Peru creates huge national park in Amazon basin

Yahoo – AFP, 7 Nov 2015

Peruvian President Ollanta Humala, pictured on July 28, 2015, will create the Sierra

 del Divisor National Park in a region inhabited by a variety of indigenous communities

living in self-imposed isolation (AFP Photo/Ernesto Benavides)

Lima (AFP) - Peru is creating a national park to protect a vast territory in the Amazon basin that is vulnerable to drug trafficking and illegal logging and mining, the country's environment minister said Saturday.

Called the Sierra del Divisor National Park, it covers an area of about 14,170 square kilometers (5,470 square miles) in a region inhabited by a variety of indigenous communities living in self-imposed isolation.

Peru's President Ollanta Humala will travel to the region Sunday to sign a decree creating the park, Environment Minister Manuel Pulgar Vidal said on his Twitter account.

The park has an estimated 3,000 species of plants and animals, many of them found nowhere else in the world, according to the government.

The announcement comes just three weeks ahead of a UN summit aimed at sealing a global pact on climate change.

Advocates of the new park have said it will enable the capture of 150,000 tonnes of CO2, the equivalent of nearly 40 percent of Peru's daily carbon output.

Sierra del Divisor has been a protected zone since April 2006. Since then, the communities living there have lobbied for its designation as a national park to stiffen legal protections against encroachment by loggers, miners and drug traffickers.

Sierra del Divisor is the second national park created since Humala took office in 2011, after the Gueppi National Park, a 6,260 square kilometer expanse centered on the Gueppi River in southeastern Peru.

Related Article:

Australia marks 30 years since Uluru returned to Aboriginal owners

A Taste of the Caribbean in Jakarta, Courtesy of the Dutch

Jakarta Globe, Sylviana Hamdani, September 17, 2015

The 'Antilles Festival – A Taste of the Caribbean' event will take place at the Erasmus
Huis Jakarta from Sept. 19 to Oct. 31 and will feature a photo exhibition, culinary show,
and music and dance performances. (Photo courtesy of Erasmus Huis)

The Dutch cultural center in Jakarta plans to introduce Indonesians to a little-known corner of its kingdom through a festival that celebrates the sun-kissed isles of the Netherlands Antilles.

The “Antilles Festival – A Taste of the Caribbean” event will take place at the Erasmus Huis Jakarta from Sept. 19 to Oct. 31 and will feature a photo exhibition, culinary show, and music and dance performances.

The festival is part of celebrations this year marking the 200th anniversary of the kingdom of the Netherlands, with a focus on the realm’s Caribbean lands deemed an “interesting idea” for residents of Indonesia, once the jewel in the crown of the Dutch empire.

“For the Dutch, it’s not very easy and also not very common to travel [to the Antilles],” said Ferdinand Lahnstein, the deputy head of mission of the Dutch Embassy in Jakarta.

“I expect also that people in Indonesia are not very familiar with this area. So that’s also a reason why we think that it’s probably a good idea to bring forward that there’s something like the Dutch Caribbean. And then hopefully people in Indonesia who would like to try something different will be interested to travel to this area.”

The festival’s photo exhibition, themed “Dushi Tera,” will showcase images unique to the six islands that make up the Netherlands Antilles – Aruba, Curaçao, St. Maarten, Bonaire, Saba and St. Eustatius – including the architecture, nature, and panoramas. (In the Papiamento language of the inhabitants of Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao, “dushi tera” translates into “sweet country.”)

These photos come courtesy of the islands’ various tourism authorities as well as the Leiden University Library.

“The photo exhibition is meant to give an impression of the cultural, social and economic differences between the six islands,” Lahstein said.

Peter Sanchez, a historian from one-time Dutch colony of Suriname on the South American mainland, has been appointed curator of the photo exhibition.

“He knows a lot about the region,” said Ineke de Hoog, the embassy’s deputy head of public diplomacy and cultural affairs. “And he will be there for the opening [on Sept. 19].”

The opening will also feature culinary treats from Dutch Caribbean chefs Sherwin Alexander and Jethro Wirht, brought over by the DoubleTree hotel in Jakarta.

