Russia Asks Indonesia to Build an Instant Noodle Factory

Jakarta Globe, July 07, 2012

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Moscow. Indonesian’s Ambassador to Russia Djauhari Oratmangun said on Saturday that the Russian government asked him to help coordinate the construction of an instant noodle factory in Russia.

“It was specially requested by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin when we met,” Djauhari said. “Instant noodles are a favorite food in Russia.”

The new factory was brought up during a recent joint commission meeting between the two country's diplomats, which saw an agreement to boost economic cooperation to the tune of some $5 billion through 2014. The investment will include transportation, the mineral industry and food safety.

According to Djauhari, Russia offered to continue exporting wheat to Indonesia in exchange for Indonesia exporting larger volumes of  palm oil to Russia — and to invest in the instant noodle factory. 

“This is big opportunity for Indonesian instant noodle company because Russia has very huge population,” he said. “As I go to Indonesia, I will meet instant noodle producers and invite them to see the market potential in Russia. Instant noodle market is huge there, and the opportunity should not be wasted.”

Antara

Merkel and Yudhoyono to Declare Comprehensive Indonesian-German Partnership

Jakarta Globe, Camelia Pasandaran, July 07, 2012

US President Barack Obama, center, Chinese President Hu Jintao, right,
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, second right and President Susilo Bambang
 Yudhoyono, left, as they arrive for the family photo of the G20 summit on June 18.
Merkel will make a two day visit to Indonesia starting on Tuesday. (AFP Photo
/Jewel Samad)

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President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will declare a comprehensive partnership between Indonesia and Germany during Merkel’s visit to Jakarta, which begins on Tuesday.

Responding to Yudhoyono’s visit in 2009 to Germany, Merkel will travel to Indonesia with her state secretary for economic affairs, parliament members, and German business representatives. 

Teuku Faizasyah, a member of the president’s staff for international relations said in a written statement on Saturday that the comprehensive partnership will mark a new visionary relationship focusing on cooperation. 

“Bilateral meetings between the President and Chancellor will focus on better cooperation on some prioritized sectors: Mainly on trade and investment, education, research and technology, health and defense industry,” Faizasyah said.

“The visit will be also used by both government leaders to discuss regional and global issues that have been of concern.”

Besides meetings and a dinner with Yudhoyono, Merkel will visit the Kalibata Hero Cemetery, Immanuel church in Gambir and Istiqlal mosque. She will also meet with Constitutional Court Chief Mahfud MD and attend an Indonesian-German business leaders meeting.

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IMF Chief’s Visit Likely to Question Indonesia’s Pledged Loan: Minister

Jakarta Globe, Agustiyanti & Arientha Primanita | July 06, 2012

Managing Director of the IMF Christine Lagarde will be in Asia on July 6-12
 to meet with authorities in Japan, Indonesia and Thailand. (AFP Photo/Omar Torres) 

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International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde’s Jakarta visit next week is likely intended to question Indonesia about its earlier pledge to loan the IMF some funds, a top Indonesian official has said.

Indonesian Coordinating Minister for the Economy Hatta Rajasa said in Jakarta on Friday he was not sure yet of what Lagarde wanted to discuss with Indonesian officials during her scheduled visit to Jakarta on July 8-10, which would include a meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on July 10.

But he said it most likely had something to do with Indonesia’s agreement, along with other nations of the G-20 economic group, to support the IMF made during the G-20 Summit in Los Cabos, Mexico, last month.

As a follow-up to the pledge, Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo said last week that Indonesia was planning to loan up to $1 billion to the IMF.

“The IMF might want to ask about that [the loan pledge], among other things. IMF is in need of $430 billion to inject funds to some countries having financial difficulties. Hopefully they won’t spend all the money in Europe, but also in Africa and other countries in need,” Hatta said.

“We see now that Indonesia has no intention to borrow any money. On the contrary we want to contribute to the global economy. We now have the upper hand,” he added.

Hatta said, however, that the Indonesian government had yet to make a final decision on the pledge, saying not all Indonesians were happy with the plan as they still maintained a negative opinion of the IMF.

“We’ll see... Our people are rather sensitive; they’ll get angry if we borrow money [from the IMF] and also if we lend it some money. Although the IMF has been reformed, our people still have their own opinion of the IMF.”

He further added that if Indonesia lends the money, it would be on the condition that the IMF would not exclusively channel the fund to Europe.

