Travel giant Thomas Cook fails to find private funds to avert collapse: source

Yahoo – AFP, 21 September 2019

In urgent need of more cash

Iconic British travel firm Thomas Cook has failed to find further private investment to stave off collapse and is now relying on an unlikely government bailout, a source close the matter told AFP on Saturday.

The operator said Friday that it needed £200 million ($250 million, 227 million euros) -- in addition to the £900-million rescue deal secured last month -- or else face administration, which could potentially trigger Britain's largest repatriation since World War II.

A source close to the negotiations told AFP the company had failed to find the £200 million from private investors and would collapse unless the government intervened.

But ministers are unlikely to step in due to worries about the pioneering operator's longer-term viability, the Times reported on Saturday, leaving it on the brink of collapse and stranding up to 150,000 British holidaymakers abroad.

"We will know by tomorrow if agreement is reached," the source told AFP.

The Transport Salaried Staffs Association, which represents workers at the company, called on the government to rescue the firm.

"It is incumbent upon the government to act if required and save this iconic cornerstone of the British high street and the thousands of jobs that go with it," said TSSA General Secretary, Manuel Cortes.

"The company must be rescued no matter what."

Two years ago, the collapse of Monarch Airlines prompted the British government to take emergency action to return 110,000 stranded passengers, costing taxpayers some £60 million on hiring planes.

The government at the time described it as Britain's "biggest-ever peacetime repatriation".

Thousands of workers could also lose their jobs, with the 178-year-old company employing about 22,000 staff worldwide, including 9,000 in Britain.

Chinese peer Fosun, which was already the biggest shareholder in Thomas Cook, agreed last month to inject £450 million into the business.

In return, the Hong Kong-listed conglomerate acquired a 75-percent stake in Thomas Cook's tour operating division and 25-percent of its airline unit.

Creditors and banks agreed to inject another £450 million under the recapitalisation plan announced in August, converting their debt in exchange for a 75-percent stake in the airline and 25 percent of the tour operating unit.

Thomas Cook in May revealed that first-half losses widened on a major write-down, caused in part by Brexit uncertainty that delayed summer holiday bookings. The group, which has around 600 stores across the UK, has also come under pressure from fierce online competition.

#UPDATE British travel firm #ThomasCook collapsed into bankruptcy on Monday, leaving some 600,000 holidaymakers stranded and sparking the UK's biggest repatriation since World War II https://t.co/YTp8hR58Aj By @benperry28 pic.twitter.com/OnAt5onUZ1

— AFP news agency (@AFP) 23 september 2019

Pacific's Cook Islands mulls new name

Yahoo – AFP, 5 March 2019

Dancers from the Cook Islands perform during a ceremony in the capital,
Avarua. The government is considering changing the name of the tiny nation to
something more traditional

The tiny Pacific nation of Cook Islands is considering changing its name to something that reflects its Polynesian culture, rather than honouring the British explorer James Cook.

The government set up a committee in January to find a new indigenous name for the grouping of 15 islands, about 3,000 kilometres (1,900 miles) northeast of New Zealand.

Initially the idea was to have the indigenous moniker feature alongside the existing Cook Islands name, in the same way that its larger neighbour is sometimes known as Aotearoa-New Zealand.

But committee chairman Danny Mataroa said Monday that once discussions began it became apparent there was support for dropping the Cook Islands name altogether in favour of one in the local language, known as Cook Islands Maori.

Map showing the Cook Islands

"When the committee members, which include Cook Islands historians and people with deep traditional knowledge, met we decided it was time we change the name of the country," he told AFP.

Mataroa said the new name should reflect the country's heritage, its people and its strong Christian belief.

Deputy Prime Minister Mark Brown backed the move, but said there was still a long way to go before the nation of 12,000 people changed its name.

"I'm quite happy to look at a traditional name for our country which more reflects the true Polynesian nature of our island nation," he told Radio New Zealand.

It is not the first time the issue has surfaced, with a 1994 referendum to change the name to Avaiki Nui resoundingly defeated.

Weightlifter Sam Pera parades the Cook Islands flag during the opening ceremony 

of the 2004 Olympic Games. The tiny Pacific Ocean nation is considering a name 

change to something more traditional

The Cook Islands were a British protectorate from 1888 until 1900, when they came under New Zealand's jurisdiction.

The Cooks gained independence in 1965 but maintains close ties to Wellington, which takes responsibility for the Cooks' external affairs and allows its citizens to live and work in New Zealand.

