IPCC climate report: six things we've learned

The IPCC's long-awaited fifth assessment report says it is 'extremely likely' that humanity is to blame for global warming. What else can we learn from the report?

theguardian.com, Adam Vaughan, Friday 27 September 2013

Nearly dried-up area of the Jialing River, China. The IPCC report warns we

 are likely to surpass rises of 2C by 2100, beyond which dangerous consequences

 including drought, floods and storms are expected. Photograph: Diego Azubel/

epa/Corbis

• Scientists are more certain than ever that humanity is to blame for rising temperatures. The head of the United Nations' World Meteorological Organisation, Michel Jarraud, said "it is extremely likely that changes in our climate system in the past half century are due to human influence." The report says: "Human influence on the climate system is clear. This is evident from the increasing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, positive radiative forcing, observed warming, and understanding of the climate system."

• Concentrations of CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have increased to levels that are unprecedented in at least 800,000 years. The burning of fossil fuels is the main reason behind a 40% increase in CO2 concentrations since the industrial revolution.

• We're likely to surpass rises of 2C by 2100, the threshold of warming that governments have pledged to hold temperatures to, and beyond which dangerous consequences including drought, floods and storms are expected. "What is very clear is we are not" on the path to keeping temperatures below 2C, said Thomas Stocker, one of the co-chairs of today's report. Global temperatures are likely to rise by 0.3C to 4.8C by the end of the century, the report said.

• Sea level rises are coming. "Global mean sea level will continue to rise during the 21st century," says today's report, by a further 26-82cm by 2100, but Stocker said "there is no consensus in the scientific community over very high sea level rises".

• Scientists said claims that the rate of temperature rises in the last 15 years has slowed did not affect the big picture, and temperatures are going up in the long-term. Climate trends "should not be calculated for periods of less than 30 years," said Stocker.

• The amount of carbon the world can burn without heading for dangerous levels of warming is far less than the amount of fossil fuels left in the ground. "The IPCC carbon budget to stay below 2C is 800-880 gigatonnes of carbon (GTC). 531 GTC had already been emitted by 2011. So we have 350 GTC left, which is much less than the carbon stored in fossil fuel reserves," notes our correspondent Fiona Harvey.

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IPCC Headline Statements from the Summary for Policymakers

Arctic ice melt slows down: NASA

Warming 'pause' gives thought for scientists, sceptics

THE RELATIONSHIP TO GAIA - April 2010 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)

New Mini Ice Age

"The weather you have today, and all the alarming attributes of it, is a scenario of what was scheduled to happen on Earth anyway. I review again that the weather changes you are seeing prophesied by myself, 21 years ago, are not a surprise. The changes are not caused by the pollutants you put in the air. You call it global warming and that's a nice phrase, and perhaps that will get you to put less pollutants in the air – a very good thing. But what you are seeing in the weather shift today was not caused by Humans putting things into the air. It would have happened anyway in about 300 years."

"We've called this process the water cycle, since it's all about water, not about air. The water is the predominant attribute of Gaia and of the weather cycle you're seeing. More predominant is the temperature of it. The cycle is ice to water and water to ice, and has been repeated on this planet over and over and over. It is not new. It is not exceptional. It is not frightening. But it's a cycle that modern humanity has not seen before, and it's a long cycle that is beyond the life span of a Human Being. Therefore, it tends to be overlooked or not seen at all !"

"In the days of the Lemurians, the water level of the Pacific Ocean was almost 400 feet lower, and that's only 50,000 years ago. [Kryon invites science to check this out – the water level at that time.] That was a water cycle working, and the reason it was lower was due to so much of the water being stored as ice. Today you're going through another water cycle that will eventually lead to cooling. The last one was in the 1400s."

"Science sees that at about 1650. As mentioned, they are so slow there is no remembrance that a Human has of them except in past writings and in the rings of the trees. The time span of the changes is so great that environmental record keeping does not exist in the form that it does today. But you can still look at the rings of the trees and at the striations of the rocks and can generally figure out that a few hundred years ago, you had a mini-ice age. Now you're going to have another one." 

