Kim Jong Un Hailed as Global Statesman by Sukarno Center

Jakarta Globe, Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Jul 30, 2015

Kim Jong Un has somehow joined the likes of Aung San Suu Kyi and Mahatma
 Gandhi as a global statesman, at least in the bizarre logic employed by
 Indonesia's Sukarno Center in awarding awarding him its annual prize for
world peace and development. (Reuters Photo/KCNA handout)

Jakarta. The Bali-based Sukarno Center will this year award its annual prize for global statesmanship to Kim Jong Un of North Korea, hailing him as a champion in the fight against neocolonialism and imperialism.

Rachmawati Soekarnoputri, a daughter of Indonesia’s founding president, after whom the award is named, made the announcement on Thursday following a meeting with Ri Jong Ryul, Pyongyang’s ambassador to Jakarta.

“We will give the award to President [sic] Kim Jong Un because he has been consistent in carrying out the ideals of the great leader, Kim Il Sung, which is to fight imperialism,” Rachmawati said.

The Sukarno Prize, traditionally handed out in recognition of contributions to world peace and development, has previously been awarded to luminaries such as Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar and India’s Mahatma Gandhi.

It is unclear how Kim Jong Un, whose saber-rattling and bellicose policies have exacerbated already strained and frosty ties with South Korea, Japan and the United States, has contributed in any way to world peace or compares even remotely with the above democracy icons.

Rachmawati noted that the Sukarno Center had previously presented the award to Kim Il Sung, whom she called a hero of independence and peace.

“So this will be a sequel, where we give the award to Kim Jong Un for his persistence in fighting neocolonialism,” she said.

Rachmawati has been appointed the honorary Asia-Pacific chairwoman of Pyongyang’s Korean reunification preparation committee – a body not recognized beyond the borders of the hermit kingdom.

North Korean people raise their fists during an anti-US rally at Kim Il-Sung

stadium in Pyongyang on June 25, 2015 (AFP Photo)

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"Recalibration of Knowledge" – Jan 14, 2012 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Channelling, God-Creator, Benevolent Design, New Energy, Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Reincarnation, Gaia, Old Energies (Africa, Terrorists, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela ... ), Weather, Rejuvenation, Akash, Nicolas Tesla / Einstein, Cold Fusion, Magnetics, Lemuria, Atomic Structure (Electrons, Particles, Polarity, Self Balancing, Magnetism), Entanglement, "Life is necessary for a Universe to exist and not the other way around", DNA, Humans (Baby getting ready, First Breath, Stem Cells, Embryonic Stem Cells, Rejuvenation), Global Unity, ... etc.) - (Text Version)

“…  I want you to watch some countries. I don't have a clock [this statement is Kryon telling us that there is no time frame on his side of the veil, only potentials]. I'll just tell you, it's imminent [in Spirit's timing, this could mean as soon as a decade]. I want you to watch some countries carefully for changes. You're going to be seeing changes that are obvious, and some that are not obvious [covert or assumptive]. But the obvious ones you will see sooner than not - Cuba, Korea [North], Iran, of course, and Venezuela. I want you to watch what happens when they start to realize that they don't have any more allies on Earth! Even their brothers who used to support them in their hatred of some are saying, "Well, perhaps not anymore. It doesn't seem to be supporting us anymore." Watch the synchronicities that are occurring. The leaders who have either died or are going to in the next year or so will take with them the old ways. Watch what happens to those who take their place, and remember these meetings where I described these potentials to you. …"

THE OLD SOUL 2013 TOOLKIT" – Jan 13, 2013 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll)  (Text version)

"... The Change in the Way Things Work

Now I'm going to be very cautious with number five, and I'm going to change a paradigm of the way we channel. For 23 years, we have given you information in the soup of potentials that we read around you as the highest probable potential that exists. These things eventually become your reality because they are your free choice, and we know what you're thinking. We know what the potentials are because we know what the biases are, and we see all of humanity as a whole. Potentials are energy, and it gives us the ability to project your future based on how you are working these potentials. We have done this for a long time. Twenty-three years ago, we told you about many things that were potentially going to happen, and now they are your reality.

