Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (C) addresses the
audience during a meeting of the annual Mercosur trade bloc presidential
summit in Mendoza June 29, 2012. (Credit: Reuters/Enrique Marcarian)

Chinese leader woos Latin America with deals

Chinese leader woos Latin America with deals
Chinese President Xi Jinping (4-L, first row) poses with leaders of the CELAC group of Latin American and Caribbean states, in Brasilia, on July 17, 2014 (AFP Photo/Nelson Almeida)
"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) -

“ … Here is another one. A change in what Human nature will allow for government. "Careful, Kryon, don't talk about politics. You'll get in trouble." I won't get in trouble. I'm going to tell you to watch for leadership that cares about you. "You mean politics is going to change?" It already has. It's beginning. Watch for it. You're going to see a total phase-out of old energy dictatorships eventually. The potential is that you're going to see that before 2013.

They're going to fall over, you know, because the energy of the population will not sustain an old energy leader ..."

"Update on Current Events" – Jul 23, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: The Humanization of God, Gaia, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Benevolent Design, Financial Institutes (Recession, System to Change ...), Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Nuclear Power Revealed, Geothermal Power, Hydro Power, Drinking Water from Seawater, No need for Oil as Much, Middle East in Peace, Persia/Iran Uprising, Muhammad, Israel, DNA, Two Dictators to fall soon, Africa, China, (Old) Souls, Species to go, Whales to Humans, Global Unity,..... etc.)
(Subjects: Who/What is Kryon ?, Egypt Uprising, Iran/Persia Uprising, Peace in Middle East without Israel actively involved, Muhammad, "Conceptual" Youth Revolution, "Conceptual" Managed Business, Internet, Social Media, News Media, Google, Bankers, Global Unity,..... etc.)



Map of Latin America showing countries where major protests have occurred in recent months (AFP Photo)
.
A student holds a sign reading "Don't shoot, listen!!!" during a protest
on June 17, 2013 in Brasilia (AFP, Evaristo)

Paraguay police search S. American football HQ

Paraguay police search S. American football HQ
The Conmebol headquarters in Luque, Paraguay, is seen on January 7, 2016, during a raid within the framework of the FIFA corruption scandal (AFP Photo/Norberto Duarte)

'Panama Papers' law firm under the media's lenses

'Panama Papers' law firm under the media's lenses
The Panama Papers: key facts on the huge journalists' investigation into tax evasion (AFP Photo/Thomas Saint-Cricq, Philippe Mouche)

Mossack Fonseca

Mossack Fonseca

.

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

… The Shift in Human Nature

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

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

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

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

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

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

English.news.cn   2012-03-01
            
NEW YORK, Feb. 29 (Xinhua) -- A total of 36 people were charged on Wednesday in New York City with defrauding automobile insurers out of more than 275 million U.S. dollars in accident benefits.

According to an indictment released in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the racketeering and money laundering ring used phony clinics that billed insurers for unnecessary treatments.

New York law requires vehicles registered in the state to carry no-fault insurance providing as much as 50,000 U.S. dollars per person to cover injuries sustained in auto accidents.

FBI agents and police detectives around the New York City area began taking the suspects into custody early Wednesday morning and suspects will face charges that include racketeering, health care fraud, money laundering, insurance fraud and wire fraud.


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





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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) SoulsReincarnation, 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 !

Monday, February 27, 2012

Ecuador President Correa pardons paper in libel case

BBC News, 27 February 2012

Related Stories 

President Correa has long been
 at odds with the country's private
media
Ecuador's President Rafael Correa has pardoned the owners and a journalist at El Universo newspaper who faced jail terms and $40m (£25m) in damages for libelling him.

President Correa, in a statement transmitted live, said he and his government had been portrayed as the persecutors of journalists.

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

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

"I've decided to... pardon the accused and grant them remission of the sentences they rightly received," Mr Correa said in his statement.

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

They were each given three-year prison terms and had multi-million dollar damages and fines awarded against them.

Mr Correa brought the lawsuit after an article in El Universo questioned an army raid to rescue him from a violent protest by striking police officers in September 2010.

