Coalition 'gambles' on making Austria carbon neutral by 2040

Yahoo – AFP, Julia ZAPPEI, January 2, 2020

People's Party (OeVP) leader Sebastian Kurz says his two-party coalition will
'protect the climate and borders' (AFP Photo/ALEX HALADA)

Vienna (AFP) - Austria's first coalition between conservatives and Greens announced Thursday that it would aim for carbon neutrality by 2040 to make the country a European "forerunner" in climate protection.

The two disparate parties have agreed to govern in what Greens leader Werner Kohler called a "gamble" after key election gains in September.

Their alliance means People's Party (Oe Vp) leader Sebastian Kur, 33, returns as chancellor after his previous coalition with the far-right broke apart earlier this year owing to a corruption scandal.

It marks the first time the Greens enter government on a national level though the Oe Vp holds on to controversial anti-immigration measures that have deeply divided Austrians.

"It's worth the gamble" to work with the conservatives, Kohler told reporters when presenting the government programme.

The carbon neutrality goal -- meaning greenhouse gas emissions are balanced with measures that absorb or eliminate carbon -- is ahead of Europe's 2050 ambition.

But the 300-page government programme also highlights security needs, the conservatives' main campaign platform.

"Migration will stay at the heart of my politics," said Kur, who has styled himself as a tough anti-immigration fighter, reiterating his view that the coalition's parties had "succeeded in uniting the best of both worlds".

'Daring experiment'

European Council President Charles Michel said 2020 began with "great news from Austria."

He tweeted: "25 years after its accession, Austria renews its commitment to the European project and is set to become a leader in the fight against climate change."

Observers say Germany and other nations could follow suit for the unlikely marriage of conservatives and ecologists as politicians seek to cater to voters' increasingly populist sentiments as well as worries about climate change.

But many have also warned that the alliance stands on thin ice as particularly the Greens have made key compromises.

A column in the left-leaning Standard on Thursday described the coalition as a "daring experiment" and a "political adventure". Tabloid Oesterreich billed the Oe Vp as "powerful as never before".

Kur announced his party would head 10 ministries, including the interior, foreign, defence and finance.

The Greens will have charge of an enlarged environment ministry, as well as hold the justice, social affairs and sports and culture portfolios with Kohler, 58, nominated as Kur’s vice-chancellor.

In September polls, the Greens gained 13.9 percent of the vote in their best-ever result as the environment replaced immigration as top concern.

The Oe Vp got 37.5 percent as disappointed voters of the scandal-tainted far-right Freedom Party (F Poe) flocked to Kur’s party.

It will now be up to the Greens' almost 280 delegates to give the final go-ahead to the agreement at a party congress on Saturday. The new government is then expected to be sworn in next week.

'50-50 survival chance'

Among a raft of proposals, the programme spells out that all energy should come from renewable resources by 2030 and for more to be invested in public transport.

Though renewable energies already account for about a third of Austria's consumption -- almost double the EU average -- the nation of 8.8 million people has been among few EU members that have seen their greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase between 1990 and 2017.

Regarding immigration and security, the coalition wants to introduce preventive detention and extend the headscarf ban for school girls -- clauses which will be hard to swallow for some Greens.

Political analyst Johannes Huber told AFP that the alliance had a "50-50 chance" of survival, depending on which topics came up in the next few years.

Standard daily columnist Eric Frey also wrote that Kur and Kohler would need a "skillfulness as few politicians before them" should tricky issues arise, such as a surge in the number of asylum seekers, worsening climate change or an economic downturn.

Opposition leaders have already criticised the new coalition, with the Social Democrats (Sope) saying the Greens have failed to make a mark, while F Poe leader Norbert Hofer said the programme contained "mainly hot air".

But both the Sope and the F Poe are weakened, with the Social Democrats suffering their worst-ever results in the September polls and the far-right tumbling after the "Ibiza-gate" graft scandal brought down their then-leader and vice-chancellor in May, causing the government to collapse.

Freed from elevator, Pope names new cardinals from Muslim, developing countries

After being trapped in an elevator due to a power outage, Pope Francis made it to his weekly Angelus prayers. There, he announced 13 new cardinals from the periphery of the church and some who have worked with refugees.

DW, 1 September 2019

Pope Francis at Angelus prayers

Pope Francis arrived late for his weekly Angelus prayer service on Sunday, prompting worried worshipers to speculate that the pontiff, 82, may have fallen ill. He surprised the crowd, however, by announcing that his late arrival was due to being stuck in a Vatican elevator for nearly half an hour.

