New US policy won't compel journalists to reveal sources

Yahoo = AFP, Bob Lever, July 19, 2021 

Attorney General Merrick Garland said the US administration would no longer go
to court to force journalists to reveal their sources a move hailed by advocates
 for a free press

The US government pledged Monday to steer clear of legal orders that force journalists to reveal their sources, with only rare exceptions, reversing course after revelations of secret efforts to obtain information from the media. 

The Justice Department said it would no longer use the "compulsory legal process" including subpoenas or warrants to obtain records or identify sources from journalists involved in newsgathering activities. 

The new policy comes following revelations that under former president Donald Trump the department secretly obtained phone records of journalists investigating his administration, including from CNN, the Washington Post and New York Times. 

The statement said the policy shift was made "because a free and independent press is vital to the functioning of our democracy." 

It said the new policy applies to reporters, publishers, third-party service providers and others involved in newsgathering, and to physical or digital documents as well as phone records. 

Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the new policy in a memo and called for "a review process to further explain, develop and codify the policy." 

Monday's announcement comes after news that the Trump administration sought records of journalists investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election, while obtaining "gag orders" to keep that effort secret. 

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said last month that the use of such orders in leak investigations "is not consistent with the president's policy direction." 

The Garland memo said exceptions to the policy would be made if the journalist were the subject of an investigation, or was suspected of being a foreign agent or member of a terrorist group, or in cases of "imminent" risk of death or bodily harm. 

The policy would not apply if the reporter were suspected of a criminal act such as insider trading, or if a criminal act -- such as breaking and entering -- were part of the reporter's activities. 

Former New York Times journalist Judith Miller, who was jailed in 2005 for
 refusing to reveal her sources for her reporting on Iraq, is seen in a 2008 picture

Longstanding concerns 

While the cases involving the Trump administration have drawn scrutiny, the policy change addresses a longstanding concern on press freedom and follows several cases where journalists have been threatened with jail for refusing to reveal sources. 

"The attorney general has taken a necessary and momentous step to protect press freedom at a critical time," said Bruce Brown, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. 

"This historic new policy will ensure that journalists can do their job of informing the public without fear of federal government intrusion into their relationships with confidential sources." 

The American Civil Liberties Union also welcomed the move. 

"This policy is a major step forward in protecting journalists against government spying and safeguarding a free press," said Patrick Toomey, senior staff attorney of the ACLU’s National Security Project. 

New York Times reporter Judith Miller was jailed in 2005 for refusing to reveal the source of her reporting on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. 

Another New York Times reporter, James Risen, was threatened with jail for refusing to testify in a case seeking to confirm his sources for reporting on a US operation in Iran that was intended to disrupt that country's nuclear program. 

Two San Francisco Chronicle reporters waged a legal battle to avoid incarceration in 2007 for protecting a source for an investigation in a steroid scandal in major league sports.

Global tax deal backed by 130 nations

Yahoo – AFP, Jürgen HECKER, July 1, 2021 

US digital giants are the main targets of the new tax

A total of 130 countries have agreed a global tax reform ensuring that multinationals pay their fair share wherever they operate, the OECD said on Thursday, but some EU states refused to sign up. 

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development said in a statement that global companies, including US behemoths Google, Amazon, Facebook, and Apple would be taxed at a rate of at least 15 percent once the deal is implemented. 

The new tax regime will add some $150 billion to government coffers globally once it comes into force, which the OECD said it hoped would be in 2023. 

"The framework updates key elements of the century-old international tax system, which is no longer fit for purpose in a globalised and digitalised 21st century economy," the OECD said. 

The formal agreement follows an endorsement by the G7 group of wealthy nations last month, and negotiations now move to a meeting of the G20 group of developed and emerging economies on July 9-10 in Venice, Italy. 

US President Joe Biden said the latest deal "puts us in striking distance of full global agreement to halt the race to the bottom for corporate taxes." 

Germany, another backer of the tax reform, hailed it as a "colossal step towards tax justice", and France said it was "the most important tax agreement in a century". 

British finance minister Rishi Sunak, whose country holds the G7 presidency, said "the fact that 130 countries across the world, including all of the G20, are now on board, marks a further step in our mission to reform global tax". 

