Amsterdam universities signed deal with controversial tech giant Huawei

DutchNews, August 25, 2020 

Photo: Depositphotos.com 

Amsterdam universities UvA and VU have entered into a close collaboration with controversial Chinese tech company Huawei despite government warnings, the Financieele Dagblad reported on Tuesday. 

The tech giant, which is widely suspected of spying for the Chinese state, is increasingly unwelcome in most European countries and the universities’ move has divided opinion, the paper said. 

The deal, signed on May 15, comprises a €3.5m payment to both universities which will reportedly be used to finance a lab for the development of artificial intelligence, employing around 100 people. 

Researchers at the lab will be specifically tasked with developing technology for a search machine for Huawei, which has been banned from using Google on its mobile phones. 

The agreement comes despite Dutch government warnings about universities working with Chinese partners because it could result in an ‘unwanted exchange of knowledge’, potentially causing national security issues and damage to economic interests. 

Surprisingly, however, intelligence and security services AIVD and NCTV, which met with university representatives on January 30 to discuss the move, did not register any objections to the deal. In addition, both the education ministry and the economic affairs ministry signalled support, the FD said, albeit among warnings of ‘great potential risks’. 

The education ministry even confirmed to the paper it had ‘facilitated’ the meeting between the security services and university representatives on its premises. 

The AIVD told the paper the meeting was an ‘awareness presentation’ but did not want to comment any further. 

Independent 

The boards of both universities have dismissed worries about possible Chinese state intervention, saying the work for Huawei ‘has nothing to do with the network equipment which is causing public discussion’. 

A spokesman for the two universities told the paper that a ‘thorough check’ had been carried out to ensure that scientists can publish their findings independently and that sensitive information will not be shared. The security services had been happy with the guarantees put in place to prevent potential knowledge theft, he said. 

However, the Rathenau Institute, an independent government tech advisory body, has said that in AI research the boundaries between military and civil technology have become blurred. 

It calls for clear government guidelines for universities to establish if a cooperation with ‘a company such as Huawei’ is acceptable or not. Last year Oxford university severed its ties with Huawei following a public outcry about the cooperation. 

The Dutch government has also come under considerable pressure, particularly from the US, to keep Huawei out of the Netherlands 5G network development plans.

Online slave registers from Curaçao allow descendants to find ancestors

DutchNews, August 17, 2020 

A transcript of the hearings. Photo: National Archive 

The national archive is putting the names of 21,000 people who lived as slaves in the former Dutch colony of Curaçao online, enabling their descendants to find out about their ancestors. 

The online resource will be put live at 10am Curaçao time (4pm on Monday in the Netherlands) on Tula Day, which celebrates a major uprising in the island led by resistance fighter Tula in 1795. 

Tula and his fellow rebels demanded freedom, inspired by the ideals of the French Revolution and the successful slave uprising in Saint-Domingue (now Haiti; at the time, a French colony). The revolt was suppressed by the Dutch colonial authorities and Tula and his fellow fighters were tortured and executed. 

The register covers the period between 1839 and 1863 when Curaçao became the slave trade hub in the Caribbean. A register of names dating from 1863 when emancipated slaves were compelled to take a last name, will also be made accessible online. 

‘Slaves were not allowed to have a last name,’ Coen van Galen, who worked with the Curaçao national archive to carry out the project, told broadcaster NOS. 

Resource 

The online register is an important resource for many of the relatives because it means they do not have to travel to the island to find out about their ancestors. ‘To search the archives in the island is complicated. Many names occur more than once because slaves were sold and entered into the register again,’ Van Galen said. 

The register makes it much easier, although people will still need help, Christel Monsanto, who helps people find their origins, told the broadcaster. ‘But it opens so many doors, I’m really excited about it!’ she said. 

Van Galen was also involved in the digitisation in 2018 of the Suriname slave registers.  ‘Simply the fact that people can delve into their family history means so much for them. It is a joy to be involved in that.’ 

