ICC must be allowed to carry out work ‘without intimidation’, say 93 member states

The Guardian, Harry Davies, Sat 15 Jun 2024

Joint statement of support for international criminal court issued following revelations of Israeli interference 

The international criminal court has been the subject of efforts by Israel and its intelligence
agencies to undermine, influence and intimidate. Photograph: Peter Dejong/AP

The international criminal court must be allowed to carry out its work “without intimidation”, a group of 93 states has said in a significant public intervention intended to reinforce support for the judicial body. 

In a joint statement issued late on Friday issued late on Friday, the large group of ICC member states vowed to defend the institution and “preserve its integrity from any political interference and pressure against the court, its officials and those cooperating with it”. 

The show of unity for the court and its staff comes in the wake of revelations published by the Guardian about efforts by Israel and its intelligence agencies to undermine, influence and intimidate the court as part of a nine-year campaign of surveillance and espionage. 

It also follows recent warnings by the office of the ICC’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, that it has been subjected to “several forms of threats” and hostile intelligence activity apparently intended to interfere with and improperly influence the prosecutor’s work. 

Last month, Khan announced that he has filed applications for arrest warrants against senior Hamas and Israeli officials for war crimes and crimes against humanity, which he alleged had been committed during Hamas’s 7 October attack and the ensuing war in Gaza. 

Khan’s decision to seek arrest warrants against Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and defence minister, Yoav Gallant, is the first time an ICC prosecutor has taken such action against the leaders of a close western ally. The move provoked a fierce response from Israel and its allies in the US. 

The statement supporting the ICC was drafted by five of the court’s member states – Belgium, Chile, Jordan, Senegal and Slovenia – and is understood to have been presented to the rest of the court’s state parties last week for their endorsement. 

A diplomatic source familiar with the effort said the disclosures about Israeli intelligence operations against the court had been “really eye-opening for a lot of diplomats” and “made some realise that it’s time to put out some sort of statement from the states that belong to the court responding to what has now come to light”. 

However, they said the statement was also a response to other recent forms of hostile activity against the ICC, such as a cyber-attack last year, and came as the prosecutor is conducting an investigation into senior Russian political and military figures allegedly involved in war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine. 

“The court is going after some very powerful people, not just in the Palestine investigation, and it’s time to send a message that the state parties are there to defend it,” the source said. 

Longtime ICC observers said it was notable that major western powers such as Germany, France, Canada and the UK had supported the statement, which called on “all states to ensure full cooperation with the court for it to carry out its important mandate”. 

They also pointed to the large number of endorsing states – 93 of the ICC’s 124 members – and noted that previous statements rallying around the court had not garnered as much support. 

“This is a unique moment of international solidarity, with 93 ICC states parties standing up for global justice and accountability for mass atrocities,” Danya Chaikel, the International Federation for Human Rights’s representative to the ICC, said. 

“They are collectively opposing the egregious threats to the court from powerful countries including Israel, the US and Russia, and strongly rejecting their efforts to manipulate the rule of law for political gains,” she added.

The FUTURE of Electricity is HERE! - Lee Carroll & Peter Marek

 

Kryon has made this statement: In the future, there will be no more need for batteries. Regardless of what you see about global warming, Kryon tells us COLD is coming. Many of us are aware that the methods we have been using for heating our homes and businesses are inefficient - so what is the answer?

What if you were to discover that a new way of heating already exists, and that it's already been proven to work?  Explore the future of electricity with this scientifically-backed technology that was designed with the planet in mind. 

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"Coming Discoveries", August 25, 2021 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) (Text version)

Small victories as women challenge Vatican patriarchy

France24 – AFP, 7 March 2023 

The pontiff's push for reform has seen more women given roles in administrating the
Vatican -- though they are mainly behind the scenes. © Filippo MONTEFORTE / AFP

Vatican City (AFP) – Once a rare sight in the Vatican's halls of power, women are increasingly being seen in senior posts under Pope Francis, but the gender battle is far from won. 

The centuries-old institution has an inherently patriarchal image, from the Swiss Guards at the gates to the cardinals seated in St Peter's Square. 

It reflects the wider Roman Catholic Church, which outlaws divorce, abortion and the ordination of women. 

