United Nations Declaration (Articles 1 - 30):

Article 1: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 2: Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

Incoming UN chief names three women to top posts

Incoming UN chief names three women to top posts
Nigerian Minister of the Environment Amina Mohammed, seen in 2015, will be the UN's number two official (AFP Photo/Mireya ACIERTO)

Sustainable Development
"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) -
"The Timing of the Great Shift" – Mar 21, 2009 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“ … Here is another one. A change in what Human nature will allow for government. "Careful, Kryon, don't talk about politics. You'll get in trouble." I won't get in trouble. I'm going to tell you to watch for leadership that cares about you. "You mean politics is going to change?" It already has. It's beginning. Watch for it. You're going to see a total phase-out of old energy dictatorships eventually. The potential is that you're going to see that before 2013. They're going to fall over, you know, because the energy of the population will not sustain an old energy leader ..."
"Update on Current Events" – Jul 23, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: The Humanization of God, Gaia, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Benevolent Design, Financial Institutes (Recession, System to Change ...), Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Nuclear Power Revealed, Geothermal Power, Hydro Power, Drinking Water from Seawater, No need for Oil as Much, Middle East in Peace, Persia/Iran Uprising, Muhammad, Israel, DNA, Two Dictators to fall soon, Africa, China, (Old) Souls, Species to go, Whales to Humans, Global Unity,..... etc.)
(Subjects: Who/What is Kryon ?, Egypt Uprising, Iran/Persia Uprising, Peace in Middle East without Israel actively involved, Muhammad, "Conceptual" Youth Revolution, "Conceptual" Managed Business, Internet, Social Media, News Media, Google, Bankers, Global Unity,..... etc.)


The Declaration of Human Freedom

Archangel Michael (Via Steve Beckow), Feb. 19, 2011

Every being is a divine and eternal soul living in a temporal body. Every being was alive before birth and will live after death.

Every soul enters into physical life for the purpose of experience and education, that it may, in the course of many lifetimes, learn its true identity as a fragment of the Divine.

Life itself is a constant process of spiritual evolution and unfoldment, based on free choice, that continues until such time as we realize our true nature and return to the Divine from which we came.

No soul enters life to serve another, except by choice, but to serve its own purpose and that of the Divine from which it came.

All life is governed by natural and universal laws which precede and outweigh the laws of humanity. These laws, such as the law of karma, the law of attraction, and the law of free will, are decreed by God to order existence and assist each person to achieve life’s purpose.

No government can or should survive that derives its existence from the enforced submission of its people or that denies its people their basic rights and freedoms.

Life is a movement from one existence to another, in varied venues throughout the universe and in other universes and dimensions of existence. We are not alone in the universe but share it with other civilizations, most of them peace-loving, many of whom are more advanced than we are, some of whom can be seen with our eyes and some of whom cannot.

The evidence of our five senses is not the final arbiter of existence. Humans are spiritual as well as physical entities and the spiritual side of life transcends the physical. God is a Spirit and the final touchstone of God’s Truth is not physical but spiritual. The Truth is to be found within.

God is one and, because of this, souls are one. They form a unity. They are meant to live in peace and harmony together in a “common unity” or community. The use of force to settle affairs runs contrary to natural law. Every person should have the right to conduct his or her own affairs without force, as long as his or her choices do not harm another.

No person shall be forced into marriage against his or her will. No woman shall be forced to bear or not bear children, against her will. No person shall be forced to hold or not hold views or worship in a manner contrary to his or her choice. Nothing vital to existence shall be withheld from another if it is within the community’s power to give.

Every person shall retain the ability to think, speak, and act as they choose, as long as they not harm another. Every person has the right to choose, study and practice the education and career of their choice without interference, provided they not harm another.

No one has the right to kill another. No one has the right to steal from another. No one has the right to force himself or herself upon another in any way.

