Cempaka South America

Dozens charged in massive U.S. auto insurance fraud scheme

2012-02-29T14:36:00.001-08:00

English.news.cn 2012-03-01

NEW YORK,Feb. 29 (Xinhua) -- A total of 36 people were charged on Wednesday in New YorkCity with defrauding automobile insurers out of more than 275 million U.S.dollars in accident benefits.

Accordingto an indictment released in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the racketeeringand money laundering ring used phony clinics that billed insurers forunnecessary treatments.

New Yorklaw requires vehicles registered in the state to carry no-fault insuranceproviding as much as 50,000 U.S. dollars per person to cover injuries sustainedin auto accidents.

FBI agentsand police detectives around the New York City area began taking the suspectsinto custody early Wednesday morning and suspects will face charges thatinclude racketeering, health care fraud, money laundering, insurance fraud andwire fraud.

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Breatharian couple, parents of a breatharian child - Akahi & Camila (Video)

2012-02-29T09:46:00.001-08:00

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"Recalibration of the Human Being" – Jan 7, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Text Version) - New !

"Recalibration of Knowledge" – Jan 14, 2012 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Channelling, God-Creator, Benevolent Design, New Energy, Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Reincarnation, Gaia, Old Energies (Africa,Terrorists, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela ... ), Weather, Rejuvenation, Akash, Nicolas Tesla / Einstein, Cold Fusion, Magnetics, Lemuria, Atomic Structure (Electrons, Particles, Polarity, Self Balancing, Magnetism), Entanglement, "Life is necessary for a Universe to exist and not the other way around", DNA, Humans (Baby getting ready, First Breath, Stem Cells, Embryonic Stem Cells, Rejuvenation), Global Unity, ... etc.) - New !

Ecuador President Correa pardons paper in libel case

2012-02-27T10:33:00.003-08:00

BBC News, 27February 2012

RelatedStories

President Correa has long been
at odds with the country's private
media

Ecuador'sPresident Rafael Correa has pardoned the owners and a journalist at El Universonewspaper who faced jail terms and $40m (£25m) in damages for libelling him.

PresidentCorrea, in a statement transmitted live, said he and his government had beenportrayed as the persecutors of journalists.

But hissole aim in bringing the case had been to seek the truth, he said.

The libelcase focused attention on the freedom of Ecuador's media.

"I'vedecided to... pardon the accused and grant them remission of the sentences theyrightly received," Mr Correa said in his statement.

The threeowners of El Universo - brothers Carlos, Cesar and Nicolas Perez - andcolumnist Emilio Palacio were found guilty of libelling the president.

They wereeach given three-year prison terms and had multi-million dollar damages andfines awarded against them.

Mr Correabrought the lawsuit after an article in El Universo questioned an army raid torescue him from a violent protest by striking police officers in September2010.

CarlosPerez is currently sheltering in the Panamanian embassy in the capital Quito,while the other three are blieved to be out of the country.

"Inever wanted this trial. I never wanted anyone arrested," Mr Correa said.

Editorials

Humanrights and press freedom groups condemned the severity of the sentences imposedon El Universo.

But MrCorrea said his battle with Ecuador's private media was a fight for justice.

"Theyhave been talking about a dictatorship and they were right," he said.

It was the"dictatorship of the media".

The trialhad shown people that they could overcome their fear of a "corrupt"press, Mr Correa said.

In hisstatement, Mr Correa also said he was dropping a libel case against two otherjournalists who had written a book detailing the government contracts grantedto his brother Fabio.

FabioCorrea has repeatedly said they were the result of public tenders.

President Correa,in office since 2007, has long been at odds with the country's media. Heaccuses them of spreading lies in an attempt to undermine his government.

The libelcase against El Universo sparked a torrent of international criticism,including hard-hitting editorials in several US newspapers.

Brazil wants more IMF power for extra eurozone funds

2012-02-26T02:52:00.003-08:00

BBC News, 26February 2012

GlobalEconomy

Guido Mantega wants eurozone nations
to put forward more of their own funds

Brazil hassaid that developing nations would be happy to provide more money to ease theeurozone's debt crisis, in return for more power within the InternationalMonetary Fund (IMF).

Thecomments were made by Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega as he met withhis opposite numbers at a G20 meeting in Mexico.

He alsocalled on eurozone countries to contribute more of their own funds.

Thisposition was echoed by UK Chancellor George Osborne.

Mr Mantegasaid: "Emerging countries will only help under two conditions; first thatthey strengthen their firewall and second for the IMF [voting rights] reform beimplemented.

"I seemost countries sharing a similar opinion that the Europeans have to strengthentheir firewall."

Mr Mantega,and other G20 finance ministers, want eurozone nations to put more funds intothe European Stability Mechanism, the fund set up to bail out nationsstruggling with their sovereign debt.

'Colour ofmoney'

GermanFinance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said eurozone nations would look next monthat increasing the size of the ESM.

Mr Osborne,speaking to Sky News, said the UK was waiting for this to happen.

"Weare prepared to consider [increasing] IMF resources but only once we see colourof eurozone money and we have not seen this," he said.

"Whileat this G20 conference there are a lot of things to discuss, I don't thinkyou're going to see any extra resources committed here because eurozonecountries have not committed additional resources themselves, and I think thatquid pro quo will be clearly established here in Mexico City."

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'Human safaris' pose threat to uncontacted Amazon tribe

2012-02-25T07:46:00.000-08:00

After theObserver highlighted the human safaris scandal in India's Andaman Islands,fears are growing about illegal 'viewing' trips in Peru

guardian.co.uk,David Hill, Saturday 25 February 2012

Members of the Mashco-Piro tribe are photographed by one of a
Spanish Geographical Society team last year. Photograph: Reuters

Newconcerns about "human safaris" are now being raised in Peru, wheretour operators are profiting from the exploitation of indigenous tribes in theAmazon jungle.

An increasein economic activity and tourism in the Manú region has led to a dramatic risein the number of reported sightings of the Mashco-Piro – one of around 15indigenous groups in Peru who have no regular contact with outsiders, and oneof only 100 or so such tribes left in the world.

Fenamad,the local indigenous rights organisation, has criticised tour operators whohave taken advantage of the sightings to take tourists "close towhere" the tribespeople were seen. There is growing evidence thattravellers and tourists are attempting to make contact. "UncontactedIndians are not a tourist attraction," said Rebecca Spooner of SurvivalInternational, which aims to protect tribal peoples. "So-called tourguides should already know better."

Growingconcerns over "human safaris" caused a scandal in India after theObserver revealed how tour operators in the Andaman Islands are colluding with police to offer sightings of an indigenous group, the Jarawa, who have only hadcontact with the outside world since the late 1990s.

In Peru,the Mashco-Piro live in the Manú national park of the Madre de Dios region,near the Brazilian border. More than a century ago the Mashco-Piro were drivenoff their land in the upper Manú river by rubber tappers supplying the Americanand European car and bicycle industries. The tribe was forced to retreat tomore remote jungle areas.

AfterSurvival International published photographs of the tribe last month topublicise the need to leave it in peace, a spokesman for Peru's nationalprotected areas department (Sernanp) urged people to steer clear of"communities trying to remain apart from the outside world". However,independent research by the Observer has confirmed that unscrupulous tourguides are flouting that advice.

"Theuncontacted peoples have been sighted on the Madre de Dios river in Manú. Letme know how many days you want and I'll suggest a tailor-made programme foryour party," said one, contacted anonymously by the Observer with aspecific request to seek out the tribe. "We can't be 100% sure we can seethe uncontacted. If we are lucky we can see. In 2011 they came out in themonths of May and October," said another.

"Thebest time to see these uncontacted natives is towards the end of the dryseason, when the turtles are laying their eggs along the riverbank," saida third operator. "The best chance you would have to see them is betweenJuly and September. Along the main rivers is the best place… The tour with thegreatest amount of distance covered and the best chance to see the uncontactednatives would be our eight-day/seven-night tour to Manú Biosphere Reserve bybus that starts and ends in Cuzco."

But othertour operators gave a markedly different response. Manú Nature Tours, based inCuzco, said: "We do not offer any possibility to see [the tribe]. It isvery dangerous to attempt any contact with them. A simple cold can kill themall. Any attempt to try to contact this people can put you in jail in Peru andBrazil."

AtalayaTours said: "It is completely forbidden to contact 'non-contact people'.We have tours to Manú park, but Atalaya fully respects all the laws protectingnon-contact natives and we don't agree with the illegal guides or operatorsthat try to commercialise these kinds of visits."

Accordingto Fenamad, "there's great concern because the Mashco-Piro are veryvulnerable. In addition to their susceptibility to common diseases andepidemics, the sightings are occurring in an area of open-river transit wherethere is an intense traffic of commercial and tourists' boats." GlennShepard, an anthropologist who has worked in Manú, says tour operators haveapproached the Mashco-Piro on the riverbank so that tourists can "getphotos like they would for a jaguar".

In India,tourists plunge into the heart of Jarawa territory along the Andaman TrunkRoad, while in Peru they travel down the Madre de Dios river, where theMashco-Piro have been seen on the left bank, or up and down the River Manú,where they have been seen on both banks. Video footage of the Mashco-Piroemerged last year that appeared to show travellers "playing a game of cat andmouse with the naked tribesmen" and discussing whether to leave food orclothing for them on the riverbank. None of the trips to Manú advertised bytour operators on their websites openly offers Mashco-Piro sightings, butseveral acknowledge the presence of "uncontacted" people in therainforest.

"Weneed governments to act to protect indigenous communities, tour operators needto follow a code of conduct and tourists need to be educated andinformed," said Mark Watson, director of Tourism Concern.

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Haitian prime minister offers resignation

2012-02-24T13:27:00.002-08:00

Deutsche Welle, 24 February 2012

The primeminister of Haiti, Garry Conille, has submitted a letter of resignation toPresident Michel Martelly. Martelly has announced an address to the nation,without saying whether he would let Conille go.

HaitianPresident Michel Martelly posted on his Twitter and Facebook accounts on Fridaythat Prime Minister Garry Conille had submitted a letter of resignation,confirming earlier reports on the issue which cited unnamed government sources.

"Thepresident of the Republic … has this morning received the resignation of theprime minister, Doctor Garry Conille," a post on Martelly's Twitteraccount read.

"Thepresident will address the nation this evening at 7 p.m. (midnight GMT) on thismatter," the next post said, without elaborating on whether Conille'soffer of resignation would be accepted.

Conille andMartelly had endured an uneasy working relationship during their four months ofcooperation, clashing over several issues including a citizenship row and theallocation of aid contracts after the deadly 2010 earthquake that leveled muchof the capital, Port-au-Prince.

The Haitian daily newspaper Le Matin hadrecently reported that "almost all ministers had rebelled" againstConille in recent weeks.

Haiti isstill struggling to rebuild after the earthquake, which devastated an alreadyimpoverished country.

"Thepolitical deadlock and institutional paralysis between the government,parliament and the president does not reflect the commitments they haveundertaken vis-a-vis the Haitian people and are not likely to create thenecessary conditions for recovery of the economy and the consolidation ofdemocracy," the head of the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti, MarcianoFernandez, said on Thursday.

Conille, agynaecologist and former United Nations official who is popular with the West,was formally approved by parliament last October. He is the third Haitian primeminister to be appointed by Martelly since he took office as president lastMay.

msh/acb (AFP, dpa, Reuters)

BRICs to mull plans for multilateral bank: source

2012-02-23T14:48:00.001-08:00

Reuters,Mexico City, Thu Feb 23, 2012

(Reuters) -Officials from top emerging market countries will discuss fledgling plans toset up a multilateral bank to fund projects in developing nations duringupcoming Group of 20 meetings, a senior Brazilian government official said onThursday.

Brazilian,Chinese, Russian and Indian delegates will meet for talks on Saturday morningon the sidelines of the G20 talks being held in Mexico City.

"Theidea is for the BRICS to offer the capital for this bank, but we still need todiscuss if this bank will serve to give out loans to other emerging marketcountries," said the official.

"Theidea is in its infancy," and the countries are not likely to reach adecision this weekend, the official said, adding that Brazil's financeminister, Guido Mantega, "is sympathetic to the idea."

Brazil, oneof the world's fastest-growing economies, has for many years sought to increaseits influence at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

Mantegacalled for a transparent election to replace Robert Zoellick as president ofthe World Bank after Zoellick he said he would step down last week.