Van Galen and his fellow-historians are currently studying the whole population of both Surinam and Curaçao between 1830 and 1850. ‘We want to find out how slavery affected the generations that came after,’ he said.

Dutch baby panda is named after Van Gogh, with a nod to Starry Night

DutchNews, August 14, 2020 

A webcam still from the promotional video

The baby giant panda born in the Ouwehands zoo in Rhene in May has been named  Fan Xing, which refers to Van Gogh and his painting Starry Night, zoo officials said on Friday. 

Fan comes from Fan Gao which means Van Gogh in Chinese while Xing, which means star, and symbolises hope, is also a reference to the panda’s father Xing Ya. The name is gender neutral because no-one yet knows the baby’s sex. 

In total, 22,000 people from all over the world helped chose the name from a shortlist of five, all of which had a link to the Netherlands. The baby panda and mother Wu Wen are currently remaining in their nest, but officials expect the baby will first be on view to the public in October. 

Fan Xing will stay in the Netherlands for a maximum of four years.  Wu Wen and Xing Ya, who arrived in the Netherlands in May 2017, will return to China in 2032. 

Fans can also follow the baby panda via webcam, at a cost of €1 per hour. The money raised goes to help pandas in the wild, the zoo authorities said.

Major disruption hits KPN phone services, emergency service number fails

DutchNews, June 24, 2019

Photo: KPN

Major problems hit KPN telephone services on Tuesday afternoon, putting the emergency 112 number out of action and disrupting the company’s fixed link and mobile networks.

Police are calling on people who need emergency help to dial 088-6628240 instead, or to report to a police station. Extra police patrols have also been drafted in to increase the number of points of contact between the emergency services and the public. 

People experiencing problems in using their mobile phones should switch off their 4G services to see if this helps, KPN said. 

Phoning via Whatsapp, Facetime and Skype may also be possible as these use internet rather than the 4G network, where the problem appears to have originated. 

KPN says it is working towards a solution for the disruption, which began around 4pm but has not said when the problem may be fixed. 

Dutch railway company NS has also urged people to avoid Utrecht’s central railway station, where services have been disrupted for ‘various reasons’. 

‘We are recommending you avoid Utrecht Centraal for safety reasons,’ NS said in a statement. ‘Communication has been made more difficult by the KPN telephone breakdown.’

Mega verstoring op #UtrechtCS 😔 #geentreinennaarhetzuiden @NS_online Komen er bussen? Met airco graag 😇 pic.twitter.com/8A2BTKZIsc

— Lisette Kaptein (@lieskaptein) 24 juni 2019

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Government invests more money in boosting literacy and internet skills

DutchNews, March 18, 2019

Ministers have set aside €425m over the coming five years to boost literacy, numeracy and computer skills among people who have difficulty functioning in society. 

In total, the money will be used to target 2.5 million adults and children ‘with and without an immigrant background’, the education ministry said on Monday. 

‘Language, arithmetic and digital skills are essential to be able to contribute to society,’ education minister Ingrid van Engelshoven said in a statement. ‘A lack of skills is a barrier to independence in our society, both online and offline. So we are investing heavily in helping people improve their basic skills.’ 

The money will be spent on adult education classes and special subsidies for employers who sign a ‘language agreement’ pledging to work to combat illiteracy. 

By 2024, at least 1,000 companies should have signed up for the agreement, and the target is to provide help to 30,000 people via the corporate scheme. 

Money will also go on helping people learn to use computers and smartphones.

Dutch music exports top €200m in 2017, dance music dominates

DutchNews, January 14, 2019

Photo: Nestland via Wikimedia Commons

Dutch music exports topped €200m for the first time in 2017, according to new figures from Buma Cultuur, which monitors the industry. 

Of the €201m, over 75% came from dance music, boosted by international draws such as Tiesto, Martin Garrix and Afrojack. But classical music from Andre Rieu and his Johan Strauss Orchestra also books success worldwide, the organisation said. 

Of the total, some €22.5m is earned via rights, €12m from recordings and €166m from live performance. 

