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. …

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Obama says eurozone will survive, but decisions urgent

Deutsche Welle, 31 July 2012



US President Barack Obama has forecast that the eurozone and its currency will survive its debt crisis. But he urged Europe to make decisions sooner rather than later to minimize global economic fallout.

The Democratic party incumbent told 60 business executives at a New York fundraising event for his bid to be re-elected as US president in November that the euro would stay intact, adding that "the sooner they take decisive action, the better off we're going to be."

"I don't think ultimately that the Europeans will let the euro unravel but they are going to have to take some decisive steps," he said.

Obama cited an 800 billion dollar (652 billion euro) stimulus package that his administration promoted in 2009 as an example.

"Despite its unpopularity, [the plan] avoided this chronic bleeding wound that has been an enormous problem not just for Europe now, but for the entire global economy."

US-German economy consultations

Two worried treasurers -
Schäuble and Geithner
Obama's remarks came hours after US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner visited German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble at his vacation retreat on the German North Sea island of Sylt.

The pair agreed that Europe and the USA should coordinate moves to achieve sustainable public finances and said they were jointly confident "in euro area member states' efforts to reform and move towards greater integration."

At the New York fundraiser, President Obama said he and Geithner were "spending an enormous amount of time" in talks with European partners on economic issues.

Referring to the debt-burdened US economy, Obama said Europe's debt-crisis was generating "headwinds" ahead of the US presidential election on November 8.

Close election, says Obama

"Right now, the [US] economy is still rough enough for enough people that this is going to be a close election," Obama said.

"Europe is still a challenge, and a lot of people in this room who have business in Europe understand that," Obama told his New York audience.

At their talks on Monday, Schäuble and Geithner welcomed an Irish long-term bond sale last week and Portugal's gains toward reducing government borrowing. They also discussed efforts by Spain and Italy to make far-reaching fiscal reforms.

Geithner also met with the president of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, on Monday and held a phone conversation with French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici.

The US Treasury Department said in a release that Geithner's conversation with Moscovici focused on "ongoing efforts to ensure financial stability, foster greater economic integration and promote the recovery of the eurozone."

ipj/ccp (AFP, Reuters)

Monday, July 30, 2012

UFO Over Olympics Opening Ceremony: A Classic Flying Saucer [VIDEO]

Huffington Post, by Lee Speigel, 07/29/2012

This unusual disc-shaped UFO was captured on video above the
London Olympics opening ceremony.

Talk about an uninvited guest at the Olympics.

Friday night's spectacular pyrotechnics display of the most watched opening ceremony in summer Olympics history attracted more than the eyes of over 40 million people. A clearly seen unidentified flying object was videotaped making its way over London's Olympic stadium, reports Examiner.com.

Watch as the UFO approaches London's Olympic stadium.


The disc-shaped object is first seen entering the upper left portion of the video as the fireworks erupt over the stadium. The UFO -- which appears to have a dome or bulge rising from its center -- moves slowly across the sky as if deliberately observing the light-show spectacle below it.

While NBC Olympics -- a division of NBC Sports -- has chosen Goodyear blimps for all of its 2012 Olympics aerial coverage, the strange-looking object that appeared over the opening ceremonies doesn't appear to be a blimp.

On an evening that included an apparent Queen Elizabeth and 007 agent James Bond parachuting out of a helicopter into the Olympics stadium, most people probably wouldn't have been surprised if a staged UFO was also on the entertainment menu, just two weeks after the U.K. released its most recent batch of UFO documents.

Last month, former Ministry of Defense UFO desk officer Nick Pope suggested that a huge event like the London Olympic Games, could present itself as a prime target for otherworldly craft to show themselves to a gigantic viewing audience.

"With the summer of mass events, we are all on high alert for terrorism. But we must also cast our eyes further afield and be prepared for even the most seemingly unfathomable," Pope said, according to PressTV.

Pope wrote earlier this year of a conspiracy theory rumor that suggested a fake alien attack would be staged at the London Olympics.

"A combination of special effects and holographic technology will be used to create the illusion of an alien invasion, the rumor claims," Pope wrote on TruTV.com.

"If aliens have studied our psychology, they may choose to appear in our skies on a significant date -- the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games is one date being widely circulated by conspiracy groups," PressTV quoted Pope.

Maybe Friday night's UFO appearance was a dress rehearsal.

