jandmayers August 2015 Twitter

North Korea is bound in the past, but fiercely needs to accommodate the future

Their leader, Kim Jong-un, is a miserable and erratic man, who wishes to maintain his iron type grip on his nation of suffering people

No one there is happy, as austerity on every level is normal practice

The people are not allowed to think for themselves

They have to hold the party line – otherwise extreme measures of punishment will ensue

There was a start by Kim Jong-un to bring about reforms in 2012

Then the country’s agriculture was partially switched to a better household-based model

North Korean farmers had worked for fixed rations for decades

Since 2013 farmers received 30% of their total harvest, now in 2015 that figure is expected to double to 60%

The new system has made farmers work harder and they have taken on greater responsibility

The results now are quite remarkable. With 2013-2014 they have enjoyed bumper harvests

Even when North Korea had a drought in the spring of 2014 it did not negatively impact on the recovery of North Korean agriculture

The next steps were for some twenty-odd special economic zones to be created

This would allow for foreign investors to develop a market economy under the close eye of North Korean officials

This procedure was widely discussed and commonly known

The managers were promised the right to buy raw materials and sell the finished products freely at market value

These managers were given the right to pay wages to their staff that they considered fit to benefit

These state-appointed managers would acquire a level of freedom similar to private entrepreneurs in regular market economies

This new management system was to start right across the country in 2015

This would be with nearly all industrial enterprises switching to the new model, but it did not happen!

Chinese nationals, who are allowed into the country and where information is able to seep out, all say the same thing

Reforms are not being implemented and another stop has been imposed

Foreign investors find the rules set by the North Korean Government are always changing and they continue to feel frustrated and alarmed

One observer to this process makes an example that the North Korean economy resembles a car climbing a steep slope at a good speed

Only now does it find the engine has been switched off and the car has begun to slide back again!

The farmers however still receive their share of their produce and some factories are working to the new system

This gives North Koreans reasons for hope that sooner or later reforms once again will resume

If North Korea rejects reforms totally it will slide back into a state of stagnation

This will create problems for their neighbours, mainly China who will be bound to carry North Korea should it collapse!

Kim Jong-un’s mind is very fragile and what seemed like a good idea yesterday could all be dismissed as foolish today

The North Korean people live constantly on a knife-edge and are totally at the whim of their leader

Until a more stable environment becomes established, the very highs and lows of their present leader are to be expected

Not forgetting that he is still a very young man!

New Orleans marks the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, which hit early in the morning on 29^th August 2005

Hurricane Katrina was one of the most deadly storms in the US history

Nearly 2,000 people were killed and one million displaced

The hurricane devastated New Orleans, the largest city in the state of Louisiana

Although many neighbourhoods bounced back after the hurricane, it is the Lower 9th which still shows signs of neglect

Many homes still remain abandoned and it is mostly the poor, black neighbourhoods that lack grocery stores, drug stores and banks

Only a fraction of the former residents have returned and there seems little will to rebuild what was once a vibrant community

A black New Orleans’ Mayor, Ray Nagin, was convicted of accepting bribes, fraud and money laundering

Ray Nagin’s crimes spanned over both his terms in office

Nagin was mayor from 2002-2010 including the time when Hurricane Katrina devastated the city

A jury convicted the 57 year old Democrat on twenty federal criminal counts

He was charged with accepting thousands of dollars in payoffs to secure the city

These contracts were from businessman to rebuild the city before and after Katrina

During the Katrina disaster George W Bush’s aides tried over the first five days to convince President Bush just how bad things were

Bush failed to do anything about it

It was at that time when Bush had basically checked out

It was revealed that Bush’s real decision point with regards to Katrina was whether to pay attention to it or not and he decided not!

Had he paid attention he might actually have done something

There might have been some difficult decision points to deal with, but he never got that far

Bush just decided not to pay attention to Katrina and he went on vacation instead

The actions of Bush at that time helped to blight his time in office

It will serve as a reminder to all future Presidents. You cannot mess with your electorate in times of crisis and get away with it

In spite of all this it was the good will of many people in New Orleans, together with entrepreneurs, who rushed to help rebuild this city

New Orleans is now witnessing an inflow of artists and professionals

They are interested in rebuilding this city after Hurricane Katrina destroyed a part of it

New Orleans is now ranked as one of North America’s biggest “brain magnets”, a trend experts say will change its future

We wish all the people of New Orleans a steady and progressive future and hope in time their pain will start to heal

The appalling and disgraceful verdict by a Kangaroo judicial system in Egypt finds Al-Jazeera journalists up to three years in prison

There is no evidence to find Baher Mohamed, Mohamed Fahmy and Peter Greste guilty of any crime

The trumped up charges shows a very frightened Egyptian judicial system, which made up charges against these journalists

These charges refer to terrorist involvement with the Muslim Brotherhood of which there is no evidence to substantiate these claims

This is not a lawful instruction by Egyptian court rulings

It is a political pressure by manipulated design to force the courts to bend to their rules

The facts are that there is no evidence proving that these journalists fabricated the news in any way

This nonexistence of evidence or allegations cannot justify that these three journalists are continued to be detained

A report issued by a technical committee was assigned by the court in Egypt

It contradicted the accusations made by the Public Prosecutor as utterly false

As there is no shred of evidence which has been submitted to support these false charges, it makes a mockery of Egyptian court rulings

Right now Egypt’s judiciary are not independent and lawful, but are under the command of their political system

It is the Egyptian Government who wants to control the story that their press gives out

Egypt is against Qatar, who they believe are in sympathy with Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood

So they attack Al-Jazeera’s journalists to get their point across

If you only have the Government’s angle on a story you have no story at all

This is what Egypt wants and so it will allow their own fears to keep any rightful stories from getting out

This is an impossibility, as the truth will always find a way of reaching the outside world, no matter how hard Egypt tries to suppress it!

Egypt’s play on this will have long-term ramifications around the world, as they will be further ostracised for their disgraceful behaviour

The world will continue to condemn these actions against innocent journalists

Like Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy, and Baher Mohamed until they are released and no fear prevails

The world’s Governments will continue to pressurize Egypt, as freedom of speech is widely sought after and is needed in all societies

Badgers are not to blame for most of the cases of tuberculosis in cattle, a university study has found out

Culling these animals will have little impact on the spread of the disease in livestock

This is what researchers from Cambridge and Warwick Universities have found

Over the past fifteen years, researchers studying the spread of bovine TB, have found the most likely cause

It was by bringing infected cows to the farm

It has been found that 10% of farms were acting as “super-spreaders”, because they move their cattle around frequently

It has been concluded that the only way to halt this disease was to cull the entire herd and all the diseased animals

This would be on a scale not seen since the foot and mouth outbreak

It would mean twenty times more animals being killed than are actually slaughtered each year

Then the best way to halt the disease is through widespread testing and vaccination programmes and the culling of infected herds

Professor Matthew Keeling states “We have only three controls which have the power to reverse the current increase in cases”

“More frequent or more accurate testing, vaccination of cattle and culling all the cattle on infected farms”

Researchers have used data from the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratory Agency

They also studied Government figures that showed the transition between farms and within a single farm

The results indicated 84% of the outbreaks were caused by movement of infected cattle from infected fields

Also by the failure of tests to detect the diseased cattle

Environmental factors, including contact with badgers, did cause some infections

This however did not explain the rapid spread of the disease

It has been found that it is most likely that cattle movements and the local environment are driving the front of this epidemic

Imperfect cattle skin tests contribute to the spread by delaying the time until infected herds are detected

There is also a delay in incorrectly identifying herds being clear of the infection before they are moved

It has been found that only a small number of farms spread the infection and they cause the majority of new cases

It is this small number of farms that send their cattle to other farms without properly testing them first

Eventually the farmers and the Government will see sense and finally sort this matter out before widespread damage is done

The culling of badgers, in the light of farmers not taking full responsibility for their herds, is not the answer

Let’s hope common sense prevails…

Yemen is facing a major humanitarian crisis

Four years of unrest has left children in urgent need for food, water and medical supplies

The situation is worsening by the fierce fighting and heavy air strikes

Currently there are 1.8 million children, who are at risk of becoming malnourished due to food shortages across the country

Since March UNICEF and their partners have worked hard to ensure that 1,250 tonnes of lifesaving supplies have been delivered to Yemen

As the crisis deepens, so their suffering also deepens

UNICEF is on the ground in Yemen working around the clock to protect these children

Until a political system is found and an end to military action, this country like Syria will be destroyed

Solutions can only come about with all the various factions in the country coming to the table and talking

No sections can afford to be left out any longer if peace is to be established

When will common sense prevail?