Francis then further surprised his audience by saying that several of the new cardinals he had been expected to name would be from the Muslim world as well as clerics well known for helping refugees.

"I was trapped in a lift for 25 minutes, there was a power outage and the lift stopped, but then the firemen came," the pope said.

"Let's give a round of applause to the fire service," he added, with the crowd obliging.

13 new cardinals

The pope then named the 13 men he will officially elevate to the status of cardinal in October. Several were from developing countries, such as Cuba, Guatemala, and Congo. Two more came from the Muslim-majority nations of Morocco and Indonesia. Another is a Spaniard who works in interfaith dialogue and has a background in Islamic studies.

The move is in line with Francis' desire to highlight the work of those in the periphery of the Church's reach.

"Their provenance expresses the missionary vocation of the Church to continue to announce the merciful love of God to all men on Earth," Francis said.

The other new cardinals include the Czech-Canadian Jesuit priest Michael Czerny, who has previously worked in ecology and social justice, and is now responsible for migration and refugees in the Vatican, and Matteo Zuppi, now Archbishop of Bologna, who was previously with the Sant'Egidio Community charity in Rome, known for its work with the homeless and refugees.

Cardinals are among the most powerful leaders of the church, and are the only clergy eligible to elect a new pope.

School bus hijack children to get Italian nationality

Yahoo – AFP, March 27, 2019

Italian Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini (R) meets with five children
who helped to save other children during the March 20, 2019 Milan bus attack, saying
they deserve Italian nationality (AFP Photo/Tiziana FABI)

Rome (AFP) - Foreign children on the school bus hijacked near Milan last week are to be awarded Italian nationality, far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said Wednesday after a week-long debate.

The dramatic police rescue of 51 children on the bus hijacked by their driver of Senegalese origin on March 20 has gripped Italy and rekindled debate about its citizenship laws.

"If there are children who are not Italian citizens, we have studied this question and we will complete the process so that they can become Italian," Salvini said after meeting five of the children and some of the police who saved them in Rome.

Salvini from the anti-immigrant Lega party stressed that the nationality would be awarded "without any variation in the law, since the law exists and works, we do not change it."

Children of foreign parents who are born in Italy can only apply for citizenship when they reach 18.

It is not known how many of the children are concerned, but 14-year-old Ramy, born in Italy to Egyptian parents, and 13-year-old Moroccan Adam played key roles by calling police during the hijacking.

The driver doused the bus in petrol and said he would set it alight, taking what he thought was everyone's mobile phone and heading for Milan airport in what he said was a protest against Salvini's tough anti-migrant policies.

'Like my son'

As some Italians and Ramy suggested changes to the citizenship law, Salvini had earlier told the boy: "Get elected and then you can make the law."

Italian Deputy Premier and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini (R) chats with Ramy, one 

of the five children who helped to save other children during the March 20, 2019 Milan

bus attack, whom Salvini says is "like my son" (AFP Photo/Tiziana FABI)

Salvini quickly said he would try to take away the Italian nationality of the arrested bus driver, which he acquired by marrying an Italian, thanks to a tough anti-immigrant decree which became law last year.

The previous centre-left government said it would change the law to make it easier to grant citizenship to foreigners born in Italy but the law was never passed.

Salvini insisted that he himself had decided to give the children nationality, after his coalition partner from the Five Star Movement Luigi Di Maio said he had changed Salvini's mind.

Salvini slammed what he called "the political manipulation of these children" before saying that Ramy was "like my son" and that he had "shown he has understood the values of this country".

He also paid homage to a 13-year-old Italian boy who offered himself as a hostage while his friends were "in panic, crying and praying."

"He is a young Italian so I can't even give him double-Italian nationality," Salvini said.

"As a father myself, I said to him, 'Are you crazy?' And he told me: 'It was the right thing to do'. At 13... Hats off."

According to the most recent data, Italy naturalised 146,000 foreigners in 2017, more than any other European Union country, including 54,000 minors who became adults.

Nationality is a sensitive issue in Italy which is undergoing a birthrate crisis.

Legally resident foreigners represent 8.5 percent of the population, rising to 9.7 percent of children under 10, 13 percent under five and 14.5 percent of children born last year.

