China expresses 'strong dissatisfaction' with G7 on Hong Kong

Yahoo – AFP, August 27, 2019

Beijing has not intervened so far over unrest in Hong Kong, despite ramping
up the rhetoric against demonstrators (AFP Photo/Lillian SUWANRUMPHA)

Beijing (AFP) - Beijing on Tuesday voiced "strong dissatisfaction" with a joint statement issued by the G7 leaders, who backed Hong Kong's autonomy and called for calm after months of civil unrest.

G7 leaders meeting in France on Monday backed Hong Kong's autonomy as laid out in a 1984 agreement between Britain and China, and called for calm in the protest-hit city.

But Beijing has accused foreign governments of interfering over Hong Kong, and foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said the G7 was "meddling" and "harbouring evil intentions".

"We express our strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition to the statement made by the leaders of the G7 Summit on Hong Kong affairs," Geng said at a press briefing in Beijing.

"We have repeatedly stressed that Hong Kong's affairs are purely China's internal affairs and that no foreign government, organisation or individual has the right to intervene."

Hong Kong has been wracked by more than two months of protests over an attempt by its Beijing-backed government to pass an extradition bill which opponents saw as a huge dent in the city's autonomy.

It has since morphed into a wider call for greater democratic freedoms.

In the G7 statement, the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States called for calm.

Beijing has previously accused former colonial power Britain of interfering in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory, which was handed over to China in 1997.

"The rule of law, social order, economic livelihood and international image of Hong Kong has been severely affected," Geng said.

"No one cares more about the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong than the Chinese people, including the people of Hong Kong."

The financial hub faced more violence over the weekend, with police saying Monday that they were forced to fire water cannon and a warning shot to fend off "extremely violent" demonstrators, marking some of the worst violence in the last 12 weeks of political unrest in the city.

So far Beijing has not intervened over unrest in the semi-autonomous city, despite ramping up the rhetoric against demonstrators and mounting fears that they may act militarily to quell the violence.

Trump ready to meet Iranian president in potential breakthrough

Yahoo – AFP, Sebastian Smith, Adam Plowright and Stuart Williams, 26 August 2019

Donald Trump said he would meet his Iranian counterpart Hassan
Rouhani 'if the circumstances were correct'

US President Donald Trump said Monday at the G7 summit that he is prepared to meet his Iranian counterpart within weeks in what would amount to a stunning change of direction in the two countries' smouldering standoff.

The potential breakthrough was announced by Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron, who said he would facilitate the first face-to-face meeting between the US president and the Iranians.

The surprise news came after Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif made a dramatic, unscheduled appearance on the sidelines of the summit held in Biarritz on Sunday at the invitation of Macron.

The 41-year-old French leader said the "conditions for a meeting" between Trump and Iran's Hassan Rouhani "in the next few weeks" had been created through intensive diplomacy and consultations.

"If the circumstances were correct, I would certainly agree to that," Trump said at a press conference with Macron at the end of three days of G7 talks.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif made a surprise visit to the G7

Asked if he thought the timeline proposed by his French counterpart was realistic, Trump replied: "It does."

Trump was equally confident that Rouhani would be in favour.

"I think he's going to want to meet. I think Iran wants to get this situation straightened out," he added.

Both men will be in New York for the UN General Assembly at the end of September which could provide the stage for the talks.

Trump has put in place a policy of "maximum pressure" on Tehran over its disputed nuclear programme via crippling sanctions that critics see as raising the risk of conflict in the Middle East between the United States and Iran.

The US president last year unilaterally pulled out of a landmark 2015 international deal that placed limits on Tehran's nuclear activities in exchange for trade, investment and sanctions relief. Trump said the deal gave the Iranians cover to keep pursuing a secret nuclear military programme which they insist does not exist.

Earlier this month, Trump lambasted Macron for sending 'mixed signals' on Iran

Rouhani appeared to accept the idea of opening to talks with Washington.