Military action will only end up in a stalemate situation with no one willing to accept defeat

The attitude of the British Government is to prioritise power and stability over justice and human dignity in Gaza

The British public do not want a Government to represent them who blatantly deny human rights

This they do for the Palestinians while they sidle up to Israel

The British Government by their actions continue to perpetuate the long-lasting injustice in this area

They help to prolong the suffering of this entire population

They continue to do it without shame or conscience!

The British Government has blatant double standards

They are supporting regimes where there are clear indications of international crimes being committed

It also supports other regimes it wishes to criticise for the same reason

The Palestinian population residing in Gaza continue to suffer one year later

They are unable to reconstruct their homes, their water and power plants, their hospitals and their lives

This population’s physical survival is threatened every day due to massive shortages of their basic services and infrastructure

This population’s calorie intake has been limited by the Israeli authorities to a minimum which is barely enough to avoid malnutrition

The UN has already considered that Gaza would not be habitable by 2020

That is something the Israelis will delight in

It will allow for a slow lingering death of which the Governments of the world chose to do nothing about it!

There is no conscience and therefore no will to change anything

Justice is never seen to be done in Gaza while Israel’s henchmen control that part of the world

In addition they appear to control the other Governments around the world

All have blood on their hands and are guilty of betraying their fellow human beings

All will be judged according to Spiritual Law of which there is no escape!

The situation in China with its slowing growth will not affect the rest of the world

China has enough reserve financially to combat any requirements that their banking systems will need

The Chinese Stock Market has fallen, but again this is only a temporary problem and it will stabilise once again

It has made its share of the global economy a problem

Market shares seem to panic when a possible shortfall of shares in their stock market is given

The US and other economies will be able to rally around and stability will occur

However there are many underlying problems with the global economies

Debt is the greatest destructive force for all of them

The US is financially bankrupt, but is trying to ease out of its debt by bringing in other investors to shore it up

The dollar at this time is holding, but it does live on a knife edge

Any loss of confidence in the markets will automatically bring about panic and a possible recession is envisaged

Until global markets start to put their own houses in order then fluctuations in other markets such as China’s will affect them

Governments around the world need to look at their own fiscal policies

They should bring about an end to rash money speculation and leave gambling on the markets alone

Monetary safeguards need to be put in place so that banks are not so vulnerable in rash speculations

Investment banking needs to become separate from personal banking and this is already happening

Overseas investment must be taken seriously

Lines of credit should always be safeguarded in those countries which are shaky with their finances

The western markets, although not out of the woods yet financially, will need to tighten their belts & start to safeguard their positions

A drying up of relief to help various countries in the world is now happening

The richer countries can no longer afford to prop up failing states

Sometimes it is better to let countries fall to find their own level

Those Governments will need to pick up the pieces.  Otherwise they are not fit to govern anymore

No longer can financially unfit countries expect bailouts and unconditional help financially

They cannot continue to sit on their hands and do nothing

Greece here fits very much into this category

China will be able to rally back and they will be in a position to level off, allowing global markets to resettle once more

That does not mean it lets other Governments off the hook

All need to be vigilant to keep their own economies going in the right and proper way!

It is high time that Moscow now started to approach a different strategy for Syria

Moscow has reiterated that it is not committed to keeping President Bashar al-Assad in power

So it has been stated by Syria’s main opposition group after talks in Moscow

Syria’s National Coalition President, Khaled Khoja, said the Russian leadership isn’t clinging to Bashar al-Assad

It is focussing on the need to preserve Syria’s territorial integrity

They are clinging to the Syrian state, its territorial integrity and the preservation of its institutions

Moscow will get more involved in the Syrian transition and will push to help mediate in the conflict

Moscow is continuing to say that they will support the legitimate elected President of Syria, whoever that may be

So far Moscow has been a key backer of Bashar al-Assad throughout this conflict

It has dragged on for over four years, leaving 250,000 dead and four million refugees

Mr Khoja has reaffirmed that Bashar al-Assad and his top lieutenants could never be a part of the transitional Government

Khaled Khoja is continuing his consultations with Moscow, which are proving more fruitful as time goes on

Vladimir Putin has launched Russia’s new mediation effort, especially with Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman

There have been extensive talks about Syria in Qatar

They took place between US Secretary of State John Kerry, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov & Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir

All are willing to come to the table for constructive and decisive talks and to bring about a structure for the rebuilding of Syria

This flurry of serious efforts, which are underway to reach a mediated end to the conflict, is so necessary for the future of Syria

There are already pockets of ceasefire between warring sides, which will allow for talks to continue

A broader spectrum of talks, designed to save what is left of Syria so that it can be rebuilt, are in progress

This leaves the other major stumbling block of IS, which is also being discussed jointly

No longer can world powers choose to sit idly by

All must come in united to defend the common foe of IS from destroying everything

The green light is now on in all these discussions and, as the will is there, a solution will be found and set up

The light at the end of the tunnel is already there!

Congregational churches with scores, hundreds or thousands of members…

…can never be a mechanism by which we can have full communication with the living Jesus

Jesus’ role is to lead us back to ‘God’ and the Kingdom of Heaven

The reason for this is because the way is mystical and hidden from our earthly senses

Our journey, always on a one to one with Jesus and the Holy Spirit, is not compatible in a crowd

Events during the service of the church are made for the congregation to focus on

They are a distraction as to what is important for the individual

Therefore the congregation focuses without and not within, which is the all-important factor here

Jesus stated in the Bible (Matthew 6:6), “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet and when thou hast shut thy door…

“…pray to thy Father, which is in secret; and thy Father, which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly”

This way of being in a quiet at one place with Jesus & ‘God’ is more serviceable in fulfilling our awakening desire to communicate with him

When a person is in a church with masses of people, all the distractions are centred on the without

If that is right for the individual, so be it!

