Master KG - Jerusalema [Feat. Nomcebo] (Official Music Video)

Obama draws pledges of 40,000 troops for UN peacekeeping

Yahoo – AFP, Carole Landry, 29 Sep 2015

More than 50 countries have pledged a further 40,000 troops for United Nations

peacekeeping operations around the world (AFP Photo/Albert Gonzalez Farran)

United Nations (United States) (AFP) - More than 50 countries pledged 40,000 troops for United Nations peacekeeping at a US-led summit called to shore up missions under strain from the rise in global crises.

China scaled up its contribution, taking the lead in setting up an 8,000-strong standby police force while Colombia made a first-time offer of as many as 5,000 troops.

The pledges represent a major boost to UN peacekeeping, which relies on voluntary contributions from UN member states to run its 16 missions worldwide.

More than 125,000 troops and police

 from 124 countries serve in UN peace

missions (AFP Photo/Alain Wandimoyi)

US President Barack Obama told leaders that peace operations were "experiencing unprecedented strains" and are being deployed in "more difficult and deadlier conflicts."

"We know that peace operations are not the solution to every problem," Obama told the summit held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

"But they do remain one of the world's most important tools to address armed conflict," he said.

The new contributions include helicopters, engineering units, field hospitals and bomb-detonating expertise that are desperately needed to bolster UN peace missions.

Obama opened the summit by announcing a tally of 30,000 new troops for peace missions, but after leaders took turns at the podium to announce contributions, the total reached 40,000.

A key player in peacekeeping in Africa, Rwanda offered two attack helicopters, two field hospitals, an all-female police unit and 1,600 new troops.

Indonesia boosted its participation with training and 2,700 new troops while India pledged 850 additional soldiers.

British Prime Minister David Cameron announced 70 troops for the UN-African Union mission in Somalia and up to 300 troops for South Sudan, where the UN mission is grappling with one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

Pledges rolled in from smaller nations such as Armenia and Fiji and bigger players like Brazil, Turkey, Germany and Australia.

A key player in peacekeeping in Africa, Rwanda, whose troops are pictured on

 November 22, 2005, offered two attack helicopters, two field hospitals, an

all-female police unit and 1,600 new troops (AFP Photo/Jose Cendon)

More than 125,000 troops and police from 124 countries serve in UN peace missions.

China steps up

The United States had hoped to draw more pledges from European countries that have gradually pulled their troops out of peacekeeping and contributed to the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan.

In the end, the European pledges remained modest, but officials stressed the importance of highly-trained troops from Britain, the Netherlands, Spain and Italy to peacekeeping.

In contrast, China -- which has strong economic interests in Africa -- offered more engineering soldiers, transport and medical staff and pledged to train 2,000 peacekeepers from other countries to carry out de-mining operations.

President Xi Jinping said China would provide $100 million to the African Union to support a new African standby force and send the first peacekeeping helicopter squad to Africa.

Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India, Pakistan and Rwanda are currently the top five troop-contributing nations to peace missions.

In his address, Obama stressed that strengthening peacekeeping would serve "our common security" and pledged to double the number of US officer staff serving under the blue flag.

US President Barack Obama delivers remarks during a Peacekeeping Summit

 to coincide with the United Nations General Assembly on September 28, 2015 (AFP

Photo/Andrew Kelly)

There are just 78 Americans serving in UN peace missions but Washington remains by far the largest financial backer, providing 28 percent of the UN peacekeeping budget of $8.3 billion.

Boosting troop contributions will help the United Nations tackle a wave of sexual abuse allegations that have hit its missions, notably in the Central African Republic.

The new commitments will give Secretary General Ban Ki-moon the leeway to remove units whose soldiers face accusations and replace them without weakening a mission.

French President Francois Hollande, who pledged to step up training of African forces, referred to the sexual abuse scandal in his address to the summit, saying countries "must not allow the UN flag to be tarnished."

France is investigating allegations that 14 soldiers from its Sangaris military force sexually abused children in the Central African Republic in return for food, from December 2013 until June 2014.

While the French troops were not serving in a UN peacekeeping mission, the Sangaris operation was authorized by a UN Security Council resolution.

