Taiwan to make landmark gay marriage ruling

Yahoo – AFP, May 23, 2017

This picture taken on May 19, 2017 shows Taiwanese gay rights campaigner
Chi Chia-wei, 59, posing for a photograph with a flag during an exhibition in
Taipei (AFP Photo/SAM YEH)

Taipei (AFP) - Taiwan could become the first place in Asia to legalise gay marriage on Wednesday when a court makes a landmark ruling on whether to allow same-sex unions.

Activists are optimistic the decision will go in their favour, with growing momentum behind the push for equal marriage rights on the island.

But there is also anger among conservative groups who have staged mass rallies against a change in the law as the debate divides society.

Campaigners for and against gay marriage are expected to gather in central Taipei on Wednesday afternoon.

The decision itself will be posted online by the judiciary at 4:00 pm (0800 GMT).

A panel of 14 grand justices will make the ruling in a case that centres on whether Taiwan's current law is unconstitutional.

Taiwan's pioneering gay rights campaigner, Chi Chia-wei, is one of the petitioners who has brought the case to the constitutional court.

This picture taken on May 19, 2017 shows Taiwanese gay rights campaigner 

Chi Chia-wei, 59, posing for a photograph during an exhibition in Taipei

(AFP Photo/SAM YEH)

After 30 years of activism, Chi, 59, told AFP he is "100 percent confident" the ruling will go in his favour.

He urged the judges to allow gay couples to register to marry the next day if they approve a change in the law, rather than giving the government a longer timeframe to implement the decision.

At the heart of the case is a clause in Taiwan's Civil Code that an agreement to marry should be made between a man and a woman.

Chi wants the court to rule on whether that contravenes elements in Taiwan's constitution which guarantee equality and freedom of marriage.

The decision is binding, so a ruling in his favour would pave the way for same-sex unions to be legalised.

The other party bringing the case is the Taipei city government, which has been rejecting marriage applications by same-sex couples and is seeking clarification of the law.

A majority of at least 10 judges need to agree on the ruling.

This photo taken on March 24, 2017 shows veteran gay rights activist Chi Chia-wei (C) 

speaking to the press with his supporters in front of the Judicial Yuan in Taipei

(AFP Photo/Sam YEH)

For the first time ever, the judiciary will release the decision simultaneously in Chinese and English, an indication of the level of international interest.

The ruling is likely to reverberate around the region, with calls for marriage equality rising in a number of countries, including South Korea and Japan.

Taiwan is seen as one of the most progressive societies in Asia when it comes to gay rights, and momentum has been gathering since President Tsai Ing-wen -- who has openly supported marriage equality -- came to power last May.

The legislature has also made more progress than ever, with proposals to amend the Civil Code, passing the first reading in December.

However, as well as huge pro-gay marriage rallies, hundreds of thousands have gathered to demonstrate against legalising same-sex unions.

Conservative and religious groups in Taiwan say that it would destroy family values.

Taiwan gay marriage supporters cry with joy after landmark Asian ruling pic.twitter.com/V2DhMFDyPq

— AFP news agency (@AFP) May 24, 2017

Related Article:

"The Akashic Circle" – Jul 17, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Religion, The Humanization of God, Benevolent Design, DNA, Akashic Circle, (Old) Souls, Gaia, Indigenous People, Talents, Reincarnation, Genders, Gender Switches, In “between” Gender Change, Gender Confusion, Shift of Human Consciousness, Global Unity,..... etc.)  - (Text version)

“… Gender Switching

Old souls, let me tell you something. If you are old enough, and many of you are, you have been everything. Do you hear me? All of you. You have been both genders. All of you have been what I will call between genders, and that means that all of you have had gender switches. Do you know what happens when it's time for you to switch a gender? We have discussed it before. You'll have dozens of lifetimes as the same gender. You're used to it. It's comfortable. You cannot conceive of being anything else, yet now it's time to change. It takes approximately three lifetimes for you to get used to it, and in those three lifetimes, you will have what I call "gender confusion."