Friday, July 27, 2012

Carl Lewis on Mitt Romney: 'some Americans shouldn't leave the country'

US Olympic legend criticises Republican presidential hopeful for questioning whether London is ready for Games

guardian.co.uk, Nicholas Watt, Friday 27 July 2012

Carl Lewis, who won nine Olympic gold medals, countered Mitt Romney's
 remarks by saying: 'Of course London is ready.' Photograph: Can Nguyen/
Rex Features

Mitt Romney has been rebuked by the US Olympic legend Carl Lewis after the presumptive Republican presidential nominee questioned whether London was fully prepared for the Olympic Games.

As Romney was mocked on US television and by the London mayor, Boris Johnson, in front of a crowd of 60,000 people, Lewis called on him to return home.

"Seriously, some Americans just shouldn't leave the country," the nine-times Olympic gold medal winner told the Independent.

Asked whether London was ready to stage the Games, Lewis said: "Of course London is ready."

Romney stumbled into a diplomatic disaster on the first stage of his first official overseas visit as the presumptive Republican nominee when he told NBC there were "disconcerting" signs that London was ill-prepared for the Olympics.

An irritated David Cameron slapped Romney down by saying that Britain was staging the Games in a "bustling" city and not "in the middle of nowhere". This was intended as a light-hearted reference to the Salt LakeWinter Olympic Games, which were famously rescued by Romney in 2002. Some in Whitehall said his performance on the diplomatic stage was more woeful than Sarah Palin's four years ago.

Romney tried frantically to row back on Thursday as he said the Games would be a great success. But the damage had been done.

Romney was teased remorselessly on US television. The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC ran the story as #romneyshambles – a reference to the phrase omnishambles from political comedy The Thick of It. The stand-in presenter opened the show saying: "Let's just be honest here. Today was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day to be Mitt Romney. Even if you consider yourself the staunchest Mitt Romney supporter out there, you probably have to admit that today did not go exactly according to plan. The kick-off of Mitt Romney's big overseas trip has kind of been a disaster."

On Friday morning, the UK culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, referred to Romney's gaffes when he was asked about London's readiness for the Games. Hunt told the ITV show Daybreak: "The person I care about more is Jacques Rogge, the president of the International Olympic Committee, who said London was the best-prepared city he had ever seen.

"When we have the opening ceremony tonight and we tell the world that eight of the world's top 10 sports were either invented or codified in Britain – and only two in America – I hope Mr Romney is watching."

And Boris Johnson, the London mayor, joined in when he mocked Romney at a rally in Hyde Park on Thursday evening. "There are some people who are coming from around the world who don't yet know about all the preparations we've done to get London ready over the last seven years. I hear there is a guy called Mitt Romney who wants to know whether we are ready."

Johnson then asked whether London was ready. As the crowd cheered, the mayor declared: "Yes we are. The venues are ready, the stadium is ready, the aquatic centre is ready, the velodrome is ready, the security is ready, the police are ready, the transport is ready and our Team GB athletes are ready.

"There will be more gold, silver, bronze medals than you need to bail out Greece and Spain together."

As Johnson piled the pressure on Romney, the Republican was at the nearby Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park for a fundraiser in central London on Thursday night. The dinner was estimated to have raised at least $2m for his campaign, according to the New York Times.


Barclays sorry for Libor scandal

BBC News, 27 July 2012

Libor scandal 

Barclays said it was determined
to regain people's confidence
Barclays has said it is "sorry for the issues that have emerged over recent weeks", when the bank has been caught up in a rate-fixing scandal.

Barclays was fined a record £290m by UK and US regulators for attempting to rig the Libor inter-bank lending rate.

The apology came as the bank's statutory pre-tax profit for the first six months of 2012 fell 71% to £759m after taking a large own credit charge.

But on an adjusted basis, profits were up 13% to £4.2bn, ahead of forecasts.

The bank made a further £300m provision for settling claims for mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI).

It also set aside £450m to cover potential costs of providing redress to small businesses sold inappropriate swaps.

"We are sorry... and recognise that we have disappointed our customers and shareholders," said chairman Marcus Agius.

"I speak for all of Barclays people when I say how determined we are to regain the full confidence of all our stakeholders; customers and clients, investors, regulators and staff alike."

The Libor scandal led to the resignation of chief executive Bob Diamond.



Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Gianluigi Nuzzi: a thorn in the Vatican’s side

RNW, by Angelo van Schaik, 24 July 2012

(Angelo van Schaik)
   
RNW is in the process of shifting its focus to promoting freedom of speech in regions where it is under threat. So we’re publishing a series of portraits of men and women around the world who have stood up for the right to speak their minds. Today, Italian investigative journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi.

Angelo van Schaaik in Rome

“I am afraid neither of the law nor of death,” insists journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi. He is the author of 'Sua Santità. Le carte segrete di Benedetto XVI' (His Holiness. The Secret Papers of Benedict XIVth), in which he publishes confidential Vatican documents, including letters from the pope. “I was frightened,” he says. “For months, I carried the documents I had on a USB stick hung around my neck. I was always looking over my shoulder. The Vatican’s agents are active everywhere in Italy.

Instant impact

'Sua Santità' had a huge impact on Italy when it was published in May of this year. This is a country where freedom of speech is constantly under threat. Every time a journalist makes embarrassing revelations about a politician, parliament leaps into action and attempts to introduce measures further restricting the media.

It’s a country where a book was withdrawn from sale because it revealed historic facts damaging to the powerful Roman Catholic church. Authors Rita Monaldi and Francesco Sorti also claim that the Vatican put pressure on their publisher Mondadori not to renew their contracts in 2002 because they too made use of historic facts embarrassing for the church. Mondadori is owned by former Italian Prime Minister and media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi.

“Immoral behaviour”

To publish the Pope’s personal papers in such a country is almost an act of resistance. Public curiosity about the secret workings of the Vatican has sent sales of 'Sua Santità' soaring. It’s topped Italy’s bestseller lists for weeks.

But criticism of the book has also been fierce. A senior Vatican official, Monsignor Giovanni Angelo Becciu, accused Nuzzi of “immoral behaviour of unprecedented seriousness”. Senator Maurizio Gasparri of Berlusconi’s PDL party has called for Nuzzi’s prosecution: “Correspondence is private; this is a violation of the constitution. He has committed a crime and must face the consequences.” The senator is campaigning for the Italian judiciary to take action, so far without success.

Intimidation

Nuzzi has defended himself vigorously, insisting that the publication of documents obtained from ‘Maria’, his anonymous source within the Vatican, was not against the law. His publisher Chiarelettre, which is famous – or notorious – for releasing controversial books, said in a statement that Gianluigi Nuzzi is doing nothing more than his job. And that: “these attacks on an author and publisher are simply attempts to discredit him”. The publisher goes on to express outrage at political attempts to influence the judiciary to take action. “This is an attempt to intimidate and prevent other journalists from making unwelcome revelations.

Justice costs

Nuzzi was also threatened with legal action by the Vatican in January of this year. This followed his publication of letters to Pope Benedict from Monsignor Maria Vigano, the Number 2 in the Vatican hierarchy. In the letters, Vigano pleaded with the Pope not to be transferred after he had sounded the alarm about widespread corruption in the Vatican’s accounting department.

This threat of legal action is a tactic also used by Berlusconi during his years in office. He would claim huge sums in damages from papers that threatened to make unwelcome revelations about his or his companies’ conduct. Even though these cases had no chance of succeeding, the prohibitive cost of fighting them in court meant papers would refrain from publication. Italy’s wealthy have a habit of winning their lawsuits…

The publisher Chiarelettere also poses the rhetorical question: Should a journalist who discovers that the Minster of Economic Affairs has had secret talks with the head of the Vatican’s Bank to prevent the church being charged property tax, keep that information to himself?”

Butler

“The butler did it”. That was the Vatican’s speedily reached conclusion after Nuzzi laid bare the intrigues and power struggles within the walls of the Holy City with the help of an inside informant. The Pope’s personal servant Paolo Gabriele was arrested and taken into custody by the Vatican’s own secretive judicial system, which is independent of the Italian state judiciary.

The storm around the scandal, which quickly became known as Vatileaks, seemed to die down after his arrest. But it appears he may just be a small fish in this murky sea. There are believed to be some 20 other whistleblowers secretly leaking information about the Vatican state. A special commission has been set up with the aim of keeping any further Vatileaks under control. But that’s unlikely to be enough to prevent journalists such as Gianluigi Nuzzi from publishing any fresh documents they may receive from ‘Maria’.


