Kryon Berlin Tour & Seminar - Berlin, Germany, Sept 17-22 2019 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

Kryon Berlin Tour & Seminar - Berlin, Germany, Sept 17-22 2019 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)
30th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall

Council of Europe (CoE) - European Human Rights Court - founding fathers (1949)

Council of Europe (CoE) - European Human Rights Court - founding fathers (1949)
French National Assembly head Edouard Herriot and British Foreign minister Ernest Bevin surrounded by Italian, Luxembourg and other delegates at the first meeting of Council of Europe's Consultative Assembly in Strasbourg, August 1949 (AFP Photo)

EU founding fathers signed 'blank' Treaty of Rome (1957)

EU founding fathers signed 'blank' Treaty of Rome (1957)
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

Shuttered: EU ditches summit 'family photo'

Shuttered: EU ditches summit 'family photo'
EU leaders pose for a family photo during the European Summit at the EU headquarters in Brussels on June 28, 2016 (AFP Photo/JOHN THYS)

European Political Community

European Political Community
Given a rather unclear agenda, the family photo looked set to become a highlight of the meeting bringing together EU leaders alongside those of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Britain, Kosovo, Switzerland and Turkey © Ludovic MARIN

Merkel says fall of Wall proves 'dreams can come true'


“ … 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.)




"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, August 6, 2014

Europe's comet-chasing Rosetta probe reaches target

Space probe Rosetta has reached position near a deep-space comet that scientists hope holds clues about the solar system's origins. The much-anticipated rendezvous comes at the end of a decade-long journey.

Deutsche Welle, 6 Aug 2014



The Rosetta probe drew close to its study subject, the prosaically-named 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet, closely monitored by European Space Agency officials at mission control in Darmstadt, Germany.

The orbital entry on Wednesday was triggered by a firing of thrusters to bring the craft into the first of a series of "pyramidal" paths around the comet's nucleus, which has been likened to a rubber duck because of its odd shape.

ESA's Twitter account for the mission tweeted a photo of the comet's nucleus, along with a succession of greetings in different European languages.


The arrival marked a key moment for the 1.3-billion-euro ($1.76-billion) project examining the formation of the solar system. If all goes according to plan, Rosetta will carry out its first landing on the comet in November, sending a robot chemistry laboratory named Philae to the comet's surface.

Rosetta took off from Earth aboard an Ariane 5 rocket on March 2, 2004, from ESA's launchpad in French Guiana. The space agency has likened its unprecedented journey to a game of "cosmic billiards."

To reach its present position, the craft had to make four flybys of Earth and Mars, using the gravitational force of each as a slingshot. Rosetta then entered a 31-month hibernation period as the sun became too weak for its solar panels, coming back to life in January this year.

The latest maneuvers, to bring the probe within about 100 kilometers (60 miles) of the comet, have involved the craft making a series of braking maneuvers. The probe will eventually be steered into position some 10 kilometers from the nucleus' surface.

Astrophysicists believe comets, icy clusters left over from the formation of the planets 4.6 billion years ago, could be the key to understanding how the planets coalesced and formed around the sun. It is also thought they might harbor clues as to the source of the water that formed the Earth's oceans, as well as the origins of life itself.

rc/hc (AFP, AP)
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Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Warsi attacks 'morally indefensible' stand on Gaza as she quits coalition

Warsi says Cameron has lost moral authority as Clegg demands suspension of arms export licences to Israel

The GuardianPatrick Wintour and Rowena Mason, Tuesday 5 August 2014

Warsi said Cameron’s response to Gaza may become 'a basis for radicalisation
 [that] could have consequences for years to come'. Photo: Andrew Parsons/i-Images

The government's policy towards the Israeli incursion into Gaza was in danger of falling apart on Tuesday night in the wake of the surprise resignation of the Foreign Office minister Sayeeda Warsi and a demand by Nick Clegg that Britain immediately suspend arms export licences to Israel.

Lady Warsi said the prime minister had lost moral authority, undermined the national interest and deprived Britain of its historic role as an honest broker in the Middle East by refusing to condemn the aggressive Israeli response to the Hamas rocket attacks as disproportionate.

In her strongly worded resignation letter, whose morning publication came as a surprise to No 10, Warsi warned that "our approach and language during the current crisis in Gaza is morally indefensible [and] is not in Britain's national interest".

She also complained that Cameron's response may become "a basis for radicalisation [which] could have consequences for us for years to come".

Her departure came after internal argument inside the National Security Council over Cameron's refusal to condemn the aggressive Israeli response to the Hamas rocket attacks.

British ministers have condemned the outcome of the Israeli bombings as intolerable and appalling, but Cameron has barred ministers from describing the Israeli bombings as disproportionate, and refused to attribute final blame prematurely even for some of the attacks on UN schools in Gaza.

Warsi's departure exacerbated coalition tensions over Gaza, as Clegg urged an immediate suspension of arms export licences, saying that Israel had breached the conditions. He said the suspension should remain in force until agreement has been reached across the government on any permanent revocation in the coming days.

Ministers agreed a review of the licences last week, but Clegg has decided to ratchet up the pressure, saying: "I believe the actions of the Israeli military, overstepping the mark in Gaza, breach the conditions of those export licences and that's why we want to see them suspended pending a wider review of whether they should be revoked more permanently in the long run."

