Not The BBC News: 28 February 2014

The new interim President of Ukraine is the speaker of the Ukrainian parliament; a novelist; a former news agency head; and a Baptist pastor – in a country where evangelical Christians are in the minority compared to the Orthodox church.  The European Baptist Federation made a statement which stopped short of describing the recent Ukrainian revolution as a Christian revolution, but said that “people started crying out to God and even the TV media spoke about the role of the church and quoted Scriptures.” The new president recently called on the country to “lift up in prayer” the issue of internal separatism.

David Yonggi Cho, the pastor of the world’s largest Pentecostal church, has been convicted of breach of trust and corruption by a South Korean court. In 2002, the church bought shares in Yonggi Cho’s son’s media company at a price far above market value. Yonggi Cho was identified as an “accomplice” who directed that the transaction be dealt with as quietly as possible. Yonggi Cho was given a suspended prison sentence and fined $4.7 million; his son was jailed for three years.

The proposed law in Arizona that allowed businesses to refuse service to gays if it was based on “sincerely held religious beliefs” passed both houses of Arizona’s legislature. However, criticising the bill became a cause célèbre for gay activists across the country, and with Arizona hosting the Superbowl in 2015, the state was particularly sensitive to attacks on its reputation. The State governor vetoed the bill; however, the existing law which affords the same protections to the religious beliefs of public employees remains in place.

A Danish court has declared that animals that are slaughtered according to Muslim and Jewish customs must be stunned before being killed – even though both religions require the animal to be conscious. In effect, the court has decided that animal rights are more important than freedom of religion.

In cinema news, the film “Noah” is now eliciting more positive reactions from Christian commentators. One said, “Yes, there are a few extra characters introduced, but the overall message is exactly that of the Bible.” He also commented favourably on the scenes showing the construction of the Ark.

In sport, a recent article listed Premier League footballers who are active Christians, while discussing why the most famous seem to need to hide their faith. The list included Daniel Sturridge, Javier Hernandez, Steven Pienaar, Anton Ferdinand, and Wayne Rooney.

And finally, a Christian medical dispensary in California that offers free Bibles and healing prayer alongside its medicinal products is in dispute with the federal Government. However, the dispute is not over its Christian practices – it’s over the fact that the dispensary’s primary medical product is cannabis (which is now legal to sell in California for medical purposes), and the Internal Revenue Service is denying certain tax deductions on the basis of old anti-drug-trafficking laws. The proprietors became familiar with medical uses of cannabis after both the father and daughter were treated with it; then the father, who was on Social Security, was praying one day and he says that God spoke to him and said, “Open a pot shop.”

Not The BBC News: 24 February 2014

The Pope has sent a video message to a Pentecostal conference led by Kenneth Copeland, calling for Christian unity. He quoted the Bible when Joseph “cried tears of joy” at his reunion with his brothers, and sent greetings that are  “both joyful and full of longing”:  joyful, because we know that the Lord is working all over the world; yet full of longing, because Christians are still “separated because of sin, our sins.”

The Ugandan president has signed into law an anti-homosexuality Bill, triggering loud protests from governments and other organisations around the world. Critics say that the law is a licence for “life imprisonment for gays”; in fact, the law specifies mandatory life imprisonment for “aggravated homosexuality” (acts that are criminal offences in other countries e.g. the perpetrator is HIV-positive, is a parent or authority figure, or the victim is drugged, is a child or has disabilities), and various lesser sentences for other acts, including entering a gay marriage or operating  counselling services for homosexuals.

In Omdurman, near the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, a church was demolished by authorities (police and officials from the National Intelligence and Security Services were in attendance). The land has been confiscated. Government officials only said that it was a “Muslim area” and so the church was “not wanted.” Such bulldozings have been increasingly common since the secession of South Sudan in 2012, but the pretext has usually been that the churches belonged to the South Sudanese.

In Nigeria, Boko Haram terrorists invaded a predominantly Christian village and killed at least 106 people. The area was left vulnerable when government military forces withdrew after losing nine soldiers in an ambush.

Another Western Christian missionary has been arrested in North Korea; the 75 year old Australian was carrying Christian literature in Korean. Last month, an American missionary of Korean extraction was given a prison sentence of 15 years’ hard labour for “acts hostile to the government.”

