Impoverished eSwatini, Africa's last absolute monarchy

Yahoo – AFP, September 19, 2018

Mswati has been in power for 32 years, making him one of the longest-serving
rulers in Africa (AFP Photo/TIMOTHY A. CLARY)

Mbabane (eSwatini) (AFP) - The tiny country of eSwatini, until recently known as Swaziland, is ruled by a playboy king with many wives and supreme control over a nation struggling with poverty and HIV.

Ahead of parliamentary elections on Friday, here is some essential background about the landlocked kingdom wedged between South Africa and Mozambique.

King in control

King Mswati III was crowned in 1986 when he was only 18, four years after the death of his elderly father, Sobhuza II.

Now aged 50, he has been in power for 32 years, making him one of the longest-serving rulers in Africa.

With unrestricted political power over his 1.3 million people and ruling by decree, he is the only absolute monarch on the continent and one of the few remaining in the world.

His surprise declaration in April that the kingdom would return to its pre-colonial name, eSwatini, was criticised as an example of his authoritarianism.

Mswati has 14 wives -- his father is said to have had at least 70 -- and the right to choose a new one at the annual Reed Dance, when thousands of bare-breasted virgins dance for him.

Political parties banned

After independence from Britain in 1968, Sobhuza II abandoned a British-style system and in 1973 restored a traditional form of government that gives the royal family supreme power.

It effectively bans political parties, which are barred from parliamentary elections held every five years.

Candidates for the 69-member parliament stand as individuals; the king directly appoints 10, as well as the prime minister, senior cabinet members and the judiciary.

Mswati has been in power for 32 years, making him one of the longest-serving 

rulers in Africa (AFP Photo/TIMOTHY A. CLARY)

The government stifles dissent and demonstrations, including by pro-democracy trade unions.

A much-criticised 2008 Suppression of Terrorism Act has been used to arrest and charge democracy and opposition activists.

Widespread poverty

Around 63 percent of Swazis live in poverty and a quarter of children under five show signs of malnutrition, according to UN agencies.

About 26 percent of the labour force is unemployed and 77 percent of Swazis rely on subsistence farming, with severe drought leaving many in need of aid.

The country has little developed industry, with sugar production being among the most important, and is heavily dependent on South Africa, which provides 85 percent of its imports and receives 60 percent of exports, the World Bank says.

Its key textile sector lost thousands of jobs after the United States removed the kingdom from a lucrative trade pact in 2014 due to concerns over workers' rights.

It was admitted back into the African Growth and Opportunity Act in December 2017.

World's highest HIV rate

Around 27 percent of adults aged 15 to 49 were living with HIV last year, according to UN figures, the highest prevalence of the AIDS-causing virus in the world.

However the number of new HIV infections has halved since 2010 and AIDS-related deaths are down 28 percent, according to UNAIDS.

This is after campaigns to boost access to virus-suppressing drugs and male circumcision.

Around 3,500 people died from the disease last year, from a peak of in 7,900 in 2005, while 44,000 children were AIDS orphans.

Freedoms flouted

The government has almost total control of the media and the only independent newspaper, the Times of Swaziland, is routinely intimidated into retracting articles that are critical of the authorities.

Homosexuality is outlawed, miniskirts were banned in 2012 and in 2017 the government ordered that only Christianity could be taught at primary and secondary schools.

The Economist Intelligence Unit 2017's democracy index ranks Swaziland 144 out of 167 countries, placing it firmly in the "authoritarian" category.

Ebola vaccine may be 'up to 100% effective': WHO

Yahoo – AFP, Marlowe Hood, December 23, 2016

In a major clinical trial, nearly 6,000 people in Guinea were given the test vaccine
last year, at the tail end of a lethal epidemic of Ebola and non of them contracted
the disease (AFP Photo/CELLOU BINANI)

Paris (AFP) - A prototype vaccine for Ebola may be "up to 100 percent effective" in protecting against the deadly virus, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Friday.

If all goes well, the vaccine could become available in 2018 under a fast-track approval process, it said.

In a major clinical trial, nearly 6,000 people in Guinea were given the test vaccine last year, at the tail end of a lethal epidemic of Ebola.

Not one of the 6,000 contracted the disease.

But in a control group of volunteers that did not receive the vaccine, 23 Ebola cases occurred, researchers reported in The Lancet medical journal.

