China court hears first gay 'conversion therapy' case

Yahoo – AFP, 31 July 2014

File photo taken in October 2012 shows a couple lighting a lantern for the

 Mid-Autumn Festival before their same-sex wedding ceremony in China's Fujian

province (AFP Photo)

Beijing (AFP) - A Beijing court began hearing a landmark case on "gay conversion" treatment Thursday, as an activist in a nurse's uniform knelt over a patient, wielding a giant needle, outside.

"Homosexuality doesn't need to be cured!" chanted about a dozen supporters. "Haidian Court, oppose conversion therapy!"

Homosexuality was de-classified as a mental disorder in China in 2001 but widespread intolerance toward gays and lesbians remains, and activists hailed the unprecedented case as a significant step forward.

The plaintiff, who is gay and has given his name only as Xiao Zhen, says the Xinyu Piaoxiang clinic in Chongqing traumatised him when he was electro-shocked after being told to have sexual thoughts involving men.

He is also taking action against China's top Internet search engine, Baidu, for running advertisements by the facility.

Those who come out to friends and family in China often face significant pressure to undergo sexuality "treatment" or marry a partner of the opposite sex.

"It's the first case about anti-conversion therapy in China," said Xiao Tie, 28, executive director of the Beijing LGBT Centre, which is backing the legal action.

"In China, most people who undergo 'conversion therapy' do so because they are pressured by their family. Parents, once they realise their child is gay, urge him or her to go to a psychiatric hospital or undergo treatment," she said.

Most people who claim that they have been successfully "converted" by the therapy only say so in order to stop the distressing treatments, she added.

Conversion therapy has more than a century of history around the world, but has fallen out of favour with medical authorities.

Nonetheless the lucrative industry persists in countries from Singapore to Britain and the United States -- where reports of electro-shock use have added to momentum for a ban.

Zhang Rui, 21, who is in charge of the Beijing LGBT Centre's psychological counselling programme, said advocates hope the case will help change Chinese public perceptions of gays as suffering from mental illness.

"We're here to tell even more people that conversion therapy is not scientific," she said. "Homosexuality can't be 'cured."

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(Photo: Alexandria)

"The Akashic Circle" – Jul 17, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Religion, The Humanization of God, Benevolent Design, DNA, Akashic Circle, (Old) Souls, Gaia, Indigenous People, Talents, Reincarnation, Genders, Gender Switches, In “between” Gender Change, Gender Confusion, Shift of Human Consciousness, Global Unity,..... etc.)  - (Text version)

“… Gender Switching

Old souls, let me tell you something. If you are old enough, and many of you are, you have been everything. Do you hear me? All of you. You have been both genders. All of you have been what I will call between genders, and that means that all of you have had gender switches. Do you know what happens when it's time for you to switch a gender? We have discussed it before. You'll have dozens of lifetimes as the same gender. You're used to it. It's comfortable. You cannot conceive of being anything else, yet now it's time to change. It takes approximately three lifetimes for you to get used to it, and in those three lifetimes, you will have what I call "gender confusion."

It isn't confusion at all. It's absolutely normal, yet society often will see it as abnormal. I'm sitting here telling you you've all been through it. All of you. That's what old souls do. It's part of the system. …”

UN: 'world stands disgraced' as shelter for Gaza children is shelled by Israel

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees said the shelling of the school, being operated by the UN as a refugee camp, was a "serious violation of international law"

The Guardian, Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem and Hazem Balousha in Jabaliya, 30 July 2014

A Palestinian girl cries while receiving treatment for her injuries caused by
 an Israeli tank shelling at a UN school in Jebaliya refugee camp, 30 July 2014.
Photograph: Khalil Hamra/AP

United Nations officials described the killing of sleeping children as a disgrace to the world and accused Israel of a serious violation of international law after a school in Gaza being used to shelter Palestinian families was shelled on Wednesday.

At least 15 people, mostly children and women, died when the school in Jabaliya refugee camp was hit by five shells during a night of relentless bombardment across Gaza. More than 100 people were injured.

Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, said the attack was "outrageous and unjustifiable" and demanded "accountability and justice". The UN said its officials had repeatedly given details of the school and its refugee population to Israel.