A UK bi-annual report on perinatal mortality found that, in one year in the UK, 66 babies were born alive after being aborted and survived for minutes or hours. The numbers for subsequent years are not known; the report for 2009 admits that these figures were excluded from the report. The Council of Europe has called for guarantees that such babies will be given medical care. In Norway, a similar situation has led to the abortion limit being lowered to 22 weeks’ gestation, which is currently considered the earliest point at which babies are viable outside the womb.

In India, where it is a criminal offence to insult “religious feelings”, Penguin India have agreed to withdraw and destroy a book that presents an “alternative”” history of Hinduism. Critics of the book, written by an American, say it is insulting and focusses too much on sex. Critics of Penguin’s decision say it has “surrendered to a growing attitude of intolerance.”

A 14 year old Latvian girl has been rescued from effective slavery by Scotland’s new National Human Trafficking Unit. The girl had been transported from Latvia to Scotland and forced to deliver charity packages across the central belt of Scotland. Local people who were in contact with her expressed concerns to the police about her demeanour which led to her being rescued and returned to Latvia.

In sport, the closing ceremony of the Sochi Winter Olympics saw the Russian producer of the show doing something very un-Russian – publicly poking fun at his own department’s mistakes. In the opening ceremony, the five Olympic rings were displayed in lights, but one of the five rings failed to illuminate. In the closing ceremony, the five rings were similarly displayed using dancers, but the final group purposefully paused before assembling themselves into a ring.

And finally, a case of dog-napping in Darlington has ended happily – after the stolen puppy “really messed up” the thief’s house. The four month old Husky escaped during a walk and was scooped up by a “scruffy” man, according to the owner’s appeal on Facebook. The man then returned to her house to complain about being called scruffy (!) before saying she would not get the dog back. But later the same evening, he called police and asked them to take the dog away.

Not The BBC News: 20 February 2014

Two Pentecostal denominations in the USA re-united into a single group last week. In the UK, there are two Pentecostal denominations (Elim and the Assemblies of God) whose key difference is over how ministers are appointed. In the USA, the two denominations were split on racial lines in 1917, reportedly after a black man was refused permission to go as a missionary to Africa on racial grounds.

The UK Government is to issue abortion providers with new guidance to make it clear that gender-selective abortions are illegal. It is not clear how this will mesh with proposed new guidance which was issued for consultation just before Christmas that doctors need not meet the pregnant woman, or even give any active thought to approving requests for abortions.

In Scotland, education committees are legally required to appoint three religious representatives. The Edinburgh Secular Society made a bid to have the practice stopped, but the Scottish Government rejected the call.  A Church of Scotland spokesman said, “The Scottish Government clearly recognises the valuable role that churches have to play.”

Another US state has passed a law allowing businesses to refuse service to gays if it is based on “sincerely held religious beliefs.” Arizona already has laws protecting individuals and businesses from any state action which substantially interferes with their right to exercise their religion; the new resolution extends that protection to private transactions as well.

In cinema news, pre-screenings of the film “Noah”, starring Russell Crowe, are not proving popular amongst Bible believers due to Noah being portrayed as a ‘dark’ character and other liberties with the Biblical story. Another ‘Christian’ film about a pregnant teenager and the choices she faces has already been released, but “Gimme Shelter” has done very poorly at the box office. However, “Son of God” which is an edited version of the mini-series “The Bible” is due in March; and another film is to be released in  the USA in April. “Heaven is for Real” is based on a true story about a 3 year old son of a pastor who came very close to death with a severe illness. Over the following weeks , the boy started recounting what he had apparently seen in Heaven during that time.

The one sport from the Winter Olympics which seems to have increased the most in popularity is curling. When Britain’s men won their semi-final match, cars stuck in traffic on the M25 started hooting horns and flashing headlights. The fact that most of the British competitors are young and good-looking, and aren’t hiding their looks under helmets and goggles like most competitors, has nothing to do with it, of course. The women lost their semi-final but were ecstatic to win the bronze medal match; the men compete in the final tomorrow.

And finally, a homeless Hungarian man who spent his last coins on a lottery ticket won almost 2 million pounds. He has already made a big donation to a hostel for the homeless, and says that he plans to open a foundation for addicts and women who have been abused.

Not The BBC News: 17 February 2014

A pastor from a snake-handling Pentecostal church in the USA has died of a snake-bite. Jamie Coots, one of two pastors who starred in a National Geographic TV show about such churches, had been bitten before and credited God’s power for his survival. He refused medical treatment for the latest bite and died about two hours later.