“2011 and Beyond” - What you are seeing, and why - Jan 16, 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Text version)

“… So now we've refreshed that which we have said before, a review. You are in the middle of a cycle that will bring cooling to the planet. It is not a heat cycle, but rather a cooling cycle. But it always starts with a short heat cycle. It has been here before. It will come again. It is a long cycle - one generation plus five years. That's how long it's going to last. It starts with the melting of the ice caps, which is far more than any of you have seen in your lifetime or those of your ancestors. It is a cycle whose repetition is thousands of years long, but one that has not yet been recorded to the books of Human record. But it's definitely been recorded in the cores of the ice and in the rings of the trees.

Thousands of years old, it is, and it happens in a cyclical way. It's about water. It starts with that which is the melting of the ice caps to a particular degree, which has a profound effect on the planet in all ways. You can't have that happen without seeing life change as well as Gaia change and you've seeing it already. What happens when you take that which is heavy on the poles [ice] and you melt it? It then becomes cold water added to that which is a very, very gentle and finite balance of temperature in the seas of the planet (1). The first thing that happens is a redistribution of the weight of water on the thin crust of the earth from ice at the poles to new water in the seas. The results become earthquakes and volcanoes, and you're seeing them, aren't you? You are having earthquakes in places that are not supposed to have earthquakes. Volcanoes are coming to life in a way that you've not seen before on a regular basis. There will be more. Expect them.

Is it too much to ask of a Human Being that if you live by a volcano that you know might erupt, maybe you ought to move? Yet there will be those who say, "It hasn't erupted in my lifetime or my parents' lifetime or my grandparents' lifetime; therefore, it won't." You may have a surprise, for all things are changing. That is what is happening to Gaia. ….“

"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, Higgs Boson), 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.) - (Text Version)

"...The Weather...

My partner has been "against the grain" in the past years, giving you what I have channelled about the weather. Is it global warming? No. Is it going to get better? No. This is a two-generation cycle. There will continue to be earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, and storms. This is a recalibration of life in the ocean, and humanity must go through this in any way they can. This is a cycle, a known and expected one, but since you haven't gone through it in modern times, it's not well understood yet. ..."

"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“…  4 - Energy (again)

The natural resources of the planet are finite and will not support the continuation of what you've been doing. We've been saying this for a decade. Watch for increased science and increased funding for alternate ways of creating electricity (finally). Watch for the very companies who have the most to lose being the ones who fund it. It is the beginning of a full realization that a change of thinking is at hand. You can take things from Gaia that are energy, instead of physical resources. We speak yet again about geothermal, about tidal, about wind. Again, we plead with you not to over-engineer this. For one of the things that Human Beings do in a technological age is to over-engineer simple things. Look at nuclear - the most over-engineered and expensive steam engine in existence!

Your current ideas of capturing energy from tidal and wave motion don't have to be technical marvels. Think paddle wheel on a pier with waves, which will create energy in both directions [waves coming and going] tied to a generator that can power dozens of neighborhoods, not full cities. Think simple and decentralize the idea of utilities. The same goes for wind and geothermal. Think of utilities for groups of homes in a cluster. You won't have a grid failure if there is no grid. This is the way of the future, and you'll be more inclined to have it sooner than later if you do this, and it won't cost as much….”

Chile closes luxury prison for Pinochet-era inmates

Cordillera jail in Santiago allowed military officials convicted of crimes against humanity a pool, tennis courts and barbecues

theguardian.com, Associated Press in Santiago, Friday 27 September 2013

One of the houses of the Cordillera jail in Santiago, now to be closed.
Photograph: Mario Ruiz/EPA

Chile will close a luxury prison for dictatorship-era military officials convicted of crimes against humanity, taking away their tennis courts, barbecues and a pool, the president announced on Thursday.