Revealing he has been putting pressure on his Conservative colleagues for a suspension of the licences rather than a review, he said: "I believe we will be able to make an announcement on this, finally, very shortly. It's very important that in response to clearly what appears to be disproportionate military action of Israel in Gaza, we should be suspending the arms export licences that presently exist."

Warsi's departure also prompted a vicious round of briefing against her by some Tories, condemning her variously as egotistical, incompetent, a Hamas sympathiser and motivated by pique at her failure to be promoted in the last reshuffle.

However, Downing Street, aware that she has the potential to cause lethal damage if she broadens her attack on the Cameron circle, as her resignation letter threatened, distanced itself from such briefings. Cameron, in his reply to her resignation letter, lavished praise on her and urged her to raise any issues with him in the future. It is known she has kept copious diaries, and officials fear she may claim in retrospect she was used as a token Muslim.

Cameron wrote: "I very much regret that we were not able to speak about your decision beforehand." He added: "I understand your strength of feeling on the current crisis in the Middle East – the situation in Gaza is intolerable. Our policy has always been consistently clear: we support a negotiated two-state solution as the only way to resolve this conflict once and for all and to allow Israelis and Palestinians to live safely in peace."

The departure of the first British Muslim cabinet minister is a major blow for Cameron, potentially weakening Conservative support among ethnic minorities in marginal seats, lifting the lid on the divisions on the Tory backbenches over the scale of Israel's bombing, and apparently confirming to the party's centre-left that traditional support for international human rights has been severely eroded by ministerial changes. "It's now a Daily Mail administration," complained one recently sacked Conservative minister.

Warsi, as senior foreign office minister, was responsible for British support for international human rights law and in her resignation letter bemoaned the departure in the previous reshuffle of Kenneth Clarke, and the former attorney general Dominic Grieve.

Warsi spoke at length to the new foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, on Sunday and appears to have held back from resigning on Monday because of the first world war commemorations.

Instead she resigned via Twitter just after 9am on Tuesday, coincidentally about three hours after a three-day ceasefire had come into force.

Both Hammond and the chancellor, George Osborne, highlighted the timing of her announcement. Osborne described her decision to quit as "disappointing and frankly unnecessary", while Hammond said he was slightly surprised she had quit just as weeks of behind-the-scenes diplomacy was bearing fruit with the ceasefire.

But Warsi's resignation broke a dam of criticism of Israel in the Conservative party. Boris Johnson, the London mayor often touted as a future leadership contender, condemned Israel with the words Cameron has declined to deploy.

"I believe in a two-state solution. I cannot for the life of me see how this helps us get there. I think that it is disproportionate, I think it is ugly, and it is tragic. And I don't think it will do us any good in the long run," Johnson said.

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Matthew message (Channelled by Suzanne Ward, Aug 3, 2014)

Matthew Ward - August 3, 2014

Matthew Ward
With loving greetings from all souls at this station, this is Matthew. We have been asked about the speculation that the United States government had a hand in downing the Malaysian plane in Ukraine and the accusations that the Russian government did. Our colleagues in Nirvana say neither is responsible—it was the work of the “black ops” arm of the Illuminati-controlled faction of the CIA, the same force that is egging on the pro-Russian separatist movement in Ukraine.    

That faction, which operates independently of all governments’ oversight, respects no national borders. Wherever some citizens are dissatisfied with their elected leaders, the agents either instigate or exacerbate uprisings to heighten tension, implicate whatever national leaders would be appropriate and help the dissidents obtain weaponry and supplies. “Black ops” personnel, like the rest of the Illuminati, feed on negativity, and their means of refueling themselves is creating negativity-laden chaos, fear, death, injury, sorrow and destruction.

The Illuminati’s international network has been so severely weakened that they no longer are the overriding force they were many decades past, when  they easily started two world wars and in each profited handsomely by selling to both sides whatever was needed to keep the machinery of war going. Although their ability to start WWIII and add to their ill-gotten fortunes never was to be except in their deluded thoughts, they are nourishing themselves for the moment with the negativity of concerns about where fighting in Ukraine may lead and high emotions about the plane tragedy and its aftermath.

However, all of that must be put into the context of everything happening everywhere, and we ask you to imagine your world as a unique story being made into a movie. Let us ascribe “screenwriter” to the universal mind since it has full vision of this epic film’s ending amidst the marvels of Earth’s Golden Age. And let us call you the “publicists”—you have been briefed on the story and how it ends so you can talk about it to whoever is receptive.

You also are in the cast of billions, all of whom are given free rein to act however they think best fits the scenario at hand. So, behaving in accordance with respective personalities and characteristics, a few actors are ruthless in efforts to monopolize the scene while others strive for a team effort to serve the interests of all. Some members become angry about the way the story unfolds, others are pleased, still others are discouraged, and many in the cast are confused. Some actors behave unreasonably, others urge cooperation so things can proceed smoothly; and as some rise in prominence, others fade. Some cast members feel their parts are too small, others feel theirs are too hard; some think the film will be a success, others are afraid it won’t be. Cast members die, newborns come into it. And, since each actor’s main focus during filming is his or her part, it is only when the entire cast views the completed production that they can see why all of the roles were necessary to make this motion picture of unprecedented stature and scope.