"If we compare zero to 23, this strongly suggests that the vaccine is very effective, that it could be up to 100 percent effective," Marie-Paule Kieny, WHO's assistant director-general and lead author of the study, told AFP.

Her team of three dozen researchers calculated a 90-percent likelihood during a full-fledged epidemic that the vaccine, dubbed rVSV-ZEBOV, would work in more than 80 percent of cases.

"After 40 years, we appear to now have an effective vaccine for Ebola virus disease to build upon," Thomas Geisbert, a scientist at Galveston National Laboratory in Texas who did not take part in the study, wrote in a commentary, also in The Lancet.

Factfile on how the Ebola virus attacks (AFP Photo/John Saeki/Adrian Leung)

'Compassionate use'

First identified in 1976 in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Ebola virus erupted periodically in outbreaks of up to a couple hundred cases, mainly across west and east Africa.

In early 2014, however, a handful of infections in southern Guinea mushroomed rapidly into an epidemic.

Over the next two years, more than 28,000 people fell ill, mainly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Some 11,300 died.

With a mortality rate above 40 percent, the disease -- one of a category of so-called haemorrhagic fevers -- has an incubation period of up to three weeks. It causes violent and painful symptoms, including vomiting, diarrhoea, organ failure and internal bleeding.

The new vaccine was initially developed in Canada by public health authorities before being taken over by pharmaceutical giant Merck.

It is slated to be submitted by Merck to health authorities in the United States and Europe sometime next year under a fast-track approval process.

"We may have a vaccine which is registered in 2018," Kieny told journalists at a press conference Thursday, noting that the standard approval process for a new drug takes a decade, if not more.

In the meantime, Merck has committed to ensuring that 300,000 doses of the vaccine are available for emergencies under a protocol called "compassionate use".

"They will be able to produce a million in very short period of time," Kieny noted.

Of the more than 6,000 people injected with the Ebola vaccine only two showed 

serious adverse effects, the study reported, both recovered fully (AFP Photo/

CELLOU BINANI)

Unanswered questions

There are still questions to be resolved concerning the vaccine, including side effects.

Initial tests last year did not include children, while the most recent trials covered those over six years old.

Of the more than 6,000 people injected with the Ebola vaccine only two showed serious adverse effects, the study reported. Both recovered fully.

But it is still unknown if the vaccine is safe for children six and under, pregnant women, or people with the AIDS virus -- all groups that were excluded from the most recent trials.

Another unknown is how long innoculation lasts.

"With the Canadian Merck vaccine, you have a protection very early after vaccination, but we don't know if it will last after six months," Kieny said.

Other Ebola vaccines under development -- some of which have been tested in humans -- could prove more effective over a longer period.

British firm Glaxosmithkline and Johnson & Johnson, based in the United States, each have experimental products in the pipeline.

China and Russia have also developed vaccines, with the Russian one having just finished the second phase of three-step clinical trials.

Some of these vaccines require two doses three weeks apart, and may confer a longer immunity.

"That might be better suited to immunise health workers in advance of an outbreak," Kieny said.

Health officials also point to the fact that other strains of the virus -- including one in Sudan -- will require the development of separate vaccines.

Health workers assist a patient suspected of having Ebola on their way to a

 treatment centre run by the French Red Cross in Patrice, Guinea, on

November 21, 2014 (AFP Photo/Kenzo Tribouillard)

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"Revelations of Darkness" - Oct 1, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“ .. The Role of Gaia in Human Consciousness

One of those times might be frightening for you to know about, since it was a full cooperation with Gaia for your termination, and a pandemic almost wiped humanity off the map. A pandemic! Now, you say, "What has that got to do with Human consciousness, Kryon?" Pay attention, dear ones, because this is the day where the teaching was given by my partner, and he put together the Nine Human Attributes. One of the attribute sets included three Gaia attributes and one of them was the consciousness of the planet. Gaia is related to Human consciousness!

Are you starting to connect the dots? You are connected to this planet in a profound and spiritual way. As goes humanity goes the planet's consciousness. Gaia, Mother Nature, whatever you want to call it, cooperates with Human consciousness. If you spend 1,000 years killing each other, then Gaia will do its best to cooperate with your desires! Gaia will look at Human consciousness and try to help with what you have shown you like to do! Did you know this role of Gaia with you? It's a partner with you, fast tracking what you give to it. You may wish to review what the indigenous of the planet still understand. Gaia is a partner!

