Migrant workers stuck in virus-hit Iraq with no wages or way home

Yahoo – AFP, Haider Husseini, June 27, 2020

Hundreds of thousands of migrant workers particularly from South Asian countries
have flocked to Iraq over the last decade to work but are now suffering from a financial
crisis following a drop in oil prices and the coronavirus pandemic (AFP Photo/AHMAD
AL-RUBAYE)

Baghdad (AFP) - For years, Rajib Sheikh wired money to his native Bangladesh from his day job in Iraq. But now, stuck without wages, he's asking his family back home for help.

The 26-year-old patisserie chef has gone three months without wages, and his Iraqi employer just stopped paying for his food stipend, too.

He is one of thousands of foreign migrant workers now stranded in Iraq with no income or way to get back home, watching the economy around them collapse.

"We're used to sending money back to our country, but now I had to ask my cousin to transfer me money," said Sheikh, who arrived in the southern oil-rich Basra province seven years ago.

"We hope we can go back to our jobs because it's not just us who are starving, but our families back home, too," he said.

The world economy has seen a dramatic slowdown due to the spread of COVID-19, but Iraq -- OPEC's second-largest crude producer -- was also hit hard by a collapse in oil prices.

That has sent the country spiralling into its worst fiscal crisis in years, with the World Bank estimating GDP will shrink by 10 percent this year.

Informal workers, it noted, were at a higher risk of falling into "deep poverty" due to the lockdown measures enforced to halt the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Nafis Abbas, a 32-year-old Pakistani tailor in Baghdad, returned to work last week after nearly four months of total shutdown.

"I want to go back (home) but I don't have any money. If I want to go to Pakistan now, it costs $700 and I don’t have anything -- not even 1,000 Iraqi dinars", equivalent to less than a dollar, he told AFP.

Thousands at risk

Hundreds of thousands of migrant workers, largely from South Asian countries, have flocked to Iraq over the last decade to work in a range of businesses, from oil fields to restaurants.

Among them are 250,000 registered Bangladeshi workers, according to Mohammed Rezaul Kabir of the country's embassy in Baghdad.

"More than 20,000 have lost their jobs," he told AFP, adding that the numbers could be even higher, given how many work informally.

They include 9,000 Bangladeshi labourers at international oil companies and contractors in Basra, once seen as lucky for working in such a lucrative industry.

"Oil prices going down led to a lot of oil fields laying off employees, some of them without even a final paycheck," said Kabir.

Pakistani and Bengali workers clad in face masks work at a small clothing factory

 in the Iraqi capital Baghdad where many migrant workers are stranded with no income 

or a way to return home (AFP Photo/AHMAD AL-RUBAYE)

Many Bangladeshi oil workers headed north to Baghdad, hoping their embassy could send them home.

"We are making lists and contacting people as soon as we find a place for them. We are trying our best to transfer them back home but it is expensive and we need a lot of flights to get them there," said Kabir.

According to an International Labour Organization (ILO) survey, 95 percent of businesses in Iraq have suspended work due to COVID-19.

Four out of 10 said they had to lay off some workers, and many expected the crisis to continue another four months.

Salem Ahmed, an Iraqi restaurateur who employs Bangladeshi, Egyptian and Iraqi workers, said his establishment had been hit hard by the lockdown.

"We estimate our losses at about $20,000 per month," he said.

"The government didn't provide any support to businesses, and we're still expected to pay taxes by July," he said.

'We just hope'

Even once the lockdown is fully lifted, many business owners surveyed by the ILO predicted they would be unable to bring their operations or sales back to pre-coronavirus levels.

Forty percent feared their businesses will shut either temporarily or permanently.

"The government should explore all options to finance measures that support enterprises, and it should provide emergency support to all workers, mainly those who are working informally," said Maha Kattaa, ILO's Iraq country coordinator.

But Mohammed Fadel Lhak, a 49-year-old Bangladeshi worker, wasn't optimistic.

Lhak was in a precarious situation well before the pandemic and the plunge in oil prices, living hand-to-mouth every month from menial jobs at small businesses in Baghdad.

Last year, he always managed to sort something out -- but this year feels different.

"Everything is closed now. With the coronavirus, there are no more customers. We just hope for things to get better so we can move on with our lives," Lhak said.