Another town scraps Australia Day, drawing government ire

Yahoo – AFP, 14 Sep 2017

Another town scraps Australia Day, drawing government ire

   

Sydney (AFP) - Marking Australia Day is like celebrating the Holocaust, a Melbourne politician said as her council scrapped a holiday it deemed offensive to Aboriginal people, in a move the government on Thursday labelled "extreme and divisive".

The council in the Melbourne suburb of Moreland became the third in Victoria state to decide not to recognise Australia Day.

The annual holiday, on January 26, commemorates the arrival of the country's first British settlers in 1788 and is a time when citizenship ceremonies are held.

But it is termed "Invasion Day" by many indigenous Australians who say it marks the beginning of the decline of Aboriginal culture.

In debating the issue Wednesday, Moreland Socialist Alliance councillor Sue Bolton said commemorating Australia Day "would be like celebrating the Nazi Holocaust", state broadcaster ABC reported.

Assistant Minister for Immigration Alex Hawke said in a statement the government rejected "the extreme and divisive nature of the discussion Greens and Socialist councillors are promoting".

He said the government of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull "strongly condemns comparisons of Australia Day with the Nazi Holocaust as deeply offensive to all Australians".

"Australia Day is a recognition of our shared history and the Turnbull government, along with the vast majority of Australians, indigenous and non-indigenous, fully support Australia Day remaining on January 26."

Australia's colonial history credits Captain James Cook with discovering the country, but Aboriginal people inhabited the land for more than 60,000 years before the first European explorers arrived.

Last month a war of words erupted over colonial-era statues in Australia, with several in Sydney defaced, including one of Cook with the words "change the date" in reference to Australia Day.

The vandalism sparked a furious response from Turnbull, who brushed off calls for the statues to be torn down, adding that the defacement was "what Stalin did" in denying history.

Aborigines remain the most disadvantaged Australians. They were believed to have numbered around one million at the time of British settlement, but now make up only about three percent of the total population of 24 million.

Town scraps Australia Day, calling it offensive to Aboriginal people. Government says move is "extreme and divisive" https://t.co/GicfnvGVrU pic.twitter.com/xrT7JsgrtR

— AFP news agency (@AFP) September 14, 2017

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Indonesia says not to blame for missing WWII shipwrecks

Yahoo – AFP, Dessy Sagita, November 17, 2016

The Dutch and Indonesian naval commanders laid a wreath during a 2014 ceremony
 to commemorate the 1150 sailors who died in the Battle of the Java Sea in
1942 (AFP Photo)

Jakarta (AFP) - Indonesia refused to take the blame Thursday for the disappearance of at least six British and Dutch World War II shipwrecks -- considered war graves -- that investigators believe could have been salvaged for scrap.

Former colonial ruler The Netherlands has launched a probe into how three Dutch navy ships seemingly vanished from the bed of the Java Sea, while Britain has urged Indonesia to investigate what has happened to three of its vessels.

It is believed the military wrecks -- lost in 1942 during the Battle of the Java Sea -- were removed by illegal scavengers looking for scrap metal, an effort that could have taken years.

More than 900 Dutch and 250 Indo-Dutch sailors died during the battle in which the Allied navies suffered a disastrous defeat by the Imperial Japanese Navy.

Indonesian authorities have sought to distance themselves from the mystery, saying they could not be expected to protect the sites without assistance.

"The Dutch government cannot blame the Indonesian government because they never asked us to protect those ships," said Bambang Budi Utomo, head of the National Archeological Centre under the Ministry of Education and Culture.

"As there was no agreement or announcement, when the ships go missing, it is not our responsibility."

Amateur divers in 2002 discovered the long-lost wrecks of three Dutch ships, 60 years after they sank while in action against Japanese forces.

But an international expedition that sailed to the wreck site ahead of next year's 75th anniversary of the battle was shocked to discover the wrecks had vanished.

Britain expressed its distress at the disappearance of its own warships and asked Indonesia to "take appropriate action" to protect the sites from further disturbance.

But Utomo said Indonesia did not have the resources to maintain a constant patrol over its vast archipelago, a hotspot for other criminal enterprises like illegal fishing and people smuggling.

Row over naval war graves (AFP Photo)

'Looters are fearless'

Treasure hunters and scrap collectors are lured to Indonesia's relic-rich seas, experts say, where countless vessels have gone to a watery grave over centuries of trade, colonial conquest and war.

"Looting is really huge, not only on these World War II shipwrecks, but also on ancient shipwrecks," said Veronique Degroot, a Jakarta-based archaeologist.