Perhaps that is a feeble analogy, but it is accurate insofar as the lack of awareness about free will and karma being played out, planetary and personal ascension, and a world in transformation. The vast majority of your population has no idea that volatility in Ukraine and the plane crash are parts of this transformative process. The public-at-large doesn’t know that those heart-wrenching tragedies for everyone who lost beloved persons are experiences that they and their dear ones chose for soul evolvement—the goal of every soul—and it is the same with those who are involved in the militant aspects. 

This is true in most heartrending situations, and we shall mention another that readers have asked us to speak about: the thousands of children from Central American countries who came unsupervised to the United States. They, the families who sent them there for safety, the individuals who led them across the border, and the people who are causing the violence in their native countries are experiencing what they chose in soul contracts. 

It is true as well that not everyone who is dying or mourning a loss or is injured, homeless and desperate chose those experiences, and this is the case regarding the bloodshed and destruction in Gaza. There, just as in all other places where harshness and trauma exist and are not part of the affected persons’ contracts, divine grace steps in. All who continue to endure non-chosen circumstances take leaps in evolvement and each person whose lifetime is cut short receives full credit for all contract provisions. Those who transition to Nirvana rejoice about being there and send a profusion of light to their beloved souls on the planet who are coping with the same kinds of difficult experiencing.  

We know these truths, yet it is with profound sadness that we see so much strife, suffering, heartache and killing within our beloved Earth family. We hasten to add that those moments are fleeting—the negativity of that intense feeling cannot linger in these high vibrations—and we are able to quickly resume beaming light to help you continue moving steadily toward the full brilliance of the Golden Age that awaits in the continuum. 

Because so few of your populace know what we have shared with you, prevalent feelings are grief, anger, despair and fear of what may come next. The low vibrations of those natural reactions are being offset to a large extent by the light in aid, caring and compassion streaming from all corners of Earth. Indeed, other civilizations are beaming massive amounts of light to the planet, but you on-site light-bearers are exemplifying that love-light is the only way to resolve all conflicts and end deprivation throughout your world—especially in unsettling times, let your light shine!

Worldwide, people are ready for the light! They may not know about free will, karma and multiple lifetimes or spiritual and conscious evolution or the Illuminati; but they do know your world’s history: Never have killing, placing blame and taking revenge brought the lasting peace and cooperation among nations that people are hungering for! 

This is an appropriate place to answer, Do countries accrue good or bad karma?  No, only individuals do, and karma is neither good nor bad. It is a gift of divine grace so that embodied souls may have experiences that differ greatly from other lifetimes and attain the balance required for soul growth. However, souls choose to be born where conditions offer the experiencing they selected, and that may give the appearance that specific karmic lessons affect an entire country.   

Readers have asked why the United States’ government “works against the people of that country instead of for them” and our view of the Republican party’s “stupid lawsuit against the president instead of taking care of what we the people need.” 

The primary reason the United States government isn’t more responsive to the citizenry’s needs is that some members of Congress are Illuminati and others are financed, bribed or blackmailed into voting as the Illuminati dictate. Of all nations you call “industrialized,” the United States has the most externally-controlled government—the Federal Reserve System, multinational corporations, the medical profession and its related industries and agencies all have a large say in what Congress does.

In numerous messages we have spoken about the strong souls who agreed to provide the severe hardships that masses of souls needed to wind up third density karma, then those strong souls would join the light forces; instead they became greedy and enamored of power and control and they refused to honor their pre-birth agreement. Those individuals are the Illuminati, and their activities have set back progress by ten years or so.

Earth’s ascension pace wasn’t affected, but your society’s was. The Golden Age master plan was designed so that when Barack Obama became US president in 2008, your world would eagerly support his efforts to unite all peoples in peace and harmony with Nature in accordance with Gaia’s vision. The Illuminati-led offensive against that objective has been relentless.  Even so, the light has shattered their international network and diminished the effectiveness of its remnants while engendering the expansion of grassroots movements around the globe and increasingly successful behind-the-scenes negotiations. 

As for the lawsuit against President Obama, we see it as a neon arrow pointing to the country’s serious issue that the Republican party’s most conservative contingent—“The Tea Party”—also limits the government’s responsiveness to the needs of the people. This doesn’t mean that those individuals are in the Illuminati ranks; simply, they want the country run according to their wishes and philosophies. The other Republicans, eager to sweep the party to election victories in all the states, join with Tea Party members to vote as a bloc, and their voting record shows that often it doesn’t coincide with what would benefit the majority of citizens. 

Now we shall do our best to comply with the request that we give “a simple scientific explanation of light and how it affects a civilization.”  Light, which is the same energy as love, is the essence of Creator, Source of everything in existence. Light is the most powerful force in the cosmos, the entirety of consciousness, the ingredient of souls, and the life force of every living entity. Even the peak of the dark forces has a spark of light; otherwise, it would not exist.

Light comes into this universe through its Supreme Being, whom you may call God, Allah, Jehovah, Yahweh or any other name; and everything is universally connected by and within this energy. Therefore spirit, which is considered faith, and science, which is considered fact, are one and the same: light fluctuating at one frequency or another. 