FILE - In this June 22, 2012 file photo, Monsignor William Lynn walks to the
 Criminal Justice Center before a scheduled verdict reading, in Philadelphia.
 Lynn, the Roman Catholic monsignor at the center of a landmark case involving
the  sexual abuse of children by priests, will be sentenced on Tuesday, July 24,
2012.  He faces 3-1/2 to seven years in prison for his felony child endangerment
conviction. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)


"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration LecturesGod / CreatorReligions/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 (Based in Greece, 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.)

Barclays pay chair Alison Carnwath quits

Non-executive director who clashed with the chairman over Bob Diamond's bonus suddenly quits

guardian.co.uk, Jill Treanor, Wednesday 25 July 2012

Alison Carnwath, former pay chair at Barclays. Photograph: Micha
Theiner/City AM / Rex Feat

Barclays was thrown into fresh turmoil on Wednesday when one of the non-executive directors on the board of the scandal-hit bank suddenly quit.

Alison Carnwath, who also chairs the property company Land Securities, cited "personal reasons" for her immediate resignation from the board which has already suffered upheaval following the departure of chief executive Bob Diamond.

Even before the current Libor scandal there had been speculation about tension in the bank's boardroom.

She was said to have been in conflict with the bank's chairman Marcus Agius - who also quit in the wake of the Libor scandal - over a £2.7m bonus for Diamond that sparked a revolt over the bank's pay policies at the annual meeting in April.

Carnwath also endured a shareholder rebellion because of her status as chairman of the remuneration committee although some investors were later keen for her to stay following the reports that she had tried to stop the bonus. One investor said: "She seemed to have been the one board member asking the right questions."

However, others pointed out that she has seven other jobs or advisory roles in addition to Barclays. In terms of stock market listed companies, she chairs Land Securities and also sits on the board of the troubled hedge fund group Man Group, where she also endured a revolt about her continued membership of the board. Some 33% of investors failed to support her election to he board of Man, and some 22.5% failed to endorse her reinstatement on the board of Barclays, which are regarded as huge rebellions given that boardroom directors usually expect near-unanimous support.

She has not yet commented on the events.

But in a statement announcing her shock departure, Carnwath said: "With regret I have concluded that I am no longer able to devote sufficient time to my role as a director of Barclays given my other commitments. I would like to thank my colleagues on the board for their support and I wish Barclays continuing success in the future."

Agius, who will leave once his successor is found, said thanked her for her "contribution" since joining the board in August 2010.

But her departure comes at a difficult period for the bank which is due to publish first half profits of around £3.7bn on Friday and will spark fresh rumours of another rift in the boardroom.

When reports of a disagreement over the bonus emerged, the bank had insisted it was keen to foster debate in the boardroom.

The £290m fine for attempting to manipulate the Libor rate last month has left the bank seeking a new chairman and chief executive and handed a central role to former top accountant Sir Michael Rake who is now deputy chairman - although he has ruled himself out of the chairman's job despite expressing interest whem Agius first quit.



Gay marriage to be introduced in Scotland

BBC News, 25 July 2012

Related Stories

The Scottish government decision
came after a consultation on gay
marriage
Scotland is set to become the first part of the UK to introduce gay marriage after the SNP government announced plans to make the change.

Scottish ministers confirmed they would bring forward a bill on the issue.

Political leaders, equality groups and others support gay marriage, but it is strongly opposed by the Catholic Church and Church of Scotland.

The announcement was made in the wake of a government consultation which produced a massive response.

Same-sex couples in Scotland currently have the option to enter into civil partnerships and the Holyrood government has insisted no part of the religious community would be forced to hold same-sex weddings in churches.

Despite opposition by the big religions, faith groups, including the United Reformed Church, the Quakers, Buddhists and the Pagan Federation back gay marriage.

The issue also caused a split in the SNP, after a parliamentary motion tabled by party MSP John Mason, stating no person or organisation should be forced to be involved in or to approve of same-sex marriage, led to accusations by some of his colleagues that his actions encouraged discrimination.

Gordon Wilson, a former SNP leader, has also warned plans for same-sex marriage could "alienate" people considering voting for independence in the 2014 referendum.

Civil partnerships in Scotland offer the same legal treatment as marriage in areas such as inheritance, pensions provision, life assurance, child maintenance, next of kin and immigration rights, but are still seen as distinct from marriage.