'In everyone's interest'

But EU low-tax countries Ireland and Hungary declined to sign up to the agreement reached in the OECD framework, the organisation said, highlighting lingering divisions on global taxation. 

Both countries are part of a group of EU nations also including Luxembourg and Poland that have relied on low tax rates to attract multinationals and build their economies. 

Ireland, the EU home to tech giants Facebook, Google and Apple, has a corporate tax rate of just 12.5 percent. 

Irish Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe has warned that the new rules could see Ireland lose 20 percent of its corporate revenue. 

On Thursday, Donohoe said Ireland still "broadly supports" the deal, but not the 15-percent tax floor. 

The tax plan got a much-needed boost from Joe Bidens's administration

"There is much to finalise before a comprehensive agreement is reached", he said, adding that Ireland would "constructively engage" in further discussions. 

Also expressing concerns is Switzerland -- known for its banking secrecy laws -- which said it would support the measures despite "major reservations" and that it hoped the interests of "small, innovative countries" be taken into account. 

An agreement for the implementation of the plan is planned for October. 

Nine of the 139 participants in the talks have so far not signed on to the agreement. 

But China, whose position was being closely watched as it offers tax incentives to key sectors, endorsed the agreement. 

"It is in everyone's interest that we reach a final agreement among all Inclusive Framework Members as scheduled later this year," said OECD Secretary General Mathias Cormann. 

"This package does not eliminate tax competition, as it should not, but it does set multilaterally agreed limitations on it," Cormann said, adding that "it also accommodates the various interests across the negotiating table, including those of small economies and developing jurisdictions". 

'More equitable' global economy 

Finance chiefs have characterised a minimum tax as necessary to stem competition between countries over who can offer multinationals the lowest rate. 

For Biden, a global tax agreement will help maintain US competitiveness since he has proposed hiking domestic corporate taxes to pay for an infrastructure and jobs programme with a price tag of around $2 trillion. 

Biden -- whose tax plans face a potentially uphill battle in Congress -- hailed an "important step in moving the global economy forward to be more equitable for workers and middle class families in the United States and around the world." 

He noted that those nations who signed up make up more than 90 percent of the world's economy. 

The OECD's statement said the package "will provide much-needed support to governments needing to raise necessary revenues" to fix their budgets and invest in measures to back the post-Covid recovery. 

Oxfam, a charity, meanwhile said that the deal fell short of a tax level needed to give poorer countries a sufficient share of additional tax revenue. 

Calling the deal "skewed-to-the-rich and completely unfair", Oxfam said that signatories had missed a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build a profoundly more equal world".

Biden names special envoy for LGBTQ rights

Yahoo – AFP, Jessica Stern, June 25, 2021

As Americans celebrated pride month in June 2021, President Joe Biden named
Jessica Stern as his special envoy for LGBTQ rights

US President Joe Biden on Friday named advocate Jessica Stern as special envoy for LGBTQ rights, in a move aimed at increasing global awareness and acceptance of the diversity of sexual orientations and gender identities. 

Currently the executive director of OutRight Action International -- a group which advocates for the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex people around the world -- Stern in her new role will be attached to the State Department. 

At a time when LGBTQ persons "are increasingly threatened in all regions of the world," Stern will work with like-minded governments and civil society organizations to uphold dignity and equality for everyone, the White House said in a statement. 

The special envoy will play a "vital" role in leading the implementation of Biden's push to advance the rights of LGBTQ persons worldwide. 

The appointment comes in the middle of pride month, a celebration of gay life in America that Biden will honor in remarks later Friday at the White House. 

The president will also sign into law a bill that designates Orlando's Pulse gay nightclub, scene of a horrific deadly attack, as a national memorial. 

The June 12, 2016 rampage by a gunman who swore allegiance to the Islamic State shocked the nation and the LGBTQ community, in the middle of pride month. 

The Senate unanimously passed the Pulse memorial bill earlier this month, in a rare moment of bipartisanship in Washington.

Canada shaken by new discovery of 751 unmarked graves at indigenous school

Yahoo – AFP, Eric THOMAS, June 24, 2021 

A new discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves near a former school fir indigenous
 children in Western Canada follows the earlier unearthing of children's remains at
another school in Kamloops, British Columbia

More than 750 unmarked graves have been found near a former Catholic boarding school for indigenous children in western Canada, a tribal leader said Thursday -- the second such shock discovery in less than a month. 