The Cordillera prison, located on an army base, allows the officers jailed for killings, tortures and other abuses committed during General Augusto Pinochet's 1973-90 dictatorship much better conditions than Chile's normal jails. The inmates live in small cabins, have hot showers and get lots of natural light.

President Sebastian Pinera said his government decided to close Cordillera taking into account "equality before law" as well as the security of the luxury lock-up's 10 inmates, who will now serve time at Punta Peuco, another special prison for human rights offenders.

The decision came after Manuel Contreras, the former chief of Pinochet's secret service, gave an interview inside Cordillera before the 40th anniversary of the military coup on 11 September.

Contreras, who is serving combined sentences of more than 100 years for kidnappings and murders, mocked prison guards, saying they were there only "to hold his cane," and he claimed that all the thousands of people who disappeared during the dictatorship were armed leftists killed in gunfights.

Cordillera was built in 2004 during the presidency of Ricardo Lagos to avoid overcrowding at Punta Peuco.

Former president Michelle Bachelet, who was held and tortured during the dictatorship, praised the decision to close Cordillera.

"This means that the country is in a condition to do this," said Bachelet, who is the front-runner in the campaign for the presidential election on 17 November.

The privileged conditions at Cordillera have been criticised ever since it was built.

But the public outcry reached a high point on Wednesday when supporters of former Brigadier Miguel Krassnoff tried to organise a barbecue in his honour at Cordillera, where he is serving a 144-year sentence.

An event honouring Krassnoff in 2011 ended in clashes between his supporters and human rights activists.

The current governing coalition is the first conservative government since Chile's return to democracy in 1990. Members of both ruling parties supported Pinochet's dictatorship and several Pinochet-era officials now serve as MPs.

In 2011, Pinera's government officially recognised 9,800 more victims of the dictatorship. That increased the total list of people killed, tortured or imprisoned for political reasons during Pinochet's regime to 40,018. The government estimates 3,095 of those were killed, including about 1,200 who were forcibly "disappeared".

About 700 military officials face trial for the forced disappearance of dissidents and about 70 have been jailed for crimes against humanity.

"It's a milestone, a right decision from the human rights point of view," Lorena Fries, director of Chile's official Human Rights Institute, said of Cordillera's closure.

"The president said it best: it's about equality because there are thousands of people living in overcrowded prisons ... and this was a slap in the face for the law," Fries said.

Iran, US hold unprecedented nuclear talks

Google – AFP, 26 Sep 2013

The five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus 

Germany meet with Iran over their nuclear program September 26, 2013 in

New York. (AFP, Stan Honda)

New York — Iran and the United States met for one of their highest level meetings since the 1979 revolution Thursday as their foreign ministers joined landmark talks on Tehran's suspect nuclear program.

The talks, involving US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif, came just after new Iranian leader Hassan Rouhani called on Israel to admit it has a nuclear bomb.

Chaired by EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, the meeting brought together the foreign ministers of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany in a group dubbed the P5+1.

Smiling broadly, Zarif was sat at the head of the table next to Ashton looking down on the Security Council conference room, with Kerry to the right on an abutting table.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani (C)

 arrives with UN Secretary-General Ban

 Ki-moon (R) during the UN General 

Assembly in New York, September 26,

2013 (AFP, Emmanuel Dunand)

Western powers have approached with caution the overtures made by the new Iranian leadership which took power in August.

"While we do not anticipate that any issues will be resolved during today?s P5+1 meeting, we are hopeful that we can continue to chart a path forward," a US State Department official said.

"We hope that this new Iranian government will show that it is prepared to engage substantively to address these long standing concerns and we will see today and in months ahead whether they will follow words with action."

It is the first time that Iranian and American ministers have sat together at the talks, aimed at reining in the Islamic republic's nuclear program, which western nations believe is a covert grab for an atomic bomb.

Iran has repeatedly denied the accusations, saying its nuclear program is for civilian purposes only.

Rouhani said he believed a deal could be struck with the international community within three to six months.

And he said Iran's arch-foe Israel should join the Non-Proliferation Treaty, which aims to contain the spread of nuclear weapons. Israel has never declared a nuclear arsenal, but is widely assumed to have several bombs.

