Not The BBC News: 30 May 2014

A 25 year old woman in Pakistan has been stoned and beaten to death by her own family (and ex-fiancee) in a so-called “honour killing” because she rejected an arranged marriage and married another man instead. Honour killings are relatively common in Pakistan, but this one was unusual because it took place outside the High Court in Lahore. Her husband says that police “watched and did nothing” and that he continues to be threatened by his ex-wife’s family.  Her father was arrested, and admitted the crime; the others escaped, though three have subsequently been arrested. A Pakistani human rights group said, “Pakistani law allows a victim’s family to forgive their killer; but in honour killings, the family simply nominate one person to do the murder, then forgive him. We are struggling with this huge flaw in the law.”

A US Senator’s statement that “Science is settled; life begins at conception” provoked a left-wing blogger, Amanda Marcotte, to write a magazine article that alleged that Republicans are “making war on science.” However, Marcotte’s views on the start of life are that “since both the sperm and the egg are alive, by the measure of science, it’s not non-life turning into life, it’s just life continuing” and that “we can trace life back to the primordial soup, so the beginning of life is a distinction without meaning.” Another blogger has replied to Marcotte, pointing out that several embryology textbooks offer statements such as: “fertilization … is a critical landmark because, under ordinary circumstances, a new genetically distinct human organism is formed” and “this highly specialized, totipotent cell [formed by fertilization] marks the beginning of each of us as a unique individual.” It seems that not only does science support the Senator’s view in this case, but that Marcotte herself is promoting theories that are not backed up by science.

The Sudanese woman who was sentenced to death under Islamic law for becoming Christian, and to flogging for marrying a Christian man and getting pregnant by him, has given birth to a healthy daughter in a prison clinic while still shackled. She, her daughter and her young son remain in jail. Her sentence has been appealed, and international groups are lobbying for her death sentence to be rescinded.

There is some legal confusion over the involvement of doctors in approving abortions in the UK. Just a week after the current Health Secretary stated that he would distribute clear guidance that it was illegal for doctors to approve sex-selective abortions or to pre-sign blank abortion forms, guidance drafted by the previous Health Secretary, which states that there is no legal requirement for doctors actually to see women seeking an abortion, has been released to abortion clinics.

Pro-life issues have taken a high profile in Irish politics, where 65% -- 130 out of 200 – of candidates in the local elections who had previously been identified as pro-life were elected last week.

In technology news, a pizzeria in Mumbai, India has found an innovative way to beat the city’s notorious traffic jams: using a remote controlled drone. The drone was used to deliver pizza to a customer in a high rise block a mile from the restaurant. However, Mumbai has strict regulations about airspace due to fears of terrorism, and the police have asked if the restaurant sought police permission, and also whether it informed Air Traffic Control.

And finally, a homeless American teenager who finished high school as the valedictorian (top student) has seen his dedication rewarded with a college fund provided by strangers. Griffin Furlong lived in a homeless shelter for two years with his father and brother after his mother died of cancer; then the family were made homeless again shortly before his final exams. But he managed to keep up his studies with an average grade of 4.65 (out of 5). He plans to study civil engineering at Florida State University; he has been unable to get a  scholarship, but when he set up a fundraising web page people were so touched by his story that he raised $20,000 in less than two weeks.

Not The BBC News: 25 May 2014

The UK Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, is to issue new guidance to doctors making it clear that authorising sex-selective abortions and pre-signing blank abortion forms are illegal practices. Some MPs had been calling for change because the Crown Prosecution Service has declined to prosecute a small number of doctors found practising the former, and a larger group following the latter approach. These guidelines reverse the approach taken by his predecessor, Andrew Lansley, who appeared to be trying to introduce a nurse-led abortion service in which doctors might not be involved in decision making at all.

There are continuing reports of atrocities in Syria. It seems that Christians in Syria are treated worse by the Muslim rebels than by the Government forces. There have been reports of random killings, and of ancient killing methods such as ripping open pregnant women and crucifixion.

A mission team who entered a very remote region of the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2010 received a pleasant surprise. They thought the people they were visiting might perhaps have heard of Jesus. In fact, they found a church in each of the eight villages they visited; a 1000-seat stone ‘cathedral’ in one village; and several ‘Gospel choirs’ who write their own songs and have regular sing-offs. It turned out the region had been visited by (and had its first education in reading and writing from) an American missionary for one month each year from 1912-1929; he returned home and died believing his preaching had made no impact.