Alexander won a bronze medal in the seafood competition during the prestigious “Taste of the Caribbean” competition in Miami in July 2014, while Wirht was named “Chef of the Year” at the same event.

Both men will cook live at the festival’s opening at Erasmus Huis, assisted by local hospitality school students.

The menu will feature seven iconic dishes served tapas style from the Dutch Caribbean.

“The chefs have chosen the menu that gives a broad spectrum of all the different islands’ cuisines,” de Hoog said.

Among them are sopi di marisco, a traditional soup from Curaçao that contains seafood, callaloo (a vegetable native to the island), okra and fresh lemon.

Also not to be missed is the arepa di pampuna, a sweet pumpkin pancake with pickled prawns and fishcake and served with pineapple salsa.

“The cuisine is, of course, influenced by the Creoles, a fusion of the Spanish and Portuguese Antilleans,” de Hoog said. “I invite you to come and try for yourself.”

Entry to the festival is free, and the embassy expects between 500 and 700 people to turn up for the opening day.

“My impression of the Antilles Festival is something fresh and juicy, like salsa,” said Olivia Evelinda, a secretary at an accounting firm in Jakarta who said she was interested in going. “I think the festival will be very, very interesting, because we can get to know about the food and different cultures of the islands.”

Olivia also hopes to take part in the Antillean dances, such as Salsa, Merengue, Bachata and Kimboza, to be performed by Dutch Caribbean dancers on the opening day.

Orquesta Pegasaya, a popular Salsa band from the region, will also be n hand to perform live. And to fuel the guests, a round of delectable Dutch Caribbean cocktails will be served throughout the night

For more information, go to erasmushuis.nlmission.org.

Related Article:

Mountains and coral reefs added to Dutch landscape

Wealthy Gulf nations face questions over Syria refugees

Yahoo – AFP, 7 Sep 2015

A soldier patrols along Saudi Arabia's northern border in February 2015 (AFP

Photo/Fayez Nureldine)

Amman (AFP) - As hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees languish in camps or risk their lives to reach Europe, questions are being asked about why wealthy Gulf states have accepted so few.

By the end of August, more than four million Syrians had fled their country but very few if any refugees have been officially accepted by the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have donated billions to help refugees, but are facing increasing scrutiny for their apparent unwillingness to accept migrants.

Refugees fleeing the war in Syria arrive

 at the Kokkinotrimithia refugee camp, 

West of Nicosia in Cyprus, on 

September 6, 2015 (AFP Photo/

Iakovos Hatzistavrou)

Why, ask many, as one of the greatest migration crises of modern times unfolds, are fellow Arab countries, with similar cultural and religious values and a relative proximity compared to Europe, doing little to help resettle people?

And, crucially, that criticism is being voiced not just in the West, but within the region itself.

In recent days, social media users in the Gulf have employed various hashtags including "#Welcoming_Syria's_refugees_is_a_Gulf_duty" to voice their disgust with the perceived inaction of GCC states.

"The Gulf countries have to be ashamed when they see Europe's doors open to Syrian refugees, while they close before us," Abu Mohammed, a 30-year-old Syrian refugee now living in Jordan, told AFP.

An influx of Syrian refugees has swamped Europe this summer, with Germany alone expecting 800,000 new asylum applications this year and efforts under way to organise the relocations of tens of thousands more.

But in the oil-rich Gulf, GCC states have been absent from talk of helping with the refugee crisis.

Deeply involved in Syria

"Tragically, the cash-rich Gulf countries have not yet issued a statement on the crisis –- much less come up with a strategy to help the migrants, who are overwhelmingly Muslim," Qatar's Gulf Times newspaper wrote in a recent editorial.

Sultan Al Qassemi, a prominent Emirati blogger, wrote that the time had come for Gulf countries to take the "moral, ethical and responsible step" of changing their policy towards accepting refugees.

Even the distraught father of Aylan Kurdi, the three-year-old Syrian boy whose body washed ashore in Turkey, said at the funeral of his wife and two children: "I want Arab governments not European countries to see what happened to my children and, because of them, help people."

