‘Jesus’ Dropped From Official Prayer

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“Jesus” has been banished from a prayer to open New Zealand’s parliamentary sessions.

The traditional prayer for decades has ended with “through Jesus Christ our Lord,” the Christian Post reported.

The Labour Party-led government proposed a new version of the prayer that leaves out Jesus and initiated a consultation process.

But Speaker Trevor Mallard used the prayer before the period of consultation ended.

The Christian Post said an even more radical proposed change to the prayer was rejected by members of the parliament that removed all religious references. (Read more from “‘Jesus’ Dropped From Official Prayer” HERE)

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Geologists See 2018 as Year of Monster Quakes

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Geophysicists who studied seismic activity over the past 117 years report 2018 could be shaping up as a year of monster earthquakes – especially around the equator . . .

The signal that causes the alarm from a historical pattern, they say, is the slowing of the Earth’s rotation.

The new study, presented at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America, in Seattle, is published in Geophysical Research Letters by geologists Roger Bilham of the University of Colorado, Boulder, and Rebecca Bendick of the University of Montana.

It tracked the incidence of magnitude 7 or greater earthquakes worldwide since 1900, revealing through recent history, such major quakes occur about 15 times per year. Yet, over the last 117 years, there have been evenly spaced intervals in which the annual total jumped to between 25 and 30 . . .

While the researchers caution that 117 years is a relatively short period of time in the history of the Earth, something else caught the attention of the researchers. (Read more from “Geologists See 2018 as Year of Monster Quakes” HERE)

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Militants Target Mosque in Egypt

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Suspected militants attacked a crowded mosque during a Friday sermon in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, setting off bombs, opening fire on worshippers and killing at least 235 in the deadliest ever attack on Egyptian civilians by Islamic militants, the official MENA news agency reported.

Some 130 people were also wounded, according to the news agency.

The local Islamic State affiliate — Sinai Province — appeared to be responsible for the gruesome incident, in the first attack on a large mosque since the militants began their terror campaign in 2013, the Associated Press reported.

Police said militants in four off-road vehicles carried out the attack during prayers at the al-Rawdah mosque in the town of Bir al-Abd, located 25 miles from the regional capital of el-Arish. The militants stopped people from escaping by blowing up cars and leaving the burning wrecks blocking the roads, police said.

President Abdul Fattah el-Sisi condemned the “criminal” and “cowardly” attack, and said that it “will not go unpunished.” He said the victims’ suffering will only “add to our insistence” to combat terrorism. (Read more from “Militants Target Mosque in Egypt” HERE)

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NASA’s ‘Fake News’ About Water on Mars

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It was big news in 2015 when NASA declared “liquid water found in Mars.”

Now, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, the announcement that Mars contains large amounts of water was premature.

Scientists had reasoned that water must be present on the red planet to explain mysterious darkish streaks that appeared to ebb and flow with the seasons.

A new paper in Nature Geoscience says that “Recurring Slope Lineae,” or RSL, in Eos Chasma, a deep depression on the planet, are “inconsistent with models for water sources.”

The researchers — working in cooperation with the NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project — found that the RSL were instead “identical to the slopes of sand dunes where movement is caused by dry granular flows.” (Read more from “NASA’s ‘Fake News’ About Water on Mars” HERE)

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Church to Stop Referring to God as ‘He’ or ‘Lord’

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The Church of Sweden is urging its clergy to use gender-neutral language when referring to the supreme deity, refraining from using terms such as “Lord” and “he” in favour of the less specific “God.”

The move is one of several taken by the national Evangelical Lutheran church in updating a 31-year-old handbook setting out how services should be conducted in terms of language, liturgy, hymns and other aspects.

The decision was taken on Thursday at the end of an eight-day meeting of the church’s 251-member decision-making body, and takes effect on 20 May on the Christian holiday of Pentecost.

A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, some 37 miles north of the capital, the church has 6.1 million baptised members in a country of 10 million. It is headed by a woman, Archbishop Antje Jackelén. (Read more from “Church to Stop Referring to God as ‘He’ or ‘Lord'” HERE)

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North Korea May Have Replaced Its Entire Border Security Team After Defection

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Pyongyang may have replaced its entire border security force after a North Korean soldier dramatically defected into South Korea last week.