The Church of Scotland’s General Assembly has voted in favour of allowing ministers who are in civil partnerships to be ordained. However, the proposal must be agreed by the Kirk’s local presbyteries before it can be put into practice. The proposal was criticised by some on the grounds of Biblical statements on homosexuality, and also on the grounds that it is not “legally watertight” and might open the Kirk to claims of discrimination.

The Pope has spoken out about Christians’ responsibility to protect the environment. “Creation is not a property which we can rule over at will,” he said, “or, even less, the property of only a few. Creation is a wonderful gift that God has given us. But when we destroy Creation, we are saying to God, ‘I don’t like it! This is not good!’ This is sin.”

In sport, a Bolivian first division football team has signed the country’s president as a midfielder. Evo Morales is a keen footballer and has played in several charity games. He has agreed to be paid the country’s minimum wage for his appearances. Also in football, last-minute goals helped Real Madrid to their tenth Champions League/European Cup title, and Queen's Park Rangers into next year's Premier League.

And finally, the manager of a grill restaurant in West Virginia got upset when an online reviewer said he wished the staff would “show a little more skin.” His response was to add some skin to the menu – potato skins – and to donate all sales of that item to a rape information charity. The deal is gaining the restaurant plenty of positive publicity, and the online reviewer has deleted his review.

Not The BBC News: 21 May 2014

Another Three Self (official) church is being demolished in China because Communist party officials decided that its cross was too prominent. Worshippers in Ningbo, about 140 miles south of Shanghai, were told that the church’s cross was “too eye catching, too shiny and too big” and were instructed to build a wall around it. However, given that the building is similar in size and shape to London’s Battersea Power Station, and the 20ft cross is at the highest point of a stepped gable end, building a wall was infeasible and the congregation refused – so the authorities decided to demolish the building.

A UK Government consultation on childcare agencies and the role of local authorities has attracted a response from the British Humanist Association that proposes withdrawal of state funding from providers who teach “creationism or other pseudoscientific ideas” as scientifically valid. They add that “We know the Government agrees with us on this” and include a quote from a the Under Secretary of State for Education that “providers should follow the Government’s position on creationism and evolution.” If you have different views, or believe the Government’s position (if they have one) should be different from the humanists’ views, fill in a form soon as the consultation closes tomorrow. https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/childminder-agencies-and-changes-to-the-local-authority-role

A pro-life organisation has decided to demonstrate outside a major UK church event, with pictures of aborted foetuses, after being denied an opportunity to exhibit inside the event. Abort67 say that they were refused permission to set up a table with leaflets and models of foetuses at “The Big Church Day Out”, even though other social justice organisations were given permission. They claim they were told that no pro-life group would be permitted to exhibit at the event.

The Miami Dolphins player who was fined for using Twitter to object to a gay kiss on TV (by a newly drafted player for another NFL team) has now received death threats to him and his family for his comments.

Boko Haram have killed 135 people in Nigeria in the past week – 118 with two bombs in the city of Jos and 17 in an extended attack on a village. These events have received less publicity than the abduction of over 200 schoolgirls, but more publicity than similar atrocities committed before the abduction.

Pastor Saeed Abedini, the American citizen of Iranian extraction who was arrested in 2012 while working on an orphanage project and jailed for eight years, has been returned to prison after spending two months in hospital recovering from beatings he received in prison. His family say that the transfer took place without notice and that he was severely beaten again during the incident. The offence for which he was jailed was “compromising national security”, although many believe his actual offence was that he was instrumental in establishing many house churches in Iran between 2000 and 2005.

In technology news, the US Department of Justice has sued named members of China’s army for industrial espionage. A prominent businessman said, “The reality is that the US and China are actually engaged in a cyber war;” a lawyer specialising in cyber crime added, “This takes things a step further. The message is clear; we know who you are and we know what you’re doing.” The Chinese government has responded by accusing the USA of hypocrisy.

Also in technology news, a series of arrests have been made of people using a software package called Blackshades Remote Access Tool. The software is sold commercially and is marketed as a tool to test network security, but it is capable of taking control of a victim’s computer; recording their keystrokes; viewing and encrypting their documents; and even activating their webcam to take surreptitious pictures. It became notorious when it was used to capture nude photos of Miss Teen USA; the perpetrator subsequently attempted to obtain a nude video through blackmail, and is now serving 18 months in prison. 97 people have been arrested worldwide, including 17 in the UK.