"I believe that for our country's national interests we must use any tool," Rouhani said of Zarif's Biarritz visit in a speech aired live on state television on Monday.

But hardliners criticised the initiative, with the ultra-conservative Kayhan newspaper saying the trip was "improper" and sent "a message of weakness and desperation."

'Real progress'

Macron has urged the US administration to offer some sort of relief to Iran, such as lifting sanctions on oil sales to China and India, and has raised the possibility of a new credit line to enable exports.

In return, Iran would return to complying with the 2015 deal.

Commenting on the talks about Iran at the G7, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said: "It's a big step forward. Now there is an atmosphere in which talks are welcomed."

Raging fires in the Amazon rainforest were on the G7 agenda

Macron and Trump hailed the common ground found by G7 leaders at their summit, which was dominated by the Iranian nuclear crisis, global trade tensions and fires in the Amazon.

"We have managed to find real points of convergence, unprecedented, very positive, that will allow us to go forward in a very useful way," Macron told the press conference.

Trump said Macron had done a "fantastic job" at the G7.

"This was a very special, a very unified two and a half days and I want to thank you," Trump told his host.

Just a few weeks ago, Trump lambasted Macron for sending "mixed signals" on Iran, and at the end of July the US administration imposed sanctions on Zarif.

Macron acknowledged there had been "nervousness" ahead of the summit because of tensions between the US and Europe on a host of issues.

"A lot depends on the return to the United States of Donald Trump and the way he manages everything," analyst Thomas Gomart from the French foreign affairs think-tank IFRI told AFP.

US-China tariff hikes

Trade war worries

Commenting on his escalating trade war with China, Trump held out hope of a deal to thaw the bruising year-long dispute that has seen tariffs imposed on billions of dollars' worth of goods by both sides.

"I can say we are having very meaningful talks, much more meaningful, I would say, than at any time," he had said at a press conference with Merkel.

Trump said senior Chinese officials had been in contact, though there was no confirmation from the Chinese side.

"I'm not sure they have a choice (on making a deal)," he said. "I don't mean that as a threat. I don't think they have a choice."

Trump arrived in the famed surfing town of Biarritz on Saturday shortly after upping the ante in his trade war with a new round of increased tariffs on Chinese goods.

European leaders have lined up to urge caution and warn about the danger of recession from the conflict.

Macron met Brazil's indigenous chief Raoni Metuktire of the Kayapo people

for talks in Biarritz on Monday evening

'Preserve our lands'

On the final day of the summit, the G7 agenda also included action to help fight fires destroying swaths of the Amazon.

The members agreed to spend $20 million (18 million euros) on the world's biggest rainforest, mainly to send firefighting aircraft to tackle blazes.

Macron said later they also hoped to raise "at least 30 million" dollars for a reforestation plan, to be discussed at the UN in September.

On Monday evening, he held talks in Biarritz with Brazilian indigenous chief Raoni Metuktire who said he had asked the French leader to "help us preserve our lands".

Trump was less vocal on this issue than his partners.

He also stood out from the rest of the G7 leaders in his budding friendship with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, a former army officer who has given freer rein to industrial farmers and loggers who have made the country an agribusiness power -- at a huge cost to the environment.

Macron had threatened to block an extensive new trade deal between the European Union and Latin America unless Bolsonaro takes serious steps to combat global warming.

Iran foreign minister makes surprise visit to G7 summit

Yahoo – AFP, Adam Plowright, Sebastian Smith and Stuart Williams, August 25, 2019

The G7 leaders wrapped up their long day with a group photo on a stage overlooking
the Biarritz beach, with the city's tall lighthouse in the background (AFP Photo/
ludovic MARIN)

Biarritz (France) (AFP) - Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif flew into Biarritz in southwestern France for the G7 summit on Sunday in a surprise attempt to break a diplomatic deadlock over Tehran's disputed nuclear programme.

