystery. His widow said, “He loved to make people laugh, and he thought that having people draw their curtains and see a load of garden gnomes outside might make them smile. He was right; it did.” The confession also raised a laugh in the funeral service, and the following morning, a gnome appeared on the man’s own front doorstep.

Not The BBC News: 25 October 2013

The European Parliament has rejected a resolution that proposed to make abortion a “fundamental human right” throughout Europe. The Estrela Report on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights also called for mandatory re-education of doctors and medical students to promote abortion, and mandatory sex education in primary schools. The Parliament voted by 351-319 to send the report back to committee for “further study”. The head of the group European Dignity Watch explained that the committee will be expected to investigate  “numerous problematic points of this report, especially the fact that it was co-written by a commercial abortion organisation, International Planned Parenthood Federation.”

In France, where marriage is normally celebrated with separate civil and church ceremonies, the Constitutional Court has ruled that mayors may not refuse to perform the civil ceremony for same-sex marriages on the grounds of freedom of conscience. The reason given is that civil servants are expected to act with neutrality, and so conscientious objection is not allowed.

A nursery worker has been awarded damages for racial discrimination by her former employer – because she is Polish. The employer described Polish as a “weird language”, and the worker was instructed not to speak Polish in the classroom, even to children whose first language was Polish, nor to speak Polish to her colleagues in the staff room. Also, when it became clear she was likely to raise a legal case over the issue, the nursery’s owner wrote to her to discourage her from taking legal action or from contacting potential witnesses.

The Scottish Secular Society has written an open letter to the Scottish Education Secretary stating that “creationism and the denial of evolution has been found in three separate Scottish schools in a very short period of time. This confirms our belief that such views and excesses may be endemic in the system” and asserting that “If this is left unchecked there is a very real potential that such views can continue to affect this nation’s most precious resource – our children.” An article in the Scotsman newspaper retorts that “Education is not there to tell people what to think, but rather to teach us how to think” and adds that “militant secularists have a witch-hunt mentality and all the fervour of religious fundamentalists as they seek to root out the heretics.”

In golf, a new rule change has led to an unexpected farcical situation. Contenders for the lucrative Dubai Masters are required to play in two of the three preceding World Tour events in order to qualify. Joost Luiten arrived at the Shanghai Masters with an injury, but rather than withdraw and let the reserve take part, Luiten teed off and then retired from the tournament after one shot. Ironically, Luiten himself was first reserve at the recent British Open championship, and was barred from playing because another injured golfer attempted to complete his round, before withdrawing after 5 holes.

Four people were convicted this week for a human trafficking/sham marriage fraud which involved tempting a 20 year old “unsophisticated and vulnerable” woman from Slovakia to take a bus to the Czech Republic with the offer of a job; drugging her and shipping her to Bradford; and then selling her to an illegal immigrant, who was due to be deported from the UK within a few weeks, so that he could “marry” her. She was kept against her will above his uncle and aunt’s shop in Burnley until police freed her following an anonymous telephone call. Her “husband” was given twelve years in jail for rape, battery, trafficking and false imprisonment; two of the trafficking gang received sentences of nine and ten years; and the aunt from Burnley received a suspended sentence. The final member of the gang, a Slovakian woman, will be sentenced today.

And finally, the bare-breasted protest group Femen have disrupted an event involving the Catholic Archbishop of Mechelen Brussels for the second time this year. The Archbishop is known for his pro-life and pro-family views, and had recently publicly opposed proposed laws on child euthanasia. The protesters were wrapped in a rainbow flag; screamed pro-gay slogans at the speaker at the event (which was a lecture opposing same-sex marriage); and threw a pie into the archbishop’s face. However, the Archbishop stole the show by calmly eating the pie.

Not The BBC News: 22 October 2013

The Maryland Board of Physicians has decided to take no action against an abortionist who had a 29-year-old mother die from complications arising from an illegal late term abortion in his clinic, even though he failed to provide the woman with any after-abortion care; instead he let her leave the clinic for a hotel and then left town.