A man and a woman can opt for a religious or civil marriage ceremony, whereas a same-sex partnership is an exclusively civil procedure.

The UK government, which is consulting on changing the status of civil ceremonies to allow gay and lesbian couples in England and Wales to get married, wants to make the change by 2015.

The Scottish government's decision came on the same day that the partner of the late Labour MP David Cairns said anti-gay remarks by the new Archbishop of Glasgow added to his "grief and pain".

Dermot Kehoe spoke after it emerged Philip Tartaglia appeared to link the death of Mr Cairns to his sexuality.

Mr Cairns, who was Labour MP for Inverclyde and a former Catholic priest, died at the age of 44 in May last year after suffering from acute pancreatitis.

Related Article:

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Italy's former interior minister implicated in mafia talks

Prosecutors in Palermo accuse Nicola Mancino of withholding evidence about talks between the state and Sicilian mafia

guardian.co.uk, John Hooper in Rome, Tuesday 24 July 2012

Nicola Mancino, pictured during his time as president of Italy's Senate.
Photograph: Marco Ravagli/AP

Prosecutors in Palermo asked on Tuesday for former Italian interior minister Nicola Mancino to be tried in connection with alleged negotiations between the state and the Sicilian mafia in the early 1990s.

Mancino, a Christian Democrat, was accused of withholding evidence about the talks. The 81 year-old politician said he would prove his innocence "and my loyalty to the state".

Others charged included Marcello Dell'Utri, a senator who created the party with which Silvio Berlusconi launched himself into politics in 1994, and a second former minister, Calogero Mannino, who still holds a seat in the lower house of parliament. Both men were alleged to have been intermediaries in the talks, aimed at ending a campaign of bombings unleashed by the Cosa Nostra in 1992.

Among the victims were two leading anti-Mafia prosecutors, Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino. National monuments in Florence and Rome were also targeted in the campaign which left 22 people dead.

The prosecutors also asked for the indictment of three former officers in the semi-militarised Carabinieri police and five top Cosa Nostra "godfathers", including two of the mafia's former supreme chiefs, Bernardo Provenzano and Salvatore 'Toto' Riina.

Earlier this month, Mancino was at the centre of a clash between the Palermo prosecutors and the current president, Giorgio Napolitano, after it emerged that investigators had listened in to a telephone call he had made to the president's office, apparently seeking help.

Extracts from a transcript of the conversation, leaked to the media, suggested Mancino had discussed with a senior official the possibility of getting Italy's chief anti-mafia prosecutor to intervene.

From 1996 to 2001, Mancino held the speakership of the Senate, the most senior office of state after the presidency. More recently, he was deputy chairman of the body that oversees the Italian judiciary.

Pa. monsignor gets 3-6 years in sex abuse cover-up

Associated Press, by Maryclaire Dale, Jul. 24, 2012

FILE - In this June 22, 2012 file photo, Monsignor William Lynn walks to the
 Criminal Justice Center before a scheduled verdict reading, in Philadelphia.
 Lynn, the Roman Catholic monsignor at the center of a landmark case involving
the  sexual abuse of children by priests, will be sentenced on Tuesday, July 24,
2012.  He faces 3-1/2 to seven years in prison for his felony child endangerment
conviction. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A Roman Catholic monsignor who became the first U.S. church official branded a felon for covering up sex abuse claims against priests was sentenced Tuesday to three to six years in prison.

Monsignor William Lynn of Philadelphia, the former secretary for clergy at the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, handled priest assignments and child sexual assault complaints from 1992 to 2004.

Judge M. Teresa Sarmina said Lynn enabled "monsters in clerical garb ... to destroy the souls of children, to whom you turned a hard heart."

She added: "You knew full well what was right, Monsignor Lynn, but you chose wrong."

A jury convicted him last month of felony child endangerment for his oversight of now-defrocked priest Edward Avery, who is serving a 2½- to five-year sentence after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting an altar boy in church.

Lynn's lawyers sought probation, arguing that few Pennsylvanians serve long prison terms for child endangerment and their client shouldn't serve more time than abusers. Defense attorneys, who have vowed an appeal of the landmark conviction, said the seven-year maximum term advocated by the commonwealth "would merely be cruel and unusual."