But now I'm going to depart from that scenario and I'm going to give you a potential on Earth that is not the strongest. I am going to tell you about a Human Being who has a choice. This potential is only about 50 percent. But I'm going to "read a potential" to you that you didn't expect. It's about a paradigm that is starting to shift.

Let's talk about North Korea. There's a young, new leader there. The potential is that he will never, ever hear this channel, so I can talk freely about him. He is facing a dilemma, for he is young and he knows about the differences in the energy in his land. He feels it. The lineage of his departed father lies upon him and all that is around him expects him to be a clone of this lineage. He is expected to continue the things that he has been taught and make North Korea great.

But he's starting to rethink them. Indeed, he wants to be a great leader, and to be heard and seen, and to make his mark on North Korea's history. His father showed him that this was very important. So he ponders a question: What makes a world leader great?

Let's ask that question to someone in an older earth paradigm from not that long ago. He will be an expert and a successful one. So this is a valid exercise, asking someone from the past who knows. We will ask that question to a man who you know and whose name is Napoleon. For us, this was yesterday and some of you were there. 

If you asked Napoleon, "What makes a world leader great?", he will say, "the size of the army, how much area can be efficiently conquered with a given amount of resources and men, how important the leader appears will then be based upon how many citizens call him emperor or king, the taxes he can impose, and how many fear him." Not only was that Napoleon's reality, but he was right for the energy he was part of at the time. So Napoleon went back and forth between world leader, general and prisoner. He accomplished almost everything he set out to do. His expertise was obvious, and you remember his name to this day. He was famous.

What makes a world leader great? What I am showing you is the difference in thinking between then and now. There are some choices that this evolving young Human Being has that could change everything on the planet if he wanted. His father would tell this boy that what makes a world leader great is the potential of his missile power, or how close he can get to having a nuclear weapon, or how he stands up against the power of the West, or how he continues to aggravate and stir drama as a small country - getting noticed and being feared. His father would tell him that this is his lineage and that is what he's been told all his life. His father did it well and surrounded himself with advisors who he then passed on to his son.

Now, there's a 50 percent chance of something happening here, but this is not a strong potential, dear ones. I'm bringing this forward so you can watch it work one way or the other. For if the son continues in his father's footsteps, he is doomed to failure. The energy on the earth will see it as old and he will be seen as a fool. If, however, he figures it out, he could be the most famous man on the planet... which is really what his father wanted.

If Kryon were to advise this man, here's what I would tell him. He could be the greatest known leader the current world has ever known, for what he does now will be something the world will see as a demarcation point from the old ways. Not only that, but what he does now will be in the history books forever, and because of his youth, he has the potential to outlive every other leader on the planet! So he's going to have longer fame than anyone ever has.

I would tell him this: Tell the border guards to go home. Greet the south and begin to unify North and South Korea in a way that no past prophet ever said could happen. Allow the two countries to be separate, but have them as two parts of a larger Korean family with free trade and travel. Start alliances with the West and show them that you mean it. Drop the missile programs because you will never need them!

This will bring abundance to the North Korean people that they never expected! They will have great economic sustenance, schools, hospitals and more respect than ever for their amazing leader. The result would be fame and glory for the son, which the father had never achieved, something that the world would talk about for hundreds of years. It would cause a United Nations to stand and applaud as the son walked into the Grand Assembly. I would ask him, "Wouldn't you like that?"

Doesn't this seem obvious to most of you? He could achieve instant fame and be seen as the one who made the difference and started something amazing. But watch him. He has a choice, but it's not simple. He still has his father's advisors, but one of which he's already dismissed. He may get it, or he may not. There is a 50 percent chance. But I'll tell you that if he doesn't do it, the one after him will. Because it is so obvious. 

We show you this to tell you that this is the evolvement of the Human species. It is the slow realization that putting things together is the answer to all things, instead of separating them or conquering them. Those who start promoting compromise and begin to create these energies that never were here before will be the ones you're going to remember. Dear ones, it's going to happen in leadership and politics and in business. It's a new paradigm...."

