US president Obama pays 90 minute visit to Amsterdam

DutchNews.nl, Monday 24 March 2014

US president Barack Obama has paid a lightning visit to Amsterdam ahead of the Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague.

The president arrived in the Dutch capital by helicopter at 09.30 and was given a tour of the Rijksmuseum, accompanied by prime minister Mark Rutte and the city's mayor Eberhard van der Laan.

The president was also shown the Act of Abjuration or Plakkaat van Verlatinghe, signed on 26 July 1581, which, according to the Parool, may have influenced the American Declaration of Independence of 1776.

The Act is kept in the national archives in The Hague but brought to Amsterdam for the president's visit, the paper said.

The president and prime minister spoke to reporters in front of Rembrandt's Night Watch masterpiece. It was the most impressive backdrop to a press conference he had had, Obama said.

The president went on to outline some of the issues he had discussed with Rutte, in particular the situation in Ukraine. 'Europe and America are united in our support of the Ukrainian government and the Ukrainian people,' he said. Talks will continue with other G7 members later on Monday, he said.

US President Barack Obama speaks in front of Rembrandt's masterpiece

 the "Night Watch" during a joint press conference with the Dutch prime minister

at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam on March 24, 2014. (AFP Photo/Saul Loeb)

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Air Force One landed at Schiphol. (NOS)

Michigan: first gay couple married by state as officials pursue appeal

Two women became first gay couple to marry in state, one day after federal judge struck down ban on same-sex marriage

theguardian.com, Agencies in Detroit, Saturday 22 March 2014

Plaintiff April Deboer celebrates with a supporter at the Affirmations Center after
 a Michigan federal judge struck down ban on same-sex marriage. Photo:
Rebecca Cook /Reuters

Two women were the first gay couple to marry in Michigan on Saturday, one day after the state's ban on gay marriage, approved by voters in a landslide in 2004, was scratched from the state constitution by a federal judge.

Glenna DeJong, 53, and Marsha Caspar, 51, both of Lansing, were married by Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum in Mason just after her office opened at 8am Saturday. Byrum said it was an honor to marry same-sex couples who have waited too long for this day.

"I figured in my lifetime it would happen," Caspar said. "But now, when it happens now, it's just overwhelming. I still can't believe it. I don't think it's hit me yet."

DeJong and Caspar have been together for 27 years. DeJong called it a day of "sheer joy," adding that Michigan should not "waste taxpayer dollars and cause more turmoil" by pursuing a stay on gay marriage as Attorney General Bill Schuette did immediately after Friday's ruling.

Clerks who handle marriage licenses in Michigan's 83 counties said they would start granting them to gay men and lesbians – at least three as early as Saturday. DeJong and Caspar first learned the courthouse would be open after Byrum tweeted about it early Saturday morning.

At least 50 people had lined up in the Oakland County clerk's office in Pontiac, on the outskirts of the Detroit metropolitan area, when clerk Lisa Brown arrived to open it at 8am local time, carrying a heart-shaped balloon. Brown's staff handed out paperwork to couples who were undeterred by the Michigan attorney general's immediate appeal.

Frank Colasonti, 61, and James Barclay Ryder, 48, became the first gay couple to marry in the county. They wore dark suits, with pins on their lapels bearing the slogan: "Same Love, Same Rights."

"We're going to celebrate with a nice quiet lunch and then go pick out our wedding rings," Colasonti said following the ceremony, which took place 26 years after they first met at a church.

Moments later, a lesbian couple emerged from the ceremony room and filled the corridor with elated screams.

Clerks in at least three other counties – Washtenaw, Ingham and Muskegon – also opened on Saturday to issue marriage licenses.

It isn't known when a federal appeals court in Cincinnati will respond to Schuette's request for a stay while an appeal is pursued. He noted Friday that the US supreme court stepped in and suspended a similar decision in January that struck down Utah's gay-marriage ban.

"A stay would serve the public interest by preserving the status quo ... while preventing irreparable injury to the state and its citizens," he said.

Seventeen states and the District of Columbia issue licenses for same-sex marriage. Since December, bans on gay marriage have been overturned in Texas, Utah, Oklahoma and Virginia, but appeals have put those cases on hold.

The historic decision by US District Judge Bernard Friedman, who said the ballot box is no defense to a law that tramples the rights of same-sex couples, followed a two-week trial that explored attitudes and research about homosexual marriage and households led by same-sex couples.

