Ireland backs legalizing gay marriage by a landslide

DUBLIN –  Irish voters backed legalizing gay marriage by a landslide, according to electoral figures announced Saturday -- a stunning result that illustrates the rapid social change taking place in this traditionally Catholic nation. Figures from Friday's referendum announced at Dublin Castle showed that 62.1 percent of Irish voters said "yes." Outside, watching the results announcement live in the castle's cobblestoned courtyard, thousands of gay rights activists cheered, hugged and cried.
The unexpectedly strong percentage of approval surprised both sides. Analysts and campaigners credited the yes side with adeptly using social media to mobilize first-time young voters and for a series of searing personal stories from Irish gay people to convince voters to back equal marriage rights.
Ireland is the first country to approve gay marriage in a popular national vote. Nineteen other countries have legalized the practice.
We're the first country in the world to enshrine marriage equality in our constitution and do so by popular mandate. That makes us a beacon, a light to the rest of the world, of liberty and equality. So it's a very proud day to be Irish," said Leo Varadkar, a Cabinet minister who came out as gay at the start of a government-led effort to amend Ireland's conservative Catholic constitution
People from the LGBT community in Ireland are a minority. But with our parents, our families, or friends and co-workers and colleagues, we're a majority," said Varadkar, who watched the votes being tabulated at the County Dublin ballot center.
For me it wasn't just a referendum. It was more like a social revolution," he added.
Michael Barron and Jaime Nanci, a gay couple legally married in South Africa five years ago, celebrated with friends at the Dublin City counting center as the reality sank in that, once Ireland's parliament passes the complementary legislation, their foreign marriage will be recognized in their homeland.
Oh.My.God! We're actually Married now!" Nanci tweeted to his spouse and the world, part of a cavalcade of tweets from Ireland tagged #LandslideOfLove.
Political analysts who have covered Irish referendums for decades agreed that Saturday's emerging landslide marked a stunning generational shift from the 1980s, when voters still firmly backed Catholic Church teachings and overwhelmingly voted against abortion and divorce.
We're in a new country," said political analyst Sean Donnelly, who called the result "a tidal wave" that has produced pro-gay marriage majorities in even the most traditionally conservative rural corners of Ireland.
I'm of a different generation," said the gray-haired Donnelly, who has covered Irish politics since the 1970s. When I was reared up, the church was all powerful and the word `gay' wasn't even in use in those days. How things have moved from my childhood to now. It's been a massive change for a conservative country."
Ireland's deputy prime minister, Labour Party leader Joan Burton, said Ireland was becoming "a rainbow nation with a huge amount of diversity." She said while campaigning door to door, she met older gay people who described how society made them "live in a shadow and apart," and younger voters who were keen to ensure that Irish homosexuals live "as free citizens in a free republic.
The yes side ran a creative, compelling campaign that harnessed the power of social media to mobilize young voters, tens of thousands of whom voted for the first time Friday. The vote came five years after parliament approved marriage-style civil partnerships for gay couples.Those seeking a "no" outcome described their defeat as almost inevitable, given that all of Ireland's political parties and most politicians backed the legalization of homosexual unions.
David Quinn, leader of the Catholic think tank Iona Institute, said he was troubled by the fact that no political party backed the "no" cause.

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Fuel Scarcity Affects Operations In Arik, MTN, Radio Stations & Other Businesses bodies

  Government should come and do something really fast about this drastic fuel scarcity in the country! The roads are empty  due to the scarcity, no fuel for vehicles, businesses and generators. Even NEPA is not helping matters at all! If you manage to get public transport, the fare have increased drastically.  Everywhere you turn people are carrying jerrycans up and down. If you manage to see fuel in the black market, it is going at very ridiculous rates/litre. Some businesses like Arik, Mtn & some radio stations have put out notices stating that due the fuel scarcity, their operations will be affected. Arik has cancelled most of their flights, while Mtn says it will be seriously degraded and customers will feel the impact, since on a normal day, fuel is used to power their operations round the clock. Radio stations are also have also rationed their programs as they cannot operate 24/7.

  See  Below Photos And Know What Other Bodies Are Saying.