Rouhani, speaking as current leader of the Non-Aligned Movement at a conference on disarmament, highlighted the failure of attempts to organize a Middle East nuclear free zone.

"Israel, the only non-party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty in this region, should join thereto without any further delay," Rouhani told the meeting.

Kerry met early Thursday with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi and the two men agreed "Iran should cooperate and should respond positively to the offer on the table," a US official told reporters.

The P5+1 made a new offer to Iran earlier this year, before Rouhani's election, on how to overcome the current stalemate in the nuclear dossier.

It is believed to have offered an easing of the international sanctions which have crippled the Iranian economy, in return for a slow down in Iran's uranium enrichment program.

Western officials say they are still waiting for a response.

"No nation should possess nuclear weapons, since there are no right hands for these wrong weapons," insisted Rouhani.

"As long as nuclear weapons exist, the risk of their use, threat of use and proliferation persist. The only absolute guarantee is their total elimination," he said.

Rouhani told the Washington Post he wants a quick deal on the nuclear standoff adding he has the full backing of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

"If it's three months, that would be Iran's choice, if it's six months, that's still good. It's a question of months not years," he said.

While US officials say no bilateral talks are planned between Kerry and Zarif, an unofficial encounter remained possible.

As he entered the room Kerry said he was "looking forward to a good meeting."

Western diplomats say the meeting will give Iran a chance to show there is substance behind Rouhani's statements that he wants to end the nuclear showdown.

The United States had sought a meeting between President Barack Obama and Rouhani on the sidelines of this week's UN assembly. But Iran said it was too complex to organise.

Related Articles:

Iran hails Obama's UN speech

Hassan Rouhani tells UN: Iran poses no threat to the world

China bans several weapon-related North Korea exports

"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.) - (Text Version)  

“…  I want you to watch some countries. I don't have a clock [this statement is Kryon telling us that there is no time frame on his side of the veil, only potentials]. I'll just tell you, it's imminent [in Spirit's timing, this could mean as soon as a decade]. I want you to watch some countries carefully for changes. You're going to be seeing changes that are obvious, and some that are not obvious [covert or assumptive]. But the obvious ones you will see sooner than not - Cuba, Korea [North], Iran, of course, and Venezuela. I want you to watch what happens when they start to realize that they don't have any more allies on Earth! Even their brothers who used to support them in their hatred of some are saying, "Well, perhaps not anymore. It doesn't seem to be supporting us anymore. "Watch the synchronicities that are occurring. The leaders who have either died or are going to in the next year or so will take with them the old ways. Watch what happens to those who take their place, and remember these meetings where I described these potentials to you. …”

"The Way Synchronicity Works" – Aug 24, 2013 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

Women in 15 nations need spouse's okay to work

Google – AFP, 25 Sep 2013

Women sell llama meat at a stall in a public market in La Paz, Bolivia

(AFP/File, Aizar Raldes)

WASHINGTON — At least 15 countries give husbands the power to prevent their wives from working, the World Bank said in a report on gender equality in business.

"Many societies have made progress, gradually moving to dismantle ingrained forms of discrimination against women. Yet a great deal remains to be done," said World Bank President Jim Yong Kim in the preface to the report.

Among 143 countries covered in the report "Women, Business and the Law 2014", 15 -- including Iran, Syria, Bolivia and Gabon -- give men the right to object to and prevent their wives from taking jobs.

In 79 countries, laws restrict the kind of work women can do, the report said.

Fifteen countries, including Iran, give

 men the right to object to and prevent

 their wives from taking jobs (AFP/File,

Atta Kenare)

"The most extensive restrictions on women's employment are in Eastern Europe and Central Asia," the report said.

In the Republic of Guinea, it said, a wife can fight her husband's decision in court, but she must prove that it is unjustified to have his decision overturned.

Such rules remain in part due to history.