Still, analysts say the outpouring of criticism is unlikely to bring about any quick changes in GCC countries, none of which has signed the UN Convention on Refugees setting standards for the treatment and rights of those fleeing to a new country.

"I don't see anybody doing a David Cameron, who U-turned in 36 hours," Michael Stephens, a Middle East research fellow at RUSI, told AFP, referring to reports the British premier is set to admit 15,000 refugees from Syria.

"The vast majority of Gulf citizens believe what their governments have done in Syria is the right thing."

The Gulf nations have hardly stood on the sidelines during Syria's conflict, providing significant financial assistance to refugees in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey.

At the same time they have been among the most ardent opponents of President Bashar al-Assad, backing the mainly Sunni rebels who have risen up against his regime, which is supported by their Shiite regional rival Iran.

GCC states have also provided funds and weapons for rebel groups fighting Assad -- leading to some accusations that they are backing shadowy extremists.

But when it comes to allowing in refugees, domestic concerns seem preeminent, even though many of the refugees are Sunni Muslims like the majority of people in the Gulf.

West's 'short-sighted' policies

Smaller Gulf countries like the UAE and Qatar, where millions of foreign workers already vastly outnumber local citizens, fear being overwhelmed by refugees.

Security concerns are also paramount for countries like Saudi Arabia that have been targeted in attacks by the jihadist Islamic State group operating in Syria and Iraq.

And an influx of large numbers of refugees could upset stability in countries with little grassroots political activity.

"The countries of the Gulf are involved in the politics of Syria and they would probably worry who would come into their countries and what they would be involved in once they are," said Sultan Barakat, a senior fellow at the Brookings Doha Center.

He said one move that could help those fleeing and appease critics alike would be to offer entry to family members of Syrians already in the Gulf.

Hundreds of thousands of Syrians live among the millions of foreigners lured by work opportunities to the Gulf states -- prompting some to argue that they are already helping those fleeing the conflict.

As one anonymous Syrian wrote recently on Facebook: "Saudi has no refugees but it hosts a million Syrians on visitor visas, in addition to the Syrian residents, (and) they get their health care and schools, and in some cases their rents from charities."

For some in the Gulf, the criticism should be directed instead at Western governments, saying it is their failure to fully back and arm those fighting Assad that is behind the refugee crisis.

"European and American officials facing their short-sighted policies must welcome more Syrian refugees," a former Qatari diplomat, Nasser Al-Khalifa, wrote on Twitter.

Related Articles:

Latin American nations offer to take in Syria refugees - New

Pope calls for every European parish to take in refugee family

US general: Escalating air war on IS not the answer

Palestinians in Gaza City put flowers on a sand sculpture of Syrian boy Aylan Kurdi, a symbol of the migrant crisis pic.twitter.com/a8XBTW4eLW

— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) 8 september 2015

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

“ .. Do Not Despair

There's too much information to give you in one channelling, in one sitting, so I refer to past messages for you to better understand and reference the information in order to get the bigger picture. So I wish to remind you of something I also told you in a recent channelling called Do Not Despair. You're winning! It's because you're winning that the dark consciousness on this planet is feeling it, and the humanity that represents darkness is pulling out everything it has to survive.

It Has Always Been There

Let's look at it, because it's all over the news. Are you shocked at the sudden existence of the organization that will remain unnamed [for this channelling]? Where did it come from? How could it be so organized? How could it be so well funded? This organization could have its own country soon! They might as well name it, “The Old Energy Dark Country”, for that's what it will represent.

The barbaric past of humanity comes forward to show its face. It has always been there, hiding under the rocks and between the cracks of civilized humanity. It couldn't show itself until now, but now it has to. It's ugly and it's not for the faint at heart, is it, dear ones? Seeing evil personified in Human action is abhorrent. It is so ugly and so dark that you cannot look upon it with a gentle heart. God is not a part of it and this is obvious.