World's first academy for humanitarian relief to be launched

Humanitarian Leadership Academy to train aid workers from over 50 countries in organising rapid responses to disasters and emergencies

The Guardian, Julian Borger Diplomatic editor, Sunday 22 March 2015

Local residents receive humanitarian aid in the city of Debaltseve, Ukraine.
The world’s first academy for humanitarian relief will train aid workers in
responding to disasters and emergencies. Photograph: Sokolov Mikhail/
Sokolov Mikhail/ITAR-TASS Photo/Corbis

The world’s first academy for humanitarian relief is to be launched, aimed at training 100,000 aid workers from over 50 countries in organising rapid responses to disasters and emergencies.

The Humanitarian Leadership Academy, launching on Monday, is a response to the growing number of humanitarian crises around the world, driven by climate change and conflict, combined with a severe and worsening shortage of people with the skills necessary to coordinate the large-scale response required in the critical first days to prevent mass casualties.

The HLA is being set up by a global consortium of aid organisations with initial £20m funding from the UK Department for International Development, out of a target of £50m. The Save the Children charity has paid the startup costing and is hosting the academy’s hub in London.

Further centres will open in Kenya and the Philippines later this year, and by 2020 the plan is to have ten training centres around the world, which would offer both classroom and virtual training for the surrounding regions, in mobilising the rapid response in resources and manpower needed in the wake of a disaster.

Jan Egeland, a former UN head of humanitarian affairs and emergency relief, will be the academy’s first chairman. He said the initiative “may revolutionise the entire humanitarian sector”.

“Investment in a new and better trained generation of humanitarian workers closer to where we find the greatest needs will bring development and sustainability to many of the world’s most fragile communities,” Egeland, the head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said.

Last year witnessed a record number of severe global humanitarian emergencies and the highest number of refugees the world has seen since the second world war. 50 million people were forced to flee their countries.

  

Justin Forsyth, chief executive of Save the Children, said: “If we are to save more lives in some of the toughest places in the world we need to train and support local people themselves to become the humanitarian workers and volunteers of the future. The academy will do this by bringing together an extraordinary and unique coalition of actors to train and share best practice, transforming the humanitarian system.”

The idea behind the establishment of ten national and regional centres around the world is that each should be able to tailor responses to crises in terms of local conditions and local culture. Aid experts have said that previous attempts to increase local and regional capacity to react to large-scale emergencies have foundered because they were seen as impositions of practices developed far away.

The plan is for each centre to provide a common pool of knowledge, the latest technology and examples of best practice, as well as solid career structures for humanitarian workers, with internationally recognised certification for successive levels of achievement, recorded in ‘humanitarian passports’. The end result should be to expand the pool of people available in every region to manage the humanitarian response in the first 72 hours of an emergency.

“This is potentially one of the most transformational projects I have been involved in,” said Gareth Owen, Save the Children’s director of emergencies, who has been working on the academy project since 2007. “It is based on the recognition that many studies of humanitarian disasters and emergencies point to leadership and decision-making as the critical factor. Really by now we should have a global capacity that we can draw on that is far greater and more diverse. We haven’t invested enough in people on the ground.”

Owen said that climate change was adding to the relentless annual toll of humanitarian crises: “We used to have a big natural disaster about once a decade and that has come down to one every two or three years.”

Global funding for emergency relief has largely stagnated. Owen said the $20bn (£13bn) spending on the response to humanitarian emergencies is a third of the amount the world spends on yoghurt, for example, and that there is no comparison with the $1.5tn spent on arms.

“The Humanitarian Leadership Academy will help create a faster and more effective disaster response system by empowering local people in the most vulnerable countries to be the first responders after a disaster strikes,” Justine Greening, the secretary of state for international development, said. “The high quality training and expertise delivered by this academy will mean humanitarian responses not only provide immediate, life-saving relief, but also help build a more secure and resilient world.”

Related Article:

Ebola report slams slow WHO response

Almost 36 million people trapped in modern day slavery: Global Slavery Index

The second annual Global Slavery Index (GSI) has shown that 35.8 million people are subject to modern day slavery - some 20 percent more worldwide than initially thought. The highest total of slaves was in India.

Deutsche Welle, 17 Nov 2014

The results of a survey published on Monday by anti-slavery campaign group Walk Free estimates that some 35.8 million people are currently trapped in modern day slavery.