It isn't confusion at all. It's absolutely normal, yet society often will see it as abnormal. I'm sitting here telling you you've all been through it. All of you. That's what old souls do. It's part of the system. …”

Ivanka Trump says Saudi progress on women 'encouraging'

Yahoo – AFP, May 21, 2017

Ivanka Trump says Saudi progress on women 'encouraging'

Riyadh (AFP) - US President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka said Sunday that ultra-conservative Saudi Arabia has made "encouraging" progress in empowering women but more freedom is needed.

"Saudi Arabia's progress, especially in recent years, is very encouraging," Trump's eldest daughter told a group of Saudi women she met in Riyadh while accompanying her father on a visit to the Muslim kingdom.

"But there's still a lot of work to be done and freedoms and opportunities to continue to fight for," added Ivanka, who serves as an advisor to her father.

"Around the world women continue to achieve unprecedented levels of rights and freedoms. Today you all stand on the frontlines of the fight for gender equality," she told a roundtable of women led by Princess Reema bint Bandar, deputy president of the Women's Sports Authority.

Saudi Arabia, which applies a strict form of Sunni Islam, imposes many restrictions on women.

It is the only country where they are not allowed to drive. When in public, women in Saudi Arabia are expected to cover from head to toe.

Riyadh has pledged a programme of social and economic reforms as part of the ambitious "Vision 2030" strategy launched last year.

A royal decree earlier this month reportedly stipulated that women are no longer required to obtain a male guardian's consent to carry out certain activities.

In Febraury, a Saudi woman was appointed to head the Saudi stock exchange, Tadawul, while another was appointed as head of the major bank Samba.

"The stories of Saudi women, such as yourselves, catalysing change, inspire me to believe in the possibility of global women's empowerment," said Ivanka.

Related Articles:

Fury at Saudi election to UN women's rights group

"Listening to the Voice of Spirit" (2) - Feb 20, 2016 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (DNA Efficiency is on average at 35 percent now) - (Text version)

“… With free choice, the percentage of DNA efficiently started to go down as humanity grew. As soon as the DNA started to lose percentage, the gender balance was dysfunctional. If you want to have a test of any society, anywhere on the planet, and you want to know the DNA percentage number [consciousness quota] as a society, there's an easy test: How do they perceive and treat their women? The higher the DNA functionality, the more the feminine divine is honored. This is the test! Different cultures create different DNA consciousness, even at the same time on the planet. So you can have a culture on Earth at 25 percent and one at 37 - and if you did, they would indeed clash. …”

“… You're at 35. There's an equality here, you're starting to see the dark and light, and it's changing everything. You take a look at history and you've come a long way, but it took a long time to get here. Dear ones, we've seen this process before and the snowball is rolling. There isn't anything in the way that's going to stop it. In the path of this snowball of higher consciousness are all kinds of things that will be run over and perish. Part of this is what you call "the establishment". Watch for some very big established things to fall over! The snowball will simply knock them down. …”

Afghan woman seeks to become youngest to make solo round-the-world flight

Yahoo – AFP, May 16, 2017

Afghan woman seeks to become youngest to make solo round-the-world flight

Montreal (AFP) - An Afghan pilot hoping to become the youngest woman in history to complete a solo round-the-world flight was preparing Monday to start the Transatlantic leg of her journey.

Shaesta Waiz, 29, was born in a refugee camp at the end of the Soviet war in Afghanistan before immigrating with her family to the United States in 1987.

There, she discovered a passion for flying and obtained her pilot's license -- becoming the youngest certified civilian female pilot from Afghanistan.

Now she wants to share that sense of freedom of soaring high above ground with other young women.

"When I found my passion -- flying -- that's when I started to challenge myself. I started to read. I started to do better in maths. I started to look at the world differently, the sky differently," Waiz said as she made a stopover in Montreal.

"What's important is finding your passion and going after it."

Waiz took off from Daytona Beach, Florida on Saturday and has mapped out a route that will take her aboard her Beechcraft Bonanza A36 aircraft approximately 25,800 kilometers (16,000 miles) to more than 18 countries, including Spain, Egypt, India, Singapore and Australia, before ending the trip back in Florida in August.

During her 30 stopovers, the engineering graduate and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which is backing her trip, will host events to try to get schoolchildren interested in science -- notably aeronautics.

According to ICAO figures, less than five percent of commercial pilots are women.