"Vestiges of history remain codified in certain economies simply because legislation such as the Code Napoleon was adopted wholesale and not regularly reviewed or updated.

"The notion of head of household, for example, was removed from France's Civil Code in 1970 but persists in many civil codes throughout West Africa."

In Russia, women are banned from 456 professions, including drivers of farm trucks, conducting freight trains and woodworking.

Many of those rules were inherited from the former communist regime of the Soviet Union and were left unchang ed.

One result, the report said, was that the Russian Federation had a high earnings difference between genders during the transition to a market economy.

A woman merchant in Libreville, Gabon

(AFP/File, Wils Yanick Maniengui)

But at least 29 countries, including Saudi Arabia, Honduras and Senegal, have laws that systematically establish men has family heads giving them powers over crucial decisions such as where to live, obtaining important documents like passports, or opening bank accounts.

But the report notes that developed Western countries have also been slow to change their rules. Permission for women to launch their own court cases without their husbands' permission came in Spain only in 1981 and, in Switzerland, in 1984.

Progress continues, according to the report. In two years, 48 legal changes increased gender parity in 44 countries, including Ivory Coast's 2013 decision to allow women to work without their husband's permission.

On the other hand, Egypt recently moved the other way: in the wake of the country's revolution, and the political rise of Islamic forces, the country removed constitutional guarantees against gender discrimination.

More Brazilian students come to the Netherlands

DutchNews.nl, Tuesday 24 September 2013

Volkskrant (ANP)

Between 700 and 800 Brazilian nationals are studying at Dutch universities, propelling the South American country into the top five of non-EU student bodies.

A special government programme and word-of-mouth have been crucial in boosting the popularity of Dutch universities, Remon Boef of the higher education body Nuffic, told the Volkskrant. Nuffic has a special office in Brazil.

Brazil has also set up a billion euro programme to encourage students and researchers to gain experience in other countries.

‘Brazilian students can live well here and make friends,’ Jan Schut, international student coordinator at Twente University, told the paper. ‘It is different with students from China and Russia.’

Argentine priest Julio Grassi jailed over sexual abuse

BBC News, 24 September 2013

Grassi described the accusations against him were as a cross he had to carry

Related Stories

• Pope calls for action on sex abuse
• Argentina country profile

A prominent Roman Catholic priest in Argentina has been jailed, four years after being convicted of sexually abusing a teenage boy.

A court in Buenos Aires province rejected an appeal by Father Julio Cesar Grassi, who has been sentenced to 15 years in jail, to remain under house arrest.

He was convicted in 2009 of abusing the boy at his "Happy Children" foundation.

He insists he is innocent and says the case is based on false evidence.

"In my life, all I have done was to help the children in need," he said at the criminal court in the city of Moron.

"The prosecutors have lied and set up a case against me."

'Out of control'

Prosecutor Alejandro Varela argued that there was a risk that the priest would escape if he was not detained.

Three courts in Argentina had already confirmed his 2009 conviction, before the Supreme Court of Buenos Aires province ratified the 15-year prison sentence last week.

"To leave Grassi free is almost like colluding with his crime," said Mr Varela.

After a hearing which ended with an emotional plea by Father Grassi, the criminal court in Moron unanimously ordered his "immediate detention".

He was taken to a nearby jail.

"I am in peace, I believe in God," Father Grassi said.

A lawyer for the prosecution, Juan Pablo Gallego, described him as "a convicted paedophile, who is out of control".

Venezuelan National Guardsmen arrested over drugs

BBC News, 23 September 2013

French Interior Minister Manuel Valls said the seizure was a "fine victory"

Related Stories 

• Huge cocaine haul seized in Paris
• Top Colombian drug baron caught
• 'Colombian drug lord' extradited

Three members of Venezuela's National Guard have been arrested on suspicion of involvement in the smuggling of a massive haul of cocaine on an Air France flight from Caracas to Paris.

French border police found 1.3 tonnes of cocaine in 31 suitcases on a flight arriving from Caracas.

The seizure was one of the biggest ever to be made on French territory.