But let us return to the Beginnings of all life throughout the cosmos. Creator’s first expression of Itself created the Christed realm and the first souls, the archangels; the realm itself and the archangels are pure light. At an unknown time, Creator endowed the archangels with the gift of free will and its companion, the power of manifestation—that is, they could use Creator’s energy to make whatever they imagined, and in their first co-creational process, they made the next level of angels and gods and goddesses. Those souls also were pure light. 

At some point the archangels had the idea of making physical forms for souls who desired it—that was the origin of DNA and the elements of bodies’ “building blocks.” Within the DNA were photons, which continuously absorb and radiate the light that produces bodies with crystalline cells that contain cosmic consciousness and have the ability to live in the vibrations of the highest celestial planes.

Eventually some souls whose negative deeds dropped them from the light used their free will to downgrade the DNA of newer, less experienced civilizations. The changes made dense bodies with DNA containing electrons, which have much less light and vibrate at much lower frequencies than photons. The reduction in light caused corresponding reductions in those civilizations’ consciousness, brain functioning and life span. They lost all knowledge of their Beginnings, their weakened bodies were vulnerable to disease, and their temperaments included fear and all of its negative byproducts like cruelty, greed, anger, lust for power, unjustness, impoverishment, divisiveness and hatred—hatred is not the opposite of love, it is the absence of love, or light. Those are the conditions of third density civilizations.

It is not that no bodies on Earth have photons, and an unimaginable quantity is in the atmosphere. But electrons are dominant in the vast majority of your populace—that is why they are lagging in awakening spiritually and consciously—and throughout your world—that is why you have electric and electronic appliances and pay to use them instead of having photons’ “free” energy. The way to ascend into planes where photons outnumber electrons is by increasing the amount of light in the collective consciousness. 

Energy is neutral. It is the thought forms that get attached to energy streamers that are positive—with light—or negative—without light. The forms are created by every being’s thoughts, feelings and actions, and collectively those determine a civilization’s density, or spiritual and conscious evolvement status. That is one universal definition of density; the other is mass or the location of a mass, and the two don’t necessarily go together.  That is why Earth, a fifth density soul spiritually and consciously, can be in the initial stages of fourth density location-wise and most of her people are at third density evolvement status. Animals and plants are absorbing more light than most of humankind; at this moment, the light in people varies from brilliant to just enough to keep bodies alive. 

Now then, every person and every thing in your world emits vibrations in consonance with each form’s consciousness level, and that is determined by the amount of light in each. The atoms in inanimate objects—say a pebble, football, nail and chair—have minimal consciousness; exceptions are crystals and gold, which have a high degree. The consciousness level of soil is higher than objects and so is that of slugs, worms and short-lived insects; higher on the scale are the species of insects that have a well-developed hierarchy and clearly-defined working system within it.

The plant kingdom has a very high level of consciousness. Trees have intelligence and emotions that few people would even consider possible and extend far beyond the acorn that knows how to become a mighty oak and the apple seed that knows how to bear fruit. Tiny flower seeds know their colors and whether to blossom for a season or flourish year after year. The generally unseen, therefore unknown souls in the Devic kingdom, who work hand-in-hand with all of Nature, also are highly advanced consciously and emotionally. 

Humans and other high orders in the animal kingdom have the highest level of consciousness—instinct, intuition, memory, learning and reasoning capability, and the widest range of feelings—but only humankind also is endowed with conscience and Creator’s gift of free will. Although each living being and each inanimate thing serves a purpose in the evolutionary process of all, it is the human population that sets the pace.

Whereas all other life forms on Earth operate within their respective innate guidelines that work in harmony with Nature, people can choose to act in godly ways or not, to heed conscience or not; and their collective choices determine the civilization’s evolvement status. As humankind evolves via the light in spiritual and conscious awareness, so do all the other forms on the planet, and the collective vibratory emissions advance the entire world.  And, as a world advances, life becomes increasingly simpler and joyous!  It is only in third density’s lower vibrations that a civilization creates all the complexities born of negativity.  

Beloved brothers and sisters, we know that you want dramatic changes for the better and sometimes feel it’s a matter of a step forward, then back. Your media emphasize the “epic” film’s downside drama instead of the myriad successful achievements in villages, cities and countries around the world; and reporters don’t know about the vital developments “off camera.”  If you could view your world as we do, you would be astounded at the progress, the obstacles met and overcome, the learning—remembering!—you have mastered!  We salute you, the vanguard of light-bearers on Earth, and surround you with unconditional love. 

LOVE and PEACE

Suzanne Ward
Email: suzy@matthewbooks.com

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Bernie Ecclestone: 'I'm an idiot' for paying £60m to settle F1 bribery trial

Formula One chief relieved at end of trial but questions paying $100m settlement as 'judge more or less said I was acquitted'

The Guardian, Josie Le Blond in Berlin, Tuesday 5 August 2014

Bernie Ecclestone. The F1 boss is worth £3bn-£4bn but the defence denied
claims that he had bought his freedom. Photograph: Willi Schneider/Rex

The Formula One chief, Bernie Ecclestone, has declared himself "a bit of an idiot" for paying a £60m settlement to bring an end to his bribery trial.

The president and chief executive of Formula One agreed with German prosecutors on Tuesday to pay the record sum to end his trial, a district court in Munich confirmed. The defence has denied accusations that he had bought his freedom.