Classics from the past also continue to deliver financial rewards, such as Golden Earring’s Radar Love and Venus by Shocking Blue, Buma Cultuur points out.

Related Article:

"Wild Cards" (3) - Nov 19 - 20, 2016 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

"... Then there was Steve Jobs. He was a wild card. What he did had little to do with technology, for that would have happened anyway soon enough. Instead, it had to do with the paradigm of the business of music on Earth. He freed it, and the paradigm of how music is obtained and heard will never be the same. However, Steve Jobs did basically one thing for all of you, and then he died. Do you see any kind of connecting of the dots to some of the inventors who come and give you the one thing, then leave? If he had lived, would there be more? Yes, but you’re not ready for it. Consciousness has to support what happens. ..."

The Netherlands tapped El Chapo phones for FBI ‘due to relaxed privacy laws’

DutchNews, January 9, 2019

Photo: Depositphotos.com 

The Netherlands tapped the phones of Mexican drugs baron ‘El Chapo’ for several months on behalf of the US, because Dutch privacy laws were not as strict as those in America or Canada, the Volkskrant reported on Wednesday. 

El Chapo, real name Joaquin Guzman, is currently on trial in the US. The Dutch listening-in programme took place from April 2011 to January 2012, an FBI agent told his trial on Tuesday. The Volkskrant says the operation lasted for 18 months. 

The wire-tapping operation was enabled by an FBI informant who had set up a Blackberry network for El Chapo’s organisation. The FBI server used to store all communications traffic made via the network was first placed in Canada but had to be moved because of tough privacy laws, the Volkskrant said. 

The US was not an option because the ‘operation might be noticed’ and the US has relatively tough rules on tapping servers, sources told the paper. 

‘Because the US and the Netherlands work closely together and the Netherlands is relaxed about requests for tapping, the FBI placed the server in a data centre operated by Leaseweb, just outside Haarlem,’ the Volkskrant said. 

The Netherlands did not know the full extent of the importance of the operation nor that El Chapo was the main target until 2013. 

Sing song

The FBI agent told Guzman’s trial on Tuesday that the 61-year-old was easily identifiable by his voice which had a ‘kind of a sing-songy nature to it’ and a ‘nasally undertone.’ 

The agent told the trial, which started in November, that the FBI tapped into more than 800 calls on the Blackberry encrypted system. 

Guzman is on trial for his role as leader of the Sinaloa drugs cartel and was extradited to the US two years ago. 

Close relationship 

The Volkskrant’s sources say the Netherlands and the US continue to work closely together in crime investigations. Some 125 requests for help from US officials are currently open, the sources said. These requests range from tapping computer servers to providing people’s Whatsapp history. All requests have to be checked to make sure they are legal with the public prosecution department, the paper said.

Related Article:

Referendum ‘no’ vote is major headache for Dutch coalition government

Army helps Dutch island clean-up after ship spills cargo

Yahoo – AFP, January 4, 2019

Netherlands' army soldiers helped clean-up the coastline of Schiermonnikoog 

in the Dutch Frisian Island (AFP Photo/Remko de Waal)

The Hague (AFP) - The Dutch military joined beach clean-up efforts on Friday, two days after some 270 shipping containers tumbled from one of the world's biggest cargo boats into the North Sea in stormy weather.

A hundred soldiers landed at dawn on the island of Schiermonnikoog, off the Dutch north coast, where a closed bag of a dangerous powder was discovered washed up on Thursday.

The powder was identified by authorities as "organic peroxide", a highly flammable substance used in making plastics.

Objects, including plastics and polystyrene, are continuing to come ashore on Dutch beaches with local residents helping in the clean-up operation.

"On various Wadden islands, plastics and other objects were once again stranded," tweeted the security services of Friesland, the region on which the archipelago depends.