Zarif's presence had not been announced and represented a gamble by French host Emmanuel Macron who is seeking to soothe spiralling tensions between Iran and the United States.

The Iranian top diplomat did not hold talks with US President Donald Trump in the French surf town, French diplomats said, but the presence of the two men in the same place sparked hopes of a detente.

"Road ahead is difficult. But worth trying," the US-educated Zarif wrote on Twitter after meeting Macron and French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian as well as British and German officials.

French officials said Trump had been aware of the arrival and suggested that it had been discussed during an impromptu two-hour lunch with Macron on a hotel terrace on Saturday.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and US President Donald Trump were on obviously 

friendly terms as they sat down for a working breakfast in the French resort of

Biarritz (AFP Photo/Nicholas Kamm)

"We work with full transparency with the Americans," one diplomat told reporters on condition of anonymity.

Robert Malley, head of the International Crisis Group, a think-tank, said that it was a sign that Trump had given "some positive response" to Macron's proposals for a deal.

"Maybe President Trump told President Macron privately that he was open to some of these ideas," he told AFP.

"The big caveat, the elephant in the room, is that there is considerable room between what President Trump says and what he thinks one day, and what he says and thinks the next," he added.

Also speaking in Biarritz, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that Trump had in the past said that if Iran "wants to sit down and negotiate he will not set preconditions."

Mohammad Javad Zarif smiling broadly during talks with President Emmanuel 

Macron and other French officials (AFP Photo)

French officials said the discussions had been "positive" and Zarif left the beach-side gathering in the evening.

'Moving in right direction'

Macron had held talks with Zarif in Paris on the eve of the G7 summit and has been leading efforts to bring Tehran and Washington back to the negotiating table.

Trump's policy of applying "maximum pressure" on Tehran via crippling sanctions has been criticised by European powers and is seen as raising the risk of conflict in the Middle East.

At the end of July, the US Treasury imposed sanctions on Zarif, saying he "spreads the regime’s propaganda and disinformation."

Macron has urged the US administration to offer some sort of relief to Iran, such as lifting sanctions on oil sales to China and India, or a new credit line to enable exports.

French host Emmanuel Macron is looking to find a way to soothe spiralling

tensions between Iran and the US (AFP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

In return, Iran would return to complying with a landmark 2015 deal limiting its nuclear programme, which Trump unilaterally pulled out from last year, Malley explained.

"I suspect that they (the French) are as cautious as I am," Malley added.

Speaking to AFP last week, Zarif said that Macron's suggestions were "moving in the right direction, although we are not definitely there yet."

Zarif was a key architect of the 2015 nuclear deal reached between Iran, the United States, European powers, Russia and China.

Trade war doubts?

The G7 leaders, spouses and other invitees from South America and Africa wrapped up their long day with a group photo on a stage overlooking the Biarritz beach, with the city's tall lighthouse in the background.

They were all smiles and Trump proclaimed that the G7 summit had been going "beautifully."

Key facts about the G7 countries as the summit is held in southwestern France 

(AFP Photo)

However, there was no masking over cracks between the US president and his allies on many issues.

Leaders of the G7 countries -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States -- put on a united front as they spent a second day in the high-end French surfing town of Biarritz.

Trump arrived in Biarritz fresh from having drastically upped the ante in the trade war with China.

European leaders lined up to press for caution and on Sunday Trump gave a glimmer of hope that he was reconsidering his all-or-nothing approach to the dispute between the world's two biggest economies.

Asked whether he was having second thoughts about the trade war, Trump, in a rare moment of public self-doubt, replied: "I have second thoughts about everything."

Security is high for the G7 in Biarritz (AFP Photo/Jean-Michel CORNU)

Then in an extraordinary turnaround, Trump's spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham said just hours later that the president had been misunderstood.

He did have regrets, she said, but not what everyone thought.

"He regrets not raising the tariffs higher," she explained.

At a breakfast meeting, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson became the latest of the G7 partners to urge Trump to step back from a trade war that critics fear could tip the world economy into recession.