Yet the pontiff's push for reform has seen more women given roles in administrating the Vatican -- even if they are mainly behind the scenes. 

From economists to secretaries, historians and archivists, 649 women worked in 2019 for the Roman Curia -- 24 percent of employees -- compared to 385 in 2010, according to the latest available figures. 

While the shift within the world's smallest state is hailed in public, around 10 women interviewed on condition of anonymity described to AFP the resistance they meet and condescension they face, especially among clerics. 

One denounced "a glass ceiling and a generally paternalistic attitude in the corridors", with a backward-looking vision of "the sensitive, gentle woman, which we find in the pope's speeches". 

"We sometimes feel they consider us as interns. There are little gestures, a hand on the shoulder, a lack of consideration, almost daily remarks about appearance and dress," she added. 

Some described feeling subject to an implicit order for female employees to be silent and docile. Others expressed frustration at being relegated to lesser roles. 

"There is still a long way to go," one woman said. 

'Macho mentality'

In 2016, the "Women in the Vatican" association was created, a network of one hundred or so members that meet every month "to enhance the role of women", its president Margherita Romanelli told AFP. 

It followed the creation just four years earlier of a monthly women's supplement by L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican's official newspaper. The surprise initiative was lauded by many, but quickly ran into trouble. 

Its founder, Lucetta Scaraffia, a journalist and historian, resigned in 2019, denouncing a "climate of mistrust". 

Francis' reforms were essentially "cosmetic" and actually concealed a "macho mentality" which implied that "women must serve without asking anything in return", she told AFP. 

Scaraffia pointed to the "modern slavery" of nuns employed in the Vatican and elsewhere as "servants" in the homes of priests, bishops or cardinals, who do the "cooking, cleaning, clothes washing" and who are "underpaid". 

Critics warn of nuns employed in the Vatican and elsewhere as underpaid "servants" in the homes of priests, bishops or cardinals.

And she slammed the sexual abuse of nuns in Rome and elsewhere in the world. 

A voice

Despite these criticisms, many welcome the acceleration of a process quietly begun some twenty years ago. 

The number of women in positions of responsibility at the Vatican -- which applies strict gender wage parity -- has tripled since the election of Francis 10 years ago, from Vatican Museums director Barbara Jatta to Alessandra Smerilli, the first woman to be appointed the equivalent of a deputy minister. 

"The Vatican is late, but women have a voice today, they don't let themselves be pushed around anymore," said one official in her forties. 

The head of the world's 1.3 billion Catholics has allowed women greater involvement in masses, from being readers and altar servers to taking part in the Holy Thursday foot washing ritual. 

And Francis continues to take small steps forward, including changing the rules to allow women to play a role in the appointment of bishops. 

"Ten years ago, it would not have been possible to imagine such a development," said Gudrun Sailer, an Austrian journalist with Vatican News and author of the book "Women in the Vatican". 

'A long process'

Faced with the discrepancy between these changes and the misogyny experienced in the Vatican workplace, some women wonder what strategy to adopt. 

Some female employees described feeling subjected to an implicit order for them to be silent and docile.

Some female employees described feeling subjected to an implicit order for them
to be silent and docile. © Filippo MONTEFORTE / AFP

"Some feel that the truth should be told and bad behaviour should be denounced, while others think that this is counterproductive and that we should be satisfied with small steps forward," one told AFP. 

Romilda Ferrauto, a "Women in the Vatican" member, said changing mentalities was "a long process". 

"Francis' method is to make gestures and wait for them to move the lines," she said. 

The changes within the Vatican come as the global Church engages in a vast, months-long debate over its future. 

Long before the #MeToo movement, protestant churches took the lead in propelling women to the top and some theologians, such as Anne-Marie Pelletier of France, say the pope must now grasp the opportunity to move faster and more decisively. 

The ordination of women as deacons or even cardinals "would be a strong symbolic gesture to erase these stereotypes", she said.

Representatives of the Amazon rainforest's ethnic groups attended the synod 

with Pope Francis (AFP Photo/Tiziana FABI)

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after the vote to allow female bishops. Photograph: Lindsey Parnaby/AFP/Getty

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God/Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“… I gave you a channelling years ago when Pope John Paul was alive. John Paul loved Mary, the mother. Had John Paul survived another 10 years, he would have done what the next Pope [The one after the current one, Benedict XVI] will do, and that is to bring women into the Church. This Pope you have now [Benedict XVI] won't be here long.* The next Pope will be the one who has to change the rules, should he survive. If he doesn't, it will be the one after that.