The Formula One boss went on trial in Munich in April over allegations that he bribed a former German banker as part of the sale of a major stake in the motor sport business eight years ago.

Although slightly lighter in the pocket, given Ecclestone's worth is estimated at about £3bn-£4bn, he was nonetheless relieved that he could put this period of his life finally behind him.

Ecclestone, 83, told PA: "The bottom line is it's been three and a half years of aggravation, travelling, meeting lawyers, and God knows what else, so it is good it is out of the way.

"This trial has been going on for two days a week and it was going to go on until October. When you're trying to run businesses it's not easy trying to resolve things when you're dealing with lawyers.

"In the end what has happened today is good and bad; the good is the judge more or less said I was acquitted, and they [the prosecution] really didn't have a case.

"So I was a bit of an idiot to do what I did to settle because it wasn't with the judge, it was with the prosecutors.

"Anyway, it's done and finished, so it's all right. I'm contented, it's all fine.

"This now allows me to do what I do best, which is running F1.

"Another three months out would have been bad. I've been working weekends to catch up with what I've been missing during the week.

"I've not really noticed, but it's probably taken its toll a little bit."

The Munich court said in a statement that $99m (£59m) would be paid to the German treasury and a further $1m to a German children's hospice charity. The money will be paid within a week, it added, after which the trial will officially be abandoned.

"The abandonment is neither a 'deal' nor a 'settlement', even less so a 'buying out,'" said Ecclestone's defence team in a joint statement. Prosecutors said they had based their decision partly on the defendant's age and willingness to cooperate.

Ecclestone was accused of having given Bayern Landesbank's chief risk officer, Gerhard Gribkowsky, $44m in 2006 in order to ease the sale of the bank's share to a company that had guaranteed to keep Ecclestone as chief executive.

Throughout the trial, Ecclestone admitted paying the money but denied it was a bribe, saying he paid it to silence Gribkowsky who had threatened to report him over irregularities in his tax affairs. Gribkowsky was sentenced in 2012 to eight and a half years for tax evasion, breach of duty and accepting bribes.

In a statement explaining its decision to abandon proceedings, the court said it had "considerable doubts" that Ecclestone knew Gribkowsky had held the position at the German state bank at the time of the alleged bribe.

"Accordingly, a prosecution of the accused due to bribery is not probable as things stand," the court said, despite admitting that all evidence in the case had not yet been heard.

Last week Ecclestone's legal team informed the court that he was willing to pay €25m (£19.8m) to Bayern LB in a separate settlement. The bank, which had been seeking €400m in damages from Ecclestone, had rejected an earlier offer of €50m in 2012, the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported.

German law provides for some criminal cases to be settled with smaller punishments, such as fines, though the size of the payment in the Ecclestone case has led some to question a system that in effect favours rich defendants.

A paragraph in the German criminal code allows for trials to be ended under conditions that are "appropriate for resolving the public interest in a prosecution," as long as the gravity of wrongdoing does not outweigh this.

In practice, wealthy defendants have in the past used this clause to buy their way out of criminal trials. But no one has ever paid so high a sum as has been agreed with Ecclestone.

The agreement, which his defence lawyers said kept his presumed innocence intact, means Ecclestone is able to continue unchallenged at the helm of the multibillion-pound business, which he is credited with building up over the past four decades.

If he had been sentenced, Ecclestone, a leading figure in the sport since the 1970s, could have faced up to 10 years in prison and would most likely have been forced to step down.

During the trial, Ecclestone handed over the day-to-day running of Formula One to his chief legal officer, Sacha Woodward-Hill. Now Ecclestone is once again free to take control, with no sign of the veteran sports magnate voluntarily giving up any of his considerable power.

Monday, August 4, 2014

Extension of video referee and yellow card for shirt messages

DutchNews.nl, Monday 04 August 2014

Pieter Vink (second from left) with his
assistants studying video (NOS/ANP)
The Dutch football association KNVB is to ask the International Football Association Board for permission to introduce a video referee from this October.

The KNVB has been experimenting with the video referee, or instant video replay, for the past two playing seasons. However, the results were only used to assess referee decisions after the game.

The association now wants to give referees access to the technology and allow them to call on the images during the match.

If permission is granted, the video referee will be used during the early stages of the league playing season.

The announcement was made during the annual get-together of referees, when just one new adjustment was made to the rules. From this season, players wearing shirts carrying a personal, political or religious message will be given a yellow card.

Leaders gather in Liege to remember outbreak of WWI

Once adversaries, now allies, leaders of Europe have marked the 100-year anniversary of WWI. The lessons of that war still apply to today as aggressors infringe on territorial rights and individual freedoms, they warned.

Deutsche Welle, 4 Aug 2014


European leaders gathered in the Belgian city of Liege on Monday to commemorate the outbreak of World War One. On August 4, 1914, Germany invaded Belgium, commencing a war that would last four years and claim the lives of millions.

Each of the speakers - including Belgian hosts King Philippe and Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo and their guests French President Francois Hollande, German President Joachim Gauck and British Prince William - remarked on the miracle of Europe's transformation from a continent of continuous war.

However, their comments soon diverged to current conflicts - such as fighting in eastern Europe and the Middle East- brought to mind by their similarities with the war that left an indelible mark on Europe a century ago.