The attorney general's office emphasized the 59% approval by voters as well as tradition and child-rearing as reasons why the 2004 amendment should stand. Friedman, however, wasn't swayed.

He praised April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse, two Detroit-area nurses who are raising three children with special needs. They filed a lawsuit in 2012 because they're barred from jointly adopting each other's children. Joint adoption is reserved for married heterosexual couples in Michigan.

"In attempting to define this case as a challenge to 'the will of the people,' state defendants lost sight of what this case is truly about: people," the judge said.

"It is the court's fervent hope that these children will grow up 'to understand the integrity and closeness of their own family and its concord with other families in their community and in their daily lives,'" Friedman said, quoting the Supreme Court.

"Today's decision is a step in that direction, and affirms the enduring principle that regardless of whoever finds favor in the eyes of the most recent majority, the guarantee of equal protection must prevail."

DeBoer and Rowse said Friday that they'll get married when the case ends, a process that could take years with appeals.

"We don't want to speculate what's to come. ... We want to get married. We will be getting married – when we know that our marriage is forever binding," DeBoer said.

The 31-page decision was filed in Detroit's federal court shortly after 5pm, when most county offices were closed and couldn't issue licenses. Ingham, Washtenaw, Oakland and Muskegon counties said they would be open Saturday. Others will follow suit Monday.

"We don't ask someone's orientation on a concealed pistol license, birth certificate, death certificate or voter registration," said Carmella Sabaugh, the clerk in Macomb County, near Detroit. "Today's court ruling means we won't ask that question for marriage licenses, either."

Dave Murray, a spokesman for Republican Governor Rick Snyder, said the state has an "obligation" to defend what voters chose a decade ago.

If a "court concludes the provision of the Michigan Constitution cannot be enforced, he'd respect those decisions and follow the rule of law," Murray said of Snyder.

While DeJong and Caspar were the first couple to wed after getting a Michigan license, it was not the first same-sex wedding to occur in the state. Two men became spouses a year ago during a ceremony at a northern Michigan Indian reservation after the tribal chairman signed a measure approving same-sex marriage.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report

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US, China first ladies in Beijing's Forbidden City

Google – AFP, Felicia SONMEZ (AFP), 21 March 2014

US First Lady Michelle Obama (L) and Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese

 President Xi Jinping pose for photographers as they visit the Forbidden City

in Beijing on March 21, 2014 (POOL/AFP, Andy Wong)

Beijing — US First Lady Michelle Obama took her daughters and mother to Beijing's former imperial palace Friday, on a China tour the White House emphasises will be light on politics and heavy on personal diplomacy.

Obama, her daughters Malia and Sasha, and her mother Marian Robinson along with China's own first lady Peng Liyuan took a guided tour of the sprawling Forbidden City, waving to onlookers outside the central pavilion known as the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

The two women's husbands, Barack Obama and Xi Jinping, are expected to meet next week on the sidelines of a nuclear security summit in the Netherlands.

Xi later welcomed the first lady at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse.

"I cherish my sound working relationship and personal friendship I have already established with your husband, and we stay in close touch through meetings, phone conversations and correspondence," he said.

"I wish to thank the US side for sending such a heavyweight ambassador to China," he added.

Obama said she was going to focus her visit on education, "which is an important issue to both of our countries".

Peng Liyuan (L), wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, shows US First Lady

 Michelle Obama how to hold a writing brush as they visit a Chinese traditional

 calligraphy class at the Beijing Normal School, in Beijing on March 21, 2014

(POOL/AFP, Andy Wong)

The visit is Obama's first to China, and her third foreign trip without the US commander-in-chief since moving into the White House.

Beijing and Washington have hailed the week-long tour as an opportunity for both first ladies to highlight the importance of education and "people-to-people" exchange.

Peng's 'delight'

But critics in the US have lambasted signals that human rights are off the agenda -- although Obama is scheduled to eat at a Tibetan restaurant in Chengdu -- and the cost to taxpayers, which the White House has declined to reveal.

Obama, her family and Peng began the day with an hour-long visit to the No. 2 High School Attached to Beijing Normal University, where they observed students learning how to build robots, visited a calligraphy class and dropped in on a group of pupils playing ping-pong.

The two first ladies smiled broadly and shook hands on a red carpet in front of the school -- their first ever meeting -- as students around them waved flags.

Obama told Peng that it was "truly an honour and a privilege" to visit China with her family.

"It's very rare that I have the opportunity to travel outside of the United States, and it's even more rare to have the opportunity to travel with three generations -- with my daughters, and with my mother," Obama said.