There is a large struggle within the Church, even right now, and great dissention, for it knows that it is not giving what humanity wants. The doctrine is not current to the puzzles of life. The answer will be to create a better balance between the feminine and masculine, and the new Pope, or the one after that, will try to allow women to be in the higher echelon of the Church structure to assist the priests.

It will be suggested to let women participate in services, doing things women did not do before. This graduates them within church law to an equality with priests, but doesn't actually let them become priests just yet. However, don't be surprised if this begins in another way, and instead gives priests the ability to marry. This will bring the feminine into the church in other ways. It will eventually happen and has to happen. If it does not, it will be the end of the Catholic Church, for humanity will not sustain a spiritual belief system that is out of balance with the love of God and also out of balance with intuitive Human awareness.  …”

"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)

“ … Spirituality (Religions)

Number one: Spirituality. The systems of spiritual design on your planet are starting to change. This is not telling you that certain ones are going to go away. They're simply going to change. Some of the largest spiritual systems, which you would call organized religion on the planet, are shifting. They're going to shift away from that which is authority on the outside to authority on the inside. It will eventually be a different way of worship, slowly changing the rules while keeping the basic doctrine the same.

The doctrine of the Christ has always been to find the God inside. The teachings were clear. The examples of the miracles were given as an example of what humans could do, not to set a man up for worship as a God. So when that has been absorbed, the teaching of the Christ can remain the teaching of the Christ. It simply changes the interpretation. 

The teachings of the great prophets of the Middle East (all related to each other) are about unity and love. So once the holy words are redefined with new wisdom, the Human changes, not the words of the prophets. In fact, the prophets become even more divinely inspired and their wisdom becomes even more profound.

You're going to lose a pope soon. I have no clock. Soon to us can mean anything to you. The one who replaces him may surprise you, for his particular organization will be in survival mode at that point in time. That is to say that fewer and fewer are interested in starting the priesthood. Fewer and fewer young people are interested in the organization, and the new pope must make changes to keep his church alive. That means that his organization will remain, but with a more modern look at what truly is before all of you in a new energy. It is not the fall of the church. It is instead the recalibration of the divinity inside that would match the worship that goes on. It's a win-win situation. The new pope will have a difficult time, since the old guard will still be there. There could even be an assassination attempt, such is the way the old energy dies hard. That is number one. Watch for it. It's a change in the way spiritual systems work. It's a realignment of spiritual systems that resound to a stronger truth that is Human driven, rather than prophet driven.…”

"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. …”

Northern Lights provide spectacular show over the Netherlands

DutchNews, February 27, 2023 

The Northern Lights, seen from Terschellling. Photo: ANP / Hollandse
Hoogte / Kappers Media

The Northern Lights, an atmospheric phenomenon rarely seen in the Netherlands, were visible over large parts of the country on Sunday night. 

Sightings were recorded in Drenthe, Groningen, Gelderland and Friesland as well as the Wadden Islands. 

The Northern Lights, or the aurora borealis which are created when energized particles from the sun slam into the Earth’s upper atmosphere at extremely high speeds. The Earth’s magnetic field redirects them to the North and South Pole, creating the waves of coloured light.

Nu met timelapse #noorderlicht pic.twitter.com/mSob9YHTSV

— Dick Tolsma (@tolsumadvies) February 26, 2023

Zojuist deze foto gemaakt op de dijk vlakbij Lauwersoog! @StormchaserNL @BuienRadarNL @Talpaweer @Weerplaza @weeronline #noorderlicht pic.twitter.com/TdXH2MI8My

— Weerstation Anjum (@Tim_Zijlstra1) February 26, 2023

Timelapse toont spectaculair noorderlicht boven Terschelling https://t.co/Ng8rRrqnAS

— NU.nl (@NUnl) February 27, 2023

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During a geomagnetic storm on May 29, 2010 (AFP Photo)

Northern lights over Terschelling, Friesland. 27-28 February, 2014

'Monster' gamma ray burst in space sets record for death of star

Image provided by Nasa's Goddard

Space Flight Centre shows an artist's

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occurs. Photograph: AP 22 Nov 2013