Aside from visiting Indonesia, Lagarde is scheduled to visit Japan on July 6-7 and Thailand on July 11-12.

Investor Daily/BeritaSatu/JG

East meets west: President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono welcomes

 the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Christine

 Lagarde at the State Palace on Tuesday. Lagarde praised Indonesian economic

 growth, which she considered to be solid and promising. (JP/Jerry Adiguna)

RI to host largest ever ASEAN-Latin business forum

The Jakarta Post, Linda Yulisman, Jakarta, Fri, July 06 2012

Amid the worsening global economy, Indonesia will host a business forum for ASEAN and South American countries on July 9 and 10 in Jakarta, which will offer chances for business people from both regions to explore new trade and investment opportunities.

The third and biggest ever ASEAN Latin business forum, scheduled to be opened by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, will be attended by a number of prominent figures comprising business leaders, trade representatives and decision makers, including International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Christine Lagarde, who will deliver her remarks on the second day of the forum.

 A number of ministers from South American and ASEAN countries will also take part in the forum, such as Brazilian Trade Minister Fernando Pimentel, Mexican Economy Minister Bruno Ferrari, Malaysian Minister of International Trade and Industry Sri Mustapa Mohamed and Singaporean Trade and Industry Minister Lim Hng Kiang.

Apart from that, business leaders from the South American region, including Carlos Slim Domit, the son of Mexican mobile phone tycoon Carlos Slim Helu and Francisco Sergio Turra, the chief executive officer of Brazilian ore mining corporation, Vale, will also attend the event.

The event will give a major boost to both regions at a time when they are eyeing opportunities in new markets and alternative economic partners amid the economic gloom that surrounds advanced economies in the European Union and the US, which have traditionally driven economic growth, Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan said on Thursday.

“Our potential to conduct trade and other economic activities, including investment and tourism, is huge,” he told reporters during a press conference at his office in Jakarta. Current regional economic relations were still far below their potential, as regions with similar population sizes still traded mostly to other countries outside the blocs, Gita added.

Both regions, which have populations of around 580 million and a total gross domestic product of US$5 trillion, had two-way trade totaling $48.54 billion in 2010, according to ASEAN official data.

Indonesian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) chairman Suryo Bambang Sulisto voiced a similar view, saying that there was still enormous room to expand ties due to the complementary economic structures of both regions. “Their [South American] business communities are more advanced compared to us. We can take many benefits from this cooperation.”

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono delivering a speech during

 the opening of the Asean Latin Business Forum 2012 in Jakarta on 

Monday. The forum, set to end on Tuesday, gathers government officials,

 businessmen and academics from Asean and Latin America countries.

(Antara Photo/Widodo S. Jusuf)

.

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Catholic Church Fears Growing Vatican Bank Scandal

Transparency vs. Money Laundering

Spiegel, by Andreas Wassermann and Peter Wensierski 2 July 2012 

A new scandal threatens to engulf the Catholic Church and this time the focus is money. Senior Vatican officials are battling over the future of the Vatican bank. While some would like total transparency, dubious transactions from the past and present could harm the Church's image. 

 

The Vatican scandal over shady bank accounts and millions in suspect transfers began shortly before sunrise on June 5 on Via Giuseppe Verdi, a picturesque street in the old part of Piacenza, a town in northeastern Italy. An elderly gentleman in a tailor-made suit had just left his house with a leather briefcase dangling from his right hand. He was on his way to his car.

It was to be an important day for Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, who had recently been fired as the head of the Vatican bank -- even if it turned out differently than he'd expected. Tedeschi was planning to go to the Vatican on that morning, but he never got there. The 67-year-old banker missed the high-speed train to Rome, meaning he couldn't, as he had planned, get into a taxi at the Italian capital's central station for the short journey across the Tiber River to the Vatican. There, he had hoped to take the documents out of his briefcase and hand them over to a confidant of the pope.

Instead, Gotti Tedeschi found four men waiting for him in the street -- not a hit squad as he feared at first, but investigators with the Carabinieri, Italy's national military police force. Even before he reached his car, they presented him with a search warrant and escorted him back to his house. For several hours, they searched through his sparsely furnished, cloister-like home office. At the same time, other officers were searching through Gotti Tedeschi's office in Milan. Among the objects they confiscated were two computers, two cabinets' full of binders, a planner and his briefcase.