The prize find for scavengers targeting the warships would be the huge bronze propellers used to power these juggernauts -- a far more lucrative find than iron or other scrap, according to Utomo.

"The looting must have been going on for years for such a huge ship to disappear," he said.

"Looters are fearless," he added, saying that divers risked death and injury sucking air through tubes to retrieve valuable scrap and antiquities, taking the wreck apart piece by piece.

While some larger, commercial operations use cranes and platforms to wrench heavy loads from the seabed, smaller ventures keep a low profile as they ship metal to scrapyards along Indonesia's thousands of kilometres of coastline.

Australia has been working closely with Indonesia to protect HMAS Perth -- which sunk off Java in World War II, claiming hundreds of lives -- after discovering in 2013 that the warship was being plundered for brass.

A spokesman for the Indonesian navy said the missing ships should not have been disturbed as they were war graves.

"However, the Indonesian navy cannot monitor all areas all the time," spokesman Gig Jonias Mozes Sipasulta told AFP.

"If they ask why the ships are missing, I'm going to ask them back, why didn't they guard the ships? They should have been more proactive."

Naval warships and war graves are protected under international law that makes the desecration of such shipwrecks illegal.

The HNLMS Kortenaer in the 1930s

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Kipling to Jinnah: Mumbai's crumbling colonial homes

Yahoo – AFP, Peter Hutchison, 19 February 2016

The "Kipling Bungalow" is one of several mansions in Mumbai, once associated 

with famous residents but now in ruin (AFP Photo/Indranil Mukherjee)

Mumbai (AFP) - Hidden behind a blanket of trees at the back of a university in Mumbai lies the dilapidated, but once grand, former home of writer Rudyard Kipling.

Fallen branches, discarded chairs and even empty whisky bottles surround the 19th-century building, while bird droppings mar a bust of Kipling, author of such beloved novels as "The Jungle Book" and "Kim".

"The bungalow is in very bad condition and needs desperate help," the college's principal, Rajiv Mishra, tells AFP.

"We feel cheated that such a beautiful monument has been neglected," he adds, pointing to a rotting wooden post, precariously supporting the historic property in south Mumbai.

The "Kipling Bungalow", as locals affectionately call it, is one of several mansions in the teeming Indian city, once associated with famous residents but now in ruin.

Nearby stands the former colonial home of Lord Harris, an ex-governor of then-named Bombay, widely credited with making cricket the most popular sport in India.

The 147-year-old Esplanade Mansion, formerly the resplendent Watson's Hotel, 

and frequented and written about by Mark Twain, is now a ramshackle shadow 

of its former glory (AFP Photo/Indranil Muherjee)

The gothic building housed school classrooms until four years ago, when pupils were moved out because the crumbling structure had become too weak and hazardous.

A few kilometres away in plush Malabar Hill sits the previously imposing residence of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan and its first governor-general.

The stately home hosted critical talks between Jinnah and India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru on partition of the subcontinent, but today its downtrodden appearance belies its historical significance.

Red tape

Heritage campaigners lament the demise of such buildings, blaming red tape and claiming politicians and developers are more concerned with constructing sparkly new luxury towers than preserving Mumbai's architectural history.

"The Kipling Bungalow is just a very sad reflection of bureaucratic hurdles... creating the death of a historic building," renowned architect Abha Narain Lambah, who specialises in conservation, told AFP.

An Indian mason stands on scaffolding at the under-renovation Lord Harris

Higher Secondary Marathi School in Mumbai (AFP Photo/Indranil Mukherjee)

The wood and stone structure, its green paint peeling, is situated on the grounds of an art school, whose first principal was John Lockwood Kipling, Rudyard's father.

Built in 1882, 17 years after Rudyard was born, the house was home to Lockwood Kipling and subsequent deans until the early 2000s, by which time it had sunk into such disrepair that it was rendered uninhabitable.

"We feel that Lockwood must have had Rudyard stay here and write so we call it the 'Kipling Bungalow'," explains Mishra, who wants the Maharashtra state government to restore it without delay.

He says officials plan to turn the building into a gallery exhibiting students' work and that of decorated artists, and have issued a tender for the contract.

The building has been caught in a tug-of-war between the college and the government for years over what its restoration should look like, but Mishra hopes renovations will finally start in around six months.

Maharashtra culture and education minister Vinod Tawde failed to respond to repeated AFP requests for comment on the issue.