Israel says hosting Iraqi, Saudi journalists in first

France 24 – AFP, 21 July 2019

The journalists are set to visit Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial and
holy sites in Jerusalem AFP

Jerusalem (AFP) - Israel's foreign ministry said Sunday the country will this week host six journalists from Arab countries including, for the first time, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

The visit comes as Israel seeks to improve ties with Gulf Arab countries, with which it has no formal diplomatic relations.

Those states have resisted offering Israel formal recognition due to its continuing occupation of Palestinian territory, but their relations have warmed of late, largely due to common concerns over Iran.

The journalists will visit Jerusalem's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, parliament and holy sites, among others, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

It said it had "the aim of exposing the journalists ?- some of whom come from countries that do not have diplomatic relations with Israel -? to Israeli positions on diplomatic and geopolitical issues".

Jordan is also participating, the ministry said.

Jordan is one of only two Arab countries, along with Egypt, that have diplomatic relations with Israel.

In another recent sign of a thaw, a group of Israeli journalists attended the US-led economic conference on Israeli-Palestinian peace in the Gulf state of Bahrain in late June.

The Palestinian leadership boycotted the conference, citing a series of moves against them by US President Donald Trump's administration.

On Thursday, Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz said that he had met his Bahraini counterpart publicly for the first time during a visit to Washington last week.

Katz also recently visited Abu Dhabi for a UN climate conference, where he met United Nations chief Antonio Guterres and an unnamed "high ranking UAE official".

Iraq’s new finance minister was a refugee in the Netherlands

DutchNews, October 25, 2018

Hussein being interviewed on Kurdish media network Kudaw 

Iraq’s new finance minister Fuad Hussein was a refugee in the Netherlands for years before returning to his homeland in 2003, broadcaster NOS said on Thursday. 

Hussein, who is 69, fled Iraq in the 1970s and settled in the Netherlands. He studied at the VU University in Amsterdam, married a Dutch woman and worked for refugee rights. He is also a fluent Dutch speaker, the broadcaster said. 

Fourteen of the 22 ministerial candidates appointed by new prime minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi were approved by parliament on Wednesday evening. 

Hussein, who failed in his bid to become president at the beginning of this month, represents the Kurdish Democratic Party.

Saudi FM in first visit to Iraq since 2003

Yahoo – AFP, Ammar Karim, February 25, 2017

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir was in Baghdad for talks, the first such
visit by a chief diplomat from the kingdom in years (AFP Photo/Oliver Berg)

Baghdad (AFP) - Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir held talks in Baghdad with Iraq's leadership Saturday, the first such visit by a chief diplomat from the kingdom since 2003.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi received Jubeir and his accompanying delegation, a statement from his office said, a key step in efforts to normalise frosty ties.

Both sides "discussed cooperation in various fields, including the fight against the Daesh gangs," it said, referring to the Islamic State group Iraqi forces are currently battling in the northern city of Mosul.

The Saudi minister also met his counterpart Ibrahim al-Jaafari, who said in a statement the visit was "the first by a Saudi foreign minister since 2003."

"This visit is to reestablish relations in a more stable way than previously," a senior government official said told AFP on condition of anonymity. "It's the first visit of its kind."

Abadi, who has been at the helm since 2014, has supported efforts to improve strained ties but the road to normalisation has been rocky.

Thamer al-Sabhan, whose credentials were received in January 2016, became the first Saudi ambassador to Iraq in a quarter century, after relations were cut following ex-president Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

He left the same year after Baghdad demanded he be removed following remarks he made to the press about an alleged plot to assassinate him and criticism he voiced of the Hashed al-Shaabi.

Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation) forces, which have played a key role in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) group, are a paramilitary umbrella dominated by Shiite militia and seen by Riyadh as a proxy for arch-rival Iran.

Jaafari was one of the most vocal critics of Saudi Arabia at the time and issued several strongly-worded statements against the kingdom and Jubeir himself.

He told him directly on the sidelines of a global conference on the anti-IS war last year and in a statement expressing Iraq's "annoyance" over what he called "unacceptable interference."

Iran-Saudi thaw?

Saudi Arabia is very unpopular among Iraq's Shiite majority and often accused of direct support to the IS jihadists that took over a third of the country in 2014.