(Reportingby Alonso Soto; Writing by Krista Hughes)

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Guatemala's Maya Indians celebrate start of year 5127

2012-02-23T07:23:00.000-08:00

Fox News Latino, February 22, 2011

GuatemalaCity – Maya Indians in Guatemalacelebrated Tuesday the beginning of the year 5127, prophesied to be marked by a"change of authority."

"Forpeace, for harmony, for the unity of peoples," the Maya priests andspiritual leaders prayed as they danced around the fire, took their places atthe four cardinal points and invoked the gods to bring "the dawn of bettertimes."

Though thefestivities are celebrated at dozens of spots the Indians consider sacred, themain ceremony, in which government representatives and leaders of the chiefindigenous communities take part, is held at Kaminal Juyu, west of the capital.

These ceremoniesmark the end of Wayeb, a five-day period during which the Mayas reflect on allthat occurred during the year just ended, and define their goals and actions tobe taken in the new year.

The year5127, according to the Mayan worldview, is governed by Kab'lajuj E, or 12thRoad, which represents the "change of authority" in the new time, thepath forward and the destiny of peoples.

"Whatthe sacred book Popol Wuj predicts and what is actually going to happen thisyear in Guatemala is not a simple coincidence, but rather a guide, anorientation and a hope," Juan Axtij, one of the Indian elders taking partin the ceremony, told Efe.

The old manwas alluding to the general elections set for September, when Guatemalans willelect their president and vice president, 158 members of Congress and 333mayors.

Indigenouspeople represent 42 percent of the 14.4 million inhabitants of Guatemala.

In the pasttwo decades, Indians have recovered much of their culture after it was indanger of being exterminated by the military repression of the 1960-1996 civilwar.

The Mayancalendar, considered one of the most exact and sophisticated mechanisms formeasuring time known to man, has a year of 365 days, but with the differencethat it is divided into 18 months of 20 days each, plus the Wayeb.

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"Spiritual Logic" - Oct 15 2011 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll)
(Subjects: Benevolent Design, Channelling, Holy scriptures, Higher self, (Old) Souls, Universes, Big Bang, Galaxy/Solar system build for life, Astronomy, Life on Earth tried to start 5 times/ 5th time life started, Large Animals/No Humans, Asteroid belt, 7 Sisters / 100.000 year ago Pleiadian Brothers and Sisters seeded Humans on earth, DNA, Humans Ascensiont with Pleiadian DNA, Lemuria (Hawaii), 21-12-2012, 26.000 years cycle, 1987 - Harmonic convergence (11:11), Shift of Human Consciousness, Gaia, The Humanization of God, 1991 Russia falls, 1994 started 36 years galactic window (Presession), Mid point on 21-12-2012, Lemuria (Hawaii) center of the Earth time, Love (Mother & Child), Religion, Higher self, Global Unity,..... etc.)

Honduran president pardons murderer who saved hundreds from jail inferno

2012-02-22T07:26:00.001-08:00

MarcoAntonio Bonilla used keys to open locks and a bench to smash down doors as fireraged and prison guards panicked

guardian.co.uk, Rory Carroll, Latin America correspondent, Wednesday 22 February 2012

Surviving prisoners in a courtyard outside barracks at Comayagua jail
after the fire. Photograph: Gustavo Amador/EPA

TheHonduran government has pardoned a convicted murderer who helped save hundredsof inmates during a fire that killed 360 people last week.

PresidentPorfirio Lobo announced he would pardon Marco Antonio Bonilla, also known asShorty, for releasing trapped prisoners from the horrific blaze that destroyedComayagua jail.

Whileguards panicked and left screaming men to die, Bonilla – who had been outsidehis cell when the fire began – used a set of keys to unlock several barracks,each housing about 100 men. He also used a bench to smash open other locks.

"Heput himself at incredible risk trying to save lives during the tragedy,"Lobo said during a televised meeting with ministers.

Bonilla,who was not available for immediate comment, reportedly had just a few monthsleft to serve of a murder sentence.

Reportssaid 50-year-old the worked as a nurse at the jail and was allowed to live apartfrom other prisoners.

Comayaguacontained about 850 men, twice its official capacity. The dead comprised 359male prisoners and one wife, who was visiting for Valentine's Day.

One versionof events said Bonilla picked up keys dropped by a guard who fled. Anotherreport said he wrested the keys from a guard who was paralysed by thehorrifying sights and sounds in the jail.

"Shortywas the only one with honour," Rosendo Sanchez, a survivor, toldreporters.

The litanyof state incompetence – an overcrowded jail, incompetent guards, firefightersunable to quench the flames quickly, clumsy handling of relatives' anguish –made Bonilla the only candidate for a hero to a traumatised nation.

After thefire, relatives desperate for information clashed with police and stormed thenational morgue in the capital, Tegucigalpa, to retrieve remains of loved ones.

At anemotional meeting with relatives on Tuesday, Lobo said the process ofidentifying bodies was going as fast as possible and that an international tribunalwould determine "correct, legal and above all just" levels ofcompensation.

A team ofinvestigators from the US bureau of alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosivessaid the cause of the fire appeared to be accidental, such as a lit match,cigarette or some other open flame.

Honduras'schief prosecutor, Luis Alberto Rubi, told local TV that witnesses had toldinvestigators a prisoner fell asleep while smoking.

Officialsinitially reported it was started by an prisoner, bearing a grudge, who setfire to his mattress. Later theories suggested an electrical fault, or that itwas deliberately started as part an escape attempt.

Human rights campaigners said it was irresponsible for officials to speculate untilthe definitive report was complete.

Last weekthe state governor, Paola Castro, said she had received a phone call from aprisoner threatening to burn the jail just before the blaze. She has sinceamended her story, saying she received a message stating that there was a fire.She added that she had accidentally erased the message.

Venezuela's Hugo Chavez faces new operation

2012-02-21T12:37:00.003-08:00

BBC News, 21February 2012

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Mr Chavez had two operations to
remove a tumour last year

VenezuelanPresident Hugo Chavez has said that he will have to undergo another operationafter doctors found a lesion during medical tests in Cuba.

The57-year-old underwent two operations in Havana last year to remove a canceroustumour from his pelvis.

The latestlesion is in the same area as the tumour but described as small.

Mr Chavezrevealed the news during a televised tour of a factory in his home state ofBarinas.

"Thereis no metastasis. Just this small lesion in the same place where they removedthe tumour," he said.

Mr Chavezhad surgery to remove the tumour - which has been reported to have been thesize of a baseball - last year.

Speakingafter the operation he said he had made the "fundamental error" offailing to look after himself.

His exactcondition remains a closely guarded secret.

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"Recalibration of Knowledge" – Jan 14, 2012 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Channelling, God-Creator, Benevolent Design, New Energy, Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Reincarnation, Gaia, Old Energies (Africa,Terrorists, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela ... ), Weather, Rejuvenation, Akash, Nicolas Tesla / Einstein, Cold Fusion, Magnetics, Lemuria, Atomic Structure (Electrons, Particles, Polarity, Self Balancing, Magnetism), Entanglement, "Life is necessary for a Universe to exist and not the other way around", DNA, Humans (Baby getting ready, First Breath, Stem Cells, Embryonic Stem Cells, Rejuvenation), Global Unity, ... etc.) - New !

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

" .... Soon the one dictator will be gone, and the unification can begin.."

Catholic Monti moves to end Italy Church tax breaks

2012-02-19T13:56:00.001-08:00

Reuters, byPhilip Pullella, ROME, Thu Feb 16, 2012

(Reuters) -Prime Minister Mario Monti, a Catholic crusading to put Italy's economy inorder by ending entrenched privileges such as tax breaks, is striking againstan unlikely target - his own Church.

Monti'sgovernment issued a statement on Wednesday night saying it had informed theEuropean Commission that it would pass a law ending the Church's exemption fromlocal property taxes on its properties used for commercial purposes.

Estimateson how much this can bring to government coffers have ranged from 700 millioneuros ($908 million) to more than 1 billion euros.

Italy'sChurch - once an unshakable, and some say untouchable, institution - has comeunder fire for what some consider unfair privileges at a time Monti has askedItalians to make unprecedented sacrifices as part of a "tears andblood" austerity plan to thwart a Greek-style crisis.

The EuropeanCommission in 2010 opened a probe against Italy to determine if tax breaks forsome Church properties amounted to illegal state aid and distorted competition.

Somepolitical parties, particularly the tiny, liberal Radical Party, and someintellectual leaders, have led a campaign to strip the Church of tax exemptionon properties that are not used exclusively as places of worship.

ThroughoutItaly, the Church owns many private clinics, hotels, bed and breakfasts andguest houses that enjoy tax exempt status because parts of the structures areoccupied by priests or nuns or have a chapel for worship.

Thatcreated a grey area where many structures were essentially commercial butcovered by the religious exemption law.

Thegovernment statement said the proposal to be presented in parliament wouldlimit the tax exemption to structures that are "exclusivelynon-commercial." It did not say when it would present the bill.

Inmixed-use cases, such as hotels run by nuns, the exemption will apply only tothe parts of the structures that are non-commercial, such as chapels andresidences for priests and nuns, and the statement said the Economy Ministry -not the Church - would decide which is which.

CHURCHLEADERS NOT INFORMED

Althoughcontacts have been going on for a few months, Monti's move to take the bull bythe horns surprised Italy's Catholic hierarchy.

"Weare waiting to see the exact formulation of the text in order to provide adetailed judgment," the Italian bishops' conference said in a statement.

TheCatholic Church is one of Italy's largest private real estate holders and, ifthe Commission were to rule against Italy, Rome could be forced to order theChurch to reimburse the government for unpaid taxes.

While thelaw would affect all religions, its impact on the relatively tiny propertyholdings of the Jewish and Muslim communities would be negligible.

Thecontroversy over Church tax exemptions had been bubbling for years but boiledover in the past few months, particularly after the Monti governmentre-instated a local property tax on primary residences that had been abolishedby his predecessor, Silvio Berlusconi.

In a48-hour period after the austerity package was passed in December, more than130,000 people signed an on-line petition demanding that the Church be strippedof much of its tax exempt status and pay its fair share.

At first,the Church dug in its heels, saying tax laws had to take into consideration thesocial benefit of many of its activities.

But, asausterity began to bite into the budgets of ordinary Italians who were forcedto pay more taxes and delay their retirements, Italian Church leaders softenedtheir stand and said they were willing to negotiate and rectify any pastabuses.

(1 euro = $1.29820)

(Editing by Alessandra Rizzo)

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Brazilian cardinal slams Euro-centric Catholic Church

2012-02-18T10:42:00.002-08:00

GMA News, AgenceFrance Presse February 18, 2012

VATICANCITY - Joao Braz de Aviz, the sole LatinAmerican among 22 newly created Catholic cardinals, on Saturday criticised theChurch for being too Euro-centric.

Joao Braz de Aviz

"Europeshould go back to showing a more fraternal attitude towards other continentsand stop looking down on the others," Braz de Aviz said in an interviewwith the Vatican-watching news agency I.Media.

"Howmuch longer are we going to be led by Europe and the United States?"demanded Braz de Aviz, elevated to cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI in a solemnceremony at Saint Peter's Basilica on Saturday.

"Youcan no longer think that Latin America, Asia and Africa haven't changed, thatthey are still colonies or the Third World," he said.

The moreuniversal the College of Cardinals, "the better it will represent theChurch. We've already done a lot in this direction, but we must continue,"added Braz de Aviz, 64.

The LatinAmerican region has the world's largest concentration of Catholics.

Somecritics point to the preponderance of Europeans, especially Italians, in theChurch hierarchy, notably the College of Cardinals, as evidence of the pope'sWestern bias.

Critics saythe appointments show a strong bias towards Europe, as out of the 125 cardinalsunder age 80 -- "elector cardinals" eligible to elect the pope in asecret conclave -- 67 are from Europe.

A mere 22are from South America, 15 from North America, 11 from Africa and 10 from Asiaand the Pacific.

Moreover,the induction of seven Italians in Benedict's fourth consistory brings to 30the number of Italian elector cardinals -- almost a quarter of the total, faroutweighing any other country.

The newcardinals include nine other Europeans as well as two Americans, one Canadian,a Brazilian, an Indian and a Hong Kong Chinese.

Agence France Presse

UFOs In South America - Disclosure Has Begun

2012-02-18T06:02:00.003-08:00

Uploaded by UFOTVstudios on Jan 20, 2011

Scientists, researchers, military personnel and astronauts have been talking about UFOs for years. Recently some major governments have begun to make their files on UFOs public.

