Ultra-orthodox Jews in Brooklyn (diluvi/Flickr)
New York City says it has reached an agreement with members of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community over a tradition known as oral suction circumcision.
Health officials have linked the practice to 17 cases of infant herpes since 2000 as a result of men performing the ritual by sucking blood from the wounds on the infants’ penises. HSV-1, which while rare, can lead to serious brain damage or death.
Man also charged with ripping copy of Holy Koran
A Saudi court sentenced a local man to death after he was found guilty of insulting Islam and its Prophet (PBUH), a newspaper reported on Monday.
The unidentified man, in his 20s, was also charged with ripping a copy of the Holy Koran, filming the act and publishing it on social networks, ‘Sharq’ said.
Rev. Kenneth C. Ugwu performs Ash Wednesday services at Pure Heart of Mary Catholic Church on Wednesday March 5, 2014, in Mobile, Ala. (Sharon Steinmann/ssteinmann@al.com)
So the Mardi Gras season is coming to an end.
What comes next?
For some it is Ash Wednesday.
Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent.
A parent, who’s part of a group that believes dinosaurs are one big lie, is getting international attention after making an angry post on a parenting site.
The writer starts the rant with, “I am getting sick and tired of dinosaurs being forced on our children.”
The page long diatribe against dinosaurs on the popular parenting site mumsnet.com quickly set off a flurry of mockery and went viral, the Mirror reports.
The Manannán Mac Lír statue at the viewing point on Binevenagh Mountain was stolen last month
A Celtic sea god statue that was stolen from a County Londonderry mountainside is set to be replaced after councillors voted in support of its reinstatement.
The six-foot Manannán Mac Lir sculpture disappeared from Binevenagh Mountain, near Limavady, last month.
It was created by John Sutton, who worked on the Game of Thrones TV show.
Sometime in the 1940s, an improbable encounter occurred at a mental institution in Maryland. Two women, each of whom was institutionalized for believing she was the Virgin Mary, chanced upon one another and engaged in conversation. They had been chatting for several minutes when the older woman introduced herself as “Mary, Mother of God.”
“Why you can’t be, my dear,” the other patient replied, unable to conceive of such a notion. “You must be crazy. I am the Mother of God.”
“I’m afraid it’s you who are mixed up,” the first asserted, “I am Mary.”
The Vatican will offer homeless people in Rome not only showers but also haircuts and shaves when new facilities open next month, the head of Pope Francis’ charity office said.
The Vatican announced last year that it would provide shower facilities in St Peter’s Square for homeless people.
Bishop Konrad Krajewski told the Italian Catholic newspaper Avvenire on Thursday that it would also offer haircuts and shaves when the services start on Feb. 16 in an area under the colonnade of the square.
Krajewski, whose official title is the pope’s almoner, said barbers and hairdressers would volunteer their services on Mondays, the day their shops are traditionally closed in Italy.
They had already donated chairs, hair-cutting instruments, and mirrors, the newspaper’s website said.
The idea originated on a closed Facebook group for Lutheran clergy, where pastors were discussing how North Miami Beach’s police department had been caught using mugshots of actual people for target practice. Let’s send in our own photos for target practice, the pastors decided.
The target-practice story had come to light after National Guard Sgt. Valerie Deant saw bullet-riddled mugshots of black men at a police gun range. One photo was of Deant’s brother. Outrage followed in North Miami Beach and beyond as critics called for the police chief’s resignation.
The pope has waded into the free speech debate with his own colorful example, saying there are limits to free speech.
Speaking to reporters aboard his plane on his trip to the Philippines, Francis stated there were limits.
Street children as young as five are being caged in brutal detention centres alongside adult criminals in a cynical drive to smarten up the Philippines capital ahead of a visit by Pope Francis this week.
Hundreds of boys and girls have been rounded up from doorways and roadsides by police and officials and put behind bars in recent weeks to make the poverty-racked city more presentable when Pope Francis arrives tomorrow, a MailOnline investigation has found.
Brain Cage 