Saudi Arabia nominally supports the fight against IS but Iraq and other partners have argued it needs to do more to help durably defeat IS and its ideology.

As evidenced in recent attacks, IS has retained its ability to sow chaos and undermine the Iraqi government's authority even after it lost fixed positions in various regions.

Several of them have occurred in Iraq's vast Anbar province, which has long and porous borders with Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria.

"Jubeir congratulated Iraq on the victories achieved against Daesh and pledged Saudi Arabia's support to Iraq in fighting terrorism," the statement from Abadi's office said.

It said the minister had also "expressed Saudi Arabia's willingness to back the stability of liberated areas."

While Iraq has often suffered from being turned into a battlefield where the rivalry of its neighbours Iran and Saudi Arabia -- the region's Shiite and Sunni Muslim powerhouses -- played out, the Iraqi government official said there was an opportunity for Baghdad.

"The whole region is heading towards compromise and Saudi Arabia sees Iraq as an important player to have on its side," he said. "Iraq's neutrality could make it a ground for Iranian-Saudi rapprochement."

He stressed that despite intense pressure from the street to take a strong stand against Saudi Arabia, Abadi -- who belongs to Iraq's largest Shiite political bloc -- had "never indulged in aggressive rhetoric against Saudi Arabia."

Iraq gets first beauty queen since 1972

Yahoo – AFP, December 19, 2015

Iraqi Shaymaa Qasim poses during the Miss Iraq beauty contest on
December 19, 2015 in the capital Baghdad (AFP Photo/Ahmad Al-Rubaye)

Baghdad (AFP) - "Some people out there think we don't love life," said Humam al-Obeidi, one of the organisers, as the crowd spilled out of the Baghdad hotel ballroom where the pageant was held.

The jury chose Shaymaa Abdelrahman, a tall, green-eyed 20-year-old from Iraq's multi-ethnic city of Kirkuk.

Iraqi Shaymaa Qasim waves after winning the

 Miss Iraq beauty contest on December 19,

2015 (AFP Photo/Ahmad al-Rubaye)

The decision was popular with those in attendance, especially in the back rows, where young men with hipster beards and tight blazers had been standing on their chairs shouting her name.

"I'm very happy to see Iraq going forward," the new beauty queen told AFP as she tried to fend off a scrum of admirers hoping to clinch a selfie. "This event was huge and put a smile on the faces of the Iraqis."

Wearing her sash and holding her bouquet, Shaymaa Abdelrahman was fast learning her new trade, saying all the right things without ever breaking her smile.

There was more talking than glamorous strutting during the pageant as the contestants, in high heels and evening dresses that were sleeveless but below the knee, pitched their charity projects to the jury.

The pageant was designed to meet enough international criteria to propel its winner to the next Miss Universe contest, but some details, such as the Kalashnikov-toting guard at the door, set the event firmly in Iraq.

The winner said she would use her fame to forward educational initiatives, especially among the massive population of people who have been displaced by conflict.

One contestant said she would try to fix the Mosul dam, Iraq's largest and reportedly in need of urgent repair work, "because it threatened the entire country."

'Still alive'

In the week running up to the event, the eight finalists embarked on a string of pre-pageant activities, including the visit of a camp for displaced people in Baghdad.

Speaking to AFP during a tree-planting ceremony near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon on Thursday, Suzan Amer, a 22-year-old from the Kurdish town of Sulaimaniyah argued that a beauty pageant was more than a mere distraction in Iraq.

"It's my first time doing anything like this but it's an experience I wanted to be part of. I think Iraq needs events like these," said the young woman with ash blonde hair, bright fuscia lipstick and a rosebud tucked above her ear.

Iraq is wracked by an ongoing war against the Islamic State, the world's most brutal jihadist organisation, and plagued by deep sectarian tensions and corruption.

But the pageant, which culminated with the jury announcing the winner as Beethoven's Ode to Joy filled the ballroom, left participants, organisers and guests feeling that beating the gloom was part of the war effort.

Iraqi women taking part in the Miss Iraq beauty contest stand on stage

 before the audience on December 19, 2015 in the capital Baghdad 

(AFP Photo/Ahmad al-Rubaye)

"I think it is wonderful; it makes you feel things can come back to normal," said veteran human rights activist Hana Edwar.