Fighting in Gaza continued through the day despite a four-hour humanitarian ceasefire called by Israel from 3pm. A crowded market in Shujai'iya was hit in the late afternoon, causing at least 17 deaths, including a journalist, and injuring about 200 people, according to Gaza health officials. They said people had ventured out to shop in the belief a ceasefire was in place. Witnesses said several shells struck as people were running away. Israel said rockets and mortar shells continued to be fired from Gaza.

At the UN school the first shell came just after the early morning call to prayer, when most of those taking shelter were asleep, crammed into classrooms with what few possessions they had managed to snatch as they fled their homes.

About 3,300 people have squashed into Jabaliya Elementary A&B Girls' School since the Israeli military warned people to leave their homes and neighbourhoods or risk death under intense bombardment. Classroom number one, near the school's entrance, had become home to about 40 people, mostly women and children.

As a shell blasted through the wall, showering occupants with shrapnel and spattering blood on walls and floors, Amna Zantit, 31, scrambled to gather up her three terrified infants in a panicked bid for the relative safety of the schoolyard. "Everyone was trying to escape," she said, clutching her eight-month old baby tightly. Minutes later, a second shell slammed through the roof of the two-storey school. At least 15 people were killed and more than 100 injured. Most were women or children.

Pierre Krahenbuhl, commissioner-general of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said the shelling of the school was a "serious violation of international law by Israeli forces".

Krahenbuhl said: "Last night, children were killed as they slept next to their parents on the floor of a classroom in a UN-designated shelter in Gaza. Children killed in their sleep; this is an affront to all of us, a source of universal shame. Today the world stands disgraced."

Khalil al-Halabi, the UN official in charge of the schools in the area, was quickly on the scene. Bodies were littered over the classroom, and the badly injured lay in pools of blood amid the debris and rubble caused by the blast. "I was shaking," he said. "It was very, very hard for me to see the blood and hear the children crying."

By daylight, the detritus of people's lives was visible among ruins of the classroom: a ball, a bucket, some blankets, tins of food, a pair of flip-flops. The corpses of donkeys, used to haul the meagre possessions of refugees to what they thought was safety, lay at the school's entrance as two lads wearing Palestinian boy scout scarves collected human body parts for burial. Five of the injured were in a critical condition in hospital.

Halabi was facing impossible requests for advice from those who escaped the carnage. "These people are very angry. They evacuated their homes and came here for protection, not to be killed inside a UN shelter. Now they are asking me whether to stay or leave. They are very frightened. They don't know what to do."

The attack on the school was the sixth time that UNRWA premises have been hit since the war in Gaza began more than three weeks ago, the UN said.

Palestinians fled their homes after Israel warned that failure to do so would put their lives at risk. Those at the Jabaliya school were among more than 200,000 who have sought shelter at UN premises in the belief that families would be safe.

Analysis of evidence gathered at the site by UNRWA led to an initial assessment that Israeli artillery had hit the school, causing "multiple civilian deaths and injuries including of women and children and the UNRWA guard who was trying to protect the site. These are people who were instructed to leave their homes by the Israeli army."

Krahenbuhl added: "Our staff, the very people leading the humanitarian response, are being killed. Our shelters are overflowing. Tens of thousands may soon be stranded in the streets of Gaza, without food, water and shelter if attacks on these areas continue."

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said it was investigating the incident at the UN school. Initial inquiries showed that "Hamas militants fired mortar shells from the vicinity of the school, and [Israeli] soldiers responded by firing towards the origins of the fire", a spokeswoman said.

A UN source said there was no evidence of militant activity inside the school.

The US, which has been at odds with Isarael's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, over efforts to secure a ceasefire, condemned the school shelling but did not specifically blame Israel.

The incident comes after an explosion at another UN school in Beit Hanoun last week as the playground was filled with families awaiting evacuation. Israel denied responsibility for the deaths, saying a single "errant" shell fired by its forces hit the school playground, which was empty at the time.

UNRWA has rejected the IDF's account, saying an initial shell was followed by several others within minutes. Reporters who visited the school shortly afterwards said damage and debris was consistent with mortar rounds. UNRWA has found rockets at three of its schools in Gaza in the past three weeks, which it has swiftly condemned as "flagrant violation[s] of the neutrality of our premises".

Israel says militants from Hamas and other organisations launch rockets from the vicinity of UNRWA properties.

The Israeli military said it had targeted more than 4,100 sites in Gaza since the start of the conflict on 8 July. The death toll in Gaza rose above 1,300 on Wednesday.