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

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

Editorials

Human rights and press freedom groups condemned the severity of the sentences imposed on El Universo.

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

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

It was the "dictatorship of the media".

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

In his statement, Mr Correa also said he was dropping a libel case against two other journalists who had written a book detailing the government contracts granted to his brother Fabio.

Fabio Correa 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. He accuses them of spreading lies in an attempt to undermine his government.

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

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Brazil wants more IMF power for extra eurozone funds

BBC News, 26 February 2012

Global Economy 

Guido Mantega wants eurozone nations
to put forward more of their own funds
Brazil has said that developing nations would be happy to provide more money to ease the eurozone's debt crisis, in return for more power within the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The comments were made by Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega as he met with his opposite numbers at a G20 meeting in Mexico.

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

This position was echoed by UK Chancellor George Osborne.

Mr Mantega said: "Emerging countries will only help under two conditions; first that they strengthen their firewall and second for the IMF [voting rights] reform be implemented.

"I see most countries sharing a similar opinion that the Europeans have to strengthen their firewall."

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

'Colour of money'

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said eurozone nations would look next month at increasing the size of the ESM.

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

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

"While at this G20 conference there are a lot of things to discuss, I don't think you're going to see any extra resources committed here because eurozone countries have not committed additional resources themselves, and I think that quid pro quo will be clearly established here in Mexico City."


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Saturday, February 25, 2012

'Human safaris' pose threat to uncontacted Amazon tribe

After the Observer 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

New concerns about "human safaris" are now being raised in Peru, where tour operators are profiting from the exploitation of indigenous tribes in the Amazon jungle.

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

Fenamad, the local indigenous rights organisation, has criticised tour operators who have taken advantage of the sightings to take tourists "close to where" the tribespeople were seen. There is growing evidence that travellers and tourists are attempting to make contact. "Uncontacted Indians are not a tourist attraction," said Rebecca Spooner of Survival International, which aims to protect tribal peoples. "So-called tour guides should already know better."

Growing concerns over "human safaris" caused a scandal in India after the Observer revealed how tour operators in the Andaman Islands are colluding with police to offer sightings of an indigenous group, the Jarawa, who have only had contact 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 driven off their land in the upper Manú river by rubber tappers supplying the American and European car and bicycle industries. The tribe was forced to retreat to more remote jungle areas.

After Survival International published photographs of the tribe last month to publicise the need to leave it in peace, a spokesman for Peru's national protected 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 tour guides are flouting that advice.

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

"The best time to see these uncontacted natives is towards the end of the dry season, when the turtles are laying their eggs along the riverbank," said a third operator. "The best chance you would have to see them is between July and September. Along the main rivers is the best place… The tour with the greatest amount of distance covered and the best chance to see the uncontacted natives would be our eight-day/seven-night tour to Manú Biosphere Reserve by bus that starts and ends in Cuzco."

But other tour operators gave a markedly different response. Manú Nature Tours, based in Cuzco, said: "We do not offer any possibility to see [the tribe]. It is very dangerous to attempt any contact with them. A simple cold can kill them all. Any attempt to try to contact this people can put you in jail in Peru and Brazil."

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

According to Fenamad, "there's great concern because the Mashco-Piro are very vulnerable. In addition to their susceptibility to common diseases and epidemics, the sightings are occurring in an area of open-river transit where there is an intense traffic of commercial and tourists' boats." Glenn Shepard, an anthropologist who has worked in Manú, says tour operators have approached the Mashco-Piro on the riverbank so that tourists can "get photos like they would for a jaguar".

In India, tourists plunge into the heart of Jarawa territory along the Andaman Trunk Road, while in Peru they travel down the Madre de Dios river, where the Mashco-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-Piro emerged last year that appeared to show travellers "playing a game of cat and mouse with the naked tribesmen" and discussing whether to leave food or clothing for them on the riverbank. None of the trips to Manú advertised by tour operators on their websites openly offers Mashco-Piro sightings, but several acknowledge the presence of "uncontacted" people in the rainforest.