And finally, Sir Nicholas Winton, the “British Schindler” who helped 669 Czechoslovakian Jewish children to escape from Prague at the start of World War 2, is to be given the Czech Republic’s highest state honour, the Order of the White Lion. Winton was a diplomat but acted entirely on his own initiative. Beginning with a three week “holiday” in Prague, he advertised in newspapers for foster homes; organised immigration permits from the UK authorities; and obtained permission from the recently installed German authorities for children to leave by the trainload. Winton, now 105 years old, kept quiet about his actions after the war; they were only revealed 50 years later when his wife found a scrapbook, passed it on to BBC’s “That’s Life” programme, and Winton’s story was revealed in front of an audience which turned out to consist largely of children he’d saved.

Not The BBC News: 19 May 2014

In Punjab, Pakistan, another controversial charge has been made under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws. A group of 68 lawyers, who mounted a protest against the arrest of one of their colleagues, have been charged with blasphemy because they chanted ridicule against the local chief of police; the chief’s name happens to be the same as one of the companions of the prophet Mohammed, and someone complained that the chants offended his religious feelings. The lawyers are likely to face three year jail terms if convicted. There are growing fears that Pakistan’s blasphemy laws are being exploited to settle other disputes.

As the 25^th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre approaches, a former Chinese Triad member has revealed how he masterminded an operation to smuggle students and intellectuals out of China after the massacre. “Brother Six” had escaped from Maoist China himself in 1971, and says he had been ‘hit hard’ by the television pictures of soldiers opening fire on unarmed civilians. So when he was approached by student supporters in Hong Kong a week after the massacre, he was sympathetic – and he already had smuggling routes in place. Over 150 people were extracted, many by speedboat to ships in international waters. A student leader says, “Of course we paid – famous people were more expensive, everything in Hong Kong has a market price – but the rest was up to Brother Six.” The total cost of the operation was about ₤75,000.

There have been growing international protests against the death sentence handed to a heavily pregnant Sudanese Christian woman for apostasy against Islam, and the sentence of flogging for adultery (the court’s Islamic law does not  recognise her conversion or her marriage to a Christian). Meanwhile, it has emerged that her husband, Daniel Wani, is originally from South Sudan but is now an American citizen.

The Church of England has released new guidance on sex education in C of E schools. The guidance recommends some materials provided by gay rights groups; indeed, the guidance mentions Stonewall more often than Jesus Christ. The Archbishop of Canterbury said there was a major challenge in “combating homophobic bullying while still teaching the traditional Anglican view of marriage.” However, the director of Christian Concern and of the Christian Legal Centre said, “The whole package is based on a false premise – that homophobic bullying needs particular attention. We need to stop all bullying.”

In Wuhan, China, a conflict between official and unofficial churches has produced a violent end. A ‘house church’ (unofficial church) bought and built by the pastor, Wu Qixi, was forcibly taken over by the Three Self (official) church five years ago. The authorities promised that Pastor Wu could return after three years; however, when he and several believers recently tried to do so, they were attacked and beaten leaving the pastor in a coma. It’s not clear whether the brawlers were staff of the official church or linked to the  government; it is clear that they were not punished for the attack.

In sport, the end of the football season has brought joy or despair to many football teams. Arsenal won the FA Cup, their first trophy for 9 years, though they were fortunate not to be beaten by Hull City who scored two goals in the first eight minutes and had a third header cleared off the line; if that header had gone in, all three of Hull’s central defenders would have scored. Football widows also face joy in seeing the end of the season, followed by despair at realising that the World Cup starts next month.

And finally, a 62 year old Turkish man who appeared on a TV dating show surprised the audience, and his date, by revealing that the reason he was single was because he had murdered his wife. “I’m an honest man,” he said. “I killed her because she was going to leave me, and I killed her lover before he could kill me. I’ve done 14 years in prison and I’m a changed man.” He admitted that previous dates had found his history off-putting.

Not The BBC News: 15 May 2014

The Sudanese woman who was condemned under Islamic law for her apostasy and pregnancy, because the law recognised neither her conversion to Christianity nor her marriage to a Christian man, has been sentenced in court to death by hanging for the apostasy charge, and 100 lashes for adultery. The death sentence will probably be delayed until her unborn child is two years old; the flogging is due to happen when she has recovered from giving birth. She told the court, “I am a Christian and I have never committed apostasy.”

In a related story, a Nigerian teenager spoke in Washington DC about one of Boko Haram’s earlier atrocities. She said three of the terrorists broke into her home and demanded that her father, a Christian pastor, recant his faith in Jesus. He replied that he would rather die than go to Hellfire. They shot him; then they shot and killed her brother too, because they reasoned he might grow up to become a pastor as well.