You're winning! Light is winning! The uprising of dark consciousness would not have shown itself with this strength, or this quickly, if this were not so. This is exactly what I told you to look for, and it is proof that those representing this dark consciousness are in trouble. Dear ones, dark consciousness has always had a tried-and-true system. It lurks in the shadows and influences all the power places of the planet - government, commerce, finance. Suddenly, it can't hide there as well anymore and it's out in the open.

Where is the funding coming from? It is coming from a storehouse that has always been there, dear ones. It uses income that has been generated from low consciousness acts, collected for a very long time. Funding didn't just appear. It has been stored, waiting to be used in order to spread fear and darkness to save what they believe is their way.

Who Will Win?

Dear ones, they haven't got a chance! But it looks like they do, doesn't it? Everything that they are doing is calculated to scare you into submission. Are they winning? Now, that's a question I want you to take from here and examine every day.

Fear is black. If you're in fear, there is no light. You can be the grandest Lightworker, or even be the channeller, but if you're in fear, it doesn't matter how many years you've done light work, or how much light you've accumulated personally. It all goes away with fear, and then they've won the battle for your mind. Do you understand this?

The Strength of the Old Soul - YOU

Old souls, Lightworkers reading this, the experiences you have had over lifetimes and lifetimes are incredible! The old soul knows fear. I don't want to be too graphic, but I want you to understand! What was it like when you put your head in the guillotine because you talked about God in a way that was inappropriate? What was it like to be bound hand and foot when they lit the match at your feet? Old soul, that's fear! You carry those experiences in your Akash.

I want to tell you they haven't got a chance to scare you! You absolutely know what fear is, and they haven't got a chance as long as you cling to that part of you that is the strength of God. You've been through it all. That means you've got the weapons of truth, wisdom and light. Don't forget it. Don't forget who you are!

Do you see how fast they assembled? It seemed like only yesterday that there was no organization at all. Where did they come from? Have you noticed a certain hesitancy to fight them? Why is it that the citizens of the lands that they are invading are hesitant to fight them? Instead, these leaders are calling on others to help. Why is it that the others are also hesitant? I want to show you that there are some anomalies of logic that are not making sense, because this is a battle you have never seen before on this planet. We've expected it, but you haven't. It's about consciousness, not land or resources.

How to Win?

We gave you the secret before of how to defeat them without taking even one life: Simply take away their funding. They cannot exist without their funding. The funding has to be organized, stored, and distributed. It has to be generated in such a way that it must also go through institutions. Did you hear that? All you have to do is stop the system. Winning won't be done with bombing. It's going to be done with intelligence, clever thinking and financial forensics. It's time to get smart on some of these things and not to be afraid to look at this puzzle differently than you have before. Do not apply the energy they are using in order to fight them, because you won't win. Figure it out. It's the last bastion of organized darkness and evil thinking on this planet coming together to try to survive the assault of your light. Don't be afraid to look at the funding trail, no matter where it takes you.

Fear is Their Weapon

I want you to know something as you look at your news. It may appear that you are unable to stop them. In many places, they will gain strength as they create fear. The fear is easily created in those who are not old souls and who don't know fear like you do and who don't have the armor of your spiritual experiences. This puts you in the front line, dear one. Did you realize that? But you don't have to go fight them on their terms. All you have to do is broadcast light. High consciousness will beat fear any day.. .”

Photos emerge of incredible Easter Island discovery

News.com.au, June 10, 2015

Archaeologists dig up the famous statues. Picture: Easter Island Statue
Project Source: Supplied

THERE’S a lot more to Easter Island’s famous statues than first meets the eye.

A new series of photographs of the 2012 excavation has emerged that captures the moment archaeologists dug out the previously hidden stone bodies, discovering a surprising secret along the way; the monoliths were covered in detailed ancient tattoos.

The images have been shared widely on social media, being viewed more than 1 million times on Imgur.

They show intricate markings such as crescents, which academics say represent the canoes of the local Polynesians, the UK’s Mirror reports. Little else is known about the markings yet.

Detailed markings are visible. Picture: The Easter Island Statue Project
Source: Supplied

There are 887 huge statues carved between AD 100 and 1800 — which are up to 10 metres tall. Members of the Easter Island Statue Project have been excavating the statues for years, and provided the first photos of their torsos in 2012. This surprised many, with people believing they only had heads.