Venezuelan Interior Minister Miguel Rodriguez said he expected more arrests would be made over the coming days.

The drugs were stashed into the suitcases on the Air France flight which arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris on 11 September, but details of the seizures had been withheld for "operational reasons", French officials said.

About a tonne of the drugs was seized at the airport, while the remainder was found inside a lorry heading from Paris to Luxembourg after arriving from Venezuela.

Air France said it was investigating whether there was any complicity within the company.

The drugs had been destined for the 'Ndrangheta, the Italian mafia based in Calabria that controls some 80% of all cocaine imports into Europe.

Cross-border operation

Venezuelan officials have now launched an investigation into how the drugs - worth more than £100m ($160m) - got on board the flight.

Mr Rodriguez said two National Guard sergeants and a lieutenant from the anti-drug unit had been detained on Sunday as part of the investigation.

Six people have already been arrested in France on suspicion of belonging to an international drugs smuggling ring. Three of them were from Britain, while the other three were from Italy.

The names of those detained have so far not been released.

French Interior Minister Manuel Valls said the arrests were the result of intelligence sharing between French police and their European colleagues.

He said international co-operation between the continent's police forces was key as international drug traffickers were "constantly setting up new strategies".

"They are diversifying drug routes, so we therefore have to adapt our operations, and our strategies to these developments," he said at a news conference.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says Venezuela does not produce sizeable quantities of cocaine, but it has become a transit country for cocaine from Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia, which is shipped to the United States and Europe.

The 30 suitcases were reportedly not 
registered to any passenger on board

Related Article:

Huge cocaine haul seized on Air France plane in Paris

Swiss village gives extra tax from GlencoreXstrata to affected countries

Hedingen donates some of its 'commodity million' from Glencore back to countries where the company is accused of exploiting people and resources for mining

The Guardian, Rupert Neate, Monday 23 September 2013

Ivan Glasenberg paid Rüschlikon village 360m Swiss francs (£246m) in taxes
linked to Glencore's flotation in 2011. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

A Swiss village has voted to donate 110,000 Swiss francs (£75,000) of taxes paid by Ivan Glasenberg, the billionaire chief executive of GlencoreXstrata, to charities in countries where the London-listed mining and commodity trading company is accused of exploiting people and resources.

The people of Hedingen, a village near Zurich, voted 764 to 662 in favour of donating the money in a "clear sign of solidarity with those suffering the consequences of the extraction of raw materials". The village will donate 10% of the "commodity million" Swiss francs it received out of taxes paid by Glasenberg in relation to Glencore's flotation in London in 2011.

Samuel Schweizer, a member of the citizens' committee that proposed the donation, said the villagers felt obliged to give back some of the "extraordinary wealth to the people who should have received it in the beginning".

He added: "It is extraordinary that our small community got more than 1 million francs of extra tax money from Glencore extracting raw materials in a number of very poor countries, where it is accused of polluting, abusing labour and not paying much in taxes. We had a unique opportunity to raise public awareness. We felt we must share this with the people who are suffering from the operations of Glencore."

The money will be paid to non-governmental organisations working on humanitarian projects in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Colombia and Bolivia.

Glasenberg, who is worth $6.7bn according to Forbes magazine, paid 360m Swiss francs (£246m) in taxes linked to the flotation to the village of Rüschlikon, where he lives, in 2011. The money has since been redistributed between Rüschlikon, Hedingen and other communities in the Canton of Zurich.

Five of the villages are following Hedingen's lead and voting on whether to donate the money to charity over the next three months.

Schweizer said pressure is building on Rüschlikon, which kept 50m Swiss francs of Glasenberg's taxes, to donate some of the money to charity. Residents of Rüschlikon, already dubbed "the richest village in Switzerland", last year voted down a motion to give some of the money to an African charity.

Instead villagers voted to cut the local tax rate by 7%.

Schweizer added that if other villages follow Hedingen's lead, Rüschlikon "will be pressured into reconsidering its decision". "We wish that Rüschlikon would act in the same way [as Hedingen].