When that individual is ready to undergo an awakening experience, it will always be in secret

It will be with the ‘still, small Voice of ‘God’ speaking to you from his within to yours

This communication will not be dependent on a person’s regular or occasional attendance in a mass gathering of souls for organised worship

The Damascus awakening event will happen when the Holy Spirit will take the individual away into a secret place

There that person is able to open up his heart and mind to the mystical experiences and revelations awaiting him

It is only done when the individual is on his/her own and in that private place that they can shut the door on all others

In that private place alone, he can open the door to his inner being and the living Jesus will respond to his invitation

He will enter into loving, spiritual, joyous, uplifting and enlightening fellowship

It will then be realised that Jesus is a one to one person

That communication/experience can then be shared with those of like-minded readiness for such a sharing

Those that have themselves encountered such experiences and therefore understand their worth

Meanwhile those mass gatherings in traditional church services will only ever experience without

They will miss out on the important spiritual experience

Jesus will be there in the midst of the congregation, loving and blessing them and administering to the sick and fainting spirits of men

But their focus will be too distracted by the choreography of the ritual

They will be unable to communicate with Jesus’ living presence

Only those, who are ready spiritually and are able to shut off from the distraction of the ritual, will be able to receive

Otherwise they will miss out on the blessings & enlightenment & the sharing of his mystical awareness that Jesus’ living presence brings

‘God’ and Jesus speak to us individually, because we are all individual and unique

None of us needs a priest to deliver to us what Jesus says, as it will always be collectively and not individually

This individuality is always important and above all it is always relevant

That is why one to one communication in the quiet private place becomes so necessary for our personal lives

It brings us that personal guidance to our own private lives

There was extraordinary courage shown by three Americans and a British man

They overpowered a Moroccan gunman on a train in France with 554 passengers on board

The heroes were two US service men and their friend, a US college student

They were alerted when they heard a shot being fired and heard breaking glass

Then Spencer Stone, an Air Force member and Alek Skarlatos brought down the gunman

Spencer got to the gunman first, followed by Alek and Anthony Sadler and then the British man, Chris Norman, followed

They overpowered the gunman, who was armed with an automatic AK-47 rifle, a handgun and a cutter knife

Spencer held the man in a chokehold until he went unconscious and then checked the guns

The AK-47 was faulty and fortunately the gunman did not know how to fix it

The handgun had no magazine in it

The gunman did not know how to load it properly, so he only got one shot off it

In the tussle to restrain the gunman, Spencer was cut to the back of his neck and his thumb was nearly cut off

In spite of his injuries, once the gunman was finally under control, Spencer went to attend to the injured passenger

He had taken the bullet and was losing a lot of blood

During the scuffle the train passengers, reacting on adrenaline, helped to restrain the gunman

Alek Skarlatos checked the other carriages of the train to make sure there was not another gunman

British man, Chris Norman, praised US Spencer Stone’s bravery in helping an injured passenger in spite of being badly hurt himself

Mr Stone remains in hospital at this time

The Moroccan man was known to the Belgium authorities, who had been informed by Spain that he was a security risk

It took the spontaneous actions of three brave and courageous men to overpower a gunman who with his weapons could have done untold damage

Europe and the world are on high alert from these damaged souls who go out to Syria

They learn their craft to create havoc on peaceful nations

All are cowards who are willing to create carnage against the defenceless

But they are not brave enough against those who are trained to fight back!

These people will never win and will pay heavily for their crimes

There is no valour in doing what they are doing and their lives will have no purpose as time and again they will be stopped

Through standing together, the will of the people will always overcome

Personal injury will never deter them in doing what is right!

Labour leadership frontrunner Jeremy Corbyn is to issue a public apology over the Iraq War if he becomes leader next month

It would be on behalf of the party and this is a move that Tony Blair has repeatedly resisted doing

Corbyn said he would apologise to the British people for the “deception” in the run up to the 2003 invasion

He will also apologise to the Iraqi people for their subsequent suffering

Such an apology would be important symbolically, particularly in a party where Iraq remains a sore point

Corbyn has made this vow, which suggests in future UK’s military interventions would become rarer

Corbyn stated, “We will never again unnecessarily put our troops under fire and our country’s standing in the world at risk”

Corbyn continues to say, “Labour will never make the same mistakes again and will never flout the United Nations and International Law”

Jeremy Corbyn himself voted against going to war with Iraq

Corbyn’s planned apology attempts to pre-empt the findings of the long-delayed Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq War

“The endless delay on the Chilcot Inquiry is wrong”

“We do not have to wait for Chilcot to know mistakes were made and we need to make amends,” Corbyn said

When Yvette Cooper was asked what the Labour Government did wrong, she replied, “Iraq”

Yvette Cooper is one of the front runners for the Labour leadership election

Tony Blair has refused to apologise, so also have Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband not apologised

The former advisor to President George W Bush, Karl Rove refused to apologise when pressed in April by a US Veteran of Iraq

Corbyn states, “The Iraq War was wrong in principle,” he said, “a mistake of horrendous proportions, the price of which is still being paid”

“A lot of Labour voters marched in their millions to protest against the war, we turned our backs on them and many withheld their votes”

“They felt disillusioned and unmotivated”

Whatever anybody thinks of Jeremy Corbyn and whether his remarks are politically motivated or not…

…he is doing what is right in apologising to the British and the Iraqi people

This is for the mistakes of the egotistical Prime Minister Tony Blair, who should have been shot down in flames

He should have been removed from office for his lies and deception. He needs be indicted for war crimes

Blair’s time will come

A person cannot continue to go through life in this manner and still think he can get away with it

The South African Government has put on hold the release of Oscar Pistorius from his prison sentence

Oscar Pistorius was due to be released this Friday 21^st August after serving ten months behind bars

He was convicted of culpable homicide for the killing of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp

South Africa’s Justice Minister, Michael Masutha, has referred the matter back to the parole review board

This shows a legal confusion and doubts over the release date

A lawyer, who attended the trial, praised the minister’s intervention saying, “The minister was acting prudently, acting responsibly”

“He did what he was entitled to do”

Masutha had received a petition from the Progressive Women’s Movement of South Africa

They are expressing opposition to the release of Pistorius during the country’s Women’s Month

Masutha stated that he had been approached by the women’s rights organisation, which requested that he review the decision

A statement from the Department of Justice and Correctional Services cited a law stating that a person sentenced to imprisonment…

…must serve at least one-sixth of his/her sentence before being considered for correction supervision

The decision to release Pistorius on the 21st August 2015 was made prematurely on 5th June 2015

The offender was not eligible to be considered at all

One-sixth of a five year sentence is ten months, at the time the decision was made Pistorius had only served six months of his sentence

The Women’s League of the governing African National Congress welcomed the ruling

The ANC Women’s League remains convinced that Judge Masipa handed down an erroneous judgement & an extremely lenient sentence to Pistorius

This has sent out a bad message in cases involving gender-based violence

This is especially in instances where women die at the hands of their partners

It is the Women’s League that wishes that Pistorius remains in custody until November when the Supreme Court Appeal will hear the appeal

The appeal will be brought on by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) against the judgement of the sentence handed out to Pistorius

Statistics in South Africa have shown that their society is under continuous attack from criminals and murderers

Incarceration for ten months for taking a life is simply not enough!

Oscar Pistorius, it would seem, has got away with the brutal killing of his girlfriend, largely from his infamy and his money

Oscar Pistorius was able to buy the best legal minds available

The trial exposed his character as one who thought he could flaunt the law, because he was famous

He thought he could get away with it, because of who he was and the trial proved he had bouts of reckless behaviour

As with all people who go over the top, life catches up with them in time

Then they realise they are not as great as they let themselves believe

Pistorius was reportedly so worried that he would be poisoned in prison that he lived on canned sardines and baked beans

Pistorius was the VIP prisoner, as was fellow inmate Boswell Mhlongo, who was at the maximum security Kgosi Mampuru II in Pretoria State

Mhlongo said everything was free for Pistorius. He could do whatever he wanted

Mhlongo added that Pistorius had his own gym on his own and his cell was given curtains

Everything was specially prepared for him, because he has money and because he is Oscar Pistorius

As always it is one rule for one and one rule for another

It seems that Pistorius really can get away with murder or can he?

Sebastian Coe has been elected President of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF)

He beat Ukraine’s Sergey Bubka by 115 votes to 92 in a ballot of the governing body’s 50th Congress

There has been a systematic failing of the IAAF in its duty to address doping despite allegations that blood doping was rife in athletics

Coe has aggressively defended the IAAF’s record on doping over the last three weeks

He has said that the organisation has led the way on ‘out of competition testing’ and the laboratories who deal with them

He had also introduced blood passports in 2009 to help weed out the cheats

Coe is confident that under his leadership the sport would be able to move forwards by setting up its own anti-doping agency

This is something that should have been established decades ago!

