How digital is Europe? New EU Commission index ranks countries based on ‘digital performance’ (spoiler: Denmark wins)

As it prepares to present its strategy for a EU-wide ‘Digital Single Market’, the European Commission today released (a new index), ranking all 28 EU member states based on their digital performance.

Tech.eu, RobinWauters, 24 February 2015

Today at the well-attended #Digital4EU stakeholder forum in Brussels, the European Commission has announced a new Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI). The index aims to highlight how digital Europe’s 28 member states really are, and to demonstrate that borders – and I quote – “remain an obstacle to a fully-fledged Digital Single Market – one of the top priorities of the Juncker Commission”.

The new tool, presented today at the event, provides per-country snapshots of connectivity (how widespread, fast and affordable broadband is), Internet skills, the use of online activities from news to shopping, and how key digital technologies (e-invoices, cloud services, e-commerce, etc) and digital public services such as e-government and e-health are developed across Europe.

The data is mostly from 2013 and 2014 and essentially aims to provide an overview of how digital Europe is. You can argue that the best you can do for this is glorified guesswork, but FYI the DESI combines more than 30 indicators and uses a weighting system to rank each country based on its digital performance.

To calculate a member state’s overall score, each set and subset of indicators were given a specific weighting by European Commission experts. Connectivity and digital skills each contribute 25% to the total score. Integration of digital technology accounts for 20%, while online activities (‘use of Internet’) and digital public services each contribute 15%.

As you can see above, right at the top is Denmark, with a 0.68 digital performance score out of 1, but really Nordic countries are – perhaps unsurprisingly – scoring well across the board; Sweden and Finland are also in the top 5 alongside Belgium and The Netherlands.

Not so high on the European ‘digital performance’ leaderboard are countries like Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Croatia and Italy.

Some other findings from the Index, which overall combines more than 30 indicators:

– A majority of Europeans use the Internet on a regular basis: 75% in 2014 (compared to 72% in 2013), ranging from 93% in Luxembourg to a meager 48% in Romania

– Europeans are apparently very eager to access audiovisual content online: 49% of Europeans who go online have played or downloaded games, images, films or music. 39% of households that have a TV watch video on demand

– Small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) face barriers with e-commerce: only 15% of SMEs sell online – and of that 15%, fewer than half do so across borders

– Digital public services are an everyday reality in some countries but almost non-existent in others: 33% of European Internet users have used online forms to send information to public authorities, ranging from 69% in Denmark to only 6% in Romania

– 26% of general practitioners in Europe use e-prescriptions to transfer prescriptions to pharmacists over the Internet, but this varies from 100% in Estonia to 0% in Malta

The European Commission is currently preparing its Digital Single Market strategy, which will be presented in May. (By the way, to make sure startups’ voices are heard as the plans take shape, check out this survey we’ve put together in collaboration with Nesta and the European Digital Forum).

If you’re interested in digging in: the DESI dataset is available here.

(Featured image credit: buffaloboy2513 / Shutterstock)

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Iran sees progress but 'long road' ahead in nuclear talks

Yahoo – AFP, 23 Feb 2015

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (R) and US State Secretary
John Kerry have held numerous talks in a bid to smooth the way towards a
nuclear deal (AFP Photo/Rick Wilking)

Tehran (AFP) - Talks with world powers on Tehran's disputed nuclear programme have made progress but significant work remains for a final deal, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Monday.

"Some progress was made on certain subjects but there is still a long road ahead to reach a final agreement," Iranian media quoted Zarif as saying after talks in Geneva with US counterpart John Kerry.

The foreign minister said talks had been "serious, useful and constructive with the P5+1 countries, especially with the American side".

A senior US administration official in Geneva said a new round of talks between Iran and the P5+1 group of Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany will take place next Monday in Switzerland.

The meeting will be held at the level of political directors, the official said after the Kerry-Zarif discussions on Sunday and Monday.

Wang Yi and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javid Zarif

give a press conference in Tehran, Feb. 15. (Photo/Xinhua)

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AAM on the Ukrainian “Nuclear Bomb” and Peace

Golden Age of Gaia, Steve Beckow, February 21, 2015

A concerned reader asked what about the galactics’ promise that no nuclear bombs would be exploded on the planet? How does that fit with the explosion in the Ukraine? I asked Archangel Michael the question in a reading I had with him on Feb. 20, 2015.