Peng said it was "a great delight" to meet her, saying: "In China, we have an ancient idiom, which means when two people meet for the first time, they may feel as if they have known each other for many years."

At the school's Geometry Robotics Lab, students demonstrated their machines for the first ladies and Obama tried her hand at operating one by remote control.

Obama exchanged a few table tennis strokes with a young woman, and told the crowd she was a novice. "My husband plays," she added. "He thinks he's better than he really is."

At a calligraphy demonstration a 16-year-old student taught Obama how to draw the Chinese character for "eternity", before the visitors looked on as Peng adeptly wrote out a four-character aphorism meaning "Great virtue promotes growth".

She signed her name and presented the calligraphy to Obama as a souvenir.

US First Lady Michelle Obama plays table tennis during a visit to the Beijing

 Normal School, a school that prepares students to attend university abroad

in Beijing on March 21, 2014 (POOL/AFP, Andy Wong)

Later, at the Forbidden City, they saw a number of sites not open to the general public, including the Hall of Earthly Tranquility, which used to house the emperor's concubines.

'China 1 US 0'

The trip has been front-page news in China's state-run media, and several outlets have run op-eds hailing the planned focus on "soft" issues such as education rather than on political topics.

"When briefing the media about Michelle's trip, the US side said the first lady is to steer clear of politics, human rights, trade disputes and other bilateral differences -- issues better handled via official diplomacy," the official Xinhua news agency wrote in a commentary Thursday.

"That approach is right. The uniqueness of the role of first ladies is its soft touch and freedom from the knottiness and even ugliness of hard politics."

Both women's fashion choices were a hot topic on Sina Weibo, a Chinese equivalent of Twitter, with some Chinese Internet users favourably comparing Peng's formal attire -- a navy blue jacket and skirt -- to Obama's more casual black trousers, vest and white silk shirt.

"Michelle's clothing is too old-fashioned," wrote one Weibo user. "China 1, US 0."

The question of the trip's cost has drawn attention on both sides of the Pacific.

Chinese social network users widely circulated a China National Radio report on the lavish 52,000-yuan-a-night ($8,400) hotel suite where it said the Obama family were staying.

According to the hotel website, the suite is 320 square metres (3440 square feet) and includes a kitchen, bar, sauna, jacuzzi, dining table for six and a treadmill.

Xi Jinping and Michelle Obama meet at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse

in Beijing, March 21. (Photo/Xinhua)

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West, Russia trade tit-for-tat sanctions over Ukraine crisis

Google – AFP, Claire Rosemberg (AFP), 20 March 2014

US President Barack Obama speaks on the situation in Ukraine on the

South Lawn of the White House on March 20, 2014 (AFP, Mandel Ngan)

BRUSSELS — US President Barack Obama announced a new round of punitive measures for Moscow's annexation of Crimea on Thursday as Europe's leaders also readied to hit back at Russia with fresh sanctions.

But in Moscow, where the lower house of parliament rubber-stamped the absorption of the rebel peninsula, Russia issued its own list of sanctions against nine US officials, including senior political figures and presidential aides.

Obama, who threatened to target the broader Russian economy if Moscow does not reverse course, said: "Russia must know that further escalation will only isolate it further from the international community."

Russia's President Vladimir Putin looks on

 during his meeting with Defence Minister

Sergei Shoigu in the Kremlin in Moscow

on March 20, 2014 (RIA-NOVOSTI/AFP,

Alexey Druzhinin)

The latest US measures in the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War target a new list of 20 lawmakers and senior government officials in addition to 11 people already sanctioned by Washington.

Among those named are top businessmen close to President Vladimir Putin such as billionaires Gennady Timchenko, Arkady Rotenberg and Boris Rotenberg plus a bank used by close associates.

In turn, Moscow listed Obama aides Caroline Atkinson, Daniel Pfeiffer and Benjamin Rhodes and senators Mary Landrieu, John McCain and Daniel Coats.

"There should be no doubt: each hostile attack will be met in an adequate manner," the Russian foreign ministry said, while Putin's spokesman slammed Obama's move as "unacceptable."

In Brussels, where the 28-nation European Union was gathering for its second summit on Ukraine in less than two weeks, French President Francois Hollande said: "Borders cannot be redrawn and a region allowed to pass from one nation to another without a response."

Hollande said the bloc's leaders would announce fresh sanctions at the two-day meeting "against a certain number of figures" and would cancel an EU-Russia summit planned for June.