Chinese loggers among thousands of prisoners released in Myanmar amnesty

In the latest in a series of amnesties, Myanmar has ordered the release of 6,966 prisoners. Among them were 210 foreigners, including 155 Chinese nationals jailed last week for illegally logging in neighboring Myanmar.

Deutsche Welle, 30 July 2015

The order on Thursday came on the instruction of Manmar President Thein Sein. According to a statement on Myanmar's Ministry of Information website, the amnesty was announced after the prisoners were deemed to have been "well disciplined."

The release of 155 Chinese detainees could potentially appease Myanmar's neighbor who last week filed a diplomatic protest over the verdict of their citizens.

All but two of the Chinese prisoners were sentenced to life imprisonment for illegally logging in northern Myanmar, close to the Chinese-Myanmarese border. The remaining pair each received a 10-year jail sentence.

The decision sparked a flood outrage across Chinese state media and a plea from Beijing to Naypyidaw to be "reasonable."

It was not immediately clear whether any political prisoners were among the thousands of released prisoners.

Thursday's pardon was the just the latest of several amnesties ordered by Sein's reformist, quasi-civilian government since he was elected in 2011 - ending five decades of military rule.

ksb/jil (AFP, Reuters)

Mysterious plane wreckage sparks MH370 speculation

Yahoo – AFP, 29 July 2015

Police carry a piece of debris from an unidentified aircraft found in the coastal

area of Saint-Andre de la Reunion, on July 29, 2015 (AFP Photo/Yannick Pitou)

A mysterious piece of plane debris washed up on the French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion on Wednesday, prompting speculation it could be part of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

The two-metre (six-foot) long piece of wreckage, which seemed to be part of a wing, was found by people cleaning up a beach.

"It was covered in shells, so one would say it had been in the water a long time," said one witness.

French air transport officials have opened a probe into where the wreckage came from and Australian investigators are also reportedly working with manufacturer Boeing to identify if it is from MH370.

"We've received some pictures of the item and we are having them assessed by the manufacturers as to what they may be," a spokesman for the Australian Transport Safety Bureau told the AAP news agency.

Xavier Tytelman, an expert in aviation security, said it could not be ruled out that the wreckage belonged to MH370, which vanished without trace in March last year.

No part of the wreckage has ever been found in one of aviation's great mysteries and Malaysian authorities in January declared that all on board were presumed dead.

A policeman and a gendarme stand next to a piece of debris from an unidentified

 aircraft found in the coastal area of Saint-Andre de la Reunion, in the east of the

 French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion, on July 29, 2015 (AFP Photo/Yannick
Pitou)

The plane vanished at night over the South China Sea after turning away from its north-bound route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.

Tytelman noted that local media photos showed "incredible similarities between a #B777 flaperon and the debris found," referring to a Boeing 777 -- the type of plane that disappeared.

He also noted a reference on the wreckage: BB670.

"This code is not a plane's registration number, nor serial number. However... it's clear that this reference would allow a quick identification. In a few days, we will have a definitive answer," Tytelman said.

Boeing said in a statement it remained "committed to supporting the MH370 investigation and the search for the airplane".

"We continue to share our technical expertise and analysis. Our goal, along with the entire global aviation industry, continues to be not only to find the airplane, but also to determine what happened –- and why," said the US aviation giant.

Wild theories

An Australian-led operation has scoured more than 50,000 square kilometres (19,000 square miles) of the seafloor, about 60 percent of a search zone in the Indian Ocean determined via expert analysis of signals from MH370 that were detected by a satellite.

But the four search vessels towing 10-kilometre (6-mile) cables fitted with sophisticated sonar systems that scan the seabed have turned up little except shipping containers and a previously uncharted shipwreck.

Rough weather, the pitch-black extreme depths of up to 4,000 metres, and the rugged nature of the previously unmapped seafloor have made for a slow, frustrating search.

Angry next of kin have criticised Malaysia's handling of the plane's disappearance, and have questioned the choice to focus the search on the southern Indian Ocean.