Three soldiers were killed in fighting around Khan Younis, bringing the total IDF death toll to 56. Three civilians have died in rocket attacks on Israel.

In an emotional statement, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, said the "destructive cycle of violence has caused untold suffering".

He said: "You can't look at the pictures coming from Gaza and Israel without your heart breaking. We must cry to God and beat down the doors of heaven and pray for peace and justice and security. Only a costly and open-hearted seeking of peace between Israeli and Palestinian can protect innocent people, their children and grandchildren, from ever worse violence."

He called for a renewed "commitment to political dialogue in the wider search for peace and security for both Israeli and Palestinians".

Support for the military operation among the Israeli public remained solid. A poll published by Tel Aviv university this week found 95% of Israeli Jews felt the offensive was justified. Only 4% believed too much force had been used.

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"The Evolution of Belief" - July 26, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - New (>26 Min - reference to the current conflicts in the Middle East)

US hits 3 Russian banks with sanctions over Ukraine

Yahoo – AFP, 29 July 2014

A serviceman checks passing cars at a checkpoint near the eastern

Ukrainian city of Lisichansk on July 28, 2014 (AFP Photo/Genya Savilov)

Washington (AFP) - The US Treasury announced punitive sanctions on three leading Russian banks including the giant VTB on Tuesday to press Moscow over its support for rebels in Ukraine.

The sanctions banned any Americans or people in US jurisdictions from any new medium or long-term financing transactions with VTB Bank, its subsidiary Bank of Moscow and Russian Agricultural Bank.

All three are controlled by the Russian government.

The sanctions aim at choking off anything but short-term financing for the banks, which could inhibit their ability to build or maintain long-term lending business. Under the rules, are prohibited from transacting in or providing financing for any new debt from the banks for over 90 days.

The announcement came shortly after European authorities agreed fresh sanctions on Moscow, imposing restrictions on the finance, defense and energy sectors to increase the cost to Russia of its intervention in Ukraine.

Related Article:

EU imposes new sanctions in 'a strong warning' to Russia

Court flips US state's ban on same-sex marriage

Yahoo – AFP, Robert MacPherson, 29 July 2014

Same-sex marriage supporters hold a rally in front of the 4th US Circuit Court

of Appeals, May 13, 2014 in Richmond, Virginia (AFP Photo/Zach Gibson)

Washington (AFP) - A federal appeals court has struck down Virginia's ban on same-sex marriage, in a landmark victory for the gay rights movement in the United States.

The Fourth US Circuit Court of Appeals in the state capital Richmond said the ban violated the US Constitution's guarantee of equal protection under the law by infringing on the right to wed.

"The choice of whether and whom to marry is an intensely personal decision that alters the course of an individual's life," the court said.

Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe makes

 remarks at George Washington's Mount

 Vernon Estate, February 17, 2014 in Mount 

Vernon, Virginia (AFP Photo/Drew Angerer)

"Denying same-sex couples this choice prohibits them from participating fully in our society, which is precisely the type of segregation that the Fourteenth Amendment cannot countenance."

Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, said he was "overjoyed" by the ruling -- raising hopes that state officials might soon issue marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples.

"This is a historic ruling ... and its effect will affirm once again that Virginia is a state that is open and welcoming to all," he said in a statement.

Virginia effectively banned same-sex marriage when a 2006 amendment to its state constitution -- endorsed by 57 percent of its voters in a referendum -- defined marriage strictly as a union between a man and a woman.

Prohibitions on same-sex marriage have fallen in several states since June 2013 when the US Supreme Court ruled that wedded gay couples were entitled to the same rights and benefits as their straight counterparts.

Same-sex marriages are legal in 19 other states plus the District of Columbia -- but they remain prohibited in about 30 others, notably in the more conservative South.

"The Fourth Circuit has affirmed that equality is not just a California value, or a New York value -– it's a fundamental American value," said Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, a leading American gay rights organization.

"No state should have the right to enforce this type of discriminatory amendment that singles out thousands of loving couples for unfair treatment, simply because they are gay or lesbian," he said in a statement.

But the Family Research Council, a socially conservative group, faulted the court for joining a "judicial stampede" to redefine marriage in defiance of "natural law."

"While the Left continues to use the federal courts as the means to fulfill their radical social agenda, the courts will not have the final say," said Peter Sprigg, its senior fellow for policy studies.