Colombia priests 'hired own killers' in suicide pact

2012-02-14T16:25:00.002-08:00

BBC News, 14 February2012

RelatedStories

The two priests were mourned
by their parishioners in Bogota

TwoColombian priests who were found shot dead in the capital Bogota a year agothemselves hired the assassins who killed them, prosecutors say.

They saidthe priests had agreed a suicide pact after one of them was diagnosed withAids, but contracted hitmen because they could not bring themselves to carry itout.

Relativesof the dead priests insist they were victims of an armed robbery.

They havedenied reports that they were involved in a gay relationship.

Two of thealleged killers are being prosecuted after being traced from calls made fromthe priests' phones.

'Pray forme'

FatherRichard Piffano, 37, and Father Rafael Reatiga, 35, were found shot dead in acar in southern Bogota in January 2011.

Prosecutorsallege they paid the suspected hitmen around $8,500 (£5,440) to kill them andmake it look like a robbery attempt.

The twopriests had been friends since their training and often celebrated Mass andother religious services together, Colombia's El Tiempo newspaper reported.

In hisfinal church service, Father Reatiga asked parishioners to pray to Santa Marta,the patron saint of lost causes, the paper reported, while Father Piffano askedhis to "pray for me".

Suicide -like homosexual acts - is forbidden in the Catholic Church.

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About the Challenges of Being a Gay Man – Oct 23, 2010 (Saint Germain channelled by Alexandra Mahlimay and Dan Bennack) - “ ... You see, your Soul and Creator are not concerned with any perspective you have that contradicts the reality of your Divinity – whether this be your gender, your sexual preference, your nationality – or your race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, or anything else.The only identity that has any fundamental or lasting relevance to your Soul is your Divinity. Any other way you may label or identify yourself is transitory. It changes from one incarnation to the next. ..."

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

"Perceptions of God" – June 6, 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Quantum Teaching, The Fear of God, Near-death Experience, God Becomes Mythology, Worship, Mastery, Intelligent Design, Benevolent Creator,Global Unity.... etc.) (Text version)

“.. For centuries you haven't been able to think past that box of what God must be like. So you create a Human-like God with wars in heaven, angel strife, things that would explain the devil, fallen angels, pearly gates, lists of dos and don'ts, and many rules still based on cultures that are centuries old. You create golden streets and even sexual pleasures as rewards for men (of course) - all Human perspective, pasted upon God. I want to tell you that it's a lot different than that. I want to remind you that there are those who have seen it! Why don't you ask somebody who has had what you would call a near-death experience? …. “

"The Humanization of God" – Jul 16, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: The Humanization of God, Gaia, Benevolent Design, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Guides and Angels, Communication with God, Wars in Heaven ?, The Love of God, (Old) Souls, Global Unity,.... etc.)

“… Do angels exist? Absolutely, but not as you think or have been taught. Are there helpers? Absolutely, but again, not like you think. When angels visited Humans in ancient days and the events were written about by those who were there to witness the experience, I can guarantee it was a lot different than they could express on paper. When an angel appears before a Human, it looks like a swirling ball of energy, sometimes even fire that is not hot and does not consume anything. Angels are not in Human form and never have been. They are multidimensional beings, not in 3D. Yet you want to put skin and wings on them and give them a name! Why? It makes you feel better about them. We understand that…”

“The 2012 Ostiary - Angels Among You” – Dec 30, 2012 (a message from Metatron channelled by Tyberonn)

Venezuela's Capriles targets toppling Chavez

2012-02-13T10:25:00.002-08:00

Reuters, byBrian Ellsworth and Andrew Cawthorne,CARACAS, Mon Feb 13, 2012

Oppositionpresidential candidate and Miranda state Governor Henrique

Capriles speaks tohis supporters after knowing the results of the election

in Caracas February12, 2012. (Credit: Reuters/Carlos Garcia Rawlins)

(Reuters) -Venezuela's opposition primary winner Henrique Capriles oozed confidence onMonday that he can unseat President Hugo Chavez and end 13 years of socialismthat foes say has left the OPEC nation in crisis.

Capriles'presidential campaign had a roaring start with an easy win in the DemocraticUnity coalition's Sunday vote where high participation of nearly 3 millionshowed the opposition can mobilize supporters ahead of the October 7 presidentialvote.

The39-year-old center-left state governor's bid was further bolstered by a show ofunity among the losing candidates from the opposition, which for years sufferedfrom internal disputes that ultimately benefited Chavez.

"Todaythe country awakes to a new political reality. The future has won,"Capriles told local TV, beaming in a dawn interview a few hours after hisvictory party wound up.

"It'sclear this government's model has failed ... We have a country in crisis."

Yet withChavez riding high in polls, still popular among the poor and spendingmassively on welfare projects, Capriles will need to go beyond the vaguepromises and feel-good factor of his primary campaign if he is to unseat thepresident.

His strongshowing, winning 62 percent of the primary vote, will likely please investors,who react well to any news suggesting a change from Chavez's state-centeredeconomic model.

"Thisresult is still market positive as the opposition showed mobilization capacityand empowered the candidate," wrote Goldman Sachs analyst Alberto Ramos.

Venezuelanbonds, among the most highly traded emerging market securities, rose followingChavez's cancer diagnosis last year but slipped again as the former soldierstaged what appeared to be quick recovery.

NEW FACE

Part of anew guard of young opposition leaders, Capriles has cast himself as a freshface in a country dominated by Chavez's militant leftism and constantconfrontation.

Thegrandson of Polish fugitives from Nazi persecution, Capriles says he admiresBrazil's "modern left" economic model, which has helped pull tens ofmillions out of poverty through a mix of state spending and respect for privateenterprise.

"Thegovernment loves talking about revolution. Why don't we take off the 'r' andtalk about evolution?" he said on Monday, in one of many catch-phrasesthat served him well during the opposition primary campaign.

"I amnot a Messiah, I'm a public servant," he added, seeking to make a contrastwith Chavez's all-dominant persona.

Caprileshas promised to address the day-to-day concerns of Venezuelans such as highcrime, unemployment and constantly rising prices, and spend less time onideological crusades.

"Thisis what we were hoping for, a man like Capriles who has the power and theresponsibility to govern this country, because Venezuela needs to change,"said Leila Sutil, 58, a community organizer.

Caprilessays he will maintain the best of Chavez's welfare policies, while onlygradually dismantling controversial measures that include price and currencycontrols plus nationalizations of everything from farms to oil servicecompanies.

He hasindicated he will steer Venezuela's international alliances away from Chavez'sfaraway, ideologically motivated friendships with Iran, Belarus, Syria andother anti-U.S. governments.

It will bea hard sell, however, to convince voters in Venezuela's rural backwaters andurban slums won over by Chavez's potent combination of fierce nationalism,abundant charisma and huge welfare programs.

State mediaimmediately began describing Capriles as "the candidate of the rightwing."

Heavy ongeneralizations and in a hoarse voice, Capriles' victory speech showed hispublic style is still far behind the smoothly loquacious Chavez, who recentlyspoke for a record-breaking 9 1/2-hours in a speech to Congress.

"Theguy may have won the primaries, but he's so lacking in charisma, it's not goingto be easy for him ..." sniped deputy foreign minister Temir Porras viaTwitter.

Opposition-leaningnewspapers, however, were euphoric, enjoying a rare sense of unity and triumph.

"Nowlet's go to October the 7th," blazed TalCual's front page, its editorTeodoro Petkoff adding: "A large part of the nation is tired of Chavez. They'rescreaming it in his face."

(Additionalreporting by Deisy Buitrago, Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Vicki Allen)

" .... Soon the one dictator will be gone, and the unification can begin.."

Leader of Peru's leftist insurgency shot and captured in jungle

2012-02-12T12:56:00.000-08:00

Artemio,head of Shining Path guerrilla group, wounded by security forces of presidentOllanta Humala

guardian.co.uk,Reuters, Sunday 12 February 2012

Artemio, the nom de guerre of Florindo Eleuterio Flores, was shot and
captured by Peru's security forces in a remote jungle. Photograph: Reuters

The mostimportant leader of Peru's leftist Shining Path insurgency has been seriouslywounded and captured by security forces after being shot in a remote jungle,president Ollanta Humala has said.

Artemio,the nom de guerre of Florindo Eleuterio Flores, heads the remnant group ofguerrillas that went into the cocaine trade after the founders of the Maoistrebels were imprisoned during a bloody war against the state in the 1990s. Peruis the world's top grower of coca, the raw ingredient for cocaine.

Humala hadearlier said Artemio was dead but it was later revealed he had survived theattack.

Peruviananti-drug police had tried for years to arrest Artemio. Two years ago, theUnited States offered a multimillion-dollar reward for information leading tohis capture.

Humala, whofought against the Shining Path when he was a military officer in the 1990s,has vowed to step up efforts to catch what the government calls"narco-terrorists." The capture of Artemio is seen as his first majorvictory.

Formerpresident Alan García, failed in his attempt to stamp out several hundredrebels who have yet to surrender their arms.

Four Priests Charged In Vatican Banking Scandal

2012-02-11T14:44:00.001-08:00

Business Insider, Rob Wile, Feb. 9, 2012

Related Articles:

Italianinvestigators have charged four priests with laundering money out of theVatican's official bank, the Institute for the Works of Religion, the National Catholic Reporter's John L. Allen Jr. writes.

The Italiandaily l'Unita was the first to report that the priests were being investigatedfor laundering hundreds of thousands of dollars.

It's thelatest in a series of investigations into Vatican finances dating back to 2010.In December of that year, Pope Benedict XVI decreed an updated anti-moneylaundering law for Vatican finances.

Late lastmonth, an Italian TV program published letters written by the Vatican'sambassador to the U.S. that charged the Holy See's financial planners with cronyism and corruption.

In theletters, published by the popular Italian news magazine program "TheUntouchables," Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò said that his appointment tothe U.S. was motivated by a desire to get him out of Rome because he wascausing headaches, according to Les Echoes' Guillaume Delacroix.

Viganòworried that his removal would cause disillusion among those hoping to clean up"corruption and dishonesty" in the city-state, including riggedcontract bids and mismanaged investments, Allen reports.

The Vaticanhas denied the charges.

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elitism" of Catholic Church

“.. For centuries you haven't been able to think past that box of what God must be like. So you create a Human-like God with wars in heaven, angel strife, things that would explain the devil, fallen angels, pearly gates, lists of dos and don'ts, and many rules still based on cultures that are centuries old. You create golden streets and even sexual pleasures as rewards for men (of course) - all Human perspective, pasted upon God. I want to tell you that it's a lot different than that. I want to remind you that there are those who have seen it! Why don't you ask somebody who has had what you would call a near-death experience?

Jamaican gay rights activists hopeful of repealing anti-homosexuality law

2012-02-10T15:08:00.000-08:00

Britishpeer who helped overturn homophobic law in Northern Ireland joins campaign todo the same in Jamaica

guardian.co.uk,Sarah Boseley, health editor, Friday 10 February 2012

Campaigners have been heartened by Jamaican prime minister Portia
Simpson Miller's pledge to end discrimination agianst gay people in the
country. Photograph: Collin Reid/AP

They areone of the world's most beleaguered gay communities, brutalised by violence,hounded by a law that makes homosexual acts a crime and driven into the shadowsin a country where four in five people admit they are homophobic. But now gaypeople in Jamaica are cautiously optimistic that change may be in the air.

A newgovernment has begun making noises about an end to discrimination and repealingan anti-gay law. Portia Simpson Miller, standing for election as prime ministerin December, declared that "no one should be discriminated against becauseof their sexual orientation", and indicated she would be willing to havegay people in her cabinet. "I certainly do not pry or do not have anyintention to pry into the private business of anyone," she said. She wonby a landslide.

MauriceTomlinson, a Jamaican law lecturer and legal adviser to the advocacy groupAids-Free World, says he is delighted by the change of mood – although it hasyet to lift the sense of insecurity felt by Jamaica's gay community. Tomlinson,a prominent voice for gay rights on the island, has fled his home because ofdeath threats that followed his marriage to his male partner in Canada after apicture was published in the Toronto Star.

"I wasadvised to go into hiding," said Tomlinson, in London to collect an awardnamed after murdered Ugandan gay rights activist David Katofor his advocacywork. "I went into a safe house for about three days because my passportwas with the UK high commission waiting for a visa to come here.

"Rightnow I'm not sure if I will be able to go back to teaching this semester."

Tomlinsonsays Jamaican police have told him that attitudes on the island are unfortunatebut "will not change until the law changes".

Even so, hedoes not yet want the conscience vote on the sodomy law that the prime ministersuggested during the election. "Over 80% of Jamaicans have identified ashomophobic," he says. "We want more time to explain to the Jamaicanpeople how harmful the law is."

