Not The BBC News: 13 Jun 2014

Fasting is good for your immune system, according to a recent study published by the University of Southern California. A 2-4 day fast apparently depletes white blood cells as well as stores of glucose and fat, and then triggers stem cells to produce new white blood cells, therefore regenerating the body’s immune system. Prolonged fasting also reduces an enzyme linked to aging and a hormone which increases the risk of cancer. It is argued that the renewed immune system is especially beneficial for those whose immune systems are damaged, such as those who have undergone chemotherapy. Some doctors are sceptical, however; they point out that eating is also a good thing for chemotherapy patients.

600,000 people marched for Jesus through Rio de Janeiro, in a  sign of the growing numbers of evangelicals in Brazil.

A Parliamentary review of abortion statistics in the UK shows another part of the Abortion Act that is being routinely ignored – the requirement for doctors to complete a form to state why an abortion has been carried out. The review compared genetic diagnoses of Down’s syndrome (which are then tracked through to abortion) against the number of reported abortions for Down’s syndrome in 2012, and found that 50% of such abortions were not reported. An MP has said, “Worryingly, the Department [of Health] appears to have made no attempt to see that the law is properly enforced.” The review was part of a wider study into the law on aborting disabled foetuses, which is currently legal right up to birth in the UK; 2% of the reported abortions of babies with Down’s syndrome occurred after the 24^th week of pregnancy, but a further 21% of cases did not record the gestation.

The formerly atheist criminology professor in North Carolina who was denied promotion after becoming a Christian has been awarded promotion, retrospective pay and $710,000 in lawyers’ fees by an appeal court.

OFSTED have reported on the 21 schools in Birmingham who were being investigated for overly Islamic teaching and culture. Three of the schools were praised, but five were placed into “special measures” which could mean replacing the whole leadership team. There was evidence that teachers had hastily arranged non-Islamic teaching and assemblies when they were told that OFSTED were coming, which has led to calls for OFSTED to inspect schools without notice.

Another Christian film coming out this year is “Unstoppable”, which tries to answer the question “Why does God let bad things happen to good people?” The film’s reviews are poor, both of its content and of its hand-held camera filming style, but the film is proving controversial for a different reason; Facebook has apparently banned links to it on the grounds that such links are “abusive” and “unsafe”.

In sport, a large Christian outreach known as “Fair Play Brazil” has been organised to accompany the World Cup. Hundreds of volunteers will talk to football fans about faith and distribute four million Scripture booklets and 20,000 Gospels in Portuguese and eight other languages.

In technology news, there have been reports that a computer has finally passed an entirely unscripted Turing Test. The test, devised by Alan Turing to find an artificially intelligent computer, was that a computer program must hold a five minute conversation and convince at least 30% of those “talking” to it that it was human. However, fellow researchers have heaped scorn on the announcement, pointing out that the program used scripts rather than general knowledge; pretended to be a 13 year old Ukrainian boy, thus providing a convenient excuse for mistakes in English or meaningless answers; and was announced by a professor whose self-promotion is so notorious that there is a website devoted to monitoring it.

And finally, residents of Melbourne, Australia woke up on Friday with Jesus floating above their heads. To coincide with the start of the World Cup, a betting company had commissioned a 46-metre hot air balloon in the shape of Rio de Janeiro’s Christ the Redeemer statue, but wearing an Australian national football shirt. The hashtag printed on the shirt was #KeepTheFaith.