Pandemic: Don't you find it odd that in the last 50 years, when you have a population of seven billion Human Beings, with up to 2,000 airplanes in the air at any given moment, going between almost every conceivable place, that there has not been a pandemic in your lifetime? There have been five starts of potential pandemics over the last 20 years, yet none became serious. Did any of you put this together? Dear ones, when the world was far less populated a few hundred years ago, with no mass travel to spread a virus, there were still millions wiped out by a pandemic. With the increased population and mass travel, there is far more danger today than before. It doesn't make sense, does it? What happened to stop it?

When you know humanity's relationship to Gaia, it makes sense. Gaia is a life-force that is your partner, watching you change the balance of light and dark and reflecting what Humans want. It has polarity, too! Perhaps it's time to start your meditations with thanking your planet Earth for supporting you in the spirituality of your Akash, for always being with you, a life-force that is always present. The ancients started their ceremonies in that way. Have you forgotten?

Ebola

Now, I've just set the stage for the next subject, haven't I? Ebola. Are you afraid yet? Gaia is a life-force that is a part of Human consciousness. My partner put it on the screen today so you could see the connections [during the lecture series]. Now it's time to connect the dots. Dear one, Gaia is in the battle, too, for here comes something scary that you haven't had in your lifetime and you're afraid of it - the potential of a pandemic on the planet.

There's a very famous film that has some dialogue that my partner will quote. Some of you will know it and some of you won't, but here it is: "Have a little fire, scarecrow?" What are you afraid of? Darkness? Gaia is in the battle with you and is actively pursuing solutions through light. The energy of the planet is with you in this fight! The ebola virus is a shock and a surprise. It is propelled by ignorance and fear, so it can flourish. Look at where it started and look at how it gets its ability to continue. It expands its fear and power easily with those who believe it's a curse instead of those who understand the science.

Villages are filled with those who refuse to leave their family members because they believe the disease is a curse! FEAR! Instead of understanding that they should be in isolation from the virus, the family dies together through ignorance and fear. This represents how darkness works. Are you going to become afraid also? Dear ones, ebola will be conquered. Know this and be at peace. Pray for light for those in the villages who are afraid, that they can know more about how to keep the spread of this disease and live to see their families. .”

Africa's progress in the fight against HIV/Aids

The South African city of Durban is the venue for the 2016 World Aids Conference. Sub-Saharan Africa will feature prominently on the agenda, a region where the infection rate has decreased by over 40 percent since 2000.

Deutsche Welle, 15 July 2016

Which strategies are most effective in the battle against HIV/Aids? DW looks at how four African countries are responding to the challenge.

Ethiopia: Free medicines

Ethiopia is regarded as a model in the fight against the virus HIV and the disease Aids. Between 2001 and 2011, the number of new infections in the East African nation dropped by 90 percent, more than in any other African state. During the same period, the number of people who died of Aids also declined by more than half.

The decreasing infection and mortality rates are mainly due to antiretroviral (ARV) treatment. ARVs prevent the HIV virus from spreading and damaging the body's immune system and also allow people to live a largely normal life with the disease. Since 2005, the drug has been distributed across Ethiopia free of charge.

In remote villages, trained medical staff ensure every HIV patient takes his or her medication. Nearly 2,500 health clinics offer care and support to pregnant women to prevent mother-to-children transmission. In addition, between 2013 and 2014 some 9.6 million people - one in ten Ethiopians - were tested forr Aids.

Kenya: compulsory HIV/Aids education

Fewer than six percent of Kenyans live with HIV/Aids. That's about 1.5 million people. The number of new infections also fell significantly in recent years. In 2005, 28.3 percent of infected mothers transmitted the virus to their children. Five years later, that figure had gone down to 8.5 percent.

Meanwhile, more than 90 percent of all pregnant Kenyan women go for Aids tests. In 2000, there were only three health facilities where Kenyans could consult medical practitioners and get tested for HIV. In 2010, the number of health facilities offering HIV consultations had increased to more than 4,000.

The main reason for the reduction in the HIV/Aids prevalence in Kenya is the supply of ARVs. In 2003, only 6,000 people had access to the medication. Ten years later, that figure increased to more than 600,000.

The Kenyan government also regards voluntary male circumcision as a weapon in the fight against AIDS. This reduces the risk of infection among men by about 40 percent, according to studies. Since 2003, HIV/Aids education has been a compulsory element in school curriculums. About 70 percent of the cost in fighting HIV/Aids in Kenya is footed by external donors.