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Breaking News Nigerian Restaurant Shut Down For Serving Human Meat,

BREAKING NEWS
A restaurant in Nigeria has been reportedly been closed down after authorities discovered staff were cooking human flesh and serving it to customers.
The police were tipped off by concerned locals and, when they raided the kitchen, they found human heads which were still dripping with blood in plastic bags!
One resident said:
I am not surprised at the shocking revelation. Every time I went to the market, I observed strange activities going on in the hotel. People who were never cleanly dressed and who looked a bit strange made their way in and out of the hotel, making me very suspicious of their activities.
The police also found an arsenal of weapons in the restaurant, located in the south-eastern province of Anambra, including grenades and AK-47 rifles. Ten people were arrested in connection to the crimes.
Bizarrely, a local priest who ate at the hotel seemed more alarmed by the price of the meals there than the fact he might have been eating human flesh.
He was presented with a bill of 700 Naira (around £2.20) when the daily wage for millions of Nigerians is only around 60p.
Speaking to BBC Swahili, the priest said:
 The attendant noticed my reaction and told me it was the small piece of meat I had eaten that made the bill scale that high. I did not know I had been served with human meat, and that it was that expensive

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How drones are helping the Nepal earthquake relief effort

Drones are proving a crucial high-tech tool for aid workers in the aftermath of the devastating Nepal earthquake.
With the death toll from Saturday’s 7.8-magnitude quake now over 5,000, rescuers and relief workers are scrambling to get aid to the country’s worst-hit areas.
Experts from Etobicoke, Ontario-based GlobalMedic, which manages a fleet of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for international disaster relief missions, is already in the Himalayan nation. “Our UAV team is tasked with aerially mapping crisis-affected areas, then compiling and cross-stitching the collected imagery into maps that provide a superior snapshot of needs on the ground,” wrote a GlobalMedic spokeswoman, in an email  “Identifying flooded areas, obstructed roads, population movements, and damaged infrastructure, the possibilities for UAV use in an emergency setting are extensive.”
The aid organization is using three high-end UAVs in Nepal. The SkyRanger and Scout drones, built by Aeryon Labs, are controlled via a touchscreen interface. Equipped with thermal cameras, the devices can identify people who are trapped or injured.
Haunting drone footage from Nepal reveals a patchwork of collapsed buildings and wrecked temples, underlining the scale of the destruction. The U.N. says the disaster has affected 8.1 million people — more than a fourth of Nepal's population of 27.8 million — and that 1.4 million needed food assistance.
Officials and foreign aid workers who have rushed to Nepal following the earthquake are struggling against stormy weather, poor roads and a shortage of manpower and funds to get assistance to the needy.
GlobalMedic said that its drones record and transmit information in real time, helping to assign priority areas for humanitarian aid and identifying accessibility issues. “These maps are vital in the assessment of humanitarian needs,” said the spokeswoman. “All mapping information and results will be shared with the U.N., the Nepalese government and all coordinating agencies responding in Nepal. The aim is to disseminate this invaluable information so the humanitarian network can coordinate effectively, eliminate gaps and overlaps in programming, and save more lives.”

The Canadian organization also used its UAVs during the relief efforts after Typhoon Hagupit struck the Philippines last year.
GlobalMedic Director Rahul Singh said that information is key in any emergency scenario. “In an emergency if you call 911 – help is sent.  But the right help is sent based on the information gleaned from the caller,” he wrote, in an email. “Nepal has called for a Global 911 response - the images from these UAVs will be that information. This is crucial to ensuring aid is delivered more effectively.

Watch It Life Here.

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NASA’s Messenger spacecraft crashes into Mercury

BREAKING NEWS

Messenger, NASA’s Mercury-orbiting spacecraft, reached the end of its historic 11-year mission Thursday when it crashed into the little planet closest to the sun.
The spacecraft, which was out of fuel, slipped out of orbit and slammed into Mercury at 3:26 p.m. ET, according to mission controllers at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md.
Mission control confirmed end of operations at 3:40 p.m. ET,when no signal was detected by NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN) station in Goldstone, Calif., at the time the spacecraft would have emerged from behind the planet
At 3:16 p.m. ET, the mission's @MESSENGER2011 Twitter account had tweeted: "Well I guess it is time to say goodbye to all my friends, family, support team. I will be making my final impact very soon."
At 3:23 p.m. ET @MESSENGER2011 tweeted "#thatsmessenger" and an image of Mercury's surface, with the message "Messenger's last act? That's smashing!"
Messenger made history in March 2011 when it became the first probe to orbit Mercury.
The crash ended a successful mission for Messenger, which was launched in August 2004. The spacecraft has undertaken extensive mapping of Mercury during its journey, and has sent a slew of data on the planet back to earth. Messenger, for example, found vast troves of sulfur on the planet’s surface. Messenger’s original goal was to take 2,500 images of the planet, but it has returned more than 270,000 to earth.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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looting in Baltimore as National Guard join police patrolling streets