The investigators were pleased. While they made but little headway in their corruption investigation involving a client of a company Gotti Tedeschi had once headed, an Italian subsidiary of the Spanish banking giant Santander, they stumbled upon something else in there search which proved to be spectacular.

The documents confiscated from Gotti Tadeschi, a former confidant of the pope, provided Italian law-enforcement officials insight into the innermost workings of the Vatican bank. The secret dossier includes references to anonymous numbered accounts and questionable transactions as well as written and electronic communications reportedly showing how Church banking officials circumvented European regulations aimed at combating money-laundering.

A Possible Motive

The drama unfolding in the Vatican is now heading toward a climax. First, it was "il corvo," the raven, whose revelations about life in the court of the embattled and exhausted Pope Benedict XVI caused months of unease. Then came the arrest of Paolo Gabriele, the pope's butler, whom the Vatican has fingered as the source of the private papal correspondence that was leaked to the public. And now the scandal surrounding Gotti Tedeschi is providing a possible motive for the Catholic soap opera: money.

The pope had apparently tasked the financial executive with making the Vatican bank more transparent. But by approaching his task with perhaps an excess of zeal Gotti Tedeschi upset powerful forces within the Roman Curia, the Vatican's administrative and judicial apparatus. Several high-ranking officials within the Curia viewed the bank, officially known as the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR), as something akin to a trust company for clandestine monetary transactions that is not only used by the Church, but allegedly also by the mafia as well as corrupt politicians and companies. In one of the seized Gotti Tedeschi memos, he wrote: "I've seen things in the Vatican that scare me."

It is a clear turning, one which transforms the so-called "Vatileaks" affair into a financial scandal that could seriously damage the reputation of the Holy See. Internal correspondence dated May 22 from a member of the bank's supervisory board to the Vatican's Secretariat of State notes that the Vatican bank is presently "in an extremely fragile and precarious position" and that the situation had reached "a point of imminent danger."

The next act in the drama is set for Wednesday. Money-laundering experts from the Council of Europe will present a preliminary report on the Vatican in Strasbourg. It currently looks as though they will indicate serious misgivings about whether the IOR has taking sufficient precautions against money-laundering.

Their worries are corroborated by the work of Italian authorities. In questioning sessions sometimes lasting several hours, Gotti Tedeschi told public prosecutors whom he trusted in the Vatican, other than Pope Benedict XVI, and whom he didn't. The banker reportedly fingered Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone as the ringleader of his "enemies," accusing him of doing everything possible to keep the Curia's accounts hidden from Italian authorities. The Vatican has been trying to make its bank eligible for inclusion on the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's so-called "white list" of financial institutions not suspected of being involved in money-laundering or terrorism financing. But Gotti Tedeschi reportedly complained that: "If we continue with Bertone's line, we'll never get off the black list."

Alarmed Vatican Leadership

Fabio Palazzo, Gotti Tedeschi's Milan-based lawyer, has declined to discuss details of the interrogations and the content of the documents seized from his client. Nevertheless, he stresses that the documents contain "useful facts" that would indicate that there were no legitimate grounds for sacking Gotti Tedeschi as head of the bank.

The Vatican leadership is alarmed. Archbishops and cardinals are far from thrilled that Italian officials are now rummaging around in their secret affairs. Papal spokesman Federico Lombardi has openly threatened Italy's law-enforcement apparatus and urged it to kindly respect "the sovereign rights of the Holy See." In other words, he believes that all those documents including confidential details about the Vatican bank that were seized during the search of Gotti Tedeschi's home should not be in the hands of Italian investigators.

The fears of the pope and the Curia are well-founded. In the past, every time Italian prosecutors have stepped in and confidential documents have found their way to light, the secretive ways of the Vatican bank have always ended up damaging the Church's prestige. For more than 40 years, the IOR, founded in 1942, has been regularly embroiled in scandals, including bribery money for political parties, mafia money-laundering and, repeatedly, anonymous accounts.

Many who have become ensnarled in illegal business dealings with the Vatican bank have been forced to pay with their lives, while others have spent years behind bars. Despite all of its sacred and solemn promises, the Vatican has succeeded in keeping the pope's bank a haven for money-launderers. And instead of being on some Caribbean island, this one is right in the middle of Europe, in the heart of Rome.