"If you really break it down into science, technology, engineering and math and explore what those career fields offer, it's very exciting," Waiz said.

"We hope to present to the young kids at these events what those careers are... and hopefully get them to pursue these careers that are in need of more talent."

On the website of her non-profit Dreams Soar, she commented: "Every time I open the door of an aircraft, I ask myself, 'How did a girl with my background become so lucky? The truth is, anyone can be me."

Afghan pilot Shaesta Waiz hopes to become the youngest woman in history to complete a solo round-the-world flight https://t.co/ObtZlFjVVR pic.twitter.com/kcLZo6SKj1

— AFP news agency (@AFP) May 16, 2017

China hosts Silk Road summit in shadow of North Korea missile

Yahoo – AFP, Yanan WANG, Laurent THOMET, May 14, 2017

China's President Xi Jinping speaks at the opening ceremony of the Belt and
Road Forum, in Beijing, on May 14, 2017 (AFP Photo/Greg Baker)

China touted on Sunday its new Silk Road as "a project of the century" at a summit highlighting its growing leadership on globalisation, but a North Korean missile test threatened to overshadow the event.

President Xi Jinping was preparing to host leaders from 29 nations for the two-day summit in Beijing when US and South Korean military officials confirmed that Pyongyang had launched a ballistic missile.

Delegations from North Korea and the United States were expected at the forum, though not their leaders. Few Western heads of government made the trip.

The summit is showcasing Xi's cherished One Belt, One Road initiative, a revival of the Silk Road that could cement China's growing global clout on trade and geopolitics.

"This is indeed a gathering of great minds," Xi said, addressing leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Xi pledged to pump an extra $124 billion in funds into the initiative, calling it "a project of the century" in a "world fraught with challenges".

Map showing China's ambitious plan to revive the ancient Silk 

Road trade routes (AFP Photo)

The Chinese-bankrolled project seeks to link the country with Africa, Asia and Europe through an enormous network of ports, railways, roads and industrial parks.

The initiative spans some 65 countries representing 60 percent of the world population and around a third of global gross domestic product. The China Development Bank has earmarked $890 billion for some 900 projects.

The project is seen as a practical solution to relieve China's industrial overcapacity. But it could also serve Beijing's geopolitical ambitions as Washington retreats into "America First" policies.

While Xi did not mention North Korea during his speech to the delegates, the Chinese foreign ministry issued a statement saying it opposes such missile tests.

It urged all parties to "exercise restraint and refrain from further aggravating the tension in the region".

North Korea relies heavily on trade with China for its economic survival, and US President Donald Trump has urged Xi to use that leverage to put pressure on Pyongyang.

The White House called on all nations to impose "far stronger sanctions" following the latest test, which came days after South Korea elected a new president.

Sunday's missile launch "is absolutely an embarrassment to Beijing but it also shouldn't be overstated", Christopher Balding, economics professor at Peking University, told AFP.

"This will not overshadow (the summit) in an enormous way but it will absolutely continue to raise US frustrations with Beijing," he said, adding that Washington was "frustrated" that North Korea was also invited to the summit.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin (L) speaks with his Chinese counterpart Xi

 Jinping during a bilateral meeting at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, 

on May 14, 2017 (AFP Photo/WU HONG)

Respecting sovereignty

Xi focused on his initiative, boasting that it represented a "road for peace", but he cautioned "all countries should respect each others' sovereignty... and territorial integrity".

He warned that "isolation results in backwardness".

The new financing that he promised on Sunday includes 100 billion yuan ($14.5 billion) for the Silk Road Fund and lending schemes worth 380 billion yuan. He also urged financial institutions to contribute 100 billion yuan.

Praising Xi's initiative, Putin warned that "protectionism is becoming the norm".

"The ideas of openness, trade freedom are rejected more and more, very often by those who were their supporters not so long ago," Putin said.

For his part, Erdogan said Belt and Road was "going to be the kind of initiative that will put an end to terrorism".

India, whose Prime Minister narendra Modi is seen on May 12, 2017, has voiced 

displeasure at the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a Belt and Road project aimed 

at linking northwestern China to the Arabian Sea (AFP Photo/Ishara S. Kodikara)

Indian concerns

Some Belt and Road projects are raising concerns in certain countries.

