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sentence to be rescinded.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.
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