He wantsthem to know that the law contributes to the spread of HIV, which has a 32%infection rate among gay men compared with 1.6% in Jamaica's generalpopulation. Fear of being attacked and murdered drives lesbian, gay, bisexual,transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people to hide their sexuality. The prevalenceof HIV puts them at risk but they do not get help to stay safe. Some gay menmarry in a bid to seem straight to the outside world and that puts their wivesand children at risk of HIV, says Tomlinson.

Backed byAids-Free World, Tomlinson has lodged a case with the only human rights courtrecognised by Jamaica – the inter-American commission for human rights. Leadcounsel is Lord Anthony Gifford, the British hereditary peer and human rightslawyer who took part in the Guildford Four and Birmingham Six appeals and nowhas a law practice in Jamaica.

Gifford ledthe team in the Dudgeon case at Strasbourg in 1983, where they succeeded ingetting a judgment that changed the law against homosexuality in NorthernIreland. The law in England had been abolished in 1967, but the Britishgovernment had argued that Northern Ireland was self-governing and shoulddecide for itself.

Now Giffordis attempting to help overturn a 19th-century British-made law thatcriminalises homosexuality in Jamaica, just as he did in Northern Ireland."It's like deja vu," he said.

"Thevery existence of the law creates a climate of tolerance of prejudice, whichleads to real physical harm and fear.

"Wehope we will get a ruling in our favour and that will add to the pressure whichis in fact mounting in different ways. There is a definite change in the natureof the debate over the last few years, partly because of the courage of peoplelike Maurice."

Paperslodged with the court, which has yet to schedule the hearing, cite violentattacks as recently as last year, some of them involving the police. InFebruary 2011, officers raided two gay clubs and beat and pistol-whipped thepatrons, the case alleges. In August, Ricardo Morgan, a hairstylist living inKingston, was killed in a machete attack because of his sexual orientation.

Tomlinsonbegan his own gay rights campaign by writing to the papers. It was initially atriumph to get something published. Now he gets support. Two weeks ago, theJamaica Gleaner ran an editorial, entitled "PM should decry homophobicbigotry", calling for protection for Tomlinson from death threats andcondemning "the medieval attitude that still largely prevails in Jamaicatowards gays". He and others have made TV adverts, some of which have beenshown - although one featuring a Miss Jamaica World speaking of her pride inher gay brother was rejected by the station, which said it had to respect theviews of the church.

He blamesthe Eevangelical movement in the US for promoting homophobia. "My mothersaid when she grew up, Jamaica was a very tolerant society. Noël Coward had ahome in Jamaica. Nobody cared. But during the 80s and 90s, rightwingevangelical Christians came. They started to change the attitude of Jamaicansfrom tolerance towards hate. The preachers in Jamaica picked up on it andstarted parroting that stuff."

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About the Challenges of Being a Gay Man – Oct 23, 2010 (Saint Germain channelled by Alexandra Mahlimay and Dan Bennack)

“You see, your Soul and Creator are not concerned with any perspective you have that contradicts the reality of your Divinity – whether this be your gender, your sexual preference, your nationality – or your race, ethnicity, religious beliefs, or anything else.”

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

Massive methamphetamine seizure in Mexico

2012-02-09T12:21:00.000-08:00

BBC News, 9February 2012

Soldiers found barrels full of the synthetic drug at the ranch
outside of Guadalajara

RelatedStories

The Mexicanarmy says it has seized 15 tonnes of methamphetamines in the western state ofJalisco.

Soldiersfound the synthetic drug, thought to be the largest amount ever seized inMexico, at a ranch after a tip-off by a local.

Theproduction of methamphetamines is on the rise in Mexico, with the powerfulSinaloa cartel smuggling huge amounts into the United States.

Methamphetaminescreate a powerful psychological dependence.

Soldiersdiscovered the cache at a ranch in Tlajomulco de Zuniga, south of the statecapital, Guadalajara.

'Historicseizure'

GenGilberto Hernandez Andreu said the ranch had been used as a lab to manufacturethe drug, which can be swallowed, sniffed, smoked or injected.

"It'san historic seizure: more than 15 tonnes of methamphetamines, five kilos ofcrystal, and around seven tonnes of precursor chemicals," GeneralHernandez Andreu said.

Soldiersalso seized equipment used to produce the drug, but no arrests were made.

The MexicanDefence Ministry said the security forces had discovered seven druglaboratories in Jalisco so far this year.

Over thepast few months, the authorities have also seized a record amount of precursorchemicals used to produce the drug.

On 18 January,they found 12 shipping containers full of the precursor chemical methylamine inthe Pacific coast port of Lazaro Cardenas.

A 2011report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said amphetamine-typestimulants had become the second most widely used illegal substances.

Accordingto the report, the main producers of synthetic drugs remain the Netherlands andBurma, but manufacture has spread to Latin America.

RC leaders convene over sex abuse

2012-02-04T16:49:00.000-08:00

RNW, 4February 2012

Leaders ofthe Roman Catholic church in Rome have convened for a conference on how toprevent the sexual abuse of minors.

(Photo: ANP)

They willalso attend a prayer service, in which representatives of seven religiousorders and congregations will ask for forgiveness in public for what theirorganisation has done to children.

TheGregoriana University, led by Jesuit priests has organised the meeting. Theconference opens on Monday. Bishops and their representatives from 100countries and the leaders of 33 orders and congregations will participate.Marie Collins, an Irish victim of rape by a Catholic priest, will also attend.

An inquiry intothe sexual abuse of children in the Catholic church in the Netherlands, (theDeetman inquiry) concluded that church authorities knew sexual abuse was takingplace, but failed both to take action against it or help the victims.

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“.. For centuries you haven't been able to think past that box of what God must be like. So you create a Human-like God with wars in heaven, angel strife, things that would explain the devil, fallen angels, pearly gates, lists of dos and don'ts, and many rules still based on cultures that are centuries old. You create golden streets and even sexual pleasures as rewards for men (of course) - all Human perspective, pasted upon God. I want to tell you that it's a lot different than that. I want to remind you that there are those who have seen it! Why don't you ask somebody who has had what you would call a near-death experience? …. “

“The 2012 Ostiary - Angels Among You” – Dec 30, 2012 (a message from Metatron channelled by Tyberonn)

Mexico honours Dutch artist

2012-02-03T06:28:00.000-08:00

RNW, 3February 2012

Dutchartist Jan Hendrix has been awarded the Order of the Aztec Eagle, the highestMexican decoration awarded to foreigners.

(Photo: FLickr / Manuleica)

JanHendrix, who has been living and working in Mexico since 1978, was awarded thedecoration for his achievements in art and architecture.

Hendrix’svisual and graphic art has been on display in galleries around the world. TheDutchman has also collaborated with numerous architects and authors, includingW. G. Sebald, Gabriel García Márquez and compatriot Bert Schierbeek.

KLM CEOPeter Hartman was awarded the Order of the Aztec Eagle because of thelong-lasting relationship between the North American country and the former Dutchnational airline, which has been flying to Mexico without interruption for morethan 60 years.

QueenBeatrix, Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and Princess Máxima received the Orderin 2009 during their state visit to Mexico.

Four Freedoms Award for Brazil's Lula

2012-02-01T11:57:00.000-08:00

RNW, 1February 2012

FormerBrazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva
(Photo: Wikipedia/Wilson Dias)

FormerBrazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is this year’s winner of theInternational Four Freedoms Award. He is to receive the prize for years spentcombating social and economic injustice in Brazil.

The awardwill be presented by the Roosevelt Foundation on 12 May in the Nieuwe Kerk (NewChurch) in the Dutch town of Middelburg. The awards are presented annually inNew York, London or the Netherlands alternately.

Thefoundation called Lula’s long battle against poverty a continuing source ofinspiration for ethnic groups and world leaders. He was a trade union leaderbefore serving as president of Brazil from 2003 to 2010.

The fourother winners this year are the Arabic news station Al-Jazeera for freedom ofspeech, Turkey’s Archbishop Bartholomew for freedom of worship, Indian activistEla Ramesh Bhatt for freedom from want and Iraqi Energy Minister Hussainal-Shahristani for freedom from fear.

U.N. sustainable development summit shifts from climate change

2012-01-30T13:42:00.001-08:00

Reuters, byDeborah Zabarenko and Nina Chestney, Tue Jan 24, 2012

A man sortsoffcuts of fabric that will be sold to textile factories before

being recycled,in the outskirts of Faisalabad, December 27, 2011.

(Credit:Reuters/Fayyaz Hussain)

(Reuters) -Representatives from around the world gather in Rio in June to try to hammerout goals for sustainable development at a U.N. conference designed to avoidbeing tripped up by the intractable issue of climate change.

But thereis concern in the lead-up to the conference, known as Rio+20 or the EarthSummit, that it risks ending up as all talk and little action.

In anattempt to avoid too much confrontation, the conference will focus not onclimate change but on sustainable development - making sure economies can grownow without endangering resources and the environment for future generations.

U.N.conferences over the past decade have begun with high hopes for agreements tocompel nations to cut climate-warming emissions and help adapt to a hotterworld, but they often ended with disappointingly modest results. That was thecase last year in the global climate change summit in Durban, South Africa.Participants at that meeting agreed to forge a new deal by 2015 that would gointo force by 2020.

The"sustainable" branding for this year's summit, rather than climate,is by design, said Ambassador Andre Correa do Lago, who headed Brazil'sdelegation to the U.N. climate talks in Durban and will be a chief negotiatorfor Brazil in Rio.

Sustainabledevelopment is an easier sell globally than climate change, even thoughsustainable development is a way of tackling global warming and otherenvironmental issues, he said.

"Climatechange is an (issue) that has very strong resistance from sectors that aregoing to be substantially altered, like the oil industry," do Lago said."Sustainable development is something that is as simple as looking at howwe would like to be in 10 or 20 years."

The timeseems ripe. Natural resources are at a premium. The global human populationtops 7 billion. Traditional economies are failing. And the planet is warming.Leaders may accept the premise that it makes sense to ensure rich and emergingnations can grow without further damaging the environment.

The focusof global meetings has been on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions,especially carbon dioxide, but the world's biggest emitters, including Chinaand the United States, have balked, arguing it would cripple economicdevelopment.

Climatechange first claimed the world stage at the U.N. Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro20 years ago. That first Earth Summit in 1992 ultimately led to thecarbon-capping Kyoto Protocol and a treaty on biodiversity.

This summitoffers a chance to renew political will to make the world's economies greener.

Since the1992 summit, successive attempts to secure a new binding pact to cut greenhousegas emissions have failed to produce concrete results, public interest inclimate change has waned, and many world leaders are concentrating on upcomingelections and financial worries.

"AMISSED OPPORTUNITY"

There isconcern that this new summit could fall short.

"Themost it will manage is to set some voluntary goals with a vague timeline, butit will not be clear what the process is to achieve these goals," saidAndrew Light of the Center for American Progress think tank in Washington.Without real goals and a way to reach them, Light said, Rio "will be amissed opportunity."

A U.N.draft document was released this month as a starting point for the Juneconference, outlining seven issues including jobs, energy, food, water anddisasters.

"Withoutclearly defined goals, the summit will not provide the clarity and certaintythat are needed to get the private sector to actively participate andpotentially make the investments needed to achieve the goals," saidStephen Starbuck, expert on climate change and sustainability at Ernst &Young.

A narrowerclimate focus could also put off some countries, such as the United States,where opposition to carbon-capping legislation was so strong from Republicansand the oil industry that it overturned plans for a national emissionscap-and-trade arrangement.

In the past20 years, the debate has changed as the world has changed, according to TimWirth, a former U.S. senator who attended the 1992 Rio meeting and will be atthis year's conference as president of the non-profit U.N. Foundation.

"Thedebate's changed because of China, India, Brazil and South Africa, the veryrapid and surprisingly powerful growth of the newly industrializedcountries," he said.

In 1992 andin the Kyoto Protocol that grew from events at Rio, these developing countriesand others were exempt from curbing carbon dioxide emissions, while richcountries like the United States would have had to cut back. In the end, theU.S. Senate never ratified the Kyoto Protocol, which entered into force in2005.

"Riowas really exploratory," Wirth said. "Nobody knew what this was goingto be all about. ... I think Rio+20 becomes an opportunity to be very specific,especially about energy and development."

Althoughfast-developing economies are eager for this shift, Wirth said there may beresistance from big energy powers like the United States and some oil producersin the Middle East.