India has voiced displeasure at the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a Belt and Road project aimed at linking northwestern China to the Arabian Sea.

The route cuts through Gilgit and Baltistan in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, disputed territory that India claims is illegally occupied.

Human Rights Watch raised fears on Saturday about the treatment of people along the new Silk Road route in Central Asian nations with poor track records in infrastructure projects.

The US-based organisation said Chinese authorities have "heightened surveillance and repression to prevent potential unrest that could impede" Belt and Road plans in the western Xinjiang region.

The train, carrying whisky, soft drinks, baby products and pharmaceuticals,
will take 18 days to make the 12,000-km (7,500-mile) journey

Related Articles:

First 'Silk Road' train from Britain leaves for China

US 'screwed up' handling of AIIB, says Albright

Dutch to support China-backed Asian infrastructure bank

"The Timing of the Great Shift" – Mar 21, 2009 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“… 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. Remember where you heard it... in a strange, esoteric meeting with a guy in a chair pretending to channel. [Kryon being factious... Kryon humor] Then when you hear it, you'll know better, won't you? "Maybe there was something really there," you'll say. "Maybe it was real," you'll say. Perhaps you can skip all the drama of the years to come and consider that now? [Kryon humor again]

These leaders are going to fall over. You'll have a slow developing leadership coming to you all over the earth where there is a new energy of caring about the public. "That's just too much to ask for in politics, Kryon." Watch for it. That's just the beginning of this last phase. So many things are coming. The next one is related to this, for a country in survival with sickness cannot sustain a leadership of high consciousness. There is just too much opportunity for power and greed. But when a continent is healed, everything changes. .."

".. Many years ago, the prevailing thought was that nobody should consider China as a viable player on the economic stage. They were backward, filled with a system that would never be westernized, and had no wish to become joined with the rest of the world's economic systems. Look what has happened in only 30 years. Now, look at Africa differently …”

Activist, lawyer, president: South Korea's Moon

Yahoo – AFP, May 9, 2017

Pro-democracy activist Moon Jae-In, the projected winner of South Korea's
presidential election shown at a campaign rally, backs engagement with the
nuclear-armed North (AFP Photo/JUNG Yeon-Je)

Seoul (AFP) - The projected winner of South Korea's presidential election is a former special forces soldier, pro-democracy activist and human rights lawyer.

An exit poll forecast a landslide victory for left-leaning Moon Jae-In of the Democratic Party, giving him 41.4 percent support, 18 percentage points ahead of his nearest challenger.

Victory will cap a political career that began with student activism in the days of military rule, when he was convicted of taking part in illegal protests.

The election came after millions of South Koreans took to the streets in candlelit demonstrations to demand the removal of Park Geun-Hye, who was sacked by the country's top court in March over a corruption scandal and is now in custody awaiting trial.

The irony is that he was once chief of staff to liberal president Roh Moo-Hyun, who committed suicide in 2009 after being questioned over graft allegations.

"Corruption is the biggest issue in South Korean politics," says Robert Kelly of Pusan National University. "That's absolutely true. Every South Korean president has gotten into trouble for corruption and bribery and graft and things like that, of varying degrees."

But Moon boasts a clean image himself, said Kim Neung-Gou, president of online newspaper Polinews, and has been "riding on waves of protests against Park and accumulated corruption".

Arrested and expelled

Moon was born on the southern island of Geoje in 1952 during the Korean War after his parents fled the North.

His father was a menial worker at a prisoner-of-war camp while his mother peddled eggs in the nearby port city of Busan, with the baby Moon strapped to her back, the politician wrote in his autobiography.

He entered law school in Seoul in 1972 but was arrested and expelled for leading a student protest against the authoritarian rule of dictator Park Chung-Hee -- the ousted president's father.

Moon returned to school in 1980 only to be arrested again.

His close friendship with future president Roh began in 1982 when they opened a law firm in Busan focusing on human and civil rights issues.

Both became leading figures in the pro-democracy protests that swept the country in 1987 and led to South Korea's first direct presidential elections the same year.

When Roh entered politics, Moon continued with his legal practice in Busan, defending students and workers arrested for leading protests and labour strikes.