"We hope that people will open their eyes to the danger that raw material extraction will be the next reputational time bomb for Switzerland," he said. "Political leaders have not learned anything from the disaster of [Switzerland's role at the heart of the] banking industry."

The Berne Declaration, a non-governmental organisation campaigning against Switzerland's role in hosting global commodity companies, said: "While the decision makers in the capital Berne consider our commodities industry still only a political reputation risk, the landmark decision in the rural-conservative Hedingen shows that on the ground Glencore and their competitors already have a real reputational problem in this country.

"Remarkably and correctly, the people of Hedingen assume that tax money is not automatically white, clean or legitimate. As citizens, they take responsibility for that which the government still shies away from."

A Glencore spokesman said: "We believe that Glencore's global presence and economic strength have a predominantly positive impact on the communities in which we operate. We seek out, undertake and contribute to activities and programmes designed to improve quality of life for the people in these communities. In 2012, Glencore spent over $200m investing in the sustainable development of the communities in which it operates.

"Glencore's tax strategy and payments play a vital role in our intention to achieve long-term sustainable development. We are committed to full compliance with all statutory obligations, full disclosure to tax authorities and reporting transparently in the tax payments that we make to the governments of the countries in which we operate."

Chile ex-army chief in child torture probe

Google – AFP, 23 Sep 2013

Former Chilean Army commander Juan Emilio Cheyre is pictured

August 17, 2005 (AFP/File, Luis Hidalgo)

SANTIAGO — A Chilean judge ordered a probe Monday into allegations that a former army commander was responsible for the abduction and torture of three children during the dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet.

At the time of the alleged torture in 1973, the children were aged one, three and 12.

The defendant, Juan Emilio Cheyre, was then a lieutenant in the army but he later served as army commander in chief, from 2002 to 2006.

Two other men are also being investigated under the order released Monday by Judge Jaime Franco in the town of La Serena, 480 kilometers (300 miles) north of Santiago.

Pinochet seized power in a military coup in September 1973, ousting socialist president Salvador Allende.

The complaint against Cheyre says that in October of that same year he and the other two accused men burst into the home of the three girls, beat their father and abducted their mother, who was a socialist activist.

Three months later, they allegedly returned to the home and took the three girls away to be with their mother at a prison for women.

They spent more than a year there and were tortured during their captivity, the complaint says.

Judge Franco ordered testimony taken from the three alleged victims -- Natacha, Yelena and Marianela Monroy Diaz.

While he was army commander, Cheyre apologized on behalf of it for human rights violations committed during the Pinochet regime, which lasted until 1990. Pinochet died in 2006.

More than 3,200 people died during the regime as Pinochet waged a war on anything that smacked of leftist dissent. Some 38,000 people were arrested.

Pope condemns idolatry of cash in capitalism

Head of Catholic church condemns economic system and calls for society with people, not money, at its heart

The Guardian, Lizzy Davies in Rome, Sunday 22 September 2013

Pope Francis: 'Where there is no work, there is no dignity.' Photograph:
Ciro Fusco/EPA

Pope Francis has called for a global economic system that puts people and not "an idol called money" at its heart, drawing on the hardship of his immigrant family as he sympathised with unemployed workers in a part of Italy that has suffered greatly from the recession.

Addressing about 20,000 people in the Sardinian capital of Cagliari, the Argentinian pontiff said that his parents had "lost everything" after they emigrated from Italy and that he understood the suffering that came from joblessness.

"Where there is no work, there is no dignity," he said, in ad-libbed remarks after listening to three locals, including an unemployed worker who spoke of how joblessness "weakens the spirit". But the problem went far beyond the Italian island, said Francis, who has called for wholesale reform of the financial system.

"This is not just a problem of Sardinia; it is not just a problem of Italy or of some countries in Europe," he said. "It is the consequence of a global choice, an economic system which leads to this tragedy; an economic system which has at its centre an idol called money."