The 61-year-old Lynn was acquitted of conspiracy and a second endangerment count involving a co-defendant, the Rev. James Brennan. The jury deadlocked on a 1996 abuse charge against Brennan, and prosecutors said Monday that they would retry him.

In 1992, a doctor told Lynn's office that Avery had abused him years earlier. Lynn met with the doctor and sent Avery for treatment — but the church-run facility diagnosed him with an alcohol problem, not a sexual disorder. Avery was returned to ministry and sent to live at the northeast Philadelphia parish where the altar boy was assaulted in 1999.

The judge said Lynn "helped many, but also failed many in his 36 year-church career."

Lynn said: "I did not intend any harm to come to (Avery's victim). My best was not good enough to stop that harm."

Prosecutors who spent a decade investigating sex abuse complaints kept in secret files at the archdiocese and issued two damning grand jury reports argue that Lynn and unindicted co-conspirators in the church hierarchy kept children in danger and the public in the dark.

Lynn's attorneys have long argued that the state's child endangerment statute, which was revised in 2007 to include those who supervise abusers, should not apply to Lynn since he left office in 2004.


Sean FitzPatrick is third ex-Anglo Irish Bank executive to be arrested in 24 hours

BBC News, 24 July 2012

Related Stories 

Former Anglo Irish Bank chairman
Sean FitzPatrick has been arrested
at Dublin airport
The former head of Anglo Irish Bank, Sean FitzPatrick, has been arrested by Irish police in connection with alleged financial irregularities at the bank.

Mr FitzPatrick is expected to appear in court in Dublin later on Tuesday.

He will be the third former senior executive from Anglo Irish Bank to appear in court as a result of the investigation within the past 24 hours.

Anglo was nationalised at a cost of about 30bn euros (£23.4bn) to Irish taxpayers.

Airport arrest

Mr FitzPatrick served as chief executive and then chairman of the bank, before stepping down in December 2008, a month before it had to be bailed out by the state.

Irish police arrested him at about 05:35 BST on Tuesday at Dubin airport and took him to Bridewell Garda station in the city centre.

It is the third time Mr FitzPatrick has been arrested as part of the three-and-a-half year long investigation into the collapse of Anglo Irish Bank.

On Monday, Willie McAteer - the second in command at the bank before his resignation in January 2009 - appeared in court alongside Pat Whelan, a former head of lending and operations at the bank.

They are facing 16 charges in relation to an alleged failed attempt to prop up Anglo's share price after a stock market collapse.

Mr McAteer, 60, from Rathgar in Dublin, was granted bail until 8 October but was was ordered to hand in his passport.

Mr Whelan, 50, from Malahide in County Dublin, was also granted bail but was ordered to give 48 hours notice if he is travelling anywhere outside Ireland or the UK.

The former bank is being wound down and is currently being run by the Irish Banking Resolution Company (IBRC)

Monday, July 23, 2012

Experts: Solid Evidence in Hungary War Crimes Case

Jakarta Globe, July 23, 2012

Hungarian Laszlo Csatary, suspected of war crimes against Jews during
Word War Two, leaves the prosecution building in Budapest on Wednesday.
Hungarian  prosecutors have detained 97-year-old Csatary on suspicion of war
crimes committed in World War Two, the Budapest prosecutor's office said on
 Wednesday. Nazi-hunters from the Simon Wiesenthal Center say they have
provided  Hungary with evidence that Csatary helped to organize the deportation of
 around 16,000 Jews to the Auschwitz death camp from the Nazi-occupied town of
Kosice in 1944. (Reuters Photo/Laszlo Balogh)

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Budapest, Hungary. The evidence against a 97-year-old Hungarian man accused of abusing Jews and helping deport thousands during the Holocaust is much stronger than a similar case last year that ended in a high-profile acquittal, experts say.

Laszlo Csatary’s role as a police officer and chief of an internment camp from where 12,000 Jews were deported to their deaths in Auschwitz and other Nazi death camps is amply documented and there are strong witness statements about his brutality, they said.

Authorities charged Csatary last week with “unlawful torture of human beings,” accusing him of being present in 1944 when trains bound for death camps were loaded and sent on their way, regularly using a dog whip to strike detainees and in one case refusing to cut holes in a train car to allow people to breathe. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

“He ruled over life and death,” said Adam Gellert, an expert in international criminal law who has been researching the Csatary case. “He deported people who were supposed to be spared and committed a series of sadistic acts.”