Burkina Faso: support fund for the sick and orphans

In most of western Africa, the percentage of HIV infection was far less than in eastern and southern Africa. In 2000, Burkina Faso had a prevalence rate of around six percent, one of the highest in the region.

Today, according to estimates by UNAIDS, only 0.8 percent of the population is infected with the virus. The government responded early and showed its determination to fight the epidemic.

In 1987, the Burkinabe government implemented its first action plans. Together with international donors, the private sector and local communities, it invested large sums in ARVs, opened a support fund for HIV/Aids infected people, and started training thousands of health workers. In addition, the government began a massive behavioral change campaigns and distributed condoms.

Uganda: 'Abstinence, faithfulness and condoms'

In Uganda, the Aids epidemic reached its peak in the 1990s. Approximately 18 percent of the population was infected with the virus. The Ugandan government and international aid agencies launched ambitious and expensive educational programs with the slogan "Abstinence, faithfulness and condoms."

The campaign was a success. In 2000, only five percent of the population was HIV-positive. But, in the meantime, a contrary trend is emerging. The number of new infections in Uganda is rising again for the first time in ten years. The HIV prevalence rate in the country is now about seven percent of the population.

Surprisingly, a major reason for this is the widespread usage of ARVs and the circumcision of men. Many Ugandans believe that the ARV therapy can cure the disease completely and that male circumcision rules out any risk of infection - as a result, more people are abandoning the use of condoms.

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

" .... Africa

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

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

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


Kryon Q&A

Question: Dear Kryon, as the Universe transforms in this period of ascension/transition, why does it appear that little spiritual attention is focused on the African continent? While there has certainly been a religious awakening largely due to the circumstances that souls choose (for example, poverty, HIV/AIDS, etc.), this is being translated quite slowly into spirituality (my perception).

What is your information on the state of spiritual awakening on the African continent?

Answer: Dear one, this question is perhaps the best one you could have asked for your time. Indeed, it appears that the African situation is dichotomous to an awakening Earth. For a full explanation, you have to go back to information we presented 12 years ago [Kryon Book One, 1989]. We told you back then that there was a potential that showed that in order for your planet to move forward at the rate it was appearing to, up to one percent of the population might have to leave. This was startling information to most of you, and some wondered how and where this might begin. A disaster, perhaps? A comet strike? Now, as you know, the Humans on the African continent are currently losing their lives by the tens of millions. In addition, the life expectancy is bleak for at least the next decade . . . perhaps the next full generation! Your disease called AIDS is seemingly fulfilling this prophecy.

What this might mean to you is that the prediction given to you about your transition is now upon you, and all you can do is sit back and watch it occur in horror. What we have channelled to you recently, however, is that nothing could be further from your reality, or your 2001 potential. Instead, we have reported to you that since the 1989 potentials, you have far exceeded the energy for the year 2001 beyond that which was expected. What this means is that now the prophecy does not have to occur at all! What you are seeing, however, is the setup for the old potential still in progress, without knowledge that it is not needed.

Remember that death of any kind is abhorrent to you. We don’t expect you to understand how such a thing could have helped Spirit or Earth, but on a grander scale, it would have. An entire generation of Humanity came in with this expectation and knowledge, and they had agreements to leave early. It is this African family that you may now turn your attention to, for they have the opportunity to void this entire contract and remain in health.

This African continent is not in a state of spiritual awakening. They are instead in survival mode, plowing through an outdated spiritual potential. What can you do? Visualize the change in this scenario! You just changed the very time frame of Earth itself, so changing the energy of this one place is well within your ability! Visualize them happy, with families intact, fed, healthy, with the potential for life and joy. The energy you can develop in these visualizations can nullify the scenario that is there . . . totally! You can change the leaders’ minds, quicken the ability for science to reach those it needs to, and even change the reality of the disease itself. All these things we tell you, lightworker, since this is the work that you have asked to do. Your visualizations create a light that shines into the dark places of consciousness, or science, and of hope itself. You still don’t understand the potential of your energy! Is it worth two minutes a day? Perhaps three? Each day, consider this.

Blessed indeed is the awakening lightworker who is free from worry about death and who is not constantly hungry. For this Human has the ability to use his energy to help those who are ready to blossom into their own spiritual awakening, but who are currently consumed with an old contract of death and disease. The few may help the many, and the many may remain to help the earth in other ways. This is what family does for family. Believe it!