The last time the Miss Iraq competition was held was in 1972, when the oil-rich country was on an upward track.

Old footage of the contest available on the Internet shows Wijdan Burhan al-Din Suleimank, at a venue in Puerto Rico, introducing herself at the microphone, between India and Ireland in the speaking order.

"We look forward to having a good ambassador for Iraq," said Senan Kamel, the 2015 pageant's artistic director, who also organised Iraq's first fashion show in years last March.

"What we're hoping to accomplish is to make Iraq's voice heard, show that it is still alive, that its heart is still beating," he said.

The fashion designer was carried out to the car park after nearly fainting from exhaustion and stress before the show but he was back on his feet and all smiles in time to vote with the jury and present the winner with her crown.

Turkey announces troop withdrawal from Iraq after Obama appeal: ministry

Yahoo – AFP, December 19, 2015

Turkey said it would "continue" to pull its troops out of northern Iraq after US
 President Barack Obama urged President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to do so in
order to de-escalate tensions (AFP Photo/Mustafa Ozer)

Ankara (AFP) - Turkey on Saturday said it would "continue" to pull its troops out of northern Iraq after US President Barack Obama urged President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to do so in order to de-escalate tensions with Baghdad over the deployment.

"Taking into account the sensitivities on the Iraqi side... Turkey will continue the process it has already begun to withdraw its troops stationed in Mosul province," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

The Iraqi government earlier this week demanded the "complete withdrawal" of Turkish troops from its territory after Turkey deployed soldiers and tanks to a military camp near the city of Mosul.

Baghdad labelled the deployment an illegal "incursion" but Turkey said it was to protect Turkish trainers working with Iraqi forces battling the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group.

In a phone call on Friday, Obama asked Erdogan to take steps "to de-escalate tensions with Iraq, including by continuing to withdraw Turkish military forces".

He also urged Turkey "to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq".

A senior Turkish official said last week that between 150 and 300 soldiers and 20 tanks were deployed to protect Turkish military trainers at the Bashiqa camp near Mosul.

Turkey began partially withdrawing troops from the area on Monday.

In its statement late Saturday, the foreign ministry said there had been a "lack of communication" with Baghdad on the matter and that Ankara "would continue to coordinate with the Iraqi government over its military contribution to the country in the fight against Daesh (IS)".

Related Article:

UN unanimously adopts resolution targeting IS finances

'Dialogue' necessary with Islamic State, says Dalai Lama

Yahoo – AFP, 7 Dec 2015

The Dalai Lama says that "Islam is a religion of peace" and that "dialoge"
with the Islamic State group jihadists is vital (AFP Photo/David McNew)

Rome (AFP) - The Islamic State (IS) group harms Islam through its intolerance, but "dialogue" with the jihadists is vital, the Dalai Lama said in an interview reported on Monday by the Italian daily La Stampa.

"Islam is a religion of peace. Those who are intolerant harm their own faith and their own brothers," the Tibetan spiritual leader was quoted as saying in Bangalore, southern India, where he took part in a seminar on peace and the economy.

Even so, "there has to be dialogue, with IS as well," the Dalai Lama said, in remarks reported in Italian.

Asked how this should be achieved, he replied, "Through dialogue. One has to listen, to understand, to have respect for the other person, regardless. There is no other way."

A US-led coalition and Russia have vowed to crush the IS, also called ISIS, ISIL or Daesh, which monitors say has carried out executions, abductions and rapes in areas under its control in Iraq and Syria, and conducted a wave of terror operations abroad.

Related Articles:

2015 Kryon Kundalini Tour (Cusco #2, Peru) - Nov, 2015 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Reference to Paris/ISIS/Dark-Old Energy/USA+Warning for Governments around the World !!!) - (Text version) New

"Revelations of Darkness" - Oct 1, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“ .. Do Not Despair

There's too much information to give you in one channelling, in one sitting, so I refer to past messages for you to better understand and reference the information in order to get the bigger picture. So I wish to remind you of something I also told you in a recent channelling called Do Not Despair. You're winning! It's because you're winning that the dark consciousness on this planet is feeling it, and the humanity that represents darkness is pulling out everything it has to survive.