A Christian college in Tennessee is coming under fire from its own staff and students for issuing a ‘clarification’ of its statement of belief regarding creation. The original statement read that man’s origin was “by act of creation as related in the book of Genesis;” the added words were that “We believe that all humanity is descended from Adam and Eve. They are historical persons created by God in a special formative act, and not from existing life forms.” The controversy arose because all staff were issued with new contracts that required adherence to the new wording. Staff passed a vote of no confidence in in the college president; nine (20%) have decided to leave; and two have been fired and are suing the college. Students have also protested in various ways, including wearing black armbands to chapel.

A Miami Dolphins American football player has been fined by his club because he tweeted “OMG!!!” and “Horrible!” when a gay kiss was broadcast on TV.

The M62 motorway near Manchester was closed for a day after a lorry carrying nearly 7000 live chickens in crates crashed and spread its load across all four lanes.  A number of chickens got free and were rounded up; others are believed to have escaped across fields. There is no news about the condition of the driver, but the animal rights group PETA has asked for a memorial at the spot to the 1500 chickens who perished in the crash.

In football, the World Cup squads for the countries have been named. France, like England, have gone for youth, omitting two older Manchester City players (Samir Nasri and Gael Clichy) and their experienced defender Eric Abidal.  However, no less than nine of the 23 first choice French players play their club football in England, whereas only seven are based in France. Spain, in contrast, have 17 of their squad of 30 playing club football in Spain; they have also selected eight from English football. Meanwhile, Sevilla won the Europa League competition, with a team that featured two players on loan from English clubs – Reading and Queen’s Park Rangers!

And finally, there have been several stories of very young children phoning emergency services to save their parents’ lives, but an ex-soldier in Ohio was saved by his dog. The man suffers from post-traumatic stress seizures, so he has trained his pit bull/Labrador crossbreed to recognise the seizures, and he has also set up his phone for one-touch calling to emergency services. During a recent seizure, the dog managed to extract the man’s phone from his pocket and then stepped on the screen repeatedly. The dog was waiting at the front of the house for the ambulance when it arrived, and guided them to its master in the back.

Not The BBC News: 14 May 2014

Christian doctors and medical professionals recently travelled to Bulgaria for a conference on “Medicine, Science and Spirituality.” The focus of the conference was on documented stories of divine healing, and on other medical professionals having the opportunity to question each ‘miracle.’ Healing stories came from as far apart as the Faroes and the Philippines.

At least 15 churches have been demolished in Zhejiang province, China, in the last two weeks. Some were officially registered churches, some were not. Some had not even been fully built. Also, some Christians from Sanjiang where the first demolition took place are facing criminal charges.

Once again, a complaint against someone exercising free speech in the UK has led to them being visited by police and asked to desist from speaking out. In this case, however, the speaker was not a street preacher, but a blogger who tweeted a fake election poster suggesting that UKIP’s manifesto contains extreme policies. The Guardian chose to report this case, and to criticise the apparent threat to free speech. The paper quoted the blogger saying, “The police told me there was no charge to answer and it really wasn’t a police matter, but they asked me to ‘take it down’. I had to explain that I couldn’t because it had been retweeted”; the leader of the Green Party saying, “This police action is both disturbing and surprising … Free speech is a precious right that we must defend”; and a police spokesman saying, “A gentleman has an absolute total right to free speech.” The chief constable of the police force has now called for a review into the incident.

An Iranian Muslim has revealed a conversion experience similar to that of the Apostle Paul. The man was respected because he and his wife had both made the Haj pilgrimage to Mecca, so when his daughter and then his wife became Christians he was furious. He quoted the Koran to them; forbade them to attend church, beat them, and threatened to inform the secret police about them. But when they fled abroad, he became desperate for answers from religion or Allah. Eventually he had a dream in which a man on a donkey approached, hugged him and promised to clean him of his sins; then another man approached and explained that the man on the donkey was Jesus Christ. After having the dream twice more, he attended the very church he had forbidden to his family to learn more; risked his life for Jesus in ministry work within Iran; and eventually rejoined his family abroad.

Council officials in Essex have apologised after sending a letter to all churches in the county telling them they ‘must’ register to perform same-sex weddings with “immediate effect”, despite legal protections for clergy who do not wish to perform same sex marriages. The word ‘immediate’ was underlined and in bold characters. The council insist the letter was simply drafted badly, but a spokesman for the Coalition for Marriage said, “This just the kind of thing we feared would happen.”

