Kim Jong Un Hailed as Global Statesman by Sukarno Center

Jakarta Globe, Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Jul 30, 2015

Kim Jong Un has somehow joined the likes of Aung San Suu Kyi and Mahatma
 Gandhi as a global statesman, at least in the bizarre logic employed by
 Indonesia's Sukarno Center in awarding awarding him its annual prize for
world peace and development. (Reuters Photo/KCNA handout)

Jakarta. The Bali-based Sukarno Center will this year award its annual prize for global statesmanship to Kim Jong Un of North Korea, hailing him as a champion in the fight against neocolonialism and imperialism.

Rachmawati Soekarnoputri, a daughter of Indonesia’s founding president, after whom the award is named, made the announcement on Thursday following a meeting with Ri Jong Ryul, Pyongyang’s ambassador to Jakarta.

“We will give the award to President [sic] Kim Jong Un because he has been consistent in carrying out the ideals of the great leader, Kim Il Sung, which is to fight imperialism,” Rachmawati said.

The Sukarno Prize, traditionally handed out in recognition of contributions to world peace and development, has previously been awarded to luminaries such as Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar and India’s Mahatma Gandhi.

It is unclear how Kim Jong Un, whose saber-rattling and bellicose policies have exacerbated already strained and frosty ties with South Korea, Japan and the United States, has contributed in any way to world peace or compares even remotely with the above democracy icons.

Rachmawati noted that the Sukarno Center had previously presented the award to Kim Il Sung, whom she called a hero of independence and peace.

“So this will be a sequel, where we give the award to Kim Jong Un for his persistence in fighting neocolonialism,” she said.

Rachmawati has been appointed the honorary Asia-Pacific chairwoman of Pyongyang’s Korean reunification preparation committee – a body not recognized beyond the borders of the hermit kingdom.

North Korean people raise their fists during an anti-US rally at Kim Il-Sung

stadium in Pyongyang on June 25, 2015 (AFP Photo)

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"Recalibration of Knowledge" – Jan 14, 2012 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Channelling, God-Creator, Benevolent Design, New Energy, Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Reincarnation, Gaia, Old Energies (Africa, Terrorists, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela ... ), Weather, Rejuvenation, Akash, Nicolas Tesla / Einstein, Cold Fusion, Magnetics, Lemuria, Atomic Structure (Electrons, Particles, Polarity, Self Balancing, Magnetism), Entanglement, "Life is necessary for a Universe to exist and not the other way around", DNA, Humans (Baby getting ready, First Breath, Stem Cells, Embryonic Stem Cells, Rejuvenation), Global Unity, ... etc.) - (Text Version)

“…  I want you to watch some countries. I don't have a clock [this statement is Kryon telling us that there is no time frame on his side of the veil, only potentials]. I'll just tell you, it's imminent [in Spirit's timing, this could mean as soon as a decade]. I want you to watch some countries carefully for changes. You're going to be seeing changes that are obvious, and some that are not obvious [covert or assumptive]. But the obvious ones you will see sooner than not - Cuba, Korea [North], Iran, of course, and Venezuela. I want you to watch what happens when they start to realize that they don't have any more allies on Earth! Even their brothers who used to support them in their hatred of some are saying, "Well, perhaps not anymore. It doesn't seem to be supporting us anymore." Watch the synchronicities that are occurring. The leaders who have either died or are going to in the next year or so will take with them the old ways. Watch what happens to those who take their place, and remember these meetings where I described these potentials to you. …"

THE OLD SOUL 2013 TOOLKIT" – Jan 13, 2013 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll)  (Text version)

"... The Change in the Way Things Work

Now I'm going to be very cautious with number five, and I'm going to change a paradigm of the way we channel. For 23 years, we have given you information in the soup of potentials that we read around you as the highest probable potential that exists. These things eventually become your reality because they are your free choice, and we know what you're thinking. We know what the potentials are because we know what the biases are, and we see all of humanity as a whole. Potentials are energy, and it gives us the ability to project your future based on how you are working these potentials. We have done this for a long time. Twenty-three years ago, we told you about many things that were potentially going to happen, and now they are your reality.