But EU nations, heavily dependent on Russian oil and gas, are divided on how far they should go, with many reluctant to take the next step up with tough economic sanctions.

"We will make clear that we are ready in case of further escalation to introduce economic sanctions," said German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country is Russia's leading EU trading partner.

United Nations Secretary General Ban 

Ki-moon (L) speaks with Russia's President

 Vladimir Putin (R) during their meeting in

the Kremlin in Moscow on March 20, 2014

 (Pool/AFP, Sergei Ilnitsky)

Urging the bloc "to speak with a clear and united voice", Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron said all were agreed on helping build a strong and democratic Ukraine.

Kiev interim premier Arseniy Yatsenyuk will be in Brussels to sign the political parts Friday of a broad EU Association Agreement whose rejection in November by Ukraine's pro-Kremlin president Viktor Yanukovych sparked the protests that led to his fall.

Putin meanwhile found himself on the defensive in Moscow when United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told him: "I cannot but to tell you that I am deeply concerned."

Ban called for the deployment to Ukraine of rights monitors from the UN and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and for an "honest and constructive dialogue" between Moscow and Kiev.

Sanctions and calls for talks have so far done nothing to halt Russian military advances, with Kiev's new Western-backed government preparing a Crimean evacuation plan for thousands of Ukrainian soldiers and their families.

Tensions eased somewhat in the region when acting president Oleksandr Turchynov announced the release Thursday by Crimean militias of Ukranian navy chief Sergiy Gayduk.

Turchynov had threatened the Crimean authorities with "an adequate response ... of a technical and technological nature" unless they freed Gayduk and several others who were captured during the storming of Ukraine's naval headquarters in the port of Sevastopol on Wednesday.

Fears of wider Moscow intervention

Russian soldiers patrol the area surrounding

 the Ukrainian military unit in Perevalnoye,

 outside Simferopol, on March 20, 2014

 (AFP, Filippo Monteforte)

The march by Moscow's troops and pro-Kremlin militias across the mostly Russian-speaking region roughly the size of Belgium has been unhalting since the day Putin won parliamentary approval to use force against his ex-Soviet neighbour following the February 22 fall of Yanukovych.

Kiev's untested leaders now fear that Putin has set his sights on Russified southeastern swathes of Ukraine as part of his self-declared campaign to "protect" compatriots.

"There are indications that Russia is braced to unleash a full-blown intervention on Ukraine's east and south," Ukraine UN ambassador Yurii Klymenko told reporters in Geneva.

Russia's Federal Customs Service stepped up the pressure on Thursday by announcing tougher and more time-consuming inspections of goods entering the country from Ukraine that it said were aimed at intercepting possible illicit shipments of arms.

Ukraine has announced plans to withdraw from the Moscow-led Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) alliance that replaced the Soviet Union and to slap visas on Russians who want to enter the country.

France delays warship decision

EU leaders have already suspended talks on easing visa requirement for Russian travellers into Europe -- an issue that Moscow has lobbied for for years -- and slapped travel bans and asset freezes on 21 Russians and Ukrainians considered culpable for the Crimean swoop.

A Russian soldier stands in front of a

 recruitment poster for the Ukrainian armed

 forces in an area surrounding the Ukrainian

 military unit in Perevalnoye, outside

Simferopol, on March 20, 2014 (AFP,

Filippo Monteforte)

But the measures covered a much lower rank of officials than the initial US list of 11 Russians and Ukrainians and some were pushing for more, including possible economic sanctions which would cause real pain for Russia and quite likely Europe too.

A key area of concern is energy, with Russia supplying more than a quarter of the EU's gas. Some member states, especially former Cold War Moscow satellites such as Bulgaria, rely almost totally on Russia for energy and they have warned against measures which could effectively halt their economies.

EU efforts to diversify energy supplies after Russia cut deliveries to Ukraine in 2006 and 2009 have so far failed to make much headway and the EU leaders are due to discuss the issue again.

Germany appeared set to pursue a more forceful push against Russia by on Wednesday announcing the suspension of a major arms deal with Moscow.

But France resisted pressure to make a similar gesture, saying on Thursday that it was putting off a decision on whether to shelve its disputed sale of a second state-of-the-art Mistral warship to Russia until October -- the expected delivery date of the first vessel.

