Pope names seven new saints, seeks to revive faith

VATICAN CITY –  Pope Benedict XVI added seven more saints onto the roster of Catholic role models on Sunday, saying their example would strengthen the church it tries to rekindle the faith in places where it's lagging. Two of them were Americans: Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Native American saint from the U.S. and Mother Marianne Cope, a 19th century Franciscan nun who cared for leprosy patients in Hawaii.

In his homily, Benedict praised each of the seven new saints as examples for the entire church, calling Cope a "shining" example for Catholics and Kateri an inspiration to indigenous faithful across North America.

"With heroic courage they spent their lives in total consecration to the Lord and in the generous service of their brethren," he said.

Pilgrims from around the world attended the Mass, which started with the head of the Vatican's saint-making office reading aloud each of the names of the seven new saints in Latin, drawing cheers from the crowd.

The other new saints are: Jacques Berthieu, a 19th century French Jesuit who was killed by rebels in Madagascar, where he had worked as a missionary; Giovanni Battista Piamarta, an Italian who founded a religious order in 1900 and established a Catholic printing and publishing house in his native Brescia; Carmen Salles Y Barangueras, a Spanish nun who founded a religious order to educate children in 1892; and Anna Schaeffer, a 19th century German lay woman who became a model for the sick and suffering after she fell into a boiler and badly burned her legs. The wounds never healed, causing her constant pain.

Former Senator George McGovern, '72 Democratic presidential nominee, dies at 90

George McGovern, the 1972 Democratic presidential nominee, has died after a short stay in a South Dakota hospice, after what his family termed a “combination of medical conditions.”

He was 90 years old.

A 22-year veteran of the House and Senate from South Dakota, McGovern was one of the most storied American politicians of the 20th century. McGovern was best known for his outspoken opposition to the Vietnam War and advocacy for agricultural and world hunger issues.

McGovern lost the 1972 presidential election to the incumbent President Richard Nixon in one of the biggest landslides in American history, winning only Massachusetts and the District of Columbia. Nixon later resigned from the presidency in 1974 due to the Watergate scandal.

Jewels, pearls, and plain Florsheim shoes for Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson was the ultimate entertainer, who oversaw all the details of his shows, from the slick choreography to the rhinestones and pearls carefully hand sewn onto his elaborate costumes, his longtime costume designer says.As much as music and dance characterized the pop superstar, the late Jackson was also known for his style, from military outfits and regalia, to jewel-encrusted gloves, fedora hats and intricately beaded jackets.In a new book, "The King of Style: Dressing Michael Jackson," Michael Bush, the man who designed and made Jackson's stage costumes for 25 years until the pop star's death in 2009, offers a behind-the-scenes look at the iconic superstar and the development of his signature style.

"The clothes had to work around the way he was performing," Bush told Reuters in a telephone interview. "He wanted his outfits, or his costumes, to be as entertaining on a hanger as they were on him. It was an added layer of refinement and detail that he was projecting to his audience."

Lions, other animals starved to death in Benue Zoo

Even as Benue State Governor Gabriel Suswam has been importing pigs into the state, animals in the popular Makurdi Zoological Garden are being starved to death.
A lion was reported to have died of starvation in the zoo last week. Sunday Trust gathered that most of the animals kept in the state government-owned zoo located inside the Benue State University are dying due to starvation.
Only two weeks ago, the remaining two cheetahs died, one chimpanzee, a tortoise and others also died reducing the number of animals drastically.
The lioness which finally succumbed to death on Wednesday after battling with severe hunger left alone its male companion in the lair. They were said to be both feeding on 14kg of beef twice or thrice in a week.
“The meal was quite insufficient for them. Our animals are dying unless something urgent is done, the entire creatures will go extinct in this zoo,” a staff who declined to give his name cried out.

How pathetic