But now I'm going to depart from that scenario and I'm going to give you a potential on Earth that is not the strongest. I am going to tell you about a Human Being who has a choice. This potential is only about 50 percent. But I'm going to "read a potential" to you that you didn't expect. It's about a paradigm that is starting to shift.

Let's talk about North Korea. There's a young, new leader there. The potential is that he will never, ever hear this channel, so I can talk freely about him. He is facing a dilemma, for he is young and he knows about the differences in the energy in his land. He feels it. The lineage of his departed father lies upon him and all that is around him expects him to be a clone of this lineage. He is expected to continue the things that he has been taught and make North Korea great.

But he's starting to rethink them. Indeed, he wants to be a great leader, and to be heard and seen, and to make his mark on North Korea's history. His father showed him that this was very important. So he ponders a question: What makes a world leader great?

Let's ask that question to someone in an older earth paradigm from not that long ago. He will be an expert and a successful one. So this is a valid exercise, asking someone from the past who knows. We will ask that question to a man who you know and whose name is Napoleon. For us, this was yesterday and some of you were there. 

If you asked Napoleon, "What makes a world leader great?", he will say, "the size of the army, how much area can be efficiently conquered with a given amount of resources and men, how important the leader appears will then be based upon how many citizens call him emperor or king, the taxes he can impose, and how many fear him." Not only was that Napoleon's reality, but he was right for the energy he was part of at the time. So Napoleon went back and forth between world leader, general and prisoner. He accomplished almost everything he set out to do. His expertise was obvious, and you remember his name to this day. He was famous.

What makes a world leader great? What I am showing you is the difference in thinking between then and now. There are some choices that this evolving young Human Being has that could change everything on the planet if he wanted. His father would tell this boy that what makes a world leader great is the potential of his missile power, or how close he can get to having a nuclear weapon, or how he stands up against the power of the West, or how he continues to aggravate and stir drama as a small country - getting noticed and being feared. His father would tell him that this is his lineage and that is what he's been told all his life. His father did it well and surrounded himself with advisors who he then passed on to his son.

Now, there's a 50 percent chance of something happening here, but this is not a strong potential, dear ones. I'm bringing this forward so you can watch it work one way or the other. For if the son continues in his father's footsteps, he is doomed to failure. The energy on the earth will see it as old and he will be seen as a fool. If, however, he figures it out, he could be the most famous man on the planet... which is really what his father wanted.

If Kryon were to advise this man, here's what I would tell him. He could be the greatest known leader the current world has ever known, for what he does now will be something the world will see as a demarcation point from the old ways. Not only that, but what he does now will be in the history books forever, and because of his youth, he has the potential to outlive every other leader on the planet! So he's going to have longer fame than anyone ever has.

I would tell him this: Tell the border guards to go home. Greet the south and begin to unify North and South Korea in a way that no past prophet ever said could happen. Allow the two countries to be separate, but have them as two parts of a larger Korean family with free trade and travel. Start alliances with the West and show them that you mean it. Drop the missile programs because you will never need them!

This will bring abundance to the North Korean people that they never expected! They will have great economic sustenance, schools, hospitals and more respect than ever for their amazing leader. The result would be fame and glory for the son, which the father had never achieved, something that the world would talk about for hundreds of years. It would cause a United Nations to stand and applaud as the son walked into the Grand Assembly. I would ask him, "Wouldn't you like that?"

Doesn't this seem obvious to most of you? He could achieve instant fame and be seen as the one who made the difference and started something amazing. But watch him. He has a choice, but it's not simple. He still has his father's advisors, but one of which he's already dismissed. He may get it, or he may not. There is a 50 percent chance. But I'll tell you that if he doesn't do it, the one after him will. Because it is so obvious. 

We show you this to tell you that this is the evolvement of the Human species. It is the slow realization that putting things together is the answer to all things, instead of separating them or conquering them. Those who start promoting compromise and begin to create these energies that never were here before will be the ones you're going to remember. Dear ones, it's going to happen in leadership and politics and in business. It's a new paradigm...."