In a case that parallels the case of the Christian bed and breakfast owners in Cornwall, a Mennonite couple in Iowa are being sued for refusing to rent out their art gallery for a gay wedding. They have received up to 60  emails and 30 phone calls per day about the incident, many of which are threatening or hateful, and also have been hit financially as other couples have cancelled receptions at the venue; they say they are “amazed at this ridiculous hatred.” They have now filed their own lawsuit against the Iowa Civil Rights Commission on the grounds that forcing them to go against their beliefs by opening up their venue for same-sex weddings would be a breach of the Iowa Civil Rights Act.

Anti-Christian violence in Egypt has resurged with a drive-by shooting of a wedding party who were leaving a church. Three people were killed including an eight year old girl, and nine were wounded.

A new semi-legal scam is affecting owners of computers and mobile phones. Consumers who type in “Apple Tech Support” into a Web search engine in order to get the telephone number may find themselves phoning another company instead. A US consumer spoke to a company called MyTechHelp for four and a half hours, at a cost of $250, without ever being advised she wasn’t talking to Apple. The scam also affects HP (where third party companies charge consumers for drivers that are freely available from HP’s website) and Microsoft (where fraudsters cold call consumers offering ‘online diagnostics’ in order to obtain passwords and bank details). One solution to this is to report technical support issues using Twitter; Microsoft’s Twitter team are especially responsive, with replies often taking in less than an hour.

In sport, Sir Alex Ferguson’s autobiography has been released. As expected, Ferguson is critical of some of his past players and managerial rivals; however, the degree of criticism directed at former club captain Roy Keane is surprising. “The hardest part of Keane was his tongue,” Ferguson wrote.

And finally, a 37-stone (580lb/265kg) man who recently flew from Wales to Ireland followed the airline’s policy for overweight passengers and booked two seats. However, the check-in staff didn’t seem to be aware of this policy; on his outward flight he was given a window seat and an aisle seat, and on his return flight they gave him two seats in different rows.

Not The BBC News: 20 October 2013

More details and reactions to the violence at the pro-life march in Melbourne, Australia have emerged. It seems the agreed march route (to the steps of Parliament) was blocked by about 200 pro-choice protesters who threw abuse (and worse) at the pro-lifers. The pro-lifers sat or knelt down in the road and prayed while waiting for the police to clear the way, but the police merely formed a barrier between the two groups and took no further action. After 90 minutes, the pro-lifers decided to re-route the march, and were able to complete it because most of the protesters thought the march had been abandoned.

Much of the Australian media portrayed the incident with headlines that suggested both groups participated in violence (e.g. “Anti-abortionists clash with protesters.”) Abortion supporters, speaking on social media, have lamented the failure of the protest to stop the march; the in-fighting amongst pro-choice groups; that media coverage of the protest seems to blame the protesters for the violence; and reputation penalties from the “violent actions of a small asshole minority.”

And indeed, a columnist for a major newspaper was present at the march, and his report makes uncomfortable reading for pro-choice groups: “I saw those Socialist Alliance protesters and feminists for hours shout down, blockade, hit, abuse and destroy the property of citizens, priests included, trying to peacefully express a different point of view – that killing babies in the womb is wrong,” he wrote. “I saw socialists and feminists yanking signs from the hands of women older than themselves and destroying their balloons, as if these women had no right to speak and no right to own property. [… ] In this demonstration I saw socialists and feminists betray almost every principle they profess to hold […] they call themselves progressives, but they are instead barbarians, so sure of their goodness that they feel licensed to do evil.”

In other news, recruits to the US Army are being told that the American Family Association, which supports traditional marriage, is a ‘domestic hate group’ and that soldiers may face punishment if they support such groups. The reason seems to be that the US Army is relying on a list of hate groups which has been produced by the “extreme left-wing” Southern Poverty Law Center. The new policy was revealed by a soldier who regularly donates to the AFA and who is taking legal advice.

In northern Canada, a Catholic diocese has bowed to pressure from  the provincial government to remove teaching that homosexual acts are sinful from its pastoral care policy for its Catholic schools. The policy used to include the phrase “Teaching the Truth” as part of its title; that has also been dropped.