"Today is the time to be illustrious with actions that we are able to undertake," Hollande.

"Europe should be more [active] because peace is never certain, it demands vigilance," he added, referring in particular to the fighting in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip

German President Gauck echoed these comments, calling on the Europe to demonstrate what it believes "not only through our words, but also through our everyday actions that we have learned our lesson."

Fighting in both conflict zones has claimed several thousand lives over the past few months. The international community has widely criticized Russia for its annexation of Crimea and backing of separatists in eastern Ukraine. The alleged downing of a commerical airliner last month has further alarmed people across the globe and angered Western leaders who have blamed Russia for the incident.

Meanwhile, critics have accused Israel of using excessive force, causing an unacceptably high number of civilian deaths in its bombardment of the Gaza Strip as it seeks to destroy tunnels used by Islamist militants.

A day of commemoration

The commemoration on Monday was to be followed by a separate Belgian-German ceremony later in the day in Leuven, before a memorial service led by British leaders at the St. Symphorien military cemetery in the town of Mons.

Great Britain also planned to hold a centary commemoration in Glasgow Cathedral on Monday, as August 4 also marks the island-nation's entry into World War One.

Battle of Liege

Liege, an industrial hub, became one of Germany's first targets, as it is located just under 50 kilometers (31 miles) from its own border. Despite being outnumbered, the Belgian forces managed to hold off Germany's military for 12 days before the city fell.

A war embraced with widespread enthusiasm on all sides in the late summer of 1914 soon became four years of mayhem and destruction. More than 14 million people lost their lives in the fighting, including four million civilians.

The political wasteland left behind by World War One became the fertile ground for the rise of Nazism in Germany in the decades that followed. It also set events in motion that saw the rise of Communism and the fall of colonialism in the 20th century.

Civilians Suffer in Ukraine Clashes as MH17 Probe Gathers Pace

Jakarta Globe – AFP, Aug 04, 2014

A sunflower in between the debris of Malaysia Airlines Boeiing 777, near the
 village of Rozsypne in Eastern Ukraine at Sunday 3th August 2014. Investigators
 searched a second site of wreckage from the aircraft in the rebel-controlled region.
Both Dutch and Australian forensic experts and police officers worked near the
village of Rozsypne. (EPA Photo/Jerry Lampen)

Donetsk. Fighting between government forces and pro-Russian rebels left at least 10 civilians dead in eastern Ukraine on Sunday as an international probe at the crash site of downed flight MH17 made headway.

The deputy mayor in the encircled insurgent stronghold of Donetsk told AFP that shooting in a residential suburb had killed six civilians and injured 13, the latest victims of more than three months of civil war that has claimed at least 1,150 lives.

Local authorities in the second-largest separatist bastion of Lugansk said shelling had left three dead and eight injured, while the city council in the frontline rebel base of Gorlivka reported one dead and 16 hurt in clashes there.

Ukraine’s military said its positions in the region continued to come under heavy bombardment, including shellfire allegedly from across the porous border with former Soviet master Russia.

Government forces have made major gains over the past month and say they are getting close to cutting off fighters in Donetsk from the Russian border and their comrades in Lugansk.

Kiev has promised to stamp out the insurgency in the near future but analysts warn the fighting could drag on as rebels have holed up in major cities and pledged to battle to the death.

A top rebel chief admitted that Donetsk was in a state of “siege” and said fighters were trying to battle past a government blockade.

“Our guys are dying heroically in efforts to break through,” said deputy prime minister of the self-styled Donetsk People’s republic Vladimir Antyufeev.

And it is civilians in the blighted region who are bearing the brunt of the violence.

In the face of the punishing government blockade, the mayor of Lugansk, a city of some 420,000, is warning of a looming “humanitarian catastrophe” as electricity has failed and water and fuel supplies have run out.

The United Nations says more than 100,000 people have fled the fighting for other parts of Ukraine, while Russia claims another half a million have crossed the border in search of refuge.

One zone searched

The latest violence came as scores of Dutch and Australian police investigators completed a third day trawling through the vast MH17 debris field for more remains of the 298 people killed when the Malaysian passenger jet was blown out of the sky over separatist territory almost three weeks ago.

After days of fierce fighting prevented experts from reaching the scene of the disaster, the Dutch-led probe has now bulked up to nearly full strength with sniffer dogs and refrigerated ambulance vans brought in as they work to make up for lost time.

“We have already searched one of the five zones that we have divided the crash site into,” said Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg, head of the Dutch police mission.

Search crews continue to turn up body parts and personal belongings scattered across some 20 square kilometers, and those leading the probe say it could take some three more weeks. A total of 220 sets of remains have already been taken to The Netherlands for identification.

Another plane carrying an unspecified number of remains will fly out of the government-held city of Kharkiv on Monday.

Aalbersberg told journalists in the city that a train wagon carrying victims’ possessions was currently stuck at a rebel-held train station.

The United States accuses insurgents of downing MH17 on July 17 with a surface-to-air missile likely supplied by Russia, while Moscow and the rebels blame the Ukrainian military.

International fallout

International shock waves from the crisis continue to reverberate with tensions between Russia and the West at their highest since the Cold War.

The United States and European Union have hit Moscow with the toughest sanctions seen since the collapse of the Soviet Union over the Kremlin’s alleged arming and instigation of the separatist rebellion.