THE RELATIONSHIP TO GAIA - April 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll)

"... Magnetics: Always a Player in The Shift

Many things are happening with the planet at the moment. The magnetics are changing as well. The magnetics of the solar system and the sun in particular, have an influence on your weather. How many sun spots have you seen lately? What do you think about the correlation of a sun that has very few, with your earth climate?  When can you remember that in your lifetime? What does it mean? I will tell you, dear Human Beings, that it's all related to what's happening on the earth. You may not understand the correlation, but I will tell you there is a profound one. What if [astronomy hint coming next], what if sun spots were created by gravitational and other interdimensional forces caused by the orbiting planets? Has there even been a correlation made between sun spots and the positions of the planets? Too weird? The invitation is there to see the correlations.

The sun is the fulcrum of the interdimensional gravitational pull attributes of the planets around it. There is information that is interdimensional – call it a gravitational patterning, if you wish – which the sun generates every moment of the day. As the planets push and pull on the fulcrum of the solar system [effect the sun through gravity], they affect the sun's attitude. These patterns are unique every day, and they intersect the magnetic field of the earth as they are blasted from the Sun in what you would call the solar wind.

The solar wind is a magnetic heliosphere, and has very multidimensional properties. This magnetic wind strikes the earth, intersecting with the magnetic field, and you can see it! You call it the Aurora Borealis. It's one giant magnetic field [the sun] intersecting another [the earth]. Science calls this intersecting phenomena inductance. In that intersecting energy, there is a transference of the informative patterning of the sun [at that moment] to the magnetic grid of the earth. Now, it's the magnetic grid of the planet that you sit in. All of life does.

Now we give you information we've given you before: The Merkabah. That is to say, your DNA imprint - the field around you - receives the magnetic grid's sun information, and the instructions within that field are passed right to the DNA, which is also magnetic. I have just given you the magnetic transmission chain that you think is esoteric. It's not. It's hard science. But to think that the interdimensional, magnetic and gravitational attributes of the solar system are going to your DNA is very esoteric. Some call it astrology. The truth is that it's for humanity, and also for Gaia! For remember that it is the earth that is part of the magnetic chain of information to your cellular structure [the Magnetic Grid]. It tells it when to do what it does. It's all related. So how related are you to Gaia? How much do you address this consciousness? ..."

"The Energy of the Future" (2) - Dec 7, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“… Akashic Acuity

So we have established that you are moving into this new radiation, and we have established that it intersects the sun. The sun blasts your magnetic field with it (via the solar wind) and the magnetic field talks to your DNA. Suddenly, there is the potential some of your DNA is being unlocked. The attributes of unlocking Akashic acuity will help you to remember who you've been. Now, with this remembrance comes energy - not about who you were, but rather it gives you the energy of what you did. I don't mean physically; I mean energetically and mentally. Old souls carry with them experience. When you look into the eyes of a child, you're going to see wisdom just waiting to break out. Dear ones, these children are different. They are not going to go through what you did! They have a whole new set of issues, and most of their issues are trying to navigate the old issues you create for them!

There's something we brought up in a former channelling called the wisdom factor. Now, the wisdom factor is caused by Akashic acuity. After living Human life over and over, you start remembering the wisdom that you have gained through these past lifetimes. You don't necessarily remember who you were, but rather the fact that you were at all and the experiences you had. Imagine a child coming into the planet knowing how to read? Imagine a child coming into the planet knowing not to touch something hot? Where did it come from? You're going to see more of this, and a feeling of "been there, done that".

Akashic acuity is remembrance of experience during past lifetimes. As the child grows, that remembrance becomes pure wisdom. As the child starts to awaken and the pineal opens, something else happens. The grid starts talking to the child through the DNA, and in the grid is also the information from the time capsules we spoke about in past channellings. The time capsules start feeding the planet with increased wisdom and knowledge. You don't have to reincarnate to awaken even further! Akashic acuity means suddenly Humans know more than other children have in the past - much more.