Built in 1882, 17 years after Rudyard Kipling was born, the house was home to his 

father John Lockwood Kipling and subsequent deans until the early 2000s, by which

 time it had sunk into such disrepair that it was rendered uninhabitable (AFP Photo/

Indranil Mukherjee)

A short walk away, work has already begun on the former Mumbai residence of batsman and acclaimed cricket administrator George Harris, who was governor of the city from 1890-1895.

Harris captained England and during his tenure on the subcontinent "did much to lay down foundations for the expansion of the game in India", according to Cricinfo website.

A Mumbai inter-schools cricket tournament called the Harris Shield is testament to his legacy, but his former home was allowed to come close to collapse before long overdue maintenance work started.

The three-storey mansion, part of a public school, was out of use for three years until renovation began in June, and presently stands gutted, surrounded by bamboo scaffolding.

"It was basically falling apart and became too dangerous to be inside," the school's principal, Mohan Bhogade, told AFP.

Jinnah dispute

In arty Kala Ghoda district, a 147-year-old mansion, formerly the resplendent Watson's Hotel, frequented and written about by Mark Twain, is a ramshackle shadow of its former glory.

A bust of author Rudyard Kipling pictured at
the Kipling Bunglow -- the author's birthplace
-- inside the campus of the J.J. School of Art
in Mumbai  (AFP Photo/Indranil Mukherjee)

Now called Esplanade Mansion, it shows no signs of being restored despite ten years having passed since it was placed on a global list of endangered monuments by the New York-based World Monuments Fund.

Watson's, completed in 1869, is believed to be India's oldest caste-iron building and was the hotel of choice for colonialists and visiting dignatories during the British Raj.

Accoring to legend, the hotel went into decline after Indian industrialist Jamsetji Tata built Mumbai's iconic Taj Mahal Palace because he was denied entry to Watson's, which had a "Europeans-only" policy.

Today the crumbling structure houses a medley of dark cubbyhole offices. A lack of funds and arguments between tenants and city authorities have been cited as contributing to its descent into ruin.

"The idea of heritage has just evaporated," says Naresh Fernandes, author of "City Adrift: A Short Biography of Bombay".

Students gather under the porch at the Kipling Bunglow -- the birthplace of author 

Rudyard Kipling -- at the J.J. School of Art in Mumbai (AFP Photo/Indranil Mukherjee)

AFP contacted a number of officials at the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, regarding the Watson's Hotel and the Harris building, but none were available for comment.

Jinnah's house has been embroiled in a long-running legal dispute over ownership between his daughter, India and Pakistan. It lies empty in thick forest behind a padlocked gate.

Lambah doesn't believe the buildings owe their dilapidation to any sort of colonial antipathy, citing well-maintained British-era relics like the Bombay High Court and the former Victoria Terminus train station.

"It's just sheer neglect and bureaucracy," she says.

Shock and condolences as the Netherlands reacts to David Bowie’s death

DutchNews, January 11, 2016

A book of condolence for David Bowie has opened at Groningen’s museum following the shock news of the singer’s death from cancer. 

The Groninger Museum is hosting a special David Bowie exhibition until March 13 as the last leg of the show’s European tour. Its website was temporarily unavailable on Monday morning because of the surge of interest in news about the artist. 

A spokesman said later the Bowie exhibition would open specially from 12 noon until 6pm on Monday, but the rest of the museum is closed as usual. Visitors without tickets will be able to sign the book of condolence. 

Train operator NS said a special Bowie carriage, redecorated for the exhibition, would continue to run on the line between Zwolle and Groningen in tribute. ‘We think this will allow us to offer something more to fans who want to remember Bowie in a good and respectful way.’ 

Theatre

Distraught fans around the world flocked to social media following the announcement that Bowie had died at the age of 69, 18 months after being diagnosed with cancer. His illness had not previously been made public. 

Belgian theatre director Ivo van Hove worked with the British musician on his last stage musical, Lazarus, in New York. ‘Bowie was still writing on his deathbed, you could say,’ Van Hove told NPO Radio 4. ‘I saw a man fighting. He fought like a lion and kept working like a lion through it all. I had incredible respect for that.’ 

Van Hove, who says Bowie was suffering from liver cancer, was one of the few people who knew about the singer’s illness, after Bowie explained to him why he would not always be able to attend rehearsals. He was with Bowie at the premiere of Lazarus last month, one of the singer’s last public appearances. 

