Church Of England Approves Women Bishops!

The Church of England voted to allow its first ever female bishops, ending half a century of wrangling over the role of women.

The decision, taken by the General Synod in York, reverses a previous rejection in 2012.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby, said: "Today is the completion of what was begun over 20 years ago with the ordination of women as priests.

"I am delighted with today's result. Today marks the start of a great adventure."

The decision, approved in all three houses of the church's governing body, followed a five-hour debate.

Women bishops could now be appointed by the end of this year in the Church of England.

One vote saw 37 bishops in favour, two against and one abstention. Another ended with 162 clergy in favour, 25 against and four abstentions. And in the crucial lay vote there were 152 in favour, 45 against and five abstentions.

In 2012 the introduction of female bishops was derailed by just six votes cast by lay members.

Archbishop Welby staked his authority on a new proposals and promised traditionalists he would commit to meeting their needs should they pass the legislation.

The news was welcomed by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.

"This is a watershed moment for the Church of England and a huge step forward in making our society fairer," he said.

But not all church conservatives were convinced.

Chik Kaw Tan, a lay member from the Lichfield Diocese, said: "The very same arguments that are being used to promote women in the episcopate are the very same arguments that are being used to redefine marriage from that which is between a man and a woman to two persons of the same sex."

source: Sky news

Gates reveals favorite book!

"Twenty years later, this is still the best business book I’ve ever read."

"Not long after I first met Warren Buffett back in 1991, I asked him to recommend his favorite book about business. He didn’t miss a beat: “It’s Business Adventures, by John Brooks,” he said. “I’ll send you my copy.” I was intrigued: I had never heard of Business Adventures or John Brooks.

Today, more than two decades after Warren lent it to me—and more than four decades after it was first published—Business Adventures remains the best business book I’ve ever read. John Brooks is still my favorite business writer".

Those were the words of American business magnate, philanthropist, investor, computer programmer, and inventor Bill Gates on gatesnote, when he reveals his favorite Business Book.

Protect Teachers from Wartime Attacks: New Report Shows Educators Are Targeted in Armed Conflict!

Attacks on teachers and other educators are a disturbingly common tactic of war and a serious threat to education, the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA) said in a new study released today, Protecting Education Personnel from Targeted Attack in Conflict-Affected Countries. 


The report describes how teachers have been targeted around the world and documents various ways communities have tried to keep them safe. “On Malala Day, we should also remember the courage of teachers like Malala’s father, who too often place their lives at risk simply by going to work and doing their job,” said Diya Nijhowne, GCPEA’s director. 

“Attacks on teachers strike at the very heart of a community, and more must be done to protect them.” Malala Day – July 14 – celebrates the courage of Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl and education activist shot by the Taliban in 2012 for her work to promote girls’ education. 

The 50-page report draws from interviews with global practitioners, documents from international and local organizations, and field research in the Philippines. It highlights the devastating impact of violence against educators on the education system. Attacks can deplete the teaching force, as teachers and professors are intimidated, injured, killed, or forced to flee. 
In the longer term, they can exacerbate teacher shortages, disrupt education and employment cycles, and impact a country’s development. “In many places, there is already a significant gap between the number of trained teachers and the demand for education,” said Nijhowne. 

“When low pay is compounded with the risk of attacks, there is little incentive to enter and stay in the teaching profession, weakening the education system even further.” Teachers Targeted in at least 23 Countries since 2009 Over the last five years, teachers and other education staff have been targeted for assassination, killed, injured, tortured, detained, extorted, and harassed in areas of conflict and instability in at least 23 countries, according to Education under Attack 2014. 

In Nigeria, where the militant group Boko Haram abducted almost 300 schoolgirls exactly three months ago, the President of the National Union of Teachers reported that the group had also killed 171 teachers since 2009. 
The motives for attacks vary. Some educators face threats because of their classroom activities: they refuse to allow armed parties to recruit children from schools, they teach girls, or their lessons include particular topics and not others. Others are targeted because of their ethnicity, their association with the government or a warring party, their political activities, or because they engage in education-related advocacy. 

In the Philippines, for example, education personnel are required to serve as poll workers during elections, resulting in an upsurge in attacks on teachers during voting periods. Ahead of 2010 elections in Maguindanao, unidentified gunmen assassinated a principal and a teacher at an elementary school that is regularly used as a polling station. 
Teachers in the Philippines also experienced harassment and attacks when schools were used by armed parties for military purposes, such as barracks and camps, despite national laws prohibiting this practice. Protecting Teachers from Attack Educators who face attacks require more protection, GCPEA said. 

The new report examines measures taken to protect teachers, including: arming teachers, using armed and unarmed civilian guards, setting up community protection committees, relocating and transferring teachers, negotiating with belligerent parties to keep schools and teachers off-limits, and monitoring and reporting attacks. 

Some of these measures bring their own risks. Armed guards in southern Thailand, for example, themselves became the targets of attack, putting in the line of fire the very teachers they were hired to protect. 
The report also assesses strategies to prevent attacks in the long term, including increasing accountability and ending impunity for attacks, enacting protective legislation and policy, and developing conflict-sensitive education programs and policies. Teachers’ unions and human rights groups in Colombia and Zimbabwe, for example, have taken perpetrators to court for attacks against teachers, with some successes in Colombia. 

Finally, the report offers guidance to practitioners and policymakers on what they can do to help improve teachers’ security. “Teachers play a crucial role in enlightening and inspiring the next generation of leaders like Malala,” said Nijhowne. 

“For the sake of their children, their societies, and their future, it is imperative that States galvanize efforts and resources to keep teachers safe.”  

A report from Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack

Train Kills Woman Fumbling With iPad on NY subway!