African Union vows Ebola fund as Oxfam calls for 'Marshall Plan'

Yahoo - AFP, 28 Jan 2015

Medical workers spray their protective gear at an Ebola treatment centre in

Monrovia on December 19, 2014 (AFP Photo/Evan Schneider)

Addis Ababa (AFP) - The African Union plans to launch an Ebola fund and disease control centre, officials said Wednesday, as aid agency Oxfam warned leaders needed to keep their promises to boost healthcare systems on the continent.

Oxfam called for a "massive post-Ebola Marshall Plan", referring to the United States aid package to rebuild Europe after World War II.

"This disaster might have been avoided if African governments had made free public health care and spent more on their health systems, under the commitment they made 14 years ago in the Abuja Declaration," Oxfam said in a statement.

"It's clear that Africa's existing architecture for early disease detection, response and control is wholly inadequate," the aid agency added.

AU Commissioner for Social Affairs Mustapha Sidiki Kaloko on Wednesday said an African Centre for Disease Control and Prevention would be set up by mid-2015.

"It is a reality, it is going to happen," Kaloko said, with the first phase concentrating on setting up "an early warning system" for the detection of epidemics. "We should be ready the next time. We shouldn't be caught unprepared."

However, its exact location remains undecided.

"We will start with a coordination centre within the AU and then set up up to eight regional centres," Kaloko added.

The AU Ebola Solidarity fund will be launched on Friday during a summit meeting for leaders of the 54-member bloc, which has already sent hundreds of health workers as part of its mission to tackle the outbreak in west Africa.

In November, the AU, African Development Bank and regional business leaders set up a crisis fund to help areas hit by the Ebola outbreak, with some $28 million pledged.

"It is time for Africa to mobilise its own resources in support of its development and take charge of its own destiny," AU chief Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said Wednesday.

The worst outbreak of the virus in history has seen nearly 9,000 deaths in a year -- almost all in the three west African countries of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone -- and sparked a major health scare worldwide.

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

“… PHASE THREE

The years 2013 to 2025 are the final phase. I tell you now that these things are going to sound too grand. What I give you now are only potentials and you may hear them and say, "Well, those are just potentials. They're too grand. Those things can't happen." Go back with me 20 years. All the potentials I gave you in 1989 took place. They took place because that was what was within the potentials. It was a reading of humanity within your consciousness. So I do it again, now. These are the potentials for the final phase of the Great Shift.

The first one is the adjustment of actual Human societal thinking. It represents the energies in the way you work and think. These are the kind of things a sociologist would study. Let me give it another name: It's an actual shift to a higher vibration of Human nature. "Kryon, that's impossible. Human nature is Human nature. We can't change it." Well, you've already begun it. You're starting to clean up your financial institutions worldwide. Did you notice? Dear ones, if anyone had ever told you 30 years ago that you were going to clean up your financial institutions, they would have laughed. For don't you know the way society works? Those who have the money win. Banks hold all the cards, and they are run by the those in high places. They are untouchable, since the government is often the same people! Well, why don't you tell them that today. Look around you, because something just happened. It's not working that way, is it? What would make the difference? Consciousness. A new paradigm. You can see it in the news.

Here is another one. A change in what Human nature will allow for government. "Careful, Kryon, don't talk about politics. You'll get in trouble." I won't get in trouble. I'm going to tell you to watch for leadership that cares about you. "You mean politics is going to change?" It already has. It's beginning. Watch for it. You're going to see a total phase-out of old energy dictatorships eventually. The potential is that you're going to see that before 2013. They're going to fall over, you know, because the energy of the population will not sustain an old energy leader. Remember where you heard it... in a strange, esoteric meeting with a guy in a chair pretending to channel. [Kryon being factious... Kryon humor] Then when you hear it, you'll know better, won't you? "Maybe there was something really there," you'll say. "Maybe it was real," you'll say. Perhaps you can skip all the drama of the years to come and consider that now? [Kryon humor again]

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

The next one: You're going to heal a continent. Watch for it. It begins. Watch for major shift in Africa. We have said this before, even within the meetings I spoke in what you call the United Nations. Africa has never even been a potential player in the economic field, because it has been sick. What happens when you heal a continent? I'm going to tell you. Suddenly, the people on that continent also want what you have - government that works, peace, their own homes, schools, hospitals, and even banks where they can borrow from. They don't have any of those now, not really. Everything with substance is from somewhere else. That means you're going to have a continent that's going to arise that will become a major player on the stage of Earth's finances and political influence - an entire continent with all the resources on it, with even the potential for unification of common purpose, much like what you have now in your EU. I'm giving you information, and when it happens, again, I say you'll remember where you heard it.