It Has Always Been There

Let's look at it, because it's all over the news. Are you shocked at the sudden existence of the organization that will remain unnamed [for this channelling]? Where did it come from? How could it be so organized? How could it be so well funded? This organization could have its own country soon! They might as well name it, “The Old Energy Dark Country”, for that's what it will represent.

The barbaric past of humanity comes forward to show its face. It has always been there, hiding under the rocks and between the cracks of civilized humanity. It couldn't show itself until now, but now it has to. It's ugly and it's not for the faint at heart, is it, dear ones? Seeing evil personified in Human action is abhorrent. It is so ugly and so dark that you cannot look upon it with a gentle heart. God is not a part of it and this is obvious.

You're winning! Light is winning! The uprising of dark consciousness would not have shown itself with this strength, or this quickly, if this were not so. This is exactly what I told you to look for, and it is proof that those representing this dark consciousness are in trouble. Dear ones, dark consciousness has always had a tried-and-true system. It lurks in the shadows and influences all the power places of the planet - government, commerce, finance. Suddenly, it can't hide there as well anymore and it's out in the open.

Where is the funding coming from? It is coming from a storehouse that has always been there, dear ones. It uses income that has been generated from low consciousness acts, collected for a very long time. Funding didn't just appear. It has been stored, waiting to be used in order to spread fear and darkness to save what they believe is their way.

Who Will Win?

Dear ones, they haven't got a chance! But it looks like they do, doesn't it? Everything that they are doing is calculated to scare you into submission. Are they winning? Now, that's a question I want you to take from here and examine every day.

Fear is black. If you're in fear, there is no light. You can be the grandest Lightworker, or even be the channeller, but if you're in fear, it doesn't matter how many years you've done light work, or how much light you've accumulated personally. It all goes away with fear, and then they've won the battle for your mind. Do you understand this?

The Strength of the Old Soul - YOU

Old souls, Lightworkers reading this, the experiences you have had over lifetimes and lifetimes are incredible! The old soul knows fear. I don't want to be too graphic, but I want you to understand! What was it like when you put your head in the guillotine because you talked about God in a way that was inappropriate? What was it like to be bound hand and foot when they lit the match at your feet? Old soul, that's fear! You carry those experiences in your Akash.

I want to tell you they haven't got a chance to scare you! You absolutely know what fear is, and they haven't got a chance as long as you cling to that part of you that is the strength of God. You've been through it all. That means you've got the weapons of truth, wisdom and light. Don't forget it. Don't forget who you are!

Do you see how fast they assembled? It seemed like only yesterday that there was no organization at all. Where did they come from? Have you noticed a certain hesitancy to fight them? Why is it that the citizens of the lands that they are invading are hesitant to fight them? Instead, these leaders are calling on others to help. Why is it that the others are also hesitant? I want to show you that there are some anomalies of logic that are not making sense, because this is a battle you have never seen before on this planet. We've expected it, but you haven't. It's about consciousness, not land or resources.

How to Win?

We gave you the secret before of how to defeat them without taking even one life: Simply take away their funding. They cannot exist without their funding. The funding has to be organized, stored, and distributed. It has to be generated in such a way that it must also go through institutions. Did you hear that? All you have to do is stop the system. Winning won't be done with bombing. It's going to be done with intelligence, clever thinking and financial forensics. It's time to get smart on some of these things and not to be afraid to look at this puzzle differently than you have before. Do not apply the energy they are using in order to fight them, because you won't win. Figure it out. It's the last bastion of organized darkness and evil thinking on this planet coming together to try to survive the assault of your light. Don't be afraid to look at the funding trail, no matter where it takes you.

Fear is Their Weapon

I want you to know something as you look at your news. It may appear that you are unable to stop them. In many places, they will gain strength as they create fear. The fear is easily created in those who are not old souls and who don't know fear like you do and who don't have the armor of your spiritual experiences. This puts you in the front line, dear one. Did you realize that? But you don't have to go fight them on their terms. All you have to do is broadcast light. High consciousness will beat fear any day.. .”