This handout photo taken and released on April 9, 2014 by Australian Defence

 shows a Royal Australian Air Force AP-3C Orion flying past Australian Defence 
Vessel Ocean Shield on a mission to drop sonar buoys to assist in the search for 
MH370 (AFP Photo/Lsis Bradley Darvill)

With the search proving fruitless, speculation on the fate of the plane remains focused primarily on a possible mechanical or structural failure, a hijacking or terror plot, or rogue pilot action.

However, nothing has emerged to substantiate any of these scenarios.

The lack of solid information has sustained a flow of conspiracy theories, with books, documentaries and a thriving online debate positing a range of possibilities.

These include suggestions that the plane was commandeered to be used as a "flying bomb" headed for US military installations on the Diego Garcia atoll, and was shot down by the Americans. The United States has dismissed this.

US aviation expert Jeff Wise has suggested MH370 was commandeered to a Russian facility in Kazakhstan, possibly an effort by President Vladimir Putin to intimidate the West during the Ukraine crisis, or to gain access to a certain passenger or item.

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Malaysia PM shuffles cabinet as corruption allegations mount

Yahoo – AFP, Dan Martin, 28 July 2015

Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak (R) chats with his newly-appointed Deputy

 Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (L) at the premier's office in Putrajaya on

July 28, 2015 (AFP Photo/Mohd Rasfan)

Kuala Lumpur (AFP) - Malaysian premier Najib Razak on Tuesday sacked his deputy premier and attorney general in a cabinet reshuffle widely seen as an attempt to strengthen his hold on power as he battles corruption allegations.

Najib has come under growing pressure in recent months over claims that huge sums of money had been siphoned off from state-owned development company 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), which he launched in 2009.

Calls for Najib, 62, to step down mounted earlier this month after a Wall Street Journal report alleged that nearly $700 million had been routed to Najib's personal bank accounts.

The prime minister and 1MDB have vehemently denied any wrongdoing.

In a televised address, Najib announced he had dumped Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who has been critical of Najib's handling of the affair and has called for transparency. He is also considered Najib's chief rival for power.

Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, pictured on July 23, 2014, has been

 critical of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak's handling of the scandal involving

 state-owned development company 1Malaysia Development Berhad (AFP Photo/

Mohd Rasfan)

Muhyiddin was replaced by Home Minister Zahid Hamidi, who is considered a Najib loyalist.

Clearly referring to Muhyiddin and other lower-ranking ministers who had raised questions over 1MDB, Najib said cabinet members "should not air their differences in an open forum that can affect public opinion against the government and Malaysia".

In total, seven new ministers and nine deputy ministers were appointed, according to reports, in a shuffle that Najib said was aimed at creating a more "unified team" ahead of the next elections, due by 2018.

Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail, who was part of a task force investigating 1MDB, also was sacked for "health reasons", a government statement said.

'Acts of desperation'

But the moves touched off speculation that Najib was attempting to curb further calls for transparency and possibly avoid criminal charges. Multiple investigations into the scandal are under way.

"The removal of the AG and the DPM will be seen as acts of desperation by Najib," said Terence Gomez, a political analyst with the University of Malaya.

"I suspect that the 1MDB task force has sufficient evidence to file charges against key actors in this company which may include the PM."

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak denies claims that sums of cash were 

siphoned off from state-owned development company 1Malaysia Development

Berhad (1MDB) to his personal account (AFP Photo/Manan Vatsyayana)

Legal activist group Lawyers for Liberty said removing the attorney general "is shocking to say the least, and can only fuel public suspicion of interference" in the investigations.

Over the past year a series of investigative reports have alleged that hundreds of millions of dollars of 1MDB money had gone missing in murky overseas transactions.

The Wall Street Journal report this month said investigators had found that nearly $700 million had moved through government agencies, banks and companies linked to 1MDB before ending up in Najib's accounts.

The premier has denied the allegation, calling it "political sabotage", while 1MDB has said it did not transfer any funds to Najib.

However both Najib and the company have faced growing criticism for failing to disprove the various accusations.

