A controversial document that suggests that Jesus of Nazareth had a wife is most likely ancient and not a modern forgery, according to a paper published today in the Harvard Theological Review. The papyrus fragment, known as the "Gospel of Jesus's Wife," has been the subject of widespread debate since it was discovered in 2012 because it includes the phrase "Jesus said to them, 'My wife...'." It also mentions that "she will be able to be my disciple," which led some to question whether women should be allowed to become Catholic priests.

The Vatican has previously said that the document is most likely a modern forgery, but scientists from Columbia University, Harvard, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology say their analysis strongly suggests that it is indeed part of an ancient manuscript and that it wasn't edited or tampered with. The researchers used micro-Raman and infrared spectroscopy to analyze the composition of the ink, looking for clues as to whether it may have been applied after the original document was damaged.

"There is absolutely no evidence for that," Timothy Swager, an MIT chemistry professor who worked on the project, tells the New York Times. "It would have been extremely difficult, if not impossible." The researchers dated the fragment to between the sixth and ninth century AD, noting that it bears a strong resemblance to other texts from that era.

Lead researcher Karen King acknowledges that her findings don't prove that Jesus had a wife, though she believes it does indicate that early Christians were discussing issues related to sex and marriage. In her view, the document proves that "women who are mothers and wives can be disciples of Jesus," though not everyone is convinced of its authenticity.

The Harvard Theological Review is also publishing a rebuttal to King's findings today, authored by Brown University professor Leo Depuydt. Depuydt maintains that there was never any need to conduct tests on the fragment, because it includes "gross grammatical errors" and its text matches writings from another early Christian text discovered in 1945. According to him, the document is so blatantly fake that it "seems ripe for a Monty Python sketch." Depuydt also dismissed King's claims that the fragment's ink doesn't match the carbon inks used today, telling the New York Times: "An undergraduate student with one semester of Coptic can make a reed pen and start drawing lines."

Harvard Theological Review

'Gospel of Jesus's Wife' likely isn't a modern forgery, scientists claim

Scientists Say Gospel of Jesus’ Wife Probably Not Fake

(Reuters) - Security experts warn there is little Internet users can do to protect themselves from the recently uncovered "Heartbleed" bug that exposes data to hackers, at least not until exploitable websites upgrade their software.

Researchers have observed sophisticated hacking groups conducting automated scans of the Internet in search of Web servers running a widely used web encryption program known as OpenSSL that makes them vulnerable to the theft of data, including passwords, confidential communications and credit card numbers.

OpenSSL is used on about two-thirds of all web servers, but the issue has gone undetected for about two years.

Kurt Baumgartner, a researcher with security software maker Kaspersky Lab, said his firm uncovered evidence on Monday that a few hacking groups believed to be involved in state-sponsored cyber espionage were running such scans shortly after news of the bug first surfaced on Monday.

By Tuesday, Kaspersky had identified such scans coming from "tens" of actors, and the number increased on Wednesday after Rapid7 released a free tool for conducting such scans.

"The problem is insidious," he said. "Now it is amateur hour. Everybody is doing it."

OpenSSL software is used on servers that host websites but not PCs or mobile devices, so even though the bug exposes passwords and other data entered on those devices to hackers, it must be fixed by website operators.

"There is nothing users can do to fix their computers," said Mikko Hypponen, chief research officer with security software maker F-Secure.

Representatives for Facebook Inc, Google and Yahoo Inc told Reuters that have taken steps to mitigate the impact on users.

Little Internet users can do to thwart 'Heartbleed' bug

They helped cause the crash. Then profited from it. Now, from the Bank of England to the Fed, ex-Goldman Sachs chiefs are pulling the levers of power.

Amid the recent management shake-up at the top of the Bank of England, as it was dragged into the investigation of the alleged fixing of the £3 trillion-a-day foreign-exchange markets, one crucial appointment went almost unnoticed.