Iran photographer to share prize money with Syria refugees

Yahoo – AFP, 5 Sep 2015

Iranian photographer Newsha Tavakolian poses for a picture in a park in Tehran,
June 26, 2011 (AFP Photo)

Tehran (AFP) - Iranian photographer Newsha Tavakolian has said she will donate part of a 100,000-euro ($112,000) Dutch award to charity, including Syrian and Iraqi refugees.

"It is hard for me to enjoy this prize as much as I would like to, seeing the region where I work and live in flames and tens of thousands seeking refuge in faraway lands," Tavakolian said on her Facebook page.

The 34-year-old self-taught photographer considered as one of the first professional female photojournalists in Iran, said she would be donating 15,000 to an organisation helping Syrian and Iraqi refugees.

"I have worked in both their countries and want to give back to all the kindness Iraqi's and Syrians always welcomed me with, despite the dire circumstances they live in," she said.

The Amsterdam-based Prince Claus Fund dedicated to culture and development said on its website Thursday that it had awarded its Principal 2015 prize to Tavakolian.

"Newsha Tavakolian is a self-taught photographer who combines photojournalism and art to offer new insights into the lived experience of people in Iran and the wider Middle East region," it said.

"One of the first professional female photojournalists in Iran, her work ranges from bold reportage of political events to sensitive portraits and evocative series on subjects such as the insecurity of middle-class youth, female Kurdish fighters or the impact of sanctions on individual lives.

"The aesthetic and intellectual qualities of Tavakolian's stills, videos, installations and photobooks question stereotypes and inspire young photographers across the Middle East," said the Prince Claus Fund.

During a recent trip in the Middle East, Tavakolian took pictures to illustrate the struggles of Kurdish women fighting the jihadist Islamic State group in northern Iraq.

Tavakolian said 13,000 euros of her prize money would be given to Sheed Award, an independent documentary photography award in Iran.

Another 10,000 euros will go to Mahak Foundation, an Iranian charity supporting children with cancer, and 7,000 euros to local organisations supporting and protecting animals.

Tavakolian's pictures have been published by Time magazine, the National Geographic and Magnum Photos.

In 2014, Tavakolian returned a 50,000-euro prize from the Carmignac Gestion photojournalism award citing a dispute with the French foundation over her right to artistic freedom.

She later changed her mind following negotiations with the jury.

The Prince Claus awards are given to individuals, groups and organisations based mainly in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Soul-searching: heart-rending photo of drowned toddler shows cost of Europe's migrant crisis http://t.co/z4jFW5aF3v pic.twitter.com/vkle4cbLU8

— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) 3 september 2015

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"Return of the Masters" - Apr 11-12, 2015 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

Japan condemns 'despicable' IS hostage beheading claim

Yahoo – AFP, Kyoko Hasegawa, 1 Feb 2015

People walk past a big screen reporting that a Japanese hostage was killed by

the Islamic State in Tokyo on February 1, 2015 (AFP Photo/Toru Yamanaka)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Sunday denounced as "heinous and despicable" the apparent beheading of a second Japanese hostage by the Islamic State group, as global leaders denounced the jihadists.

IS claimed in a video released online Saturday that it had killed 47-year-old Kenji Goto -- the second beheading of a Japanese hostage in a week -- but made no mention of a captured Jordanian pilot it had also threatened to kill.

Jordan "will do everything it can" to save the pilot's life and secure his release, government spokesman Mohammed al-Momeni told the official Petra news agency in Amman.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (C) 

talks during a ministerial meeting on an

 online video purportedly showing a

Japanese hostage being killed by the

Islamic State, on February 1, 2015 at his

official residence in Tokyo (AFP Photo/

Kimimasa Mayama)

Goto, a respected war correspondent, is seen in an orange outfit -- similar to those worn by Guantanamo Bay inmates -- kneeling next to a standing masked man dressed head-to-toe in black with his face covered.

The man, who speaks with a British accent, appears to be the same IS militant who has featured in previous execution videos.

He directly addresses Abe, saying the killing was the result of "reckless" decisions by the Japanese government -- a possible reference to aid money that Tokyo gave to help refugees fleeing IS-controlled areas in Syria and Iraq -- and would mark the beginning of a "nightmare for Japan".

The brief video, whose content has not been verified, ends with the image of a body and a decapitated head on top of it.