Meanwhile, 1MDB is reeling under a $11 billion debt burden, blamed largely on a much-questioned drive to acquire power-industry assets.

Fears that it may require a massive bailout have contributed to a slide in the ringgit currency to 17-year lows.

Deputy defends 'principles'

Muhyiddin issued a statement Tuesday afternoon saying that related to 1MDB, "I have my own principles and stance in defense of Malaysians, the party's reputation and national interests."

Newly-appointed Malaysian Deputy Prime

 Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (C), at the 

Prime Minister's office in Putrajaya on

July 28, 2015 (AFP Photo/Mohd Rasfan)

But he accepted his sacking and gave no indication he planned to wage a campaign against Najib.

The push to oust the Najib has been led by former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, who has warned that the political coalition dominated by the ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) will lose power in the next polls unless he is replaced.

Mahathir led the coalition for 22 years to 2003.

The coalition has ruled since independence in 1957 but has steadily lost support among a new generation of voters yearning for greater freedoms and an end to government corruption.

Political experts say that despite public outrage over 1MDB, Najib is secure within UMNO owing to the party's deep-rooted patronage politics and the great power invested in the premier's office.

The son of a respected former prime minister, Najib once headed UMNO's youth wing, building up an extensive network of supporters who now rule the party's various regional divisions.

Related Articles:

Inside Malaysia's Shadow State

"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (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)

“…5 - Integrity That May Surprise…

The Unthinkable… Politics, A Review

Humans will begin to search for integrity and fairness and it's going to happen in the places you never expect. I said this last week, so this is a review. There'll come a time when you will demand this of your politics - fairness and integrity. So when the candidates start calling each other names, you will turn your back on them and they won't get any votes. They're going to get the point real fast, don't you think? How about that?

Let me give you another potential. This country that I sit in right now [USA] will set the mold for that particular attribute. I have no clock. Watch for the youngsters to set this in motion, and they will, for they are the voters of tomorrow and they do not want the energy of today. To some of them, it's so abominable they won't even register to vote in this energy. You're going to see this soon. That was number five.. ..."

Jehovah's Witnesses in Australia hid 1,000 cases of child abuse

Jehovah's Witnesses in Australia have been accused by a government commission of discouraging church members to report child sexual abuse. Around 1,006 cases were kept from police, the commission was told.

Deutsche Welle, 27 July 2015

The investigation into sexual abuse and its aftermath heard on Monday that the church had hidden more than 1,000 cases of child molestation since the 1950s. The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, first created in 2013 to tackle allegations of abuse by Catholic priests in Australia, was told that Jehovah's Witnesses operated as a restrictive sect determined to hinder the reporting of abuse.

"Evidence will be put before the Royal Commission that of the 1,006 alleged perpetrators of child sexual abuse identified by the Jehovah's Witness Church since 1950, not one was reported by the church to secular authorities," said Angus Stewart, the senior lawyer assisting the commission.

"This suggests that it is the practice of the Jehovah's Witness Church to retain information regarding child sexual abuse offenses but not to report allegations of child sexual abuse to the police or other relevant authorities."

Stewart went on to describe official doctrine allowing church elders to practice discretion in reporting cases of child molestation unless there was a clear legal mandate to do so. The Jehovah's Witnesses has allowed at least 230 suspected abusers to return to the church, 35 of whom have been accused multiple times.

Two anonymous church members were also set to testify that they had been discouraged by church authorities from informing police about abuse allegations.

The US-based Jehovah's Witnesses, known for their door-to-door proselytizing, number around 8 million members worldwide, 68,000 of whom are in Australia.

Australia's abuse commission has heard stories of abuse and cover-ups not only from inside Christian #link:18507561:churches like the Catholics and the Jehovah's Witnesses, but from Orthodox Jewish communities as well. The implications have reached even inside the Vatican, where Australian Cardinal George Pell, who is now is charge of church's economic activities, has come under scrutiny over charges that he failed to adequately protect child victims years ago.