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Georgia's first female president sworn in

Yahoo – AFP, Vano SHLAMOV, December 16, 2018

Georgia's new and first female President Salome Zurabishvili was sworn in on
 Sunday (AFP Photo/IRAKLI GEDENIDZE)

Telavi (Georgia) (AFP) - Georgia on Sunday swore in its first female president, Salome Zurabishvili as opposition parties continue to denounce her election as fraudulent and demand snap parliamentary polls.

The inauguration paved the way for a new constitution to come into force, transforming the country into a parliamentary republic with a largely ceremonial president.

The event was held in the mediaeval town of Telavi in Georgia's eastern winemaking region of Kakheti.

French-born Zurabishvili, 66, took the oath of office in the courtyard of an 18th-century manor that belonged to Georgia's penultimate king Heraclius II.

"The goal of my presidency is to make Georgia's democratic development and its path towards Europe irreversible," she said in an inaugural speech.

"I will facilitate this process with the support of our strategic partner, the United States of America, and our European friends," she said.

Opposition parties have refused to recognise Zurabishvili's election last month and tried to hold a protest rally outside the royal residence.

But the plan was thwarted by police, who on Sunday morning blocked a kilometres-long opposition motorcade on a road leading from the capital Tbilisi to Telavi.

Pro-opposition Rustavi-2 TV channel reported that clashes briefly erupted between police officers and protesters as they tried to break through police ranks.

"Georgian Dream has taken away our constitution, our state institutions, our freedom of expression," defeated candidate Grigol Vashadze told journalists after a failed attempt to stage a protest in Telavi.

Police block a street during Georgia's new President Salome Zurabishvili's
inauguration ceremony in the eastern city of Telavi (AFP Photo/Vano Shlamov)

Election irregularities

Vashadze was the candidate of an 11-party opposition alliance led by exiled former president Mikheil Saakashvili's United National Movement.

Zurabishvili was backed in the election by the ruling Georgian Dream party of Georgia's ex-premier and billionaire tycoon Bidzina Ivanishvili.

Ivanishvili, Georgia's richest man, stepped down as prime minister in 2013 after just a year in office but is still widely believed to be Georgia's de facto ruler. His critics accuse him of "state capture" as his loyalists hold key cabinet posts.

Former French diplomat Zurabishvili has said her election was a step forward for women and a move closer to Europe.

But opposition parties have refused to accept the result, pointing to instances of alleged vote-buying, multiple voting, voter intimidation, and ballot-stuffing in the November 28 election.

On December 2, thousands of opposition supporters took to the streets in Tbilisi against the election result, demanding snap parliamentary polls.

Georgia's leading rights groups denounced the electoral irregularities, which the US State Department said were "not consistent with the country's commitment to fully fair and transparent elections."

Observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe said that while the election was "competitive" and candidates campaigned freely, it was concerned over "the misuse of state resources" by the ruling party.

In what critics derided as "vote-buying" ahead of the election, Ivanishvili promised the government would drastically increase social spending and pledged to spend his own money to write off the bank loans of more than 600,000 people.

Georgia's new President Salome Zurabishvili said she would continue to promote 

the country's pro-US, pro-EU policies (AFP Photo/IRAKLI GEDENIDZE)

Daughter of refugees

Zurabishvili was born in France to a Georgian family who fled the Bolshevik regime to Paris in 1921.

She studied international relations at the prestigious Paris Institute of Political Sciences before a 30-year career as a French diplomat, with postings to the United Nations, Washington and Chad.

Her career in French diplomacy culminated in a posting to Tbilisi, where then-president Saakashvili appointed her as foreign minister.

But Zurabishvili quickly made enemies in the ranks of the parliamentary majority, with MPs and a number of senior diplomats publicly accusing her of arrogance.

She was sacked in 2005 after a year on the job, though thousands took to the streets of the capital to protest her dismissal.

She then joined the opposition as a member of parliament and became one of Saakashvili's fiercest critics.

In her book "A Woman for Two Countries", published in France after her firing, she wrote: "Now, I have to engage in a political battle, which has never attracted me, which I never practised, which is being imposed on me."

Zurabishvili will be Georgia's last directly elected president as the country transitions to a parliamentary form of governance following a controversial constitutional reform.

The Caucasus country's next president will be elected in 2024 by a 300-member electoral college.

Adopted in September 2017, the constitutional change was protested by all opposition parties which denounced it as favouring the ruling party.