The revelation once again cast a spotlight on a dark chapter in Canada's history, and revived calls on the Pope and the Church to apologize for the abuse and violence suffered at the schools, where students were forcibly assimilated into the country's dominant culture. 

"As of yesterday, we have hit 751 unmarked graves" at the site of the former Marieval boarding school in Saskatchewan province, Cowessess First Nation Chief Cadmus Delorme told reporters. 

"This is not a mass grave site. These are unmarked graves," he said, adding that each grave would be assessed in the coming weeks to determine the final number of victims whose remains are at the site. 

Delorme said the graves -- found through ground-penetrating radar mapping -- may at one time have been marked, but "Catholic Church representatives removed these headstones," adding that doing so is a crime in Canada and they were treating the site "as a crime scene." 

Excavations at the Marieval school, about 150 kilometers (90 miles) east of the provincial capital Regina, began at the end of May, after the discovery of the remains of 215 schoolchildren at another such former school in British Columbia. 

That first find at the Kamloops school triggered excavation work near several former institutions for indigenous children across Canada, with the assistance of government authorities. 

Some 150,000 Native American, Metis and Inuit children were forcibly recruited until the 1990s in 139 of these residential schools across Canada, where they were isolated from their families, their language and their culture. 

Many were subjected to ill-treatment and sexual abuse, and more than 4,000 died in the schools, according to a commission of inquiry that concluded Canada had committed "cultural genocide" against the indigenous communities. 

Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations Chief Bobby Cameron described the finding as "a crime against humanity." 

"The only crime we ever committed as children was being born indigenous," he said. 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the findings at both Kamloops and Marieval "a shameful reminder of the systemic racism, discrimination, and injustice that indigenous peoples have faced -- and continue to face -- in this country." 

The discovery of unmarked graves at a former residential for indigenous vhildren in
Canada's Saskatchewan province follows a similar relevation in British Columbia

"Together, we must acknowledge this truth, learn from our past, and walk the shared path of reconciliation, so we can build a better future," he said. 

'We will find more bodies' 

The Marieval residential school in eastern Saskatchewan hosted indigenous children until the mid-1990s before being demolished and replaced by a day school. 

One former student, Barry Kennedy, told the broadcaster CBC he was shocked by the news but not surprised. 

"During my time at Marieval Indian Residential School, I had a young friend that was dragged off one night screaming," he said, adding that he never saw the child again. 

"His name was Bryan... I want to know where Bryan is," Kennedy said. 

He described a history of violence at the school. 

"We were introduced to rape. We were introduced to violent beatings. We were introduced to things that weren't normal with our families," he added. 

And he said he imagined that the graves found so far were just the tip of the iceberg: "By the stories that... were told by our friends and fellow students, there are multiple locations, you know, per school." 

Many indigenous community leaders expect more grisly discoveries in the coming months. Searches have already turned up possible unmarked burial sites in Ontario and Manitoba provinces. 

"We will find more bodies and we will not stop till we find all of our children," Cameron said at the press conference. 

"We all must put down our ignorance and accidental racism at not addressing the truth that this country has with indigenous people," said Delorme. 

"This country must stand by us." 

In early June, a few days after the discovery of the bones in Kamloops, UN human rights experts urged Ottawa and the Vatican to conduct a full and prompt investigation into the discovery.

Canada mourns 215 children after remains found at indigenous school

Yahoo – AFP, 30 May 2021 

Members of the community of the Kahnawake Mohawk Territory, Quebec march
through the town on May 30, 2021, to commemorate the news that a mass grave
of 215 Indigenous children were found at the Kamloops Residential School in
Britisch Columbia, Canada.

Canada flew its flags at half-mast Sunday in mourning for 215 children whose remains were discovered on the grounds of a former boarding school set up more than a century ago to assimilate indigenous peoples. 

"To honour the 215 children whose lives were taken at the former Kamloops residential school and all Indigenous children who never made it home, the survivors, and their families, I have asked that the Peace Tower flag (in Ottawa) and flags on all federal buildings be flown at half-mast," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Twitter. 