Any government that harms its citizens, deprives them of their property or rights without their consent, or makes offensive war upon its neighbors, no matter how it misrepresents the situation, has lost its legitimacy. No government may govern without the consent of its people. All governments are tasked with seeing to the wellbeing of their citizens. Any government which forces its citizens to see to its own wellbeing without attending to theirs has lost its legitimacy.

Men and women are meant to live fulfilling lives, free of want, wherever they wish and under the conditions they desire, providing their choices do not harm another and are humanly attainable.

Children are meant to live lives under the beneficent protection of all, free of exploitation, with unhindered access to the necessities of life, education, and health care.

All forms of exploitation, oppression, and persecution run counter to universal and natural law. All disagreements are meant to be resolved amicably.

Any human law that runs counter to natural and universal law is invalid and should not survive. The enactment or enforcement of human law that runs counter to natural and universal law brings consequences that cannot be escaped, in this life or another. While one may escape temporal justice, one does not escape divine justice.

All outcomes are to the greater glory of God and to God do we look for the fulfillment of our needs and for love, peace, and wisdom. So let it be. Aum/Amen.


Pope Francis arrives for historic first US visit

Pope Francis arrives for historic first US visit
Pope Francis laughs alongside US President Barack Obama upon arrival at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, on September 22, 2015, on the start of a 3-day trip to Washington (AFP Photo/Saul Loeb)


Today's doodle in the U.S. celebrates Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech on its 50th anniversary (28 Aug 2013)

'Love is love': Obama lauds gay marriage activists in hailing 'a victory for America'

'Love is love': Obama lauds gay marriage activists in hailing 'a victory for America'
The White House released this image, of the building colored like the rainbow flag, on Facebook following the supreme court’s ruling. Photograph: Facebook

Same-sex marriage around the world

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …

Merkel says Turkey media crackdown 'highly alarming'

Merkel says Turkey media crackdown 'highly alarming'
Reporters Without Borders labels Erdogan as 'enemy of press freedom'

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Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Mexico sacks 10% of police force in corruption probe

BBC News, 30 August 2010 Last updated at 18:01 GMT

The federal police force in Mexico says it has sacked almost 10% of its officers this year for corruption, incompetence or links to organised crime.

More officers could face disciplinary action
in the wide-ranging crackdown
Commissioner Facundo Rosas said 3,200 officers had been fired.

More than 1,000 others were facing disciplinary action and could also lose their jobs, he added.

None of the officers would be allowed to work in police forces at local, state or federal levels, Mr Rosas said.

Many of those removed are now facing criminal charges.

At a news conference, Mr Rosas said some of the officers had been accused by subordinates of having links to drug cartels in Ciudad Juarez, the country's most violent city.

The commissioner said this was only the first stage of a purge of Mexico's forces.

Soon after taking office, President Felipe Calderon launched an all-out war against the drug cartels.

In many parts of the country he has deployed the army against the traffickers despite the opposition of many of his critics.

But Mr Rosas said the federal police force was also taking part in the drugs war.

He said the ongoing purge was part of a strategy to rid the police of corruption and make its 34,500 officers more reliable, as they were an integral part of the country's security forces.

The war against the drug cartels has left some 25,000 people dead since Mr Calderon came to power in December 2006.

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Monday, August 30, 2010

Moscow death rates 'up 50% in heatwave'

RNW, 30 August 2010

Russia's health ministry on Monday confirmed that mortality rates rose 50 percent in Moscow during the country's worst ever heatwave, the first official confirmation of a spike in deaths.

"July 2010 in Russia was characterized by abnormally high temperatures that immediately affected growing death rates," the health ministry said in a statement.

"The highest mortality rate -- 50.7 percent -- was registered in Moscow," it said comparing the city's death rates to other regions.

Federal authorities have so far steadfastly refused to give details about any national death toll, although one Moscow official has said there have been hundreds more deaths each day in the capital alone due to the country's worst ever heatwave.