The US men’s 4x100 relay team on Wednesday was ordered to return its London 2012 silver medals

This was because Tyson Gay, who was part of the medal winning quartet, was suspended for a doping offence

The US team included Justin Gatlin, an Olympic gold medallist, who served a four year ban in 2006 for doping

There is evidence that 99% of Russian athletes are guilty of doping

This has been investigated by German journalists for a TV documentary

The documentary also states that the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) is covering up the abuse

This is being looked into and an investigation on these claims is already ongoing

It has been stated by Russian athletes themselves that the majority of Russian athletes representing their country used banned substances

A 25 year old Russian athlete claimed that anything an athlete wants they can get

A Russian currently serving a 10 year doping ban, which is due to end in 2023, has already been handed a two year suspension in 2011

Liliya Shobukhova, who won the London Marathon in 2010…

…admits paying the Russian Athletics Federation £350,000 to cover up a positive doping test

She is currently serving a two year ban

It has been stated that leading Russian athletic officials supplied banned substances in exchange for 5% of the athlete’s earnings

The Russian officials have also colluded with doping control officers to hush up or falsify tests

This information has been passed on to be investigated by the independent body, which works within the IAAF

Russia hosted the Winter Olympics in Sochi earlier this year and finished top of the medal table

Russia has currently 67 of their athletes serving sanctions for doping offences according to the latest IAAF report

There has now been a call to boycott the World Athletics Championship in Russia because of their links to doping

There have been calls for offenders to be banned for life in a bid to clamp down on drug-related offences

Usain Bolt, the 100m and 200m world record holder, called for Tyson Gay to be given a life ban from the sport

With a life ban it is the only way that these dopers will not be allowed to reoffend

It also sends out a very strong and clear message that cheats are no longer able to take part in such a privileged sport

The message must be loud and clear if Athletics is to start becoming a clean sport

It makes a mockery of all those who have worked diligently to achieve their medals in a clean and concise way

The Athletic industry owes it to all those clean athletes, who courageously work towards excellence in their chosen field of expertise

Learn to find the light and inner peace, which is always within us!

There is nothing worth having in this world without peace

With peace in your heart and your soul, you are rich beyond your imagination

The power of positive thinking has been proven by science

It has been proven that the mind is powerful in ways not always known to man

It is still a mystery that we are unravelling

Medically trained experts cannot deny the power of thought, which will determine how your life becomes

We can all create a personal hell in our minds, where it becomes so dark we can’t even crawl out of it

Even if we are in a palace or on a paradise island, we can still put ourselves into dark places with our thoughts

If we do not have peace in our minds, we have nothing!

If we want to be happy, we first need to be able to live in harmony with ourselves, before we can be happy with anything or anyone else

We are all our own strength and have our own power, which we can choose to build up or trample all over it

No matter what happens in one’s life, even if we have hit rock bottom which all super-successful people have, we can begin again right now!

You first need to be in harmony and peace with yourself before serving the world

Cover yourself with love whenever you breathe and not tension and stress

Know we are all worth it, as insecurities can no longer have a part of our lives. Now we become the positive mind

We must all come out of the darkness of insecurities and start to believe that we are mightier and stronger than we actually realise

Our paths always lead us to enlightenment and knowledge. Our futures are great because we believe them to be so and so they shall be!

Research and development for new medicines is costly and time consuming.  It is almost always profit driven

When disease affects the poor, this market is neglected and this means no new medicines

Kala azar is a neglected tropical disease

It is the world’s second largest parasite killer after Malaria, killing 40,000 people every year

Yet there have been no new drugs developed for decades to combat this disease

The Drugs of Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi) and four pharmaceutical firms have announced the start of a ground-breaking initiative

This is to accelerate and cut costs at the early stage of drug discovery for Kala azar

Kala azar and Chagas are two of the world’s most neglected diseases

For the first time DNDi are now searching millions of unique medical compounds to hunt for new treatments of these neglected diseases

The innovation of the DNDi model will avoid the huge costs, which are involved in the developing of new drugs

By rallying the pharmaceutical companies around the world to share together their vast resources, it has already proved to be successful

Now there is a portfolio of fifteen new drugs, which will help in the fight to combat this disease

It is the big pharmaceuticals, which are being mobilised in an unprecedented global initiative to find & fast track a cure for Kala azar

Kala azar is caused by a parasite that is infected by female sand-flies, and then bites humans

The parasite attacks the immune system and is fatal if not treated

There are between 200,000 to 400,000 new cases every year

About 90% of which are in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sudan and Brazil

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) alone have treated over 100,000 people with Kala azar since 1988

With this new vital initiative something positive is coming out of it, which for decades has been neglected

When there is care and compassion over material gains, a way is always found

Through this help the suffering can finally be eliminated

In the case of spirituality, the Church of today is lukewarm. Their spirituality is miserable, wretched, poor and blind

This has happened because the Church has become institutionalised and the purpose of an institution is to perpetuate itself

This is where the original objectives of its leaders have become lost in a mire of rules & regulations, petty politics & power struggles

So now they merely perpetuate the institution rather than being motivated by the fire of spirituality

This is the desire of Jesus for the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth

This is never mentioned in today’s institutionalised churches

This is because issues such as the ordination of women and homosexuality have become the important concerns

The Church has become side-tracked in detail, instead of focussing on the Principles of Life as laid down by Jesus

It is the Principles of Life, which keep souls on Earth on their right path that is the path of spiritual progress

The same has happened to other institutions of today

Government, education, the National Health Service and the social services have all lost their way

These institutions and regulations get in the way and cloud their original vision

The statement by Jesus to the Pharisees that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath is true

Because man must abide by the rules of these institutions, then common-sense and compassion has no place anymore

Compassion is one of the greatest gifts of the Spirit in humanity

We must all look out for individual cases and situations to decide on their individual merit

Otherwise we are creating a compassionless society, at least in terms of these institutions that hold dominion over much of our lives

Compassion at the individual personal level is still there and can never be extinguished

This is because each of us is love and compassion cannot be separated from love

If more compassion was brought into institutions, this would be a giant step towards instilling the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth

Imagine a scenario in which there are two Jesuses travelling around Judea, Samaria and Galilee teaching and healing

The first Jesus, working with compassion, goes around the multitudes and heals them of every sickness and disease

After a long day, his disciples want Jesus to send the others away, so that they can eat and rest

Jesus says, “No, I will feed them”

With love and compassion, Jesus transforms the picnic of two loaves and five fishes and feeds the five thousand souls

The second Jesus moves among the multitudes healing as many as come forward

Hours go by and it is getting late

Jesus is eager to conclude this tiresome business and tells the people they must now go home

He has finished for the day and since there is only so much one can do in a day!

The first is the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth scenario

The second is more of how it is with society today that we are creating in our institutionalised world

We fail to see the opportunities that Jesus gives us in our daily lives, because we haven’t the time, compassion, desire or the will

So many claim to be Jesus’ followers by going to church every week, but not applying the desires of Jesus’ teachings in their daily lives

Many people are in need of reassurance, encouragement, a friendly smile, a caring word even just to be noticed!

The institutionalised churches have lost their way & as a result their flocks, due to their own purpose to promote the Church at all costs!