Another Christian film has been announced. The company who made “God’s Not Dead” has made a documentary entitled “God the Father,” about a Mafia under-boss who became a Christian in prison, renounced the Mafia oath, and now travels the country telling his story and running a youth counselling programme. The documentary will first be seen at the Cannes film festival and will be released in the autumn. Meanwhile, a South African documentary about forgiveness has been released; “Beyond Forgiving” tells the story of a black atheist man and a white Christian woman and the sufferings they endured, one at the hands of the other. The pair are touring the UK this month; they will be in Belfast, Bradford, Durham, Liverpool, London and Oxford between 18 and 30 May. The London event is at the Royal Geographical Society headquarters on 27 May, which will include a screening of the documentary, and will be chaired by Terry Waite.

In technology, the battle over the “right to be forgotten” on the Internet has swung in favour of privacy advocates; the EU has ruled that Google and other search providers must, if requested, remove links to personal information about an individual. However, there is no requirement that the information itself is removed from the Internet.

And finally, an anarchist conference had to be abandoned after the meeting descended into … anarchy. A panel session at the 5^th annual Law and Disorder conference in Portland was abandoned before it began when audience members repeatedly chanted the phrase “We will not be silent in the face of your violence.” The protest was against a particular member of the panel, but the reason for the protest was unclear.

Not The BBC News: 12 May 2014

The Scottish National Health Service has been criticised for campaigning against allowing parents to withdraw their children from teaching about gay marriage. NHS chiefs argued that children should be allowed to overrule their parents on being withdrawn from sex education lessons, and also protested against the guidance recommending pupils learn about “the values of a stable and loving family life”, arguing this was insensitive to those youngsters who did not grow up in such an environment. Scotland For Marriage has urged Government ministers not to water down protections that were promised before the legislation was passed, and has called the NHS’ actions “a highly political intervention which is wholly inappropriate for publicly funded bodies.”

A woman on London had an abortion after a “witch doctor” persuaded her that the baby was deformed and evil. The woman had gone to the “witch doctor”, and paid her repeatedly, because she was desperate to conceive a baby. The information was presented as evidence in the trial of the “witch doctor”, who is accused of pretending to be a shaman and obtaining money by deception. Pro-life campaigners are concerned that Marie Stopes’ clinic agreed to carry out an abortion for such a reason.

A BBC presenter was asked to resign by his bosses because he played the original version of “The Sun Has Got His Hat On,” without realising that it twice used the word ‘nigger’. Someone complained, and the BBC Radio Devon DJ, who had 32 years’ experience at the corporation, offered to apologise on air or to resign. He was first told to say nothing about it, but was later asked to resign. A public outcry led to the BBC announcing he would be offered reinstatement, but he says the stress of the incident has aggravated an existing disability and he will no longer work for the BBC. There was another incident recently where the BBC presenter Jeremy Clarkson was forced to apologise profusely for using the same word in the rhyme “Eeny meeny miny mo” when selecting a car.

One of the MPs who has called for doctors who pre-signed abortion permits to be prosecuted has publicly warned the Crown Prosecution Service against using a ‘preposterous’ loophole in the law to avoid doing so. The loophole was used when two doctors were previously brought to the attention of the CPS for potential prosecution over this issue; the CPS decided not to charge them because, it said, “the doctors had not signed the forms ‘in good faith’ because they might still have discussed the individual cases later on.”

The Church of Scotland has invited leaders from all sides of the referendum campaign to a church service of reconciliation and healing, three days after the referendum is held. The Moderator Designate said that there was a danger that the referendum would set people against each other; the service, to be held in the High Kirk of St Giles in Edinburgh, would highlight the need to put differences aside and begin working with each other.

Another (loosely) Christian film has been released in the USA. Mom’s Night Out, starring Sean Astin and Sarah Drew, is a family friendly comedy that was released in time for Mothers’ Day in the USA. The plot centres around mothers who go for a much-needed night out, leaving their husbands to look after the children; what could possibly go wrong?

In sport, England have announced their squad for the forthcoming World Cup in Brazil. The manager has opted for youth over experience, with Luke Shaw (18), Raheem Sterling (19) and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (20) in the squad, and Ashley Cole (33) and Michael Carrick (32) left out. Also in sport, Lewis Hamilton won his fourth successive Grand Prix in Barcelona on Sunday. He looks likely to be just as boringly successful this season as Sebastian Vettel was last season.

And finally, a box of letters from wartime France has been discovered in the BBC archives. One letter describes how, in the town of Saverne in Alsace, a huge swastika flag hoisted above the castle ruins was replaced one night by a French tricolour. The act of defiance was completed by entwining the flagpole with barbed wire and removing the ironwork used for climbing the tower. The following morning saw the townsfolk entertained by the Wehrmacht trying to shoot the flag down with a machine gun.