Yonhap news agency on Friday cited an unnamed intelligence source who said there were “signs” the North had replaced its entire force of 35 to 40 men at the Joint Security Area.

The source said North Korea seems to have temporarily closed a bridge over which the defector drove a military jeep to reach the border before his dramatic escape on foot last Monday. The source said the North could be preparing to install a security gate at the bridge for strengthening its screening of personnel coming in and out of the area.

A photo posted on the Twitter account of the acting U.S. ambassador to South Korea, Marc Knapper, showed North Korean workers using shovels to dig what Knapper said was a trench at the spot where the defector crossed the border.

According to South Korea’s military, four North Korean soldiers using handguns and AK-47 assault rifles fired about 40 rounds at the defector, who rushed across the line that divides the Koreas after getting his vehicle stuck in a ditch. (Read more from “North Korea May Have Replaced Its Entire Border Security Team After Defection” HERE)

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Beef in the Buff? Country Opens First Nudist Restaurant

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Leave your coats, your pants and your inhibitions at the door: a Paris restaurant has begun serving up classic French fare to diners in the nude.

Located down a quiet side street in southwest Paris, O’naturel, billed as the French capital’s first nudist restaurant, is the brainchild of 42-year-old twins Mike and Stephane Saada.

Former insurance salesmen, they aren’t nudists themselves — but they spotted a money-making opportunity in a country that enjoys a reputation as a top naturist holiday destination.

“People only get to be nudists in the summer,” explained Stephane.

O’naturel is considerably warmer in November than the roughly 460 designated outdoor nudist spots around France, most of them beaches and campsites. (Read more from “Beef in the Buff? Country Opens First Nudist Restaurant” HERE)

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Military Members Reassigned After Having Inappropriate Contact During Trump’s Asia Trip

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Three military members working for the White House have been reassigned after having alleged inappropriate contact with foreign women during President Donald Trump’s recent trip to Asia, a senior U.S. defense official has confirmed to Fox News.

The service members who worked as part of the White House Communications Agency (WHCA) are being investigated for allegedly breaking curfew in Vietnam, The Washington Post reported Tuesday . . .

The men are noncommissioned officers of the U.S. Army, working with the specialized military unit WHCA — a specialized military unit which runs technical support for presidential and vice presidential events and provides secure communications for White House officials. (Read more from “Military Members Reassigned After Having Inappropriate Contact During Trump’s Asia Trip” HERE)

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Report: IPhone X Assembled With Illegal High-Schooler Labor

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Apple supplier Foxconn has been employing students illegally work overtime to help assemble the iPhone X, the Financial Times reported Tuesday.

Six high school students told the Financial Times they would usually work 11-hour shifts to help manufacture Apple’s flagship phone at a factory in Zhengzhou, China. The long hours breach Chinese laws regarding student interns.

The report said the six students interviewed were among a group of 3,000 students from Zhengzhou Urban Rail Transit School. The high schoolers said they had been sent to work at a local factory run by Taiwan-based supplier Hon Hai Precision Industry — better known as Foxconn — in September. (Read more from “Report: IPhone X Assembled With Illegal High-Schooler Labor” HERE)

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North Korea Bans Drinking, Singing, Punishes Officials for ‘Impure Attitude,’ Report Says

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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un keeps his citizens on a tight leash, according to defectors, but the leader has now constricted his control even further by banning North Koreans from drinking and singing, according to a new report.

Citizens have been banned from participating in “any gatherings related to drinking, singing and other entertainment,” Yonhap News Agency reported Monday. The North Korean regime is also “strengthening control of outside information.”

The ban is reportedly an effort to stifle “a possible negative impact” of sanctions against North Korea in response to its recent nuclear tests.

The rogue state has also taken action against its military, by “undertaking an inspection of the military politburo” due to an “impure attitude toward the party leadership,” according to Reuters.

Top military officials — including bureau chief Hwang Pyong-so and deputy chief Kim Won-hong — were punished as a result of the investigation, but it’s unclear how they were disciplined. (Read more from “North Korea Bans Drinking, Singing, Punishes Officials for ‘Impure Attitude,’ Report Says” HERE)

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