Compassion Knows No Boundaries at Kechara Indonesia

Jakarta Globe, Johannes Nugroho, Jul 26, 2015

Yayasan Kechara Indonesia founder Valentina Suhendra, left, poses
with her spiritual mentor. (JG Photo/Johannes Nugroho)

Jakarta. It was a leap of faith for Valentina Suhendra, a director at professional services company KPMG, when she took out a loan to start her first charity Yayasan Kechara Indonesia four years ago.

“When I started YKI, I did not have enough money. So I borrowed [Rp] 70 million [$5,195],” she said, reminiscing.

When it was time to pay off the loan in 2012, one of her friends and a volunteer at YKI, Shio Wei Hau, suggested a mountain hike as a way to raise funds. Hau decided on a solo climb of Mt. Peclet in France.

“I’d made up my mind to go climbing anyway that year, so why not do it for a worthwhile cause? Basically I  paid for the trip to France but I also told people I was doing it for charity. So we got people to sponsor my hike, people who wanted to give something back to society, and I gave the money to Kechara,” Hau said.

YKI has come a long way since its early days distributing less than 20 packets of food at weekends in 2010. Nowadays it has enough regular donors to hand out around 400 food packets every weekend in areas such as Kota Bambu Utara and Petamburan in West Jakarta, and Cipete in South Jakarta.

“We started out with food distribution for the needy because my spiritual guru Tsem Rinpoche had asked me to set it up,” Valentina said.

As a follower of Tibetan Buddhism, she trusted her guru’s guiding hand. Rinpoche also introduced her to the practice of Dorje Shugden, an ancient Tibetan protection deity.

“Dorje Shugden plays a big role in my life.  So when in January 2011, Rinpoche asked me to establish YKI, he advised me to rely on Dorje Shugden and he also said if my motivation was pure, I would get help.”

On the other hand, the deity has become a controversial figure in Tibetan Buddhism since the Dalai Lama spoke against his practice in 1996. But for devotees like Valentina, Shugden has inspired her to do nothing but good.

“I believe people should be allowed to practice their religion and faith as they see fit as long as it does not harm others.  This is not the time nor place to discriminate against people based on their belief. That is what we are trying to demonstrate with YKI motto – compassion knows no barrier.”

YKI also runs other charity projects in addition to food distribution, such as education sponsorships for students in Jakarta and providing stationery, spectacles and even school uniforms for the underprivileged.

Evalia Meilviyani Madjid, daughter-in-law of the late prominent Muslim intellectual Dr. Nurcholish Madjid, is a great supporter of YKI.

“I’ve been a regular donor since Valentina started YKI. I’m pleased and proud of the way the charity is organized along professional and transparent lines,” Evalia said.

Valentina explained that accountability is an important part of YKI’s operation.

“We always keep our donors informed on what their funds are used for. We also hire professional auditors to look into our finances. ”

Evalia professed she was beyond satisfied that YKI never takes into account the gender, belief or ethnicity of the people it helps.

“I’m aware YKI was founded by a Tibetan Buddhist but I know this doesn’t affect the way Kechara operates. I participate in the school sponsorship program and I get regular reports and updates on the students I sponsor,” she explained.

Riki, 22, and Nizar Winarsin Aswin, 21, are university students studying in Jakarta who have been sponsored by the foundation since they were in high school. The two are currently finishing their tertiary education while also working at YKI as staff members.

“I was in the second year at State Senior High School 19 and I had accumulated quite a sum in unpaid school fees. So when I was asked if I’d let Kechara pay for my education, I leapt at the chance. I was living with my sister and she was so thrilled,” Riki said.

Nizar’s experience with YKI is similar to Riki’s. When asked what it was like to work for YKI he replied, “The experience has been a positive one for me. Imagine being able to earn money and to feel spiritually gratified, knowing that we are helping so many people.”

Another YKI regular donor, Hyang Augustiana, who also sits on YKI’s working committee said: “I am a practicing Muslim but I feel very comfortable working with Kechara. It was always my dream to be involved with a charity.”

In 2014, Kechara was awarded a prize by the municipal government of West Jakarta for its contribution to society.

Emayati, head of the Palmerah district’s social department in Wests Jakarta said that she had been working with YKI on a number of projects.