“The reason people think they are (only) heads is there are about 150 statues buried up to the shoulders on the slope of a volcano, and these are the most famous, most beautiful and most photographed of all the Easter Island statues,” Jo Anne Van Tilburg from the Easter Island Statue Project said.

“This suggested to people who had not seen photos of (other unearthed statues) that they are heads only.”

They are fascinating. Picture: The Easter Island Statue Project Source: Supplied

In 1919 pictures of the first excavations by the Mana Expedition to Easter Island revealed that some statues were full sized. The discovery was confirmed in 1955 by the explorer Thor Heyerdahl when his Norwegian Archaeological Expedition excavated a statue.

Over subsequent decades the discoveries were gradually forgotten, known by archaeologists but not by tourists, who began visiting the isolated island in the 1990s.

They’re discovering an island that was first settled by Polynesian people who arrived by canoe as part of a great wave of Pacific colonisation.

Much remains unknown about the statues — how were they made? How was such a remote island populated? How were they moved around the island? And what happened to the society that had resorted to cannibalism by the time Captain James Cook visited in 1774?

Related Articles:

The Mysteries Revealed of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) (5) - Oct 18-21, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

"The Timing of Creation" – Aug 12, 2012 (a message from Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll)

Pope Francis seeks Bolivians' forgiveness for colonial-era crimes

Yahoo – AFP, Kelly Velasquez, Moises Avila, 10 July 2015

Santa Cruz de la Sierra (Bolivia) (AFP) - Pope Francis, in a historic gesture of reconciliation, sought forgiveness Thursday from Bolivia's predominantly indigenous inhabitants for crimes committed centuries earlier in the name of the Catholic Church.

The Argentine-born pope, who has never been afraid to weigh into delicate issues both religious and political, made the comments on the second stop of a three-nation Latin America homecoming tour.

Pope Francis arrives at the square of Christ 

the Redeemer in Santa Cruz, Bolivia to 

officiate a holy mass on July 9, 2015 

(AFP Photo/Aizar Raldes Nunez)

"I want to tell you, and I want to be very clear: I humbly ask your forgiveness, not only for the offenses committed by our own church, but for the crimes committed by original inhabitants during the so-called conquest of America," Francis told a gathering of social activists, to sustained and enthusiastic applause.

"There have been many, very serious crimes committed again the native peoples of America in the name of God," the pontiff said, in what was, to date, one of the most powerful and moving moments of his weeklong South America visit.

His apology for colonial era crimes against the indigenous people of America was offered at a so-called World Meeting of the Popular Movements in the city of Santa Cruz.

All three of the countries Francis is visiting during this tour -- Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay -- are predominantly Catholic and have been marked by a long history of poverty and inequality mostly afflicting indigenous populations.

Beginning in the 1500s, Spanish conquerors, with the blessing of the Church, subjugated and enslaved indigenous peoples in the Americas, annihilating native cultures and forcing their conversion to Christianity.

Millions of people were killed by disease and millions more from a brutal system of forced labor that led to the destruction of their indigenous lands and their way of life.

One million faithful

Earlier on Thursday, Francis called on a million faithful to reject today's consumer society, at an open-air mass in the vast Christ the Redeemer Plaza in Santa Cruz, where many people had camped out overnight to see him.

Hundreds of indigenous representatives gathered to  greet Pope Francis 

and Bolivia's President Evo Morales finalizing the Second World Meeting

of the Popular Movements in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, on  July 9, 2015 (AFP 

Photo/Lesly Moyano)

He also urged Bolivians against discarding the weakest and most vulnerable members of society, including the poor, voiceless and the disenfranchised.

He denounced what he called a "mentality in which everything has a price, everything can be bought, everything is negotiable. This way of thinking has room only for a select few," the 78-year-old told the crowd, estimated by authorities in Bolivia -- South America's poorest nation -- at one million strong.