The Church of England has issued “pastoral guidance” on same sex marriage. It recommends that married gay couples “should be welcomed into the life of the worshipping community and not be subjected to questioning about their lifestyle.” Nor should they be denied access to the sacraments. However, it also recommends that those in holy orders should not enter into a same-sex marriage, nor should any married gay people be ordained, “given the need for the clergy to model the Church’s teaching in their lives.”

The state of Virginia in the USA is expected to legalise gay marriage after a federal judge decided that the State’s ban on such weddings, which was added to the State constitution in 2006 after a vote, conflicted with the US constitution. The order has been held in abeyance until time for an appeal has been allowed. If the order takes effect, Virginia will be the first “Southern” state to recognise gay marriage.

In (perhaps deliberate) contrast to the above, the lower house of the State parliament of Kansas has passed a bill that allows businesses and State employees to refuse service to gay couples if “it would be contrary to their sincerely held religious beliefs.” The bill is expected  to pass the upper house and to be signed into law by the Governor. Critics are calling this a “gay segregation” law, and claim it has loopholes that allow discrimination against gay individuals if the requested service is “linked to a gay union.”

A brain-dead pregnant Canadian woman, who was kept on life support at her husband’s request until she could give birth, has been delivered of a son who is 12 weeks premature, frail, but healthy. Her life support was then switched off.

A blogger has started collecting examples of false accusations of homophobia. For example, a radio station reported that a gay couple had sent out party invitations for their daughter’s party, and that one mother declined but also expressed outrage that the girl had to grow up with gay parents; the entire story turned out to be a fabrication because the radio station wanted to “start a conversation.” The story has, however, been re-blogged or “shared” with no disclaimer several times. He also notes that one of the most famous stories of a young man being tortured and murdered for being gay is largely false; Matthew Shepard was indeed gay, but the attackers were drug-takers fuelled by metamphetamine, not homophobes. His most recent blog lists nine examples of fabricated homophobic “hate crimes.”

In sport, Britain’s Zoe Gillings was eliminated from the semi-final of the snowboard cross (essentially a six-woman race down a track shaped like a giant skateboard park) by less than twelve inches. The final of the event, won by Eva Samkova of the Czech Republic, was notable for being one of the few races in the whole event where nobody crashed. Two women were stretchered off the mountain after crashes in qualification.

And finally, the BAFTA awards, which are usually seen as an indication of likely Oscar winners, have thrown up several surprises this year. The biggest surprise was the award of Best Supporting Actor to Barkhad Abdi, a former New York taxi driver who won the prize for his first ever film role, as a Somali pirate in the film Captain Phillips.

Not The BBC News: 14 February 2014

One of the three best known “Kansas City Prophets”, whose apparently supernatural knowledge and prophetic predictions caused controversy around 1990, has passed away.  Bob Jones’ life was unconventional in many respects; for example, by his own account he has died before, but God sent him back.  He also claimed to have regularly received visits and messages from angels.  One of his prophecies was that there would be a (Christian) revival amongst young people after his death.

Belgium’s Parliament has passed a law that permits child euthanasia “after a doctor has certified that the child fully understands  the implications of the decision.” A critic said, “The entire euthanasia project in Belgium is being pushed blindly by a government that has ignored all abuses of existing euthanasia law.”

A study in the USA claims to have found a gene that increases the likelihood of a man  being gay.  The study compared the genetics of 400 sets of twins, and discovered a particular gene that men inherit from their mothers increases their chances of being gay by approximately 40%. However, the study pointed out that the gene was neither necessary nor sufficient for men to be gay; as an example, it repeated a well-backed statistic that men are more likely to be gay if they are the youngest (or near-youngest) in their family, and the older siblings are brothers. No such gene was found for gay females.

A pharmacist in the USA is suing his employer after being fired for refusing to dispense the “morning-after” pill. The pharmacist had worked for the company for six years,; the company was aware of his religious objections to the pill, and he had always asked another pharmacist to fill in prescriptions for the pill. But when state law changed to make the pill available over the counter, the pharmacist was asked if he would dispense the drug, and fired when he said “No.”

The lower chamber of the Iowa state legislature  recently debated abortion – specifically, the practice of a woman consulting  doctor by video conference after which he, if he chooses, will dispense abortion-inducing medication. A motion was passed to ban this practice, though it is unlikely to pass the state Senate. However, the debate was controversial because a Democratic representative suggested that abortion might be justified because babies have colic; sleepless nights; birth defects; learning disabilities; or mental health issues. A recent survey by a pro-choice group found that up to 75% of women who had abortions did so for reasons of convenience, finances, or because they were having relationship problems.