“I understand Kechara’s activities are spread across Jakarta but in Palmerah they are our partner in helping out with Kampung Boncos, which is a notorious area where drug dealers and addicts live,” she said.

“Kechara has also sponsored a playground with the theme of a herbal garden for the children Palmerah. They also pay for several adult residents there to participate in the Kejar Paket C initiative,” she added, referring to a government schooling program aimed at adults who missed out on formal education.

Asked what YKI’s next big project was, Valentina said, “We’re doing the annual mountain hike again between Aug. 15 and 17 on Mt. Agung in Bali.

“We have seven participants for the climb, including myself, all of whom will get their respective sponsors. We would welcome more people to sponsor us for this event.”

Yayasan Kechara Indonesia

Website: Kecharaindonesia.org

E-mail: kecharaindonesia@gmail.com

Tel: (021) 536 0966

Obama competing with China to secure African support

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2015-07-26

President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya visits the Mombasa Nairobi Railway built
by China Communications Construction on Jan. 24, 2014. (Photo/Xinhua)

President Barack Obama of the United States, on visiting Kenya, the birthplace of his father, is competing with China for diplomatic support from African nations, according to Duowei News, an outlet operated by overseas Chinese.

Obama began his four-day visit to Kenya and Ethiopia on July 24, the first time he has visited the country as US president and nine years after he visited the country while a senator. Bloomberg's White House correspondent Margaret Talev noted that Obama on that occasion traveled to the village of Kogelo, the birthplace of Barack Obama Sr, for lunch with his grandmother and a visit to his father's grave. The senator mixed with locals and took an HIV test to encourage others to do likewise.

Obama is not visiting the village this time. Talev said the logistics of presidential travel and security concerns will keep Obama mostly confined to the capital Nairobi.

This is Obama's fourth trip to Africa after taking office and many on the continent expect the first US president from an African-American background to invest more resources into the region.

Pointing out that the combined economy of sub-Saharan Africa has doubled over the last 15 years and now stands at more than US$1 trillion, Charles Kenny, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development, said the United States is missing out on the opportunity this dynamism presents. Africa's imports of goods equaled US$194 billion in 2013, of which the US provided US$8.7 billion — less than 5% of the total and one-third of China's share, he noted.

Kenny said US direct investment in African stocks of US$31 billion represents 13% of total stocks. However, it is growing only at half the rate of Japan's regional stock investments and one-quarter of China's from 2001 to 2012.

Barack Obama reuniting with his family

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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.. ...."

In Kenya, Obama calls for greater rights for gay community

During a landmark visit to his father's homeland Kenya, US President Barack Obama has called for greater rights for the gay community in Africa. Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has said it was a "non-issue."

Deutsche Welle, 25 July 2015

During the US president's first full-day in Kenya, Barack Obama called for greater rights for the gay community in Africa, noting that he was "painfully aware of the history when people are treated differently under the law."

"I've been consistent all across Africa on this. When you start treating people differently, because they're different, that's the path whereby freedoms begin to erode. And bad things happen," Obama said in a sign of open disagreement with his Kenyan counterpart.

"When a government gets in the habit of treating people differently those habits can spread. As an African-American in the United States, I am painfully aware of what happen when people are treated differently under the law. I am unequivocal on this," Obama said.

'Non-issue'

The subject of gay rights was a point of contention between to the two presidents at a joint press conference, where Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said that for Kenyans, it was a "non-issue."

"There are some things that we must admit we don't share. It's very difficult for us to impose on people that which they themselves do not accept. This is why I say for Kenyans today, the issue of gay rights is really a non-issue," Kenyatta said.

Many Kenyan politicians are opposed to gay rights in the country, where gay sex is punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

Obama noted that for "a law-abiding citizen who is going about their business, and working at a job and obeying the traffic signs and not harming anybody, the idea they will be treated differently or abused because of who they love is wrong, full stop."

Counter-terrorism in focus

The US president also added that the US and Kenya were boosting cooperation in the fight against al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabab militants based in Somalia, who have launched a number of deadly attacks in the East African country, including one on Nairobi's Westgate shopping center.