"Theseare the countries that say, 'Hey, this is our sandbox, you can't get intoit,'" he said. "But I think that's passing by very quickly."

Rio+20 willhave to give the private sector the clarity and incentives they need over themedium term, Starbuck said.

Any goalsset in Rio would likely be for the next 20 years, which could be too far in thefuture for most chief executives whose time in office is more likely to lastyears, not decades.

Instead,interim goals set along the way to 2030 would make the private sector morelikely to engage, Starbuck added.

(Reportingby Deborah Zabarenko in Washington and Nina Chestney in London; Editing byRussell Blinch and Will Dunham)

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Matthew preparing us for the Golden Age. (Channelled by Suzy Ward) - New !

NASA Produces and Promotes New LENR Video: Nuclear Power Coming Soon To Your Home

German village generates 321 percent more renewable energy than it needs, earns millions selling it back to national power grid

Durban? What a waste of time!

(Photo: RNW)

GLOBAL WARMING / CLIMATE CHANGE ISSUE (THRU CHANNELING)

7. Let us give you another prime example of duality, the controversial issue you call global warming. Those who believe this is a natural occurrence cite Earth’s ice ages as proof that humankind has no hand in today’s record temperatures, the melting of glaciers and the harsh climate anomalies. They believe that there is no need to change manufacturing operations or turn to alternative energy sources because doing so would be cost-prohibitive. Then there are those who believe that science proves climate change is manmade. They point to industrial pollution and the use of biofuels as the cause, and they maintain that unless action is taken to end those practices, the cost will be total destruction of the environment. With the two sides at loggerheads, no large scale efforts are underway to change business as usual.

8. The truth is, both sides have validity even though neither knows that Earth herself is in the process of restoring the moderate climate of Eden times, when her body was pristine and healthy. And pollution, a product of humanity, must stop because it is harming the planet and all of its life forms. Eventually the two sides of the global warming issue will realize that protecting and repairing the environment is essential, and formerly extreme views will be reconciled into effective methods to remedy the present critical state. Read more ..... (Q&A - November 2010 (Matthew Channeling))

Incredible Ray of Light Emanating from the Kukulkan Pyramid at Chichen Itza Mexico 2009

2012-01-30T00:22:00.000-08:00

Dutch pension fund ABP sues Goldman Sachs

2012-01-28T12:12:00.001-08:00

RNW, 28January 2012

(Photo:ANP)

Dutchpension fund ABP is suing US investment bank Goldman Sachs for knowinglyselling it junk mortgages and providing misleading information.

The ABPpension fund for government and education employees is the largest pension fundin the Netherlands and among the three largest in the world. Prior to the 2008US mortgage and bank crisis, ABP invested large sums in bonds linked to USmortgages.

ABP accusesGoldman Sachs of misinforming the pension fund as to the credit worthiness ofthe bonds, which proved to be far riskier than the bank had suggested. Thiseventually caused ABP to suffer significant losses. ABP will not disclose theexact amount of the losses it suffered, a spokesperson announced on Saturday.

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Ecuador police recruits abused – video

2012-01-27T15:39:00.000-08:00

guardian.co.uk,Friday 27 January 2012

Controversialimages showing mistreatment of police recruits have been leaked to the press inEcuador. In them, cadets are exposed to teargas, put on beds of nails andelectrocuted. Human rights expert Ricardo Camacho, who leaked the material,says such practices help to legitimise similar treatment of detainees in theeyes of recruits

Latin America confronts state atrocities of cold-war past

2012-01-25T11:40:00.000-08:00

Ex-Guatemalandictator Ríos Montt faces genocide charges as presidents in El Salvador andColombia apologise for massacres

guardian.co.uk,Rory Carroll, Latin America correspondent, Wednesday 25 January 2012

Efraín Ríos Montt, pictured in 2003, is due to appear in court in Guatemala
City on Thursday in a case which could lead to his prosecution for genocide.
Photograph: Tomas Bravo/EPA

LatinAmerica is confronting past civil wars and dictatorships this week with aseries of prosecutions and apologies which are shining a light on decades-oldatrocities.

Governmentsand courts in Guatemala, Argentina, Colombia and El Salvador moved toacknowledge and possibly punish state-sanctioned violence during cold war-era campaignsagainst leftwing insurgents.

Human rights campaigners welcomed the initiatives but warned that the currentviolence of the drug war in central America overshadowed the prospect ofoverdue justice and accountability.

Guatemala'sformer dictator Efraín Ríos Montt is due to appear in court on Thursday in acase which could lead to his prosecution for genocide during his 17-monthmilitary rule between 1982 and 1983.

The formerarmy general, who seized power in a coup, presided over a US-backed campaignagainst guerrillas which unleashed army massacres and scorched earth policiesagainst indigenous communities in the Maya highlands.

It was oneof the bloodiest periods in a 36-year civil war which claimed 200,000 lives andended in 1996. The UN said the slaughter of indigenous villagers suspected ofsympathising with guerrillas amounted to genocide.

Survivors'decade-long quest for justice bore fruit last year when prosecutors openedcases against two other retired generals. Ríos Montt, 85, was immune fromprosecution since his election to congress in 2000 but his term expired earlierthis month.

A judge,Carol Flores, will decide whether to charge him with genocide, the prosecutorManuel Vasquez told AP. "We have sufficient evidence for charges of genocideand crimes against humanity."

RíosMontt's lawyer told the Guatemalan newspaper Prensa Libre his client wouldappear in court, adding: "We are sure that there is no responsibilitysince he was never on the battlefield."

Aspresident the general, who was also an evangelical minister, vowed to fightcommunism with the Bible and a machine-gun. In a 1982 visit to Guatemala CityRonald Reagan praised the US ally as a man of great personal integrity.

RíosMontt's fate will be politically sensitive for Guatemala's new president, OttoPérez Molina, also a former general, who was inaugurated on 14 January afterpromising voters an iron fist against the bloodshed of the drugs trade which exceeds civil war death rates. Pérez Molina, a mid-ranking commander in ahighland region during Ríos Montt's rule, has denied any wrongdoing during thattime.

Thepresident promised to back the justice system's pursuit of civil war-era humanrights abuses but at the same time ordered the army back into the field – notto hunt Marxist guerrillas, but to "neutralise organised crime" thathas made central America the world's deadliest region.

Thegovernment said Mexican drug cartels, notably the Zetas, had infiltratedGuatemala's police force and that only the military could re-establish control.Critics of the move said Mexico and Honduras had deployed troops against thegangs only to see violence worsen.

LastSaturday six gunmen killed eight people and wounded 20 in an attack on anightclub near Guatemala City.

Across theregion, attempts to recognise state crimes gathered pace this week. On MondayPresident Mauricio Funes of El Salvador, which endured its own brutal civilwar, wept and apologised for a 1981 army massacre of almost 1,000 men, womenand children in El Mozote. The leftwing president, speaking on the 20thanniversary of his country's peace accords, told the military not to honour orpromote those suspected of atrocities.

But dayslater human rights groups criticised Funes for appointing an army general tohead the police force, a common government tactic in the region to signal acrackdown on crime.

Colombia'spresident, Juan Manuel Santos, sought forgiveness for the state's role in arightwing paramilitary massacre of around 50 people in El Tigre during a 1999offensive against leftwing guerrillas. The paramilitaries are officiallydisbanded but the conflict continues.

InArgentina, where the government and courts have been bolder in confronting its"dirty war" legacy, prosecutors for the first time charged abusinessman with collaborating in dictatorship abuses.

MarcoLevin, the owner of a private bus company, allegedly helped state agents abduct12 drivers and other employees whom were subsequently tortured and questionedover trade union activities. A court hearing was scheduled for nextmonth.

Related Article:

South America and the New Energy ("The End of History")

.... South America is starting to consider the same thing. My partner was just there and I allowed him to see the energy of the potential future in that land.

I would like to paint history for you regarding South America. There was a time when every single country had a dictator. Less than 15 years ago, they had failing economies and currencies that were worthless. Trouble and strife and killings were the norm. Marauding drug lords openly killed in the streets and corruption was everywhere. Even the politicians created fear and many disappeared overnight, never to be seen again. Today it isn't that way. Today, there is an ongoing stability as one country after another brings a new, positive, stable energy to their cultures. So, without a concentrated effort by any kind of multi-national leadership or direction, how could this have changed in only 15 years?

Within the entire continent, there's only one dictator left. What's happening? If you think that's amazing, there is a move afoot that you're not going to hear about yet. But they're discussing it right now, so let me tell you what they're thinking. "What would happen if we took these countries and eliminated the borders?" Sound familiar? They're talking about it. In back rooms where nobody is reporting it, they're saying, "What about a plan of eventually having one currency from the top of Columbia to the bottom of Chile? And we would be strong and we would be unified." And dear ones, I'm here to tell you, that it's going to work, and it might not take 50 years. Soon the one dictator will be gone, and the unification can begin.... Read More …. "The End of History"- Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll)

"Recalibration of Knowledge" – Jan 14, 2012 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Channelling, God-Creator, Benevolent Design, New Energy, Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Reincarnation, Gaia, Old Energies (Africa,Terrorists, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela ... ), Weather, Rejuvenation, Akash, Nicolas Tesla / Einstein, Cold Fusion, Magnetics, Lemuria, Atomic Structure (Electrons, Particles, Polarity, Self Balancing, Magnetism), Entanglement, "Life is necessary for a Universe to exist and not the other way around", DNA, Humans (Baby getting ready, First Breath, Stem Cells, Embryonic Stem Cells, Rejuvenation), Global Unity, ... etc.) - New !

Cuba tourism boom driven by Arab spring

2012-01-24T13:20:00.000-08:00

Communiststate having one of its best seasons as the Arab spring and changes in USpolicy drive tourism rush

guardian.co.uk,Reuters, Tuesday 24 January 2012

Cuba is experiencing a huge tourist boom driven by the Arab Spring, US foreign
policy and economic reforms in the communist state. Photograph: Public domain

The Arabspring, changes in US policy and economic reforms in Cuba are driving a tourismrush that is giving the communist-run state one of its best seasons ever andstretching its ability to meet demand.

Hotels arefull to the brim and Old Havana, the capital's historic centre, is teeming withtourists from around the world, soaking up the warm winter sun in outdoor cafesand strolling through narrow colonial streets.

Along theMalecon, Havana's seaside boulevard, 25 buses were lined up on a recent sunnyday, waiting to carry visitors to various destinations.

At theBodeguita del Medio, where Ernest Hemingway supposedly drank mojitos andtourists now go to emulate him, almost as many people stood on the stone-pavedstreet waiting to get into the jam-packed bar as were squeezed inside.

"Weare at capacity," said the manager of a foreign hotel company. "Thebeach resorts, Havana city are totally full. In the interior of the country,there is nowhere to find a room, nowhere."

Cuba justcompleted its best year for tourism with 2.7 million visitors in 2011, andexperts say bookings suggest it will almost certainly beat that number thisyear. "I think 2012 will be a very good year and I see real difficultiesin how to organise and manage all this in 2013 and 2014," said the head ofa European travel agency's Havana office.

Tourismbrought revenues of about $2.3bn in 2011. Travel experts say there is continuedgrowth in the number of visitors from Canada, by far the biggest market forCuba, and rising numbers from countries such as Russia and Argentina.

This highseason has also seen a resurgence in visitors from Europe, whose numbers hadfallen off. Many people who usually go to north Africa for a winter vacationare now looking elsewhere because of security concerns following the ArabSpring uprisings.

The numberof US visitors is also climbing after Barack Obama changed regulations in 2011,making it easier for non-Cuban Americans tovisit a country that a US tradeembargo put off-limits in the past 50 years.

Related Article:

Australia set to recognise Aborigines as first people of continent

2012-01-22T15:26:00.001-08:00

JuliaGillard says 'time is right to say yes to an understanding of our past' asreport recommends end to state discrimination

guardian.co.uk,Alison Rourke, Friday 20 January 2012

Australia's Aborigines can be discriminated against under sections 25
and 51 of the constitution. Photograph: Gary Calton

Australiais poised to make historic changes to its constitution, recognising Aboriginesas the country's original inhabitants and removing the last clauses ofstate-sanctioned racial discrimination.

The amendmentscould be put to the Australian people in a referendum before the next generalelection in 2013, after the prime minister, Julia Gillard, endorsed theunanimous findings of a panel of 19 experts.

Section 25of the constitution recognises that states can disqualify people, such asAborigines, from voting. Section 51 says federal parliament can make laws basedupon a person's race. Both were put in the constitution in 1901 to preventcertain races from living in areas reserved for white people or from taking upcertain occupations.