Csatary’s case was brought to the attention of Hungarian authorities in September by the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Efraim Zuroff, whose “Operation Last Chance” was launched in 2002, offering rewards in exchange for information about suspected Holocaust war criminals.

The program has sparked criticism from people opposed to paying informants — and has had mixed results.

A year ago, another elderly suspect found in Hungary by Zuroff, Sandor Kepiro, was acquitted of war crime charges by a Budapest court that ruled there was insufficient evidence, a decision that drew strong condemnation from Serbian and Jewish groups.

Prosecutors had charged that Kepiro, a former captain in a special security force, was involved in a 1942 raid by Hungarian forces in the northern Serbian town of Novi Sad during which over 1,200 mostly Jewish and Serb civilians were killed. But experts said there were significant doubts about his guilt.

The Wiesenthal Center “bit on a case where the evidence was not enough to determine from a historian’s perspective how much responsibility Sandor Kepiro had in the Novi Sad massacre,” said Laszlo Csosz, a historian at the Holocaust Memorial Center in Budapest.

The prosecution of a man who sat through court sessions in a wheelchair, had serious hearing problems and was hospitalized during the proceedings “caused negative feelings about the proceedings in 99.5 percent of the people,” Csosz said. Kepiro died in September at age 97, while the ruling was being appealed by both defense and prosecution.

Zuroff defended Kepiro’s prosecution, saying he was certain the case would have been won on appeal.

“There’s no question that there was enough evidence to bring Kepiro to justice,” Zuroff said. “There was no problem with the legitimacy of the evidence, but the judge disqualified the evidence in a very selective manner.”

Zuroff said that in contrast with the Kepiro case, there were witnesses to the 1944 events and Csatary’s alleged acts who are still alive and expected to testify.

“There are several people available and all that information was given to the prosecutors by me,” Zuroff said by telephone from Jerusalem.

Csatary’s case is also different because his role and responsibility as the commander of a ghetto in the Slovakian city of Kosice, at the time a part of Hungary, is well documented, Csosz said.

Gellert, the criminal law expert, said that the prosecutors probably came under political pressure to press charges in the Kepiro case.

“It was only during the trial that it became clear that the charges were unfounded.” Geller said. “In the Csatary case, there are many more documents available . . . which increases the likelihood of putting forth a more solid case.”

“Compared to the Kepiro trial, this is a much, much stronger case,” said Gellert, who described Csatary as an “enthusiastic enforcer.”

Csatary was convicted in absentia for war crimes in Czechoslovakia in 1948 and sentenced to death. He arrived in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia the following year, became a Canadian citizen in 1955 and worked as an art dealer in Montreal.

He appears to have been living quietly in Budapest since 1997, when, Canadian authorities say, he left the country before they had the chance to decide his fate in a deportation hearing alleging he had failed to provide information about his Nazi ties.

Still, there are questions. Laszlo Karsai, a historian at the University of Szeged in southern Hungary, called attention to the fact that while Csatary was condemned to death in Czechoslovakia, two of his superiors, the Kosice mayor and the police chief, were only sentenced to prison in Hungary.

“What can be proven in court and what is a historical truth . . . are two completely different things,” said Karsai, the son of a Holocaust survivor.

Karsai, who has been very critical of Zuroff’s methods, stressed the importance of keeping a historical perspective, saying that though there is testimony about his sadistic treatment of people there is no proof he knew they were heading to their deaths unless he testifies so himself.

“To know in 2012 that the trains were going to Auschwitz is one thing, but for a police officer in 1944 to know that the trains were going to Auschwitz is another —  and even if he knew, how can we prove that he knew what Auschwitz was?” Karsai asked.

Associated Press

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Reuters: Prosecutors, regulators close to making Libor arrests

Reuters,  by Matthew Goldstein and Jennifer Ablan and Philipp Halstrick, Jul 2012

The letter ''B'' of the signage on the Barclays headquarters in Canary Wharf
 is hoisted up the side of the building in London July 20, 2012. (Credit: Reuters/
 Simon Newman)

(Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors and European regulators are close to arresting individual traders and charging them with colluding to manipulate global benchmark interest rates, according to people familiar with a sweeping investigation into the rate-rigging scandal.

Federal prosecutors in Washington, D.C., have recently contacted lawyers representing some of the individuals under suspicion to notify them that criminal charges and arrests could be imminent, said two of those sources who asked not to be identified because the investigation is ongoing.

