The Catholic Church in Nigeria leads the fight against gay discrimination

(CNA/EWTN News).- The Catholic Church in Nigeria has been at the forefront in fighting discrimination towards persons with same-sex attraction, says Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Jos, who adds that media coverage of the Church has been imbalanced.

Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Jos. Credit: Aid to the Church in Need.

In one of the strongest statements made about homosexuality during the first week of the Synod on the Family, the Nigerian prelate told the press on Oct. 8 that “the Catholic Church respects all human beings, and we believe we are all created in the image and likeness of God.”

Archbishop Kaigama said that the people of Africa believe marriage is only between a man and a woman, based on culture, biology, and religious belief. However, he stressed that this does not translate into support for the “the criminalizing of people with different sexual orientations.”

“The Catholic Church is in the forefront of defending them,” he said, “and we would defend any person with a homosexual orientation who has been harassed, who has been imprisoned, who has been punished.”

The archbishop criticized the media for focusing on the Church’s defense of marriage between a man and a woman, while ignoring the Church’s advocacy against discrimination towards persons with same-sex attraction.

“They forgot that we are serious defenders of human rights. We have our justice and peace department, we go to prisons, we see people who are unjustly imprisoned, or denied their rights.”

The media should have a balanced approach, he said, “in the sense that we respect human beings.”

Even though homosexual activity “is not in conformity with our culture and religion,” the archbishop continued, “we do not just throw away the persons. We embrace them in love. We try to share our point of view. We don't punish them.”

The pastoral care of persons with same-sex attraction has received relatively little attention thus far, although it is on the agenda for the Synod on the Family. At the opening session of the Synod on Oct. 6, Cardinal Peter Erdo noted “a broad consensus that people with a homosexual orientation should not be discriminated against.”

In an Oct. 10 briefing, Holy See Press Office director Fr. Federico Lombardi told the press that participants had noted the need for further discussion on issue of same-sex marriage.

The difficult and controversial questions “will come,” Archbishop Kaigama told the press. “By the grace of God, we're going to deal with them the best way possible for the good of the Church and the salvation of souls.”

Today in History October 11: The fall of Polaroid

October 11 is the 284th day of the year. There are 81 days remaining until the end of the year.

Today's Highlight in History 2001 – The Polaroid Corporation files for federal bankruptcy protection.

Polaroid Corporation is an American international consumer electronics and eyewear company, founded in 1937 by Edwin H. Land. It is most famous for its instant film cameras, which reached the market in 1948, and continued to be the company's flagship product line until the February 2008 decision to cease all production in favor of digital photography products. In September 2014 Polaroid introduced its latest digital camera product, the Polaroid Cube.

The company's original dominant market was in polarized sunglasses, an outgrowth of Land's self-guided research in polarization after leaving Harvard University after his freshman year—he later returned to Harvard to continue his research.

After Polaroid defeated Kodak in a patent battle, Kodak left the instant camera business on January 9, 1986.

Polaroid developed an instant movie system, Polavision, based on the Dufaycolor process. The product arrived on the market when videotape-based systems were rapidly gaining popularity. As a result, Polavision was unsuccessful and most of the manufactured product was sold off as a job lot at immense cost to the company. Its underlying technology was later improved for use in the Polachrome instant slide film system.

The company also was one of the early manufacturers of digital cameras, with the PDC-2000 in 1996; however, they failed to capture a large market share in that segment.

They also made 35 mm and multi format scanners, such as Polaroid SpiritScan 4000 35 mm scanner (the first scanner with a 4000 DPI CCD) in 1999, and the Polaroid PrintScan 120 in 2000, the scanners had mixed reception and had heavy competition with Nikon and Minolta. All the line was discontinued after the firm went bankrupt.

On October 11, 2001, Polaroid Corporation filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Almost all the company's assets (including the "Polaroid" name itself, which had become almost synonymous with instant photographs) were sold to a subsidiary of Bank One. They went on to form a new company, which also operates under the name "Polaroid Corporation" It stopped making Polaroid cameras in 2007 and stopped selling Polaroid film after 2009, to the consternation of many users.

Since March 2010, instant film materials for vintage Polaroid cameras have again become available on the market, developed and manufactured by a group called The Impossible Project, at the former Polaroid production plant in Enschede, The Netherlands.