Britain's Prince William in Jordan for historic Middle East tour

Yahoo – AFP, Mussa Hattar, June 24, 2018

Britain's Prince William and Jordanian Crown Prince Hussein bin Abdullah walk
along the red carpet at Amman's Marka military airport at the start of William's tour
of the region on June 24, 2018 (AFP Photo/KHALIL MAZRAAWI)

Amman (AFP) - Prince William flew in to Jordan on Sunday at the launch of a Middle East tour that will see him become the first British royal to pay official visits to both Israel and the Palestinian territories.

He was greeted at Amman's Marka military airport by Crown Prince Hussein bin Abdullah, hosting William for the two-day visit in Jordan.

The 36-year-old Duke of Cambridge's Royal Air Force plane touched down at the small airport in eastern Amman, where he was given a red-carpet welcome by the heir to the Jordanian throne.

Royal guards carrying rifles fitted with bayonets and wearing Jordan's traditional red-and-white chequered keffiyeh scarves stood to attention as the prince, in a dark suit, descended from the plane.

The visit by the second in line to the British throne has been billed as a chance to bond with 23-year-old Prince Hussein, a fellow graduate of Britain's Royal Sandhurst Military Academy.

On Sunday evening, William attended a birthday party in honour of his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, whose official 92nd birthday was celebrated on June 9, at the British ambassador's residence.

"I greatly admire the resilience you in Jordan have shown in the face of the many security and humanitarian challenges that have confronted you as a result of conflicts in this region," William said at the party.

"The way in which you opened your doors to hundreds of thousands of refugees from Syria, not to mention your longstanding commitments to Palestinian refugees, is remarkable," he said.

"In so many ways, Jordan as an open and stable society is a beacon of hope for many other people in the Middle East."

Britain's Prince William attends a birthday party in honour of his grandmother, 

Queen Elizabeth II, at the residence of the British ambassador Edward Oakden's (L) 

house in the Jordanian capital Amman on 24 June, 2018 (AFP Photo/AHMAD ABDO)

On Monday, William will visit the ancient Roman ruins of Jerash, north of the capital, as well as a vocational training college for young Jordanians and Syrian refugees.

That evening, he will begin his history-making visit to the Jewish state and occupied West Bank during which he will meet both Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.

Seeds of conflict

Kensington Palace has underlined the "non-political nature of His Royal Highness's role -- in common with all royal visits overseas".

But the region is a minefield of sensitivities.

The visit comes at a particularly volatile time after US President Donald Trump recognised Jerusalem as capital of Israel and moved Washington's embassy there, sparking Arab outrage and deadly clashes.

Britain governed the region under a League of Nations mandate for almost three decades until Israel's independence 70 years ago, and is still blamed by both sides for sowing the seeds of a conflict that continues to wrack the region.

Ahead of William's arrival, the official schedule's reference to east Jerusalem as "in the Occupied Palestinian Territories" sparked anger among right-wing Israeli politicians.

Britain's Prince William and Jordanian Crown Prince Hussein bin Abdullah walk 

along the red carpet at Amman's Marka military airport at the start of William's tour 

of the region on June 24, 2018 (AFP Photo/KHALIL MAZRAAWI)

Official visits by British royals take place at the request of the UK government, but statements from the prince's household have given little explanation for the timing of this trip.

Israel has long pushed for an official visit by a member of the British monarchy.

Other members of William's family -- including his father Prince Charles -- have made unofficial visits to Israel and east Jerusalem in the past.

During the trip, William will have plenty of reminders of Britain's role in the region.

In Jerusalem, he will stay at the King David hotel, which was Britain's administrative headquarters during its rule of Palestine prior to Israeli statehood in 1948.

In 1946, militant Jews waging violent resistance against British rule bombed the building, killing and wounding scores of people, many of them British civil servants or military personnel.

Whilst in Jerusalem, William will lay a wreath at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial.

He will also visit the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem and pay tribute at the tomb of his great-grandmother, Princess Alice of Greece, who has been honoured by Israel for sheltering Jews during World War II.

In the West Bank city of Ramallah, he is to hold talks with Abbas and also meet Palestinian refugees and young people.