For all those brave British soldiers, who survived the horrors of Japan’s WWII camps, we salute you

50,000 servicemen experienced one of the worst episodes in British military history & many will be leading Saturday’s V-J Day commemorations

The POW will attend a service at St Martin-in-the-Fields in London and they will lay wreaths at the Cenotaph in Whitehall

Never before have such large numbers in Briton’s Armed Forces been subjected to such extremes of geography and disease and…

…man’s inhumanity to man as were the prisoners of the Japanese in WWII

A quarter died in captivity, the rest returned home, sick and damaged

For three and a half years they had faced unrelenting lethal conditions

They were given less than a cup of filthy rice to live on a day, which caused malnutrition

This led to loss of vision and excruciating nerve pain

Diseases of Malaria and Dysentery were rife leading to men living as walking skeletons

Prisoners who got scratched by bamboo from working in the jungle had ulcerated legs, some over a foot long where bone was exposed

Beatings and torture were given out by brutal sadistic Japanese captors

One, Lt Bill Drower an interpreter in the camp, dared to challenge his captors

As a result he was severely beaten and kept in solitary confinement for the final eighty days of the war

When he was rescued he was close to death from malnutrition and Blackwater Fever, a rare and dangerous form of Malaria

The majority of the POW worked as slave labourers to keep the Japan’s heavy industry going

They worked on the docks, airfields, in coalmines, shipbuilding yards and in the steel & copper works

It was the extraordinary spirit of the POW that the Japanese captors could not break

Strong bonds, which were critical for survival, were formed by fellow prisoners

This proved to be a lifeline for all that still survive today

Those men were like brothers to each other fending for each other’s needs, otherwise many more would have died

Doctors, denied tools or medicine, needed the expertise of others

Medical instruments for examining dysentery were made from old tin cans and surgical forceps made from pairs of scissors

Because of the traumas suffered by the prisoners, they found they couldn’t talk about it. They just clambered up, so they didn’t mention it

An organisation called The London Far East Prisoner of War Social Club held its first social night in 1948

The club helped to organise annual reunions and continue bonds of friendship

Many of the soldiers suffered intermittent bouts of chronic diarrhoea and fever – the consequences of Malaria and Dysentery

In 1950 the POW demanded compensation to be paid to them by the Japanese

The claim was not about money, but about informing the rest of the world what the Far East POW had been through

That was their humiliation, the semi-starvation, the cruelty and enforced labour and many other atrocities

As a result each and every Far East POW or next of kin of those who died received £1,500 in today’s money

Forty years later in 2000, The Far East POW won another campaign

This was for surviving Britons held captive, or their widows, would receive a one off payment of £10,000 each

Today’s service in St Martin-in-the-Fields in London is for all those who did not survive. May peace be with them!

A criminal investigation has begun after Russian-born supermodel Natalia Vodianova described how a café owner had “kicked out” her sister

He kicked her sister out because of her autistic disability

Vodianova grew up in poverty in the industrial city of Nizhny Novgorod, where her disabled sister and mother still live

Natalia Vodianova wrote on Facebook how her sister, Oksana 27 years old, has cerebral palsy and autism

She was ordered to leave the café with her carer

The café owner claimed that Oksana was frightening the customers, as she was banging her head against the wall

The Russian Investigative Committee opened up a criminal case into violation of human dignity with the threat of violence

This carries a maximum jail sentence of five years. The café owner has been charged

The café owner’s outburst was to say to Oksana and her carer, “Get out of here”

“You are scaring all our customers, go get treated and treat your child, then you can go out in public”

This case has highlighted in this country, where the rights of people with disabilities to equal treatment, is not being recognised

Vodianova is a long-time advocate for the rights of disabled people and launched the Naked Heart Foundation in 2004

It is to support the special needs of the underprivileged children in Russia

Her charity Naked Heart Foundation has set up 150 disabled friendly playgrounds

There are now more than fifty support centres around Russia for the families raising children with special needs

Natalia Vodianova has also served as an Ambassador in last year’s winter Paralympic Games in the Russian resort of Sochi

The incident around Oksana is not an isolated case. This is a reality for families raising children with special needs

Russia has 13 million people with disabilities, about 9% of the population and they are still behind the times

The Russian disabled are not allowed into expensive establishments or on planes and they are refused all sorts of services

In supermarkets the deaf and blind are not allowed in and there is no assistance from staff for them with their shopping

Shops are not equipped with Braille signs and their personnel and shop assistants are not trained to help

Russian policy towards disabled people is to hide them away in warehouses, special boarding schools and nursing homes

There they are provided with the minimum to exist

Thirty percent of children with disabilities live in State orphanages

Here the staff beat them, use physical restraints to tie them to the furniture and give them powerful sedation

Two cases were taken to court concerning the refusal to a disabled person in a wheel chair and the other was a blind person

In both of these cases they were not allowed on a plane unaccompanied

The organisation taking these cases to court won in both cases. The result being that discrimination legislation was amended

It is only through the Winter Olympics in 2014 that there has been an improvement for the disabled

This was because of the work done by Natalie Vodianova, who was a Paralympic Ambassador there

If it wasn’t for Oksana being the sister of a top supermodel, no one would have known about this incident

The stigma against people with disabilities can only be defeated once there is a cultural shift.  May that come soon!

The Chilcot Inquiry into the findings of the 2003 Iraq War still has continued to delay its publication

Letters, sent by John Chilcot warning that they might be criticised in their report, have continued to stall publication

Those especially criticised are Tony Blair, Jack Straw and a host of other Labour politicians, who have still to reply to these criticisms

Army families, who have waited to hear the outcome, have seen their patience failing and want a deadline for replies put into action

If this is not done by the end of this year, their lawyers will take it to the High Court

The lawyers have stated that John Chilcot has acted unlawfully by refusing to set a deadline for publication

The five member panel began work on the Inquiry into Iraq War in 2009. It finished in 2011 and has cost the tax payer £10m

This delay has caused the families of soldiers, immense grief, pain and suffering

The Chilcot report will show a devastating indictment of the Blair Government and large sections of the Whitehall establishment

Information in thirty secret letters, notes and conversations between Blair and Bush will reveal devastating facts

Details clearly show that Blair privately promised Bush he would go to war against Saddam Hussein without telling MPs and British voters

Blair & Bush are said to have signed in blood an agreement to oust Saddam Hussein in secret talks in Texas one year before the war started

The dispute over the publishing of this confidential communication between the two leaders is the main reason for the delay in publishing

Tony Blair and George W Bush are now scared of what will come out

Blair exaggerated the capacity of Saddam Hussein’s supposed weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) where no evidence was found

Tony Blair lied to Parliament and the British people

Blair ignored advice from his own Attorney General, who said the war was illegal

Lord Goldsmith, who was the Attorney General, consistently warned Blair that the attack on Iraq would be illegal

However the Cabinet was not told of this advice

Blair failed to consult Cabinet Ministers and falsely accused French President Jacques Chirac of trying to sabotage a UN vote on the war

Tony Blair’s arrogance on having this war at all costs put him in direct conflict with his then Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook

Cook stood up to Blair saying the war was wrong and not ethical. He was subsequently replaced

Downing Street Chief of Staff also stated there was no evidence of an imminent threat from Iraq

Jonathan Powell further stated that Iraq didn’t have WMDs

The intelligence was all wrong, the Government was wrong and intelligence was not hard evidence – that was the point!

There is a need for the truth to finally come out

This is not only for the families, who have lost loved ones in this war, but for the British public at large

Tony Blair and George W Bush’s arrogance must finally catch up with them

They should be brought up for war crimes against the innocent, who are still suffering today!