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

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

" .... Africa

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

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

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

"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) 

“… The Future of the Illuminati

Now, I want to tell you something that you didn't expect and something I've reported only one other time. What about all of the money that the Illuminati has? There are trillions and trillions of euro in banks, under their control, waiting. What are they going to do with it and where are they going to use it? It's still here. They're waiting.

This group is waiting for something to happen that they know is going to happen, for they see it coming as much as I do. However, I would like to tell you something that they don't expect. With awareness comes generational shift. Those in charge of this money will not always be elders. The indigos eventually will have it.

They are waiting for something to happen in Africa - the building of a new civilization, a continent that has nothing to unlearn. Once Africa is cured, once it's ready, a new civilization can be created from the ground up. Africans will be ready to learn everything about building a foundation for the most advanced civilization ever and will do it with the most modern and inventive systems available. Eventually, this new continent will even beat the economics of China.

This is the prediction and always has been, and the Illuminati's money will fund it. Did I say the Illuminati will fund it? [Kryon laugh] The Illuminati's money will fund it, but there is a difference from the past, dear ones. The ones who inherit the positions in the Illuminati will be a different consciousness. Listen, they are not suddenly going to be the ones who have the good of everyone in their hearts - hardly. They want to make money, but what they will see instead is a way to make a great deal of money through this investment. In the process, it will automatically help hundreds of thousands, and they will be at the beginning, the foundation, that builds the new Africa. The new African states of unification eventually will create a continent stronger than any of the others, and it will have one currency. The resources alone will dwarf anything in the world. ...”

Tuberculosis killed 1.3 million last year: WHO

Google – AFP, 23 October 2013

A tuberculosis (TB) patient (2nd right) receives medication at a clinic in Alexandra
township, north of Johannesburg on October 13, 2010 (AFP/File,Stephane de Sakutin)

Geneva — Tuberculosis claimed 1.3 million lives last year with drug-resistant forms of the infectious disease -- the deadliest after AIDS -- a huge global concern, the WHO warned Wedesday.

Worldwide efforts to rein in the killer airborne disease helped drive the toll down 100,000 from the previous year, the World Health Organization said in its annual report on the fight against TB.

But the toll remains the world's second-highest for an infectious disease, after HIV/AIDS.

An estimated 8.6 million people caught tuberculosis in 2012, with India alone accounting for 26 percent of cases, and China, 12 percent.

According to the WHO, close to one-third of TB cases were in Southeast Asia, just over a quarter in Africa and around one-fifth on the Western Pacific region.

Looking at the longer-term picture, the number of infections fell by nearly half from 1990 to 2012.

But experts reckon only two-thirds of last year's 8.6 million new cases were actually diagnosed, leaving an estimated three million people unaware they had the disease.

Those most at risk are typically among the worst-off groups of the population, the report said.

"To find the three million TB cases means we need to reach beyond the current health services, we need to look at where these cases are," WHO expert Karin Meyer told reporters.

"These are often vulnerable populations, displaced populations, migrant population, quite difficult to reach," she added.

Global health experts also warned of the growing threat posed by a strain of TB that resists drugs used to fight the classic form.

Multidrug-resistant TB, or MDR-TB, which emerged due to erratic treatment of the regular strain or excessive use of anti-TB medication, claimed 170,000 lives last year, the WHO said.

Some 94,000 people were diagnosed with MDR-TB last year, twice the figure in 2011.

But the true number of cases is thought to be around five times higher, the WHO added.

'A real public health crisis'

The highest density of MDR-TB cases is found in the former communist countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

Those are places where TB programmes have long been in place, but where failings in health services have allowed drug-resistance to build up, officials said.

In contrast, Africa has seen lower levels of MDR-TB, in part because of weaker access to standard TB treatment in the past.

Other countries hit hard by MDR-TB include China and India.

"The unmet demand for a full-scale and quality response to multidrug-resistant tuberculosis is a real public health crisis," said Mario Raviglione, head of the WHO's TB programme.

The standard drugs used to treat TB are isoniazid and rifampicin. Vaccines are in development, but are not expected to hit the market before 2025, the WHO said.

MDR-TB is able to ward off both isoniazid and rifampicin.