Not The BBC News: 9 May 2014

In Multan, Pakistan, a legal case about “blasphemy” has taken a murderous turn with the shooting of the defence lawyer. The defendant, an English lecturer who was accused of blasphemy against the prophet Mohammed by hardline student groups, had been in jail for eleven months without being able to find a legal representative. In February, human rights lawyer Rashid Rehman agreed to take the case; on May 7, gunmen entered his legal office and shot Rehman five times. Two others in the office were wounded. The director of Pakistan’s Legal Evangelical Association Development said that Rehman had been threatened six times since taking the case, including once inside a courtroom.

A new analysis of the Turin Shroud by three Italian medical professors and one engineering professor  has shed new light on the injuries suffered by the crucified man who was wrapped in the shroud. It seems that he had a dislocated shoulder and paralysed arm caused by “blunt force trauma between the neck and shoulder”; if this was due to him collapsing under the weight of the crosspiece that he carried, and being struck by the crosspiece as he fell, then he would have been physically unable to carry the crosspiece any further. He also had two nail wounds in both wrists and in his right foot; this may have been due to his already contorted posture preventing them from using the pre-prepared nail holes in the wood, so they had to try again. He had a post-mortem spear wound in his side, which the experts believe drained blood from his lungs, not his heart; and his cause of death was believed to be a “heart attack and a broken heart” rather than the usual slower death by asphyxia.

The state-sanctioned church authorities in Chengdu, China, have organised the election of a new Catholic bishop. The diocese has been without a bishop since 1998. Relationships between the Vatican and China are currently very poor, after China forced through the ordination of three bishops in 2011 without the Pope’s approval, and Rome responded by excommunicating all three. However, Pope Francis is thought to want to build good relations with China, so Rome’s decision whether to accept this new bishop will be an important test case. Sichuan province’s only two Vatican-sanctioned bishops were present at the election.

The UK’s Channel 4 is to broadcast a reality TV show called “Married At First Sight,” in which six strangers (paired using scientific and sociological data) will marry, and then cameras will follow the three couples for the first six weeks of their married lives. They will be given the option to separate at the end of the six weeks. The show originated in Denmark and has been sold to the US and Australia as well as the UK; however, it has been criticised for trivialising marriage.

The organisation American Atheists is to launch an atheist TV channel, available over the Internet. “There is a plethora of religious programming,” said the group’s president, “we’re filling a void.” They promise programmes about philosophy, science and history with “a critical examination of the facts,” as well as recordings of times when their members have appeared on mainstream TV.

In sport, the Premier League football season ends tomorrow. After one of the closest title races for years, Manchester City (who have scored 100 goals in 38 games) need only a draw from their final match against West Ham to win the league, though they face penalties for European competition next year because they have overspent the UEFA ‘financial fair play’ limits, and they have too many foreign players. The FA Chairman has proposed adding a new division to the English League that would feature B teams from the Premier League, in order to improve opportunities for young English players; however, the chairman of the Premier League believes it would “wreck the pyramid of English football.” . Meanwhile, England’s women won their sixth successive World Cup qualification match, 4-0 against Ukraine; England have scored 33 goals in six games and conceded none.

And finally, the USA’s secretive National Security Agency has tweeted a recruitment advertisement – in code. The decrypted message, which was encoded using simple letter substitution, read: “Want to know what it takes to work at NSA? Check back each Monday in May as we explore career essentials to protect our nation.” Future messages will also be coded, and may be harder to decrypt.

Not The BBC News: 8 May 2014

A Florida man has filed legal claims in both Florida and Utah that he should be allowed to marry his computer. His claim says that “over time, he began to prefer sex with his porn-laden computer to sex with a woman,” and he cites precedents from around the world such as a woman who married a dolphin, and a Chinese man who wed a cardboard cut-out of himself. However, the real reason for his suit appears to be to throw a spanner in the works of gay marriage legislation; his suit claims that  “Allowing my marriage to go forward will not adversely impact the fertility rate any more or less than [marrying] a same sex couple. If there is a risk that is posed to traditional marriage and children, both man-man couples and man-machine couples pose it equally.”

