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In Pakistan, the 9 month old boy who was charged with
attempted murder has been taken into hiding by his family. His father said, “We
had to move to a secret place because we are poor and the police are putting
huge pressure on us to manipulate the case.” Evidence is also emerging that the
authorities’ claim that they were stoned while investigating gas theft was
exaggerated; in fact, they were trying to disconnect the gas supply from houses
which had not paid their gas bills, and residents dispute whether the
resistance they encountered was violent. The judge has decided to dismiss the
case against the baby, but his parents (among others) are still to be tried.
In the State house in Alabama, a debate over whether to
lower the abortion limit to the moment where the foetus has a detectable
heartbeat was overshadowed by a black Democrat politician. He argued that white people would almost always
choose abortion if their daughter got pregnant by a black man, and added, “I
will bring you 100,000 cash dollars tomorrow if you show me a whole bunch of
whites that adopted blacks in Alabama.” A Facebook group to prove him wrong
sprang up almost immediately, and this week over 100 people, including adopted
black or mixed-race children, rallied at the State Capitol. However, the politician
has so far refused to pay, arguing that the rally is “a small group taking a
position on something.”
Harold Camping, founder of the US Family Radio network, has
died at the age of 92. Camping was notorious because he persuaded large numbers
of people to believe his predictions of the date of the Rapture. Having awaited
it in vain in 1994, he announced that he had got his calculations wrong and
that the rapture would occur on 2 May 2011. As that date approached, there were
stories of people rushing into marriages; running up credit card debts;
resigning from jobs; giving away their possessions; and paying websites to send
farewell messages to those who were left behind. There was even one mother who
stabbed her two children and herself (fortunately, all survived). After the
date passed, Camping initially tried to revise his predictions again, but
eventually apologised for his “sinful” mistakes.
The husband and wife filmmakers who made Disney’s
Oscar-winning film “Frozen” spoke in a recent interview about what was and
wasn’t acceptable at Disney Studios. “Disney is not the sanitized place that
you might imagine it to be,” they said, “they are happy to hire people who have
done off-colour stuff in the past. It’s funny – one of the only places where
you have to draw the line is with religious things – you just can’t put the
word ‘God’ in a movie.” The husband, Robert Lopez, previously co-wrote the
satirical Broadway play “Book of Mormon.”
A church in an affluent neighbourhood in North Carolina has
installed a bronze statue of a homeless Jesus sleeping on a park bench outside
the church. It was purchased as a memorial for a parishioner who loved public
art. Reactions have been varied; some found it insulting, and one person called
the police. But it is now common for people to sit on their bench, rest their
hands on the pierced bronze feet, and pray.
In technology news, the latest in wearable technology is a ₤100
pair of shoes with Bluetooth installed that will discreetly guide you home by
vibrating in the direction you should walk in. It’s not clear why this is better than looking
at a smartphone, map, or street signs. Also, Google Glass is to be made
available to the public, for one day only, on Tuesday April 15th, to
test the appetite for it.
And finally, a Miami teenager who lost his wallet at a
sports event had it returned to him, along with a note saying “I added $20 to
it so you know the world is a great place. Do me a favor and when you get the
chance, do something nice for someone else.” The wallet was delivered to the
teenager’s school two days after it was lost.
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