He also acknowledged that he wants to leave the last step in bringing peace on Earth to us, which is a theory that I’d been coming to recently. Here are his comments.

Steve: Was the nuclear bomb in the Ukraine a real nuke?

Archangel Michael: You mean the one that was disarmed?

S: Was it disarmed? I thought the tactical nuclear bomb had exploded.

AAM: It has been absolutely disarmed. Was there an explosion? Yes. Was the nuclear component taken out of it by your star brothers and sisters? Yes.

It is the promise that has been made to Gaia.

S: What happened around the peace initiative.  I’ll give you my take on what happened. You want us to walk the last step.

AAM: Yes!

The beginning has happened and it has happened more in unseen ways.

But you are not done yet. Now I know that many of you are tired. So you are saying, “Oh, I do not need another campaign.”

But it is like a campaign, within and without, observer, participant.

And the more that is created of peace within, it explodes. It doesn’t simply softly, gently caress. Now if you want to talk about nuclear implosion and explosion, the peace will explode upon the planet.

And as the lightworkers, loveholders are holding that energy, what you do not full understand is the tacit support, the permission that yuou are giving to those who are involved in violent action of the entire range to say “No” [to war?] and to say “Yes” to peaceful solutions. So does the initiative continue? Yes, it does.

"Fast-Tracking" - Feb 8, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Reference to Fukushima / H-bomb nuclear pollution and a warning about nuclear  (> 20 Min)

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

“…  8 - The End of War

The last one is the best. For thousands of years on this planet, Human Beings have warred with each other. If you take a look at the reasons they warred with each other, you will quickly see there aren't any good ones - land, resources, greed. Those are not reasons. That is a description of old energy. Those are not reasons. Reasons would be perhaps defense against an aggressor. But what if there is no longer the consciousness of the aggressor?

When I appeared in my partner's life more than 20 years ago, I said to him privately that the first messages we're going to give will be unbelievable. There would be laughter. We told him that Human nature and consciousness itself would change, and that the seeds of peace would be planted and there would come a time where there is no more war. Indeed, the laughter was great because humans look at history and they see patterns based on an absolute energy called Human Nature. "Impossible! There always has to be war. There always has been. Therefore, there always will be." This is you, in a box, in a black and white potential, where you can only see the black and white of what is and the black and white of what has been. You have no idea the shades of color that are there in your consciousness and the beauty of the love of God.

North Korea is on the edge of change, as we told you it might be. What did this require? The death of the old energy, and I want you to watch this take place. The advisors of the young leader are going to do their best to pull him back into an old energy. This free choice of his will be far different than his father, for he sees some color. Watch for these things. They'll take longer than you want, but it is the beginning of the beginning.

You'll see a fresh unification of South America sooner than not, for what is going to take place potentially this year in Venezuela. You'll see Iran changing. We have no clock. These are the potentials. These can change with free choice. These are not prophecies. This is a reality shift, dear ones, so number eight becomes the propensity not to war again. This is what Humans are going to want. This is what governments are going to want. There is a wisdom factor that will begin to happen on the planet that is grander than what you think is possible. For when you look at government, what do you think about? You see dysfunction, and there is an axiom that says the more people that try to do something together, the worse it gets. It all settles to the lowest common denominator. I'm telling you even those things are going to become old energy concepts. Instead, you're going to watch wisdom become the top potential.

I have no clock. I cannot tell you when. I can just tell you it is in the works, and there will be the seeds of it for you to observe soon - right now, in every single of the eight categories I showed you.

There are those who will say, "Well, Kryon, you're doing a lot more predictions than you used to." I want to tell you what's going on, dear one. I am not predicting anything. I am just telling you what's already there in the potential soup of your reality. That's what Humans are doing on this planet, and for those who believe this communication, you should breathe a sigh of relief and say, "It's about time." ….”

