Jesus tears 'blasphemer' brings his fight from India to Ireland

Sanal Edamaruku faces court for revealing 'tears' trickling down a church statue came from clogged drainage pipes

guardian.co.uk, Henry McDonald, Friday 23 November 2012

A statue of Christ in Mumbai. Local people declared a miracle when 'tears'
trickled down the statue at the Church of Our Lady of Velan Kanni. Photograph:
 Sherwin Crasto/Associated Press

When water started trickling down a statue of Jesus Christ at a Catholic church in Mumbai earlier this year, locals were quick to declare a miracle. Some began collecting the holy water and the Church of Our Lady of Velan Kanni began to promote it as a site of pilgrimage.

So when Sanal Edamaruku arrived and established that this was not a matter of holy water so much as holey plumbing, the backlash was severe. The renowned rationalist was accused of blasphemy, charged with offences that carry a three-year prison sentence and eventually, after receiving death threats, had to seek exile in Finland.

Now he is calling for European governments to press New Delhi into dropping the case. And on the first leg of a tour around EU capitals on Friday, he warned that India was sacrificing freedom of expression for outdated, colonial-era rules about blasphemy.

"There is a huge contradiction in the content of the Indian constitution which guarantees freedom of speech and the blasphemy law from 1860 under then colonial rule," Edamaruku told the Guardian in an interview in Dublin.

"This blasphemy law can affect anyone in India, even a girl recently who wrote on Facebook against closing down a city because of the death of a famous local politician. She was prosecuted under the blasphemy law and another girl who 'liked' her comment on Facebook was also arrested and then charged with blasphemy."

Edamaruku, who has the support of rationalists and atheists such as Richard Dawkins, is well known in India for debunking religious myths, and was already unpopular among Indian Catholics for publicly criticising Mother Teresa's legacy in Kolkata.

When the state "miracle" was pronounced, he went to Mumbai and found that the dripping water was the result of clogged drainage pipes behind the wall where it stood. His revelation provoked death threats from religious zealots and ultimately charges of blasphemy under the Indian penal code in the Mumbai high court.

"India cannot criticise Pakistan for arresting young girls for blaspheming against Islam while it arrests and locks up its own citizens for breaking our country's blasphemy laws," he said. "It is an absurd law but also extremely dangerous because it gives fanatics, whether they are Hindus, Catholics or Muslims, a licence to be offended. It also allows people who are in dispute with you to make up false accusations of blasphemy."

Edamaruku said his exposure of the weeping statue was also a contribution to public health in Mumbai as some believers were drinking the water hoping it could cure ailments. "This was sewage water seeping through a wall due to faulty plumbing," he said. "It posed a health risk to people who were fooled into believing it was a miracle."

He has been living in Finland since the summer. He was in Europe on a lecture tour in July when his partner rang to say the police had arrived at his apartment. "I felt really upset because under the blasphemy law you cannot get bail until the court case begins. I would be in jail now if I had been at my apartment in Delhi," he said.

He has spurned an offer from a senior Indian Catholic bishop to apologise for the exposure of the "miracle".

"The Catholic archbishop of Bombay, Oswald Cardinal Gracias, has said that if I apologise for the 'offence' I have caused he will see to it that the charges are dropped. This shows that he has influence in the situation but he will not use it unless I apologise, which I will not do as I have done nothing wrong," he said.

"In a way I am lucky because I have friends and supporters in Europe. I am well known in India and have the telephone numbers of at least five Indian cabinet ministers. And I have some means of fighting back. But what would happen to the common man or woman if they were accused of blasphemy? They would be sent straight to jail without any chance of bail," he said.

Edamaruku asked for "mounting international pressure" particularly from Ireland and other EU nations to be placed on the Indian government. The Indian state would have the power to halt the prosecution before a court case, citing a lack of evidence to pursue it, he said.

Mick Nugent from Atheist Ireland, the organisation hosting Edamaruku's visit to the republic and Northern Ireland next week, said Edamaruku's plight also underlined the need for the Fine Gael-Labour government in Dublin to repeal the Irish blasphemy law.

"Blasphemy laws are very strange because they can be both very silly and also very sinister. They are very silly because you are talking about crying statues and moving statues or Virgin Marys appearing in tree stumps in Co Limerick. But on the other hand these type of laws are used in Islamic countries to jail people or sentence them to death. Or in Sanal's case facing a jail sentence for his work exposing bogus miracles.

"The Irish government should pay attention to Sanal's case and realise they must get rid of this absurd and dangerous law. Because we shouldn't be so smug in Ireland. After all we have had the hysteria about moving statues and a man bringing people to a shrine in Co Mayo so they can look at the sun and see the Virgin Mary."