In its second annual report, the 2014 Global Slavery Index (GSI) said that due to new methods, some 20 percent more people are enslaved around the world that previously thought.

"There is an assumption that slavery is an issue from a bygone era. Or that it only exists in countries ravaged by war and poverty," said Andrew Forrest, chairman of the Australian-based Walk Free Foundation.

Widespread

Forced into in a life of cotton picking, cannabis growing, prostitution, fighting wars or cleaning up after the wealthy account for just some of the definitions of modern slavery across the 167 countries which were covered in the GSI report.

Debt bondage, forced marriage and the sale or exploitation of children, as well as human trafficking are also included in the foundation's interpretation of modern slavery.

The report also showed that modern slavery contributed to the production of at least 12 goods from 58 countries.

Social norm

According to the Index, the biggest offender, with the highest proportion of its population enslaved, remains the West African nation of Mauritania. Despite Mauritania's anti-slavery legislation, it is rarely enforced and the slavery of black Moors by Berber Arabs is an entrenched part of society.

Following Mauritania in second place was Uzbekistan where, every autumn, the government forces over one million people, including children, to harvest cotton.

The highest number of total slaves was found in India where an estimated 14.29 million people live a life of slavery. The Index said, however, that India had recently taken important steps to combat the problem by strengthening its criminal justice framework through legislative amendments and increasing the number of its anti-human-trafficking police units.

'Appalling situations'

At the opposite end of the scale, the GSI report also showed that the countries doing the most to combat the problem were the Netherlands, Sweden, the US, Australia, Switzerland, Ireland, Norway, the UK, Georgia, and Austria.

Despite being at the bottom of the list, Europe still has 566,000 people involved in forms of modern slavery. For example, people are trafficked into Ireland to grow cannabis, or forced into begging in France.

"These findings show that modern slavery exists in every country. We are all responsible for the most appalling situations where modern slavery exists and the desperate misery it brings upon our fellow human beings," said Forrest.

ksb/se (AFP, 2014 Global Slavery Index)

RNW staff in support of jailed Al Jazeera journalists

RNW.org, Mirjam van den Berg, The Netherlands, 26-06-2014

RNW has published a staff group photo expressing solidarity with three convicted
 Al Jazeera colleagues in Egypt. This follows today's Facebook posting of a statement
 by one of the prisoners highlighting the importance of sustained pressure on the
Egyptian authorities. (RNW/Mirjam van den Berg)

Al Jazeera correspondent Peter Greste and producer Mohamed Fahmy were jailed on Monday for seven years, while producer Baher Mohamed was given 10 years on charges of spreading false news and supporting the now banned Muslim Brotherhood. All three denied the charges.

The sentences have sparked global outrage and calls for their immediate release. The United States called on the Egyptian authorities to reverse the "chilling, draconian sentences", which the White House called "a blow to democratic progress in Egypt".

Assault on free speech

Australia, the Netherlands and Britain all summoned their respective Egyptian ambassadors to explain the verdict, which human rights campaigners denounced as a “farce”  and a “frightening assault” on what remains of Egyptian free speech.

The cases have sparked several online campaigns using the slogan "Journalism is not a crime.” Journalists across the globe held silent protests this week to express solidarity.

RNW has joined the international chorus of condemnation, with a photo of its staff holding up speech bubbles calling for free speech, a free press and support for #freeAJstaff.

Solidarity

RNW Director Robert Zaal hopes the group photo will be “shared as much as possible”.

“With this picture, we demonstrate solidarity with our convicted Al Jazeera colleagues in Egypt. As journalists promoting free speech, we feel strongly about this particular case. Free speech and independent journalism go hand in hand and when countries lock up journalists for simply doing their job then there is something seriously wrong.”

“RNW stands shoulder to shoulder with the jailed Al Jazeera colleagues in Egypt and hopes that the current international outcry will have an impact on the Egyptian authorities.”

Pressure and support

In a message given to his brothers during a prison visit and posted on Facebook today, Peter Greste stressed the importance of sustained pressure "from individuals, human rights groups, governments and anyone who understand the fundamental importance of a free press to Egypt's fledgling democracy."

The statement ends with: "We are all grateful for the extraordinary and unprecedented public support that countless people have offered us throughout this ordeal. It has kept us strong and continues to do so. We must all remain committed to fight this gross injustice for as long as necessary."

Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed have been jailed
for endangering Egypt's national security. Photograph: Mohammed Bendari/Rex

Related Articles:

Egypt's Sisi 'won't interfere' on jailed journalists

Al-Jazeera journalists' stiff sentences prompt international outrage at Egypt

Al-Jazeera journalists jailed for seven years in Egypt

Dutch journalist given 10 years in jail for 'helping' Muslim brotherhood

Annan launches Elders mission to Iran

Google – AFP, 26 (AFP), 26 January 2014

Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan gives a press conference in

Abidjan on October 10, 2013 (AFP/File, Sia Kambou)

Tehran — Former UN chief Kofi Annan, head of a group of ex-global leaders known as the Elders, Sunday started a visit aimed at boosting dialogue between Iran and the international community, media reported.

Annan is accompanied by Martti Ahtisaari, a former president of Finland, South Africa's Nobel Peace Laureate Desmond Tutu and Mexican ex-president Ernesto Zedillo.

The group, formed in 2007, is made up of 12 global leaders who try "to promote peace, justice and human rights," according to its website.

It said the group will hold private meetings with Iranian officials but did not give further details.

Iranian media reported they would start the three-day trip by visiting the mausoleum of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic republic.

The group sees "recent positive developments as a historic and strategic opportunity to end decades of animosity between Iran and the international community," the website said in statement on Saturday.

But it added "trust will only be built slowly, through continued goodwill and reciprocal action."

During the visit, the Elders "will exchange ideas with the Iranian leadership about peaceful ways of addressing conflict and healing sectarian divisions in the region."

Iran is a staunch supporter of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime in its almost three-year-old bloody conflict against rebels.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Saturday that he would host the delegation.

President Hassan Rouhani won last year's presidential election with promises of a diplomatic opening to the West.

Iran and major world powers clinched a historic nuclear deal in November, when Tehran agreed to curb parts of its atomic programme for six months in exchange for modest sanctions relief and a promise by Western powers not to impose new sanctions.

Related Articles:

Breakthrough in Iran nuclear talks in Geneva

In 2013, Iran Got A New President And Maybe A New Direction

Rohani's 'Yes We Can' Moment

President Mahama To Lead Process Towards ECOWAS Currency

SpyGhana, Ghana News,  

President John Dramani Mahama has pledged to lead the process towards the attainment of a common monetary convergence in Ghana and other Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) by 2015.

President John Dramani Mahama

He has also promised to support efforts at achieving a common currency in the sub- region by 2020.

The President made the pledge when Kadre Desire Ouedraogo, Chairman of ECOWAS and other Commissioners of the ECOWAS Commission, called on him at the Flagstaff House, Kanda.

Also present at the meeting were Vice-President Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur, the Chief of Staff, Prosper Douglas Bani, Seth Terkper, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, and Hannah Tetteh, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration.

The ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State at its last Extraordinary Session in Dakar, Senegal, in October, 2013, selected President Mahama and the President of Niger, Mahamadou Issoufou, to monitor and supervise the implementation of the monetary corporation project towards the attainment of the monetary convergence by 2015, and a common currency by 2020.

The four criteria for the attainment of the monetary convergence are the reduction in the rate of inflation, achieving minimal budget deficit, a significant financing of the economy by the Central Bank, and a Foreign Exchange Reserve of up to six months.

President Mahama said the attainment of a common currency in West Africa would facilitate business transactions among the people of the various countries in the sub-region, while the monetary convergence would enable the sub-region to negotiate with other continental groupings as a bloc, instead of being separate countries.

He mentioned that the on-going public financial management reforms in Ghana would position Ghana to consolidate the inflation target that it has achieved, and move the country ahead to achieve the other targets on reducing budget deficit, a significant financing of the economy the Central Bank and Foreign Exchange Reserve of up to six months by 2015.

According to him, by 2011, Ghana had achieved almost all of the four targets, but slacked in the process due mainly to some economic pressures, and indicated that the on-going reforms would prevent the reversal.

Vice-President Amissah-Arthur stressed the need for all member countries to demonstrate political will towards the attainment of the monetary convergence and the common currency.