It can be treated with bedaquilin, which came onto the market at the end of last year and is the first new TB drug in four decades.

But bedaquilin is costly, the WHO stressed, with a $30,000 (22,000-euro) price tag for a six-month course of treatment in developed countries, and some $1,000 in the developing world.

Since the WHO launched a major anti-TB drive in 1995, a total of 56 million people have been treated and 22 million lives saved, the agency said.

"Quality TB care for millions worldwide has driven down TB deaths," said Raviglione.

"But far too many people are still missing out on such care and are suffering as a result. They are not diagnosed, or not treated, or information on the quality of care they receive is unknown," he added.

The agency also warned funding for its anti-TB campaign was falling short of its target.

A conventional two-year course of TB treatment costs between $4,000 and $10,000 in developing countries.

The WHO said it needed to bridge a $2 billion annual gap in order to meet its overall requirement of up to $8 billion a year to fight the disease in low and middle-income countries.

Gambia pulls out of Commonwealth

Google – AFP, 3 October 2013

Gambian President Yahya Jammeh speaks at the UN General Assembly

on September 27, 2013 in New York (Pool/AFP/File, Andrew Burton)

Banjul — The Gambian government announced that the former British colony is pulling out of the Commonwealth with immediate effect, saying it would "never be a member of any neo-colonial institution".

"The general public is hereby informed that the government of the Gambia has left the Commonwealth of Nations with immediate effect," it said in a statement.

"(The) government has withdrawn its membership of the British Commonwealth and decided that the Gambia will never be a member of any neo-colonial institution and will never be a party to any institution that represents an extension of colonialism."

The Commonwealth bloc is a voluntary association of more than 50 countries, many of them former territories of the British empire.

Flags of the Commonwealth nations are

 displayed outside the House of 

Commons in London on March 10, 2013,

 the eve of Commonwealth Day (AFP/File, 

Justin Tallis)

No further details were given but a foreign ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that the decision came after the government rejected a proposal by the Commonwealth last year to create commissions in Banjul to protect human rights, media rights and fight against corruption.

The proposal followed an April 2012 visit to the Gambia by Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma, during which he met with President Yahya Jammeh and other top government officials.

Jammeh, who is regularly accused of rights abuses, has ruled mainland Africa's smallest country with an aura of mysticism and an iron fist since seizing power in 1994.

Earlier this year, the Gambia was singled out for its poor rights record in Britain's annual Human Rights and Democracy report, which cited cases of unlawful detentions, illegal closures of newspapers and radio stations and discrimination against minority groups.

A spokesman at the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office said early Thursday: "We would very much regret Gambia, or any other country, deciding to leave the Commonwealth."

He noted however that "decisions on Commonwealth membership are a matter for each member government".

The Gambia is a tiny sliver of land wedged into Senegal. It suffers from widespread poverty but its miles of palm-fringed beaches are a favourite among sun-seeking European tourists.

The west African anglophone nation, the smallest on the mainland, has long been dogged by rights concerns under Jammeh's administration.

Jammeh, who seized power in a 1994 coup, brooks no criticism. He has been re-elected to power three times.

The man who claims he can cure AIDS and other illnesses is often pilloried for rights abuses and the muzzling of journalists.

In 2010, the EU, the country's top aid donor, cancelled 22 million euros ($30 million) in budget support for Banjul because of concerns over human rights and governance.

In August 2012, Jammeh came under attack from Amnesty International and others for sending nine prisoners to the firing squad and promising many more would go the same way.

File picture shows protesters holding a
banner reading 'Gambia. Stop unfair trials'
outside the Gambian embassy in Senegal
last year (AFP/File, Seyllou)

Many top officials have found themselves charged with treason, often related to coup plots which observers have said are a sign of paranoia by Jammeh, who has woven an aura of mysticism around himself, dressing in billowing white robes and always clutching his Koran.

Last year he warned foreign diplomats that his country would not be "bribed" with aid to accept homosexuality.

"If you are to give us aid for men and men or for women and women to marry, leave it. We don't need your aid because as far as I am the president of the Gambia, you will never see that happen in this country," he said.

In January this year Jammeh accused the European Union of trying to destablise Gambia, after the EU set out a 17-point checklist of demands for reforms.

They included calls for Gambia to abolish the death penalty and to re-open newspapers and radio stations closed down by the authorities.

The president regularly insists that he will not bow to external pressures for reform.