Pell has dismissed the allegations as "false" and "outrageous" and has said that hurting children is "completely contrary" to the teachings of Christ.

es/kms (KNA, Reuters)

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Ex-archbishop taken to hospital hours before child sex abuse trial

US Catholic bishops quit, envoy faces trial in sex abuse cases

Archbishop John Clayton Nienstedt and Auxiliary Bishop Lee Anthony Piche have

resigned after accusations they failed to protect minors (AFP Photo/Eric Cabanis)

"Not Your Father's New Age" - Feb 14/15, 2015 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“…  Greetings, dear ones, I am Kryon of Magnetic Service. Twenty-five years ago, I discussed with you what is happening now. Back then, it was only a potential, but now it's your reality. This was not prophecy when I told you back then that there would be no Armageddon or World War Three. It was not prophecy, but a powerful potential. The entire reason for my being and the awakening of my partner was because of what you did. The victory it contains falls in the lap of the old soul, who has controlled the consciousness of the timing of it all.

Everything that has transpired during these years has been realized potential. That is to say that we see the potentials of what you might do, and report on that and only that. Much of what we see now is realized quickly. When we told you in 2012 there would be a new pope, 13 months later it happened. This was not prophecy, but rather a potential. We saw it coming because we have the overview and we knew of the anxiety of the existing pope, the health of the man, and we also knew of the potentials of a South American pope to come forward. All of these things should be a "connect the dots" for you. I come yet again, not with prophecy, but with information given with a congratulatory attitude of potential. …”

Former Indian president A P J Kalam dies aged 83

Yahoo – AFP, 27 July 2015

India's former President A P J Abdul Kalam waves while meeting guests during

 a reception at the Presidential palace in New Delhi on July 22, 2007 (AFP Photo/

Prakash Singh)

New Delhi (AFP) - India's former president and top scientist A. P. J. Kalam, who played a lead role in the country's nuclear weapons tests, died on Monday, a hospital official said. He was 83.

Kalam collapsed during a lecture at a management institute in the northeastern Indian city of Shillong, and was declared dead on arrival by doctors at Bethany hospital.

"We tried to revive him but couldn't," John Sailo, the hospital medical superintendent told AFP, without giving further details about the cause of his death.

India declared seven days of national mourning for Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, who served as India's 11th president between 2002 and 2007, as is standard after the death of a former leader.

His body will be flown to New Delhi on Tuesday, local media reported.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi plaid tribute to Kalam, who was elected to the top post during the previous Bharatiya Janata Party rule, saying he had "always marvelled at his intellect, learnt so much from him".

Former President A P J Abdul Kalam (R) bows to exiled

 Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama after addressing the launch

 of the Global Foundation for Civilizational Harmony in New Delhi,

on January 22, 2008 (AFP Photo/Manan Vatsyayana)

"India mourns the loss of a great scientist, a wonderful president and above all an inspiring individual," his office said in a statement.

An acclaimed scientist and author, Kalam was known as the "people's president" during his time in office and continued to reach out to young people with his scientific lectures after leaving office.

Home minister Rajnath Singh described him as "an inspiration to an entire generation" in a post on Twitter.

Born to a poor family of boatman in Rameswaram, a coastal town in southern Tamil Nadu state on October 15, 1931, Kalam sold newspapers as a child to help his family financially.

He rose through the ranks to become a top scientist at India's defence research organisation, where he worked for four decades helping to develop the country's home grown weapon's programme, earning him the moniker "India's missile man".

He also played a pivotal role in India's nuclear weapons tests in 1998.

After his presidential term, Kalam returned to academics and regularly delivered lectures at top Indian universities. He also published a best seller autobiography entitled "Wings of fire" in 1999.

Joko Calls on British Businesses to Diversify in Indonesia as He Meets With PM Cameron

Jakarta Globe, Ezra Sihite & Novy Lumanauw, Jul 27, 2015

British Prime Minister David Cameron, left, with Indonesian President Joko Widodo
 meet at the Presidential Palace, Jakarta, on Monday. (Reuters Photo/Darren Whiteside)

Jakarta. President Joko Widodo asked Britain to diversify its businesses in Indonesia and lower import duties for Indonesian products entering the United Kingdom during his bilateral meeting with British Prime Minister David Cameron in Jakarta on Monday.