Alcohol abuse kills around 500,000 Russians annually
and greatly impacts male life expectancy


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Friday, August 27, 2010

North Korea tells Carter wants to resume nuclear talks

Reuters, SEOUL | Fri Aug 27, 2010 5:12am EDT

(Reuters) - North Korea's number two leader has told former President Jimmy Carter that the reclusive state is committed to denuclearizing the peninsula and resuming six-way talks, the North's state news agency said on Friday.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter (2nd L)
poses with Aijalon Mahli Gomes, an American
citizen who was detained by North Korea
for illegal entry, at Pyongyang airport
August 27, 2010. (Credit: Reuters/ Kyodo)
Carter left the North on Friday morning, KCNA said. The Carter Center in a statement from the former president said that he was leaving Pyongyang with an American who had been convicted of illegally entering the country.

"Kim Yong Nam expressed the will of the DPRK government for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the resumption of the six-party talks," KCNA said, referring to the meeting of the North's number two with Carter.

Carter's visit took place amid heightened tensions on the peninsula after the torpedoing in March of a South Korean warship, which Seoul blames on the North and which prompted Washington to announce expanded sanctions against Pyongyang.

Shortly after Carter arrived in Pyongyang, the North's reclusive leader, Kim Jong-il, left for ally China on a surprise trip that analysts believe may be to line up Beijing behind his dynastic succession plans.

Carter was leaving Pyongyang with Aijalon Mahli Gomes, who was arrested in January and sentenced to eight years of hard labor. KCNA said last month that he had tried to commit suicide.

(Editing by Ron Popeski)

Retired FBI Agent Says Oswald Didn’t Kill Kennedy

Prisonplanet.com, Suzanne Stratford, Fox 8 News, Aug 24, 2010

AKRON, Ohio – A retired FBI Agent from Summit County is making claims regarding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy that go beyond conspiracy theories.

Don Adams speaks clearly and concisely when describing the events of November 22, 1963, the day President Kennedy was killed, and he doesn’t waiver from his position that Lee Harvey Oswald did not kill President John F. Kennedy in Dallas.

“It is a fact,” says Adams, and he says he has the FBI documents to prove it.

At his home in Akron, Ohio, Adams is surrounded by thousands of reports and records from the National Archives and Records Administration. His name appears on many of the papers, but he says other reports have been doctored, or are missing, “Everything I had done is gone. It’s all gone,” Adams said.





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Thursday, August 26, 2010

Mysteriously, Solar Activity Found to Influence Behavior of Radioactive Materials On Earth

POPSCI, By Rebecca Boyle, 08.25.2010

The Sun / NASA

How's this for spooky action at a distance? The sun, at 93 million miles away, appears to be influencing the decay of radioactive elements inside the Earth, researchers say.

Spotting Sunspots / Big Bear Solar
Observatory/NJIT
(Earth is slightly smaller than the
whole sunspot including the dark
daisy petal-like penumbra)
Given what we know about radioactivity and solar neutrinos, this should not happen. It's so bizarre that a couple scientists at Stanford and Purdue universities believe there's a chance that a previously unknown solar particle is behind it all.

The big news, according to Stanford's news service, is that the core of the sun -- where nuclear reactions produce neutrinos -- spins more slowly than the surface. This phenomenon might explain changing rates of radioactive decay scientists observed at two separate labs. But it does not explain why the decay-change happens. That violates the laws of physics as we know them.

While examining data on radioactive isotopes, Purdue researchers found disagreement in measured decay rates, which goes against the long-accepted belief that these rates are constant. While searching for an explanation, the scientists came across other research that noted seasonal variation in these decay rates.

Apparently radioactivity is stronger in winter than in summer.

RELATED ARTICLES
A 2006 solar flare suggested the sun was involved somehow. Purdue University nuclear engineer Jere Jenkins noticed the decay rate of a medical isotope dropped during the solar flare, and what's more, the decline started before the flare did. The latter finding could be useful for protecting satellites and astronauts -- if there is a correlation between decay rates and solar activity, changed decay rates could provide early warning of an impending solar storm.