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(Religions – Zionism - March 1, 2012 - Matthew Channelled by Suzanne Ward)

9. It can be no other way—simply, this is the physics that governs life in this universe. As Earth continues apace into successively higher planes, nothing with low vibrations in any form—physical bodies, subversive plans, theft, dishonesty, unjust laws and imprisonment, bigotry, cruel customs and deeds—can survive.

10. Moving on, no, it will not be quite like religions being “totally discarded and replaced by universal laws in the Golden Age.” When the truths come forth that science and spirit are one and the same and that religious dogmas were originated by early leaders of church and state to control the masses, people whose consciousness has risen beyond the constraints of third density will adhere to the spiritual aspects of their respective religions and the devised, controlling aspects will fall by the wayside.

11. One of the truths to come forth is that Zionism, which by dark intent has been made synonymous with Judaism, actually is a bellicose political movement within the Illuminati, and its aim for more than six decades has been to create conflict and instability in the entire Middle East. Zionists, who have wielded powerful influence within and behind major governments and their military forces, do NOT represent the Jewish peoples in Israel or anywhere else. And, like all other Illuminati factions, they have been committed to that cabal’s goal of global domination.

12. Although Semites are of diverse national origins and religions, the Zionists have been successful in convincing many that “anti-Semitic” is exclusively prejudice against the Jewish peoples and opposition to Israel’s right to defend itself from its “enemies.” By means of that blatant distortion, they obtained not only world sympathy, but also massive defense funding from Israel’s allies, most especially the United States, all of which served to increase the Illuminati’s vast profits from their industrial-military machine.

13. In addition to controlling the masses through dogmatic teachings, religions have served the dark purpose of divisiveness to such an extent that it resulted in centuries of trauma and bloodshed. Witness the Crusades, wars between Catholics and Protestants, pogroms against Jews, executions of “blasphemous” individuals who refused to “recant.”  (Read More …)

Electronic tracking: new constraint for Saudi women

Yahoo – AFP, Assaad Abboud, November 22, 2012

Saudi women get into a taxi outside a shopping mall in Riyadh on June 22, 2012.
(AFP PHOTO/FAYEZ NURELDINE)

                              

RIYADH: Denied the right to travel without consent from their male guardians and banned from driving, women in Saudi Arabia are now monitored by an electronic system that tracks any cross-border movements.

Since last week, Saudi women's male guardians began receiving text messages on their phones informing them when women under their custody leave the country, even if they are travelling together.

Manal al-Sherif, who became the symbol of a campaign launched last year urging Saudi women to defy a driving ban, began spreading the information on Twitter, after she was alerted by a couple.

The husband, who was travelling with his wife, received a text message from the immigration authorities informing him that his wife had left the international airport in Riyadh.

"The authorities are using technology to monitor women," said columnist Badriya al-Bishr, who criticised the "state of slavery under which women are held" in the ultra-conservative kingdom.

Women are not allowed to leave the kingdom without permission from their male guardian, who must give his consent by signing what is known as the "yellow sheet" at the airport or border.

The move by the Saudi authorities was swiftly condemned on social network Twitter -- a rare bubble of freedom for millions in the kingdom -- with critics mocking the decision.

"Hello Taliban, herewith some tips from the Saudi e-government!" read one post.

"Why don't you cuff your women with tracking ankle bracelets too?" wrote Israa.

"Why don't we just install a microchip into our women to track them around?" joked another.

"If I need an SMS to let me know my wife is leaving Saudi Arabia, then I'm either married to the wrong woman or need a psychiatrist," tweeted Hisham.

-- 'Technology serving backwardness' --

"This is technology used to serve backwardness in order to keep women imprisoned," said Bishr, the columnist.

"It would have been better for the government to busy itself with finding a solution for women subjected to domestic violence" than track their movements into and out of the country.

Saudi Arabia applies a strict interpretation of sharia, or Islamic law, and is the only country in the world where women are not allowed to drive.

In June 2011, female activists launched a campaign to defy the ban, with many arrested for doing so and forced to sign a pledge they will never drive again.

No law specifically forbids women in Saudi Arabia from driving, but the interior minister formally banned them after 47 women were arrested and punished after demonstrating in cars in November 1990.

Last year, King Abdullah -- a cautious reformer -- granted women the right to vote and run in the 2015 municipal elections, a historic first for the country.

In January, the 89-year-old monarch appointed Sheikh Abdullatif Abdel Aziz al-Sheikh, a moderate, to head the notorious religious police commission, which enforces the kingdom's severe version of sharia law.