Its business model depends on keeping things as shrouded as possible from all financial authorities. Capital gains are untaxed, financial statements are not disclosed and anonymity is guaranteed. The bank's exotic status of belonging to a religious monarchy in a sovereign state the size of a city park has shielded it from investigations and unpleasant external monitoring.

The bank's headquarters are housed in a medieval defensive tower known as Niccolò V nestled right against the Apostolic Palace, the pope's official residence, and is home to a vast amount of money and commercial papers. Here, roughly 100 employees look after 33,000 accounts with total deposits of some €6 billion ($7.6 billion). The direct beneficiary is the pope and his Church; 2010 earnings from the bank were €55 million. Such revenues help make up for a decline in donations from members of his global congregation.

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9/11 controlled demolition? Nano-thermitic material found un dust of WTC - Dr. Neils Harrit, Denmark

Lilou Macé interviews Dr. Niels Harrit, Associate Professor Emeritus of Chemistry at the University of Copenhagen Denmark, Friday 29th of June 2012.

In this video interview, Niels Harrit shares his research on the 11th of September 2001 in NYC, turning point date in the history of the world. In this hour interview Niels speaks about the science but for the first time about his opinion and way of seing this event. He brings light to something that is for him pure lies. He explains in this interview to Lilou Macé his findings. His wife and Peace activitst also involved in all Niels Harrit's research is also interviewed on Saturday 30th June by Lilou at their home outside of Copenhagen. Niels does not have a website to promote this information.

He however does lectures and speaks at events such as the open mind conference in Denmark happening on September 20 until 22, 2012 http://www.openmindconference.com/ - Niels Harrit is an Associate Professor of chemistry at the University of Copenhagen. His presentation will include a factual account of the destruction of the World Trade Center that took place on September 11th 2001 in New York.

After visiting the Ground Zero site and examining the dust produced by the destruction of the towers, Niels and eight other scientists found large quantities of active thermitic material, which is normally found in explosives. As well as discussing the twin towers and how he believes that it was not possible for them to have collapsed after being hit by the two airplanes.

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(Dark forces’ fear causes desperate acts - March 1, 2004 - Matthew Channelled by Suzanne Ward)

2.  YES!  The “long dark night of the soul” for the peoples of Earth is ending! Although these violent moments at hand are with bloodshed and sorrow for many and with outrage for most, these moments are leading your civilization out of the darkness that has so long prevailed on the planet.  Allow your natural reactions at the events to be felt—mourn those whose lives have been cut short, help those who are desperately in need, feel anger about actions in arrogant power-mongering. Then let go of anger and ACT to secure your world firmly in the healing energy of love-light!     

3.  Enlighten those who do not understand that the momentum of the light is revealing the longstanding deception that has created the current state of your world.  Unaware people need to know that the dark perpetrators’ desperate but ultimately futile attempts to retain their control are “coming to light.”  Minds need to be open to the truth coming forth about the purpose of the war in Iraq, the unconscionable “9/11,” the dark forces’ efforts to derail NESARA [National Economic Security and Reformation Act], and the crimes of corporations in league with governments.  

4.  There still is resistance in the United States to believing that the very people whose responsibility is to wisely lead, truthfully inform and adequately protect you are the very ones who have been betraying you—betraying your entire world!  We understand this resistance.  The heartbreak of your young people being wounded and dying for “freedom from terrorism” is cruel enough without the knowing that this war is based on lies and greed for power. There is NO intent for anyone’s “freedom,” and the “terrorism” that has taken so many lives has been initiated by the self-serving few at the top of this government in union with other dark souls on the planet whose purpose is the same—world domination.   

5.  To them, human life is expendable and creating negativity through fear is one of their objectives.  The massive loss of life, injuries and destruction sustained by the Iraqi people has been creating negativity without end in that country, and that energy is permeating the planet.  It is the same with the Zionists in Israel oppressing the Palestinians, another hotbed of violence instigated and kept alive by the darkness of a few souls.  Still more negativity comes from the millions dying of disease and starvation while billions are spent on amassing weapons.

6.  We understand the difficulty of sustaining optimism in the face of these happenings, yet there is supreme reason to do so. The truths coming forth are bringing the light necessary to lift and transmute this negativity into “grassroots” actions to change from war to peace, from hatred to love, ruination to restoration, violence to compassion and forgiveness, to harmony and cooperation.  Be involved!