Fast Tracking

This is the plan, and it's a fast-track system, an energy system for planetary ascension. It's going to take a long time to implement, dear ones, but it's beginning right now. You're going to see marginal evidence of this beginning to happen in 2015, 2016, 2017. You're going to see it slightly in many places. These energies take a long time to mature, and they're not all going to happen fast and instantaneous. Some of you are going to be convinced that the world is going through a dark place and you're all going with it. This is because you don't see the changes for what they are, and you don't understand what is really happening. We've said it before, that when you shine a lot of light in a dark place, the things that were always in the dark object. That's what you're seeing now, and you'll see more of it. These dark things were always there, but they just didn't have the light on them that you're placing on them now.  …”

"The Weather" - Mar 1, 2015 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) 

Ministers, Shell admit failings over Groningen gas fields

DutchNews, February 24, 2023 

This cafe in Zeerijp has been shored up for years. Photo: Graham Dockery

Mines minister Hans Vijlbrief has described the findings of the parliamentary inquiry set up to look into problems caused by the exploitation of a massive gas field under Groningen as ‘extremely serious’. ‘

If you read the facts one after another, it takes your breath away,’ he told reporters after the report’s presentation. ‘I feel shame more than anything else, and that means we have to do something.’ 

The highly damning report said that the state and oil firms had a ‘debt of honour’ to the people of Groningen, whose interests were continually subordinated to that of earning money. 

More than 1,600 quakes of up to 3.6 on the Richter scale have hit the province since 1986, damaging tens of thousands of homes, but it took until 2018 for the government to start winding down gas production. 

Prime minister Mark Rutte said in a short statement that ‘what began at the end of the 1950s as something wonderful ended up in a nightmare for the people of Groningen. ‘Hopefully we can do something to win back their trust,’ he said. ‘The report does justice to the Groningers and the cabinet must do that too.’ 

The cabinet will issue a formal reaction at a later date. 

Oil companies 

Shell and ExxonMobil, who jointly own the gas exploration company NAM, have described the report as an ‘important milestone’ which needs to be studied closely. 

Both were criticised in the report alongside the government for failing to take the concerns of locals seriously and for putting profit above people. ‘

The people of Groningen carried a great deal of the disadvantages of the gas extraction but only a few of the benefits,’ Shell Nederland president Marjan van Loon said in a reaction. 

The companies involved in gas extraction, including Shell, did not listen to the people of Groningen properly when they expressed their concerns about the damage to their homes and the safety risks, she said. ‘As a company, we have important lessons to learn.’

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

“… 4 - Energy (again)

The natural resources of the planet are finite and will not support the continuation of what you've been doing. We've been saying this for a decade. Watch for increased science and increased funding for alternate ways of creating electricity (finally). Watch for the very companies who have the most to lose being the ones who fund it. It is the beginning of a full realization that a change of thinking is at hand. You can take things from Gaia that are energy, instead of physical resources. We speak yet; again about geothermal, about tidal, about wind. Again, we plead with you not to over-engineer this. For one of the things that Human Beings do in a technological age is to over-engineer simple things. Look at nuclear - the most over-engineered and expensive steam engine in existence!

Your current ideas of capturing energy from tidal and wave motion don't have to be technical marvels. Think paddle wheel on a pier with waves, which will create energy in both directions [waves coming and going] tied to a generator that can power dozens of neighborhoods, not full cities. Think simple and decentralize the idea of utilities. The same goes for wind and geothermal. Think of utilities for groups of homes in a cluster. You won't have a grid failure if there is no grid. This is the way of the future, and you'll be more inclined to have it sooner than later if you do this, and it won't cost as much…

Water

We've told you that one of the greatest natural resources of the planet, which is going to shift and change and be mysterious to you, is fresh water. It's going to be the next gold, dear ones. So, we have also given you some hints and examples and again we plead: Even before the potentials of running out of it, learn how to desalinate water in real time without heat. It's there, it's doable, and some already have it in the lab. This will create inexpensive fresh water for the planet. 

There is a change of attitude that is starting to occur. Slowly you're starting to see it and the only thing getting in the way of it are those companies with the big money who currently have the old system. That's starting to change as well. For the big money always wants to invest in what it knows is coming next, but it wants to create what is coming next within the framework of what it has "on the shelf." What is on the shelf is oil, coal, dams, and non-renewable resource usage. It hasn't changed much in the last 100 years, has it? Now you will see a change of free choice. You're going to see decisions made in the boardrooms that would have curled the toes of those two generations ago. Now "the worst thing they could do" might become "the best thing they could do." That, dear ones, is a change of free choice concept. When the thinkers of tomorrow see options that were never options before, that is a shift. That was number four.”