Mr Ouedraogo expressed confidence in the ability of President Mahama to use his diplomatic skills to lead the monetary co-operation project towards the attainment of the monetary convergence and the common currency among ECOWAS by 2020.

He said the ECOWAS Commission had prepared a memorandum and wanted President Mahama to review it and offer his advice on the way forward for the realization of the single monetary zone by 2020.

Mr Ouedraogo explained that the first step was for the member-countries to achieve monetary convergence by 2015 to prepare the way for the attainment of the common currency by 2020.

Source: citifmonline

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"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

“…. Human Nature is Changing

There's a new concept afoot, a change in Human nature. We've spoken about this before. How many of you studied European history? And in school, did your mind fill up with all of the dates you had to memorize? Who conquered whom and when? Over and over and over, every single country had their turn conquering another country. Borders moved constantly. As far back as you want to go, that's what Humans did. They separated, gathered, and conquered. But as little as 50 years ago, it all stopped.

We've said this before. Fifty years ago, a seed, an idea, was planted at the end of World War II. "Let's put these European countries together," they said. "Let's even drop the borders and eventually give them one currency." Do this and they'll never war again, they predicted, for countries with common economic sources don't go to war! And that's exactly what's happened. Did it work? It's fairly fresh, but their money is threatening to take over the strength of your money, did you notice? It's worth more than yours. They still struggle to make it work and balance it. But then again, you do the same in the United States, always fine tuning the unity.

South America is considering the same thing right now. The seeds are being planted in Brazil. Within a generation, they would love to see the borders dropped and one currency. Can they do it? Perhaps. Perhaps it will take longer. Why do it? Because they see the European Union with the strongest currency on Earth. We've said this before. Here is a prediction: Perhaps not in your time, but there'll come a day when there are only five currencies in the world, because continents will start understanding that unification creates peace and prosperity. Separation creates chaos. What a concept.  …”

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

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

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

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

The OPCW: trying to rid the world of chemical weapons

Google – AFP, 10 Sep 2013

UN inspectors arrive at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons,

in The Hague, on August 31, 2013 (ANP/AFP/File, Guus Schoonewille)

THE HAGUE — The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), based in The Hague, is at the forefront of international efforts to destroy existing chemical weapons and to prevent the manufacture of new ones.

The organisation, which could play a key role if Syria hands over its suspected chemical weapons to international supervision under a Russian plan, supervises the application of The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) which is aimed at ridding the world of such arms.

Syrian American protesters urge Congress

 to support President Obama in striking

 Syria, September 9, 2013 in 

Washington (Getty Images/AFP/File,

Win Mcnamee)

Syria, one of only five countries not to have signed the global treaty, said on Tuesday it had accepted the Russian proposal, as France kept up the pressure with a UN resolution threatening force if the regime failed to comply.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime is accused of using the arms in an August 21 attack that killed hundreds of people on the outskirts of Damascus.

Chemical weapons were first used in combat in World War I, and also in 1988 against civilians in Halabja, Iraq.

Signing of the Convention began in 1993 in Paris and it took effect on April 29, 1997.

The Convention was the result of almost 20 years of negotiations within the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, and initially aimed to eliminate all chemical weapons by 2007.

A precursor was the 1925 Geneva Protocol, which banned the use of chemical weapons following widespread use in World War I, but not their development under a "no first use" notion.

The OPCW currently has 189 so-called States Parties, including nearly all industrialised nations and more than 98 percent of the world population.

Israel and Myanmar have signed the Convention but not ratified it, while Angola, Egypt, North Korea, South Sudan and Syria have done neither.

The CWC has four main provisions, the destruction of all chemical weapons under strict verification, monitoring of the chemical industry to prevent development, helping protect nations against chemical threats and boosting global cooperation to strengthen implementation.

A United Nations arms expert collects

 samples on August 29, 2013, as they

 inspect the site where rockets in

Ghouta (AFP/File, Ammar al-Arbini)

"It is the first multilateral treaty to ban an entire category of weapons of mass destruction and to provide for the international verification of the destruction of these weapons," according to the OPCW.

It contains no specific punitive measures for countries that use chemical weapons however.

The document says only that the OPCW can "in cases of particular gravity, bring the issue, including relevant information and conclusions, to the attention of the United Nations General Assembly and the United Nations Security Council."