7.  We also understand the difficulty in believing that dark members of a civilization different from human—the reptilian civilization, some of whom are residing on the planet—are manipulating their human puppets known as the Illuminati.  But be of LIGHT heart—reptilians of the light forces are there too, working hand in hand with human lightworkers to usher in the promised era of love-light and harmony.  Feel reassured by this invaluable assistance!    

8.  We understand as well the reluctance to believe in something as “miraculous” as NESARA, especially since the reality of this U.S. legislation has been denied and ridiculed by that government and their agents.  So we tell you, it is necessary only to believe in the blessings that NESARA holds for your world: the end of the currentUS presidential administration and its policies; cessation of war in Iraq; prosperity for all nations through fair allocation of resources; preservation and restoration of your environment.  Holding these visions in your thoughts and feelings will generate the energy to manifest them!

9.  No, Mother, this isn’t new information.  It isn’t a pronouncement that the horror and heartache will cease on a certain date, as much as we wish we could give that. This message of essential reinforcement of what we long have been giving to our valued messengers on Earth is needed for the many who feel the darkness will be endless.  It cannot, it SHALL not be endless—it is ENDING!!  The ending of darkness comes with your minds and hearts embracing the light of hope, the healing power of love, the vision of the peaceful world you want, and acting upon your convictions and commitment.  

(Religions– Zionism - March 1, 2012 - Matthew Channelled by Suzanne Ward)

The American People Are Angry

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US media hooked on eurozone crisis

Deutsche Welle, 28 June 2012

Examining US media reports on Europe’s economic crisis for DW's Transatlantic Voices column, Julian Jaursch argues that today's coverage has to be viewed in the context of the previous global economic downturn.

Julian Jaursch is a freelance journalist based in Berlin. He holds an MA in Political Science/TransAtlantic Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Why for Zeus' sake does the American media even care so much? It is Greece, after all: A country with an economy roughly the size of Washington's and about as diverse and interesting as Idaho's. A country with an economic output 50 times smaller than that of the US. A country that prior to the global economic crisis was virtually non-existent in American economic news.

Since then, papers and TV shows have been full of Greece. The New York Times ran articles on the country's financial situation as early as 2008, the Wall Street Journal has been covering every bailout since then, NPR tried to explain what happens if Greece defaults and CBS recently aired a piece on how the European debt crisis sent the Dow Jones plummeting. Even Stephen Colbert, the outspokenly patriotic and US-centered TV character whose international coverage is called "Un-American News," took on the Greek debt crisis. Discussing the dismal situation of Greece's economy in May 2010, he joked that the Greeks had laid off the oracle of Delphi and that she had never seen it coming.

Cause and effect

The examples give some of the reasons for the strong media interest. Precisely because of the global economic downturn, the news media cares. The crisis has shown quite plainly that the economies around the world are interconnected. What happens in one country has repercussions for citizens in many others, for instance via fluctuations on the stock markets or effects on the banking sector. Moreover, it is not just Greece that is making headlines today: Because Spain, Portugal and the rest of the eurozone are struggling as well, the effects are even bigger.

According to news value theories, events gain a certain news value if they have some intrinsic characteristics. Europe's economic woes did just that for the US: While the continent is geographically not very close to the US, it is still intimately connected to the US for historic, political and economic reasons (news factor proximity) and its troubles are bad news (negativity) that in some way affect the US economy (relevance). Add to that the already heightened sensitivity to economic topics due to the global financial crisis (established topic) and it becomes clear why US media and its recipients paid so much attention to Europe. Egotistical, yet genuine, concern about the US economy might have led to the increased coverage.

Playing the blame game

But is it really just that? Or could the coverage also try to mask the US' own economic weaknesses? After all, US reporting, especially some opinion pieces in print and television media, has been quite harsh. There was talk of European "grandiosity" and the "fiction" of the European economic model. European pension systems were closely scrutinized along with the continent's demographic problems. The very values and work ethic of Greeks, Spaniards or Portuguese were questioned. A "Eurosocialist" system that instituted a single currency, but no fiscal union was lamented. Generally, Europe's debt problems and the inherent issues of the euro system were pointed out, repeatedly and vigorously, along with some well-meant pieces of advice from afar. 