Container ship MSC Zoe lost up to 270 containers in the storm, seen here in a 

photo by the Central command for maritime emergencies (Havariekommando) 

(AFP Photo)

The Panama-registered MSC Zoe, which was mostly carrying toys, furniture and auto parts, lost the containers late on Tuesday while battling a storm off the Frisian Islands, an archipelago off the northwestern Dutch coast also known as the Wadden Islands.

The Dutch public ministry in a statement announced that prosecutors have opened an inquiry into the incident to determine "if the damage caused was the result of punishable acts" under the law and also who was responsible.

So far, around 30 containers have been located in The Netherlands and Germany.

Coastguards said three containers that had been transporting organic peroxide on the MSC Zoe have not been located and are thought to have sunk.

"Every day of the year, we make efforts to keep the beaches clean. It is depressing to see that everything is ruined at once," said Bert Wassink, mayor of Terschelling Island, close to Schiermonnikoog.

Small pieces of polystyrene being strewn across sand dunes by the wind were a "disaster", said resident Siep Wobbes, quoted by the NRC newspaper.

Some hundred soldiers landed at dawn on the island of Schiermonnikoog to take 

part in the clean-up (AFP Photo/Remko de Waal)

The mayors of several Wadden Islands wrote a letter to shipping firm MSC Mediterranean Shipping, saying it was responsible for the "beach pollution".

They are demanding reimbursement for the costs incurred, said Tineke Schokker, Vlieland Island mayor, on the TV show Jinek.

MSC Mediterranean Shipping said it was working in collaboration with local authorities and several salvage companies to clean-up the affected German and Dutch waters and beaches.

While claiming confidentiality in not disclosing details of the cargo, MCS said in a statement that "in relation to some reports from authorities about dangerous cargo, we would like to inform the public that we are not aware at this time of any public injury from the cargo in MSC-carried containers spilled overboard."

Wil je straks helpen met #helpwad #CleanupWadden #OpruimActie na de #containerramp met #MSCZoe? In dit kaartje zijn we allerlei plekken aan het verzamelen waar je aan de slag kunt. https://t.co/oTwfqwbJ55

Aanvullingen / aanpassingen? Geef maar door.

Delen / embedden: feel free

— Ritzo ten Cate (@ritzotencate) January 5, 2019

Digital investigation collective Bellingcat to expand into NL

DutchNews, November 2, 2018

Photo: Depositphotos.com 

The British research collective Bellingcat is planning to expand into the Netherlands and to open a permanent office in The Hague, the organisation confirmed to DutchNews.nl on Friday. 

‘The current plan is to open an office in The Hague, which will have teams working on Yemen, Syria, and Libya,’ founder Eliot Higgins said. The office will also host ‘a team focused on working with local groups on local issues’ and more MH17 revelations are on the way, he said. 

Higgins, in the Netherlands for the Den Bosch Data Week, told the NRC in an interview on Friday that the organisation has applied for funding from the Postcode Lottery foundation to help establish the first Bellingcat operation outside the UK.

 The aim is to set up an operation in the Netherlands to support the work of the International Criminal Court in The Hague with open source material, the NRC said. 

Bellingcat was founded in 2014 after a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign and has since hit the headlines with revelations about shooting down of flight MH17 over Ukraine and the Skripal poisoning case in Britain, among others 

The organisation funds its operations by giving workshops to journalists, students and civil servants as well as donations from both charitable institutions and private individuals.

Dutch government wants veto rights over key telecom takeovers

DutchNews, April 19, 2018

The Dutch government is  introducing new legislation which will require the takeover of key Dutch telecoms or internet companies to be approved by ministers. 

The draft legislation has been sent to the Council of State advisory panel for its recommendations. The aim of the new bill is to prevent crucial players falling into ‘foreign’ hands. 

The legislation, if passed would give ministers the right to refuse to allow the takeover of telecoms, internet or data centre operations if ‘national security or public safety could be compromised’.

‘If internet, data traffic and telephony don’t work well… consumers and businesses will suffer economic damage,’ junior economic affairs minister Mona Keijzer, who is in charge of the legislation, said. 