"Just to register a faint, sheep-like note of our view on the trade war -- we are in favour of trade peace on the whole," Johnson told Trump.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson became the latest of the G7 partners to 

urge Trump to step back from the trade war (AFP Photo/Erin Schaff)

The meeting with Johnson, who is sometimes seen as a British version of the populist, nationalist Trump, underlined the White House's dislike for the powerful European Union.

Trump predicted that Johnson would manage to untangle the mess of Brexit and described the EU as "an anchor around their ankle."

The 73-year-old US leader then promised Johnson a "very big trade deal, bigger than we've ever had."

Mayor of Canadian capital city Ottawa comes out as gay

Yahoo – AFP, August 17, 2019

Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson (left) speaks to CNN journalist Anderson Cooper
in October 2014 (AFP Photo/Mike Carroccetto)

Montreal (AFP) - The mayor of Ottawa revealed Saturday that he is gay, an announcement that comes on the eve of gay pride week in the Canadian capital city.

"I'm gay. There -- I said it; or rather, wrote it. Those two words took me almost four decades to utter, but as they say, 'Better late than never,'" Jim Watson wrote in a letter published in the Ottawa Citizen newspaper.

The 58-year-old, who has served as mayor since 2010, recalled being a shy teen who moved and changed schools frequently, preventing him from making friends.

It was the 1970s, a time when "there were virtually no resources to seek for guidance or help, or just to talk."

After graduating from university, Watson said he threw himself into his work. A provincial MP from 2003 to 2010, he also served as city councillor and provincial cabinet minister.

"As I look back over my life, and in hindsight, not coming out sooner was a big mistake on my part," he wrote.

"My reluctance has not allowed me to live my life as full of love and adventure as my gay friends who were bolder and braver than I ever was."

He urged gay people who are in the closet not to feel rushed to come out -- "but don't wait 40 years either."

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hailed Watson's "brave words," saying they would "inspire Ottawans -- and all Canadians -- to feel free to be themselves."

Ottawa's week-long Capital Pride event kicks off Sunday, celebrating the area's LGBTQ community.

Outcry as Jeffrey Epstein found dead in jail, FBI investigates

Yahoo – AFP, Peter HUTCHISON, August 10, 2019

In this undated handout photo obtained July 11, 2019 courtesy
of the New York State Sex Offender Registry shows Jeffrey
Epstein (AFP Photo/HO)

New York (AFP) - US financier Jeffrey Epstein, awaiting trial on charges he trafficked underage girls for sex, was found dead in his prison cell Saturday from an apparent suicide, officials said.

Political leaders and law enforcement officials quickly expressed shock that a high-profile detainee who had already apparently tried to end his life in late July and would presumably be under close watch could manage to commit suicide. The Justice Department and the FBI launched investigations of the jet-set hedge fund manager's death.

Epstein, a convicted pedophile who befriended numerous politicians and celebrities over the years, was found unresponsive at the Metropolitan Correctional Center from "an apparent suicide", the US Department of Justice (DoJ) said.

The disgraced financier was discovered around 6:30 am (1030 GMT) and rushed to hospital in New York where he was pronounced dead, it added in a statement.

Attorney General Bill Barr said he was "appalled" to learn of Epstein's death and had instructed the justice department's inspector general to probe how he could have died while in federal custody.

"Mr Epstein's death raises serious questions that must be answered," Barr said in a statement.

The FBI is also investigating the incident, said the DoJ.

The New York Times and other media quoted officials as saying Epstein hanged himself.

The city medical examiner's office confirmed Epstein's death but not what caused it.

It came a day after a tranche of sealed legal documents were released for the first time providing new details about what prosecutors allege was Epstein's sex-trafficking operation.

The death also comes just over two weeks after the 66-year-old was found unconscious in his cell with marks on his neck after an apparent suicide attempt.

Epstein did not appear to be showing any visible signs of injuries when he appeared in court on July 31 following that incident, to be told that his trial wouldn't begin before June of next year.