"We have systematically reduced the territory that al-Shabab controls. We have been able to decrease their effective control within Somalia and have weakened those networks operating here in East Africa. That doesn't mean the problem is solved," Obama said.

"We can degrade significantly the capacity of the terrorist organizations, but they can still do damage," the US president added.

Both presidents also highlighted the deadly civil war in South Sudan and the elections in Burundi, which Obama said "weren't credible."

ls/bw (AFP, AP, Reuters)

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

“… Gender Switching

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

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

"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.. ...."

Justice Ministry: No Idul Fitri Sentence Cuts for Graft Convicts – Yet

Jakarta Globe, Erwin Sihombing, Jul 21, 2015

Corruption convict Muhammad Nazaruddin, center, was one of dozens of people
 reported to have received a sentence reduction for Idul Fitri. The Justice
Ministry has denied this. (Antara Photo/Novrin Arbi)

Jakarta. Indonesia’s Justice Ministry has insisted that no sentence reductions were awarded to corruption convicts for the Idul Fitri holiday last week, following local media reports of cuts of up to two months for some notorious convicts.

“Not a single letter [approving a sentence cut] has been issued, in keeping with Government Regulation 99 of 2012,” M. Akbar Hadiprabowo, a spokesman for the ministry, told reporters in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Any sentence cuts, known locally as remissions, reportedly handed out to graft convicts “are merely recommendations from local offices of the Justice Ministry and are still being processed,” he added.

The 2012 government regulation was introduced by the administration of then-minister of justice Amir Syamsuddin to make it more difficult for corruption convicts to qualify for a sentence cut, as part of the Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono administration’s wider efforts to get tough on graft.

Under the regulation, corruption convicts must pay all fines and damages imposed by a court before they can qualify. They must also cooperate with law enforcement authorities investigating others implicated in the same case, and must have approval from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on whether they deserve a sentence cut.

The current justice minister, Yasonna Laoly from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), drew widespread condemnation earlier this year for calling for the regulation to be rescinded because it was too harsh on graft convicts.

His office, though, appears to still be abiding by the regulation in not approving sentence cuts this Idul Fitri. (The ministry traditionally hands out sentence cuts ranging from 15 days to two months during major public holidays.)

Local media reported last week that dozens of corruption convicts, including high-profile prisoners such as former Democratic Party treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin and rogue tax official Gayus Tambunan, had received sentence cuts of up to two months.

Nazaruddin is serving a seven-year sentence for bid-rigging in a contract for the construction of an athletes’ village in Palembang, South Sumatra, for the 2011 Southeast Asian Games; Gayus has been hit by a string of convictions for bribery, passport forgery and other offenses, putting his sentence at 30 years.

Anger as Saudi king takes over entire French beach

Yahoo – AFP, Vincent Morvan, 19 July 2015

An AFPTV screen grab shows the beach at Vallauris which will be cut off 

from the public during the Saudi royal family's stay (AFP Photo)

Vallauris (France) (AFP) - Beach lovers on the French Riviera expressed their anger Sunday over the imminent arrival of the Saudi royal family, who have ordered a long stretch of beach to be closed off to the public.

"Looking after their security is fine, but they should at least let us go for a swim," said Mohamed, a disgruntled fishing enthusiast.

Nestled in the rocks between the coastal railway and the translucent waters of the Mediterranean, the grounds of the royal family's immense villa stretches across a kilometre of Riviera coastline between Antibes and Marseille.

Local authorities confirmed that King Salman is due to arrive at some point this week, and that access to the entire kilometre stretch will be cut off, including the public beach at Vallauris, which can only be reached through a tunnel under the railway line.

"Access to the coast will be prohibited by police officers for the duration of the king's holiday," said local official Philippe Castanet.

Coastguards will also stop anyone coming within 300 metres of the villa by sea.

Beach users swung between disappointment and anger over the news.

"They take the decision and there's nothing we can say," said Mohamed, rinsing off his fishing rod on the beachfront.

"It's a good fishing spot and blocking access is not acceptable."

Beach-to-villa elevator

Fatima, a local nurse, had come with her two daughters for a swim.

"Whether it's him or another billionaire, they always have priority over ordinary people. On the other hand, they are good for business, coming here with 400 people in their entourage. I heard they might even fix the roads."