‘The Netherlands benefits enormously from its open economy but the cabin wants to ensure that unreliable, not transparent and criminal companies do not impact on national security.’ Keijzer hopes the draft bill will be debated in parliament after the summer break.

Pile in, kids: Amsterdam gets electric family car sharing

DutchNews, October 5, 2017

Photo: Hyundai

Hyundai has launched an electric family car-sharing service in Amsterdam, reports the Volkskrant on Thursday. 

Frank Meijer, director of Hyundai Eco Car & Mobility, told the paper that they had chosen the Dutch capital to launch this new service, due to its high number of public charging points, high parking costs, and public receptiveness to car sharing. 

The idea is that anyone wanting to hire a car finds it from an on-street location via a smartphone app, using this to pay and open the doors. The Ioniq electric car costs 25 cents per minute, or 12 euros an hour and registration – which will cost 10 euros – is free within two weeks of the launch. 

According to a Hyundai press release online, ‘Amsterdam has more than 2,200 public charging points and the best infrastructure for electric cars in Europe. 

The new cars can take five people and their baggage, and go 280 kilometers thanks to a better battery than earlier electric car models. 

In an initial phase, 100 cars will be put on the streets, Meijer told the Volkskrant. ‘We will learn, and look at the business case.’ 

Car sharing firms such as Snappcar and Zipcar believe that in future many more people will use shared vehicles, allowing the overall number of cars in Europe to decrease. 

But academics such as Dr Gonçalo Homem de Almeida Correia, a specialist in sustainable transport at Delft University of Technology, has said that a lot depends on the attitudes of authorities, and that ‘a good public transport system can do much for the sustainability of a city’ than vehicle sharing.

PwC reckons on recovery of television advertising

DutchNews, September 27, 2017

Photo: Depositphotos.com

The sharp decline in television advertising in the Netherlands is of a temporary nature, consultancy PwC told the Financieele Dagblad on Wednesday. 

In its annual forecast for the media sector, PwC said the TV spend would decline by a maximum €70m to some €920m this year. The company said this should be regarded as a wake-up call for the TV industry which has never before witnessed a decline in the advertising spend. 

PwC noted a big increase in delayed viewing such as ‘programme missed’ and films as well as Netflix. Young people are tuning in on YouTube films, Instagram and Snapchat. 

The drop in TV advertising was more than compensated for by a strong increase in advertising on the internet, the consultancy said. 

Related Article:

"From Dark to Light" + "Discovery", US (3), June 24 - 25, 2017 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)  (Text version "From Dark to Light") 

"... Marketing the Drama and Unseen Truth

Number three: There are some very old energies in your society and in your culture that have always been the same and represent past Human nature, and you have to decide what to do with them. You may not be able to change them, but you have a choice on what to do with them.

If you believe in the shift and you are starting to think more positive, then let me tell you something that will help. There is light on this planet that is not being reported. There is the beginning of high consciousness ideas and new thought about the future of humanity in very powerful places. These are seeds of new thought that are beginning to grow, and some of them make so much sense and are elegant, yet you'll never know about them. The reason? Your media is filled with the old dark consciousness of drama above all else and many of you willingly create a platform to sustain it.

Some of you will come home from work and feel it's a nice idea to turn on the media and watch all of the horrible things that happened on the planet that day. Perhaps you don't want the news, so you go for entertainment instead. So you turn on a program where you can watch families in drama, arguing and complaining. What I'm telling you, dear ones, is that your media is broken, and you watch it anyway.

Right now, it continues in the old energy and the management in charge thinks it knows best what you and your neighbors want. So it's going to deliver darkness on a regular basis, and if there's nothing dark, it will create it for you. That is what you're faced with. Here is my advice. Select the media carefully that you believe is true and accurate. Wouldn't you rather have fun things to watch? Perhaps you'd like to watch cute pets or animals doing fun things? How about children doing amazing and hilarious things, or great stories of heroism with uplifting endings? How about amazing nature or comedy that is hilarious? Right now with new devices, you can see all of that as much as you want, without commercials. This is the newest trend and evolution of your media selection - personal control over programs in your home, without commercial interruption. Did you see this happening and wonder why now?