Pope says some refugee centres 'concentration camps'

Yahoo – AFP, Angus MACKINNON, April 22, 2017

Pope Francis blesses the crowd as he leaves the Basilica of St. Bartholomew
 on Tiber Island after the Liturgy of the Word with the Community of Sant’Egidio
 in memory of the "New Martyrs" of the 20th and 21th century, on April 22,
 2017 in Rome (AFP Photo/Alberto PIZZOLI)

Rome (AFP) - Pope Francis on Saturday described some of Europe's refugee centres as "concentration camps" as he paid tribute to an unknown Christian woman slain for her faith in front of her Muslim husband.

"These refugee camps -- so many are concentration camps, crowded with people... because international accords seem more important than human rights," Francis said in impromptu remarks at a ceremony in memory of modern day Christian martyrs.

Departing from his prepared script and appearing unusually emotional as he spoke, the 80-year-old pontiff said he wanted the woman to be remembered along with all the other martyrs commemorated in Rome's Basilica of St Bartholomew.

He revealed that he had met the woman's husband during his visit to a refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos last year.

"I do not know what happened to him, if he managed to get out of his concentration camp, and get to somewhere else" Francis said, describing the man as a father-of-three but not revealing his nationality.

"He looked at me and said 'Father, I am a Muslim and my wife was a Christian. In our country we were terrorised ... they saw her crucifix and they asked her to throw it away.

"When she refused they cut her throat in front of my eyes. We loved each other so much."

Saturday's service at the Basilica located on an island in the Tiber river that separates most of Rome from the Vatican, was also addressed movingly by Roselyne Hamel.

She is the sister of Jacques Hamel, the 85-year-old priest murdered by jihadists last year as he was celebrating mass in his church in Normandy in northern France.

"At his age, Jacques was frail but he was strong in his faith in Christ, strong in love for the Gospel," Roselyne Hamel said.

Describing her sibling as "a universal brother," she said she was certain his love for humanity would even have extended to his killers.

Other speakers included Francisco Hernandez, a friend of William Quijano, an organiser of "Schools for Peace" in El Salvador and a victim of gang violence in 2009, and Karl Schneider, son of Paul Schneider, a protestant pastor who died in the Nazi death camp at Buchenwald.

The Basilica where Saturday's service took place is home to a large collection of relics of Christian martyrs across the ages, including recently added momentoes of Schneider, Quijano and Hamel.

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Defiant Swedes unite, reject violence after truck attack

Yahoo – AFP, Ilgin KARLIDAG, April 9, 2017

People attend a memorial ceremony on April 9, 2017 at Sergels Torg plaza in
 Stockholm, close to the point where a truck drove into a department store two
days before (AFP Photo/Odd ANDERSEN)

Stockholm (AFP) - A carpet of flowers, candles and stuffed toys on Sunday covered the steps of a Stockholm shopping plaza where up to 50,000 people gathered for a vigil honouring the victims of last week's truck attack.

"We talk, we don't fight," Marianne said just a stone's throw from where the lorry mowed down shoppers before slamming into the facade of a popular department store, killing four people and injuring 15.

A 39-year-old Uzbek suspected of carrying out the attack had previously been refused residency in Sweden and had "shown sympathies for extremist organisations" such as the Islamic State group, the police said.

Although the motive is not yet known, the method resembled previous terror attacks using vehicles in Nice, Berlin and London, all of them claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group.

"I think it's very important to stay strong together, against anything that endangers our society which is based on democracy," Marianne, who attended the vigil under sunny, spring skies with her elderly mother, added.

A woman handed out roses to two police officers guarding the square.

Mikael Berggren, a 36-year-old from Stockholm who brought his two children aged one and three to the vigil, said he would continue to live his life normally.

"They're too young to understand what happened," Berggren told AFP as he gazed towards his children.

"The attack will not change anything."

Called the "Love Manifestation", the vigil was created as an event on Facebook and attended by politicians, activists and performers.

Flags were, meanwhile, lowered to half mast in the normally vibrant city.

'We will win'

Karin Wanngard, Stockholm's mayor who spoke at the event, described the city as "open, loving and tolerant".

"Horror cannot prevail, horror may never win, we will win instead...(with) openness and kindness!" the Social Democrat said.

Daniel Holl, a 31-year-old German researcher living in Sweden, said he joined the rally to make a stand for unity among nations hit by attacks in recent years.

"Whether it's Berlin, Brussels, Paris or Stockholm you feel the same, it has nothing to do with nationality," he told AFP.

Gurgi Singh, 31, who moved to Stockholm from India a couple of months ago to learn Swedish, said he was not worried the attack would divide or polarise Sweden.