One target was Russian airline Aeroflot’s low-cost domestic airline Dobrolet, which was forced to cancel all its flights from Monday because of scrapped leasing deals for Boeing aircraft.

According to a German newspaper report Monday, Berlin has decided to scrap a major deal to provide a fully-equipped training camp to Russian forces due to the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.

But the punishing measures are yet to quell the fighting and US President Barack Obama on Friday expressed “deep concerns” about Moscow’s increased support for the insurgents in a phone call with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

Russia, which risks seeing its fragile economy slip into recession because of the sanctions, has warned that measures will backfire on Western interests.

Some EU diplomats have warned that the sanctions could actually embolden Putin by convincing him he has nothing to lose by going all-in over the Ukraine crisis.

NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in an interview published Sunday that the alliance would draw up new defense plans in the face of “Russia’s aggression” against Ukraine, urging members to up their military spending.

Sunday, August 3, 2014

Princess Cristina fraud case leads to calls to strip her name from Spain's streets

Dozens of towns with link to royal facing fraud charges debate whether scandal surrounding her is shaming their communities

theguardian.com, Ashifa Kassam in Madrid, Sunday 3 August 2014

Princess Cristina and Iñaki Urdangarin deny any wrongdoing as the
 investigation drags on into a second year. Photograph: Willi Schneider/
Rex Features

Residents of Princess Cristina Street in the Spanish village of Moraleja del Vino, lined with salmon-coloured townhouses and a three-storey apartment building, used to be quite pleased with the royal associations to their quiet road.

But with their princess under investigation for possible tax fraud and money-laundering, some locals are joining a quiet rebellion that has begun around Spain to rid themselves of the name's less-regal connotations.

The street is one of about a dozen places across the country dedicated to the embattled princess who are watching anxiously as the high-profile investigation into her affairs drags into its second year.

For some, the decision to cut ties was easy. In Palma de Mallorca, a regal boulevard dotted with Roman statues named in 1998 after Princess Cristina and her husband, Iñaki Urdangarin, was unceremoniously reverted back to its original name last year.

City officials pointed to her husband in explaining their hasty decision, citing "a lack of consideration towards the title and the name of our city". Urdangarin faces charges for fraud, falsifying documents and embezzlement. Both Cristina and her husband have denied any wrongdoing.

In other cities and towns across the country, the battle has pitted monarchists against republicans, echoing the scene that played out after King Juan Carlos announced his abdication in June. Tens of thousands of Spaniards took to the street to demand a referendum on the monarchy, while thousands of others celebrated the proclamation of King Felipe.

In Extremadura, United Left politician Víctor Casco took pains to point out that the names of public buildings should pay tribute to "citizens who have led exemplary lives". Recent events had led him to question whether that was the case for the Princess Cristina hospital in Badajoz, he said.

Casco's arguments were echoed in Ávila, where Socialist politician Tomás Blanco took aim at a residential home named after Princess Cristina and her sister, Elena. Both politicians said they felt pushed to speak out after a judge decided to uphold charges against the princess in June, paving the way for an unprecedented criminal trial.

For Espacio Abierto (Open Space), a collective of social movements and activists in the town of Pinto, the campaign to ditch the royal's name from the Princess Cristina Cultural Centre began in April last year, after the princess was first summoned to court.

When the judge's April order was overturned by a higher court, it began to feel premature to pass judgment on the princess, said group member Javier Vaquero. "We agreed that if the charges are held up, we'll take up the cause again."

That announcement came in June. The group debated briefly rekindling their campaign, but decided to hold off.

"Morally I think we've all condemned this lady," said Vaquero. "But our views are not the same as a sentence."

One hundred and 70 miles away in Moraleja del Vino, village officials came to the same conclusion. A petition to rid the street of Cristina's name was initiated by a former councillor who argued that the honour should only be bestowed on "people who serve as examples to be emulated, particularly for young people".

The matter was discussed among local authorities, said mayor Guillermo Freire Rodríguez. "We agreed that if they sentence her, we'll take down the name of the street."

His tone was defensive as he explained why the village had decided to keep the name for now. "When we named the street after her, she seemed like someone who deserved it. Now she might not be, but we want to be sure."

Saturday, August 2, 2014

Britain 'attempts to censor' US report on torture sites

US Senate report may confirm that Diego Garcia was used for extraordinary rendition after 9/11

The Guardian, The Observer, Jamie Doward and Ian Cobain, Saturday 2 August 2014

Diego Garcia, a British territory in the Indian Ocean, is known to have
detention facilities. Photograph: Corbis

The government stands accused of seeking to conceal Britain's role in extraordinary rendition, ahead of the release of a declassified intelligence report that exposes the use of torture at US secret prisons around the world.

The Senate report on the CIA's interrogation programme, due to be released in days, will confirm that the US tortured terrorist suspects after 9/11. In advance of the release, Barack Obama admitted on Friday: "We tortured some folks. We did some things that were contrary to our values."

Now, in a letter to the human rights group Reprieve, former foreign secretary William Hague has confirmed that the UK government has held discussions with the US about what it intends to reveal in the report which, according to al-Jazeera, acknowledges that the British territory of Diego Garcia was used for extraordinary rendition.