Apple to invest 1.7bn euros in Ireland, Denmark data centres

Yahoo – AFP, 23 Feb 2015

Apple's two data centres, set to begin operations in 2017, will run entirely on
renewable energy. They will support such online services iTunes, App Store,
iMessage, Maps and Siri for European customers (AFP Photo/Yasuyoshi Chiba)

New York (AFP) - US tech giant Apple said Monday it would invest 1.7 billion euros ($1.9 billion) in two data centres located in Ireland and Denmark, to boost online services in the European market.

“This significant new investment represents Apple’s biggest project in Europe to date," said Apple CEO Tim Cook in a statement.

The two data centres, set to begin operations in 2017, will run entirely on renewable energy. They will support such online services iTunes, App Store, iMessage, Maps and Siri for European customers.

Apple currently employs 18,300 people across 19 European countries and has added over 2,000 jobs in the last 12 months alone, the company said.

"We’re thrilled to be expanding our operations, creating hundreds of local jobs and introducing some of our most advanced green building designs yet," said Cook.

The facility in Ireland will be built in Athenry, County Galway, and the other in Viborg in Denmark's central Jutland.

This month Apple became the first company to be valued at over $700 billion after recently posting an unprecedented $18 billion in quarterly profits, thanks in large part to record sales of its iPhone.

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Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban loses super-majority in parliament

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his Fidesz party have suffered a critical by-election defeat. The result may signal a decline in popularity of the right-wing party that has ruled in a coalition since 2010.

Deutsche Welle, 23 Feb 2015

Orban and his right-wing Fidesz party have ruled Hungary in a coalition with the Christian Democrats since 2010, using their powerful two-thirds majority to make broad constitutional changes that critics say have placed limits on press freedom and judicial authority.

But the majority was lost Sunday in a by-election as voters in Veszprem, a historically conservative town southwest of Budapest, surprisingly elected independent candidate Zoltan Kesz with 43.1 percent of the vote. Fidesz candidate Lajos Nemedi received 33.4 percent of the ballots cast.

"We have shown a yellow card to the government," Kesz said following his electoral triumph.

A coalition of leftist and liberal parties supported Kesz in his victory.

"The voters in Veszprem have fulfilled the expectations of the entire country and ended Fidesz's two-thirds majority," Kesz said.

Orban recently welcomed Putin to
Budapest to negotiate a long-term
energy deal with Russia

'Atmosphere of protest'

Fidesz has seen a sharp drop in popularity following a at the end of last year and protests against a proposed Internet tax.

"For the Orban government, it is a sign that there is currently a strong atmosphere of protest in the country," political scientist Attila Juhasz told Hungarian broadcaster ATV.

Orban for his part played down the results of the election and said that he did not foresee initiating future legislation that would require a super-majority in parliament.

Critics accuse Orban of authoritarian tendencies and say he has been cosying up to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Orban just last week hosted the Russian leader in order to work out a long-term contract for the delivery of Russian gas to Hungary. Thousands took to the streets to protest the visit.

"We resent Orban making a fool of Hungary by inviting Putin here to do secret deals while there is a war next door in Ukraine," protest organizer Marton Gulyas told the AFP news agency last Tuesday.

bw/cmk (AFP, dpa)

Greece’s $8.3b Tax Plan Said to Be Aimed at Criminals, Oligarchs

Jakarta Globe – AFP, Feb 23, 2015

A protester holds a Greek flag during a rally in support to the Greek
Government’s negotiations in the Eurogroup meeting, outside the Greek
Parliament, in Athens, Greece, on Feb. 20, 2015. (EPA Photo/Yannis Kolesidis)

Berlin. Greece has drawn up a 7.3 billion-euro ($8.3 billion) tax hit list aimed at the country’s oligarchs and lucrative smuggling industry, a German newspaper said, as part of reform proposals due to its creditors on Monday.

European finance ministers on Friday gave Athens just over three days to draw up a list acceptable to its international creditors in exchange for a four-month extension of its debt bailout.

Popular German tabloid Bild reported that the Greek government hopes to garner 2.5 billion euros in tax receipts from the fortunes of powerful Greek tycoons, citing sources close to the hard-left government.

A similar amount would be drawn from back taxes owed to the state by individuals and businesses, Bild said.

The report said an additional crackdown on illegal smuggling of petrol and cigarettes would yield another 2.3 billion euros for the government coffers.