Alberto Najera wears rainbow lapel pins 

to show his support for same-sex marriage

 in front of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of 

Appeals before a court hearing May 13, 

2014 in Richmond, Virginia (AFP Photo/

Zach Gibson)

"They cannot change natural law and the fact that society needs children, and children need a mom and a dad," he added.

Ruling could have reach

The impact of Monday's ruling could stretch well beyond Virginia, as the jurisdiction of the Fourth US Circuit Court of Appeals includes three other states -- North Carolina, South Carolina and West Virginia -- that have also banned same-sex marriage.

"It's only a matter of time," lawyer Beth Littrell of Lambda Legal, a civil rights group challenging West Virginia's ban, was quoted as saying in the state's Charleston Gazette newspaper.

The Human Rights Campaign cautioned that the defendants in the Virginia case still had the option of referring the matter to the US Supreme Court.

Just last week, another US appeals court struck down Oklahoma's same-sex marriage ban, while Utah has signaled it will appeal a similar outcome last month to the Supreme Court.

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Obama: World needs 'prosperous and self-reliant Africa'

Yahoo – AFP, Jérôme Cartillier, 28 July 2014

US President Barack Obama speaks during a "town hall" meeting at the Summit

 of the Washington Fellowship for the Young African Leaders Initiative in Washington,

DC on July 28, 2014 (AFP Photo/Mandel Ngan)

Washington (AFP) - US President Barack Obama kicked up a major outreach to Africa on Monday by urging youth leaders to build a "prosperous and self-reliant" future for the continent built on civil rights and the rule of law.

Speaking a week before almost all of Africa's leaders descend on Washington for a summit, Obama said the future stability of the world depends on progress on what is still the poorest continent.

"The security and prosperity and justice that we seek in the world cannot be achieved without a strong and prosperous and self-reliant Africa," Obama told 500 young Africa students and activists.

US President Barack Obama speaks

 during a "town hall" meeting at the 

Summit of the Washington
Fellowship for the Young African
Leaders Initiative in Washington,
DC on July 28, 2014 (AFP  Photo
/Mandel Ngan)

"Next week I'll host a truly historic event, the US-Africa Leaders Summit," he said. "It will be the largest gathering any American president has hosted with African heads of state and government."

Next week's meeting will attract 50 African leaders to Washington -- almost all of them, apart from pariah figures like Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, Sudan's Omar al-Bashir and Eritrea's Issaias Afeworki.

The International Monetary Fund forecasts that the economies of sub-Saharan Africa will grow at an average of 5.4 percent this year and 5.8 the next, faster than the global average.

Many countries are growing from a low base, however, and others face population growth greater than their economic progress.

The United States, still the world's largest economy, is only Africa's third largest trade partner after the European Union -- some of whose members have post-colonial ties with African nations -- and China, which is hungry for the continent's natural resources.

Obama, born in the United States to a Kenyan father and American mother, is the first US president of part African descent, but has sometimes been accused of neglecting relations with the continent.

He announced the summit in June last year during his first major tour of African countries -- South Africa, Senegal and Tunisia -- a rare foray for a president who has focused on Asia and the Middle East.

Aside from the 2013 tour, Obama has made only two trips to sub-Saharan Africa during his presidency: one brief stopover in Ghana in July 2009 and a visit to South Africa for Nelson Mandela's funeral.

'Extraordinary potential'

This despite the fact that his 2008 election as America's first black president was greeted by many on the continent, and particularly in his father's native Kenya, as a great opportunity.

A woman reacts after asking US President Barack Obama a question during

 a "town hall" meeting at the Summit of the Washington Fellowship for the Young

 African Leaders Initiative in Washington, DC on July 28, 2014 (AFP Photo/
Mandel Ngan)

Asked by a member of the Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders what Africa can do, Obama stressed the importance of the "rule of law, of respect for civil rights and human rights."

Obama acknowledged that Washington was often forced to address "crises and challenges in other parts of the world that often dominate our headlines."

But he insisted that "we have to make sure that we're seizing the extraordinary potential of today's Africa, which is the youngest and fastest growing of the continents."

And he urged the young African future leaders to spurn corruption, respect women's rights -- including by ending the "barbaric" practice of female genital mutilation -- and building the rule of law.

"If you don't have a basic system of rule of law, of respect for civil rights and human rights, if you don't respect basic freedom of speech and freedom of assembly ... it is very rare for a country to succeed over the long term," he said. 