Several municipalities, including the economic metropolis Toronto, announced they would also lower their flags. 

The discovery of the children's remains, some as young as three, sparked strong emotions throughout Canada, particularly in the indigenous communities. 

A specialist used ground-penetrating radar to confirm the remains of the students who attended the school near Kamloops, British Columbia, the Tk'emlups te Secwepemc tribe said in a statement late Thursday. 

Local children of Kahnawake, Quebec step to view the hundreds of children's
shoes placed in front of the St. Francis Xavier Church, in tribute to a mass grave
of 215 Indigenous children found at the residential school in British Colombia, Canada.

The Kamloops Indian Residential School was the largest of 139 boarding schools set up in the late 19th century, with up to 500 students registered and attending at any one time. 

It was operated by the Catholic church on behalf of the Canadian government from 1890 to 1969. 

Some 150,000 Indian, Inuit and Metis youngsters in total were forcibly enrolled in these schools, where students were physically and sexually abused by headmasters and teachers who stripped them of their culture and language. 

Today those experiences are blamed for a high incidence of poverty, alcoholism and domestic violence, as well as high suicide rates, in their communities. 

Ottawa formally apologized in 2008 for what the commission later termed a "cultural genocide" as part of a Can$1.9 billion (US$1.6 billion) settlement with former students. 

Members of the community of the Kahmawake Mohawk Territory, Quebec march
through the town on May 30, 2021 to commemorate the news that a grave of
215 Indigenous children were found at the Kamloops Residential School in Britisch
Columbia, Canada.

"I've said before that the residential schools was a genocide of our people. Here's just another glowing example of that genocide in practice: undocumented deaths of children," the national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Perry Bellegarde, said Sunday on the news channel CTV. 

Bellegarde noted there was still much work to be done to identify the remains, find their families and examine the sites of other residential schools. 

He said the federal government "does have a responsibility to make sure that these resources are in place to get the answers." 

Ceremonies to honor the young victims took place or were to take place throughout the country. About 100 people gathered Sunday in the Mohawk community of Kahnawake, near Montreal. 

Participants placed children's shoes and toys on the steps of the Saint Francis Xavier church as a tribute to the victims.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau lays flowers at a makeshift memorial in
front of parliament for 215 indigenous students whose remains were discovered
last week at a former boarding school

Related Article:

Trudeau lays flowers at makeshift memorial for indigenous students

Women make history as Pelosi, Harris flank Biden for speech

MSN – AFP, 29 April 2021 

US Vice President Kamala Harris (Left) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
became the first two women on the rostrum with a US president when
President Joe Biden delivered remarks to a joint session of Congress. © Melina Mara 

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has been in the position before during presidential speeches. 

But with the addition this time of Kamala Harris, the nation's first female vice president, the two people seated behind and on either side of Biden as Americans tuned in on their TV screens for the primetime address were women. 

"Madam Speaker. Madam Vice President," Biden said proudly, turning to the women and clapping as he began his address. 

"No president has ever said those words from this podium," he added, "And it's about time." 

The chamber, with a limited number of lawmakers on hand due to coronavirus guidelines, burst into applause, as First Lady Jill Biden and Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff joined in the ovation. 

The moment marked a milestone in the nation's nearly 245-year history, and female lawmakers noted the symbolism regarding the strides that women have taken to reach positions of American power. 

"Like so many women, I feel pride in this moment and seeing this representation," House Democrat Barbara Lee posted on Twitter. "It's long overdue." 

It also marked a first of another sort: both the speaker and the vice president were wearing masks, another key plank of policies implemented in Congress beginning last year to guard against the spread of Covid-19. 

Harris and Pelosi are the first and second, respectively, in the presidential line of succession.

UK apologises for 'pervasive racism' over imperial war dead

Yahoo – AFP, James PHEBY, April 22, 2021 

New report says the British Empire did not treat all World War I dead equally.

Britain on Thursday offered an "unreserved apology" after a new report said hundreds of thousands of African and ethnic minority soldiers who died fighting for the British Empire in World War I were not properly commemorated due to "pervasive racism". 

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was "deeply troubled" by the findings of a Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) probe, which suggested soldiers were not treated as fairly in death as their white British counterparts. 