Greece’s hard-left Syriza government is walking a tightrope between its commitments to European creditors and its electoral pledges to end austerity in a country struggling to recover from severe economic crisis.

Two previous rounds of talks ended in acrimony with Greece accusing Germany and other hardline EU member states of sabotaging a deal.

To win Friday’s hard-fought deal, Athens pledged to refrain from one-sided measures that could compromise its fiscal targets and had to abandon plans to use some 11 billion euros in leftover European bank support funds to help restart the Greek economy.

“Europe has some breathing space, nothing more, and certainly not a resolution. Now it’s up to Athens,” German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told Bild.

“The fundamentals — namely assistance in exchange for reform — must remain the same.”

On Tuesday, Greece’s creditors will decide whether to proceed with Friday’s agreement after considering the proposals, with the chance that the compromise could be scrapped if they are not satisfied.

If Athens sticks to its commitments, it stands to receive up to 7.2 billion euros in funds still left in its 240 billion euro bailout from the EU and the International Monetary Fund.

Swiss account secret of HSBC chief Stuart Gulliver revealed

Leaked files covering 2005-2007 show bank chief executive sheltered £5m of his own money at Panamanian company with Swiss HSBC account

The Guardian, James Ball, Juliette Garside, David Pegg and Harry Davies, 22 February 2015

Stuart Gulliver in Hong Kong in 2012: leaked files show that the HSBC chief
 executive was a client of the bank’s Swiss subsidiary at the centre of the scandal.
Photograph: Bloomberg via Getty Images

Stuart Gulliver, the HSBC chief executive who has vowed to reform the crisis-hit bank, sheltered millions of pounds in a Swiss account through a Panamanian company and remains tax domiciled in Hong Kong.

Leaked files show that the Derby-born Gulliver, who is due to present HSBC’s annual report on Monday in the wake of the international controversy over its Geneva-based private bank, was also one of its clients, holding about £5m in a Swiss account.

The bank executive was listed as the beneficial owner of an account in the name of Worcester Equities Inc, an anonymous company registered in Panama, containing a balance in 2007 of $7.6m. It was through this entity that Gulliver’s HSBC bonuses were paid until 2003. He also held a second account in the name of Worcester Foundation, which had been closed before 2007.

Although now based in the UK, where HSBC has its headquarters, Gulliver is domiciled in Hong Kong for legal and tax purposes.

The banking details have emerged as the 55-year-old Oxford University graduate, who became chief executive in January 2011, is due to face questions from reporters and investors for the first time since the Guardian and other media outlets published the leaked HSBC files, which revealed misconduct at the bank’s Swiss subsidiary.

The documents, covering 2005-07, detailed how the private bank was complicit in tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance, doled out bricks of cash in mixed currencies to clients, and provided banking services to criminals, drug smugglers, and friends and families of dictators.

Gulliver has already personally signed a “sincere apology” which appeared in three newspapers last Sunday, saying “the standards to which we operate today were not universally in place in our Swiss operations 8 years ago”.

The bank is expected to announce on Monday full-year profits for 2014 in excess of £13bn – and Gulliver’s total compensation package has been predicted to be around £7.5m, although it was reported over the weekend that he may surrender some of his remuneration because the bank agreed to pay fines to settle unrelated allegations of foreign exchange rigging last year.

In response to queries from the Guardian about his personal account as revealed in the leaked files, a representative for Gulliver said he had made use of HSBC Suisse to hold his bonus payments prior to 2003, when he moved from Hong Kong to London.

Lawyers for Gulliver said that Hong Kong tax had been paid on this income – and explained that he “followed this procedure because he wanted his taxed bonus earnings to remain private from his then colleagues in Hong Kong, which they would not have done if he had kept them in an HSBC Hong Kong account”.

The Guardian asked Gulliver why he used a Panamanian company to hold the funds, given Swiss accounts already offer secrecy. His lawyers declined to answer.

Gulliver’s legal representatives added that his Swiss accounts have “for a number of years” been voluntarily declared to UK tax authorities. They declined to specify the exact date they were first declared.

Gulliver is also among those current and former clients of HSBC Suisse to take advantage of non-dom status. Gulliver is a registered non-dom based on his long residence in Hong Kong – now a special administrative region of China – which he considers to be his home, despite his UK-based position.