"After an extensive review, we believe it's highly probable" the video is authentic, government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told reporters.

Japan's premier, who appeared on the verge of tears, pledged not to back down and said his government would increase humanitarian aid to the Middle East.

"I am extremely angry about these heinous and despicable terrorist acts. We will never forgive terrorists," he told a crush of reporters at his office.

"We will cooperate with the international community to make them atone for their crimes."

'Chills down my spine'

"I can't find the words to describe how I feel about my son's very sad death," a sobbing Junko Ishido, Goto's mother, told reporters.

Distraught Junko Ishido (R), mother of Kenji Goto, speaks to reporters while her 

husband Yukio Ishido (L) stands beside her at their home in Tokyo on February 1, 2015

(AFP Photo/Kazuhiro Nogi)

His brother Junichi Goto said he had been holding out hope, "but that's not possible any more".

Officially pacifist Japan has long avoided getting embroiled in Middle East conflicts and is rarely the target of religious extremism. So the hostage crisis has been especially shocking for the country.

Many braved Tokyo's chilly streets to pick up the Yomiuri newspaper's special supplement about the Goto video.

"It's scary -- they (the militants) are saying they'll target Japanese people now," said 21-year-old university student Kyosuke Kamogawa.

"That sends chills down my spine."

US President Barack Obama led international condemnation of the "heinous murder".

Two women read an extra edition

newspaper reporting the killing of

Japanese hostage Kenji Goto in Tokyo

on February 1, 2015 (AFP Photo/

Yoshikazu Tsuno)

"Through his reporting, Mr Goto courageously sought to convey the plight of the Syrian people to the outside world," Obama said.

A spokesman for UN chief Ban Ki-moon said the "barbaric murder... underscores the violence that so many have been subjected to in Iraq and Syria".

Paris and London also denounced the video, with British Prime Minister David Cameron saying it was "a further reminder that (IS) is the embodiment of evil, with no regard for human life".

The militant group has imposed a brutal version of Islamic law in territory it controls in Syria and Iraq. It has murdered both locals and foreigners, including two US journalists, an American aid worker and two British aid workers.

The latest video came after Japan, which had leaned heavily on key regional ally Jordan for help, said negotiations to win Goto's release in a prisoner exchange had stalled.

IS had vowed to kill Goto and Jordanian pilot Maaz al-Kassasbeh by sunset Thursday unless Amman handed over an Iraqi female jihadist who is on death row for her part in bombings in the capital that killed 60 people in 2005.

"The government has been working with the utmost efforts on the issue -- I deeply regret that this is the result," Abe said.

But "Japan will never yield to terrorism... (and) is firmly resolved to fulfil its responsibility in the international community's fight against terrorism".

'Proof of life'

Last week IS claimed responsibility for the beheading of another hostage, self-described contractor Haruna Yukawa, after the expiration of a 72-hour deadline during which it had asked Tokyo to pay a $200 million ransom.

Friends and relatives of Jordanian air force

 pilot Maaz al-Kassasbeh -- who was 

captured by Islamic State militants after

his plane crashed in Syria on December 24

-- protest near the Prime Minister's office in

Amman, on January 27, 2015 (AFP Photo/

Khalil Mazraawi)

It was the same sum that Tokyo had pledged to the region in non-military aid.

Jordan has demanded evidence that its pilot, who crashed in Syria on December 24, was still alive before freeing would-be suicide bomber Sajida al-Rishawi.

The pilot's father Safi Kassasbeh begged Amman to save his son's life "at any price".

Goto's wife Rinko broke her silence last week to plead for her husband's return.

The couple had a second child just weeks before Goto left for Syria late last year, in a bid to find his friend Yukawa. He was later captured himself.

Diplomats from the Council of Arab Ambassadors to Japan were to meet Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida later Sunday.

The Council "deplores that such a barbaric act was committed...in the name of Islam", it said in a statement.

Related Articles:

World leaders condemns IS beheading of Japanese journalist Goto

"2015" (3) - Jan 10/11, 2015 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

"Revelations of Darkness" - Oct 1, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“ .. Do Not Despair

There's too much information to give you in one channelling, in one sitting, so I refer to past messages for you to better understand and reference the information in order to get the bigger picture. So I wish to remind you of something I also told you in a recent channelling called Do Not Despair. You're winning! It's because you're winning that the dark consciousness on this planet is feeling it, and the humanity that represents darkness is pulling out everything it has to survive.