While public attention was understandably focused on an Egyptian-born mother of twins becoming only the second female deputy governor of the bank, the far more influential appointment was that of economist Ben Broadbent.
As the new deputy governor for monetary policy, he is now the predominant voice on the future direction of interest rates.
His work will have a huge effect on the lives of the British people, for he will have a key role in deciding when the record five years of super-low mortgage rates will end — a decision that will inevitably lead to home-owners facing considerably bigger monthly bills.
But there is one crucial fact that should concern us about the Cambridge and Harvard-educated Broadbent: he spent a decade during the boom-and-bust years as the senior economist at the global headquarters of the investment bank Goldman Sachs.
He joins an elite few who hold senior positions in the world's most powerful central banks — from London to New York, Frankfurt and beyond — and all of whom come from this one company, which was controversially described by Rolling Stone magazine as 'a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money'.
The fact that so many alumni of the world's most profitable — as well as most ruthless and cunning — investment bank wield such a level of influence in these central banks is nothing short of remarkable.
Because Goldman Sachs is an institution that, as I will explain, not only helped cause the financial crisis in 2008, but also profited from it — hugely enriching its own staff while leaving a trail of chaos for taxpayers to clear up.
Do we really want one of the most controversial financial institutions on the planet, which was eventually fined a record £343 million for shamelessly misleading investors during the crisis, to have so many of its ex-staff holding the levers of power in the City of London?
What makes the choice of Broadbent an issue of major public concern is that his period at Goldman saw the New York investment firm deeply embroiled in some of the most shocking financial scandals of recent years.
First, there was the crisis triggered by the sub-prime mortgage disaster, when vast quantities of loans were made by U.S. banks to homeowners who could never pay them back.
This reached disaster point in 2007-8, once the loans had been sold on by banks and institutions around the world — by which time they had been packaged up as financial instruments or 'derivatives' so complicated that no one could tell how toxic they were.
Goldman Sachs played a key part in inventing these poisonous derivatives, which were a major factor in triggering the financial crisis.

READ MORE: How the vampire squid is controlling our lives: They helped cause the crash. Then profited from it. Now, from the Bank of England to the Fed, ex-Goldman Sachs chiefs are pulling the levers of power

Residents in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Ikoma, Nara Prefecture, are spooked after finding money and gift certificates mysteriously left in their mailboxes.

From March 11 to 12, envelopes containing gift certificates were found in the mailboxes of 30 homes in Kawasaki. The monetary value of the certificates ranged from 5,000 yen to tens of thousands of yen per home. Whoever left them did not leave their name.

The Kawasaki Rinko Police Station is treating the gift certificates as lost-and-found items, and are looking at security footage and checking the certificates' serial numbers to try to find out who left them.

Meanwhile in Ikoma, a total of some 760,000 yen in cash was put into the mailboxes of 30 residences at an apartment complex from March 20 to 21. The cash included coins wrapped in flyers and bills. Then, on the morning of March 22, a shop owner on the first floor of the complex contacted police to report they'd found a 1,000 yen gift certificate when they opened the store shutter.

According to the Ikoma Police Station, the greatest amount of money found at a single residence was 137,000 yen. They say that over half the residents have waived their right to accept a reward from whoever left the money should they appear to reclaim it. Among the reasons given was that the situation is "creepy."

READ MORE: Mystery money, gift certificates left in mailboxes spook residents

Investors welcomed the news, but it could mean additional record-keeping for people who spend bitcoins like cash.

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service has said it will treat bitcoin as a form of property for tax purposes, rather than as currency, making it subject to similar rules as stocks and barter transactions.

The new rules announced Tuesday appear to be good news for investors, because any gains they make from buying bitcoins will be treated as capital gains, which can mean lower tax rates. But they could also mean that people who spend bitcoins to buy goods and services will have to keep detailed records of those transactions.

That's because they'll have to figure out any gains they make. For example, as Bloomberg noted, if a person buys a US$2 cup of coffee with bitcoins they originally bought for only $1, they might have to report the $1 they made as a capital gain.

The IRS issued the guidance for bitcoin and other virtual currencies in a 6-page document on its website Tuesday. It arrives shortly before the April 15 deadline for filing tax returns in the U.S.

"For federal tax purposes, virtual currency is treated as property. General tax principles applicable to property transactions apply to transactions using virtual currency," the IRS said.