"Sweden or Stockholm is very supportive and people are always welcoming and helpful," he told AFP.

"If it's going do anything its going to make it more stronger than divided," he said, referring to Friday's attack.

For Charlotte, a Stockholm resident, the attack brought people closer even if they didn't always show it.

"This is the capital of Sweden, a lot of people are busy, running around, and we don’t even have time to say 'hi' sometimes because we are on the go," she told AFP.

"This is so nice to see that people really care, even if we don't show it everyday, you do care for the people around you.".

Scottish lawmakers back independence on eve of Brexit

Yahoo – AFP, Mark MCLAUGHLIN, Rosie SCAMMELL, 28 March 2017

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May (R) and Scotland's First Minister Nicola
Sturgeon pose ahead of their meeting in a Glasgow hotel on Monday, but their talks
failed to bridge the divide over Scottish independence

Scotland's parliament voted Tuesday to back First Minister Nicola Sturgeon's call for a second independence referendum, another headache for Prime Minister Theresa May as she battles to keep the country united just a day before triggering Brexit.

The vote by lawmakers in Edinburgh was 69 in favour and 59 against despite May's last-minute appeals.

"I hope the UK government will respect the will of this parliament, and if it does so I will enter discussion in good faith and with a willingness to compromise," Sturgeon said.

Sturgeon will now make a formal request for a referendum but she needs approval from the British government and parliament in London to do so and May has already said that "now is not the time".

May will on Wednesday begin the process of ending Britain's 44-year membership of the European Union by invoking Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty, opening two years of negotiations.

Last year's Brexit vote has spurred the independence campaign of Sturgeon, head of the ruling Scottish National Party (SNP), who argues that Scotland is being forced out of the European bloc against its will.

Both Scotland and Northern Ireland voted to remain in the EU, but they were outnumbered by voters in England and Wales who backed Brexit.

Most recent polls show support for independence is high but still short of a majority.

A survey by ScotCen published earlier this month showed support at 46 percent -- its highest level since the yearly study began in 1999.

Support for independence is at its highest level since 1999, polls show

UK an 'unstoppable force'

Sturgeon and May met in Scotland on Monday, with the prime minister reiterating that the time was not ripe for a referendum and describing the four nations of the United Kingdom as an "unstoppable force".

The SNP leader has suggested an independence vote should be held by spring 2019 at the latest -- before Britain leaves the EU.

Neither leader has expressed a willingness to compromise and the rift is unlikely to end before Article 50 is triggered.

Rejecting Sturgeon's request would be politically risky for May, whose government is also trying to prevent the collapse of the power-sharing arrangement which governs Northern Ireland.

The Northern Ireland executive collapsed in January following a dispute between the two main parties, the Democratic Unionist Party and Irish nationalists Sinn Fein, which failed to reach a new power-sharing deal by a Monday deadline.

The British government has extended the talks and, if a resolution is not reached, fresh elections could be called or London could resume direct rule over Northern Ireland.

"In the absence of devolved government, it is ultimately for the United Kingdom government to provide for political stability and good governance," Northern Ireland Minister James Brokenshire told parliament on Tuesday.

The fate of the province is one of the priorities set by the EU's chief Brexit negotiator. "We will not stand for anything that weakens dialogue and peace in Northern Ireland," Michel Barnier wrote in the Financial Times on Monday.

Northern Ireland's politicians have been going round in circles trying to find

a power-sharing deal

'Pulling together'

Despite May's assertion that she will seek the best Brexit deal for all of Britain -- including Scotland -- she has failed to convince the SNP which has warned of the negative consequences of leaving the EU.

The economic uncertainty of Scotland outside the United Kingdom was a factor in voters rejecting independence in a 2014 referendum, but the SNP claims breaking away from the European single market would cost Scotland tens of thousands of jobs.

Scotland's economic hand was strengthened on Monday when exploration firm Hurricane Energy announced the "largest undeveloped discovery" of oil in British waters, located west of the Scottish Shetland Islands.

But May also won a financial boost, with Qatar committing to invest £5 billion ($6.23 billion, 5.8 billion euros) in the UK economy within five years.

The announcement will allay fears of investors abandoning Britain when it leaves the EU and the European single market, which May has said is a necessary step to control immigration.

The prime minister made a plea for unity ahead of Britain's historic EU departure.