“Afraid of Love” + “What’s Wrong Today”, Laguna Hills, California, US(2), Dec 9, 2018 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

• Stagnation of the current US Politics: Compassioned (US) leaders will arise in the future
• Shortage of fresh/drinking water: Invention to make salt from salt water magnetic and remove it with water desalination process in high volumes
• Pollution on Earth: 1 - Stop killing the environment! / 2 - The rise of temperature on Earth is “temporary” and is part of the "regular" Watercycle.
• Replacement of current fossil energy source: Use of magnetics based (small/big) engines to produces electricity / free energy
• Plastic pollution in the oceans: Invention to remove the plastics gradually from the oceans

Dutch firms are still doing business in Russia, Yale database shows

DutchNews, February 24, 2023 

The Heineken brand is no longer sold in Russia. Photo: Depositphotos.com

A number of Dutch companies are continuing to do business in Russia alongside Heineken, which was slammed earlier this week for launching new products on the Russian market.

 Lighting company Signify, coffee company JDE Peets, banking group ING and Philips are among the companies which are ‘buying time’ in Russia, according to a database of 1,200 companies compiled by researchers at Yale University. 

The Yale database includes 50 Dutch firms and none are classified as ‘digging in’, which means carrying on business as normal. 

The database is based on company statements and news coverage. Heineken is listed as one of 18 Dutch firms to withdraw completely, despite a report by Follow the Money earlier this week that the company is still operating in Russia. 

Heineken says its Russian unit is up for sale and says the introduction of new beers is something ‘our local colleagues have done to keep the company going and to ensure their livelihoods are not at risk.

’ ‘We will not profit from any sale or transfer of ownership. We aim to reach an agreement in the first half of 2023,’ according to the company’s 2022 annual report. 

Questions 

Representatives from ING, Philips and JDE Peet’s (Douwe Egberts) appeared earlier this month before a committee of MPs to explain why they were still operating in Russia, despite the sanctions. 

ING’s operations there mainly consist of company loans and the bank is trying to recover the money, chairman Steven van Rijswijk told MPs. ‘If we don’t then it is a gift to the Russian client,’ he said. 

Philips spokesman Jan-Willem Scheijgrond told MPs that the company only supplies hospital equipment to Russian hospitals, and that the situation has been discussed with the Ukrainian authorities. ‘

They don’t like it but they understand it. It is a humanitarian issue,’ he said. ‘They said, “go ahead but don’t make any money on it”. We don’t. We make a loss.’ 

On Wednesday, national statistics agency CBS said Dutch exports to Russia had fallen by 38% since Moscow invaded Ukraine a year ago.

Femke Bol sets new world record in the 400 metres indoors

DutchNews, February 19, 2023

Femke Bol after the race. Photo: Olaf Kraak

Dutch 400 metre runner Femke Bol caused a sensation at the Dutch indoor athletics championships in Apeldoorn on Sunday by setting a new world record of 49.26 seconds. 

Bol smashed the 41-year-old record held by Jarmila Kratochvílová from the then-Czechoslovakia by three tenths of a second. She had first dipped under the 50 second mark earlier in Metz last weekend. 

Bol, who described the race as ‘almost perfect’,  now heads for the European championships in Istanbul next month as top favourite for the title. The 22-year-old took the European title in Poland in 2021 and won a bronze for the 400 metres hurdles at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

WORLD RECORD!😱😍

Femke Bol vliegt naar een nieuw wereldrecord op de 400 meter. 49.26 seconden. Buitenaards. 👑#NKindoor pic.twitter.com/RfRZn0IrgD

— Atletiekunie (@Atletiekunie) February 19, 2023

Massive fundraiser for earthquake victims brings in €89 million

DutchNews, February 16, 2023 

Culture minister Gunay Uslu and singer Karsu Donmez as the
total is announced. Photo: Remko de Waal ANP

Wednesday’s television and radio charity marathon for the victims of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria had raised almost €89 million by the end of broadcasting, the organisers said. 