Joko told Cameron he welcomed Britain’s increased investments in Indonesia, which rose 34 percent last year, but added he wished Indonesia’s fifth largest foreign investor to diversify its range of businesses in the archipelago.

“I want to encourage Britain to diversify its investment in infrastructure development, including [for the construction] of sea ports, toll roads, railways, power plants and the maritime industry. Britain has vast experiences,” said Joko, who has repeatedly invited foreign nations to invest more in Indonesia to support his ambitious infrastructure development projects — including in the maritime sector.

“I also hope that Britain will impose lower import duties for Indonesian products, such as timber, clothing, coffee and fishery products,” he added.

Joko said Indonesia was committed to continually improving its economic partnership with Britain.

The Indonesian president also expressed his wish that Britain would reciprocate Indonesia’s visa-free policy applicable to British visitors.

“We hope that there will be a visa-free facility for Indonesian citizens [going to] Britain. This issue has been discussed during limited meetings,” Joko said.

Cameron in an e-mail interview with the Jakarta Globe on Sunday said his government would offer £1 billion ($1.55 billion) of credit financing for infrastructure projects in Indonesia.

A press statement from the British Embassy in Jakarta said the fund would be made available through Britain’s export guarantee scheme.

“This financing could pave the way for growth of £200 million worth of exports to UK,” the statement says.

It adds that projects “up for grabs” include a sewage treatment system in Jakarta worth £400 million and geothermal power projects worth £66 million.

Moazzam Malik, the British Ambassador for Indonesia, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and Timor Leste, on Sunday said that Britain was keen to offer Indonesia its vast expertise in a number of areas — specifically in maritime infrastructure development and maritime defense, satellite technology and public-private partnerships to finance infrastructure projects.

Cameron himself told the Globe in the e-mail interview: “The UK shares a common history as a maritime nation and while we may only have hundreds of islands compared to 17,000 here, we do understand the challenges that this presents and we want to share our experience and expertise to help develop this vital sector.”

“We have a wealth of experience in using advanced technology to monitor and manage our national waters and we are also a world leader in developing marine energy.”

The British prime minister is accompanied by a delegation of leaders of 30 prominent British brands in his two-day visit to Jakarta.

Among them are Airbus Group UK president Paul Kahn, Lloyd’s of London chairman John Nelson, Rolls-Royce international director Ann Cormack, Surrey Satellite Technology group executive chairman Martin Sweeting and UK Higher Educational Unit director Vivienne Stern.

Cameron is slated to attend a business forum with the Indonesian business community in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Jakarta is the prime minister’s first stop in his four-day tour of Southeast Asia which will include Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia. Cameron had visited Indonesia once before, in 2012 where he met with then president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

The Southeast Asian tour is Cameron’s first foreign visit outside Europe after his re-election in May.

The British Embassy says the tour is part of the British government’s efforts to increase the country’s exports to £1 trillion a year and to get 100,000 more British companies exporting by 2020.

“The prime minister is taking the first trade mission of the new parliament to a region [Southeast Asia] forecast to grow at 5 percent this year and with potential to unlock huge opportunities for jobs and growth in the UK,” the embassy says in the statement.

It adds that while the focus of the trip is about “opening doors” to future trade, deals worth over £750 million are expected to be sealed by the end of the trip.

On EU-Asean free trade

Aside from boosting bilateral trade, Cameron will also put his weight behind an European Union-Asean deal. He will call for the EU and Asean to jump start negotiations talks on a free trade agreement during his scheduled visit to the Asean secretariat in Jakarta on Monday evening, after the meeting with Joko.

A deal between these two trading blocs has the potential to benefit the British economy by £3 billion every year — nearly £120 per household — “by creating one of the biggest free trade areas in the world with combined GDP of over $20 trillion,” the press statement says.

Speaking ahead of the Southeast Asian tour, Cameron said Britain could open up more markets for its businesses by leveraging the power of the EU’s single market with 500 million consumers to secure “bold, ambitious trade deals with these fastest, growing economies.”