-..Wikipedia

World Events 

1852 – The University of Sydney, Australia's oldest university, is inaugurated in Sydney.
1862 – American Civil War: In the aftermath of the Battle of Antietam, Confederate General J.E.B. Stuart and his men loot Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, during a raid into the north.
1864 – Campina Grande, Brazil, is established as a city.
1865 – Paul Bogle led hundreds of black men and women in a march in Jamaica, starting the Morant Bay rebellion.
1899 – Second Boer War begins: In South Africa, a war between the United Kingdom and the Boers of the Transvaal and Orange Free State erupts.
1899 – The Western League is renamed the American League.
1906 – San Francisco public school board sparks a diplomatic crisis between the United States and Japan by ordering Japanese students to be taught in racially segregated schools.
1910 – Former President Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first U.S. president to fly in an airplane. He flew for four minutes with Arch Hoxsey in a plane built by the Wright brothers at Kinloch Field (Lambert–St. Louis International Airport), St. Louis, Missouri.
1929 – J. C. Penney opens store #1252 in Milford, Delaware, making it a nationwide company with stores in all 48 U.S. states.
1950 – Television: CBS's mechanical color system is the first to be licensed for broadcast by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.
1962 – Second Vatican Council: Pope John XXIII convenes the first ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church in 92 years.
1972 – A race riot occurs on the United States Navy aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk off the coast of Vietnam during Operation Linebacker.
1975 – The NBC sketch comedy/variety show Saturday Night Live debuts with George Carlin as the host and Andy Kaufman, Janis Ian and Billy Preston as guests.
1976 – George Washington's appointment, posthumously, to the grade of General of the Armies by congressional joint resolution Public Law 94-479 is approved by President Gerald R. Ford.
1982 – The Mary Rose, a Tudor carrack which sank on July 19, 1545, is salvaged from the sea bed of the Solent, off Portsmouth.
1984 – Aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger, astronaut Kathryn D. Sullivan becomes the first American woman to perform a space walk.
1986 – Cold War: U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet in Reykjavík, Iceland, in an effort to continue discussions about scaling back their intermediate missile arsenals in Europe.
1987 – Start of Operation Pawan by Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri Lanka that killed thousands of ethnic Tamil civilians and hundreds of Tamil Tigers & Indian Armysoldiers.
1996 – Pala accident: a wood lorry and school bus collide in Jõgeva county, Estonia, killing eight children..
2001 – The Polaroid Corporation files for federal bankruptcy protection.
2002 – A bomb attack in a shopping mall in Vantaa, Finland kills seven.

Today in History October 10

October 10 is the 283rd day of the year. There are 82 days remaining until the end of the year.




Today's Highlight in History 1897 – German chemist Felix Hoffmann discovers an improved way of synthesizing acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin).

Felix Hoffmann (January 21, 1868 – February 8, 1946) was a German chemist, credited for the first synthesized medically useful forms of heroin and aspirin, while he was employed as a chemist at Bayer.

Aspirin was first synthesized by Felix Hoffmann in 1897 in a stable form usable for medical applications. By acetylating salicylic acid with acetic acid, he succeeded in creating acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) in a chemically pure and stable form.

The pharmacologist responsible for verifying these results was skeptical at first, yet once several large-scale studies to investigate the substance's efficacy and tolerability had been completed, it was found Hoffmann had discovered a pain-relieving, fever-lowering and anti-inflammatory substance. The company then worked to develop a cost-effective production process that would facilitate the promising active ingredient to be supplied as a pharmaceutical product. In 1899 it was marketed for the first time under the trade name Aspirin, initially as a powder supplied in glass bottles.

Uncoated aspirin tablets, consisting
of approximately 90% acetylsalicylic acid,
 along with a minor amount of inert fillers and binders.

He was also the first to create a stable version of Diacetylmorphine or Heroin, but he was not its original inventor.

Following the synthesis of aspirin, Hoffmann moved to the pharmaceutical marketing department, where he stayed until his retirement in 1928. He was granted full power of attorney, over Aspirin

Hoffman was never married and died without issue on February 8, 1946 in Switzerland.

Aspirin also known as acetylsalicylic acid is a salicylate drug, often used as an analgesic to relieve minor aches and pains, as an antipyretic to reduce fever, and as an anti-inflammatory medication.