The primeminister, Julia Gillard, welcomed the report. "We are big enough and it isthe right time to say yes to an understanding of our past, to say yes toconstitutional change, and to say yes to a future more united and morereconciled than we have ever been before," she said.

The panel'sreport followed public consultation with more than 4,500 people and more than250 public meetings. The panel's co-chair, Aboriginal elder Professor PatrickDodson, urged bipartisan support for the proposals.

"Thisis a time when truth and respect for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanderpeoples needs to be achieved through the recognition in our constitution,"he said. "Strong leadership and our national interest are critical for ournation to go forward."

WhenAustralia became a federation in 1901 there were only two references toAborigines in the constitution: one denied federal parliament the power to makelaws with respect to Aboriginal people in any state, while another excludedwhat it termed "Aboriginal natives" from the census. Both of thosesections were scrapped in a 1967 referendum (by a majority of 90%), leaving aconstitution that made no mention whatsoever of indigenous people.

Referendumsin Australia have historically been hard to pass. Only eight out of 44 havesucceeded since 1906, partly because any alteration to the constitution must beapproved by a "double majority". This demands that, as well as amajority yes vote being required nationally, a majority must also be reached infour of the six states.

Theopposition leader, Tony Abbott, has said he will study the document. "Wehave some reservations about anything that might turn out to be a one-clausebill of rights but we accept that millions of Australians' hopes and dreams areresting on constitutional recognition of indigenous people," he said.

The reportalso called for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages to berecognised as the country's first languages. It calls for continuing respectfor these cultures, languages and heritage.

Thegovernment aims to hold the referendum at or before a general election, due in2013.

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Colourful religions in the Netherlands

Guatemalans climb volcano in protest against violence

2012-01-22T01:33:00.000-08:00

BBC News, 22January 2012

RelatedStories

More than 600 women were murdered in
the small Central American country last
year

Around12,000 Guatemalans have climbed an extinct volcano in a protest againstdomestic violence.

Theactivists formed what they hope was the world's longest human chain all the wayto the peak of the 3,765m (12,352 feet) Volcan de Agua.

Among thosetaking part in the "Walk for Life" was Guatemala's new President,Otto Perez Molina.

Guatemalahas one of the highest murder rates in the world, and domestic violence is aparticular problem.

The Volcande Agua or "Water Volcano" - also known as Hunahpu by the indigenousMaya - towers above the colonial city of Antigua, 45km (28 miles) southeast ofGuatemala City.

"Wewant violence to end in this country, we don't want Guatemala to be one of themost violent countries in the world," President Perez Molina said as hejoined the crowds hiking to the top.

Mr PerezMolina - a former army general - took office last week promising tough actionagainst violent crime.

'Generationalchange'

Also takingpart in the climb was British ambassador Julie Chappell whose embassy helpedfund and organise the event.

"We'retrying to get young leaders to start a generational change in attitudes wherepeople say - until now we've sort of accepted that there is this culture ofviolence, but no more", Ms Chappell said.

TheGuatemalan authorities receive tens of thousands of reports of domesticviolence each year, and last year 550 women were murdered.

The CentralAmerican country has one of the highest murder rates in the world, but lessthan 4% of cases end in a successful conviction.

Theviolence is partly seen as a legacy of the 1960-96 civil war between the stateand left-wing guerrillas, in which more than 200,000 people were killed, mostof them by the army.

Life Spotted on Venus - Russian Scientist

2012-01-21T14:20:00.001-08:00

RIA Novosti,MOSCOW, January 20 2012

Venus (Leonid Ksanfomaliti/ Solar System Research)

RelatedNews

An articlepublished in the Solar System Research magazine reported Several objectsresembling living beings were detected on photos made by a Russian landingprobe in 1982 during a Venus mission.

LeonidKsanfomaliti pictured at

Russia's Space Research Institute

LeonidKsanfomaliti of the Space Research Institute of Russia’s Academy of Sciencespublished research that analyzed the photos from the Venus mission made by aSoviet landing probe, Venus-13, in 1982.

The photosfeature several objects, which Ksanfomaliti said, resembled “a disk,” “a blackflap” and “a scorpion.” All of them “emerge, fluctuate and disappear,” thescientist said, referring to their changing location on different photos andtraces on the ground.

"Whatif we forget about the current theories about the nonexistence of life onVenus, let’s boldly suggest that the objects’ morphological features wouldallow us to say that they are living,” Solar System Research quotedKsanfomaliti as saying.

No dataproving the existence of life on Venus, where the ground temperature is 464degrees Celsius (867 degrees Fahrenheit), has ever been found.

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Russian scientists believe- the probes have photographed the living beings on Venus

Memo FBI: Aliens landed in Roswell

A copy of the 1950 memo that
recounts the discovery of flying saucers
and aliens in New Mexico. The memo has
been published on the FBI website

"Recalibration of Knowledge" – Jan 14, 2012 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Channelling, God-Creator, Benevolent Design, New Energy, Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Reincarnation, Gaia, Old Energies (Africa,Terrorists, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela ... ), Weather, Rejuvenation, Akash, Nicolas Tesla / Einstein, Cold Fusion, Magnetics, Lemuria, Atomic Structure (Electrons, Particles, Polarity, Self Balancing, Magnetism), Entanglement, "Life is necessary for a Universe to exist and not the other way around", DNA, Humans (Baby getting ready, First Breath, Stem Cells, Embryonic Stem Cells, Rejuvenation), Global Unity, ... etc.) - New !

NASA Produces and Promotes New LENR Video: Nuclear Power Coming Soon To Your Home

2012-01-21T09:42:00.001-08:00

MNISPEL, By Dr. MarkD. Nispel, January 12, 2012

NASA is allin and claiming to “be working on another way of producing energy withefficient nuclear power.” NASA as anorganization apparently suddenly wants to be seen as in the forefront of thisnew thing they see coming. Pretty coolactually.

NASA hasproduced and featured a video presenting LENR as a technology. The video features Dr. Joseph Zawodny, SeniorResearch Scientist at NASA Langley Research Center. The video highlights the potential of havinga LENR nuclear power generation device in your home to provide all the powerneeds of your home as the “easiest” implementation, even though it couldpotentially be used even for transportation and infrastructure. The technology is “clean” producing noionizing radiation or waste.

See thevideo highlight on the right of the NASA technology gateway page here.

The videodirectly is here.

In themeantime, A. Rossi continues to move apace claiming he is working on puttinghis e-cat LENR device intoproduction. He is working with NationalInstruments to complete his design. Heclaims that the first small home units that generate electricity and can heat /cool the home will be in production by the end of 2012 for around $1500 and heplans on producing a million the first year after they get going. See here and here.

Twointeresting notes:

1. The NASAvideo avoids using the term “cold fusion.”

2. The NASAvideo interestingly right toward the end uses an image to represent LENR
somewhat abstractly which it attributes to the US Navy SPAWAR within the video(see lower left).

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What if Low Energy Nuclear Reaction (LENR) really works?

"Recalibration of Knowledge" – Jan 14, 2012 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Channelling, God-Creator, Benevolent Design, New Energy, Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Reincarnation, Gaia, Old Energies (Africa,Terrorists, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela ... ), Weather, Rejuvenation, Akash, Nicolas Tesla / Einstein, Cold Fusion, Magnetics, Lemuria, Atomic Structure (Electrons, Particles, Polarity, Self Balancing, Magnetism), Entanglement, "Life is necessary for a Universe to exist and not the other way around", DNA, Humans (Baby getting ready, First Breath, Stem Cells, Embryonic Stem Cells, Rejuvenation), Global Unity, ... etc.) - New !

El Salvador head apologises for 1981 El Mozote massacre

2012-01-17T03:05:00.000-08:00

BBC News, 17January 2012

RelatedStories

An emotional President Funes recalled
the terror perpetrated in El Mozote

ElSalvador's President Mauricio Funes has sought forgiveness for what he called"the worst massacre of civilians in contemporary Latin Americanhistory".

In 1981,soldiers killed some 1,000 people, nearly half of them children, in the town ofEl Mozote.

They hadbeen accused of collaborating with left-wing guerrillas.

Mr Funesmade his emotional apology on the 20th anniversary of peace accords that endedthe nation's civil war.

Thepresident travelled to El Mozote, some 200km (120 miles) from the capital, SanSalvador, near the border with Honduras.

"Forthis massacre, for the abhorrent violations of human rights and the abusesperpetrated in the name of the Salvadoran state, I ask forgiveness of thefamilies of the victims," he said on Monday.

Breaking attimes into tears, Mr Funes said: "In three days and three nights, thebiggest massacre of civilians was committed in contemporary Latin Americanhistory".

No trial

Between11-13 December, 1981, soldiers from a now-banned battalion, the Atlacatl, shotdead residents of El Mozote suspected of sympathising with left-wing rebels.

It was thebloodiest single episode of El Salvador's 12-year civil war that that left some75,000 dead.

Thoseresponsible were not put on trial as the authorities agreed a general amnestyin 1992, as part of negotiations to end the civil war.

PresidentFunes said the country's armed forces, 20 years on from the peace accords, werevery different, "democratic and obedient to civilian power".

He calledon the army to revise its history to avoid honouring those responsible forhuman rights abuses.

Mr Funesmade the first apology for civil war-era atrocities in 2009 and last Decemberthe government asked for forgiveness for the massacre of El Mozote.

He waselected president in 2009, the first leftist leader in El Salvador for 20years.

His party,the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) was founded by Marxistguerrillas who fought the US-backed government in the 1980s.

Chavez 'would accept' Venezuela election defeat

2012-01-13T15:19:00.000-08:00

BBC News, 13January 2012

Mr Chavez defended his decision to repatriate Venezuela's gold reserves

RelatedStories

VenezuelanPresident Hugo Chavez has told opposition leaders that he will relinquish powerif he loses elections due in October.

In hisannual address to Congress, Mr Chavez said the opposition should also acceptthe result if he wins.

The left-wingleader - who has governed Venezuela for 13 years - is seeking another six-yearterm in office.

Theopposition coalition will hold a primary election next month to choose a unitycandidate to stand against him.

Some of MrChavez's strongest critics have suggested he might cling on to power at allcosts if he were defeated at the polls.

But he toldthe National Assembly in Caracas that he would accept the election resultwhatever it was.

"Ifany of you win the elections I will be the first to recognise it, and I ask thesame of you," he told opposition leaders.

"Weare going to show our democratic maturity."

Crucialyear

Mr Chavez,57, said he expected 2012 to be a "year of tests" for Venezuela, buthe was confident that peace and respect for national institutions would bemaintained.

TheVenezuelan leader reiterated that he had recovered his health after havingsurgery and chemotherapy for cancer last year.

Recentopinion polls suggest he still has the support of just over 50% of thepopulation, making him the favourite to win the election.

Heavyspending on housing and welfare - funded by Venezuela's oil wealth - has helpedsustain his traditional support base among the poor.

Theopposition Democratic Unity coalition is hoping that dissatisfaction withrising violent crime and inflation will help it to unseat him.

Sixcandidates are standing for a primary election due on 12 February that willchose a unity candidate to challenge Mr Chavez.

Miamishutdown

In hisspeech, Mr Chavez also announced that he intended to close Venezuela'sconsulate in Miami after the US expelled a diplomat.

Venezuela'sconsul in Miami, Livia Acosta Noguera, was ordered to leave the US last weekfollowing allegations that she discussed a possible cyber attack on the USwhile based in Mexico.

Mr Chavezcalled the accusations against her "unjust" but indicated he wouldnot be expelling a US diplomat in response.

German priest admits to 280 instances of child sex abuse

2012-01-12T15:58:00.001-08:00

Deutsche Welle, 12 January 2012

Germany has been rocked by
several clerical abuse scandals

Germany'sCatholic Church has been hit by another case of clerical sexual abuse, with apriest admitting to abusing three boys between the ages of 9 and 15 some 280times since 2004.

A Catholicpriest admitted to a German court on Thursday that he sexually abused threeboys over several years, amounting to a total of 280 cases.

The priest,identified as 46-year-old Andreas L. from the city of Salzgitter in LowerSaxony, confessed to charges of sexually abusing the boys, who ranged from nineto 15 years old. The abuse began in 2004, he said.

Instancesof abuse occurred at a parsonage, on ski vacations, at the parents' home, on atrip to Disneyland in Paris and at a church shortly before Mass.

The priesttold the regional court in Braunschweig that while working as a chaplain in thesame city in 2004, he began a close relationship with a widowed woman. When hewas moved to Salzgitter, the woman's nine-year-old son often spent weekendswith the man, who would take him on short trips away. The abuse occurred onseveral occasions, often three times per weekend.