Defense lawyers, some of whom represent individuals under suspicion, said prosecutors have indicated they plan to begin making arrests and filing criminal charges in the next few weeks. In long-running financial investigations it is not uncommon for prosecutors to contact defense lawyers for individuals before filing charges to offer them a chance to cooperate or take a plea, these lawyer said.

The prospect of charges and arrests of individuals means that prosecutors are getting a fuller picture of how traders at major banks allegedly sought to influence the London Interbank Offered Rate, or Libor, and other global rates that underpin hundreds of trillions of dollars in assets. The criminal charges would come alongside efforts by regulators to punish major banks with fines, and could show that the alleged activity was not rampant in the banks.

"The individual criminal charges have no impact on the regulatory moves against the banks," said a European source familiar with the matter. "But banks are hoping that at least regulators will see that the scandal was mainly due to individual misbehavior of a gang of traders."

In Europe, financial regulators are focusing on a ring of traders from several European banks who allegedly sought to rig benchmark interest rates such as Libor, said the European source familiar with the investigation in Europe.

The source, who did not want to be identified because the investigation is ongoing, said regulators are checking through emails among a group of traders and believe they are now close to piecing together a picture of how they allegedly conspired to make money by manipulating the rates. The rates are set daily based on an average of estimates supplied by a panel of banks.

"More than a handful of traders at different banks are involved," said the source familiar with the investigation by European regulators.

There are also probes in Europe concerning Euribor, the Euro Interbank Offered Rate.

It is not clear what individuals and banks federal prosecutors are most focused on. A top U.S. Department of Justice lawyer overseeing the investigation did not respond to a request for a comment.

Reuters previously reported that more than a dozen current and former employees of several large banks are under investigation, including Barclays Plc, UBS and Citigroup, and have hired defense lawyers over the past year as a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., continues to gather evidence.

The activity in the Libor investigation, which has been going on for three years, has quickened since Barclays agreed last month to pay $453 million in fines and penalties to settle allegations with regulators and prosecutors that some of its employees tried to manipulate key interest rates from 2005 through 2009.

Barclays, which signed a non-prosecution agreement with U.S. prosecutors, is the first major bank to reach a settlement in the investigation, which also is looking at the activities of employees at HSBC, Deutsche Bank and other major banks.

The Barclays settlement sparked outrage and a series of public hearings in Britain, after which Barclays Chief Executive Bob Diamond announced his resignation from the big British bank.

The revelations have raised questions about the integrity of Libor, which is used as benchmark in setting prices for loans, mortgages and derivative contracts.

Adding to concerns are documents released by the New York Federal Reserve Bank this month that show bank regulators in the United States and England had some knowledge that bankers were submitting misleading Libor bids during the 2008 financial crisis to make their financial institutions appear stronger than they really were.

Among other details, the Fed documents included the transcript of an April 2008 phone call between a Barclays trader in New York and Fed official Fabiola Ravazzolo, in which the unidentified trader said: "So, we know that we're not posting um, an honest LIBOR."

The source familiar with the regulatory investigation in Europe said two traders who have been suspended from Deutsche Bank were among those being investigated. A Deutsche Bank spokesman declined to comment.

The Financial Times reported on Wednesday that regulators were looking at suspected communication among four traders who had worked at Barclays, Credit Agricole, HSBC and Deutsche Bank.

Credit Agricole said it had not been accused of any wrongdoing related to the attempted manipulation of Libor by Barclays, but had responded to requests for information for various authorities related to the matter.

Beyond regulatory penalties and criminal charges, banks face a growing number of civil lawsuits from cities, companies and financial institutions claiming they were harmed by rate manipulation. Morgan Stanley recently estimated that the 11 global banks linked to the Libor scandal may face $14 billion in regulatory and legal settlement costs through 2014.

In the United States, the regulatory investigation is being led by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which has made the Libor probe one of its top priorities.

(Reporting by Matthew Goldstein and Jennifer Ablan in New York and Philipp Halstrick in Frankfurt, with additional reporting by Emily Flitter in New York and ArunaViswanatha in Washington, D.C.; Editing by Alwyn Scott and Maureen Bavdek)


Under fire: Barclays former chairman Marcus Agius (right)
with former CEO Bob Diamond (centre), and former chief
executive John Varley (left)