Following his appointment, Sheikh banned members of the commission from harassing Saudi women over their behaviour and attire, raising hopes a more lenient force will ease draconian social constraints in the country.

But the kingdom's "religious establishment" is still to blame for the discrimination of women in Saudi Arabia, says liberal activist Suad Shemmari.

"Saudi women are treated as minors throughout their lives even if they hold high positions," said Shemmari, who believes "there can never be reform in the kingdom without changing the status of women and treating them" as equals to men.

But that seems a very long way off.

The kingdom enforces strict rules governing mixing between the sexes, while women are forced to wear a veil and a black cloak, or abaya, that covers them from head to toe except for their hands and faces.

The many restrictions on women have led to high rates of female unemployment, officially estimated at around 30 percent.

In October, local media published a justice ministry directive allowing all women lawyers who have a law degree and who have spent at least three years working in a lawyer's office to plead cases in court.

But the ruling, which was to take effect this month, has not been implemented.

Saudi women must have the permission of their male 'guardian' 

to go abroad. Photograph: Fayez Nureldine/AFP/Getty Images

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Egypt: Israel and Hamas agree to ceasefire

Deutsche Welle, 21 November 2012

Egypt has announced a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel after eight days of fighting. Israel has agreed to the move. Hamas' leadership is expected to reply soon.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr made the announcement Wednesday evening in Cairo as he stood next to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The ceasefire is to take effect at 1900 GMT. "It will come into effect at nine Cairo time," Amr said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the deal in Jerusalem, agreeing to "give it a chance."

"A short while ago Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with [US] President Barack Obama and agreed to his recommendation to give a chance to an Egyptian proposal for a ceasefire and thereby give an opportunity for the stabilisation of the situation and a calming of it," a statement from Netanyahu's office said.

"There is no substitute for a just and lasting peace," said Clinton at the Cairo press conference. "The US and Egypt will work together to support the next step."

Clinton added that the US would work with other countries in the region to "provide security for Israel and improve conditions for people in Gaza."

The AP news agency quoted an unnamed Palestinian official as saying Israel would cease all military activity against the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and Palestinian militants would cease rocket attacks into Israel. After 24 hours of quiet, Gaza's border crossings with Israel would open to allow the freer movement of goods and people.

Response awaited from Hamas leader

The news agency AFP quoted Hamas sources as saying that Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal was due to give a press conference in Cairo following Egypt's announcement.

The White House, according to another AP dispatch, said the United States would use the opportunity offered by a ceasefire to intensify efforts to help Israel address its security needs, especially the smuggling of weapons and explosives into Gaza.

President Obama would also said he would seek more money for the Iron Dome defense system that has protected Israel from rocket attacks, the White House said.

Obama praised Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi for his role in negotiating deal: "The president thanked President Morsi for his efforts to achieve a sustainable ceasefire and for his personal leadership in negotiating a ceasefire proposal," the White House said.

The statement from Netanyahu's office also said that the Israeli premier had thanked Obama for the US contribution to Israel's 'Iron Dome' anti-missile system. It reportedly intercepted more than 420 rockets fired from Gaza during the eight-day conflagration.

Earlier on Wednesday, at least 15 people were injured in a Tel Aviv bus bombing. There was no claim of responsibility. Israel later launched more air strikes on Gaza. A health ministry spokesman in Gaza said at least six people were killed, including a toddler.

The death toll since Wednesday last week, when Israel killed a Hamas military chief in Gaza City during an airstrike, stands at 147 Palestinians and five Israelis killed.

dr/ipj (AP, dpa, Reuters, AFP)

President Mohamed Morsi attends a meeting with UN

 Secretary General Ban Ki-moon (unseen) at the

 presidential palace in Cairo, November 21, 2012. (Khaed

 Desouki/AFP/Getty Images)

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Jersey puts stop to vulture funds circling its courts

Creditors had used island to sue debt-ridden nations, with latest case involving Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Guardian, Rupert Neate, Tuesday 20 November 2012

Politicians in Jersey have voted to ban so-called vulture funds from using the island's courts to sue the world's poorest countries for historic debts.

Vulture funds, which buy up poor nations' debts on the cheap before suing them for up to 100 times the original amount, had attempted to take cases to Jersey after British law banned the practice.

In the latest case, multimillionaire speculator Peter Grossman used Jersey's courts to sue the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) for $100m (£64m) over a decades-old debt that started out at $3.3m. Grossman, who runs the FG Hemisphere fund, was able to take the case to Jersey's courts because the island is a crown dependency not covered by all UK laws.