Very sorry and sad to say it's true. I'll be offline for a while. Love to all. pic.twitter.com/Kh2fq3tf9m

— Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) January 11, 2016

Bowie’s death was announced by his son, Duncan Jones, on Sunday, two days after the singer marked his 69th birthday with the release of his latest album, Blackstar. ‘David Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family after a courageous 18-month battle with cancer,’ Jones wrote on Twitter.

#NEWSGRAPHIC David Bowie discography: notable albums 1969 - 2016 pic.twitter.com/HSwB5juRZr

— AFP news agency (@AFP) January 11, 2016

David Bowie "curated his death" with last album, Annie Leibovitz says https://t.co/RdcanY9uV4 pic.twitter.com/az4E41euDn

— AFP Entertainment (@AFPceleb) January 13, 2016

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"THE THREE WINDS" – Feb 23-24, 2013 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Humanity, Home - other side of the veil, Wind of Birth - Birth, Wind of Existence - Life, Wind of Transition - Death) - (Text version)

“… The Human Spiritual System

The puzzle during your life is about how much of this truth of being part of the creator you can accept. How far can you open the quantum door to see this truth when you are alive? This single attribute determines how enlightened you become during life. Listen: It's not how much knowledge and experience in is your Akash, but how much you allow yourself to believe it. There are many old souls on this planet who have an amazing amount of spiritual learning, yet they don't want to touch that "spiritual jar" within them at this point in their lives. This is the free choice of the Human Being we speak about.

There is immense planning that puts you at the Wind of Birth. What did you accomplish during the last lives, if anything? Who were you and what did you do? What energies did you start that were not complete that you wish to continue? What soul group were you in? Who were your parents? Are you in certain soul agreements to become their grandchildren? That is more common than you think! There are so many things that go into the planning of the "entry energy" of your life, and each life potential is different and unique. The planning is done by you when you have "the mind of God" on my side of the veil.

Humans don't like the fact that there is no generic spiritual instruction manual that states, "Here is what happens and here is what to do." Listen, dear ones, humanity is honored way above that! Are all your children the same? Do books on how to raise children always work for your child? The answer is no, because each soul is totally unique. But Humans still wish to have a list of things to do and not to do, as though each soul somehow came out of a spiritual machine that made them all the same. No. Instead, Spirit honors each soul with unique choice and a tremendous variety of energy selections.

The Great Artists

There are certain attributes that Humans receive on the planet, and we'll call them creative attributes. These are almost quantum attributes that may take several lifetimes to complete. What often happens to these creatives is that they go through a series of lifetimes as though it were one in order to have completion of their creative cycle. Famous artists will come back, and the first thing they want to do is pick up a brush and continue what they did before. Famous composers, famous poets and sculptors will come back and simply keep going! It's so obvious, yet you deny this in your scientific way.

So the creatives are different from the others, and their puzzle is to bring the planet the greatest treasures of art through a unified series of lives, yet personally they try to sort out the puzzle of "what they carry inside is valuable, but nobody knows it". If you've noticed, most of the great artists who have even lived and are here today carry a burden that is easily identified as "lack of self-worth". Do you see the set-up? It's ripe for personal discovery, isn't it? So can you see the Human standing in the Wind of Birth, ready to continue what they only began last time? With the "mind of God", there is a smile on their face as they hear the music that they will compose, for it's with them when they arrive.

As you stand at the Wind of Birth, you are completely and totally a unique creature with incomplete energies. It takes more than one short earthly life to create Human attributes that grow into maturity. Even non-creatives (most of you) have a lineage of starting something that never got fully completed. Sometimes it's within relationships. Sometimes it's learning or teachings. Old souls are good at this coming and going and often pick up where they leave off as they slowly change the planet by their very presence upon it. The old soul is, "Sewing the seeds of light on the carpet of linear time, not even knowing that he will also be harvesting those exact mature plants of wisdom as he returns in a subsequent life."

Therefore, dear one, you don't arrive with a blank slate, but you have to know that, don't you? The old soul feels it. The only ones who arrive with a completely blank slate are the newbies [first timers] and we'll talk about that in the next wind. But this is a room of old souls who are hearing and reading right now. Each of you is here with a spiritual jar that is filled with the experience of living on Earth, and sometimes even the attribute of "awakening to your own mastery".  ….”

Scotland shuns Trump after Muslim remarks

Yahoo – AFP, Naomi O'Leary, 10 Dec 2015

Donald Trump is pictured as he recieves an Honorary award of Doctor of Business 

Administration at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, Scotland, on October 8, 

2010 (AFP Photo/Derek Blair)

London (AFP) - The Scottish government sacked US presidential hopeful Donald Trump as a business ambassador and a university revoked his honorary degree on Wednesday after he called for a ban on Muslims entering the United States.