Over the last two weeks there has been an anti-Government protest in Iraq over corruption in their Government

This has resulted in electricity cuts and salty tap water

Prime Minister Al-Abadi has been feeling the pressure from protestors that have served to bring embarrassment to the Government

It has been the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, who have boasted that they are delivering electricity to the Iraqi city of Mosul

At present Iraqis are suffering 50⁰C heat and there is no electricity for their air conditioning

Haider al-Abadi has called for an establishment to be set up to combat corruption, which starts at the top of Government

It remains to be seen whether Prime Minister Al-Abadi can tackle such an insurmountable challenge

Reforming this political system, which is based on rewarding Iraqi politicians due to their ethnic backgrounds, will not be easy

For Al-Abadi to tackle corruption and to ensure a stable Government, he would need to accept a whole different way of governing

A way must be found to bring in all the different sectarian factions together, so that they are in charge of civil service departments

There needs to be an efficient transparency of governing

Because Al-Abadi has no political clout, he has further left the door wide open for IS to overhaul the Iraqi state

It’s Iraq’s corruption right at the top going all the way down to the military that has led to Iraq’s failure to deliver essential services

Corruption throughout their politicians, who seek only to satisfy their own sense of greed, has led to these protests

The Iraqi people will be heard and more outbursts will occur

Corruption all over the Middle East causes despair, anger, frustration & is the main destructive force over anything good being achieved

Even after the Iraq War, nothing really has changed in this department

The lack of right governing and continued frustration has led to the rise of IS

Without combatting corruption and bringing in discipline to the military and services, nothing will change

The Islamic State continues to flourish

IS tries to obtain legitimacy amongst Iraqis by ending corruptive policies by delivering services

It is the Iraqis themselves, who have complained against corruption in their Government, hence the recent street protests

These will continue to grow and become more violent!

The first anniversary of the senseless killing of Michael Brown by white policeman Darren Wilson has occurred in Ferguson

Brown’s motionless body, left lying on the pavement for four and a half hours, shows extraordinary lack of human dignity for a dead body

Michael Brown’s body was looked on by his loved ones and by bystanders, whose disbelief was written all over their faces

It is this situation that has been embedded in the minds of millions and highlighted the inhumane indifference to black lives

This killing has highlighted the racialized police brutality, which has been going on for decades

On 9th August 2014 there was the birth of a movement, which openly challenges this indifference to brutality

The movement confronts the police and institutions on Ferguson’s streets

The “Black Lives Matter” movement demands not only justice, but the liberation of structured racism

This structured racism in institutions has endorsed the violent policing, which is rooted in America’s slavery

These enforcers of the law in largely black areas are overwhelmingly white

There is strong evidence that enforcement of the law in both Ferguson and Baltimore is often violent and at times fatal

The Black Lives Matter movement has now emerged and is no longer content with justice and fair prosecutions, which do not exist

They are now going further and striking at the very heart of the problems

They are demanding the dismantling of white supremacy and the erosion of institutionalised racism

They also demand an end to community policing programmes that links blackness to criminality

This movement is growing throughout all of America & community members are joining local activists who echo the mantra “Black Lives Matter”

A new generation of Americans are now galvanised across the racial, social and geographic lines

They are all shouting, tweeting and texting “Black Lives Matter!”

What is being exposed is the disproportionate incarceration and brutality of people, who are black or brown, shot down by police

Of the black men and women killed by police, 45% were unarmed

It is the structured racism within the police departments that is the real culprit here

It is hardly surprising that non-black communities of colour are now campaigning

They are demanding an end to anti-black racism in police departments

One year on from the birth of this movement in Ferguson, it is perpetually expanding

The influence that “Black Lives Matter” is evolving

Its statement will go right to the heart of the matter, which is the Oval Office and cannot be overlooked

Life has to change in order for peace and sanity to become possible in America

Pakistan’s state of Punjab have called for a federal inquiry into the largest ever child abuse scandal in South Asia’s history

Nearly 300 children have been involved after the discovery of about 400 video recordings of these children who were forced to have sex

At this time seven people have been arrested by police over these cases that have shocked the nation of 180 million people

Most of the children were under fourteen years and there was a child that was only six years old who was also abused

There was a film that showed a fourteen year old boy molesting a ten year old school girl

Videos of assaults were filmed and thousands of copies were made and sold in the Kasur district

One victim claimed he was injected in his spine with a drug before he was assaulted

It is the scale of the scandal which has emerged that is so shocking

The parents of the victims clashed with police about their failure to prosecute the men involved in the scandal

There have been demonstrators who were protesting against the police’s failure to arrest members of the gang

They were suspected of raping hundreds of children, then filming them and blackmailing their parents

A local gang began filming these sexual exploits with children in 2006 and this has continued up to last year

Pakistan had experienced a similar tragedy in the late 1990’s

Then a hundred children were sexually abused and murdered in Lahore by a serial killer

At that time a gang of twenty-five men were involved in the crime

There is no doubt that Pakistan has failed its children

The people have no faith in their court system as the judiciary has prevented arrests of these abusers

The world will watch and wait to see how the Government deals with these atrocities

They will forever be a stain on this country until justice for the innocent is dealt with

Pakistan, you should be ashamed of yourselves

These victims need to see justice given and anything short of this is a further failure by the Pakistani Government to act!

President Obama’s speech on 6^th August marks a historic turning point in US relationships with Israel

It was made at the American University in Washington DC and this setting was chosen deliberately for this debate

John Kennedy dealt with a similar call on a deal regarding nuclear discussions with Iran more than a half century ago

The dispute over Iran has opened up a chasm separating the strategic events adopted by the US from those of Israel

They show no sign narrowing

Obama has declared that Israel is alone and isolated in its official opposition to the American-Iranian rapprochement

President Obama has stated that this is the strongest non-proliferation agreement ever negotiated

Because it’s such a strong deal, every nation in the world has commented on it publicly & given their support, except the Israeli Government

Netanyahu is directing an overcharged campaign inciting Congress to oppose the President and scuttle the agreement with Iran

Netanyahu is doing this at a time when the deal has been unanimously endorsed in the United Nations Security Council

In June of 1967, when Egypt was defeated in the six day war, the US supplied Israel with F-4 phantoms

They were the most advanced aircrafts in the western arsenal

In return for America’s commitment to maintain Israel’s superiority over any regional threat…

…Israel had to promise to keep its nuclear bombs, now more than 200, ready “in the basement”

Israel’s nuclear bombs have remained there for decades

Netanyahu continues to maintain his aggressive campaign to permanently limit sanctions and to ostracise Iran

Netanyahu cannot continue to prevent Iran’s nuclear programme, while still establishing his own nuclear regional security

Obama’s support to the Iranian deal has affected Tehran’s nuclear doctrine for the better. It also affects Israel’s nuclear outcome

As the deal with Iran continues, so international challenges to Israel’s undeclared nuclear arsenal and capability comes into effect

There will be calls for a nuclear-weapons-free zone in the Middle East, which will be expected with greater inference than ever before

Many will quite rightly say it is time to take Israel’s bombs “out of the basement”

President Obama and his US leadership with his promotion to diplomacy over armed conflict is a deal which will improve Israel’s security

Barack Obama may now be tempted to apply this same strategy to Israel’s long stalemated conflict with Palestine

These problems with America and Israel are only just beginning

We have already predicted some time ago that Israel will continue to be isolated and ostracised

This is already happening and will continue unabated until reason prevails

The more Israel battles against doing what is right, the more its people will suffer because of the intransigence of their Government

The ongoing financial crisis in Russia is the result of International sanctions

These were imposed on Russia following their annexation of the Crimea and their military intervention in the Ukraine

President Putin’s hard-line attitude and bullying tactics are causing suffering to all the Russia people

Vladimir Putin has no care for them as he continues to rule them with an iron fist

This crisis has affected the Russian economy, consumers and companies as well as the regional financial markets

They also affect Putin’s ambitions regarding the European Economic Union

The EU has banned any trade in arms and the US prohibited transactions with Russia’s United Shipbuilding Corporation

This is classified as a defence company

The EU and the US have also banned their technologies to Russia’s very deep water, Artic and shale oil drilling