But while that's good news for astronauts, it's bad news for physics.

Peter Sturrock, Stanford emeritus professor of applied physics and an expert on the inner workings of the sun, told the researchers to look for evidence that the changes in radioactive decay vary with the rotation of the sun. The answer was yes, suggesting that neutrinos are responsible.

But how could the nebulous neutrino, which does not interact with normal matter, be affecting decay rates? No one knows. It might be a previously unknown particle instead.

As Jenkins puts it, "What we're suggesting is that something that doesn't really interact with anything is changing something that can't be changed."

Though disaster movies would have you believe otherwise, we should not yet worry about solar neutrinos warming the core of the Earth. But perhaps we should worry that our understanding of the sun -- and perhaps our understanding of nuclear physics in general -- is a lot weaker than we thought.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

China Academician: Aliens exist, but also have weaknesses

People Daily Online, China, 17:01, August 23, 2010

Wang Sichao, a researcher and planetary astronomer at the Purple Hills Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that he believes extraterrestrial beings do exist and their UFOs have the ability to visit our earth. However, he disagrees with British scientist Stephen Hawking, who believes an encounter with aliens would spell disaster to human beings.

Wang has done the astronomical observation work for 39 years and he publicized his opinion on a science forum held in Guangzhou today.

Wang also found that in the terrestrial space between the height of 130 kilometers and 1,500 kilometers, UFOs have appeared many times. Their flying speed is much slower than the first cosmic velocity. Some are even as slow as 0.29 kilometers per second and they can fly in the 1,460 kilometers' height for more than 25 minutes.

This means UFOs have the anti-gravity ability. Otherwise, they would fall soon. Wang came to these conclusions based on the spherical astronomy and physics method and his years of observation at Purple Hills Observatory as well as the quantitative analysis of some significant UFO events.

Many people are worried that the aliens would invade the earth and if they do exit, is could be a calamity for human beings. Hawking is one person who holds such a theory.

However, Wang said it's too early to come to this conclusion.

"If they are friendly to us, we can promote the human beings' civilization through exchange and cooperation with them. If they are not, as long as we prepared for their invasion, we can beat them back based on their weaknesses. After all, they are life entities, they would show their slips," Wang said.

By Wang Qianyuanxue, People's Daily Online



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Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Smuggled uranium-238 seized in Moldova

BBC News, 24 August 2010

Moldovan police have seized 1.8kg of uranium-238 in the capital, Chisinau, interior ministry officials say.

Seven people were arrested, including former interior ministry officials, the ministry said.

The smugglers had reportedly been trying to sell the material on the European black market for 9m euros (£7.4m).

The source and intended destination of the uranium were not clear, investigator Oleg Putintica said.

It was found in a garage in Chisinau, where it was under guard and in a special container, said interior ministry spokesman Chiril Motpan.

He said there were seven suspects, some of whom had previous convictions for possessing radioactive materials in Moldova, Russia and Romania.

Related Article:

Iran has material for 1-2 atom bombs: ex-IAEA aide

2004 Dodge Pickup Runs on 100% Water

Inventor Frederick W. Wood, and his associate, David Seigler, from Future Energy Concepts, Inc., give a video tour of the pickup truck that they've converted to run on nothing but hydroxy gas, electrolyzed on-board, and on-demand, via a super-efficient electrolysis (from water) method they have developed. Their system produces 55 liters per minute on 55 amps. The truck recently completed a road trip of more than 3000 miles, running on this set-up.