"During the First World War, millions of people from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and the Middle East fought for Britain in the struggle against tyranny," he said in a statement. 

"Their contribution to victory was immense, not just in numerical terms but in their courage and valour, and many paid the ultimate price so that we might live in peace and freedom today. 

"I am deeply troubled by the findings... that not all of our war dead were commemorated with equal care and reverence. On behalf of the government, I offer an unreserved apology." 

Imperial attitudes 

Johnson's statement followed Defence Secretary Ben Wallace's verbal apology in parliament as Britain reckons with the legacy of its colonial past and links to slavery, against a backdrop of anti-racism and Black Lives Matter protests. 

Last month, there was a backlash at a government-commissioned report which concluded prejudice persists but the country is not "institutionally racist", enraging equality campaigners. 

The CWGC said the failure to honour the troops was "influenced by a scarcity of information, errors inherited from other organisations and the opinions of colonial administrators". 

"Underpinning all these decisions, however, were the entrenched prejudices, preconceptions and pervasive racism of contemporary imperial attitudes." 

The CWGC was set up during World War I to remember Britain's war dead. It cares for war graves at 23,000 locations in more than 150 countries, commemorating nearly 1.7 million people.

'Equality in death' 

The CWGC, offering its own apologies, has promised to try to right the wrongs of the past and build digital or physical structures to honour the dead. 

The Great War pulled in close to 70 million soldiers on five continents, leaving some 10 million dead in battle and claiming many million more lives through hunger and disease. 

The Imperial War Graves Commission (IWGC), which became the CWGC, was founded on the principle of "equality of treatment in death", regardless of rank, class, religion or provenance. 

But while that aim was achieved in Europe, "the promise of equality had limits elsewhere" where there was fighting during the conflict, the report said. 

"In conflict with the organisation's founding principles, it is estimated that between 45,000 and 54,000 casualties -- predominantly Indian, East African, West African, Egyptian and Somali personnel -- were commemorated unequally," it said. 

"For some, rather than marking their graves individually, as the IWGC would have done in Europe, these men were commemorated collectively on memorials. 

"For others who were missing, their names were recorded in registers rather than in stone. 

"A further 116,000 casualties (predominantly, but not exclusively, East African and Egyptian personnel) -- but potentially as many as 350,000 -- were not commemorated by name or possibly not commemorated at all." 

'The Unremembered' 

CWGC director general Claire Horton said: "The events of a century ago were wrong then and are wrong now." 

The study was set up following a TV documentary on the issue by David Lammy, who is the main opposition Labour party's spokesman on justice. 

"No apology can ever make up for the indignity suffered by The Unremembered," Lammy wrote on Twitter. 

"However, this apology does offer the opportunity for us as a nation to work through this ugly part of our history -- and properly pay our respects to every soldier who has sacrificed their life for us." 

Chinese citizen journalist jailed for Wuhan virus reporting

Yahoo – AFP, 28 December 2020 

Authoroties said former Chinese lawyer and citizen journalist
Zhang Zhan had spread "False remarks" online.

A Chinese citizen journalist was jailed for four years Monday for her reporting from Wuhan as the Covid-19 outbreak began, her lawyer said, almost a year after details of an "unknown viral pneumonia" surfaced in the central China city. 

Zhang Zhan, a former lawyer who arrived at court in a wheelchair, was sentenced at a brief hearing in a Shanghai court for allegedly "picking quarrels and provoking trouble" during her reporting in the chaotic initial stages of the outbreak. 

Her live reports and essays were shared on social media platforms in February, grabbing the attention of authorities, who have punished eight virus whistleblowers so far as they curb criticism of the government's response to the outbreak. 

Beijing has congratulated itself for "extraordinary" success in controlling the virus inside its borders, with an economy on the rebound while much of the rest of the world stutters through painful lockdowns and surging caseloads a year on from the start of the pandemic in Wuhan. 

Controlling the information flow during an unprecedented global health crisis has been pivotal in allowing China's communist authorities to reframe the narrative in their favour, with President Xi Jinping being garlanded for his leadership by the country's ruling party. 

But that has come at a serious cost to anyone who has picked holes in the official storyline. 