'We need answers'

The wealthy hedge fund manager had been charged with one count of sex trafficking of minors and one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors.

He was denied bail last month in a New York court because he was deemed a flight risk.

Epstein denied the charges and had faced up to 45 years in prison -- effectively the rest of his life -- if convicted.

The Metropolitan Correctional Center, a federal facility in Manhattan that is often used to house suspects awaiting or during trial, is considered one of the most secure penal establishments in the US.

The infamous Mexican drug trafficker Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman spent more than two years there before being convicted and transferred to a federal prison in Colorado.

Epstein's death quickly raised questions about whether Epstein was in fact on suicide watch.

"We need answers. Lots of them," tweeted New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Michael Bromwich, a former inspector general at the Justice Department, said an investigation must "determine who is responsible."

Republican Senator Ben Sasse, who heads the Senate's judiciary oversight committee, said the government had failed Epstein's alleged victims "yet again."

"These victims deserved to face their serial abuser in court," he said.

On Friday, two thousand pages of documents focusing on testimony by a victim who claimed she was a "sex slave" of Epstein were released by a New York court.

In them, Virginia Giuffre, now an adult, claims that she was forced to have sex with well-known American political and business personalities. They have all denied the allegations.

Sexual massages

Prosecutors said Epstein sexually exploited dozens of underage teenagers, some as young as 14, at his homes in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Florida, between 2002 and 2005.

They claim that Epstein was "well aware that many of the victims were minors."

The girls were paid hundreds of dollars in cash to massage him, perform sexual acts and to recruit other girls, prosecutors allege.

They say Epstein had an army of recruiters, often not much older than their targets, who would approach vulnerable teens.

Epstein is also accused of paying off possible co-conspirators to "influence" them, US media have reported.

Epstein, whose friends have included President Donald Trump, former president Bill Clinton and Britain's Prince Andrew, was convicted previously of paying young girls for sexual massages at his Palm Beach mansion.

They have all denied knowing anything about his alleged crimes.

Epstein avoided federal prosecution under a plea deal that required him to admit to a single Florida state charge of soliciting prostitution from a minor and register as a sex offender.

He served 13 months in a county jail before being released in 2009.

Last month, Alex Acosta resigned as US labor secretary amid a backlash over the deal that he negotiated with Epstein in that case while he was a federal prosecutor in Florida.

Related Articles:

US hedge fund billionaire charged with sex trafficking minors


“The Battle (in the old energy) is Over”, Laguna Hills, California, US(4), July 13–14, 2019 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - New

“McCloud-3 Linear Reflections Part 1”, McCloud, California, US(5), June 28 – July 1, 2019 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

Trump says Republicans ready to impose gun background checks

Yahoo – AFP, Sebastian Smith, August 9, 2019

US President Donald Trump says he has spoken to leader of the National Rifle
Association and their views should be fully represented in the debate over gun
control (AFP Photo/MANDEL NGAN)

Washington (AFP) - President Donald Trump said Friday that fellow Republicans will set aside resistance to restricting access to firearms by supporting background checks for people buying weapons in the wake of mass shootings in Ohio and Texas.

The progress in efforts to curb the United States' freewheeling relationship with firearms came despite talks between Trump and the head of the fierce NRA gun lobby, Wayne LaPierre.

Republicans have long resisted imposing background checks on gun buyers, a measure that the powerful NRA argues would be the thin end of the wedge, leading to ever tighter restrictions on the constitutional right to carrying weapons.

But after 31 people were shot dead in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, last weekend -- just the latest in an ever growing list of bloodbaths carried out by men with powerful rifles -- political momentum has apparently shifted.

Trump said that Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was "totally onboard" with background checks.

Even "hardline" gun rights supporters in the Republican party "understand we don't want insane people, mentally ill people, bad people, dangerous people" buying firearms, Trump told reporters at the White House.