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


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Friday, February 24, 2012

Haitian prime minister offers resignation

Deutsche Welle, 24 February 2012




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

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

"The president of the Republic … has this morning received the resignation of the prime minister, Doctor Garry Conille," a post on Martelly's Twitter account read.

"The president will address the nation this evening at 7 p.m. (midnight GMT) on this matter," the next post said, without elaborating on whether Conille's offer of resignation would be accepted.

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

The Haitian daily newspaper Le Matin had recently reported that "almost all ministers had rebelled" against Conille in recent weeks.

Haiti is still struggling to rebuild after the earthquake, which devastated an already impoverished country.

"The political deadlock and institutional paralysis between the government, parliament and the president does not reflect the commitments they have undertaken vis-a-vis the Haitian people and are not likely to create the necessary conditions for recovery of the economy and the consolidation of democracy," the head of the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti, Marciano Fernandez, said on Thursday.

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

msh/acb (AFP, dpa, Reuters)

Thursday, February 23, 2012

BRICs to mull plans for multilateral bank: source

Reuters, Mexico City, Thu Feb 23, 2012

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

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

"The idea is for the BRICS to offer the capital for this bank, but we still need to discuss if this bank will serve to give out loans to other emerging market countries," said the official.

"The idea is in its infancy," and the countries are not likely to reach a decision this weekend, the official said, adding that Brazil's finance minister, Guido Mantega, "is sympathetic to the idea."

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

Mantega called for a transparent election to replace Robert Zoellick as president of the World Bank after Zoellick he said he would step down last week.

Guatemala's Maya Indians celebrate start of year 5127

Fox News Latino, February 22, 2011

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

"For peace, for harmony, for the unity of peoples," the Maya priests and spiritual leaders prayed as they danced around the fire, took their places at the four cardinal points and invoked the gods to bring "the dawn of better times."

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

These ceremonies mark the end of Wayeb, a five-day period during which the Mayas reflect on all that occurred during the year just ended, and define their goals and actions to be taken in the new year.

The year 5127, according to the Mayan worldview, is governed by Kab'lajuj E, or 12th Road, which represents the "change of authority" in the new time, the path forward and the destiny of peoples.

"What the sacred book Popol Wuj predicts and what is actually going to happen this year in Guatemala is not a simple coincidence, but rather a guide, an orientation and a hope," Juan Axtij, one of the Indian elders taking part in the ceremony, told Efe.

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

Indigenous people represent 42 percent of the 14.4 million inhabitants of Guatemala.

In the past two decades, Indians have recovered much of their culture after it was in danger of being exterminated by the military repression of the 1960-1996 civil war.

The Mayan calendar, considered one of the most exact and sophisticated mechanisms for measuring time known to man, has a year of 365 days, but with the difference that it is divided into 18 months of 20 days each, plus the Wayeb.


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(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.)

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Honduran president pardons murderer who saved hundreds from jail inferno

Marco Antonio Bonilla used keys to open locks and a bench to smash down doors as fire raged and prison guards panicked 

guardian.co.ukRory 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

The Honduran government has pardoned a convicted murderer who helped save hundreds of inmates during a fire that killed 360 people last week.

President Porfirio Lobo announced he would pardon Marco Antonio Bonilla, also known as Shorty, for releasing trapped prisoners from the horrific blaze that destroyed Comayagua jail.

While guards panicked and left screaming men to die, Bonilla – who had been outside his 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.

"He put 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 months left to serve of a murder sentence.

Reports said 50-year-old the worked as a nurse at the jail and was allowed to live apart from other prisoners.

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

One version of events said Bonilla picked up keys dropped by a guard who fled. Another report said he wrested the keys from a guard who was paralysed by the horrifying sights and sounds in the jail.

"Shorty was the only one with honour," Rosendo Sanchez, a survivor, told reporters.

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

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

At an emotional meeting with relatives on Tuesday, Lobo said the process of identifying bodies was going as fast as possible and that an international tribunal would determine "correct, legal and above all just" levels of compensation.

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

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

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

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

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

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Venezuela's Hugo Chavez faces new operation

BBC News, 21 February 2012

Related Stories 

Mr Chavez had two operations to
remove a tumour last year
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has said that he will have to undergo another operation after doctors found a lesion during medical tests in Cuba.