In Kansas, a former state Attorney General has had his law licence suspended for “ethics violations” by the State’s Supreme Court. The case is being seen as politically motivated because the former A-G was the only one ever to bring criminal charges against abortion clinics for allegedly failing to report child rape; falsifying records; failing to keep proper records; and illegal late-term abortions. The charges were dropped when there was a change of State government, but the subsequent allegations of ethics violations (including mishandling evidence and misleading a grand jury) all relate to the A-G’s decision to bring these charges.

In sport, England’s preparations for the Rugby League World Cup, which begins next Saturday when England play Australia, were badly dented by a loss to Italy in a warm-up game. Bookmakers had predicted that Italy to lose by 52 points.

And finally, a Welsh grandfather has been able to quit his job after collecting ₤125,000 on a bet. In 2000, he bet ₤50 at odds of 2500/1 that his two year old grandson, Harry Wilson, would one day play football for Wales. On Tuesday, 16 year old Harry became the youngest player ever to appear in a Welsh team when he came on as a substitute in the 87^th minute.

Not The BBC News: 16 October

Vladimir Putin has called for an end to persecution of Christians in the Middle East. “This pressing problem should be a matter of concern for the entire international community”, he said, at a meeting with Russian Orthodox Christian leaders. There are unconfirmed reports that large numbers of Orthodox Christians are fleeing to Russia from nations where they are persecuted.

A pro-life march in Melbourne, Australia was disrupted throughout by pro-abortion supporters who blocked the route, threw eggs, stole signs, occupied the stage at the end of the route, and assaulted some participants. Two members of Parliament who took part were attacked: one was “belted in the head” and pelted with eggs, the other was “thrown to the ground and stomped on.” One of the MPs was strongly critical of the police’s failure to intervene: he said “What we saw today was a public mugging on the streets of Melbourne, and Victoria Police sat back and watched.” No arrests were made.

In football’s World Cup qualifiers, England beat Poland 2-0 to qualify automatically for the finals in Brazil next year. None of the other British Isles nations qualified, though Scotland did finish their disappointing campaign with a 2-0 win over play-off qualifiers Croatia. Portugal, France and Uruguay are among the traditionally strong teams who must win a play-off to reach the finals.

Also in sport, British racing driver Sean Edwards, who was leading the Porsche Supercup series, has been killed in a crash on a  racetrack in Queensland, Australia. Edwards was the son of Guy Edwards, the driver who rescued Nikki Lauda from his burning car at the Nurburgring in 1976. Edwards played his father in the recently-released film “Rush.”

It has emerged that emails from over 4,000 opponents of the Scottish Gay Marriage Bill were blocked from getting through to the consultation process by the Scottish Government’s computer system. A top lawyer says a flawed consultation could be unlawful, and a court could order the legislative process to start again. The Scottish Government say they are aware of the problem, but deny any responsibility for the technical error.

And finally, a Cold War nuclear bunker in Lithuania has been turned into “Europe’s strangest theme park”. Visitors are welcomed by Soviet anthems on a creaking radio, flickering striplights, and a huge guard in a green uniform with a large Alsatian dog. The guard yells at them in Russian, “Welcome to the Soviet Union. Here you are nobody.” They are then given “coffee” which has no coffee in it;  forced to listen to a brutal set of rules and to watch the hoisting of the red flag; and are then given damp overcoats before being interrogated (in Russian) for three hours in freezing cold rooms, shown socialist propaganda, and pressured to sign false confessions. “Someone always faints,” said the park’s director, “it’s very easy to break people’s will.” The park’s goal is to help people understand what the Soviet Union was really like.

Not the BBC News: 10 October

The Belgian government is asking Britain to clarify whether GCHQ did (as alleged by intelligence documents leaked by Edward Snowden) implant a computer virus at Belgium’s top telecoms company to spy on telecommunications from the European Parliament, NATO and others.  GCHQ has replied “no comment”, and has refused to attend an investigation into the matter, on the grounds that national security is not covered by EU treaties.

The Christian B&B owners who were fined for refusing to allow a gay couple to stay, and then hounded out of their property, are taking their case to the Supreme Court, on the grounds that their policy of “married couples only” did not specifically discriminate against gays, and that their decision was a matter of conscience (and thus protected under Article 9 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights). They appeared on BBC Breakfast TV to explain their position, but the presenters’ questioning of them was deemed too aggressive  by many commenters: one said “I bet Lorraine Kelly wouldn’t be that critical of a Muslim!”