So the solution to drama-biased media is simple: Don't watch or listen to standard broadcast! Instead, find out about the alternates and be selective. Select news that is less biased in bringing you full-time drama. Of course, you need to stay in touch with what is happening, but you don't have to accept a program that is dedicated to enhancing and promoting the drama of the day and making it worse - or that gives no news at all about the good things going on.

I say this because broadcast not only is broken, it's dangerous, since it gives false impressions of the overview of the planet. They are stuck in the old energy and haven't caught up yet with the overview of what might really be happening on the planet. Not yet. Even the channels that will give you supposedly good education and history are biased in ways that you would not even expect. They continue to believe in slanting even historic or documentary stories to be horrific and dark. They believe that is what people really want.

What would happen if these companies started programming things people really wanted to watch? What would happen is exactly what they want, and their revenues would go up! I hope they're listening. There will come some day, dear ones, where there'll be more than one good news channel and you can tune in to hear the most heroic and heart-rendering things that have happened on that day on the planet. It will be balanced, perhaps with some other things that also happened. But it will be a balance that you have not seen yet anywhere. ...."

Google looking to help news outlets win subscribers

Yahoo – AFP, September 23, 2017

Google chief executive Sundar Pichai has made a priority of investing in artificial
 intelligence, and has spoken publicly about infusing the company's array of offerings
with software smarts (AFP Photo/JUSTIN SULLIVAN)

San Francisco (AFP) - Google is seeking ways to help publishers win paying subscribers for news stories, a person close to the matter told AFP.

To this end, the US internet giant is collaborating with NewsCorp, the Financial Times, and the New York Times, according to the source.

Google was said to be ramping up its support for subscription services in recognition of the fact that such revenue is vital for publishers who can't rely on advertising alone for financial survival.

Google declined to comment on word of this latest effort.

"We work closely with news publishers across the world to build products that help support their business and add value to users," Google spokesperson Maggie Shiels said in response to an AFP inquiry.

"At the moment we don't have anything to announce."

Google already uses its technology to let readers of online news subscribe to publishers with a single click, in an internet age spin on tossing a free copy of a newspaper on a doorstep in the hope people sign-up for daily deliveries.

Google chief executive Sundar Pichai has made a priority of investing in artificial intelligence, and has spoken publicly about infusing the company's array of offerings with software smarts.

Artificial intelligence could be combined with troves of data at Google to try to better win over potential news subscribers.

Publishers have complained at times that Google is making money off their work by surfacing stories in search results.

Google has countered that it shares revenue with publishers, drives traffic to their websites where stories are hosted, and that they can opt not to show up in search results.

The need to support reliable news organizations has been highlighted by controversy over bogus stories crafted to influence politics, promote social division, or simply rake in online ad revenue.

Related Articles:

"From Dark to Light" + "Discovery", US (3), June 24 - 25, 2017 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)  (Text version "From Dark to Light") 

"... Marketing the Drama and Unseen Truth

Number three: There are some very old energies in your society and in your culture that have always been the same and represent past Human nature, and you have to decide what to do with them. You may not be able to change them, but you have a choice on what to do with them.

If you believe in the shift and you are starting to think more positive, then let me tell you something that will help. There is light on this planet that is not being reported. There is the beginning of high consciousness ideas and new thought about the future of humanity in very powerful places. These are seeds of new thought that are beginning to grow, and some of them make so much sense and are elegant, yet you'll never know about them. The reason? Your media is filled with the old dark consciousness of drama above all else and many of you willingly create a platform to sustain it.

Some of you will come home from work and feel it's a nice idea to turn on the media and watch all of the horrible things that happened on the planet that day. Perhaps you don't want the news, so you go for entertainment instead. So you turn on a program where you can watch families in drama, arguing and complaining. What I'm telling you, dear ones, is that your media is broken, and you watch it anyway.