But a year after Roh's unexpected election victory in 2002, Moon joined the administration as a presidential aide, tasked with weeding out official corruption and screening candidates for top government posts, before rising to become his chief of staff.

"I was always happy due to the fact that I was able to help others with what I had been trained to do," Moon said in his autobiography.

Deeper rifts

The 64-year-old has promised to curb the concentration of economic power in the hands of the chaebols, the family-oriented business groups whose ties to government have been exposed in the wide-ranging scandal that saw Park impeached.

But his opponents say he is narrow-minded and surrounded by jealous loyalists, whose strong factionalism has contributed to the main opposition party splitting.

"When he becomes president, the rift between liberals and conservatives will deepen all the more, and national reconciliation would be further off," former Yonsei University political science professor Kim Syng-Ho said.

Conservative critics also accuse him of being too soft towards nuclear-armed North Korea.

Tensions between Washington and Pyongyang over the latter's weapons and missile programmes have risen in recent weeks, but Moon advocates dialogue and reconciliation with the North to defuse the situation and eventually lure it to negotiations.

He has shown ambivalence over the US missile defence system THAAD, which has been deployed in the South to the fury of China.

That could all lay the ground for a difficult relationship with US President Donald Trump -- who has demanded that Seoul pay for the "billion dollar" system.

Vatican and Myanmar establish diplomatic relations

Yahoo – AFP, May 4, 2017

Vatican and Myanmar establish diplomatic relations

Vatican City (AFP) - The Vatican and Myanmar established full diplomatic relations on Thursday in the latest step in the former pariah Asian state's rehabilitation by the international community.

The Vatican said it would appoint a papal nuncio to Yangon and that the country would open an embassy at the Vatican, formally wrapping up an accord approved by Myanmar in March.

The move came as Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi met Pope Francis on the latest leg of a European tour overshadowed by her country's treatment of the Rohingya, a persecuted minority Muslim group in the 90-percent Buddhist country.

Pope Francis has spoken out in the past on behalf of the Rohingya while Nobel peace prize winner Suu Kyi has come under fire for not condemning repression of them by her country's security forces.

Kuu Syi and a small group of officials spent around 20 minutes in Thursday's audience with the leader of the world's 1.3 billion Catholics.

Francis presented the former dissident with a bronze medallion with an image of a blooming desert.

Suu Kyi had talks on Wednesday with Italian foreign minister Angelino Alfano and with EU and Belgian officials in Brussels on Tuesday. She is also due to visit Britain.

In Brussels she reiterated her opposition to a decision by the UN human rights body to send a fact-finding mission to Myanmar to investigate allegations of murder, rape and torture against the Rohingya in Rakhine state.

Alfano said in a statement he had discussed the process of national reconciliation in the country formerly known as Burma, without elaborating.

Francis denounced the treatment of the Rohingya in February, describing them as "brothers and sisters" who were were being tortured and killed for their faith.

Education issue

He described the Rohingya as "good and peaceful people who have suffered for years," and urged Catholics to pray for them.

Estimates of the number of Roman Catholics in Myanmar vary between 500,000 and 800,000.

According to the CIA, Christians of all sorts make up around 6 percent of the population of 57 million with groups of Baptists and other Protestants concentrated among ethnic minorities.

Christians say they are subject to some of the same persecution and discrimination faced by the Rohingya.

The Holy See's request for diplomatic relations dates back to 1990 and, until now, its interests have been represented by an "apostolic delegate" - a rank below a Nuncio or ambassador - with the role filled by the ambassador to neighbouring Thailand.

A key issue for the Church in Myanmar is its ability to support Catholic education. All Church schools were nationalised in 1965 following the 1962 military coup in the former British colony.

The Church has recently been able to invest in schools again but supported establishments have to be registered in the names of private individuals rather than being officially run by the Church.

"We hope to obtain equality of treatment with respect to other religions in this respect," the archbishop of Yangon, Charles Bo, said in a March interview with French website Eglises d'Asie (Churches of Asia).

The establishment of ties leaves only strongly Muslim Brunei and the officially communist regimes of China, Laos, North Korea and Vietnam as the only Asian states not to have full diplomatic relations with the Vatican.