The EU, which does far more trade with Russia, will review this again in three months’ time

Russia has called the new sanctions destructive and short-sighted

The Ukraine hosts the design on military transport planes. The economic freeze has blocked plans to deliver the new heavy transport plane

Russia has stopped producing its own transport plane and has closed down a space rocket programme

Project 22350 frigates did not arrive, because Ukraine did not deliver the turbines for them

Russia has a large arms trade with France

These included the purchasing of two Mistral warships together with thermal imagery devices and electronics for its Su-30 fighter jets

This order has been cancelled

Replacing many foreign sourced components is a sheer impossibility, as 90% of defence industry’s electronics are produced in the West

Russia was already near a recession before the Crimea Crisis and now Russia ranks low in the World Economic Forum’s rankings

It already has low road qualities, problems with technological adaptation and a burden of Government regulation

Russia’s weak economy cannot withstand the challenges of low oil prices and International sanctions

The price of oil hit Russia hard when oil fell from $100 per barrel to $60 per barrel in December 2014

Russia depends on oil and gas production for half of its Government’s revenue

The ongoing financial crisis in Russia is the result of the falling rouble, which began in the second half of 2014

This caused investors to sell off Russian assets, which further led to the decline of the rouble

To get rid of the failing rouble Russians have been exchanging roubles for US dollars or euros

Prices of goods, including beef and fish, rose to 40-50%, as Putin has banned western imports

Even the state owned gas company Gazprom has lost 86% of its net income because of the rouble devaluation

This financial crisis in Russia has affected other global financial markets

The US Ford Motor Company has experienced a 40% decline in sales

Germany’s Volkswagen has had a 20% decline in sales to Russia

BP has lost 17% of market shares and a joint French company dealing in shale exploration with Russia has been shelved

Adidas has closed down their stores in Russia and McDonalds also lost twelve stores there

Many of Israel’s one million Jewish immigrants from the Soviet Union have business ties with Russia and are affected by this crisis

This goes to show you in this global world of ours that we are all either directly or indirectly involved with one another

No country is isolated or self-sufficient and it affects us when a dictator goes rogue for reasons of selfish pomposity and aggrandisement

He has not earned it, but feels it is his right to have over and above the suffering of his own people

It is then that the world will continue to stand against him

The International communities can withstand these sanctions

But how long before the Russian people stand up and do something about it?

The Suez Canal II is hoped to propel Sisi to be a legendary status, as it did with President Nasser

The canal also sealed Nasser’s reputation when he nationalised the canal, triggering the 1956 Suez Crisis

The Suez Canal was also important to Anwar Sadat

He was known as the architect of the “crossing of the canal” during the 1973 war with Israel

In fact the Suez Canal has been an important nationalist symbol since its construction

Suez Canal II is not a new canal, but a 72 km parallel channel to extend the existing one

There were further expansions to it in 1955 and 1980

So the Suez Canal is not an engineering feat that it has been portrayed to be

The original waterway was 164 km long

It completely revolutionised shipping from Asia to Europe giving all vessels a massive 7,000 km shortcut

The original canal was conceived by the French and this new canal was designed by the Egyptians

The Suez Canal II was completed in one year and ahead of time

It is financed through Egyptian investment certificates sold to its citizens

The Suez Canal II should not bankrupt this highly indebted nation

Unless that is, payments for the canal are not forthcoming with enough vessels to supply its income

It is hoped that the expanded capacity should increase Egypt’s revenue from $5.5bn to $13.5bn

At this time the canal is operating at under capacity and this is not getting any better

Instead of the Suez Canal II, with its many billions, being sunk into dredging the desert sands for its evolution…

…the money should have been spent in shoring up the Nile Delta, which is already under threat by rising sea levels and sinking sediments

Many experts have been warning about these impending dangers for decades

Egypt has taken almost no action to save its breadbasket and the homes to nearly half of its population

This is already a sinking ship that needs to be navigated to a safe port before it is too late

That takes wise constructive thinking and where ego has no part to play in the lives of all Egyptian people

They are the priority over having Sisi’s name on Suez Canal II

 “It always seems impossible until it’s done”. The words of a man who made the impossible come true – Nelson Mandela

These words have inspired Federica Mogherini. She is the European Union’s chief diplomat

On 14^th July seven countries around a table in Vienna under the steer of the European Union…

…finally reached a deal on Iran’s nuclear programme

A new chapter had been opened!

The talks were based on mutual respect and clarity

The whole of the Middle East is in turmoil

Sectarianism is on the rise and there needs to be a restart to the political processes to end wars

We need to get all regional powers back to the negotiating table to stop the carnage

Cooperation between Iran, its neighbours and the whole international community…

…could open unprecedented possibilities for peace in the region, starting with Syria, Yemen and Iraq

Mogherini has strong points and should not be underestimated. She works hard and is a team player

She has great composure and conducts herself well and is an excellent mediator. She gets the job done

Helga Schmid has worked in various positions with the German Government

Amongst her many offices that she has held, she was head of the political staff of the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin

She is currently deputy secretary-general of the EU’s External Action Service and senior advisor to Angela Merkel

Schmid has immense technical knowledge, which gives her a direct advantage over many others

Schmid has been deeply involved in nuclear negotiations with Iran since 2003

Schmid has stated that the international community cannot easily tolerate failure of the nuclear negotiations with Tehran

She has been described as a formidable diplomat, highly skilled and experienced

Schmid is even referred to as the ‘power in the shadow’, a linchpin in the negotiations and the ring leader

In the end it was Schmid who led negotiations of the agreement and its five annexes

Also at the table for the Americans was Wendy Sherman

She is her country’s first female undersecretary of political affairs and a veteran of nuclear negotiations

Sherman played an important role in the agreement that the Clinton administration reached with North Korea in 2000

This was the agreement on its nuclear weapons program, which President George W Bush later reneged on

Sherman has served on the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction, Proliferation and Terrorism

She has the number three position in the State Department

Sherman is sometime called a ‘door opener’ for leading successful negotiations

These women have stated that men veered off course & went on historical tangents or started to get tangled into debates about who gave more

It is these women that have walked them back to the present

It has not been lost on the Iranians that in these negotiations with P5+1 they were dealing with three powerful women

These three women are at the centre of the most important global political issue of the moment

This is the standoff with Iran over its nuclear programme and its success in following it through!

When more women come to the negotiating table then there will be less conflict in this world and common sense will finally prevail!

Seventy years ago, Hiroshima was turned into a burning inferno as Americans dropped an atomic bomb on this Japanese city

A young man, Keijiro Matsushima, was just 16 years old when he witnessed the attack, which claimed 100,000 lives in one day

On 6^th August 1945 it was a beautiful day with a clear blue sky, Matsushima had returned to school

It was about 8.15am. His class had just started when he looked out of the window to see two American B-29 bombers

He thought more American planes were doing their routine work

When he looked back at his books, the bomb exploded. There was a very strong flash and a wave of heat

The whole world turned orange and he was thrown into an oven for a moment

At the hypocentre, some 2km from his school, the temperature on the ground reached 3,000⁰C

The flash was followed by a loud boom. He covered his ears and eyes.  He jumped under his desk

All became pitch black and then a deadly silence

Matsushima kept asking for his mother to help him and for Buddha to help him. This was the first time he had prayed to Buddha

Keijiro Matsushima was a fortunate survivor. He only suffered cuts from glass splinters

When he went outside he was shocked to witness the devastation caused by only two planes

Many people were badly burned with their skin peeling from their heads and bodies

Their clothes were burned and some were almost naked

He thought Hiroshima is dying

People were crawling towards the river to cool their burns, many died on the river banks

The Red Cross hospital was also damaged. Within the 2km of the hypocentre most buildings were burnt and destroyed