King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud is due to arrive on the French Riviera

this week (AFP Photo)

Her boyfriend Didier recalls a time when Salman's predecessor King Fahd was visiting and the police had to forcibly remove swimmers who refused to clear out.

Workers hired by the Saudis had last week already started building the fence that will close off access to the beach, but were ordered to stop until the royal family arrives.

They had also generated a great deal of anger by starting work on an elevator from the beach to the villa, which involved pouring a huge slab of cement directly on to the sand.

The local authorities have allowed work on the elevator to continue on condition that it is dismantled when the family vacation ends.

The villa itself has become a hive of activity, with one local, Christian, saying there were dozens of people decking it out with rose bushes and other plants over the weekend.

"You can see they've replaced the balcony windows, no doubt to put in some bullet-proof glass," he said.

He also pointed out what appeared to be a golden throne, positioned to soak up the sun -- and a view unspoiled by the general public -- on the villa's terrace.

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Muslims celebrate Eid al-Fitr in China

Want China Times, Xinhua 2015-07-20

People celebrate Eid al-Fitr in Yinchuan, Ningxia Hui autonomous region,
July 18. (Photo/Xinhua)

Muslims across China on Saturday celebrated Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

In Yinchuan, capital of northwest China's Ningxia Hui autonomous region, Na Jinzhu arrived at the Najiahu Mosque early in the morning with his son and granddaughters.

"Ramadan is the most auspicious month in the year," said the 65-year-old man. "I took my granddaughters here so that they could learn about our religious traditions from an early age."

Ningxia is a major region for China's Hui Muslims, who account for 35.7% of the region's total population, or 2.36 million people.

Li Jianhua, Communist Party chief of Ningxia, conveyed festive greetings during a gathering with Muslims in the mosque with a history of 490 years.

A five-day holiday begins on Saturday in Ningxia. Highways and most scenic spots will be free of charge during the holiday.

In Beijing, roads were temporarily closed near the Niujie Mosque in downtown for a celebration of tens of thousands of Muslims.

Many people had their photos taken outside the mosque, including a lady surnamed Liu, who came from neighboring Hebei province especially for the occasion.

"The atmosphere is more festive here than in our hometown," she said.

In Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, senior officials shared iftar with Muslims for the celebration of Eid al-Fitr on Friday night.

Zhang Chunxian, Communist Party chief of the region, and regional government chairman Shohrat Zakir attended the event with more than 200 religious followers.

Ramadan is a holy and auspicious month for Muslims when they can purify their hearts, strengthen their minds and contemplate the doctrine, Zhang said.

He said religious people and non-religious people in Xinjiang live in harmony and amity with each other, stand together safeguarding peace, unity, justice and dignity, and worked together to build a beautiful home.

He cited examples where Muslims offered help to others in need and cared for each other during this year's Ramadan.

Abduxikar Rehmutolla, an imam in Urumqi, said "the government helped us renovate the mosque and resolve some other problems," presenting a Muslim hat to Zhang to express thanks to the government.

Xinjiang, with some 24,000 mosques, is home to more than 13 million Muslims.

"I feel more humble after Ramadan," said Ma Jinfu, 63, who donated 100 yuan (about US$16) to the Shaanxi Great Mosque attended by Hui Muslims in Urumqi.

Not far away is the Hantengri Mosque, where Uygur Muslims go to worship.

After religious ceremonies, Muslims from the Hui ethnic group in white hats and Uygurs wearing colored hats exchanged blessings while leaving the sites.

Eid al-Fitr is also a day when Muslims commemorate their ancestors and mourn the dead.

In Oqar county of the Kirgiz autonomous prefecture of Kizilsu, Muradin Zulpuka whispered prayers from the Koran in front of his mother's tomb before scattering handfuls of rice and wheat.

BETWEEN TRADITION AND MODERNITY

While most Muslims in China are enjoying lavish feasts for Eid al-Fitr on Saturday, Salam Muhamet is traveling.

The photographer from the Kirgiz ethnic group is going to a wedding.