More looting was reported Tuesday morning in Baltimore, after a night of chaos and rioting that prompted the National Guard to swarm in to restore order.
The looting appeared to be isolated compared to Monday night, which damaged parts of the city. State officials worked to cut off any new rioting by employing National Guard troops along with city police officers. These police officers were stationed at various key points throughout the city.
The increased police presence came after Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican and Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake were criticized for what was perceived by some as a slow response. Hogan, at a morning press conference, vowed to keep the protest agitators at bay by talking with community leaders and deploying more police.
Looted storefronts were being boarded up, burned cars hauled away and as many as 20 police officers were recovering from injuries suffered during the rioting that broke out when high school kids used social media to launch a coordinated "Purge," the slang term taken from a movie and meaning a night where laws are not observedAmid the rioting Monday night that led to 200 arrests, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake strongly condemned the "thugs" behind the mayhem and announced a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew beginning Tuesday and lasting at least a week.
Too many people have spent generations building up this city for it to be destroyed by thugs who, in a very senseless way, are trying to tear down what so many have fought for," the mayor said. "It's idiotic to think that by destroying your city, you're going to make life better for anybody."
    Despite reports of a gang pact to attack police officers, those injured appeared to have been hurt by rock-throwing youngsters in an early confrontation. For most of the evening, police battled flare-ups around the city before National Guard troops arrived in Baltimore shortly after midnight and helped quell the rioting.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson has visited a burned-out drug store in Baltimore as crowds gather in the streets a night after riots.
Jackson said the violence, while inexcusable, reflected the alienation of unemployed people in neighborhoods full of empty homes and vacant lots.
It was painful because it destroyed a lot of neighborhood businesses and hurt a lot of people, but the violence is driven by that alienation," Jackson said.
City Police Commissioner Anthony Batts admitted that his officers were not prepared for the outbreak of violence that forced Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan to declare a state of emergency.
Yes, we planned for it. That wasn't the issue," Batts told reporters late Monday. "We just had too many people out there [for us] to overcome the numbers we had. The commissioner added that the rioters had pulled his officers to opposite ends of the city and had outnumbered us and outflanked us.
These acts of violence and destruction of property cannot and will not be tolerated," Hogan said at a late-night press conference. The governor also said he was deploying 500 state troopers and had asked for 5,000 officers from neighboring states to deal with the violence.
Batts said the National Guard would be used to take control of what he called "structures and fixed posts" to support police efforts to regain control of the city's streets.
   As the violence grew Monday, officers wearing helmets and wielding shields occasionally used pepper spray to keep the rioters back. For the most part, though, they relied on line formations to keep rioters at bay. After midnight Monday, authorities were still struggling to quell pockets of unrest.
The violence began hours after Monday's funeral for Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old man who died last week from a severe spinal cord injury he suffered while in police custody. Gray's fatal encounter with officers came amid the national debate over police use of force, especially when black suspects, like Gray, are involved. Gray was African-American. Police have declined to specify the races of the six officers involved in his arrest, all of whom have been suspended with pay while they are under investigation.
Gray's family denounced the violence late Monday, saying it was not the way to honor him
I think the violence is wrong," Gray's twin sister, Fredericka Gray, said. "I don't like it at all.
The attorney for Gray's family, Billy Murphy, said the family had hoped to organize a peace march later in the week.
Looters were seen smashing their way into stores during the riots.
During Gray's funeral Monday, police released a statement saying that the department had received a "credible threat" that three notoriously violent gangs are now working together to "take out" law enforcement officers. A police source told Fox News several gangs, including Black Gorilla Family, Bloods and Crips all had “entered into a partnership to take out law enforcement officers.”
The confrontation that sparked the violence stemmed from an online call for a "purge" that would begin at the Mondawmin Mall in west Baltimore and end downtown. The phrase is a reference to the 2013 movie "The Purge",  which takes place in a world in which crime is made legal for one night only.
Alerted to the warning, authorities mobilized police officers to the Mondawmin Mall in west Baltimore, within a mile of where Gray was filmed being arrested and pushed into a police van April 12. The shopping center is a transportation hub for students at nearby schools.
At 3 p.m., the time of the reported "purge," between 75 to 100 students on their way to the mall were greeted by police in riot gear. The students began throwing water bottles and rocks at the officers, who responded with tear gas and Mace. As the crowds at Mondawmin Mall began to thin, the riot shifted about a mile away to the heart of an older shopping district near where Gray first encountered police.
One worker inside the mall told FoxNews.com that stores in the shopping center were badly damaged. The shelves in a hat store named Lids were emptied and jewelry stores were emptied, according to the worker.
Emergency officials were constantly thwarted as they tried to restore calm in the affected parts of the city of more than 620,000 people. Firefighters trying to put out a blaze at a CVS store were hindered by someone who sliced holes in a hose connected to a fire hydrant, spraying water all over the street and nearby buildings.

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