A proposed US reality TV show, which would have featured two brothers from North Carolina helping families purchase and fix up a house into a dream home, has been cancelled after a left wing website labelled the brothers as “anti-gay anti-Choice extremists.” The evidence for this included a recording of one brother saying that “a homosexual agenda is attacking the nation”; saying that abortion on demand, no-fault divorce, pornography and perversion, and adultery are wrong; and arranging for pro-life groups to give pregnant women free ultrasounds. Another left wing blog described this as evidence of the brothers’ “repellant [sic] and well-documented ultra-conservative activism.”

Another United Nations committee has declared strong opposition to the Catholic Church’s teaching on morality. In February, the UN committee on Rights of the Child produced a report on the child sexual abuse scandal within the Catholic church that not only condemned the church’s practices (without acknowledging subsequent changes in those practices) but also called for changes in Catholic teaching on abortion, contraception and homosexuality. Now the UN Committee on Torture, in a question session regarding the same scandal, has suggested that preventing abortion is equivalent to “psychological torture”, and also that the Catholic church is responsible for women seeking out unsafe abortions and for nine year old rape victims giving birth. The committee’s spokesperson said, “This committee has found repeatedly that laws that criminalize the termination of pregnancy in all circumstances can violate the terms of the convention”, even though there is no obvious link between preventing abortion and the UN convention’s own definition of torture. A spokesman for the Population Research Institute said that the problem is that UN committees get their information from the UN Human Rights office and from various anti-Catholic NGOs such as the Center for Reproductive Rights; also, the chairman of the Torture committee is known as a pro-abortion activist.

John Paul Jackson, well known as a prophetically gifted minister and teacher of prophetic ministry, has been diagnosed with a large aggressive cancerous growth in his leg. Jackson says, “I have not ruled out any or all treatment paths, but at the top of the list is prayer.” He requests believers to pray for him and his wife for two minutes per day.

On one night last month, the electronic billboards in New York’s Times Square repeatedly displayed a short video which flashed the words “No Other Name” and then “Jesus”. Onlookers tried to work out what company was being promoted, and why there was no brand or logo attached to the ad. In fact, it was simply a proclamation of the name of Jesus funded by Hillsong Church – although their latest music album does happen to be called “No Other Name.”

In technology news, a Brazilian neuroscientist working at a university in North Carolina has developed an exoskeleton that can help paralysed people walk – and also a neuro-controller that allows patients to control the exoskeleton with their thoughts. Eight patients have been training since November, and one of the eight had been able to use mental control to kick a ball. There is speculation that the technology will be exhibited at the World Cup in Brazil where one of the patients will take the first kick of the tournament.

And finally,  a father and son long distance running team have finally hung up their running shoes, and wheelchair. Rick Hoyt has cerebral palsy but in 1977, he asked his father Dick if they could run a charity race for a paralysed friend, with Dick pushing Rick’s wheelchair. Rick wanted to show that life went on whatever your disability. Rick said after the event that “when I’m running, it feels like I’m not handicapped.”  Dick and Rick went on to complete 97 half marathons, 72 marathons, 22 duathlons, and 255 triathlons including six Ironmans; for triathlons, Rick has a special boat for the swim section and an adapted tandem for the bike section. Their final event was the 2014 Boston marathon; they had planned to give up before that (they are now 73 and 51 years old), but decided to run their 32^nd Boston marathon in memory of those injured by the previous year’s bomb. 

Not The BBC News: 7 May 2014

A recent atrocity by Boko Haram in Chibok in northern Nigeria has attracted worldwide condemnation. The terrorist group kidnapped over 200 girls from a school on 15 April; their ultra-Islamist views do not believe that girls should be educated, and the region is largely Christian. The children’s parents went after them and located their camp, but without weapons or support from the Nigerian army, who were acting cautiously following a recent ambush on an army patrol, they had to turn back to save their own lives. There are reports that the girls are being sold into forced marriages. Western organisations including Special Forces are said to be offering help.

The former Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire, Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop in the Anglican communion, has announced that he is to divorce his husband. Robinson, who is now retired, divorced his wife in 1986 and entered a civil partnership with his long-time partner Mark six years ago, which was converted to a marriage under an opt-out-or-automatic New Hampshire law. Robinson, who once preached an Easter sermon that “Jesus broke free from his prison on Easter Sunday and we can break free from our prisons too,” said that “It is at least a small comfort to me to know that gay and lesbian couples are subject to the same complications and hardships that afflict marriages between heterosexual couples.”

One of the three women who was kidnapped by Ariel Castro in Cleveland, Ohio, has said publicly that she forgives her captor. Michelle Knight has held for nearly 11 years, repeatedly raped and beaten, and lost 5 babies to induced miscarriages. Knight said, “He was a human being, and every human being needs to be loved, even though they did something wrong.” Castro hanged himself last year, four months into a whole-life jail sentence.