People who receive bitcoins as payment for goods or services will have to calculate, as part of their gross income, the value of those bitcoins in U.S. dollars as the time they were received, the IRS said.

The same applies to those who "mine" new bitcoins using computers. They'll have to include in their taxable gross income the value of the bitcoins at the time they mine them.

And employers who pay people in bitcoins will have to declare them on a W-2 form for the purpose of federal income tax, insurance contributions and federal unemployment tax. As with regular wages, that requirement generally kicks in when the amount reaches $600 or more.

The rules provide clarity for those investing in bitcoin and were welcomed by attendees at a conference on virtual currencies in San Francisco.

"It's a good thing," said Micky Malka, founder of Ribbit Capital, which invested in several bitcoin companies. The new rules will help to promote innovation and the industry around virtual currencies, he said.

Plus, he said, "any framework is better than no framework."

READ MORE: US will tax bitcoin as property, like stocks, rather than as currency

"A witness claimed they saw former Popes Joseph Ratzinger and John Paul II participate in Vatican satanic cult rituals known as the Ninth Circle, that torture and murder children" George Dufort of a Brussels international court announced yesterday. "According to a deposition filed in court last week by a former member of the Ninth Circle, the cult practices at Catholic cathedrals and a forest grove in France."

"That makes three eyewitnesses who say former Pope Joseph Ratzinger was present during ritual torture and murder of children as part of a cult known as the Ninth Circle" Kevin Annett of the ITCCS confirmed today in our phone interview. "Murder rituals evidently took place in 1987 and 2002 at locations in France and Holland."

Last week the Brussels Court received Vatican documents dated Dec. 25 1967 that say before each new pope assumes office it's mandatory that they participate in Ninth Circle rites. The documents referred to ceremonial murder of newborn children and consumption of their blood in rites referred to as "The Magisterial Privilege."

Three days ago Francesco Zanardi of the ITCCS affiliate Rete L'Abuso in Savona, Italy said, "Ratzinger retains power at the Vatican. We know from several Cardinals that Pope Francis is a caretaker figurehead who is not actually the Pope. It's all been a huge deception. Francis doesn't wear the papal ring and lives in a convent in Rome, not in the Vatican. He is given no official security and wanders about like a private individual. He makes policy statements which the Curia of Cardinals then disavow, saying Francis doesn't reflect church doctrine. The top appointments have been Germans or those connected to Ratzinger who continues to speak to reporters like he's still the Pope."

According to witnesses testifying at the international court trial, the former Pope Ratzinger has been a member of Ninth Circle, also known as the Corona Novem or Crown, since at least 1962.

"I saw Pope Emeritus Joseph Ratzinger murder a little girl″ stated another witness on Oct. 28 2013. "It was at a French chateau in the fall of 1987. It was ugly, horrible and didn't happen just once. Ratzinger, Dutch Cardinal Alfrink and Prince Bernhard were some of the more prominent men who took part."

The allegations confirmed what Dutch therapist and witness Toos Nijenhuis told Annett a few months prior. Toos claimed that as a child she also was forced to witness child murders that involved Ratzinger, Alfrink and Bernhard.

Two child abuse survivors reported attending child murder rites in the catacombs beneath the Vatican. At the tender age of 12 "Svali" of San Diego County said she was taken into the catacombs beneath the Vatican to witness the sacrifice of a 3-4 year-old drugged boy. In this video her interviewer responded that 24 years prior, a "Maria" also claimed to have witnessed a satanic murder rite in the Vatican Catacombs.

If the international court finds the popes and Vatican guilty of child exploitation, it might explain why the Vatican has made such an effort to cover up Catholic priest and nun child abuse. As of Nov 12 2013 and with an estimated 10 per cent of victims reporting, there were a documented 10,077,574 survivors of Catholic abuse across the globe. With Catholic authorities refusing to cooperate with investigations and settling a few cases out of court, only a handful of Catholic Church perpetrators have seen the inside of a jail cell.

READ MORE: Popes, Vatican satanic cult Ninth Circle exposed, going to court

“The Whole Thing [Vatican state] is Shaking and Coming Down”

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