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.
No comments:
Post a Comment