The active ingredient of Aspirin was first discovered from the bark of the willow tree in 1763 by Edward Stone of Wadham College,University of Oxford. He had discovered salicylic acid, the active metabolite of aspirin. Aspirin is one of the most widely used medications in the world, with an estimated 40,000 tonnes of it being consumed each year. In countries where Aspirin is a registered trademark owned by Bayer, the generic term is acetylsalicylic acid (ASA). It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines, a list of the most important medication needed in a basic health system.

World Events

1780 – The Great Hurricane of 1780 kills 20,000–30,000 in the Caribbean.
1846 – Triton, the largest moon of the planet Neptune, is discovered by English astronomer William Lassell.
1860 – The original cornerstone of the University of the South is laid in Sewanee, Tennessee.
1868 – Carlos Céspedes issues the Grito de Yara from his plantation, La Demajagua, proclaiming Cuba's independence
1871 – The Great Chicago Fire: Chicago burns after a barn accident. The fire lasts from October 8 to October 10.
1897 – German chemist Felix Hoffmann discovers an improved way of synthesizing acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin).
1910 – Tau Epsilon Phi: Tau Epsilon Phi Fraternity is founded on the campus of Columbia University in New York City, New York.
1913 – United States President Woodrow Wilson triggers the explosion of the Gamboa Dike thus ending construction on the Panama Canal.
1964 – The opening ceremony of the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, is broadcast live in the first Olympic telecast relayed by geostationary communication satellite.
1967 – The Outer Space Treaty, signed on January 27 by more than sixty nations, comes into force.
1970 – Fiji becomes independent.
1970 – In Montreal, a national crisis hits Canada when Quebec Vice-Premier and Minister of Labour Pierre Laporte becomes the second statesman kidnapped by members of the FLQ terrorist group.
1971 – Sold, dismantled and moved to the United States, London Bridge reopens in Lake Havasu City, Arizona.
1973 – Vice President of the United States Spiro Agnew resigns after being charged with evasion of federal income tax.
1975 – Papua New Guinea joins the United Nations.
1997 – An Austral Airlines DC-9-32 crashes and explodes near Nuevo Berlin, Uruguay, killing 74.
1998 – A Lignes Aériennes Congolaises Boeing 727 is shot down by rebels in Kindu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, killing 41 people.
2008 – The 2008 Orakzai bombing kills 110 and injures 200 more.
2009 – Armenia and Turkey sign protocols in Zurich, Switzerland to open their borders.
2010 – The Netherlands Antilles are dissolved as a country.

A six year old sucks dog milk to quench his hunger

pix radar

This is what  poverty and hunger can do to a person. This six year old, Chotu Kumar an Indian boy was seen holding the hind leg of a dog so he can suck its breast milk to fill up his belly and quench his hunger all because his family is living below poverty line.

Today in History October 09. Focus on Uganda

October 9 is the 282nd day of the year. There are 83 days remaining until the end of the year.





Today's Highlight in History 1962 – Uganda becomes an independent Commonwealth realm.





Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the southwest by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. Uganda is the world's second most populous landlocked country after Ethiopia. Uganda also lies within the Nile basin, and has a varied but generally equatorial climate.

Uganda takes its name from the Buganda kingdom, which encompasses a large portion of the south of the country including the capital Kampala. The people of Uganda were hunter-gatherers until 1,700 to 2,300 years ago, when Bantu-speaking populations migrated to the southern parts of the country.

The official language is English. Luganda, a central language, is widely spoken across the country, and multiple other languages are also spoken including Runyoro, Runyankole Rukiga, Langi and many others.

In 1966, following a power struggle between the Obote-led government and King Muteesa, the UPC-dominated Parliament changed the constitution and removed the ceremonial president and vice-president. In 1967, a new constitution proclaimed Uganda a republic and abolished the traditional kingdoms. Without first calling elections, Obote was declared the executive President.

Yoweri Museveni, President of Uganda

After a military coup in 1971, Obote was deposed from power and the dictator Idi Amin seized control of the country. Amin ruled Uganda with the military for eight years and carried out mass killings within the country to maintain his rule. An estimated 300,000 Ugandans lost their lives at the hands of his regime, many of them in the north, which he associated with Obote's loyalists. Aside from his brutalities, he forcibly removed the entrepreneurial Indian minority from Uganda, which left the country's economy in ruins. Amin's atrocities were graphically accounted in the 1977 book, A State of Blood, written by one of his former ministers after he fled the country.