A representative for Gulliver said: “Having lived there since the 1980s, our client has become a permanent Hong Kong resident with right of abode, as has his wife who is an Australian national. Hong Kong continues to be their home albeit that our client now works primarily in the UK. As a matter of law, our client is domiciled in Hong Kong.”

Non-dom status can confer several tax advantages on those who claim the status compared with those domiciled in the UK. These include advantages in how inheritance tax is applied, but can also exempt worldwide income earned from outside the UK from incurring UK taxes – a system known as the remittance basis.

Gulliver’s lawyers confirmed he was “entitled to claim the benefit of the remittance basis”, but did not say whether or not he did so. If Gulliver were on the remittance basis, he would not need to pay tax on investment income held outside the UK – which would include holdings in Swiss bank accounts.

A representative for Gulliver said that he had paid all relevant income taxes: “Full UK tax has been paid on the entirety of his worldwide earnings less a credit for tax paid additionally in Hong Kong (where he is also tax resident) on that part of the same earnings doubly taxed.”

John Christensen, director of the Tax Justice Network, which has campaigned for abolition of non-dom tax benefits in the UK, said the non-dom quirk was particularly attractive for anybody who had accumulated assets such as homes and bonuses offshore, because any gains on offshore assets would be sheltered from UK tax.

“For my part I think it illustrates the absurdity of the rule, which should have been abolished many years ago. It serves no useful purpose and is hugely discriminatory against ordinary UK taxpayers,” he said.

Separately, Gulliver did not become employed by HSBC’s main holding company when he took over as chief executive of the bank in 2011. Documents seen by the Guardian at the time showed that Gulliver took the job of chief executive officer as a secondment from the Dutch-headquartered HSBC Asia Holdings, rather than take a straightforward appointment to the UK parent company.

A spokesman for HSBC said around 350 of its staff were employed through the Netherlands. “About 350 of the bank’s most internationally-mobile employees are employed by HSBC BV,” he said. “This enables them to be employed/seconded to any part of the global group without the need to change contracted employer.”

Representatives for Gulliver declined to explain for what purpose he was employed through the Netherlands subsidiary.

Gulliver has repeatedly emphasised to the public and to lawmakers that the culture of the bank, as well as its safeguards, has changed – both in the wake of the HSBC Files, and previous scandals including Libor rigging, and involvement with Mexican money laundering.

Since the publication of the HSBC files, the bank has been keen to stress that it has downsized the Swiss business, reducing the number of clients by 66%, to around 10,000. However, the total value of assets in those accounts – $68bn (£44bn) – has fallen by only 42%.

Douglas Flint and Stuart Gulliver appear before the Treasury select committee. 

Photograph: Reuters TV

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German government says no tanks for Lithuania: report

The German government has rejected a request from Lithuania for Boxer tanks, according to a newspaper report. The decision has been criticized by both sides of the German governing coalition.

Deutsche Welle, 22 Feb 2015

A German soldier (R) looks on as an officer (R) calibrates the weapons of a Boxer
tank in the OP North base, near Baghlan on March 28, 2012. Johannes Eisele/
AFP/Getty Images

The German government has said it will not fulfill a request from its NATO ally and European Union partner Lithuania for the delivery of so-called Boxer tanks, a media report said on Sunday, citing the German Defense Ministry.

"A delivery of armored transport vehicles from the German army or the resale of vehicles that are to be procured in the next few years is not in our plans," a ministry spokesman said, according to Die Welt am Sonntag.

The paper reported that the decision was made in view of the German military's own requirements.

Lithuania's request came amid security fears fueled by Russia's alleged role in fighting in Ukraine, where Moscow has been accused by several countries of fomenting a pro-Russian insurgency and supplying weapons, equipment and even troops to support pro-Russian separatists. Moscow has denied any role in fighting and maintains any Russian soldiers in Ukraine are "volunteers."

Disputed decision

The decision by Berlin to reject the request has been criticized by defense commentators on both side of the governing German grand coalition, the paper said.

"We have a great interest in increasing the capability of our NATO partners in the Baltic," Social Democrat defense expert Rainer Arnold was quoted as saying.