The 57-year-old underwent two operations in Havana last year to remove a cancerous tumour from his pelvis.

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

Mr Chavez revealed the news during a televised tour of a factory in his home state of Barinas.

"There is no metastasis. Just this small lesion in the same place where they removed the tumour," he said.

Mr Chavez had surgery to remove the tumour - which has been reported to have been the size of a baseball - last year.

Speaking after the operation he said he had made the "fundamental error" of failing to look after himself.

His exact condition remains a closely guarded secret.

"Recalibration of Knowledge" – Jan 14, 2012 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Channelling, God-Creator, Benevolent Design, New Energy, Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) SoulsReincarnation, 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 ! 


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

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Catholic Monti moves to end Italy Church tax breaks

Reuters, by Philip Pullella, ROME, Thu Feb 16, 2012

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

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

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

Italy's Church - once an unshakable, and some say untouchable, institution - has come under fire for what some consider unfair privileges at a time Monti has asked Italians to make unprecedented sacrifices as part of a "tears and blood" austerity plan to thwart a Greek-style crisis.

The European Commission in 2010 opened a probe against Italy to determine if tax breaks for some Church properties amounted to illegal state aid and distorted competition.

Some political parties, particularly the tiny, liberal Radical Party, and some intellectual leaders, have led a campaign to strip the Church of tax exemption on properties that are not used exclusively as places of worship.

Throughout Italy, the Church owns many private clinics, hotels, bed and breakfasts and guest houses that enjoy tax exempt status because parts of the structures are occupied by priests or nuns or have a chapel for worship.

That created a grey area where many structures were essentially commercial but covered by the religious exemption law.

The government statement said the proposal to be presented in parliament would limit the tax exemption to structures that are "exclusively non-commercial." It did not say when it would present the bill.

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

CHURCH LEADERS NOT INFORMED

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

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

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

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

The controversy over Church tax exemptions had been bubbling for years but boiled over in the past few months, particularly after the Monti government re-instated a local property tax on primary residences that had been abolished by his predecessor, Silvio Berlusconi.

In a 48-hour period after the austerity package was passed in December, more than 130,000 people signed an on-line petition demanding that the Church be stripped of 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 the social benefit of many of its activities.

But, as austerity began to bite into the budgets of ordinary Italians who were forced to pay more taxes and delay their retirements, Italian Church leaders softened their stand and said they were willing to negotiate and rectify any past abuses.

(1 euro = $1.29820)

(Editing by Alessandra Rizzo)

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Saturday, February 18, 2012

Brazilian cardinal slams Euro-centric Catholic Church

GMA News, Agence France Presse February 18, 2012

VATICAN CITY  - Joao Braz de Aviz, the sole Latin American among 22 newly created Catholic cardinals, on Saturday criticised the Church for being too Euro-centric.

Joao Braz de Aviz
"Europe should go back to showing a more fraternal attitude towards other continents and stop looking down on the others," Braz de Aviz said in an interview with the Vatican-watching news agency I.Media.

"How much 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 solemn ceremony at Saint Peter's Basilica on Saturday.

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

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

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

Some critics point to the preponderance of Europeans, especially Italians, in the Church hierarchy, notably the College of Cardinals, as evidence of the pope's Western bias.

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

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

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

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

Agence France Presse


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UFOs In South America - Disclosure Has Begun

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.

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Colombia priests 'hired own killers' in suicide pact

BBC News, 14 February 2012 

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The two priests were mourned
by their parishioners in Bogota
Two Colombian priests who were found shot dead in the capital Bogota a year ago themselves hired the assassins who killed them, prosecutors say.

They said the priests had agreed a suicide pact after one of them was diagnosed with Aids, but contracted hitmen because they could not bring themselves to carry it out.

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

They have denied reports that they were involved in a gay relationship.

Two of the alleged killers are being prosecuted after being traced from calls made from the priests' phones.

'Pray for me'

Father Richard Piffano, 37, and Father Rafael Reatiga, 35, were found shot dead in a car in southern Bogota in January 2011.

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

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

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

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


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