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Sunday, August 22, 2010

China Premier Wen calls for political reform: report

Reuters, BEIJING | Sun Aug 22, 2010 1:12am EDT

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao stands waiting to greet visiting New Zealand Prime Minister John Key before their meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing in this July 7, 2010 file photo. (Credit: Reuters/Alexander F. Yuan/Pool)

(Reuters) - China has to pursue political reform to safeguard its economic health, Premier Wen Jiabao said during a visit to the booming town of Shenzhen, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Wen's call for political reform lacked specifics. But his comments reflect broader worries that unless the Party embraces at least limited reforms to make officials more answerable, then corruption and abuses may erode the country's economic prospects.

"Without the safeguarding of political restructuring, China may lose what it has already achieved through economic restructuring and the targets of its modernization drive might not be reached," Wen was quoted by Xinhua as saying.

"People's democratic rights and legitimate rights must be guaranteed. People should be mobilized and organized to deal with, in accordance with the law, state, economic, social and cultural affairs," Wen added.

Wen also wants to "create conditions" to allow the people to criticize and supervise the government as a way to address "the problem of over-concentration of power with ineffective supervision."

Wen has developed a reputation as the member of China's ruling Communist Party leadership most sympathetic to relaxing some of the country's top-down controls.

Wen will retire as premier in early 2013. He has used recent speeches and comments to indicate that he wants to spend his final years in office focused on improving social welfare, promoting more balanced and equitable economic growth, and addressing public discontent with government.

In Shenzhen, a small village that exploded into a city of 14 million people in the last three decade, Wen said the Shenzhen story showed that reforming and opening up to the outside world "is the only road to achieving national prosperity and the people's happiness."

"Regression and stagnation will not only end the achievements of the three-decade old reform and opening-up drive and the rare opportunity of development, but also suffocate the vitality of China's socialist cause with her own characteristics," the premier added.

(Reporting by Chris Buckley, editing by Miral Fahmy)


Friday, August 20, 2010

New Zealand UFO Disclosure 2010

UFO Blogger


After UFO Disclosure by UK, Denmark, Sweden, Uruguay governments in last two years, now New Zealand government finally came forward to publish its own x-files in public domain in next few weeks.

It's just a coincident or more than that we don't know but just yesterday we reported about Chile government reopens special UFO investigations unit CEFAA and today few hour back according to UK news media Britains Royal Society Meets this week to Discuss The Possibility of Extraterrestrial Life. And now New Zealand government finally came forward to publish its own x-files.

If we look at big-picture UFO Alien Disclosure movement pacing up by every single passing day and we can say that Extraterrestrial Life, UFO Disclosure is Imminent in very near future.

According to New Zealand media Hundreds of pages of secret files on New Zealand UFO sightings will be released by the military this year.

The files include reports of UFO sightings from 1979 to 1984 and references to the Kaikoura sighting of December 1978.

The files are held by Archives New Zealand and were to have been made public this month, but the Defence Force is removing personal information from them to comply with the Privacy Act.

"At the moment we are working on making copies of these files, minus the personal information," a Defence Force spokeswoman said. "Once this work is completed, we are hoping to be able to release a copy of all the UFO files, including some ahead of their release time, within the year."

Lights were seen in the sky over Kaikoura in December 1978 and were filmed by an Australian news crew. Aircraft tracked the lights, which were also seen on radar.

A man who worked for the Transport Ministry's civil aviation division when the Kaikoura lights were seen said he would like to see the government files.

The man, who wanted to remain anonymous, said he was working at Christchurch International Airport at the time. He saw United States Air Force planes with unusual call signs touring the area and believes the full story about the lights has not been disclosed.

"For the US Air Force to come all that way and spend three days here, there must have been something going on," he said.

The director of research group UFOCUS NZ, Suzanne Hansen, said she was frustrated by the delayed release but understood the privacy reasons.

"We have been in discussion with the New Zealand Defence Force for many years ... It is frustrating from a research perspective because we would like to collate these sightings with international research."

She said some sightings could have been alien technology. "There are cases that are certainly not our technology. It has been scientifically proven that this is entirely possible."

Jonas of Wellington who asked for his full name not to be used, spotted a craft in the sky on July 17 2008 .