The suspectsaid it was not his intention to get close to the boy sexually, and that itnever occurred to him that he was harming them.

"I didnot have the impression that he didn't want it," he said.

Pope Benedict XVI expressed 'deep regret'
at a meeting with sex abuse victims in
Germany

When themother began to suspect her son's interactions with the priest wereinappropriately close, she approached the diocese of Hildesheim, the priest'semployer, which forbid further contact with the boy.

Victims twoand three

The twoother boys named as victims by the priest were brothers, and the abuse beganunder similar circumstances. When contact with them was also forbidden, thepriest approached his first victim, then 17, who in turn told his mother aboutthe abuse.

The motherthen went to the authorities, and the suspect was arrested last summer. Thecourt set the maximum sentence for the priest at six and a half years.

A longseries of sexual abuse scandals involving Catholic priests in Germany isbelieved to have contributed to Germans leaving the Church in record numbers.Some 180,000 Germans renounced their Catholicism in 2010, up 40 percent fromthe previous year.

PopeBenedict XVI met with victims of clerical sexual abuse during a visit to hisnative Germany in September, expressing his deep regret. The German CatholicChurch faces some 600 claims for compensation because of abuse, and Berlin hasset up a fund of 100 million euros ($128 million) to pay for the victims'therapy.

Author:Andrew Bowen (Reuters, dpa)

Editor: Andreas Illmer

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God no longer toll-free

"The angel's phone, at St John’s Cathedral, has just one button,"

the sculptor told journalists. "It directly dials God."

Leaked documents reveal US diplomats actually work for Monsanto

2012-01-11T14:35:00.001-08:00

NaturalNews, by: Anthony Gucciardi, Wednesday, January 11, 2012

See allarticles by this author

(NaturalNews)Biotech giant Monsanto has been genetically modifying the world's food supplyand subsequently breeding environmental devastation for years, but leakeddocuments now reveal that Monsanto has also deeply infiltrated the UnitedStates government. With leaked reports revealing how U.S. diplomats areactually working for Monsanto to push their agenda along with other keygovernment officials, Monsanto's grasp on international politics has never beenclearer.

Amazingly,the information reveals that the massive corporation is also intensely involvedin the passing and regulations concerning the very GM ingredients they areresponsible for. In fact, the information released by WikiLeaks reveals justhow much power Monsanto has thanks to key positions within the United Statesgovernment and elsewhere. Not only was it exposed that the U.S. is threateningnations who oppose Monsanto with military-style trade wars, but that many U.S.diplomats actually work directly for Monsanto.

What theleaked documents reveal -- Military style trade wars, government corruption

In 2007 itwas requested that specific nations inside the European Union be punished fornot supporting the expansion of Monsanto's GMO crops. The request for suchmeasures to be taken was made by Craig Stapleton, the United States ambassadorto France and partner to George W. Bush. Despite mounting evidence linkingMonsanto's GM corn to organ damage and environmental devastation, theambassador plainly calls for 'target retaliation' against those not supportingthe GM crop. In the leaked documents, Stapleton states:

"Countryteam Paris recommends that we calibrate a target retaliation list that causessome pain across the EU since this is a collective responsibility, but thatalso focuses in part on the worst culprits. The list should be measured ratherthan vicious and must be sustainable over the long term, since we should notexpect an early victory. Moving to retaliation will make clear that the currentpath has real costs to EU interests and could help strengthen Europeanpro-biotech voices."

The undyingsupport of key players within the U.S. towards Monsanto is undeniably madeclear not only in this release, but in the legislative decisions taken byorganizations such as the FDA and USDA. Legislative decisions such as allowingMonsanto's synthetic hormone Posilac (rBGH) to be injected into U.S. cowsdespite being banned in 27 countries. How did Monsanto pull this off?

The biotechjuggernaut managed to infiltrate the FDA positions responsible for the approvalof rBGH, going as far as instating the company's own Margaret Miller as DeputyDirector of Human Safety and Consultative Services. After assuming thisposition, Miller reviewed her own report on the safety and effectiveness ofrBGH.

Many USdiplomats pawns of Monsanto's GM agenda

While itmay be shocking to you if you are not familiar with the corrupt influence ofMonsanto, the cables also show that many US diplomats are pushing GMO crops asa strategic government and commercial imperative. Interestingly enough, theU.S. focused their efforts toward advisers to the pope specifically, due to thefact that many Catholic figureheads have openly voiced their opposition to GMfoods. With this kind of political influence, is it any wonder that many foodstaples are now predominantly GM? Nearly 93% of U.S. soybeans are heavilymodified conservatively, with many other staple crops coming in at similarnumbers.

U.S.diplomats have unique opportunities to spread honest and intellectual campaginsthat can serve to better mankind and end suffering, however they are insteadspreading the roots of Monsanto deeper and deeper into international territory.As a substitute for the betterment of mankind, these paid-off diplomats are nowspreading environment desecration and health destruction.

As if therewasn't already enough information to reveal Monsanto's corruption, the biotechgiant also spends enormous amount of money lobbying government each year.Monsanto spent an astonishing $2 million lobbying the federal government in the3rd quarter of 2011 alone, according to mainstream sources. Why so much cash?The government lobbying focuses on issues like regulations for GM crops andpatent reforms. This 'legal' form of persuasion is the reason governmentagencies like the USDA and FDA let Monsanto roam freely.

Satisfyinggovernment officials' financial vested interest is all that matters whendealing with corrupt mega-corporations like Monsanto. As long as thesefinancial ties continue to exist, Monsanto will continue to reign over the foodsupply and continue to wreak devastation to the environment, ecosystem, andhumankind.

Sources forthis article include:

http://naturalsociety.com/us-start-trade-wars-with-nations-opposed-to-monsanto-gmo-crops/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/03/wikileaks-us-eu-gm-crops

http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9RL51J81.htm

http://213.251.145.96/cable/2007/12/07PARIS4723.html

http://www.fastcoexist.com/1677871/fearful-of-genetically-modified-crops-youre-too-late

About theauthor:

AnthonyGucciardi is a health activist and wellness researcher, whose goal is centeredaround educating the general public as to how they may obtain optimum health.He has authored countless articles highlighting the benefits of natural health,as well as exposing the pharmaceutical industry. Anthony is the creator ofNatural Society (http://www.NaturalSociety.com), a natural health website.Anthony has been accurately interpreting national and international events foryears within his numerous political articles. Anthony's articles have been seenby millions around the world, and hosted on multiple top news websites.

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Decisions must be made at Rio Earth summit, urges UN official

2012-01-11T10:08:00.001-08:00

The summitmust not be a talking shop for world leaders, says Brice Lalonde, UN executiveco-ordinator of the conference

guardian.co.uk,John Vidal, Wednesday 11 January 2012

Heads of state and government gather for a group photograph as the media,
delegates and staff members look on at the United Nations Earth summit in
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 13 June 1992. Photograph: UN Photo

The Earthsummit in June must be the place where decisions on the future of the planetare made, and not just another talking shop for world leaders, the head of whatwill be 2012's largest political conference has urged.

Speaking asthe first draft of the UN declaration for Rio+20 was released in New York onTuesday night, Brice Lalonde, the UN's executive co-ordinator of the conferenceand former French environment minister, said: "[The draft] is a goodstart. Most topics are on the table: from efficient international co-operationto sustainable development goals, from a regular review of the state of theplanet to an agency for the environment, from universal access to energy tosocial safety floors. What is missing now is one verb: to decide. Because tostress, urge, call, recognise, underscore, encourage, support or reaffirm isnot enough. When heads of state meet, it should be to decide."

As revealed by the Guardian early on Tuesday, world leaders will be called on to sign upfor 10 new sustainable development goals for the planet and promise to buildgreen economies. They will also be asked to negotiate a new agreement toprotect oceans, approve an annual state of the planet report, set up a majorworld agency for the environment, and appoint a global"ombudsperson", or high commissioner, for future generations.

John Major,Fidel Castro and George H W Bush were among the leaders who attended theoriginal earth summit, which was the world's biggest ever political gathering.But David Cameron has said he is not planning to attend Rio+20, despite promisingto lead the "greenest government ever" and the date of the summit being changed to avoid a clash with the Queen's diamond jubilee.

Internationalgroups on Wednesday reacted to the draft. Diana Bronson, a spokeswoman for ETCgroup in Canada, said: "The draft declaration calls for bold and decisiveaction and then offers weak and equivocal statements, reiterating commitment tothe same old policies that have failed to deliver on sustainable developmentfor 20 years. Alarmingly, business is called upon show leadership on the greeneconomy – completely ignoring how well-entrenched and increasingly consolidatedprivate interests have steered us away from sustainable development thus far.We need a clear commitment to support peasant agriculture and food sovereignty."

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Leaked document reveals Rio+20 sustainable development goals

Vatican used Wikipedia for new cardinals' biographies

2012-01-09T14:36:00.001-08:00

BBC News, 9January 2012

RelatedStories

Pope Benedict (L) formally appointed
the new cardinals on 6 January

The Vaticanhas acknowledged that it used Wikipedia to produce biographies of 22 newcardinals that were sent out to journalists.

Thebiographies were copied from the Italian version of the user-edited onlineencyclopedia, word for word in some cases, and without attribution.

One cluewas that many new cardinals were described as being "Catholic".

The Vaticansays it was trying to help journalists and warned them the biographies were"unofficial".

The namesof the 22 new cardinals from around the world were announced by Pope Benedicton 6 January.

The similaritybetween the profiles of them handed out by the Vatican and their Wikipediaentries was spotted by the Italian journalist and blogger Sandro Magister.

In the kindof language not normally used by the Vatican, a Dutch archbishop, WilliamJacobus Eijk was described as being "one of the most talked aboutreligious men in the country".

This wasbecause of his "strong leaning towards conservatism, especially withregard to abortion and homosexuality," the biography said.

A Vaticanspokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, said his staff had no advance notice ofthe names of the new cardinals and had been in a hurry.

Officialbiographies are now being put up on the website of the Holy See.

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In a networked world, why is the geography of knowledge still uneven?

In a networked world, why is the geography of knowledge still uneven?

2012-01-09T10:13:00.001-08:00

User-generatedinternet content is weighted towards the global north; the division of digitallabour urgently needs rebalancing

guardian.co.uk,Mark Graham, 9 January 2012

Children in an internet shop in Jakarta. The distribution of online knowledge
is heavily weighted towards the global north. Photograph: Romeo Gacad/
AFP / Getty Images

Digitalinformation – photographs, blogs, videos, tweets, Wikipedia articles, reviews,descriptions, stories, and myriad other types of content – surrounds us. Theamount of (mostly unpaid) human labour behind this content is astonishing.Wikipedia alone is the result of over 100m hours of work.

Theseonline layers of content matter not just because they are an increasinglyimportant way in which we access and produce information, but also because theymaterially shape how we move through, understand, and enact our physicalenvironments.

Traditionally,information and knowledge about the world have been geographically constrained.The transmission of information required either the movement of people or theavailability of some other medium of communication. Historical maps offerperhaps the best illustration of the geographic limitations to knowledgetransmission. Take the 13th-century Carta Pisana, the world's oldest survivingnavigational chart. Produced in Italy, the chart depicts relatively accurateinformation about the Mediterranean, less accurate information about thefringes of Europe, but no information at all about the world beyond Europe.

Up untilthe late 20th century, almost all mediums of information – books, newspapers,academic journals, patents and the like – were characterised by similar huge geographic inequalities (pdf). The global north produced, consumed andcontrolled much of the world's codified knowledge, while the global south waslargely left out.

In theinternet era, however, the movement of information is no longer constrained bydistance. Very few parts of the world remain disconnected from the grid, andover 2 billion people are now online (most of them in the south). IBM,recognising this fact, has recently proclaimed the "digital divide willcease to exist" in the next five years.

Unsurprisingly,many believe we now have the potential to access what Wikipedia's founderrefers to as "the sum of all human knowledge". Theoretically, partsof the world traditionally left out of flows and representations of knowledgecan quite literally be put back on the map.

However,potential has too often been confused with actual practice. Profound digitaldivisions of labour are evident in all open platforms that rely onuser-generated content.

On Flickr,countries in the north are covered by much thicker clouds of information. Google'sdatabases contain more indexed user-generated content about the Tokyometropolitan region than the entire continent of Africa. While on Wikipedia,there is more written about Germany than South America and Africa combined. Inother words, there are massive inequalities that cannot simply be explained byuneven internet penetration rates. A range of other physical, social, politicaland economic barriers reinforce the digital divide, amplifying theinformational power of the already powerful and visible.