Right now, it continues in the old energy and the management in charge thinks it knows best what you and your neighbors want. So it's going to deliver darkness on a regular basis, and if there's nothing dark, it will create it for you. That is what you're faced with. Here is my advice. Select the media carefully that you believe is true and accurate. Wouldn't you rather have fun things to watch? Perhaps you'd like to watch cute pets or animals doing fun things? How about children doing amazing and hilarious things, or great stories of heroism with uplifting endings? How about amazing nature or comedy that is hilarious? Right now with new devices, you can see all of that as much as you want, without commercials. This is the newest trend and evolution of your media selection - personal control over programs in your home, without commercial interruption. Did you see this happening and wonder why now?

So the solution to drama-biased media is simple: Don't watch or listen to standard broadcast! Instead, find out about the alternates and be selective. Select news that is less biased in bringing you full-time drama. Of course, you need to stay in touch with what is happening, but you don't have to accept a program that is dedicated to enhancing and promoting the drama of the day and making it worse - or that gives no news at all about the good things going on.

I say this because broadcast not only is broken, it's dangerous, since it gives false impressions of the overview of the planet. They are stuck in the old energy and haven't caught up yet with the overview of what might really be happening on the planet. Not yet. Even the channels that will give you supposedly good education and history are biased in ways that you would not even expect. They continue to believe in slanting even historic or documentary stories to be horrific and dark. They believe that is what people really want.

What would happen if these companies started programming things people really wanted to watch? What would happen is exactly what they want, and their revenues would go up! I hope they're listening. There will come some day, dear ones, where there'll be more than one good news channel and you can tune in to hear the most heroic and heart-rendering things that have happened on that day on the planet. It will be balanced, perhaps with some other things that also happened. But it will be a balance that you have not seen yet anywhere. ...."

"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)

“…6 - The News

Number six. I'll be brief. Watch for your news to change. It has to. When the media realizes that Human Beings are changing their watching habits, they're going to start changing what they produce for you to watch. Eventually, there's going to be something called "The Good News Channel," and it will be very attractive indeed. For it will be real and offset the drama of what is today's attraction. This is what families at night, sitting around the table, will wish to watch. They'll have something where the whole picture of a situation is shown and not just the dramatic parts. You will hear about what's happening on the planet that no one is telling you now, and when that occurs [we have no clock, dear one], it's going to compete strongly with the drama. I keep telling you this. Human nature itself is starting to be in color instead of black and white. Watch for it. And that was number six ….”

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

“…  Government

Let us speak of government. We're not speaking of your government, but of any government - the way it works, how it survives, how it has survived, the way it campaigns, and how it elects leaders. It's going to change.

Years ago, I told you, "When everybody can talk to everybody, there can be no secrets." Up to this point on this planet, government has counted on one thing - that the people can't easily talk to each other on a global scale. They have to get their information through government or official channels. Even mass media isn't always free enough, for it reports that which the government reports. Even a free society tends to bias itself according to the bias of the times. However, when you can have Human Beings talking to each other all at once, all over the planet without government control, it all changes, for there is open revelation of truth.

Democracy itself will change and you're going to see it soon. The hold-outs, the few countries I have mentioned in the past, are doomed unless they recalibrate. They're doomed to be the same as they have been and won't be able to exist as they are now with everyone changing around them.

I mentioned North Korea in the past. Give it time. Right now, the young man is under the control of his father's advisors. But when they're gone, you will see something different, should he survive. Don't judge him yet, for he is being controlled.

In government, if you're entire voting base has the ability to talk to itself without restriction and comes up with opinions by itself without restriction, it behooves a politician to be aware and listen to them. This will change what politicians will do. It will change the way things work in government. Don't be surprised when some day a whole nation can vote all at once in a very unusual way. Gone will be the old systems where you used to count on horseback riders to report in from faraway places. Some of you know what I am talking about. Government will change. The systems around you, both dark and light, will change. You're going to start seeing something else, too, so let's change the subject and turn the page. ”