The court said Zhang Zhan had spread "false remarks" online, according to one of her lawyers Zhang Keke, but the prosecution did not fully divulge its evidence in court. 

"We had no way of understanding what exactly Zhang Zhan was accused of doing," he added, describing it as "a speedy, rushed hearing." 

In return the defendant "didn't respond [to questions]... She refused to answer when the judge asked her to confirm her identity." 

The defendant's mother sobbed loudly as the verdict was read out, Ren Quanniu, another member of Zhang's defence team, told reporters who were barred from entering the court. 

Concerns are mounting over the health of 37-year-old Zhang, who began a hunger strike in June and has been force-fed via a nasal tube. 

Her legal team said her health was in decline and she suffered from headaches, dizziness and stomach pain, and that she had appeared in court in a wheelchair. 

"She said when I visited her (last week): 'If they give me a heavy sentence then I will refuse food until the very end.'... She thinks she will die in prison," Ren said before the trial. 

"It's an extreme method of protesting against this society and this environment." 

China's communist authorities have a history of putting dissidents on trial in opaque courts between Christmas and New Year in an effort to minimise Western scrutiny. 

Example made

The sentencing comes just weeks before an international team of World Health Organization experts is expected to arrive in China to investigate the origins of Covid-19. 

Zhang was critical of the early response in Wuhan, writing in a February essay that the government "didn't give people enough information, then simply locked down the city". 

"This is a great violation of human rights," she wrote. 

Rights groups and embassies have also drawn attention to her case, although diplomats from several countries were denied requests to monitor the hearing. 

"Zhang Zhan's case raises serious concerns about media freedom in China," the British embassy in Beijing said, urging "China to release all those detained for their reporting." 

Authorities "want to use her case as an example to scare off other dissidents from raising questions about the pandemic situation in Wuhan earlier this year", added Leo Lan, research and advocacy consultant at the Chinese Human Rights Defenders NGO. 

A United Nations official following the trial also expressed "deep concern" about the verdict. 

"We raised her case with the authorities throughout 2020 as an example of the excessive clampdown on freedom of expression linked to #COVID19 & continue to call for her release," the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said in a tweet. 

Zhang is the first of a group of four citizen journalists detained by authorities after reporting from Wuhan to face trial. 

Previous attempts by AFP to contact the other three -- Chen Qiushi, Fang Bin and Li Zehua -- were unsuccessful. 

Related Article:

"Corona 1", Reykjavik, Iceland, Mar, 2020 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - 

(>13.46 Min - Reference to the Global Coronavirus crisis)

Former ING chief should face charges over bank’s money laundering scandal: court

DutchNews, December 9, 2020 

Photo: ING.com

Former ING chief executive Ralph Hamers should face charges personally for his role in the money laundering scandal which led the financial services group to reach a €775m out of court settlement in 2018, appeal court judges in The Hague said on Wednesday. 

The case has been brought by campaign group Sobi, which says Hamers should face criminal charges. ‘The facts are serious, no settlement was reached with the management and he has never accepted public responsibility for his actions,’ campaigner Pieter Lakeman said. 

‘Managers who consciously make mistakes should not be able to buy themselves free by agreeing to very high fines while shareholders pick up the bill. It is of great importance that Hamers faces prosecution.’ 

The court said in its ruling that while it supported the public prosecution’s decision to look for a settlement, as CEO, Hammers was authorised and required to take measures to prevent criminal behaviour. ‘However, not only did he fail to do this and thereby promote this behaviour, but he also consciously accepted the risk that it would continue,’ the court said. 

ING said in a reaction it regretted the court decision. ‘We … regret the decision to order the prosecution of our former CEO, which goes against the assessment of the public prosecutors that, based on the investigation, there are no grounds for a case against ING employees or former employees,’ ING said in a statement. 

Hamers is now chief executive of Swiss bank UBS which, according to Reuters, says it is confident he will be able to remain in the job. 

The public prosecution department reached a €775m out of court settlement with ING for failing to properly monitor money transfers for potential money laundering in September 2018.

The department said between 2010 and 2016, the bank’s clients were effectively able to launder hundreds of millions of euros because ING was not doing its job properly. Banks are required by law to report suspicious transactions.

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

“… The Shift in Human Nature

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

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

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

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