It Has Always Been There

Let's look at it, because it's all over the news. Are you shocked at the sudden existence of the organization that will remain unnamed [for this channelling]? Where did it come from? How could it be so organized? How could it be so well funded? This organization could have its own country soon! They might as well name it, “The Old Energy Dark Country”, for that's what it will represent.

The barbaric past of humanity comes forward to show its face. It has always been there, hiding under the rocks and between the cracks of civilized humanity. It couldn't show itself until now, but now it has to. It's ugly and it's not for the faint at heart, is it, dear ones? Seeing evil personified in Human action is abhorrent. It is so ugly and so dark that you cannot look upon it with a gentle heart. God is not a part of it and this is obvious.

You're winning! Light is winning! The uprising of dark consciousness would not have shown itself with this strength, or this quickly, if this were not so. This is exactly what I told you to look for, and it is proof that those representing this dark consciousness are in trouble. Dear ones, dark consciousness has always had a tried-and-true system. It lurks in the shadows and influences all the power places of the planet - government, commerce, finance. Suddenly, it can't hide there as well anymore and it's out in the open.

Where is the funding coming from? It is coming from a storehouse that has always been there, dear ones. It uses income that has been generated from low consciousness acts, collected for a very long time. Funding didn't just appear. It has been stored, waiting to be used in order to spread fear and darkness to save what they believe is their way.

Who Will Win?

Dear ones, they haven't got a chance! But it looks like they do, doesn't it? Everything that they are doing is calculated to scare you into submission. Are they winning? Now, that's a question I want you to take from here and examine every day.

Fear is black. If you're in fear, there is no light. You can be the grandest Lightworker, or even be the channeller, but if you're in fear, it doesn't matter how many years you've done light work, or how much light you've accumulated personally. It all goes away with fear, and then they've won the battle for your mind. Do you understand this?

The Strength of the Old Soul - YOU

Old souls, Lightworkers reading this, the experiences you have had over lifetimes and lifetimes are incredible! The old soul knows fear. I don't want to be too graphic, but I want you to understand! What was it like when you put your head in the guillotine because you talked about God in a way that was inappropriate? What was it like to be bound hand and foot when they lit the match at your feet? Old soul, that's fear! You carry those experiences in your Akash.

I want to tell you they haven't got a chance to scare you! You absolutely know what fear is, and they haven't got a chance as long as you cling to that part of you that is the strength of God. You've been through it all. That means you've got the weapons of truth, wisdom and light. Don't forget it. Don't forget who you are!

Do you see how fast they assembled? It seemed like only yesterday that there was no organization at all. Where did they come from? Have you noticed a certain hesitancy to fight them? Why is it that the citizens of the lands that they are invading are hesitant to fight them? Instead, these leaders are calling on others to help. Why is it that the others are also hesitant? I want to show you that there are some anomalies of logic that are not making sense, because this is a battle you have never seen before on this planet. We've expected it, but you haven't. It's about consciousness, not land or resources.

How to Win?

We gave you the secret before of how to defeat them without taking even one life: Simply take away their funding. They cannot exist without their funding. The funding has to be organized, stored, and distributed. It has to be generated in such a way that it must also go through institutions. Did you hear that? All you have to do is stop the system. Winning won't be done with bombing. It's going to be done with intelligence, clever thinking and financial forensics. It's time to get smart on some of these things and not to be afraid to look at this puzzle differently than you have before. Do not apply the energy they are using in order to fight them, because you won't win. Figure it out. It's the last bastion of organized darkness and evil thinking on this planet coming together to try to survive the assault of your light. Don't be afraid to look at the funding trail, no matter where it takes you.

Fear is Their Weapon

I want you to know something as you look at your news. It may appear that you are unable to stop them. In many places, they will gain strength as they create fear. The fear is easily created in those who are not old souls and who don't know fear like you do and who don't have the armor of your spiritual experiences. This puts you in the front line, dear one. Did you realize that? But you don't have to go fight them on their terms. All you have to do is broadcast light. High consciousness will beat fear any day.. .”