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"The End of History"- Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll)

".. Africa

Let me tell you where else it's happening that you are unaware - that which is the beginning of the unity of the African states. Soon the continent will have what they never had before, and when that continent is healed and there is no AIDS and no major disease, they're going to want what you have. They're going to want houses and schools and an economy that works without corruption. They will be done with small-minded leaders who kill their populations for power in what has been called for generations "The History of Africa." Soon it will be the end of history in Africa, and a new continent will emerge.

Be aware that the strength may not come from the expected areas, for new leadership is brewing. There is so much land there and the population is so ready there, it will be one of the strongest economies on the planet within two generations plus 20 years. And it's going to happen because of a unifying idea put together by a few. These are the potentials of the planet, and the end of history as you know it.

In approximately 70 years, there will be a black man who leads this African continent into affluence and peace. He won't be a president, but rather a planner and a revolutionary economic thinker. He, and a strong woman with him, will implement the plan continent-wide. They will unite. This is the potential and this is the plan. Africa will arise out the ashes of centuries of disease and despair and create a viable economic force with workers who can create good products for the day. You think China is economically strong? China must do what it does, hobbled by the secrecy and bias of the old ways of its own history. As large as it is, it will have to eventually compete with Africa, a land of free thinkers and fast change. China will have a major competitor, one that doesn't have any cultural barriers to the advancement of the free Human spirit. …."

"The Timing of the Great Shift" – Mar 21, 2009 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“ … The next one: You're going to heal a continent. Watch for it. It begins. Watch for major shift in Africa. We have said this before, even within the meetings I spoke in what you call the United Nations. Africa has never even been a potential player in the economic field, because it has been sick. What happens when you heal a continent? I'm going to tell you. Suddenly, the people on that continent also want what you have - government that works, peace, their own homes, schools, hospitals, and even banks where they can borrow from. They don't have any of those now, not really. Everything with substance is from somewhere else. That means you're going to have a continent that's going to arise that will become a major player on the stage of Earth's finances and political influence - an entire continent with all the resources on it, with even the potential for unification of common purpose, much like what you have now in your EU. I'm giving you information, and when it happens, again, I say you'll remember where you heard it.

Many years ago, the prevailing thought was that nobody should consider China as a viable player on the economic stage. They were backward, filled with a system that would never be westernized, and had no wish to become joined with the rest of the world's economic systems. Look what has happened in only 30 years. Now, look at Africa differently.. ...”

Millions fled homes in 2013 due to religious beliefs: US

Yahoo – AFP, Jo Biddle, 28 July 2014

Two young Syrian soldiers ride a motorcycle past a huge poster bearing a

 portrait of President Bashar al-Assad next to a painting of a Syria's national 

flag in the Christian town of Marmarita in the central Homs region, on August 19,

2013 (AFP Photo/Louai Beshara)

Washington (AFP) - Conflicts and repression around the world in 2013 triggered the largest displacement of religious communities in recent memory, a US report said Monday, revealing millions had fled their homes.

"In almost every corner of the globe, millions of Christians, Muslims, Hindus, and others representing a range of faiths were forced from their homes on account of their religious beliefs," the United States said in its annual International Religious Freedom Report.

"Out of fear or by force, entire neighborhoods are emptying of residents."

From the Middle East to Asia and stretching into parts of Africa and Europe, "communities are disappearing from their traditional and historic homes and dispersing across the geographic map. In conflict zones, in particular, this mass displacement has become a pernicious norm."

The 2013 report, prepared by the State Department, singled out Syria where it warned that after three years of civil war against President Bashar al-Assad "the Christian presence is becoming a shadow of its former self."

"In the city of Homs the number of Christians dwindled to as few as 1,000 from approximately 160,000 prior to the conflict."

Amid Egypt's political upheavals as the military ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, in June, and moved against his Muslim Brotherhood, Christian churches, homes and businesses were looted and torched.

Egyptian Coptic Christians sit on a bench near debris that remain in the 

courtyard of Amba Moussa Coptic church after it was vandalized and torched 

by unknown assailants earlier this month on August 27, 2013 in the central

Egyptian city of Minya (AFP Photo/Gianluigi Guercia)

"Islamist-led mobs carried out acts of violence, intimidation, compelled expulsions, and punishment against Christians, especially in Upper Egypt," the report said.

But there were also attacks on Shiites led by Salafist after "months of government and official Islamic anti-Shiite rhetoric."