In technology news, medical research using stem cells, which has long been controversial because the stem cells were obtained from human embryos which were then destroyed, may have found a simpler, cheaper and more ethical way of producing stem cells. A researcher in Japan found that blood cells from mice could be turned back into an embryonic state just by bathing them in acid for half an hour. Research to see if the same process works on human blood cells is under way.

And finally, Mexican officials have made the largest seizure of drug cash in history  in a house in an upmarket region of Mexico City. The house was used by producers of a key ingredient of metamphetamines; the group had been under surveillance for a year. When the house was raided, investigators found $205,600,000 in US dollars; a few hundred thousand euros and pesos; eight luxury vehicles; seven weapons; and a pill-making machine. The US ambassador to Mexico issued a statement in which he (perhaps controversially) identified the owner of the house as being connected to a pharmaceutical company in Hong Kong, and stated that that company is suspected of past attempts at drug smuggling. 

Not The BBC News: 13 February 2014

The terrorist group Boko Haram has been responsible for the murder of numerous Christians in Nigeria, one of the most recent being an attack on a church that killed 22. However, World Mission reports that last week, two Boko Haram members became Christians. One convert said, 'If I could have died for a cause that I didn't even know my fate, now that I'm a Believer and follower of Jesus, I am willing to die for this truth no matter what.'"

A 73 year old Christian street preacher who was arrested by police outside Banbury Magistrates Court was today told he had no case to answer  by the judge. He was told to move on by a police officer “because some people in the building found his preaching offensive”; he refused to do so and was taken to the police station. But when he arrived at the police station, he was grabbed by 6 officers and thrown to the ground before being formally arrested. The District Judge expressed doubt that the police officer had acted in the execution of her duty; refused to grant a restraining order preventing him from preaching outside the court house; and granted him costs to cover his travel expenses.

A compromise has been reached between Girlguiding UK and the Church of England on the new “secular” Promise for Girl Guides. Girlguiding UK had insisted that every girl use the new promise, which omits any mention of God, and had threatened with expulsion groups that wanted to give the girls the choice of the old and new. A motion was raised in the Anglican Synod about whether such an approach was suitable for an organisation that uses church premises. The compromise insists that all girls use the secular Promise, but they may choose to preface it with the words, “In the presence of my God I make my promise.”

In sports news, a BBC Twitter account is in trouble for tweeting a curling score between Sweden and England. It should, of course, have been between Sweden and Great Britain – especially as the curling team are all Scottish.

Also in sport, an American former Olympic figure skating champion has released an autobiography describing his struggles with debilitating childhood illness, two bouts of cancer, and his faith in God. The book is called, “I am Second.”

In technology news, a couple in the US have started a company which makes  a novel use of 3D printers – it will print a figurine of your unborn baby from ultrasound measurements.

And finally, a terrorist instructor in Iraq accidentally killed himself and 21 of his students by detonating a belt packed with explosives during a bomb-making class. The group of Sunni would-be terrorists were filming a propaganda video and learning how to make car bombs and explosive belts at a training camp 60 miles from Baghdad when one of the devices exploded. Another 15 people were injured, and around 25 more arrested.

Not The BBC News: 11 February 2014

The worldwide president of the Mormon church has been issued with a summons by a British magistrate to defend allegations that the church’s teachings are sufficiently “untrue and misleading” that soliciting donations on the basis of these doctrines amounts to fraud. The summons follows a complaint made by a former Mormon bishop under the UK Fraud Act. The summons lists seven teachings which are at issue; most are exclusive to the Mormon church (such as the belief that the Book of Mormon was presented to the church’s founder on golden plates by an angel, or the belief that Native Americans are descended from a lost tribe of Jews), but one is the belief that all humanity is descended from “two individuals who lived about 6,000 years ago”, which is also held by some mainstream Christians.

An undercover investigation into two crisis pregnancy centres in the UK has revealed that some counsellors give incorrect information to pregnant women. Two centres which had been the subject of complaints about incorrect advice, in London and Luton, were visited. The advice received included suggestions that having an abortion increased the woman’s risk of becoming a child abuser; of later developing breast cancer; and of later infertility. Only the last of these claims has any clinical evidence to support it, and the risk is much lower than the statistics quoted by the counsellor (which were apparently based on a single study). The risk of infection from the operation was also mentioned by one counsellor. There are about 100 crisis pregnancy centres in the UK.