He said he'd spoken with LaPierre and had "a good talk."

But despite describing the NRA as "phenomenal people" and insisting that no other president has been more supportive of gun rights, Trump said "we need meaningful background checks so that sick people don't get guns."

LaPierre on Thursday had rejected calls for tougher restrictions on firearms, indicating he'd raised those concerns with Trump.

US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says gun control legislation will be 

"front and center" in the next session but he will not recall senators from their 

summer break (AFP Photo/NICHOLAS KAMM)

"The inconvenient truth is this: the proposals being discussed by many would not have prevented the horrific tragedies in El Paso and Dayton," LaPierre said in a statement.

No recall of Congress

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged Trump to bring the Senate into session to debate gun control legislation previously approved by House Democratic lawmakers, including a bill passed in February mandating federal criminal background checks.

"Commonsense background checks are supported by more than 90 percent of the American people and are proven to save lives," Pelosi wrote Thursday in a letter to the president.

Backed by than 200 US mayors who wrote to McConnell to demand that the Senate reconvene, Pelosi evoked "an extraordinary moment in our history (that) requires all of us to take extraordinary action."

But despite the apparent shift in White House and Republican positions on the issue, Trump and Senate leaders said there's no need to call legislators back from their summer break.

"I think we'll have a very good package by the time they come back," Trump said.

Trump and the Republicans also seem certain to oppose Democrats' call for banning assault weapons -- the military style rifles commonly used in mass killings.

Gun lobbyists argue that rifles like the AR-15 are hugely popular, legitimate weapons for hunting and self-defense.

McConnell has previously stifled congressional efforts to expand gun controls amid Republicans' fears that they could suffer at ballot box in next year's elections.

The El Paso and Dayton shooters used semi-automatic weapons, which can be legally bought in most US states, to mow down large numbers of people in minutes or even seconds.

Related Article:

US mayors demand gun control action

Japan urged to sign UN nuke ban on Hiroshima anniversary

Yahoo – AFP, August 6, 2019

Hiroshima Mayor Kazumi Matsui (R) used the 74th anniversary of the atomic bombing 
of the city to urge the administration to sign the UN treaty on the prohibition of 
nuclear weapons (AFP Photo/JIJI PRESS)

The mayor of Hiroshima urged Japan to sign a landmark UN treaty banning nuclear weapons as the city Tuesday marked 74 years since being targeted in the world's first atomic attack.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe led commemorations at the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima as residents offered silent prayers, lit candles and placed wreathes to remember those killed in the August 6, 1945 bombing.

And mayor Kazumi Matsui used the occasion to push the Abe administration to sign the UN treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons (TPNW), approved by more than 120 nations, but rejected by the US and other nuclear armed countries.

"I call on the government of the only country to experience a nuclear weapon in war to accede to the hibakusha's (atomic bomb victims) request that the TPNW be signed and ratified," said Matsui.

"I urge Japan's leaders to manifest the pacifism of the Japanese constitution by displaying leadership in taking the next step towards a world free from nuclear weapons."

The mayor urged world leaders to come to the city to see the memorial for themselves, amid expectations that Pope Francis will visit later this year.

Graphic on the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in Japan on August 6, 1945 

(AFP Photo/AFP)

The ongoing threat from atomic weapons in the region was demonstrated as nuclear-armed North Korea fired off two "unidentified projectiles" off its eastern coast -- the latest in a series of tests.

Meanwhile, the US and Russia failed to renew a Cold War-era nuclear pact last week, triggering renewed fears of an arms race.

Japan remains the only country to have experienced atomic attack -- against Hiroshima and Nagasaki, days ahead of the country's surrender on August 15, 1945 to end World War II.

For his part, Abe reiterated a pledge to serve as a "bridge" between nations with and without nuclear weapons to rid the world of them.

"With help from both sides, I will patiently encourage them to engage in dialogue and I am resolved to lead international efforts towards this end," he said.