That's notto say the internet doesn't have important implications for the developingworld. People use it not just to connect with friends and family, but to learn,share information, trade, and represent their communities.

Consequently,it's important to be aware of the internet's highly uneven geographies ofinformation. These inequalities matter to the south, because connectivity –though a clear prerequisite for access to most 21st-century platforms ofknowledge sharing – is by no means a determinant of knowledge production anddigital participation.

How do wemove towards encouraging participation from and about parts of the world leftout of virtual representations? The first step is allowing people to see whatis, and isn't, represented. After that, there is also a clear need for planslike Kenya's strategy to boost local digital content, or Wikimedia's Arabic Catalyst project, which aims to encourage the creation of content in Arabic andprovide information about the Middle East.

It remainsto be seen how effective such strategies will be in changing the highly unevendigital division of labour. As we rely increasingly on user-generatedplatforms, there is a real possibility that we will see the widening of dividesbetween digital cores and peripheries. It is crucial to keep asking wherevisibility, voice and power reside in an increasingly networked world.

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" ... Now I give you something that few think about: What do you think the Internet is all about, historically? Citizens of all the countries on Earth can talk to one another without electronic borders. The young people of those nations can all see each other, talk to each other, and express opinions. No matter what the country does to suppress it, they're doing it anyway. They are putting together a network of consciousness, of oneness, a multicultural consciousness. It's here to stay. It's part of the new energy. The young people know it and are leading the way.... "

" ... I gave you a prophecy more than 10 years ago. I told you there would come a day when everyone could talk to everyone and, therefore, there could be no conspiracy. For conspiracy depends on separation and secrecy - something hiding in the dark that only a few know about. Seen the news lately? What is happening? Could it be that there is a new paradigm happening that seems to go against history?... " Read More …. "The End of History"- Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)

Liberal Democrats' biggest donor arrested in the Caribbean

2012-01-07T06:35:00.000-08:00

MichaelBrown detained by police in the Dominican Republic after disappearing while onbail for a £40m fraud

guardian.co.uk,Rajeev Syal, Friday 6 January 2012

Michael Brown is the Lib Dem’s biggest ever donor. He has been arrested
in the Dominican Republic after disappearing while on bail.
Photograph: Paul Grover/Rex Features

The Liberal Democrats' biggest donor, who has been on the run for three years after beingconvicted of a multimillion pound theft, has been arrested by police in theDominican Republic, the Guardian can disclose.

MichaelBrown, who bankrolled the party with £2.4m of stolen money, was detained nearthe resort of Punta Cana on the easternmost tip of the Caribbean island thisweek. Interpol has been informed.

Named byCity of London police as one of Britain's most wanted fraudsters,

Brown, 45,disappeared while on bail for a £40m fraud and was sentenced in his absence toseven years in prison.

His arrestsignals the end to an international hunt that has involved five law enforcementagencies across three continents, and could lead to his return to Britain toserve his sentence.

It willmean further embarrassment for Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister. The LibDems have refused to compensate Brown's victims, whose money went into theparty's coffers to finance the 2005 election campaign.

Thedevelopment could lead to renewed legal efforts by his victims to seekcompensation from the Lib Dems and Brown through the British courts.

A City ofLondon police spokesman confirmed Brown's arrest. "We are pleased to hearthat Michael Brown has been detained by authorities in the Dominican Republic,and are currently establishing contact with them to find out further detailsabout his arrest.

"Clearly,at some stage we will look for his return to the UK, so he can serve thesentence for the fraud offences for which he has been convicted in thiscountry," he said.

Earlier, adiplomatic source said British authorities were informed of Brown's arrest onThursday. "There has been considerable co-operation between the twocountries. There is a belief that Brown should be returned to Britain but thereare still hurdles to overcome," the source said.

There is noextradition treaty between Britain and the Dominican Republic. However, aDominican government official indicated Brown could be deported without anextradition process. Brown is believed to have entered the island under a falseidentity, which is a breach of Dominican law, he said.

"Ifsomeone comes to the Dominican Republic on false documents he is breaking ourlaws and we do not want him here. That person can be deported," he said.

Brown,originally from Glasgow, appeared from nowhere when he approached the Lib Demsin November 2004 with an offer of money for Charles Kennedy's impendingelection campaign. The brash, ponytailed Brown lived in Majorca and claimed tobe an offshore trader. He said his clients were vetted by US embassy officials.Despite not being a party member, not being registered to vote, and livingabroad, he was welcomed with open arms by the party's grandees.

Withinmonths, Brown was flying Kennedy across Britain in a private jet and was beinginvited to dinners in Mayfair. Former Lib Dem insiders say he dazzled them withstories of Gordonstoun public school, St Andrew's University and hisconnections with royalty.

The truthwas that he had failed his maths O-level at his local school and completed aCity and Guilds in catering at Glasgow College of Food Technology. He had no USgovernment links – although he was wanted in Florida for cheque fraud.

The partyreceived the donation through his company, 5th Avenue Partners. It remains thebiggest ever received by the party from an individual. In the general election,the party increased its share of the vote by nearly 4% after his cash was spenton posters and advertising.

Brown wasarrested in late 2005 after four former clients said he had duped them out ofmore than £40m in a high-yield fraud. His victims included Martin Edwards, theformer Manchester United chairman, who had invested £8m with 5th AvenuePartners.

The courtwould later be told that 5th Avenue Partners was wholly fraudulent and thatBrown had given money to the Lib Dems to give himself an air of respectabilitywhilst duping his victims.

In June2008, while awaiting trial for theft, false accounting and perverting thecourse of justice, Brown fled and a warrant was issued for his arrest. In theweeks before he disappeared, from his Hampstead bail address in north London,he changed his name on the electoral roll to Campbell-Brown and allowed hishair to turn grey.

City ofLondon detectives have worked with Interpol, the FBI, and police in Spain,Switzerland and the Dominican Republic to trace his whereabouts.

Brown isbelieved to have been arrested because he had been living in the DominicanRepublic on false documents, diplomatic sources said. The Guardian has obtainedcopies of Brown's false identity papers and passports using the name DarrenPatrick Nally.

Thefugitive enjoyed a millionaire's lifestyle while on the run. He lived in gatedcommunities yards from some of the most pristine beaches in the Caribbean,drove a series of 4x4 vehicles and was a regular at exclusive golf courses.

In PuntaCana, he could often be seen walking his dog – named Charles, after the formerLib Dem leader.

Since 2008Brown has used the name Nally to embark on a series of ventures that included areal estate business which has opened a subsidiary in the Bahamas.

LastFebruary, he was investigated in the Dominican Republic over an oil deal afterbeing accused of failing to honour a contract for 4,820 tonnes. He was orderedto be held in custody for three months.

If Brown isreturned to Britain it will launch renewed high court claims for the Lib Demsto return his stolen money.

Tony Brown,managing partner at law firm Bivonas which represents US attorney Robert Mannwho lost more than $5m (£3m), said that Brown would be asked to give evidenceas part of his client's claim against the Lib Dems.

"Wehope on Michael Brown's return he will be able to assist our client Robert Mannresurrect his claim in the High Court against the Liberal Democrats for thereturn of his stolen money," he said.

Mann'slegal team was forced last year to drop a high court claim against the Lib Demsfor the return of around $600,000 after running out of funds.

A Lib Demspokesman declined to comment on any future high court action, but added thatthe donation was accepted in good faith and was cleared by an ElectoralCommission inquiry. "There is no indication that the Electoral Commissionwill revise its opinion in this matter but any arrest abroad should lead to his[Brown's] extradition to the UK," he said.

A spokesmanfor the Dominican Republic embassy in London declined to comment. Edwardsalso declined to comment.

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Van der Sloot pleads not guilty in Lima

2012-01-06T14:51:00.001-08:00

RNW, 6January 2012

The murdertrial of Dutchman Joran van der Sloot in the Peruvian capital Lima has beenadjourned to Wednesday, 11 September. During the first hearing, the Dutchdefendant pleaded not guilty to the charge of murder followed by theft.

Joran vander Sloot (Photo: ANP)

As a resultof the adjournment, Mr Van der Sloot won’t have to plead guilty or not guiltyto each separate count until next Wednesday. Observers say the move suggeststhe defence will seek to argue for manslaughter instead of murder.

Mr Van derSloot is accused of murdering Stephany Flores in his Lima hotel room on 30 May2010. The Public Prosecutor is expected to seek a 30-year prison term and afine of 50,000 euros. If Mr Van der Sloot pleads guilty, the court has 48 hoursto reach a verdict. If he pleads not guilty, the trial goes ahead.

Mr Van derSloot has admitted killing Ms Flores in his Lima hotel room. But he claims hehad acted on a violent impulse when he saw her read documents on his laptoprelating to the disappearance of US teenager Natalee Holloway.

The24-year-old Dutchman is the main suspect in the disappearance of Ms Holloway onthe Caribbean island of Aruba in May 2005. He has never been charged due tolack of evidence. Ms Holloway was 18 when she went missing. Ms Flores was 21when she was killed.

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Jamaica will become a republic, new prime minister vows

2012-01-06T04:24:00.000-08:00

Aftertaking office in landslide, Portia Simpson Miller pledges to drop Queen as headof state and restore prosperity

guardian.co.uk,Associated Press in Kingston, Friday 6 January 2012

Portia Simpson Miller, installed as Jamaican prime minister for a second
time, has said she will restore prosperity and drop the Queen as head of
state. Photograph: Reuters

PortiaSimpson Miller has been sworn in for the second time as Jamaica's primeminister with a pledge to ease poverty, boost the economy, heal politicaldivisions and drop the Queen as head of state.

SimpsonMiller, who was prime minister for a year and half until 2007, took the oath ofoffice before roughly 10,000 guests on the grounds of the governor-general'sofficial residence.

The66-year-old politician scored a dramatic victory in last week's nationalelections, leading her centre-left People's National party to a 2-1 margin inparliament over the centre-right Jamaica Labour party. Her opposition factionwon a dominating 42 seats in the 63-seat legislature, leaving the incumbentparty with 21.

SimpsonMiller, Jamaica's first female prime minister, takes over from Andrew Holness,a 39-year-old Labour MP who led the government for just over two months.

"Afterbeing tested and tempered I stand before you today a stronger and better personprepared to be of service to my country and people," Simpson Miller saidat the start of a spirited 45-minute speech.

She saidher government intended to abandon the British monarch as Jamaica's officialhead of state and instead adopt a republican form of government. Jamaicadeclared independence from Britain in 1962 but remains within the Commonwealthand has the Queen as head of state.

"Ilove the Queen; she is a beautiful lady," Simpson Miller said, beforedeclaring to the audience in Jamaican patois: "But I think timecome."

SimpsonMiller said she could replace the privy council in London with theTrinidad-based Caribbean court of justice as Jamaica's highest court of appeal.She said this would "end judicial surveillance from London".

She vowedher government would "ease the burdens and the pressues of increasingpoverty, joblessness and deteriorating standards of living" while alsopursuing a tight fiscal policy and forging strong partnerships with the privatesector and international partners such as the International Monetary Fund.

"Myadministration will work tirelessly that while we try to balance the books webalance people's lives as well," Simpson Miller said.

Jamaica hasa punishing debt of roughly $18.6bn (£12bn), or 130% of GDP.

In theshort and medium term the prime minister said her administration would use"state resources" to stimulate jobs through an emergency employmentprogramme that was the centerpiece of her party's campaign manifesto.

HerPeople's National party has said it will try to renegotiate roughly 25% of atroubled $400m road programme financed by China in order to transfer some ofthe money to the employment programme.

The primeminister urged Jamaicans to create a more civil and respectful society andearnestly strive to make the best of themselves.

"Wewill seek to make this country one of brothers and sisters, not of rivals andvictims," she said.

After herspeech, Simpson Miller elicited laughter from the audience by dragging aslightly embarrassed-looking Holness, now the leader of the opposition, to thepodium and saying she was his "second mother".

Holness hadbeen elected unopposed to succeed Bruce Golding as head of the ruling JamaicaLabour party, becoming prime minister in the process.

Golding,63, stepped down because of fallout from his handling of the extradition ofJamaican gang leader Christopher "Dudus" Coke last year.

Afterinitially fighting Coke's extradition to New York on drug-trafficking charges,Golding's administration bowed to US pressure in May 2010 and sent police andthe military in to arrest him. Seventy-six people died in the ensuing gunbattles between government forces and Coke's supporters.

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