In the USA, the abortion rate has fallen to its lowest level for 30 years, according to a study published by a pro-choice group. They note that the decline is not limited to states where abortion restrictions have recently been tightened, but that it is linked to a decline in the pregnancy rate, so they attribute the decline to improved contraceptive usage. However, pro-life groups attribute the drop to increased teaching of the value of abstaining from sex before marriage and also (on the basis of previous studies that show the rate of unintended pregnancies is stable) to increased awareness of pro-life messages across the country.

Sam Childers, the “machine gun preacher” who combines organising aid for African children with conducting armed raids against the bandits who harass them, has been the subject of a big investigation by the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS has recently been criticised for over-zealous investigation of right wing and Christian groups, but Childers believes the raid was connected with his former son-in-law who is now in custody after stealing large amounts of money from Childers’ charity. “He probably told them I was smuggling guns, said anything to try to get reduced jail time” said Childers. Unfortunately, all the officials succeeded in doing was opening a  container of children’s clothing and destroying the contents. N.B. Childers will be doing a speaking tour of the UK from 24 April to 4 May; I’ll publish the list of venues when it is available.

In sport, the Winter Olympics have got under way, Most of the events so far seem to involve competitors twisting their bodies into strange shapes – ski-jumpers trying to kiss their skis; snowboard slopestylers doing mid-air triple twists; curlers skidding on bended knee; speed skaters pretending they only have one arm; luge tobogganers peering over their stomachs to see where they’re going; downhill and mogul skiers twisting and bending; biathletes repeatedly switching from standing up to lying down; and figure skaters doing pretty much all of these things. Norway currently lead the medals table; Britain are 16^th, with one wildly-celebrated bronze medal in women’s snowboarding.

And finally, a man who formerly worked as a janitor at a school in Louisiana has just received the most recent of several promotions – to the post of school principal. In 1985, the then-principal took 39 year old Gabe Sonnier aside and said, “I’d rather you were grading papers than picking them up.” “No-one had ever believed in me that much,” said Mr Sonnier, who took a teaching degree through night classes, became a teacher, then took a Master’s of Science and Education. However, he still cleans his own office. 

Not The BBC News: 6 February 2014

In the run-up to the American football Superbowl, which has an unofficial reputation  as a hotbed for sex trafficking, police made extra efforts to clamp down on prostitution. They arrested 45 people in four states for pimping, and also rescued 16 children who were apparently being trafficked for sex; some had been reported as missing by their families.

The BBC has reported that the United Nations’ Committee for the Rights of the Child  has criticised the Vatican for its handling of the child sex abuse scandal “by adopting policies that allowed tens of thousands of children to be abused“. The following day, the BBC reported a Vatican priest criticising the Committee's report for “asserting themselves in areas where they have no competence.” The BBC failed to give any prominence to the fact that the report recommended that the Catholic Church change its teaching to support homosexual practice, abortion, and child sex, and this was what the priest was criticising. The report was also criticised for “peddling myths” about the child sex abuse scandal; for example, the report claims that the Vatican has dealt with alleged sex abusers in “confidential proceedings …  which have allowed the vast majority of abusers … to escape judicial proceedings in states where abuses were committed.” An influential Catholic publication describes this as an “outrageous untruth”; in fact, proceedings under canon law are usually withheld until any civil law proceedings are completed. The publication acknowledges some truth in the report’s allegations up to the year 2000, but further criticises the report for failing to acknowledge or even commend the changes that the Church has made since then.

A Canadian man whose pregnant wife suffered a brain haemorrhage and was declared brain dead has requested that doctors keep her on life support until their baby can be born. “I just want to give the baby a chance at life,” he said.

The Scottish Parliament ratified the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill by 105 votes to 18, and rejected proposed amendments designed to protect civil liberties. A Scottish government spokesman said that the Scottish Government “respected the decision” of those religious groups who did not want to perform gay marriages and claimed that the existing legislation includes protections “so that they can not be forced to take part.” However, given that there have been attacks on civil liberties even before the legislation was passed (such as a voluntary chaplain to Strathclyde Police being removed from his post because he expressed support for traditional marriage in his blog), the value and extent of these protections is not yet clear.