141 countries joined in drafting the treaty that they hope will increase pressure

on nuclear states to take disarmament more seriously  (AFP Photo/Amanda VOISARD)

Related Articles:

122 countries adopt global treaty banning nuclear weapons

The Netherlands abstains in UN nuclear weapons vote

A huge dome is shown in 1980 covering a crater left by one of the 43

nuclear blasts on Runit Island, in the Marshall Islands, the fallout from

which is expected to last 25,000 years (US Defence Nuclear Agency/AFP)

Marshall Islands sues nine nuclear powers over failure to disarm

Islanders afraid to go home 60 years after Bikini Atoll H-bomb

Ten nations urge new push for non-proliferation - (30 April 2011)

“.. Westerwelle told journalists that the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the international Nuclear Test Ban Treaty should be adopted by all countries, adding that the production and mining of all fissile material for nuclear weapons should be banned internationally. He called for resuscitating the Geneva Disarmament Convention.

Attending the talks with Germany were Japan, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, Chile, Poland, Mexico, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.

Last year, these countries formed the group Friends of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. ..”

‘Those silly things are still there’: US nukes stored in Netherlands

22 American nuclear bombs are stored in the Netherlands: media
WikiLeaks confirms presence of US nuclear arms in Netherlands

Nuclear Powers to Sign Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone
China calls for joint efforts to advance nuclear disarmament
Xi says China will stick to denuclearization of Korean peninsula


"Fast-Tracking" - Feb 8, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Reference to Fukushima / H-bomb nuclear pollution and a warning about nuclear  (> 20 Min)

"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“…  8 - The End of War

The last one is the best. For thousands of years on this planet, Human Beings have warred with each other. If you take a look at the reasons they warred with each other, you will quickly see there aren't any good ones - land, resources, greed. Those are not reasons. That is a description of old energy. Those are not reasons. Reasons would be perhaps defense against an aggressor. But what if there is no longer the consciousness of the aggressor?

When I appeared in my partner's life more than 20 years ago, I said to him privately that the first messages we're going to give will be unbelievable. There would be laughter. We told him that Human nature and consciousness itself would change, and that the seeds of peace would be planted and there would come a time where there is no more war. Indeed, the laughter was great because humans look at history and they see patterns based on an absolute energy called Human Nature. "Impossible! There always has to be war. There always has been. Therefore, there always will be." This is you, in a box, in a black and white potential, where you can only see the black and white of what is and the black and white of what has been. You have no idea the shades of color that are there in your consciousness and the beauty of the love of God.

North Korea is on the edge of change, as we told you it might be. What did this require? The death of the old energy, and I want you to watch this take place. The advisors of the young leader are going to do their best to pull him back into an old energy. This free choice of his will be far different than his father, for he sees some color. Watch for these things. They'll take longer than you want, but it is the beginning of the beginning.

You'll see a fresh unification of South America sooner than not, for what is going to take place potentially this year in Venezuela. You'll see Iran changing. We have no clock. These are the potentials. These can change with free choice. These are not prophecies. This is a reality shift, dear ones, so number eight becomes the propensity not to war again. This is what Humans are going to want. This is what governments are going to want. There is a wisdom factor that will begin to happen on the planet that is grander than what you think is possible. For when you look at government, what do you think about? You see dysfunction, and there is an axiom that says the more people that try to do something together, the worse it gets. It all settles to the lowest common denominator. I'm telling you even those things are going to become old energy concepts. Instead, you're going to watch wisdom become the top potential.

I have no clock. I cannot tell you when. I can just tell you it is in the works, and there will be the seeds of it for you to observe soon - right now, in every single of the eight categories I showed you.

There are those who will say, "Well, Kryon, you're doing a lot more predictions than you used to." I want to tell you what's going on, dear one. I am not predicting anything. I am just telling you what's already there in the potential soup of your reality. That's what Humans are doing on this planet, and for those who believe this communication, you should breathe a sigh of relief and say, "It's about time." ….”