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Russia's President Vladimir Putin (L) speaks with Defence Minister

 Sergei Shoigu during their meeting in the Kremlin in Moscow on 

March 20, 2014 (Ria-Novosti/AFP, Alexey Druzhinin)

Kerry angered by Israeli minister's sharp criticism

Google – AFP, 19 March 2014

US Secretary of State John Kerry speaks during a town hall meeting with

 university students at the State Department in Washington, DC on March 18,

2014 (AFP/File, Jewel Samad)

Washington — In a rare move, Secretary of State John Kerry protested Wednesday to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about strong criticism of US foreign policy by his outspoken defense minister.

In a telephone call, Kerry told Netanyahu the comments made by Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon are inconsistent with strong ties between Israel and the United States, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

"Clearly his comments were not constructive," Psaki told reporters, after Yaalon slammed the US administration for showing weakness around the world, particularly on its policy with Iran and Ukraine.

"Secretary Kerry spoke with Prime Minister Netanyahu this morning and protested to him his concerns about these comments," she said, adding that the United States has an "unshakeable commitment" to Israel's security.

"It is certainly confusing to us why Defense Minister Yaalon would continue his pattern of making comments that don't accurately represent the scope of our close partnership on a range of security issues and on the enduring partnership between the United States and Israel."

But Kerry has a "thick skin" and "we're ready to move forward and keep talking about the peace process," Psaki added.

It is not Yaalon's first diatribe against the administration of President Barack Obama and Kerry himself.

In January, the State Department denounced as "offensive" comments made by the defense minister accusing Kerry of an "incomprehensible obsession" with his push for Middle East peace.

Yaalon was later forced to apologize to the top US diplomat, who has been trying to hammer out for the past year a comprehensive peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinians.

Psaki refused to divulge what Netanyahu's response was on Wednesday's call, nor whether Kerry had asked the Israeli prime minister to fire Yaalon.

Netanyahu's office would not comment on the call, but Israeli news website Ynet said the premier had spoken to Yaalon about the matter and that a source in the defense minister's office said Yaalon was "expected to smooth things over with the Americans."

In an address to Tel Aviv University, Yaalon was quoted as saying Tuesday that if the United States continued to demonstrate weakness overseas, its own security would be harmed.

"If you sit and wait at home, terrorism will come again," the Haaretz daily quoted him as saying.

"If your image is feebleness, it doesn't pay in the world... I hope the United States comes to its senses. If it doesn't, it will challenge the world order and the United States is the one that will suffer."

He also toughened his line on Iran and appeared ready to back an Israeli military strike.

"We had thought the ones who should lead the (military) campaign against Iran is the United States... But at some stage, the United States entered into negotiations with them, and unhappily, when it comes to negotiating at a Persian bazaar, the Iranians were better," he said.

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon

 arrives for the weekly cabinet meeting at

the prime minister's Jerusalem office on

 October 20, 2013 (Pool/AFP/File, Abir

Sultan)

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Vatican, Anglicans, Muslims unite to fight slavery - New

"THE BRIDGE OF SWORDS"– Sep  29, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (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." …”

Indigenous protesters block Canadian passenger trains

Google – AFP, 19 March 2014

A VIA Rail train engine sits idle at Union Station on April 22, 2013 in

Toronto, Ontario, Canada (Getty/AFP/File, Ian Willms)

Ottawa — Indigenous protesters east of Toronto on Wednesday halted all passenger trains between Canada's capital and the nation's two largest cities, Toronto and Montreal.

The rail corridors are the busiest in the country, and all seats had already been presold through to Thursday.

"Due to First Nations' railroad blockade, Via's train service on the Montreal-Ottawa-Toronto routes is interrupted," Via Rail said on its website.

Via Rail said it has arranged for train passengers to take buses instead to their destinations. It is also offering passengers refunds or credits for future travel.

Canadian media photos, meanwhile, showed a dozen indigenous people camped out on the tracks at a crossing near Napanee, Ontario about 220 kilometers (137 miles) east of Toronto.

Mohawk chief Don Maracle told AFP the protesters are calling for a government inquiry into hundreds of murdered and missing native women across Canada.

Vatican, Anglicans, Muslims unite to fight slavery

Google – AFP, 18 March 2014

from left : Anglican bishop, Sir David John Moxon, Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest,

 Catholic bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo and Professor Mahmoud Azab pose

 after the signature od the "Global Freedom Network" agreement on March 17,

2014 at the Vatican (AFP, Andreas Solaro)

Vatican City — Catholics, Anglicans and Muslims came together Monday to fight slavery with the launch of a global network to tackle human trafficking, forced prostitution and child labour.

The Global Freedom Network, the brainchild of billionaire Australian magnate Andrew Forrest, will pressure governments and businesses to free millions of men, women and children held in bondage around the world by 2020.