The current President of Uganda is Yoweri Kaguta Museveni who came to power in a coup in 1986. The President is both head of state and head of government. The President appoints a Vice-President, currently Edward Ssekandi, and a prime minister, currently Ruhakana Rugunda, who aid him in governing. The parliament is formed by the National Assembly, which has 332 members. 104 of these members are nominated by interest groups, including women and the army. The remaining members are elected for five-year terms during general elections.

-Wikipedia

World Events

1824 – Slavery is abolished in Costa Rica.
1831 – Ioannis Kapodistrias, the first head of state of independent Greece is assassinated.
1834 – Opening of the Dublin and Kingstown Railway, the first public railway on the island of Ireland.
1845 – The eminent and controversial Anglican, John Henry Newman, is received into the Roman Catholic Church.
1854 – Crimean War: The siege of Sebastopol begins.
1873 – A meeting at the U.S. Naval Academy establishes the U.S. Naval Institute.
1874 – General Postal Union is created as a result of the Treaty of Berne.
1888 – The Washington Monument officially opens to the general public.
1913 – The steamship SS Volturno catches fire in the mid-Atlantic.
1914 – World War I: Siege of Antwerp: Antwerp, Belgium falls to German troops.
1919 – Black Sox Scandal: The Cincinnati Reds win the World Series.
1934 – Regicide at Marseille: The assassination of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia and Louis Barthou, Foreign Minister of France.
1936 – Generators at Boulder Dam (later renamed to Hoover Dam) begin to generate electricity from the Colorado River and transmit it 266 miles to Los Angeles.
1941 – A coup in Panama declares Ricardo Adolfo de la Guardia Arango the new president.
1942 – Statute of Westminster 1931 formalises Australian autonomy.
1962 – Uganda becomes an independent Commonwealth realm.
1963 – In northeast Italy, over 2,000 people are killed when a large landslide behind the Vajont Dam causes a giant wave of water to overtop it.
1969 – In Chicago, the United States National Guard is called in for crowd control as demonstrations continue in connection with the trial of the "Chicago Eight" that began on September 24.
1970 – The Khmer Republic is proclaimed in Cambodia.
1980 – Pope John Paul II shakes hands with the Dalai Lama during a private audience in Vatican City.
1981 – Abolition of capital punishment in France.
1983 – Rangoon bombing: Attempted assassination of South Korean President Chun Doo-hwan during an official visit to Rangoon, Burma. Chun survives but the blast kills 17 of his entourage, including four cabinet ministers, and injures 17 others. Four Burmese officials also die in the blast.
1986 – The musical The Phantom of the Opera receives its first performance at Her Majesty's Theatre in London.
1989 – An official news agency in the Soviet Union reports the landing of a UFO in Voronezh.
1991 – Ecuador becomes a member of the Berne Convention.
2003 – Mission: Space opens to the public in the Epcot park at Walt Disney World. The opening ceremony included several astronauts from all eras of space exploration.
2006 – North Korea allegedly tests its first nuclear device.
2012 – Members of the Pakistani Taliban made a failed attempt to assassinate Malala Yousafzai on her way home from school.

US Ebola patient dies in hospital

The first person to be diagnosed with Ebola within the US has died, Texas hospital officials announced today.

"It is with profound sadness and heartfelt disappointment that we must inform you of the death of Thomas Eric Duncan this morning at 7:51 am," a spokesman said in a statement.

Thomas Eric Duncan, 42, who caught the virus in his native Liberia, was being treated with experimental drugs in isolation in a Dallas hospital.

Duncan, who worked as a driver for a courier company, tested positive in Dallas, Texas, on 30 September, 10 days after arriving on a flight from Monrovia via Brussels.

He become ill a few days after arriving in the US but even after going to hospital and telling medical staff he had been in Liberia he was sent home with antibiotics.

Twitter sues US government over surveillance laws.

Twitter has filed a lawsuit against the US government in which it asks to be allowed to publish information about government surveillance of users, the company announced today

The suit, filed by the San Francisco-based social networking company in the US District Court of Northern California, says that US government prohibitions on sharing the nature of some of its demands for Twitter user data violate the First Amendment's free speech clause .

Twitter legal counsel Ben Lee said in a blog post that the firm believes that current government restrictions on transparency are preventing tech companies from being fully honest with the public.