"Muslims don't eat during the daytime (during Ramadan), so they couldn't hold wedding ceremonies this month," he said. In China, feasts are an indispensable part of a wedding ceremony, as are photographs.

This year, Ramadan lasted from June 18 to July 17.

Muhamet didn't book any wedding photography jobs the entire month. "I will get busy as soon as Ramadan is over," he said. In the next week, he has four wedding ceremonies to attend.

As society develops, the way people celebrate the festival is changing.

When Ma Shaoxiong returned home Saturday, he found his grandson video chatting with his sister, who is in college in Shaanxi and unable to return for Eid al-Fitr.

The boy showed his sister the dishes on the table. "Wanna taste?" he asked, making faces to the smart phone.

"It is an occasion for family reunion," said Ma. "I would have missed my granddaughter, had there been no video chat."

Patamkhan Niyaz celebrated Eid al-Fitr in a new house, where children ran in the yard and adults enjoyed stewed mutton.

"This house is stronger than our adobe house, and it didn't cost much," she said.

Religious outpost offers sanctuary to gay Filipinos

Yahoo – AFP, Joel Guinto, 19 July 2015

Pastor Kakay Pamaran preaches in a lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender

(LGBT) church in Manila, July 5, 2015 (AFP Photo/Jay Directo)

Manila (AFP) - A gospel serenade of deep baritones echoed through a dim alley in one of Manila's red light districts on a humid Sunday evening -- the joyful sounds emanating from a rare religious outpost for gay Filipinos.

In the small room, where a rainbow flag hangs next to a lace-covered crucifix at an altar, a few dozen worshippers raised their hands in prayer as sex workers strutted in front of fleabag motels on the street below.

Tucked away above a seedy bar, the makeshift protestant church is a safe haven for gays who for decades have struggled for acceptance in the conservative Roman Catholic society.

"We are a sanctuary for those who are heavily burdened. If you are suffering because of bigotry, you can come here to unload," Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) pastor Kakay Pamaran told AFP.

Like many in her flock, the 33-year-old former television commercial producer agonised her entire life trying to reconcile her sexual orientation with the Christian faith that she was born into.

Pamaran said she led a "double life", keeping a girlfriend and going to church with her conservative parents who tried to ignore her being a lesbian.

"I was taught that being gay is an abomination. I struggled as a Christian because I feel there is nothing wrong with me," she said, preparing that evening's sermon on her smartphone.

At the MCC, which says it is the country's biggest gay-friendly church, Pamaran said she learned that: "God's diversity is manifested in God's people".

Tucked away above a seedy bar, a makeshift protestant church is a safe haven

 for gays who for decades have struggled for acceptance in the conservative Roman

Catholic society (AFP Photo/Jay Directo)

Gay pride marches and pageants are freely staged across the Philippines, and a primetime television soap about two gay men was a major hit. But barriers remain.

Michael Mia, a 42-year-old call centre worker, recalled how his former born again church tried to "restore" him to heterosexuality when he came out as gay.

Mia said pastors vigorously prayed over him, made him date women, fast and memorise the Bible to "cure" him.

"I almost gave up on God. I thought I was born to be a sinner and will go to hell just because I'm gay," he told AFP.

Fire and brimstone

Eighty percent of the Philippines' 100 million people are Catholics and the church's conservative views still have a deep influence throughout society as well as government policy.

On a visit in January, when crowds thronged the streets, Pope Francis spoke out against "confusing" versions of sexuality, marriage and family, saying these were under attack.

The Philippines is the only country outside of the Vatican where divorce is outlawed.

Abortion is also illegal. Homosexuality is not a crime, but an anti-discrimination bill has languished in parliament for two years.

And while the Catholic Church does not officially condemn homosexuality, anti-gay sentiments from its local leaders are never far from the surface.

"In Sodom and Gomorrah, there were same-sex activities and God destroyed these cities in a hail or fire and brimstone," Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz, one of the Philippines' most senior bishops, told AFP when asked about MCC, citing the Bible.

"Even among animals, a union is between a male and a female. How can they (gays) possibly generate their own kind?"

But MCC does not subscribe to a "literal" interpretation of the text, Pamaran said.

"There is no one way to read scripture. God is much larger than the Bible. God did not stop speaking after the Bible was published."