A petition to bar the Republican frontrunner from Britain reached more than 358,000 signatures amid an outcry over comments by the tycoon, who owns golf courses in Scotland and has family links to the country.

"Mr Trump's recent remarks have shown that he is no longer fit to be a business ambassador for Scotland," a spokesman for the regional government said as he was dropped as a "GlobalScot" ambassador, a position he took up in 2006.

The hotel at Trump Turnberry Resort is 

pictured beyond the fairway of one of it's

 golf courses in Turnberry, Scotland on

July 30, 2015 (AFP Photo/Paul Faith)

Trump had called for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on" following a shooting last week that left 14 people dead in California.

Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen announced it would revoke an honorary doctorate of business administration it awarded to Trump in 2010 because of statements "that are wholly incompatible with the ethos and values of the university".

Remarks by the property billionaire that police feared for their lives in parts of London due to radicalisation also caused a social media outcry and drew the ire of the capital's mayor, Boris Johnson.

"When Donald Trump says there are parts of London that are no-go areas, I think he is betraying a quite stupefying ignorance that makes him frankly unfit to hold the office of the president of the United States," Johnson told ITV News.

Web users mocked the blustering tycoon with the ironic hashtag #trumpfacts.

One tweet carried an image of Queen Elizabeth II wearing a headscarf with the inscription: "Even the British monarch is now forced to wear a hijab".

'Could not be more wrong'

The petition to bar Trump from entering Britain will be considered for a debate in parliament, like all petitions that reach over 100,000 signatures.

"The UK has banned entry to many individuals for hate speech. The same principles should apply to everyone who wishes to enter the UK," the petition read.

The appeal was launched by Scottish resident Suzanne Kelly, a long-time critic of the 69-year-old who was also behind the pressure on Robert Gordon University to revoke Trump's honorary degree.

Donald Trump (C) is escorted by Scottish pipers as he officially opens his

 new multi-million pound Trump International Golf Links course in Aberdeenshire, 

Scotland on July 10, 2012 (AFP Photo/Andy Buchanan)

Over 75,000 people signed her petition demanding that the university take action because of "Trump's unrepentant, persistent verbal attacks on various groups of people based on nationality, religion, race and physical abilities".

Finance minister George Osborne told parliament that Trump's comments were "nonsense" but added that debate was "the best way to deal with Donald Trump and his views rather than trying to ban presidential candidates".

Twenty-four lawmakers have put their names to two House of Commons motions condemning Trump's remarks.

One calls on the government "to refuse a visa allowing Donald Trump to visit the UK until Mr Trump withdraws his comments".

British police issued a rare rebuke after comments by Trump to US network MSNBC claiming there were places in London "that are so radicalised that the police are afraid for their own lives".

A spokeswoman for Scotland Yard said Trump "could not be more wrong" and invited all US presidential candidates for a briefing "on the reality of policing London".

Related Article:

2015 Kryon Kundalini Tour (Cusco #2, Peru) - Nov, 2015 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - New (Reference to Paris/ISIS/Dark-Old Energy/USA+Warning for Governments around the World !!!)

Three days in jail for Dutch backpacker who showed disrespect towards mountain

DutchNews.nl, June 12, 2015

Dutch backpacker Dylan Snel has been sentenced to three days in jail and a fine of around €1,200 for stripping naked on a Malaysian holy mountain. A Canadian brother and sister and an English girl received the same sentence, Dutch media say on Friday afternoon. 

Snel’s mother told Dutch reporters she was delighted at the news and that the sentence could have been worse. ‘We’ve already been checking out the tickets and perhaps he can leave as early as tomorrow morning,’ she said. 

The four had been held in custody since Tuesday and are expected to be released immediately. 

They were part of a group of Western backpackers arrested after photos emerged of them stripping naked on Mount Kinabalu 

A strong earthquake hit the mountain last Friday, killing 18 people. 

Six days later, Sabah state deputy chief minister, Joseph Pairin Kitingan, blamed the earthquake on travellers showing ‘disrespect to the sacred mountain’. A special ritual will now be conducted to ‘appease the mountain spirit’, the Daily Mail reports.

Dutchman Dylan Snel, Briton Eleanor Hawkins (maroon top) and 

Canadian Danielle Petersen (black top) are escorted from court in 

Kota Kinabalu on Friday. Photograph: Mohd Asraffirdauz Bin Abdullah/AP

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