Florian Hahn of the CSU, the Bavarian sister party of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats, said the fears of Baltic states were justified in view of the Ukraine crisis.

"In this position we are required to support our NATO and EU partners as much as possible. That is also the case for procurement plans like this one for the Boxer transport tank," he said.

tj/sms (dpa, AFP)

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Ukrainian troops, rebels agree to artillery pullback

Despite ongoing violations of a ceasefire agreement, both sides in the Ukraine conflict have agreed to start moving back their tanks and heavy artillery from the front. The step comes on the heels of a prisoner exchange.

Deutsche Welle, 22 Feb 2015

Separatists sitting on a tank

The Ukrainian military and the pro-Russian separatists agreed to pull back their heavy weapons from the front, in accordance with a UN-backed truce signed earlier in the month in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, both sides confirmed separately on Sunday.

"The papers have been signed to begin withdrawing heavy weapons all along the frontline," General Olexander Rozmaznin told the press. He added that it was too early to say when the pullback would start, but some Ukrainian media suggested it could begin later on Sunday.

The rebels confirmed in press releases and statements to Russian media that they too had signed the agreement. "The plan was signed last night. Starting from today there are two weeks to withdraw heavy weapons," Russian news agency Interfax quoted senior commander Eduard Basurin as saying.

Under the terms of the Minsk truce, mediated by Germany and France and technically in effect for a week, the removal of weapons from the front was meant to have started on Tuesday and be finished by March 3. Up until now, however, the truce has repeatedly been violated. The rebels notably ignored the ceasefire saying it did not apply to the strategic town of Debaltseve, from which they forced Ukrainian troops this week.

However, the agreement to withdraw heavy weapons is the second positive sign in two days that parts of the ceasefire may be holding - a prisoner exchange, another key element of the Minsk agreement, took place overnight in which 139 government soldiers and 52 rebel fighters were released. Despite the Ukrainian military accusing the rebels of launching rockets at several of their checkpoints in the east over Saturday night, the level of violence across eastern Ukraine has decreased since the ceasefire came into effect.

es/sms (AFP, Reuters)

German Chancellor Merkel meets with Pope Francis

Pope Francis has received German Chancellor Angela Merkel for a private audience at the Vatican. The talks focused on the fight against poverty and international crises, including the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Deutsche Welle, 21 Feb 2015

Angela Merkel and Pope Francis

The German chancellor had a 40-minute private meeting with the head of the Catholic Church on Saturday, after which she told reporters, "I was very happy to meet with the pope."

Angela Merkel described the talks as "enriching" and wide-ranging, covering the alleviation of poverty, the role of women in developing countries, equality, and Germany's agenda for the upcoming Group of Seven (G7) summit in the southern German state of Bavaria in June.

Germany currently chairs the G7 group of major industrialized states, consisting of Germany, the United States, Canada, Japan, France, Italy and Britain. Russia had been a part of what was formerly known as the G8, before it was excluded over Moscow's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region.

The conflict in eastern Ukraine was also discussed at the meeting with the pontiff, Merkel said, adding that "he gave me a lot of encouragement" to proceed "decidedly and determinedly" to find a solution. Fighting is continuing in the region, despite a ceasefire deal, brokered by Germany, France, Ukraine and Russia, that went into force last Sunday.

Pope Francis presented Merkel with a medallion depicting St. Martin giving his coat to the needy, saying it aimed to remind world leaders their job is "to protect their poor." Merkel responded: "We try to do our best." Merkel gave the pope a Johann Sebastian Bach CD and a donation to help children affected by conflicts in the Middle East.

Following her audience with the pope - the second since he was appointed - Merkel met Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin and German ambassador to the Holy See, Annette Schavan. Schavan, a former German education minister, was considered one of Merkel's close confidantes before she resigned from her post amid a plagiarism scandal in 2013.

nm/bk (AFP, AP, dpa, epd)

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Athens in race to draw up reforms to secure bailout extension

Greece's finance minister has pledged to work "day and night" to finalize economic reforms required to secure an extension to its international bailout. The prime minister has described the deal as a victory for Athens.