He wrote via email, ''My wife and I were drinking coffee on the veranda, when she spotted what looked like an unnaturally low flying aircraft travelling roughly along the Broken Hill Road at around 90 to 140km/h at an altitude of about 400 to 500 metres.

''When I took the first picture I realised that it was not in fact an aircraft. I tried to take as many pictures as possible of the object, but after the third or fourth one, it literally disappeared into thin air. No smoke, no trail, nothing. I wouldn't have believed it myself if it wasn't for the pictures.''

Related Article:


Down below is latest 60 minutes program aired on 3News NZ in anticipation for the NZ governments upcoming UFO file release.

According to 3News NZ an amazing number of high ranking military officers, government officials and generally sensible folk believe we are being visited by aliens from other planets. They have seen unidentified flying objects for themselves.

With the New Zealand Government soon to release previously classified material on UFO sightings , reporter Sarah Hall goes looking for the evidence.




Thursday, August 19, 2010

Futurist on UFOs: Time to grow up

Herald Tribune, by Billy Cox, August 17th, 2010 02:22pm

Last week’s directive by the Brazilian government ordering its air traffic controllers, as well as military and civilian pilots, to file all UFO reports into a central database runs counterintuitive to U.S. policy. But the announcement didn’t surprise Dr. John Petersen.

The Arlington Institute founder/director
John Petersen says the adult conversation
could begin if NASA places its UFO photos
in the public domain / CREDIT: cherie-beck.com
“I don’t think anything stays the same as it is, and there’s a growing kind of awareness on this subject around the world,” says Petersen, founder of a nonprofit futurist think tank called The Arlington Institute. “It’s inevitable that humans — and Americans — will get to a place where this issue can be discussed openly, in a non-threatening manner.

“It’s demeaning to presume that most people will freak out or somehow panic when this reality is confirmed. When I talk about it with my wife, she goes, ‘What’s the big deal, I don’t understand. Are we going to stop shopping, are we going to go to work in a different way? What?’”

Brazil’s announcement just happened to coincide with the release of UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go On the Record, in which journalist Leslie Kean chronicles the accelerating worldwide efforts to address the phenomenon, then lobbies for the formation of a new U.S. scientific study. Among those endorsing the book was Petersen, whose resume includes a stretch with the National Security Council. Citing an idea advanced by author Whitley Strieber, Petersen says it wouldn’t take much for Uncle Sam to join the conversation.

“If NASA would just say, look, we’ve got these pictures, we don’t know what they are, that would give the National Science Foundation something to work with,” says Petersen, who lives in Berkeley Springs, W.Va. “Suddenly everybody follows the money and it’ll be legitimized.

“You wouldn’t have to get into the conspiracy stuff — who knows where conspiracies start and end? Throwing rocks at people certainly is not the way to get people at the top to cooperate. You let the facts lead the way and let people find out what’s there to be found out.”

Petersen, a retired naval flight officer with a background in electrical engineering, describes UFOs On the Record as “a good start” toward that end. With any luck, he says, American mainstream science will take a cue and explore Kean’s book. As far as anticipating professional blowback from putting his name out there, Petersen is unconcerned.

“I don’t worry about that stuff,” he says from a cell phone between airline flights. “The folks I deal with, they come to me because I don’t think the same way as everybody else.”


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Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Iran tells West to stay out of woman's stoning case

RNW, 17 August 2010 - 9:50am

Iran told Western nations on Tuesday to stay out of the case of a woman who faces death by stoning, warning it will not tolerate any interference in the matter still under examination.

"Independent nations do not allow other countries to interfere in their judicial affairs," Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told a news conference.

The official was responding to questions from reporters about the status of Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, a 43-year-old mother of two sentenced to death by stoning by an Iranian court.

"Western nations must not pressurise and hype it (the case) up... judicial cases have precise procedures, especially when it concerns murder.