The Jersey court ruled the DRC's state-owned mining company should pay back the debt, which was originally a loan from the former Yugoslavia to build power lines 30 years ago. The judgment was eventually overturned by the privy council, the final court of appeal for Crown dependencies.

Jersey's chief minister, Ian Gorst, said the island's decision to change its laws so they fall in line with those in the UK sent a clear message that Jersey was a "well-regulated, co-operative and transparent jurisdiction".

All but one of Jersey's parliamentarians voted in favour of changing the law to severely limit vulture funds' claims on debts owed by 40 of the world's poorest countries. The remaining member of the States of Jersey abstained from the vote on Tuesday.

"I am very pleased that the debt relief legislation received such strong support from my fellow States members," Gorst said. "Today's vote shows that Jersey is fully committed to supporting international debt relief efforts."

When the draft legislation was lodged last month, Gorst said the law would show Jersey is "demonstrating its commitment to play its part in the global effort, expressed in the UN Millennium Declaration, to support debt relief efforts intended to assist the world's most heavily indebted poor countries".

Draft legislation states that the change in the law will "prevent the Jersey courts being used to seek to enforce in full, the debts of countries to which the governments of other countries, multilateral lenders and commercial creditors have provided relief under the [heavily indebted poor countries] initiative".

The UK is the only country in the world to have brought in a law to limit vulture funds practices, but other countries are considering similar proposals.

The Treasury estimates the UK Debt Relief (Developing Countries) Act passed in 2010 will save some of the most impoverished countries £145m.

The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank estimate that vulture funds are seeking total claims of $1.47bn from countries including Cameroon, Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda, and the DRC.

Tim Jones, policy officer at Jubilee Debt Campaign, which is campaigning for the cancellation of debts owed by poor countries, said: "We warmly welcome this legislation to protect 40 countries from odious vulture fund claims in Jersey. However, vulture funds continue to cause havoc across the global economy. One case currently being heard in the US may even force Argentina to default on its debt.

"Global action is needed to make all creditors comply when government debts have to be written off."

Last month, an Argentine naval ship was seized in Ghana as part of an attempt by a hedge fund run by US billionaire Paul Singer to collect on debts arising from the country's defaulted bond swaps in 2005 and 2010.

Argentina has asked the United Nations to order the release of the Libertad tall ship, which has been prevented from leaving Ghana after a local court ruled in favour of Singer's Elliott Capital Management.

During its 2001 economic crisis Argentina defaulted on more than $100bn of debt. Most of the loans were subsequently restructured, giving creditors back about 30p in the pound, but some creditors including Elliott, chose to hold out and pursue the Argentine government through courts across the world.

A skeleton crew remains on the Libertad held in the

Ghanaian port of Tema

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HSBC Investigation: clients of Britain's biggest bank exposed

General's wife speaks out on his misconduct probe

The Daily Star, AP, November 20, 2012

Brig. Gen. Jeffrey A. Sinclair faces possible courts martial on charges that
 include forced sex, possessing pornography and alcohol while deployed in
 Afghanistan, and misusing a government travel charge card. U.S. Army,
U.S. Army/Web

                              

NEW YORK: As a U.S. Army general faces a string of sexual misconduct charges involving female officers, his wife is seeking to stir a broader look at often taboo subjects in military marriages: adultery, the strain of separation and the stress of war.

Rebecca Sinclair stayed away from the days-long military hearing earlier this month at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where the allegations against her husband, Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Sinclair, were revealed in detailed testimony. Women officers described an affair, forced sexual encounters and a series of explicit email exchanges with the former deputy commander of the 82nd Airborne Division in Afghanistan.

But his wife has since made herself a public face of his defense, and of what she sees as the toll of a decade of war on military couples, many of whom have found themselves in a repeated pattern of deployments, homecomings and moves.

"I am not condoning anything, and I'm not excusing my husband's infidelity. I'm not saying that just because we're on this deployment cycle and because of the war, that causes infidelity," she said by phone Monday from New York, where she had traveled for interviews after airing her feelings in an opinion piece Thursday in The Washington Post. "I'm just trying to understand it, and I'm trying to get conversations started so that people can look behind and see the bigger issue."

Her piece came as adultery in the military has flared up as an issue, following retired Gen. David Petraeus' resignation as CIA director over an affair with his biographer and the disclosure of what officials have described as suggestive emails between a Florida woman and Gen. John Allen, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan; he says he's done nothing wrong.