The 76-year-old said that God had wanted men and women to be at the heart of the world. "But now, in this ethics-less system, there is an idol at the centre and the world has become the idolater of this 'money-god'," he added.

Sardinia, one of Italy's autonomous regions with a population of 1.6 million, has suffered particularly badly during the economic crisis, with an unemployment rate of 20%, eight points higher than the national average, and youth unemployment of 51%.

Last summer the island's hardship became national news when Stefano Meletti, a 49-year-old miner, slashed his wrists on television during a protest aimed at keeping the Carbosulcis coal mine open.

Urging people not to give up hope even in the harsh economic climate, Francis also called on them to fight back against the "throwaway culture" he said was a by-product of a global economic system that cared only about profit. It was, he said, a culture that saw the most vulnerable society become marginalised.

"Grandparents are thrown away and young people are thrown away," he said. "And we must say no to this throwaway culture. We must say: 'We want a fair system; a system that allows everyone to move forward.' We must say: 'We do not want this globalised economic system that does so much harm.' At the centre has to be man and woman, as God wants – not money."

His own father, he recalled, had suffered great hardship after moving from northern Italy to Argentina in the 1920s. He went "a young man … full of illusions" of making it in the new world, but soon found there was no work to be had. "I didn't see it; I had not yet been born. But I heard of this hardship at home … I know it well," said Francis.

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"The Time Capsule of Gaia" – Feb 9, 2013 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“…  Tesla the Man

There was a point in time when humanity almost stumbled, by the way. You were having a hard time with electricity. So a man came along who was way ahead of his time and was available and his name was Nikola Tesla. He gave you a principle that today you call alternating current. Dear ones, I challenge you to understand this principle. Most of you can't, because it is not in 3D. The attributes are still considered "genius-level thinking" to this day. The whole idea of the kind of electricity you use today comes from this man's quantum mind.

That was all he was allowed to do. Tesla himself was a kind of time capsule, delivered at the right time. He had more, but alternating current was all that was allowed to be given to the planet at that time. Oh, he tried to give you more. He knew there were other things, but nothing was able to be developed. If I told you what else he had discovered, you might not be aware of it at all, since it was never allowed to get out of the box. Earth was not ready for it.

Tesla discovered massless objects. He could alter the mass of atomic structure using designer magnetics, but he never could control it. He had objects fly off his workbench and hit the ceiling, but he couldn't duplicate or control it. It just wasn't time yet. Do you know what else he was known for? It was seemingly the failure of the transmission of electricity. However, he didn't fail at all.

There are pictures of his tower, but every time a Human Being sees a tower, there is a biased assumption that something is going to be broadcast through the air. But in the case of Tesla, he had figured out how to broadcast electricity through the ground. You need towers for that because they have to pick up the magnetics within the ground in a certain way to broadcast them and then collect them again from the nodes of the planet's magnetic grid system. We talked about this before. He was utilizing the grid of the planet that is in the earth itself! He was on the edge of showing that you could use the whole grid of the planet magnetically to broadcast electricity and pick it up where you need it, safely, with no wires. But the earth was not ready for it.

Tesla died a broken man, filled with ideas that would have brought peace to planet Earth, but he was simply not allowed to give any of them to you.

Now I'll tell you why he was stopped, dear ones, and it's the first time we have ever told you – because these inventions were too easy to weaponize. Humanity just isn't ready for it. You're not ready for massless objects, either, for the principles are too easy to weaponize.

"So," you might say, "when will we be ready for it?" I think you already know the answer, don't you? At the time when Human consciousness reaches a point where that which is most important is unification and not separation, it will happen. A point where conquering and power are not desirable ideas or assets. A point where humanity will measure the strength of its population by how healthy they are and not by economic growth. A point where coming together with your neighbor is the main objective to social consciousness, and not conquering them or eliminating them. That's coming, dear ones. It's a ways away, but it's coming. Look around the planet at the moment. The old energy leaders are obvious, are they not? It's like they are relics in a world of thinking that is passing them by.  ….”