An apparent breach of UK abortion law which was not pursued by police or prosecutors has been raised again after eleven MPs wrote to the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police calling for an inquiry. The issue was that 67 doctors were found in 2012 to have pre-signed blank forms permitting abortions (two doctors must decide an abortion is necessary and sign before the abortion can go ahead). The issue is similar to the recent case of doctors who were found to be permitting sex-selective abortions, where the Director of Public Prosecutions and the General Medical Council both claimed that disciplinary action was the other’s responsibility. In this case, the General Medical Council has insisted that doctors stop the practice, but has taken no disciplinary action against them.

Authorities in China who completely demolished a mega-church in Sanjiang claim the building was much larger than permits allowed, but have made no comment on their apparent breach of a compromise agreement reached with the church. Two further churches were demolished elsewhere in the country in the following week.

In sport, Britain’s former number one women’s tennis player, Elena Baltacha, has died of liver cancer at the age of 30. Baltacha had had a serious liver condition since the age of 19 but played through it. She retired from tennis in November; married in December; was diagnosed in January; and made the diagnosis public in March. An invitation tennis event in June, which was set up to raise money for cancer research and to encourage her, will now be held in her memory instead.

And finally, a 16 year old girl in Florida is about to graduate from high school and earn a college  degree in the same week. The local university offers a program where school students can get degree credits for their school courses; Grace Bush (no relation to George or Jeb) started the program at the age of 13, and worked so hard that she completed a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. Bush, who learned to read at the age of 2 and was homeschooled for a while, now wants to obtain a master’s degree and would eventually like to become chief justice of the USA. She also plays flute in two orchestras.

Not The BBC News: 2 May 2014

In Sanjiang, China, an agreement was reached regarding the (official) mega-church which was deemed too prominent by a visiting Communist official: the church agreed to demolish two floors of an accessory building. However, bulldozers sent by the local government ignored the agreement; they demolished the entire accessory  building and severely damaged the foundations of the main building. The cross on top of the building was also toppled. These actions are being seen as a clear sign of a new wave of religious persecution in China.

A woman buying boots from New York’s Saks Fifth Avenue department store in 2012 got a shock when she got home. The branded shopping bag she was given contained a note beginning “HELP, HELP, HELP”  from a man claiming to be held unfairly in a Chinese prison factory, along with an email address and a passport photo of a black man wearing an orange jacket. She passed the note to an organisation that highlights human rights abuses in Chinese prisons, but it was not until this week that the author was tracked down. He is a 34 year old Cameroonian who was arrested and charged with fraud in 2011 while teaching English in Shenzhen; he was sentenced to three years in prison where he worked long hours making electrical parts or bags. He managed to write five letters in that time and said he was pleased that one had been found. The woman said she had never previously given any thought to the people who made the consumables she used; Saks Fifth Avenue confirmed that some of their branded shopping bags are made in China; the Chinese consulate declined to comment.

A legal case against pro-lifers in Illinois has finally been concluded in the defendants’ favour after 28 years in the courts, including three visits to the US Supreme Court. The case accused pro-life counsellors of using violence or threats of violence by blocking the entrance to abortion facilities, and later expanded to accuse them of being a  “racketeering influenced or corrupt organisation.” Three times the local judge and the Illinois Appeals court upheld the complaint; each time, the US Supreme Court reversed the decision. This week, the final award of costs to the defendants was made.

Kenya’s president has signed a new law that legalises polygamy. Supporters of the new law see it as a return to tribal traditions that pre-date colonialism; unofficial polygamy is widespread in Kenya’s traditional and Muslim communities. Christians and women’s groups opposed it, especially after a proposed amendment to allow existing wives to veto a husband’s choice of new wife was voted down.

The husband and wife team who made the TV show “The Bible” and the film “Son of God”, producer Mark Burnett and actress Roma Downey, have been signed by Paramount Studios to re-make the classic film “Ben Hur.” The new version is expected to be released in 2016.

In sport, the UEFA Champion’s League final will be between two teams from the same city for the first time ever. Atletico Madrid beat Chelsea to win the right to face Real Madrid in the final.

And finally, a sharp-eyed Edinburgh resident spotted a poster advertising UKIP’s campaign for the European elections alongside an advert for a new tent that prominently announced “No Poles Required.” The UKIP poster was actually criticising the benefits received by members of the European Parliament, but it is UKIP’s opposition to immigration that seems to have captured the public’s imagination.