It also comes as Jeffrey Sinclair waits to hear whether he'll be court-martialed on charges including forcible sodomy, wrongful sexual conduct, misusing a government travel charge card, and possessing pornography and alcohol while deployed. The 27-year Army veteran was relieved in May of his duties overseeing logistics for the 82nd Airborne.

At the recent evidentiary hearing, a female captain who was his direct subordinate in Afghanistan testified she had a three-year affair with her married boss. But she also said that on two occasions, the general forced her to perform oral sex and that he also threatened to kill her and her family if she told anyone about their relationship. Two other officers testified that they provided nude photos to him, part of allegations involving his conduct with five women.

The Associated Press does not name victims of alleged sexual assaults unless they agree to be identified or come forward publicly.

Defense lawyers portrayed Sinclair's primary accuser, the captain, as a lying, jealous lover trying to ruin his family and career. Defense lawyer Maj. Elizabeth Ramsey suggested in her closing argument that the general was guilty only of adultery and fraternization, punishable by a written reprimand. The defense team said Sinclair had passed a polygraph test during which he denied sexually assaulting the captain.

Rebecca Sinclair, who said her husband called last spring to tell her of the affair and allegations, said she hoped "the Army will see the evidence for what it is and will clear him of any wrongdoing."

In the meantime, the Sinclairs are trying to mend their relationship, she said. And she is pointing to her personal story as a testament to the pressures on military marriages and families.

Her husband has been deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere five times since the Sept. 11 terror attacks, spending a total of six of the past 11 years away from his wife and two children - the eldest, a sixth-grader, has attended six schools so far, Rebecca Sinclair said.

Many military wives know their husbands are unfaithful but stay silent to preserve their families or their financial security, especially because their spouses' own careers can be hampered by frequent moves, said Rebecca Sinclair, who has taught business at various community colleges during her 27-year marriage.

Her husband's affair and the fallout "is very painful for me, very hurtful, but I just really feel that this is something I need to talk about," she said. "Because it's not an isolated case."

Suicides have outnumbered combat deaths in US
troops in 2008 and 2009

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(Matthew channelled by Suzanne Ward, June 3, 2012)

“….   22. Beyond those myriad personal situations, beyond the civilian casualties in war zones, and beyond the financial burdens to the peoples whose nations are at war is the global emotional impact. It can be said that the condition coined post traumatic stress disorder is endemic to Earth. No one is immune to this battle energy that permeates your world, no one can escape the ravages that centuries of bloodshed have inured generation after generation to accept as humankind’s nature and lot in life. Yet, the fear of dying is just as pervasive, and that sets up a paradox that minds have to come to terms with. …" 

"Healing the Military Energies in our family Tree" – Jun 13, 2011 (Kryon channelled by David Brown)

“ … There’s much violence and anger throughout the world; when we look at the Middle East, we can see that changes are coming there. The West has a lot of power over the Middle East, but that power will begin to dissolve. The Muslim people of this world will begin to have their own power, and their own prosperity, and they will begin to disconnect from the Western World. This disconnection doesn’t have to be violent as violence only happens when somebody hangs onto what doesn’t belong to them....

... What Military Energy means if we use an analogy: it would be like putting grinding paste into the oil of your motor car. Once you release these energies you will begin to feel lighter as you disconnect from this reality, and, you will find it easier and easier to release any other negative emotions. Military Energies are the core of all your problems...."

US ratings agencies face Chinese challenge

Deutsche Welle, 19 November 2012

Agencies Standard & Poors, Moody's and Fitch have dominated the global market for credit ratings. But their dubious role in the 2008 financial crisis has highlighted the need for more impartial alternatives.

In early 2008, the big three US ratings agencies. Standard & Poors, Moody's and Fitch, were till issuing first-rate credit ratings for banks and financial products which only months later collapsed in the financial crisis.

Some analysts have criticized the agencies' near-monopoly positions, arguing their inaccurate assessments helped inflate the subprime mortgage bubble in the United States that caused the crisis.

Since 2008, nothing much has changed as the "big three" agencies still dominate 95 percent of the global ratings market, passing crucial verdicts without which the world's finance markets wouldn't work.

However, China's independent ratings agency Dagong Global Credit is preparing a challenge which could challenge the US agencies. In October, it announced plans to form a joint venture with Russian agency RusRating and Egan-Jones Rating, the fourth largest US ratings group.

The three companies said in a statement that Universal Credit Rating Group, as the new agency will be called, intended to issue "impartial ratings" in an attempt to "speed up reform of the global credit rating system."

Dagong Chief Executive Guan Jianzhong said the group planned to be fully operational within the next six months, and that that "dozens" of smaller ratings businesses from more than 20 countries were interested in joining the group, which would be based in Hong Kong.