"We have made representations to seek assurances that ordinary procedures for clearance of UK material will be followed in the event that UK material provide[d] to the Senate committee were to be disclosed," Hague wrote.

Cori Crider, a director at Reprieve, accused the UK government of seeking to redact embarrassing information: "This shows that the UK government is attempting to censor the US Senate's torture report. In plain English, it is a request to the US to keep Britain's role in rendition out of the public domain."

Lawyers representing a number of terrorist suspects held at Guantánamo Bay believe their clients were rendered via Diego Garcia. Papers found in Libya indicated that the US planned to transport Abdul-Hakim Belhaj, an opponent of Muammar Gaddafi, and his wife via the territory, an atoll in the Indian Ocean leased by Britain to the US. The government has denied Belhaj was rendered via Diego Garcia, but there are suspicions that others were held on the atoll.

Crider said the UK's attempts to lobby the US into redacting parts of the report "turns the government's defence in the Libyan renditions case of Abdul-Hakim Belhaj and his wife entirely on its head".

The government has consistently sought to block Belhaj from bringing a case against it.

"The government protested America would be angered if this kidnap case ever went to trial – and now we learn the British government is leaning on the Americans not to air Britain's dirty laundry. It exposes their litigation stance as mere posturing," she added.

Confirmation that a British territory was involved in extraordinary rendition could leave the government vulnerable to legal action. Last month the European court of human rights ruled that the Polish government actively assisted the CIA's European "black site" programme, which saw detainees interrogated in secret prisons across the continent.

The court concluded it was "established beyond reasonable doubt" that Abu Zubaydah, a Guantánamo detainee the US mistakenly believed to be a senior member of al-Qaida, was flown from a secret site in Thailand to another CIA prison in Stare Kiejkuty in northern Poland.

The judges concluded that not only was Poland "informed of and involved in the preparation and execution of the [High Value Detainee] Programme on its territory", but also "for all practical purposes, facilitated the whole process, created the conditions for it to happen and made no attempt to prevent it", prompting lawyers to ask what else it has been used for since.

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Friday, August 1, 2014

GOP lawmaker: You will ‘rethink everything’ when full 9/11 report is released

The Raw Story, Travis Gettys, Thursday, July 31, 2014


A Republican lawmaker renewed his call for the release of 28 redacted pages from the investigative report into the 9/11 terrorist attacks — which a left-wing fringe group claims implicates the British monarchy.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) appeared Wednesday on the Glenn Beck Program to discuss the excerpt, which he and two other current lawmakers and one former lawmaker were permitted to read earlier this year.

The Tea Party-backed freshman lawmaker, who was one of five House Republicans who voted against authorizing Speaker John Boehner to sue President Barack Obama, posted video earlier this month from a news conference on those classified portions of the “Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities Before and After the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001.” 

“It is sort of shocking when you read it,” Massie told reporters. “As I read it, we all had our own experience, I had to stop every couple of pages and absorb and try to rearrange my understanding of history for the past 13 years and the years leading up to that. It challenges you to rethink everything.”

Massie appeared alongside Reps. Walter Jones (R-NC) and Stephen Lynch (D-MA), who cosponsored legislation to release the classified pages after being allowed to read them – but not to publicly discuss their contents.

Although the news conference was held in March, the newly posted video prompted renewed online coverage – and an invitation to appear on Beck’s syndicated radio program.

Massie told Beck the revelations would not “tear our country apart,” although he said there would be “anger, frustration, and embarrassment when these 28 pages finally come out.”

“If we’re going to use 9/11 as a motivation to get involved in these civil wars in the Middle East, (lawmakers and the public) need to read these pages and understand what truly caused 9/11 and who our friends are and who our enemies are,” Massie said.

According to Jones’ friends in the Lyndon LaRouche movement, which has claimed knowledge of some contents of those 28 pages since at least 2009, those duplicitous friends are Great Britain and Saudi Arabia.

“We know exactly who did it: It was done by the British monarchy,” said LaRouche, the conspiracy theorist and perennial candidate for president. “The British monarchy set the whole thing up. That’s the guilty party, and that’s what the cover-up is all about.”

LaRouche has suggested for years that Britain controls the world’s political economy and international drug trade using strategies – such as funding terrorists to destabilize nation-states – developed by medieval Venice.

Jones and Lynch pressed for months to gain access to the redacted documents – which are left blank in the published report.


LaRouche’s website contains a number of links to documents suggesting 9/11 – as well as the Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya – was funded as part of the ongoing Al Yamamah weapons-for-oil deal set up by the British aerospace company BAE Systems and the Saudi government.

LaRouche’s “Executive Intelligence Review” publication claims to have evidence about the findings provided by former Sen. Bob Graham (D-FL), who has seen the 28 redacted pages and has called for additional investigation into the Saudis’ role in 9/11.

“Despite the carefully orchestrated campaign to protect our Saudi ‘friends,’ ample evidence of Saudi Arabia’s intimate ties to al-Qaeda and the 9/11 attacks has come to light,” Graham said.

Bob Kerrey, a former U.S. senator who served on the 9/11 Commission, has also suggested the role of Saudi Arabia needs to be further investigated. A U.S. counter-terrorism report released in 2008 concluded Saudi Arabia was the leading source of money for Al Qaeda.