Deutsche Welle, 21 Feb 2015

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said in comments broadcast on national television on Saturday that a conditional deal reached with the country's European creditors on Friday was an "important success for his new left-wing, anti-austerity government."

"Yesterday we took a decisive step, leaving austerity, the bailouts and the troika," Tsipras said. "We won a battle, not the war. The difficulties, the real difficulties ...are ahead of us."

Athens now has until Monday evening to submit a list of economic reforms deemed acceptable by the other 18 eurozone countries and the European Union to unlock up to 7.2 billion euros ($8.2 billion) still left in its 240-billion-euro bailout, funded by the EU, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis pledged to work "day and night" to ensure that the list of reforms was in place by the Monday deadline, but speaking shortly after Friday's deal was reached, he also conceded that if they fail to satisfy Athens' creditors "this agreement is dead."

If the reforms do satisfy Greece's creditors, it will avoid a feared possible quick exit from the eurozone. However, it is rooted in the bailout agreed by the previous conservative Greek government, which introduced deep austerity measures in order to comply with the terms of the agreement - something Tsipras and his Syriza party had vowed to do away with ahead of last month's election, which swept them to victory.

On Saturday, virtually everybody but the Greek government seemed to be describing the deal reached on Friday as a major climb down by Tsipras and Varoufakis.

Greece 'needs to do its homework'

Germany, which has been among the eurozone countries that have insisted all along that Greece live up to its commitments made under the current bailout, did not appear to be softening its stance.

"The Greeks have to do their homework now," Volker Kauder, parliamentary leader of Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats, told Sunday's edition of the Welt am Sonntag newspaper. "Then, an extension of the aid program can be approved by the German Bundestag."

"Greece has finally realized that it cannot turn a blind eye to reality," he said in an excerpt released before the Sunday paper hit the newsstands.

pfd/bk (AP AFP, Reuters, dpa)

Obama adviser John Podesta's biggest regret: Keeping America in dark about UFOs

Yahoo News, Caitlin Dickson, February 13, 2015

In this Nov. 19, 2014 file photo, Counselor to the President John Podesta speaks in

 Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2014. In the year that will pass before the 2016 

campaign for president formally kicks off with the votes in the Iowa Caucus, any

 number of candidates, donors, political operatives — and people who have nothing

 to do with American politics — will shape the race for the White House. (AP Photo/

Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

Outgoing senior Obama adviser John Podesta reflected on his latest White House stint Friday, listing his favorite moments and biggest regrets from the past year. Chief among them: depriving the American people of the truth about UFOs.

1. Finally, my biggest failure of 2014: Once again not securing the #disclosure of the UFO files. #thetruthisstilloutthere cc: @NYTimesDowd
— John Podesta (@Podesta44) February 13, 2015

Podesta’s longtime fascination with UFOs is well-documented, as his brief political hiatus following four years as President Bill Clinton’s chief of staff freed him up to pursue his otherworldly passion.

At a 2002 press conference organized by the Coalition for Freedom of Information, Podesta spoke on the importance of disclosing government UFO investigations to the public.

“It’s time to find out what the truth really is that’s out there,”  he said. “We ought to do it, really, because it’s right. We ought to do it, quite frankly, because the American people can handle the truth. And we ought to do it because it’s the law.”

Following Podesta’s tweet, Friday, the Washington Post recalled an exchange one of its reporters had with Podesta in 2007. Karen Tumulty had asked Podesta about reports that the Clinton Library in Little Rock, Arkansas, had been bombarded with Freedom of Information Act Requests specifically seeking email correspondence to and from the former chief of staff including terms like “X-Files” and “Area 51.” Podesta’s response, through a spokesperson, was “The truth is out there,” the tagline for the TV show “The X-Files” of which Podesta was known to be a fan.

A 2010 editorial in Missouri’s Columbia Tribune disparaged reports that Podesta had asked an outspoken UFO photographer to stop discussing his knowledge of extraterrestrial activities in public.

“One wonders why Podesta would do such a radical reversal, given his former plea for UFO disclosure,” the editorial implored.

But contrary to the Columbia Tribune’s concerns, Podesta had clearly not abandoned the cause. He wrote an introduction to the 2010 book “UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record.”