Doubts about independence

In an attempt to dispel concerns about state interference in the new group, Guan Jianzhong pointed out that his company was a private venture in which Chinese state and party officials had no political influence.

In addition, the three founders stated in their statement that the new agency wouldn't represent the interests of any country or group.

There are doubts as to how
independent Dagong can be

However, doubts remain about the agency's independence as CEO Guan is a Communist Party member with close ties to the Chinese leadership. Before he founded his private firm, he had worked for the government, which still employs him as an advisor.

Such ties are crucial for doing business in China, market analyst Oliver Everling told DW. "It's impossible to set up a ratings agency in China that is fully independent of the state and could act against state policy," he said. Close ties to politics and business were essential for any agency, Everling added.

Business model makes the difference

The new agency arrives amid mounting criticism of the ratings decisions taken by the US agencies and the business model they pursue.

"There is serious evidence that in the past decade a number of European countries were given worse credit ratings than would have been justified in respect to their finances and the general state of their economies," Manfred Gärtner of the University of St. Gallen told DW.

He welcomed the foundation of an "alternative" to the United States agencies, arguing the seat of the agency was of minor importance.

Gärtner said the biggest problem with ratings agencies was their complex network of inter-dependence with the finance industry as a result of joint ownership structures and shared profit interests, which were fostered by close private ties and business locations.

China's Universal Credit Rating Group, Gärtner added, could avoid the typical clash of interest by adopting the business model of its partner Egan-Jones rather than that of rivals Moody's, Standard & Poors and Fitch.

Egan-Jones Ratings charges the investors who buy their ratings reports, while the Big Three are paid by the company or bank which issues a financial product or seeks a rating.

As well as China, Europe, too is making efforts to launch its own ratings group next year - a project which is spearheaded by Roland Berger consultancy firm.

In addition, the influential Bertelsmann Foundation of Germany presented a proposal in spring 2012, suggesting an international not-for-profit agency.

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Pope calls on faithful to ignore doomsday warnings

The Daily Star, AFP, November 18, 2012

Pope Benedict XVI blesses the faithful during the Angelus noon prayer he
 celebrated from the window of his studio overlooking St. Peter's Square, at
the Vatican, Sunday, Nov. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

                              

VATICAN CITY: Pope Benedict XVI called on Christians Sunday not to heed doomsday warnings that the world will end on December 21.

During his weekly Angelus address from the window of his Vatican apartments on Saint Peter's Square, Benedict spoke of extracts from the bible which speak of "the sun and moon going out, the stars falling from the sky."

Several films and documentaries have promoted the idea that the ancient Mayan calendar predicts that doomsday is next month, on December 21, 2012.

But Benedict said that Jesus "does not describe the end of the world, and when he uses apocalyptic images, he is not acting the prophet.

"On the contrary, he wants to stop his disciples of every epoch from being curious over dates, forecasts, and wants to give them the key to... the right road to walk today and tomorrow to enter into the eternal life," he added.

As many as 90,000 people are expected to attend a massive event in Guatemala City on December 21, just in case the world actually does end, while tour groups are promoting doomsday-themed getaways.

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"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)

"THE BRIDGE OF SWORDS"– Sep  29, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Text version)

“… Ask an Israeli if they want still another war. They will say no, but they are afraid that their enemies will bring one to them. Who are their enemies and what is changing, dear ones? You think you know what's going on in Syria and Egypt and Libya? You think you do? Let me tell you there's a recalibration going on there of what they believe and who their enemies are. It's about what they want from their government. Let me tell you what all of them want eventually, and you may not see it for 20 years, but they want schools and hospitals. They want what you have in your stores, and they want the freedom to worship their prophet without a small group telling them the rules of how they should. They want to honor Muhammad in their own way and see the love of God in him as was designed by him. That's what's going on. That's the battle. The problem is that the old energy will fight this, for it will lose control if they get what they want.

There's a paradigm shift at hand and you're going to see it over there first, and it may not be pretty, so I want you to hang tight. Don't pull out what Nostradamus said at the last minute and say, "He was right." Nothing he said has manifested since 1987. Don't suddenly grasp the scriptures of Revelations and draw out all of those words that haven't been true for 30 years. Nothing has happened as they said it would. The only thing that rings true there is that there are still problems in the Middle East.