"Now is the time when we should be pulling together, not hanging apart. Pulling together to make sure we get the best possible deal for the whole of the UK," she told reporters.

Pope warns EU 'risks dying' without new vision

Pope Francis decried a "vacuum of values" and lack of solidarity among EU states ahead of the EU's 60th anniversary. He urged European leaders not to resurrect walls, in a message likely also aimed at the US and Britain.

Deutsche Welle, 24 March 2017

Pope Francis said Europe faced a "vacuum of values" during an audience with EU leaders in the Vatican on Friday. Ahead of a celebration for theanniversary of the Treaty of Rome on Saturday, Francis condemned anti-immigrant populism and extremism as mortal threats to the bloc.

"When a body loses its sense of direction and is no longer able to look ahead, it experiences a regression and, in the long run, risks dying," he told heads of state and government from 27 EU member states, as well as EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

"The first element of European vitality must be solidarity," he said, arguing that this would be "the most effective antidote to modern forms of populism."

The Argentinian-born pontiff told the leaders they needed to promote Europe's "patrimony of ideals and spiritual values" more vigorously. Francis said the EU needed to close the gap between its citizens and institutions, adding that Brussels was "often perceived as distant and inattentive."

Among the attendees at the audience in the Vatican were German Chancellor
Angela Merkel and Romania's President Klaus Iohannis

In a message likely aimed at US President Donald Trump as well as EU leaders, Francis urged Europe not to close in on itself and resurrect walls in the struggle to cope with mass immigration from conflict zones.

He said that a hostile mindset towards refugees showed many Europeans were experiencing a worrying "lapse of memory." He said many people had forgotten that Europe experienced mass migration during and in the aftermath of World War II.

"What efforts were made to tear down [the Iron Curtain]," he said. "Yet today the memory of those efforts has been lost. […] Forgotten […] is the tragedy of separated families, poverty and destitution born of that division."

On Saturday, EU leaders will celebrate the founding of the European Union. On March 25, 1957, six nations signed Treaty of Rome, establishing the European Economic Community, the EU's predecessor organization. Today, the EU is the world's largest trading bloc and encompasses 28 nations.

Leaders from 27 EU states attended the ceremony in the Catican ahead of the
Treaty of Rome's anniversary celebration

While the EU was long seen as on an upswing - with rising life expectancy, solid prosperity and few military conflicts - the bloc has recently suffered a few major setbacks. Economic turmoil and disagreements over how to handle an influx ofmigrants have put the future of the union in question. Next week, Britain is expected to officially trigger its exit negotiations following last year's pro-Brexit vote. British Prime Minister Theresa May will be notably absent from the anniversary celebrations in Rome.

mb/sms (AFP, AP, Reuters)

The Treaty of Rome was signed in the Palazzo dei Conservatori, one of the

 Renaissance palaces that line the Michelangelo-designed Capitoline Square

in the Italian capital

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

“…  We told you there'd come a time on the planet when there'd be only five currencies because the continents would decide to put countries together, not separate them. Do you know who was the model? It's the United States. What an experiment you had! Imagine: Could you take many different states that were governed separately, yet didn't have any visible borders, and give them one currency? It worked. It has worked for well over 100 years. Against all odds, it worked.

Fifty years ago, with the end of the last world war, the Europeans saw what the USA did and emulated it. It has become the European Union. After the war, they postulated, "What if we took many of the countries of Europe, ones who have warred with each other since the beginning of recorded civilization, and we unified them? We will take away the borders and give them one currency." They were laughed at! Yet today, you're seeing it.

Today, their monetary system is more valuable than yours! Where am I going with this? Listen - here is an attribute, a postulate, an axiom of this new earth energy: Separatism kills. Unity is the survival of humanity. You will start putting things together and not taking them apart. And the more you put them together, the more you will unify. Then slowly you'll realize that the goal is to put things together, not tear them apart. What has the European Union created? I'll tell you. It isn't the Euro. It has created a group of countries that will never go to war with each other again! They can't. They trade with each other. Think about it. That's what we're talking about.