Julian Jaursch

Such foreign reporting comes at a time when America's own economy is not exactly doing well, either. Memories of bank and auto bail-outs are still fresh in people's minds, the unemployment rate is at roughly eight percent (eurozone: 11 percent), the economy is only growing moderately and, most importantly, the country's debt-to-GDP ratio is much higher than the EU's, according to Eurostat and the IMF. Still, President Barack Obama has not grown tired of referring to Europe's struggles when talking about the reasons for the slow recovery in the US.

Focusing on the eurozone's failures certainly leaves less time to discuss the US' own debt problems, social security systems or demographic development. It also leaves less time to investigate whether downgrades by American rating agencies - or mere threats thereof - were always justified. Moreover, the fact that an American bank helped obscure Greece's sovereign debt issues in the first place is but a footnote today.

Europe on their mind

Yet, despite American media's intense coverage of Europe's economic misery, there is no distraction campaign to conceal domestic economic problems. Surely, on a political level, Obama will continue to subtly blame the eurozone's struggles for some of America's own hardships. It might even be a standard item of his reelection campaign strategy - anything to take the wind out of the Republicans' sails who say that Obama alone messed up the economy.

Two circumstances lead to the conclusion, however, that coverage is driven by concern rather than by efforts to mask US problems: One regarding the quantity of reporting, the other regarding the quality.

If the American media reported from Europe as a distraction, this would require very little coverage of the US economy and its problems. This is not the case - quite the contrary. Reports about the jobless numbers, poverty rates, the debt ceiling, gas prices or the stock market abound not only in financial news outlets. Therefore, the fact alone that there is a lot of coverage on Europe's problems does not mean that the US media ignores domestic issues. Still, a closer look at America's own pension system or demographic development could not hurt, either.

Concerning the quality of reporting, those stereotypical and hyperbolic, sometimes even flat-out wrong, articles on the European economy are offset by a much larger number of rather dry economic coverage. For the most part, reports try to make sense of what is happening, explain economic jargon or introduce the American audience to those affected across the pond. It is remarkable here that economic journalism might become much more widely consumed because of the crisis. Similarly noteworthy is the fact that US media cannot get around including EU actors in their reporting anymore. Before the crisis, the Union was mostly shunned in US media due to its complex and seemingly distant and dull nature.

It's the economy, stupid

The global financial crisis, which began and played out largely in the US, has arguably intensified the American public's awareness of economic topics. From bailouts to financial reforms, people around the nation were affected by that downturn. So if the collapse of a single investment bank can be the start of a downward spiral for the US economy, what will happen if an entire currency area collapses? Such economic concerns rank highest among Americans' worries and what worries the people, worries the papers.

Editor: Rob Mudge

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Matthew message (Channelled by Suzanne Ward, Jan 19, 2012)

“…. The coffers of the United States, which is erroneously considered the most fiscally sound nation in the world, have been empty for some time. The national debt, in large part due to the skullduggery of the Illuminati-owned Federal Reserve System and its IRS collection agency, will become manageable when that System is dissolved.  The various currencies, especially dollars, have no foundation—daily transactions involving billions of dollars and other currencies are merely information passed from one computer to another and they far exceed the money to back them.  The “new” foundation for currencies will be a return to an old one, where precious metals was a set standard for exchange, and “old fashioned” bartering once again will be an excellent way for nations and communities to conduct some business. ….”


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Indonesia website takes aim at corrupt officials

MYsinchew, Foreign  2012-06-26

JAKARTA, June 26, 2012 (AFP) - An Indonesian website listing crooked officials and individuals has joined the war against graft in one of Asia's most corrupt nations, its founders said Tuesday.

Korupedia.org, which so far lists 108 graft convicts, has received nearly 2 million Internet hits in the week since it was launched, some from hackers trying to bring it down, they said.

The website is similar to IPaidABribe.com, an Indian site launched in Bangalore two years ago.

"Since the official launch last Tuesday we recorded around 1.9 million visits from across Indonesia, most of them from Jakarta," said Suwandi Ahmad, the website's developer.

"We have also had cyberattacks nearly daily. I'm pretty sure it's by people trying to ruin our database," said Danang Widoyoko, one of the founders and also head of the independent Indonesian Corruption Watch.

"A corruption case reported in a newspaper only impacts for one day, but the data on our website will last forever. If you want to find some information about the family of your future spouse check our site," he said.

Korupedia.org lists names, photographs and details of convictions, such as amounts embezzled and sentences received.

"The website at least metes out social punishment, which will hopefully act as a deterrent and help end the culture of corruption in this country," Widoyoko added.