A million people fled the fighting in the Central African Republic last year, where at least 700 people were killed in sectarian violence, and in Myanmar mob-violence in Meikhtila province caused 100 deaths and over 140,000 people were displaced.

"North Korea again stood out for its absolute prohibition of religious organizations and harsh punishments for any unauthorized religious activities," it said, while countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran and Sudan put severe restrictions on people following religious groups "that did not conform to the state-approved religion."

Governments must fight intolerance

The report deals with events in 2013 and was written before thousands of Christians and other minorities had fled the Iraqi northern city of Mosul amid last month's jihadist onslaught led by Islamic State insurgents.

But the State Department still found that last year in Iraq there were "reports of societal abuses and discrimination based on religious affiliation, belief, or practice."

"When governments choose not to combat discrimination on the basis of religion and intolerance, it breeds an environment in which intolerant and violent groups are emboldened," it warned.

In China, "the government’s respect for and protection of the right to religious freedom fell well short of its international human rights commitments."

Beijing "prosecuted family members of self-immolators, imprisoned and tortured Falun Gong practitioners, continued its harassment of members of house churches and unregistered Catholic bishops and priests, and sought the forcible return of ethnic Uighurs who were seeking asylum overseas."

Members of Indonesia's branch of the Falungong spiritual movement, also known

 as "Falun Dafa", hold a poster as they during a protest in front of the Chinese 

embassy in Jakarta on July 14, 2014 (AFP Photo/Oscar Siagian)

Chinese officials also detained students, monks and laypeople in Tibetan areas and there were reports of the torture of Muslim Uighurs.

Militants in Pakistan killed more than 400 Shiite Muslims in 2013 in sectarian attacks, and more than 80 Christians died in a church bombing, while the authorities continued to enforce blasphemy laws.

Restrictive laws against "extremism" were also used in Russia to target the activities of minority religious groups, and continued "to grant the Russian Orthodox Church a privileged position."

"Rising anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim sentiment in parts of Europe demonstrated that intolerance is not limited to countries in active conflict," the report stressed, adding that many Jewish communities in some European countries were considering emigrating.

But the report also noted that amid "the darkness of religious strife lay inspiring and unheralded acts of interfaith solidarity."

Following the Peshawar church bombing "resilient Muslim community members formed human chains around churches during services in a show of solidarity and to stand up against senseless violence.

"In Egypt, Muslim men stood in front of a Catholic church to protect the congregation from attacks. And after an increase of mosque attacks in the United Kingdom, a local orthodox Jewish neighborhood watch team began assisting Muslim leaders to ensure safe access to mosques and alert them to possible attacks."

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"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)

“… New Tolerance

Look for a softening of finger pointing and an awakening of new tolerance. There will remain many systems for different cultures, as traditions and history are important to sustaining the integrity of culture. So there are many in the Middle East who would follow the prophet and they will continue, but with an increase of awareness. It will be the increase of awareness of what the prophet really wanted all along - unity and tolerance. The angel in the cave instructed him to "unify the tribes and give them the God of Israel." You're going to start seeing a softening of intolerance and the beginning of a new way of being.

Eventually, this will create an acknowledgement that says, "You may not believe the way we believe, but we honor you and your God. We honor our prophet and we will love you according to his teachings. We don't have to agree in order to love." How would you like that? The earth is not going to turn into one belief system. It never will, for Humans don't do that. There must be variety, and there must be the beauty of cultural differences. But the systems will slowly update themselves with increased awareness of the truth of a new kind of balance. So that's the first thing. Watch for these changes, dear ones.  …”

"THE RECALIBRATION OF BELIEF"– Aug 18, 2013 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

Obama speaks to Netanyahu, stresses need for 'immediate' ceasefire

Yahoo – AFP, 27 July 2014

A Palestinian boy walks amid the rubble of destroyed buildings on July 27,
2014 in the Shejaiya residential district of Gaza City (AFP Photo/Marco Longari )

Washington (AFP) - US President Barack Obama spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Sunday, and stressed the need for an immediate and sustainable ceasefire in Gaza.

In a statement, the White House said Obama "made clear the strategic imperative of instituting an immediate, unconditional humanitarian ceasefire that ends hostilities now and leads to a permanent cessation of hostilities based on the November 2012 ceasefire agreement."