Matsushima’s mother had evacuated the city earlier in the year after the death of her husband

Matsushima left Hiroshima on foot and managed to get a rescue train, where he finally reached his mother

She had seen the mushroom cloud of smoke above the city and had assumed her son had been killed

Just three days after Hiroshima was hit, another atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki

Japan surrendered seven days later on the 15th August 1945

By the end of the year 140,000 deaths in Hiroshima were attributed to the bomb

This included people killed in the explosion and those killed by the radiation and injuries

Up to 80,000 people were killed in Nagasaki and also by the radioactive fallout

Today Hiroshima is a modern city completely rebuilt with a population of one million

The Atomic Dome Building, which is used as an exhibition today, withstood the blast due to its concrete structure

The bomb exploded almost directly over it

Despite the sufferings, the attack caused Matsushima to feel no bitterness towards the Americans

He says, “People go crazy in wars, wanting to kill the enemy”

“Now we have to co-operate to abolish all nukes”

Palm oil is seen by economists and environmentalists as either the oil to slow global warming or in fact as a major climate killer

The pros of palm oil are that it generates ten times the amount of energy than it consumes

Palm oil helps reduce poverty since it generates returns of over $3,000 per hectare vs $100 on conventional agriculture, so farmers love it

Palm oil is believed to have a high antioxidant of red palm oil, which makes it a natural weapon against cancer

Palm oil is excellent for cooking, as it does not lose valuable nutrients when it is heated up

Palm oil can be used as a source of biofuels and biodiesel used in power plants and other renewable energy purposes around the world

The palm oil fruit is rich in vitamins, antioxidants and other phytonutrients

Because palm oil is in such demand these days, rainforests the size of five football fields disappear every minute

Rain forests are being eroded to make way for palm oil plantations

83% of the world’s palm oil is produced in Indonesia and Malaysia

In 15 years’ time 98% of the world’s rainforests will have disappeared due to intensive deforestation

When forests are cleared for palm oil, large amounts of carbon dioxide is released making Indonesia the third largest emitter of CO2

Can the world afford to sacrifice some of these rainforests to reduce poverty and possibly prevent cancer?

Orangutans that live in these forests, especially around Borneo are becoming an endangered species

The impact of the cultivation of the palm oil plantations on Orangutans is devastating

It has virtually wiped out their entire habitat

The Orangutans can still be saved, so long as palm oil plantations are controlled

Demand for the oil is expected to rise by 50% in the next decade

World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) estimates that Borneo has already lost 30% of its forests in the last four decades

Palm oil growers, traders and conservationist need to come together to discuss matters

Common sense must prevail to address all the important issues

There needs to be certified producers, no land grabs, no chemical pesticides and no harming of the Orangutans

No more can virgin forests be cut down to make palm oil

Environmentally the destruction is far too great

There needs to be careful monitoring to save the environment and wild life as well as air pollution and global warming issues

Control and balance requires all parties to come together, so that production is allowed to carry on without bringing detriment to others

Moderation in all things breeds results and everyone is happy

It has to be so for the Greater Good

Australia’s first female Indigenous MP has said the country cannot recognise Aboriginal people in the Constitution

Not until its racist past is acknowledged

Senator Nova Peris has announced that Government policy was hindering Australia’s Indigenous people to take control of their lives

The Indigenous Australians are not even mentioned in the Constitution

The Government is now consulting with the Indigenous leaders on how it could possibly refer to them in the document

Nova Peris has said that past wounds need to be healed before a decision like that was made

You can only go forwards when you acknowledge the truth about Aboriginal people and at this time the country has a problem with it

Every time the Aboriginal people come out to tell their story, their voices are not heard

The Government simply does not want to deal with them

Aboriginal people were taken away from their families

This was so that the Government could assimilate Indigenous children by placing them with white families

This integration did not work in Canada, where it was practiced with the First Nation Canadian population

And it did not work with Aboriginals

Indigenous people should be hailed as somebody

Not as savages who should be tamed to the white man’s will and indoctrination

These people have standards and pride in themselves – it is their country after all

They should be respected with all their culture and they should be brought to the table to discuss their history

That history is the time before the white man landed

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has pledged to hold a referendum in 2017

It is to see if the Aboriginal people and the Torres Strait Islanders are recognised as the first Australians

What an insult by the white man on these people!

We are in the 21st century after all and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders were the first to occupy Australia

It is time the Australian Government woke up and started to respect these people, their cultures, language and heritage

This also means their lands and waters

Or do they want to be known for their removal of them, as was the case with America and the First Nation North American Indians?

We all have a right to live on this planet

It simply does not mean because you are not white you are somehow subservient to those whose skin is white

How narrow-minded is that?

Australia needs to make amends for all the hardships imposed on these Aboriginal people

They must stop pushing their heads in the sand and ignoring them

Australians cannot make out that they are holier than thou

In fact they continue to ignore the very people whose land it was first

The white Australian man should start to learn from their Indigenous people how to conserve water and where to find it in times of drought

They need to learn about land conservation and what the land can offer them in other ways

It is arrogant to assume that the white man knows everything

In fact they are rather backward where matters of the land are concerned

We all must learn to live and work together for the betterment of the country as a whole

We need to pull together all our skills and if not then we are arrogant and deserve all that eventually will come to us

Racism has no part to play in a democratic elected Government and a so called civilised society

Perhaps many Australians haven’t evolved as civilised yet – after all many arrived as convicts?

This could only happen in America, armadillos are fighting back without even knowing about it!

A man from Texas has been wounded after a bullet he fired at an armadillo ricocheted and hit him in the head

The shooting took place in east Texas, when the shooter fired three bullets at an armadillo

One of those bullets ricocheted and hit him in the jaw

The man is being treated for minor injury. The armadillo was nowhere to be found

This is not the first time in recent months that an armadillo deflected bullets, which ended up wounding a human being

A man in Georgia, USA, injured his mother-in-law when a bullet he fired ricocheted off the armadillo

The bullet went from the armadillo through a fence and then through the backdoor of his mother-in-law’s mobile home

Then it went through the recliner chair that she was sitting in and into her back

One just couldn’t believe the stupidity of the incident if it didn’t happen with guns in America

This is the result of too many guns in the wrong hands

Of course Americans have a right to fire weapons when they feel threatened

The armadillos of course have no say in the matter!

A vaccine against the deadly Ebola virus has led to 100% protection and could transform the way Ebola is tackled

Previously there were no proven drugs or vaccines against this killer virus

With co-operation throughout the world, the search for a vaccine against this deadly virus has been found

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has found the results remarkable

The trial centred on the VSV-EBOV vaccine, first started by the Public Health Agency of Canada

Then it was developed by Merck, the pharmaceutical company

The way the vaccine has been combined was by taking a fragment of the Ebola virus with another safer virus

This trains the immune system to beat Ebola

This unique clinical trial took place in Guinea, when a new patient was discovered

His friends, neighbours and family were vaccinated to create a protective ring of immunity

One hundred patients were identified in this trial and then close contacts were either vaccinated immediately or three weeks later

For those who were vaccinated immediately, there were no subsequent cases of Ebola

But for those who were vaccinated later, there were sixteen cases

While the fight against Ebola continues, there is good news that global efforts to stop this outbreak are producing results

In Liberia, the Ebola outbreak has officially ended after the last 42 days (twice as long as the incubation period of Ebola infections)

There were no new cases since the last person contracted the disease

In Guinea and Sierra Leone, there has been a drop in cases, holding steady over the last three weeks

This has been a major and significant achievement by all those battling against this deadly disease

The world owes a debt of gratitude to all those professional people who have dedicated their lives into combating this disease

They have brought outstanding relief to those who have it!