"Today, the economic exploitation of our fellow human beings causes almost 30 million people to be enslaved, more than at any time in human history," Forrest said at the launch.

The Vatican, the Anglican Communion and Cairo's Islamic al-Azhar University are leading the initiative, which "brings together faith communities of almost three billion people -- nearly half of the world's population -- and will invite all faiths to join its leadership," he added.

Overcoming strained relations between the Vatican and al-Azhar -- which deteriorated during the papacy of pope Benedict XVI -- the network brings together Pope Francis, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and the Grand Imam of al-Azhar, Ahmed el-Tayeb.

Representatives of all three met at Vatican to sign up to the initiative, which Forrest said would bring together "millions of churches and mosques to gather in one great army to fight the war against slavery."

The network will call on the world's 50 biggest corporations to root out exploitation of workers in their supply chains and ask the Group of 20 most advanced nations to set up a global fund to finance programmes tackling slavery.

"There are forms of slavery in all industrial sectors," said Forrest, who has secured the support of fellow billionaires Bill Gates and Richard Branson.

Mahmoud Azab, on behalf of al-Azhar, told AFP the network is a "strong appeal against the egotism of rich countries, against materialistic societies which must stop all forms of aggression against the human being".

"Modern slavery and human trafficking are one of the greatest scandals and a tragedy of our age, which touches every part of the world in some way," said David John Moxon, who represented Welby.

In 2013, the Walk Free Foundation published a Global Slavery Index, covering all forms of bondage from people trafficking to children forced to wed, which estimated that 29.8 million people live in slavery worldwide.

The west African nation of Mauritania ranked worst for slavery, followed by Haiti and Pakistan.

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Archangel Michael on the World’s Movement into the Golden Age, March 24, 2013 – Part 1/2  (An Hour with an Angel with Archangel Michael)

goldenageofgaia.com, Steve Beckow,  March 24, 2013

“… GW: Well, let’s move over to Italy, then. And Pope Francis met with leaders of the various world faiths in this last week. In his humble style that he is becoming noted for, he chose not to sit on the usual papal throne, but rather in a simple armchair, a beige armchair.

Some of the other leaders had expressed optimism in the change of style of Francis. Are the other religious leaders now aware of the information that Francis is aware of? The higher information. And will they collectively be starting to change the tune of religious faiths around the world? Will this become a song sung by Francis and the faiths?

AAM: It has begun. They are humming. They are finding that it is a catchy tune, that is attractive, that it has a beautiful melody and refrain that sings in their hearts. Francis has basically thrown away the throne. He is not over-lighted to proceed in such a manner.

And what he is first and foremost doing is that he is reminding those others of all faiths that their role is to serve and that leadership is service, that they are shepherds of all ilks, all stripes, all colors. But their role is to collect and to show the way, in humility and patience, in forgiveness and compassion.

So, what Francis has begun to do is to say we do not need to be in control. We cannot find the middle way, the pathway of peace and true brotherhood and sisterhood through trying to control people. And this has been a gift. Oh, and dear heart, he has only just begun.

You have been asking for signs. Well, you are seeing them, are you not, on many fronts. But pay attention to this one. And might I give you a hint? Follow the money.

GW: Hmm. Intriguing. Okay. Well, at this point, then, now you have said previously, or it has been said previously, that Francis is over-lighted with the soul of St. Francis, and that he will be stepping forward in his role and that he is aware of and in contact with our galactic family.

That wasn’t clear previously; maybe you can clarify that. Has that knowledge and awareness been imparted to the leaders of the other faiths at this time? Are they aware of that and openly embracing that?

AAM: It has not been fully disclosed. It has been fully implied. And so… [laugh] I’m sorry. I laugh because it is a beautiful time that we have waited for. Now, let me suggest to you — no, let me simply tell you flat out, my friend, because you are a newsman. There were several galactics present at this gathering. The presence of the galactics was fully implied. And in side conversations it was a full point of discussion.

But the first focus of Francis is not to push the agenda of the galactics, but simply rather to let everybody know that they have been part of this enclave and part of the knowledge of the papacy for a long time. But his first agenda is bringing communion, community and peace amongst the different faiths and sects, amongst the human beings.

So that is his primary agenda. But he is weaving many things into it. Is he aware of the galactics? He has been aware of them for a very long time. He has been aware of them most of his life, actually. And so it is not that it is not on his agenda; it is. It is just not the first thing on his agenda.  …”