The call between the two leaders came as the Islamist Hamas movement fired more rockets at Israel Sunday, despite claims it had accepted a UN request for a 24-hour extension of a humanitarian truce in war-torn Gaza.

Hamas's belated acceptance of diplomatic calls for a temporary ceasefire was announced several hours after Israel resumed its devastating military assault on the Palestinian enclave after a pause of more than 24 hours.

In the call, Obama "underscored the United States' strong condemnation of Hamas' rocket and tunnel attacks against Israel and reaffirmed Israel's right to defend itself."

But the US head of state also "reiterated the United States' serious and growing concern about the rising number of Palestinian civilian deaths and the loss of Israeli lives, as well as the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza," according to the White House.

Obama reiterated Washington's support for Egypt's initiative to ease the situation and stressed that "ultimately, any lasting solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict must ensure the disarmament of terrorist groups and the demilitarization of Gaza."

Related Article:

Gaza crisis: UN security council statement urges longer truce

New York Times calls for marijuana legalization

Yahoo – AFP, 27 July 2014

Protestors stand on the steps of New York City Hall in support of the proposed

 Fairness and Equity Act, which would attempt to reform racially biased arrests

 in regards to marijuana possession in New York state on July 9, 2014 in

New York City (AFP Photo/Andrew Burton)

Washington (AFP) - The New York Times called for the legalization of marijuana, in a bold editorial comparing the federal ban on cannabis to Prohibition.

The prestigious publication said pot laws disproportionately impact young black men and that addiction and dependence are "relatively minor problems" -- especially when compared with alcohol and tobacco.

"It took 13 years for the United States to come to its senses and end Prohibition, 13 years in which people kept drinking, otherwise law-abiding citizens became criminals and crime syndicates arose and flourished," the newspaper said.

House Oversight and Government Reform 

Subcommittee on Government Operations

 Chairman John Mica holds a fake
marijuana cigarette and a list of marijuana
offenses during a hearing about drug laws
on May 9, 2014 in Washington, DC
(AFP Photo/Chip Somodevilla)

"It has been more than 40 years since Congress passed the current ban on marijuana, inflicting great harm on society just to prohibit a substance far less dangerous than alcohol. The federal government should repeal the ban on marijuana."

Noting that the editorial board reached its conclusion after much discussion, The Times described the social costs of marijuana laws as "vast."

Citing FBI figures showing there were 658,000 arrests for marijuana possession in 2012 -- far higher than for cocaine, heroin and their derivatives -- it said "the result is racist, falling disproportionately on young black men, ruining their lives and creating new generations of career criminals."

While advocating for a ban on marijuana sales to those under 21, the paper also said the "moderate use of marijuana does not appear to pose a risk for otherwise healthy adults."

The call comes just weeks after recreational pot sales began in the western US state of Washington, which followed Colorado's decision to let people buy marijuana with no medical prescription.

And earlier this month, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a bill making New York the 23rd state to legalize marijuana for medical use.

In another recent move reflecting growing public support for easing marijuana laws, the House of Representatives voted in May to bar federal authorities from raiding medical marijuana facilities or growers in states that have legalized its use.

Call sparks reader reaction

The Times editorial, titled "Repeal Prohibition, Again," kicks off a series of pieces on the issue by members of the editorial board and invites readers to weigh in.

The first have already done so, with their views posted on the newspaper's website.

E.S. Lawrence, a self-described 20-year veteran high school teacher, expressed concern about children getting access to the substance, describing it as a "gateway drug" with detrimental effects on memory and learning.

Marijuana bongs, or water pipes, are 

displayed at the Cannabis City retail 

marijuana store on July 8, 2014 in Seattle,

Washington (AFP Photo/David Ryder)

"It's NOT a benign drug. As long as there's a danger of pot being acquired by children, I'm against legality," Lawrence posted.

But Emmett Hoops argued that legalization would allow for both taxation and regulation, adding that "mere decriminalization keeps profits in the hands of criminal gangs."

"It is beyond ridiculous to keep marijuana illegal while tobacco and alcohol kill scores every day in our state," Hoops, from New York, posted.

In January, President Barack Obama made headlines when he said smoking pot was no more dangerous than drinking, though he called the practice a "bad idea."

In comments to The New Yorker magazine, the US leader also noted that poor minority youths were more likely to get prison time for using marijuana than their richer counterparts.

However, he stopped short of calling for legalizing the drug at the federal level.

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