“The EU has shown this can be done with the trade agreement with Singapore and the recent breakthrough in talks with Vietnam but an EU-Asean trade deal would really turbo charge growth across the single market,” the prime minister was quoted as saying in the statement.

He added he would make the case in discussions with Asean Secretary General Le Luong Minh.

Cameron’s call comes as Asean countries prepare to establish an economic community by the end of this year.

The statement from the British Embassy notes that Australia, Japan and China “are already ahead of the game,” having implemented free trade deals with the Southeast Asian bloc.

“As the largest foreign investor in Asean, the EU should seize on this position to secure a new trade deal,”  it says.

To support Britain’s objectives in the region, Cameron has appointed a trade envoy specifically for the Asean Economic Community, Richard Graham.

Graham, who will join the prime minister for talks with Le, will take on the role alongside his existing role as trade envoy to Indonesia.

Joko on his part said Indonesia would restart this year its talks with the EU concerning Indonesia-EU comprehensive economic partnership agreement.

Obama competing with China to secure African support

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2015-07-26

President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya visits the Mombasa Nairobi Railway built
by China Communications Construction on Jan. 24, 2014. (Photo/Xinhua)

President Barack Obama of the United States, on visiting Kenya, the birthplace of his father, is competing with China for diplomatic support from African nations, according to Duowei News, an outlet operated by overseas Chinese.

Obama began his four-day visit to Kenya and Ethiopia on July 24, the first time he has visited the country as US president and nine years after he visited the country while a senator. Bloomberg's White House correspondent Margaret Talev noted that Obama on that occasion traveled to the village of Kogelo, the birthplace of Barack Obama Sr, for lunch with his grandmother and a visit to his father's grave. The senator mixed with locals and took an HIV test to encourage others to do likewise.

Obama is not visiting the village this time. Talev said the logistics of presidential travel and security concerns will keep Obama mostly confined to the capital Nairobi.

This is Obama's fourth trip to Africa after taking office and many on the continent expect the first US president from an African-American background to invest more resources into the region.

Pointing out that the combined economy of sub-Saharan Africa has doubled over the last 15 years and now stands at more than US$1 trillion, Charles Kenny, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development, said the United States is missing out on the opportunity this dynamism presents. Africa's imports of goods equaled US$194 billion in 2013, of which the US provided US$8.7 billion — less than 5% of the total and one-third of China's share, he noted.

Kenny said US direct investment in African stocks of US$31 billion represents 13% of total stocks. However, it is growing only at half the rate of Japan's regional stock investments and one-quarter of China's from 2001 to 2012.

Barack Obama reuniting with his family

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

" .... Africa

Let me tell you where else it's happening that you are unaware - that which is the beginning of the unity of the African states. Soon the continent will have what they never had before, and when that continent is healed and there is no AIDS and no major disease, they're going to want what you have. They're going to want houses and schools and an economy that works without corruption. They will be done with small-minded leaders who kill their populations for power in what has been called for generations "The History of Africa." Soon it will be the end of history in Africa, and a new continent will emerge.

Be aware that the strength may not come from the expected areas, for new leadership is brewing. There is so much land there and the population is so ready there, it will be one of the strongest economies on the planet within two generations plus 20 years. And it's going to happen because of a unifying idea put together by a few. These are the potentials of the planet, and the end of history as you know it.

In approximately 70 years, there will be a black man who leads this African continent into affluence and peace. He won't be a president, but rather a planner and a revolutionary economic thinker. He, and a strong woman with him, will implement the plan continent-wide. They will unite. This is the potential and this is the plan. Africa will arise out the ashes of centuries of disease and despair and create a viable economic force with workers who can create good products for the day. You think China is economically strong? China must do what it does, hobbled by the secrecy and bias of the old ways of its own history. As large as it is, it will have to eventually compete with Africa, a land of free thinkers and fast change. China will have a major competitor, one that doesn't have any cultural barriers to the advancement of the free Human spirit.. ...."