THE WAR 70 YEARS ON

70 years ago this month, the first and only atomic bombings in history occurred. Hiroshima was the first city to be attacked, and then Nagasaki, 3 days later. Some people were exposed to radiation from both bombs. Very little has been written about these double victims. NHK recently spoke with one of them.

Notes from a survivor give a first-person account of what happened in both cities in the summer of 1945.

Vatican Sacks Gay Priest After Public Coming Out To Say He Is Gay

The Vatican on Saturday dismissed a Polish priest from his Holy See job after he came out as gay and called for changes in Catholic teachings against homosexual activity on the eve of a major Church meeting on the family.

Monsignor Krzysztof Charamsa, a theologian, had worked at the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican’s doctrinal arm, since 2003, and taught theology at pontifical universities in Rome, which have also dismissed him.

Charamsa, 43, told Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper and Polish media that he was gay and had a partner. The Church teaches that homosexuality is not a sin, but homosexual activity is, and priests, whether heterosexual or gay, take vows of celibacy.

Charamsa followed up his media interviews with a packed news conference with his partner and gay activists at a Rome restaurant. They had planned a demonstration in front of the Vatican but changed the venue several hours before it was due to have started.

SDF to Promote Japanese Machinery / Plans to Teach Use In Africa During PKOs

 

The Ground Self-Defense Force has started training military units from developing countries in Africa to build facilities, maintain roads and do other infrastructure work using heavy machinery.

The government wants to use the Self-Defense Forces’ role in U.N. peacekeeping operations (see below) to kill two birds with one stone — promote the SDF’s skills and the performance of Japanese-made machinery.

In Kenya in early September, GSDF personnel were demonstrating road maintenance using excavators and other machinery made by Komatsu Ltd. Military engineers from Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and other African countries were there to observe and applauded the GSDF members’ skill.

Woman Lands Herself In Hospital After Using Building Foam Instead Of Hair Mousse

Early this week, an older woman managed to land herself in the hospital after she mistakenly applied builder’s foam to the entirety of her head instead of her favorite hair mousse. Apparently, the two cans looked nearly identical, though we’re unsure as to why she had builder’s foam in her bathroom in the first place.

Women Who Never Had Sex Are Getting Pregnant Through ‘Virgin Births’

A rising number of women are choosing to have children through IVF, despite not having had sex or on a relationship at all. Women in the UK are now approaching doctors for IVF, all of which are in their 20s and heterosexual, according to reports. Many of the women wanted to be parents but don’t want to wait for the ‘right one’, while others are simply scared of sex.

Some are willing to pay 5,000 pounds ($7,600) on fertility treatment to get pregnant without sexual involvement. There have been a total of 25 straight women who gave birth in the past 5 years, despite being virgins.

Flesh-Eating Spider Bite On A Plane Nearly Costs The Passenger His Leg

The idea of anything – whether it be a bacteria, virus, or some type of a critter – causing your flesh to rot away is absolutely terrifying. One man recently lived through that exact situation while on an airplane.

While on holiday, Jonathon Hogg, of London, was told by the doctors who saw him after his Qatar Airways flight landed that he had nearly lost his life during this attack. While aboard the plane, a venomous brown recluse spider managed to bite him, causing his leg to ‘burst and melt’.

Flight Attendant Fired For Having Paid Sex With Passengers

An airline hostess decided to take her job of satisfying ‘mile high’ customers literally when she decided to have sex with them in exchange for money. The flight attendant was reportedly earning over $1 million during a two year time span by having sex with multiple plane passengers in the plane’s toilet. The hostess was immediately fired on the spot after she was caught in the act of performing sexual favors during flight.