Founded in the US and operational worldwide, the MCC has five Filipino churches since its first service 24 years ago.

However they are tiny communities, each having just several dozen members.

Members and supporters of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) community

take part in a parade in Manila on December 13, 2014 (AFP Photo/Jay Directo)

Rainbow Service

Pamaran's church is located in seedy Cubao, where authorities in the capital city of 12 million people have tried to funnel other taboo but rampant practices like prostitution and quack medicine.

In a room no bigger than a small classroom, it recently welcomed a 17-year-old boy who attended for the first time. He said he stopped going to the Catholic Church several years ago after coming out.

"I told God, I miss you. That's why I came here," said the weeping college student, who said he learned about the MCC from the internet.

During communion, a choir of men wearing tight shirts, shorts and slicked-back hair sang an unlikely praise song, the Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey duet "When You Believe".

Pamaran said church membership was growing and members were reaching out to their communities.

Mia, the call centre agent, holds prayer meetings at shopping mall food courts, offering free snacks to entice participants.

But Pamaran conceded that full acceptance is a long way off.

"I don't have illusions of assimilation into the mainline Catholic Church. They will always resist anything that disrupts their order," she said.

"We have a long way to go... but we must never lose hope, fighting for what is right and what is ours."

Related Articles:

Pope Francis: Who am I to judge gay people?

Kryon Q&A

Question (2003): Dear Kryon: Regarding homosexuality or transsexuals. WHY are they the way they are and WHY are they not accepted in mainstream society?

Answer: [From the Kryon Office]

There is often a tremendous amount of information on subjects that are not necessarily part of the on-line magazine Q&A database. Kryon has been channelling for fourteen years, with 9 books covering many, many topics. Homosexuality was one of them from the very beginning. Please see our "Books index page" for subjects contained in the Kryon books: [http://www.kryon.com/direct.html]

An excerpt from Kryon Book 6, page 306

Question from the book: Dear Kryon, I am gay, and an enlightened man. I live in an American society that barely tolerates me, and actually has some laws against my way of life. The church I used to belong to cast me out as being evil and anti-God. I don't feel that I am violating some Human ethic. My love is as true as any heterosexual, and I am a light worker. Tell me what I should know.

Answer from the book: Dear one, less than two generations from now, there will be those who find this book and laugh at the quaintness of this very question. Before I answer, let me ask you and those reading this to examine a phenomenon about Human society and "God."

Thirty years ago, interracial marriage was considered to be wrong by the laws of God. Now your society finds it common. The spiritual objections around it were either dropped or "rewritten" by those divinely inspired and authorized to do so. Therefore, your actual interpretations of the instructions from God changed with your society's tolerance level--an interesting thing, indeed, how the interpretations of God seem to change regularly to match a changing culture!

The truth, of course, is that you find yourself in a situation that is known to create a test for you. Right now, in this time, you have agreed to come into your culture with an attribute that may alienate you from friends and religious followers. You have faced fear of rejection and have had to "swim upstream," so to speak, just as an everyday life occurrence. Your contract, therefore, has been set up well, and you are in the middle of it. Additionally, like so many like you, you have a divine interest in yourselves! You feel part of the spiritual family. What a dichotomy indeed, to be judged as evil by those who are the high spiritual leaders--interpreting God for today's culture.

Now I say this: What is your intent? Is it to walk with love for all those around you and become an enlightened Human Being in this New Age? Is it to forgive those who see you as a spiritual blight on society? Can you have the kind of tolerance for them that they seem not to have for you? Can you overlook the fact that they freely quote their scriptures in order to condemn you, yet they don't seem to have the love tolerance that is the cornerstone of their own message?

If the answer is yes, then there is nothing else you must do. Your INTENT is everything, and your life will be honored with peace over those who would cause unrest, and tolerance for the intolerable. Your sexual attributes are simply chemistry and setups within your DNA. They are given by agreement as gifts for you to experience in this life. Look on them in this fashion, and be comfortable with that fact that you are a perfect spiritual creation under God--loved beyond measure--just like all humans. But then you know that, don't you?

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

“… Gender Switching

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

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