A 21 year- old- woman was reportedly killed over the weekend, by an oncoming train at a New York subway station after falling on to the tracks as she tried to rescue her iPad.

Reports from the New York Post said that exhausted woman identified as Aracelis Ayuso fell off when she lost her grip on her tablet.

The mother of a three -year-old daughter was tired from her early morning shift at a bakery in Chelsea. She was standing on a platform waiting for a Brooklyn-bound train at Union Square station when she lost her grip on her tablet. As she tried to catch the device, she lost her balance and fell on the tracks, the newspaper said.

The train conductor tried to stop but it was too late.

Ms Ayuso's boyfriend, Yeovany Rivero, told the Post that the woman was "exhausted" from waking up at "the crack of dawn".

Stolen Mustang crashes into Greyhound bus in Indiana, killing one and injuring 19!

According to the Wayne County sheriff’s office, One person was killed and 19 others injured at the early morning hours on Sunday, when a man driving what was believed to be a stolen Ford Mustang went the wrong way on an Indiana highway and slammed into a Greyhound bus.

“It is unclear at this time how the Mustang entered the interstate. However, the Mustang was driven westbound on the interstate in the eastbound lanes prior to the collision,” the office said in a statement.

The driver of the Mustang, identified as Phillip Lloyd of Richmond, Indiana, died at the scene of the crash, on Interstate 70 near the city of Richmond, close to the Ohio border.

The sheriff’s office and Greyhound spokeswoman Lanesha Gipson said the crash sent 18 bus passengers to a local hospital with minor injuries.

Gipson's report says  that Medics airlifted the bus driver to a medical center in Indianapolis, about 70 miles from the crash scene. The extent of the driver’s injuries was however not immediately known.

The New York City-bound bus was heading toward Dayton, Ohio, at the time of the crash.

“We’re cooperating fully with law enforcement’s investigation as well,” Gipson said.

We are still studying Boko Haram Video Claim on Lagos Bombing – Police says!

Following Boko Haram’s claims on Sunday in a video that it was responsible for the twin explosions, which occurred on June 25, 2014 at Creek Road, Apapa, Lagos State.

The video made available to AFP, shows Shekau claiming responsibility for the explosion which he said the Police and the Lagos State Government said resulted from gas cylinder.

Shekau said “I ordered the bomber to detonate the explosive.”

The Lagos Commissioner of Police, Umar Manko, had dispelled the claims as mere industrial accident and that the incident had nothing to do with Boko Haram activities.

Mr. Manko asked Lagosians to carry on with their daily activities and as far as Lagos State was concerned there was nothing to fear as regard Boko Haram attacks.

Shekau has now been quoted to have said “A bomb went off in Lagos. I ordered (the bomber) who went and detonated it.

“You said it was a fire incident, well, if you hide it from people you cannot hide it from Allah.”

Claiming responsibility for the bombing of Lagos, the leader of Boko Haram sect also said that the sect was responsible for the Abuja bombings that killed many people at Emah Plaza, located in the Federal Capital Territory.

“We were the ones who detonated the bomb in filthy Abuja,” Shekau said.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, has revealed that an information technology test and forensic analysis would be carried out to determine the authenticity of the video.

According to reports, Mba refused to comment on the allegation that the explosions at the Folawiyo Energy Limited on Creek Road were detonated bombs.

He said: “We’re studying the video, after we study the video, our approach will first be to conduct a thorough forensic analysis of the picture/video to authenticate the veracity of the video.
“It’s only after then that we’ll then be able to know what to do.
“Anybody can produce a picture or video and post it. IT and forensic analysis will determine the truth. I’m not saying more than that.”

Boko Haram bombs bridge in Borno!

Some gunmen suspected to be members of the Boko Haram sect have bombed the popular Madafuma bridge linking Biu-Damboa- Maiduguri federal road in Borno State.

According to reports, the gunmen had on Saturday planted Improvised Explosive Devices, under the bridge.

The action, sources on Sunday said, left motorists and passengers stranded.

It will be recalled that there has been frequent attacks on the bridge, which has made most people in Biu, Garkida, Numan and Shani to take alternative route to Borno State.

The bombing of the bridge according to Mallam Musa Yakubu took place at about 2am when residents of the area were asleep.

He said, “We heard a loud bang on Saturday and on Sunday morning when we gathered in Madafuma village. We later found out that the bridge linking us with Biu Local Government Area and Dara Girau had been blown off, forcing motorists heading to Maiduguri from Biu especially long vehicles to make a U-turn back to Gombe. Small vehicles had to manage the remaining thin portion which was not seriously affected by the blast, but it is very risky.”

Trucks loaded with yams from Taraba and Benue states reportedly returned to Biu on Sunday due to the incident.

Meanwhile, a person, who claimed to be a mad man, was on Sunday caught with explosive substances around one of the hostels at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, on Sunday.

The arrested person identified himself as Adedayo Rasaki Daniel.

The man was caught with explosive materials including petrol, wires, stove, and newspapers at about 1pm by the students of the OAU.

The Public Relations Officer of the university, Mr. Biodun Olarewaju, told our correspondent on the telephone that necessary steps had been taken to confirm if the arrested person was insane or not.

He said, “What happened was that our security unit apprehended somebody, whose movement was suspicious. While they searched him, a stove, old newspapers copies, and some liquid mixture suspected to be kerosene, petrol or so were found on him.

“From our observation, the young guy may not be ok. We don’t want to leave anything to chances because of the security challenges in the country and that is why we handed him over to the police. We want the police to use their expertise to check if the guy is mentally ok or not. I wish to put it on record that our security officers are ever vigilant, and we don’t want any havoc here and machinery has been put in place to safeguard lives and property.”
source; Punch news