The Director of Public Prosecutions has stated that the Abortion Act 1967 “does not prohibit sex-selective abortions”, though he did not comment on how a sex-selective abortion might “result in grave permanent injury to the pregnant woman’s physical or mental health” (which is the usual requirement for an abortion to take place in the UK).  It has also emerged that the Act’s requirement that two doctors must make a judgment before an abortion can take place is being flouted; some doctors are signing forms without ever meeting the woman, and many forms are being pre-signed so that they only require a second signature from a single doctor.

The pastor from Kazakhstan who was arrested on charges of putting hallucinogens in the Communion wine, and who had ‘disappeared’, has now re-appeared and been transferred from prison to house arrest. His trial has been delayed to mid-November.

Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar has announced that he will retire from all forms of cricket after playing his 200^th Test match next month. Meanwhile, Roger Federer once again lost in the early rounds of a Grand Slam tournament, this time to Gael Monfils of France.

There are fears that mobile phone bills could rise significantly after the regulator proposed a rise in the price that the Government charges companies for the spectrum over which they communicate – by approximately 400%.

Following the controversial introduction of a new promise by Girlguiding UK which removes any mention of God, the Scout Association has said that it will introduce a similar promise. However, Scouts will be allowed to use either the old or the new promise, unlike Girl Guides for whom only the new promise is deemed valid.

And finally, some years ago an angry father in Minneapolis went to a branch of the supermarket Target clutching some coupons. “My daughter got these in the mail!” he shouted. “Adverts for baby clothes and cribs! Are you trying to encourage her to get pregnant?” The manager apologised, and then contacted the marketing department, who told him that marketing material was sent out based on a shopper’s pattern of purchases: buying items like unscented soaps and lotions, mineral supplements , and large bags of cotton balls are considered likely indications of pregnancy. The manager phoned the father to apologise again, only to be told by the somewhat abashed father that he and his daughter had had a talk, and … 

Not The BBC News: 4 October 2013

The head of Britain’s biggest abortion provider has said that moves to change the Abortion Act to outlaw gender-specific abortion explicitly were unnecessary, because she had never heard of a woman  asking for an abortion for reasons of gender. She suggested that the only women asking for abortions on the grounds of sex were journalists trying to catch out doctors for undercover investigations.

The president of Gambia has announced that his country will withdraw from the British Commonwealth. Although the president is renowned for his eccentric behaviour, the complaint that seems to have triggered this action is being lectured by Western powers on how to run his country: in a speech to the UN, he said that the “descendants of the colonial powers” are “prescribing [us] a religion – democracy, human rights and good governance.”

In Texas, where a law restricting abortions was recently passed, a legal challenge to that law has been mounted by pro-abortion organisations. However, they are not challenging the reduction of the abortion limit from 28 to 20 weeks, but only the section of the law that requires abortion clinics to meet the same health standards as other medical facilities. Pro-lifers have called the challenge “a cynical attempt to protect the profits of the abortion industry at the expense of [greater risk to] women’s health.”

England’s squad for the Rugby League World Cup has been announced, and for the first time ever it includes three brothers. All three play for the same Australian club, together with a fourth brother.

The Christian street preacher who was arrested in Perth for a “breach of the peace” was arrested again within a week, on the same charge; this time he was accused of “shouting” his message.  He was preaching (without amplification) in Perth marketplace, where amplified music is permitted to be played.

The graduate who was forced to take part in a dance routine as part of his interview with Curry’s has landed a ‘dream’ job with a  company that supplies broadcasting equipment. He credits his success to the ‘song and dance’ about his Curry’s interview; apparently his new company contacted him, rather than the other way round.

And finally, a group of dentists and engineers in the USA have created a toothbrush that is supposed to brush your teeth perfectly in six seconds. It’s a 3D-printed whole-mouth toothbrush modelled after the user’s teeth; the user bites and grinds on it to clean their teeth. The downside is the cost: up to $500 for the impression and the toothbrush, plus $160 for annual bristle replacements.