‘It is overwhelming how much money has been given from across the country,’ said Michiel Servaes, the chairman of the Giro555 fund raising initiative, which represents 11 aid groups.

‘So many people have rung the panel to make donations, donated online and organised events,’ he said. Nine of the groups behind Giro555 are active in the relief effort and the money will be divided between them. 

The massive quakes hit the region 10 days ago and the death toll has since mounted to more than 41,000. 

On Wednesday, Dutch rescue teams pulled four people alive from under the rubble.

Vermeer shines at 'once in history' Amsterdam show

Yahoo – AFP, Danny Kemp, February 7, 2023 

The Dutch master Johannes Vermeer himself never got the chance to see so many of his paintings in the same place. 

Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum has brought together 28 of Vermeer's luminous masterpieces from around the world, in the largest-ever exhibition of the 17th century artist's works. 

Curators hope the blockbuster show, featuring some three-quarters of his modest output of around 35 paintings, will also shed light on the enigmatic creator of "Girl with a Pearl Earring" and "The Milkmaid". 

"Never in history have 28 paintings by Vermeer been gathered," Rijksmuseum General Director Taco Dibbits told AFP at a preview. 

"He didn't even see that many together himself." 

Famed for their use of light and colour and their tranquil yet haunting indoor scenes, Vermeer's paintings practically shine from the walls of the dimmed galleries at the Rijksmuseum. 

The works have been brought from museums and collections around the world, including Washington, New York, Tokyo, London, Paris, Dublin. 

"It's a very happy reunion," said Dibbits. 

Interest is so intense that the Rijksmuseum has already sold 200,000 tickets for the exhibition, which opens on Friday until June 4, the most ever for one of its shows. 

'Wonderful' 

Part of the appeal is the mystery surrounding the man often called the  "Sphinx of Delft". 

Vermeer (1632-1675) was born into a family of Calvinist traders but converted to Catholicism after marrying a wealthy woman with whom he had 11 children. 

But there are very few records of his life, and compared to Dutch "Golden Age" artists such as Rembrandt his work languished in obscurity, until a reappraisal in the 19th century. 

Vermeer rose to megastar status with the publication of the novel "Girl with a Pearl Earring" by US author Tracy Chevalier, based on the painting that has been loaned for the exhibition by the Mauritshuis in The Hague. 

The book also spawned a 2003 Hollywood movie starring Scarlett Johansson and Colin Firth. 

"Wonderful, it's wonderful," Chevalier told AFP after viewing the exhibition. 

"I'm so glad people are going to see these paintings together and build a picture for themselves of what Vermeer was," said the author. 

Most of Vermeer's works focus on women, often caught in the midst of acts like writing a letter or playing a musical instrument, and Chevalier said he was "just presenting women in the best possible light, literally and figuratively". 

Her favourite in the exhibition -- apart from "Girl with a Pearl Earring", of course -- was "The Lacemaker", a tiny work of exquisite beauty loaned by The Louvre in Paris, she said. 

'Time stands still' 

Highlights also include three works from the Frick Collection in New York, the newly restored "Girl Reading a Letter at the Window" from Dresden, and "Woman Holding a Balance" from the National Gallery in Washington DC. 

For the curators, who say it is a "once in history" exhibition, Vermeer's appeal is also about his creation of quiet worlds so realistic that the viewer feels they could lose themself inside. 

"We live in a world today where it's so hectic," said Dibbits. 

"He had more than 10 children, there was a war going on outside in Europe, yet still he creates these ideal spaces where time stands still." 

The exhibition has however felt the pressures of the real, modern world, with the authenticity of one of its works -- "Girl with a Flute" -- being called into question by the gallery that loaned it. 

The National Gallery of Art in Washington said last year it was likely painted by a "studio associate of Vermeer" but the Rijksmuseum says it thinks it's authentic. 

"It's very important to have these discussions," said Dibbits. 

The magic of the master is still bewitching for staff at the Rijksmuseum. 

"For me personally Vermeer is one of the greatest artists in the world," said Gregor Weber, the Rijksmuseum's fine arts department head and author of a recent book showing Vermeer was influenced by a pinhole camera that was first introduced to him by Jesuit priests. 

"To have three quarters of his oeuvre together here in Amsterdam under one roof is the crown of my work."