Unfortunately, Podesta will likely have little time to fill out FOIA requests in his new job at Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Perhaps, as his tweet suggests, he’s passing the torch to New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd.

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"The Big Picture - You Are Not Alone" -  Feb 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

"Common Questions from Non-Lightworkers" - Feb 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

"... Question Three: Is there life on other planets?

Are you kidding? There's life everywhere. Everywhere! Right now, your scientists are searching for microbial life on all the planets and their moons in your solar system, and they will eventually find it. They expect to find it. They will eventually understand that the seeds of life are everywhere.

How much life might there be? How long has it been "out there"? When science starts to realize the scope of how long life has been in your galaxy, they will begin to see something counterintuitive to evolution - their own Human history. How old is your Universe? Ask your scientists and they will say about 13 billion years. That's OK. Let's use their numbers. How old is your own planet - 4 or 5 billion, perhaps? Correct. But how old is humanity? Why weren't you here with the dinosaurs? You think the earth wasn't ready? Do you think that perhaps that which controls evolution was a little too stupid to make a Human sooner, but the process could make a dinosaur? Have you ever thought about these things?

If you put the earth's entire history into a 24-hour clock, life itself only started in the last hour and humanity, all of civilization, happened the last few seconds. Isn't that odd to you? Therefore, in a Universe that may be 13 billion years old, you arrived in the last few seconds. Did you ever think maybe you're the newest ones on the block? Well, you'd be right.

If the Universe is really that old, do you think perhaps there are civilizations in your galaxy that might be a billion or more years older than you? If that's the case, do you think perhaps they have gone through anything you're going through? Do you think any of them might have had your DNA attributes? Perhaps they also went through what you are going through spiritually? Perhaps they even went into a quantum ascension status? The answer is dozens of them.

You already know them and you've listed them in your publications. The ones who directly seeded you are called Pleiadians. The ones who seeded them might be Octurian and the ones who seeded them may be even Orion. They're everywhere, and they're all here as well. They're looking at you, for you are the ones who are next, and you are passing this marker of the shift

Oh, dear ones, it's going to be a long time before you really know any of these things to be your reality. The first step is peace on Earth. The next is a new kind of Human evolution that is going to increase your DNA efficiency to 100% and you're going to live a long time. Every time I say that, there are Humans in their intellectual mind saying, "Well, there is a geometric birth rate going on. We're not going to make it. It's going to over-crowd and we are going to run out of food. So what you're saying, Kryon, can't be a good thing. We're all going to be suffering and killing each other for food."

Let me address this, for if that is your thought, Human, you are assuming Humans are stupid and haven't figured out what's going on and why there's so much birth. You assume they can't control it because they haven't figured it out? I want to tell you, you're going to see something you didn't expect. You're going to see a decline in birth rate because Humans are smart and they're getting smarter. They're going to see that quality of life is linked to the number of children they have, and they're going to figure out the solution. It won't be how many children their church says they should have. They are going to do it intuitively. You're going to see it sooner than not.

You are going to see wisdom on the planet in many areas that no sociologist would ever have predicted. You will surprise them all, and it's going to happen without a government program. It's going to happen because you decide you want it. It's going to happen collectively, and you may even see it soon. Look for negative birth rates in first-world countries. Where Humans are able to see a larger picture and have freedom of information, the situation will not be what you have predicted.

Is there life on other planets? The scientists are saying, "It's going to be a long time before we get to the stars, you know? We have to get in this little metal can and put air in it, and then travel in it for years and years before we ever get to the next star." Meanwhile, a Pleiadian can do it in the blink of an eye! What do you think is going on there? Do you even believe me?

Not long ago, if you wanted to communicate to someone far away, you sent a letter. It was carried by a horse. It took a month to get a response. Now you communicate instantly!  Why is this so unbelievable to you about travel?

I will tell you, as long as you stay in 3D, you'll still be getting in little metal cans and air suits and going to planets. As soon as you begin the quantum age, however, you will simply wish yourself there, because you will be entangled with everything and can go with intent. If you don't believe this now, you will later, for what I give you is true. It may be lifetimes and lifetimes from now, but the group that is before me is the group that is going to come back over and over and over. The difference is that you're done coming back in an old energy. This is a new energy. ..”