All of those prophecy quatrains have fallen on the floor and didn't come true. The timing is not right for them to happen now. Take a look. Oh, there are still those who say, "It's happening, it's happening, it's happening!" For they are invested in fear and control. Some of them actually want it to happen, and they believe the culmination will be in the rapture of going home to God. I want to tell you, dear ones, you're all going home! But home is across the bridge to an earth without war. That's the bridge. Old energy dies hard.…”

US gives 'full backing' to Israel while urging de-escalation of Gaza violence

Israeli ambassador Michael Oren says US supports its 'self-defence' as Palestinian delegation accuses Washington of bias

guardian.co.uk, Chris McGreal, Friday 16 November 2012

Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Oren. Photograph: Nicholas
Kamm/AFP/Getty Images

The Israeli ambassador to Washington, Michael Oren, says the US has given his government a free hand in its assault on Gaza as the Israeli cabinet ordered a large call up of military reserves, prompting fears of a ground invasion.

The Palestinian delegation to Washington condemned the US response to the crisis as "biased and weak", and called on the White House to stop Israel using American-made weapons against civilians. It also described as "shameful" what it called the justification of the murder of Palestinians by countries supporting Israeli actions, including Britain.

Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, called the Israeli and Egyptian foreign ministers, Avigdor Lieberman and Mohamed Kamel Amr, on Friday to urge a de-escalation of a "very, very dangerous situation" in Gaza, according the State Department.

Oren spoke during a visit to Capitol Hill on Friday after both houses of Congress overwhelmingly voted for resolutions in support of Israel's "inherent right to act in self-defence".

"The United States has given us the full backing to take whatever measures are necessary to defend our citizens from Hamas terror," he said. "Israel has received unequivocal and outstanding support from the United States and all branches of government. From the White House, from Congress, in both parties, completely bipartisan support."

Among the few voices of criticism raised was from congressman Keith Ellison, who said he visited Gaza after the last major Israeli attack four years ago.

"It's a devastated area already. It's only going to be made worse by this. Innocent people are dying. We need a ceasefire," he said.

The Israeli ambassador has been leading a PR drive in Washington to cast Israel as the innocent victim of indiscriminate terror attacks, a claim strongly challenged by Palestinians who accuse Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, of engineering the conflict as a political strategy in the run-up to January's general election.

Oren has likened the situation to 1948, during Israel's war to establish its independence, and 1967, when a strike against Arab armies resulted in a swift victory that led to the occupation of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. He said Hamas has been "emboldened" by the Arab spring and that it is being armed with weapons from Libya, Sudan and groups in the Sinai.

Oren called the news that a rocket fired from Gaza landed within a few miles of Jerusalem an "escalation" in the crisis.

"We are prepared to take any and all measures to defend our citizens, including measures in the air and on the ground … Israeli ground forces have been moved to the border. There has been no crossing of the border to date, but those forces are deployed and ready to act, be there a need," he said.

That position was unequivocally backed by the congressional resolutions without the call made by the Obama administration for Israel to show restraint and avoid civilian casualties.

The two houses of Congress expressed "unwavering commitment to the security of the state of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state with secure borders, and recognises and strongly supports its inherent right to act in self-defence to protect its citizens against acts of terrorism".

The influential pro-Israel lobby group, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) said the resolutions "demonstrate that America continues to firmly stand with Israel and her right to defend herself".

The Palestinian delegation to the US accused Washington of taking Israel's side.

"The United States response is at best biased and weak because it completely ignored the fact that Israel started the escalation. The US has a moral obligation to ask Israel not to deploy its US-made weapons to kill and injure civilians. The US is also expected to tell Israel that there is no military solution to the conflict. The only way to achieve peace is to uproot the cause of its absence: Israel's military occupation of Palestine," it said. "It is shameful that certain countries are justifying the murder of Palestinian civilians. It is time for all to understand that Palestinian lives are as precious as any others in the region and around the world. The political complicity must end and Israel must be held accountable."

Part of Oren's push has been to win US public support with numerous television and radio interviews in which he has said that Israelis cowering from rockets fired from Gaza is equivalent to 40 million Americans having to hide in bunkers. Israeli diplomats have also compared Hamas rocket attacks from Gaza to Miami being shelled from Cuba. Critics pointed out that Cuba is not occupied by the US.

Oren also pushed a frequently heard line that civilian casualties during Israeli attacks are the fault of Hamas, which uses them for PR purposes.

"We are acutely aware that Hamas and other terrorist organisations embed their missiles, embed their troops and other military assets deep within the civilian populations and they're doing their best to hid behind the civilian populations, using them as human shields," he said. "We are making superhuman efforts to avoid civilian casualties."

Palestinian officials have noted that Israel maintains its military headquarters in the heart of Tel Aviv.