The two-hour service featured religious hymns and chants. Hundreds of musicians also played Baroque works, introduced by Spanish Jesuit missionaries in the 18th century and still very popular in this country.

Thousands in the crowd were from Bolivia's indigenous majority and President Evo Morales, the country's first indigenous leader, was in the front row.

Around the plaza, dominated by the giant bronze Christ the Redeemer statue, big-screen TVs were erected for people to watch the religious service.

'As close as possible'

Since his election in 2013, Francis -- who hails from Argentina and is also the first Jesuit pope -- has cut a down-to-earth figure, which is going down well in Santa Cruz.

"We want to be as close as possible to receive the blessings that he is going to bestow," said one of the campers who waited overnight to see the pope, Nancy Camacho, her head wrapped in a thick scarf.

Francis arrived in Bolivia on Wednesday evening in the high-altitude Andean city of La Paz -- more than 4,000 meters (13,000 feet) above sea level.

Pope Francis waves goodbye as he prepares to depart Viru Viru airport in 

Santa Cruz, Bolivia, Friday, July 10, 2015. The pope is departing for Paraguay, 

as part of his three-nation tour of South America. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Concerned authorities had extra oxygen tanks on hand for the pope, who lost a lung during his youth, but he was not seen using it.

Francis has impressed people with his stamina as he walked amid crowds, kissed people and took selfies. Some of the journalists traveling with him had to stop and take a shot of oxygen.

Bolivia is destitute -- the minimum monthly wage is equivalent to about $240 a month -- but has made economic progress in recent years.

Alcohol sales and musical performances have been banned throughout the country during the pope's visit, and 17,000 police and soldiers have been deployed.

On Friday, Francis visits Bolivia's most notorious and dangerous prison, continuing his focus on the plight of the poor, the forgotten and the marginalized.

He will then head to Paraguay, the last stop on his tour of South America, which began in Ecuador.

Related Articles:

In Ecuador, indigenous Christians not sold on pope visit
Pope Francis calls for peace, end to slavery in 2015

"Not Your Father's New Age" - Feb 14/15, 2015 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“…  Greetings, dear ones, I am Kryon of Magnetic Service. Twenty-five years ago, I discussed with you what is happening now. Back then, it was only a potential, but now it's your reality. This was not prophecy when I told you back then that there would be no Armageddon or World War Three. It was not prophecy, but a powerful potential. The entire reason for my being and the awakening of my partner was because of what you did. The victory it contains falls in the lap of the old soul, who has controlled the consciousness of the timing of it all.

Everything that has transpired during these years has been realized potential. That is to say that we see the potentials of what you might do, and report on that and only that. Much of what we see now is realized quickly. When we told you in 2012 there would be a new pope, 13 months later it happened. This was not prophecy, but rather a potential. We saw it coming because we have the overview and we knew of the anxiety of the existing pope, the health of the man, and we also knew of the potentials of a South American pope to come forward. All of these things should be a "connect the dots" for you. I come yet again, not with prophecy, but with information given with a congratulatory attitude of potential. …”

Cuba prepares for Christmas with early gift from Obama

Yahoo – AFP, Francisco Jara, 24 Dec 2014

People wearing Santa Claus costumes give out leaflets promoting a restaurant

in the streets of Havana, Cuba, on December 23, 2014 (AFP Photo/Yamil Lage)

Havana (AFP) - Cubans prepared Wednesday to celebrate Christmas, a resurgent holiday banned for 38 years by the communist government, with an early gift from US President Barack Obama: a historic rapprochement.

Across the island, houses, restaurants, supermarkets, hotels and state-run stores have put up Christmas decorations, embracing a holiday eliminated by Fidel Castro soon after he came to power in the Cuban Revolution in 1959 and declared Cuba an atheist state.

"El Comandante" restored Christmas in 1998 after a landmark visit by pope John Paul II.

A Christmas tree adorns the lobby of a

 hotel in Havana, Cuba, on December 23,

2014 (AFP Photo/Yamil Lage)

After an initially hesitant revival, the Christmas spirit is once again booming on the island.