A researcher is about to publish a ten-year study on the effects of religious faith on prisoners. His main finding was that prisoners who come to faith “change identity … instead of thinking about their past in terms of regrets, their criminal past somehow led them to the present. Embracing faith made most of them hopeful that they could make real changes in their lives” … although they were “surprisingly realistic about the challenges they faced in the future.” He also discovered that male prisoners found group religious meetings most helpful, while women valued personal time.

The Winter Olympics begin in the Russian town of Sochi this week. Tennis star Maria Sharapova, who hails from Sochi, describes it as a place where “you can swim in the Black Sea and on the same day drive an hour into the mountains and go skiing.”

And finally, a woman in Washington DC noticed a pile of frozen and filthy blankets on a bench. The blankets had obviously been slept in by a homeless person, and were being put into a rubbish bag by a city worker. But when the woman came past the next day, the blankets were back on the bench – freshly laundered and neatly folded. Apparently the city of Washington has a program to distribute blankets to the homeless through outlets other than traditional shelters.

Not The BBC News: 4 February 2014

The final vote on the Scottish Parliament’s gay marriage bill will take place this week. Church ministers and officials have urged the Scottish government to accept last-minute amendments tabled to protect civil liberties, including those of public sector employees; churches that use public facilities; and registered charities. The level of mistrust of the Government by opponents of gay marriage is indicated by the fact that a petition with 54,000 signatures was handed to the Government, but the signatories’ addresses were redacted for fear of later discrimination.

However, a Scottish pro-marriage adoption agency has just been told that it can keep its charitable status despite its policy of preferring to place children with married couples. The Roman Catholic agency had been told to change or be de-registered by the Scottish Charity Regulator (following a complaint by the National Secular Society), but this week the Scottish Charity Appeals Panel ruled in the agency’s favour, saying that its actions are a “proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.”

The disqualification of the song “Alone Yet Not Alone” from the Oscar nominations (for pre-nomination communication by an influential figure) has led one of the producers of the film Schindler’s List to write an open letter to the Oscars committee. “If the same standard was applied to every Oscar nomination,” he wrote, “there would be many nominees and past winners returning their awards.” He further added, “This was a very low budget film with a song sung by a quadriplegic woman who wasn’t a professional singer. It was a Cinderella story, and Hollywood has chosen to play the wicked stepmother.”

The parliaments of Nigeria and Uganda have recently passed strong laws against homosexual behaviour (though the Ugandan president has blocked the implementation of the Ugandan law). The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have written to their counterparts in Nigeria and Uganda saying that “homosexual people are loved and valued by God and should not be victimised or diminished.” The Archbishop of Uganda has written back; he praises amendments to Uganda’s anti-homosexuality Bill that moderate the legislation, but he also calls on the UK Archbishops to ban the Anglican churches of the USA and Canada from the next Lambeth conference because they have violated the Church’s existing policy that “homosexuality is incompatible with Scripture.” The key points at issue are that the UK Archbishops’ letter fails to distinguish between homosexual attraction and homosexual behaviour; and that the Church of England is focussing on “facilitating discussions between those who disagree [on this issue] so they can hear each other as authentic Christian disciples”, even though the Bible seems to say (in no uncertain terms) that practising homosexuals cannot be authentic Christian disciples.

Sex education videos in England and Wales are to be given certificates by the British Board of Film Classification. Additional material will also be produced outlining the content of videos.  This is in response to increasing numbers of parents removing children from sex education classes,  and outcries against certain graphic videos, such as one recently produced by Channel 4.

In sport, Britain’s men’s tennis team are through to the quarter finals of the Davis Cup for the first time since 1986, after beating the USA in the Davis Cup for the first time since 1935.  Andy Murray won his three games, and world number 175 James Ward managed to overcome world number 45 Sam Querrey. Britain will play a strong Italian team in April.

Also in sport, the American Football Superbowl saw the favoured Denver Broncos suffer a defeat to the Seattle Seahawks that was so comprehensive that some people are calling for an investigation into match-fixing. The Seahawks’ first score came after just 12 seconds when the Broncos messed up the first snap of the game and a Broncos player had to dive on the ball in his own end zone, scoring two points for the opposition. The final score was 43-8.

And finally, a Christian family who had recently moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, had not yet joined a church and so decided to give their monthly tithe as a tip to their waitress on Wednesday night. The 26 year old waitress, who had recently taken time off work to visit her sick mother and had returned to a threat of electricity disconnection, was stunned to find the couple had left $29.30 for their meal with a $1,075 tip. They also left a note saying, “Jesus blessed us and we were led to give it to you. God bless!”