Don't be surprised if those many boxes of organized spirituality start to unify, because there's more strength if they do. They'll reach more people if they do. You're going to start seeing this eventually, or the individual boxes will fade away. …“

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

".... Europe

Let's talk about Europe - Eastern and Western Europe. Look at the history. I want you to look at the history of the Europeans. What do you know about them? What did you study in school about them, American? You had to learn all those dates and facts. You sit in a country that's barely 200 years old and you had to memorize all the battles and all those conquerors and all those army specifics for hundreds of years! Fourteen hundreds, 1300s - all the way to the present century they seemed to be conquering each other on a regular basis. They warred with each other like the tides of the ocean, constant and predictable. When they got tired of that, they conquered other continents. The small country of Spain alone is responsible for conquering all of South America, middle America and well up into North America. Millions today are speaking their language who never did before they arrived.

The armies of Napoleon spread across parts of Europe like water flowing in a river, conquering everything in its path. There are some cities today in Europe that still don't know which country they belong to! This is because their borders kept changing so often! Now, that's history. I want you to look at it carefully. Still, there would be those who say, "This is just what men do. They create borders and cultures and they go to war. That's Human nature."

Fifty years ago, this new energy started to arrive. Oh, the alignments go slow, dear Human Being, but it was here. It was starting; it was beginning. Fifty years ago, something happened in Europe and you didn't hear much about it back then. Some very clear thinkers got together after World War II and said, "If we don't do something different and out of the box of today's thinking, it's all going to happen again because this is what we do. Men make war." Even the young country called America was involved in war. America itself almost split apart before that, because that's what men do. They split good things apart. It was obvious to these wise men that they could try something, something that might work - a uniting instead of separation. And so they formed an idea. Let me tell you what it was.

They said to themselves, "What if we could get as many countries as we can to agree to become a collection of 'country states'? If we start this now and go at it slowly, we could eventually have a system where we would trade together to the point where the borders come down, no checkpoints and no passports. All these cultures and former enemy countries would all trade evenly together, and for that to happen we might even have a common currency. Look at the United States, for this is how it works there. Europe would never go to war with itself again. It couldn't, since it would be allied financially."

Of course, they were laughed at! Everyone who heard it said it couldn't' be done and that there were just too many issues to solve. Those who objected said, "No, no, no. That's not what we do. We have too many different cultures. There's some with strong currencies, there's some with weak currencies. There are too many objections. Imagine going from one country to another without being inspected at the border? That won't work. Who are you to suggest something of this nature?" And the forward thinkers said, "We are unifiers. And we think it's a good idea so we will have strength and will never war again." That was two generations ago, 50 years.

Today, you have the European Union of States. There are more all the time, way past the original number of countries. Some are "standing in line" to be accepted! The borders are gone and the checkpoints are missing and the currency called the Euro is the strongest currency on Earth - stronger even than yours [the USA]. Now, let me tell you what did that. It's a consciousness shift that even 50 years ago was developing. Through two generations, it slowly allowed for free thinkers to unify things that had never been unified before. The result? These countries will never conquer each other again, because "history" ended at that moment. They started a new paradigm for Europe and one that has no historic profile known to man. The old history of the area is gone, and it will not repeat itself.

Those in the old Eastern Bloc of Europe, where there is still to this day very little unity, will still say, "History will again repeat itself. We are victims of it. It's only a matter of time." But not all of them feel this way. There are some who are starting to feel a unity of spirituality within their own cultures that they were never allowed to speak of before. So they are free thinking, out of the box of the old paradigm. It's new.

There are those who are standing on podiums and in pulpits and are proclaiming, "History is ended. It's the end of suffering. It's the end of dictatorships. It's the end of those who would put us in a low place. Instead, it's the beginning of discovering who we are." And although they don't say it in these exact words, they are discovering the creator inside - that which is the unity of God. So it's a full circle back to what the Angel told Muhammad, isn't it? For unity was the key to peace, and still is. It is a sacred principle and will never change.

Who would have thought this would have happened? The United States is what it is because 200 years ago the founders said, "Let us make a group of state countries without physical borders in a system that's never been tried. It's one of unity - the UNITED States of America." Oh, it had its tests, but the unifiers won. And it is why this country is what it is and is seen and respected for what it is and for what it's done. So young, it is, but representing the new energy, it is.

Your Declaration of Independence was channelled. Did you know that? It was collective effort channelling by those who had asked God for help. Go read it and feel that which is sacred inside, for it unifies and does not separate.

"The U in Kundalini"- Oct 18, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Kundalini, Unification, EU, Nobel Peace Prize 2012, Middle East, South America, Only 5 Currencies on Earth, Old Souls, Duality will dismiss, 3D Humanity will melt with Multi dimensional higher self, Global Unity… etc.)