Between 1997 and 2013 the OPCW carried out 5,167 inspections on the territory of 86 signatory countries, including 2,720 inspections of chemical weapons sites, according to the organisation's website.

Some 81 percent of world stocks of declared chemical agents have been destroyed under supervision, it says.

Obama: 'Trayvon Martin could have been me, 35 years ago'

Google – AFP, 19 July 2013

US President Barack Obama speaks about race and the death of 

Trayvon Martin on July 19, 2013 in Washington, DC (AFP, Saul Loeb)

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama offered a very personal take on the Trayvon Martin case on Friday, saying that 35 years ago, he could have been the unarmed black teen shot dead by a neighborhood watchman.

In a surprise appearance before reporters, Obama hailed the "incredible grace and dignity" of Martin's parents and warned that a resort to violence in the wake of the Florida court verdict would "dishonor" his death.

He also called for a review of controversial "stand your ground" laws like the one in place in Florida, which assert that citizens can use lethal force -- rather than retreat -- if they sense their lives are at risk.

"Trayvon Martin could have been me, 35 years ago," Obama said, in his first substantive comments on a verdict that has aroused an impassioned debate on US race relations.

Demonstrators march in Beverly Hills

 on July 17, 2013 to protest the acquittal

 of George Zimmerman (AFP/File,

Robyn Beck)

While he refrained from direct comment on the jury's decision to acquit neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman on Saturday, Obama weighed in on the larger issues of race raised by the case.

"I just ask people to consider if Trayvon Martin was of age and armed, could he have stood his ground on that sidewalk?" Obama asked.

"And do we actually think that he would have been justified in shooting Mr. Zimmerman who had followed him in a car because he felt threatened?

"And if the answer to that question is at least ambiguous, then it seems to me that we might want to examine those kinds of laws," he said.

Obama also urged better training of law enforcement at the state and local levels "to reduce the kind of mistrust in the system that sometimes currently exists."

He said young African American males needed greater encouragement in the face of negative stereotypes that many blacks believe was at the root of the shooting death.

Martin, 17, was fatally shot on the rainy night of February 26, 2012 during an altercation with the 29-year-old Zimmerman in a gated community in Sanford, Florida.

Zimmerman said he acted in self-defense and his team did not specifically invoke the "stand your ground" law in its arguments.

A jury of six women, all but one white, cleared him of second-degree murder and manslaughter charges.

Critics of Saturday's verdict argue that Zimmerman racially profiled the youth -- who had no criminal record -- and was able to kill him with impunity because of a biased criminal justice system.

But Zimmerman -- who has a white father and a Peruvian mother -- has insisted race was not a factor in the incident.

Florida Governor Rick Scott speaks

 to the media on May 28, 2013 in

 Miami, Florida (Getty Images/AFP/

File, Joe Raedle)

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Kryon Q&A

Question: I’m a black woman who enjoys your teachings tremendously. It seems that there aren’t a lot of black people involved in these discussions. Is this true, and is there a reason for this? Is it cultural? Or am I wrong in this assumption?

Answer: Dear one, yes. If you’re speaking about black Americans, you’re right. It’s cultural. There are two basic reasons you won’t find many blacks in metaphysics in your culture: The first one is that in your land, your race is a minority with a history of oppression. This has created a very strong spiritual support base. Almost from birth, most of you have been exposed to very high church and spiritual support and a feeling of belonging and sticking together. There are few groups that have this kind of support and prayer base. So spiritually, you don’t look around much for answers other than what you have already learned about the love of God. This works for you and is honored.

The second reason is perhaps politically incorrect in your culture to speak of, but Kryon is not of your culture. Many of you are in survival mode due to sustained second-class citizenship you experience from birth. This causes despair, poverty, and a shift to crime among many due to despondency over life and a need to survive in a system that does not honor you. When a Human is consumed with survival in a difficult environment, they don’t have time or a desire for introspection or a search to better themselves spiritually. All their time is spent spinning within the challenges they have, many of which they assume to be their plight, many of which they have created themselves.

The sadness here is that if they did look within, they would find the tools to co-create a life outside of survival, and start processes that honors their endeavors and their lives. Blessed are those with life challenges, as so many of the minorities have, but who have decided to increase their spiritual knowledge as a solution, instead of trying to force-manipulate the reality of the cultural situation.