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"THE BRIDGE OF SWORDS"– Sep  29, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Text version)

“… Let us talk about the swords: When you hear the word sword, the first thing that occurs to you is battle. The Bridge of Swords is a battle and we told you that as well. Swords are metaphoric and they mean many things, so let us describe the things we mean them to say to you.

Number one: They are indeed a weapon in a battle. There is a battle coming. "Kryon, does that mean there's going to be a war?" Potentially, yes. Right now we will tell you that the Middle East cooks itself. You've noticed, haven't you? What do you know about the Middle East, dear one? Let's start examining things for a moment. What energy did you grow up in? What was the energy of the Middle East? In the '40s, what was the energy? With the establishment of the state of Israel, you built a wall of hate, both sides. The wall was so thick that the children of both sides were taught to hate one another as soon as they were able to understand the language. They were told who their enemies were. Now, where were you then?

Some of you weren't here yet. By the time you arrived, in your youth, were you aware of the Middle East? Not particularly. "What's the hatred about?" you might ask. What if I told you it's about a family feud? Two sons of a Jewish master are involved. One founded the Arabs and one remained a Jew. They don't want to hear this, but they are all Jews. (Don't tell them this.)

If you look at the lineage, it's pretty obvious and yet it's a complete and total set-up for either solution or war. The set-up would have this world ending in a conflagration that would have been brought about by this hatred. That's in the prophecy of Nostradamus and your scripture, but it is no longer the prophecy of the planet. Yet the hatred still exists. The hatred is as great today as it was then, but where was all the terrorism 40 years ago? It was isolated.

Those in Israel and Palestine and surrounding areas took the brunt of it, but now it's seemingly everywhere - and you're worried. Why would this be? The answer is that the old energy was happy to have this hatred contained, for it would keep it going and never involve outsiders. Outsiders tend to bring unwanted light to the party. Suddenly, the whole earth is involved and can see the entire scenario before them. The old guard wants war, just like all the eons before them. The ones on the bridge are holding the light and showing the earth how to cross. Even many younger ones in Israel and Palestine and Iran are holding light! It's all around the old guard and they are furious, for they are losing the "battle of hatred."

Will there be a war? What is going on? You can feel it cooking, can't you? Some of you don't want to look at the news, for you're afraid of what tomorrow will bring. It's not even the end of the year yet! Will there be a battle?

Let me tell you, dear ones, right now as we speak to you there is the potential of a small war in the Middle East. You have been told that if there is any war at all in the Middle East, the whole world will join in, and you will not make it. I will tell you that that is an old paradigm, for if and when it happens, watch carefully who decides not to come to the war party. For there's a new consciousness brewing on this planet and I will tell you this: In all fairness, as we see the potentials before you in your future, it's not going to matter one way or another to the bridge if there is a battle or not.

What's eventually going to happen in Iran is going to be the same no matter what, and I will tell you why - because there is nobody to take the place of the old guard. They're not growing any, young ones! It's all the ancient ones with the hatred who are moving the chess pieces as though they are representing the whole of the nation, but they are not. There will come a time, perhaps one that is actually exacerbated by a war, that will create the revolution in that country. Overwhelmingly, they don't want war.

Ask an Israeli if they want still another war. They will say no, but they are afraid that their enemies will bring one to them. Who are their enemies and what is changing, dear ones? You think you know what's going on in Syria and Egypt and Libya? You think you do? Let me tell you there's a recalibration going on there of what they believe and who their enemies are. It's about what they want from their government. Let me tell you what all of them want eventually, and you may not see it for 20 years, but they want schools and hospitals. They want what you have in your stores, and they want the freedom to worship their prophet without a small group telling them the rules of how they should. They want to honor Muhammad in their own way and see the love of God in him as was designed by him. That's what's going on. That's the battle. The problem is that the old energy will fight this, for it will lose control if they get what they want.

There's a paradigm shift at hand and you're going to see it over there first, and it may not be pretty, so I want you to hang tight. Don't pull out what Nostradamus said at the last minute and say, "He was right." Nothing he said has manifested since 1987. Don't suddenly grasp the scriptures of Revelations and draw out all of those words that haven't been true for 30 years. Nothing has happened as they said it would. The only thing that rings true there is that there are still problems in the Middle East.

All of those prophecy quatrains have fallen on the floor and didn't come true. The timing is not right for them to happen now. Take a look. Oh, there are still those who say, "It's happening, it's happening, it's happening!" For they are invested in fear and control. Some of them actually want it to happen, and they believe the culmination will be in the rapture of going home to God. I want to tell you, dear ones, you're all going home! But home is across the bridge to an earth without war. That's the bridge. Old energy dies hard.…”

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