"If a person committed a crime in Iran, that person is prosecuted which is normal, especially if she has killed somebody. The heavier the sentence, the more meticulous we are in carrying it out. This is being done," said Mehmanparast.

Western nations and human rights groups have come out strongly against Mohammadi-Ashtiani's stoning sentence and warned that her execution is imminent.

Iranian judiciary chief Sadeq Larijani has temporarily suspended the sentence from being carried out.

Officials in the Islamic republic maintain the woman was handed the stoning sentence for adultery and for being an accomplice in her husband's murder.

Her lawyers and London-based rights watchdog Amnesty International say she was only sentenced for having an "illicit relationship" with two men and that the murder charge was adopted later.

Mehmanparast said the outcry from the West over her case was "irrational" and "rather a politicised approach".

"If we are to free those who committed murders, there won't be any security. If this is the case, we can also demand that they free all those who have committed murders and serious crimes," he said.

When asked about Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's proposal to offer Mohammadi-Ashtiani asylum, he said Brazil would come to "understand it is a fuss created to undermine relations" between the two countries.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad echoed similar views in an interview on Iran's English-language Press TV broadcast on Sunday.

The hardliner said Iran's judiciary chief agreed Mohammadi-Ashtiani should not be sent to Brazil.

"I think there is no need to create some trouble for President Lula and to send her to Brazil. We are keen to export our technology to Brazil rather than such people. I think the problem will be solved" in Iran, Ahmadinejad said in comments posted on the channel's website.


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Barclays Bank pays $298m to settle criminal charges

BBC News, 16 August 2010 Last updated at 18:14 GMT

Barclays Bank is to pay $298m (£190m) to settle criminal charges that it violated US sanctions in dealings with Cuba, Iran, Libya, Sudan and Burma.

Barclays voluntarily disclosed some
of the violations, according to court
documents
The bank was charged with breaching the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Trading with the Enemy Act in dealings between 1995 and 2006.

The settlement was detailed in US court documents filed on Monday.

According to the documents, Barclays voluntarily disclosed some of the transactions, and co-operated fully.

Barclays has agreed to pay $149m to the US government and a separate $149m in a deferred prosecution agreement with the district attorney in New York.

A federal judge must still approve the agreement.

Barclays fully acknowledged responsibility for its actions, according to the documents.

The bank said earlier this month that it had set aside £194m in the first half of the year to cover a possible resolution to the case.

According to the court documents, Barclays facilitated and hid transactions for countries facing US sanctions.

The bank could not immediately be contacted for comment.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Brazil air force to record UFO sightings

BBC News, 12 August 2010 Last updated at 01:47 GMT

Brazil's government has ordered its air force to officially record any sighting of unidentified flying objects.

If they see something like this, Brazilian pilots
will have to report it (computer illustration).
A government decree said all military and civilian pilots as well as air traffic controllers should register any UFO sightings with the national aerospace defence command.

The information will be stored in the national archives in Rio de Janeiro.

It will be made available to researchers, including those seeking evidence of extraterrestrial life.

Anything unusual that is seen, photographed or video filmed in Brazil's air space will now have to be reported and catalogued.

But the air force said it would limit itself to collecting information, and would not be chasing UFOs.

"Air force command does not have a specialized structure to carry out scientific experiments on these phenomena and will limit itself to recording any events" the air force said in a statement.

Out there somewhere?

There have been several reports of UFOs in Brazil in recent decades.

In 1986, air force jets were scrambled to investigate unidentified objects in the skies above Sao Paulo, but the phenomenon was never fully explained.

And in 1977 the Amazon town of Vigia asked for military help after some residents said they had been attacked by extra-terrestrials.

One anonymous air traffic controller told the Brazilian newspaper O Dia that sightings had been reported at the highest level.

"I have heard of ministers and even a president who said they had seen a UFO", he said.

Brazilian UFO watchers have welcomed the decision to make such information public in future.