Fighting female genital mutilation in Africa

Deutsche Welle, 7 February 2013

STOPPING FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION

• The fight against female genital mutilation
• It happens at night: Genital mutilation in Egypt
• Fighting female genital mutilation in Africa
• Classrooms in London schools tackle genital mutilation
• Mali: Women feel caught between modernity and tradition
• Film director raises awareness about female genital mutilation

Today (06.02.2013) is the International Day of Zero Tolerance on Female Genital Mutilation. Every eleven seconds, a girl is subjected to the brutal practice. But Togo has outlawed the practice.

Some two million girls around the world every year become victims of female genital mutilation (FGM). It is an extremely painful experience. Knives are used to remove their external sexual organs, either partially or completely. This frequently leads to painful inflammation - some girls bleed to death. Those who survive suffer pain for the rest of their lives, both physical and mental.

The international community has been struggling to curb down the practice since 1997. But the UN General Assembly didn't accept a resolution on the elimination of FGM until December 2012.

The battle to end this brutal tradition, which is widespread in Africa, Asia and parts of Latin America, is long and complicated. NGOs estimate that between 130 and 150 million of the world's female population have been subjected to FGM. Exact figures are hard to come by as it remains a taboo subject in many countries.

But now the opponents of this tradition are celebrating a major success. Togo has officially ended the practice.

This young girl waits for the
physical wounds to heal

This is the culmination of years of work by Togolese activists and the German NGO (I)ntact. The organization was founded in 1996 by Christa Müller, the wife of the then premier of the German state of Saarland.  Since 2006 it has received support from the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Contact is the key

Eight years ago, the NGO (I)ntact began its work in Togo. Shortly afterwards, the anti-FGM activists were able to register progress in neighbouring Benin when a ceremony was held to mark the end of female genital mutilation there. Today, the number of girls subjected to FGM in Benin is close to zero, according to figures from the Demographic and Health Survey.

In Togo, the situation was as difficult as it once was in Benin. According to a study conducted in the 1990s, the rate of female genital mutilation among certain ethnic groups was as high as 90 percent. But the human rights activists succeeded in persuading people to abandon the practice. "The real success lay in the fact that we included FGM's main participants, the female circumcisers and traditionalists, in the project," (I)ntact's deputy chairman Detmer Hönle told DW.

The term "traditionalists" applies above all to the village elders. They have the greatest influence on their communities and lay down what is right and what is wrong.  It was not easy for the NGO activists to get close to them. First they had to explain who they were and what they wanted. That was the task of Fati Gnon, a Togolese woman responsible for coordinating the work of local NGOs which work together with (I)ntact.

 "We established contact by going from house to house. That way we could increase awareness of the topic and build up an atmosphere of trust," Gnon said.

 Jawahir Cumar offers counselling
to FGM victims in Germany

"Once we had won over the women who did the cutting, they helped us convince the masses."

Fourteen years ago Togo passed a law criminalizing FGM but it had little effect. In fact, it brought about just one conviction.  "In Africa, tradition is an unwritten law that is older than the laws passed by today's governments," said (I)ntact's Detmer Hönle. That is why it was so important to get the village elders and circumcisers on board. Former mutilators receive a small loan from the organization to help them find new sources of income. In this way, they retain the social status which they formerly enjoyed as a result of their traditional occupation. According to a survey carried out in Togo by (I)ntact, FGM is no longer regarded as a social norm, although it cannot be ruled out that individual cases still occur.

Lifelong pain

Worldwide, the battle against FGM is far from over. It is also being fought by Jawahir Cumar from her new home in Germany.  She became a victim of FGM at the age of five in her homeland, Somalia.  Today, in the German city of Düsseldorf, she counsels women who have suffered a similar fate. "These women suffer pain during sexual intercourse, while urinating, during menstruation; they endure pain every single day."

Jawahir Cumar's organization is called "Stop Mutilation" and offers women victims a gynaecological examination free of charge. Cumar also works to increase public awareness of the negative effects of FGM. In 2011 she was awarded Germany's highest honour, the Federal Order of Merit. Every year some two million women and girls still become victims of this brutal tradition. As long as this is so, there is a need for organizations such as "Stop Mutilation" and (I)ntact to continue their work.

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