"Christmas was a very deep-rooted tradition in Cuba. It was interrupted for 38 years, which is no small thing, and yet it made a comeback," said the secretary of Cuba's Conference of Bishops, Jose Felix Perez.

In Havana's old city, Santas brave the Caribbean heat in bushy white beards and red suits to hand out restaurant flyers alongside Mrs Clauses wearing decidedly skimpier red outfits -- a scene that would have been unthinkable under Fidel.

On the streets of the capital, the dashboards of cars are decked out with Santas, wreaths and mini Christmas trees.

Less playful decorations adorn the gates and courtyards of foreign embassies and the US interests section, set to regain its status as an embassy under last week's watershed announcement by Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro, who took over from his big brother Fidel in 2006.

The thawing of the two countries' Cold War animosity has raised many Cubans' hopes for an economic revival in a country scarred by the "special period" of hunger and shortages in the 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

This year, Perez said, "everything the two presidents announced is giving people hope that their lives will get better and there will be greater understanding."

In this country where Catholicism has long co-existed with local traditions that draw on both Christianity and African religions, state-run stores are brimming with Christmas gift baskets and restaurants and hotels are offering sumptuous Christmas dinners.

At the Ambos Mundos, where the great American writer Ernest Hemingway once lived, the four-course meal costs $40 -- twice the average monthly salary of around $20.

"Before there were no Christmas decorations. All this is totally new," a Latin American diplomat told AFP.

Communist Christmas

New Year's was long celebrated as the main holiday in Cuba, bolstered by the revolutionary significance of the date: January 1, 1959, is the day Castro's forces ousted dictator Fulgencio Batista.

A couple wearing Santa Claus costumes greet a little boy as they give out

leaflets promoting a restaurant in the streets of Havana, Cuba, on December 23,

2014 (AFP Photo/Yamil Lage)

Starting in 1960, December 25 was declared a working day.

Christians celebrated in secret, hoping to evade detection by the Revolutionary Defense Committees (CDRs) deployed across the country.

Even after the holiday was restored, Christmas celebrations were muted until Fidel handed over power amid a health crisis.

In 2010 the Cuban government opened talks with the Church, which led to the release of 130 political prisoners and the return of Church buildings confiscated in the 1960s.

Later that year the main architect of the detente, Cardinal Jaime Ortega, celebrated Cuba's first Christmas mass since 1959 inside a prison.

Today, Cuban bishops broadcast Christmas messages on television.

In a further goodwill gesture toward the Church, Raul Castro also restored Good Friday as a holiday when pope Benedict XVI visited the island in 2012.

This picture released by Estudios Revolucion shows relatives welcoming

 freed Cuban prisoner Geraldo Hernandez (C) on December 17, 2014 in Havana

upon his return from the United States (AFP Photo)

Related Articles:

Wife of freed Cuba agent pregnant, thanks to US

Business interest piqued by prospect of US, Cuba trade

US announces historic thaw in relations with Cuba

Australians, Canadians held for stripping at Machu Picchu

Google – AFP, 13 March 2014

Police detained four male tourists, two Australians and two Canadians, for 

several hours after filming and taking nude photos at Peru's famed Machu

Picchu, local authorities said (AFP/File, Cris Bouroncle)

Lima — Police detained four male tourists, two Australians and two Canadians, for several hours after filming and taking nude photos at Peru's famed Machu Picchu, local authorities said.

The culture ministry has put up signs at the world-famous Inca site warning that people taking their clothes off there is a "crime against culture" and would lead to immediate expulsion from the area.

The latest incidents came after Peru vowed to step up surveillance at its famous historical sites to counter a growing trend of tourists taking nude photos, including at Machu Picchu, and then posting them online.

The Australians, 22 and 24, used a camcorder and the Canadians, both 20, used an iPhone, police at a local police station told AFP.

It was not immediately clear if the four men acted together, separately or individually.

Machu Picchu, an Inca citadel from the 1400s, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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

Related Articles:

East African countries agree to adopt common currency within 10 years

A Latin American Euro? The Region’s First Steps Towards A Unique Currency -- What Is The Sucre?

ASEAN has good single currency prospect

"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. …."