A Gallup poll released in October last year found that 91 percent of Indonesians believe corruption in government is widespread, compared to 84 percent in 2006.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has won two elections on promises to tackle graft in one of the most corrupt countries in Asia, but critics say he has failed to make any genuine difference to the culture of graft and impunity.

Transparency International, the anti-global graft body, ranked Indonesia 100 in a list of 183 nations in its Corruption Perception Index last year, making it more corrupt than India.

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G20 summit: Barroso blames eurozone crisis on US banks

EC president says European leaders have not come to Mexico to receive lessons on how to handle the economy

guardian.co.uk, Patrick Wintour in Los Cabos, Ian Traynor in Brussels and Helena Smith in Athens, Monday 18 June 2012

José Manuel Barroso at the G20 summit. Photograph: Bertrand Langlois/AFP
/Getty Images

The opening day of the G20 summit was threatening to deteriorate into a fractious row between eurozone countries and other non-European members of the G20, notably the US, as EU commission president José Manuel Barroso insisted the origins of the eurozone crisis lay in the unorthodox policies of American capitalism.

As Europe's leaders came under intense pressure to act decisively to cure the euro's ills, and a campaign gathered pace to relax some of the austerity programmes laying waste to countries burdened with unsustainable debt levels, Barroso insisted that Europe had not come to the G20 summit in Mexico to receive lessons on how to handle the economy.

When asked by a Canadian journalist "why should North Americans risk their assets to help Europe?" he replied: "Frankly, we are not here to receive lessons in terms of democracy or in terms of how to handle the economy.

"By the way this crisis was not originated in Europe … seeing as you mention North America, this crisis originated in North America and much of our financial sector was contaminated by, how can I put it, unorthodox practices, from some sectors of the financial market."

After the Greek election at the weekend, which may have shifted the terms of the debate over how to shore up the euro, world leaders meeting in Mexico focused on the European crisis amid strong signs of big trouble brewing in Spain.

Madrid's 10-year cost of borrowing went through the 7% barrier on the bond markets for the first time in the single currency era, the level at which borrowing becomes unaffordable. The Spanish government demanded intervention from the European Central Bank.

Spain's prime minister, Mariano Rajoy, is expected to ask for up to €100bn in eurozone bailout funds for Spain's stricken banks at a meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Luxembourg on Thursday, senior Eurogroup sources said. Voicing exasperation with the European response to the debt crisis, Robert Zoellick, the outgoing American head of the World Bank, warned the G20 summit in Mexico of a growing rift between the Europeans in charge of the bailouts and the IMF.

"The world's waiting for the Europeans to say what they want to do," said Zoellick. He predicted a showdown between the IMF and Europe by the end of the summer in the absence of any decisive action.

Barack Obama was expected to press Germany's chancellor, Angela Merkel, in Mexico on Monday night on the issue of eurobonds – the pooling of liability for single currency countries' debt. But there is no chance of Merkel agreeing to underwrite the debt of other European countries for the foreseeable future.

Fresh from his victory in the Greek election, the centre-right leader, Antonis Samaras, promptly tabled demands for a softening of the draconian austerity programme that Greece has to implement for the eurozone bailout.

Samaras, the prime minister-designate pledged to stick broadly to the Greek bailout terms but added: "We will simultaneously have to make some necessary amendments to the bailout agreement, in order to relieve the people of crippling unemployment and huge hardships."

Politicians and officials in Brussels and Germany appeared to suggest that the new Greek leader's demands could be at least partly satisfied by extending the repayment schedule on the bailout loans or lengthening the target deadlines for cutting the budget deficit.

There were also reports that the terms underpinning Ireland's bailout could also be relaxed, giving Dublin a much longer repayment schedule on the loans. The talk of rescheduling the Greek bailout terms surfaced quickly on Sunday night, with the German foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, suggesting the Europeans could alter the timings. That triggered a row in Germany among the political class over the pros and cons of going easier on Greece.

In Brussels, the respected Bruegel thinktank said: "It is now increasingly clear that the [Greek] programme is severely off track. The [Samaras] victory doesn't change this fact and it has become unavoidable to open a discussion about the shape and form of a new Greek programme. This is a fact now broadly acknowledged by policymakers and in particular by German officials who have openly discussed the possibility of stretching fiscal targets."

Martin Schulz, the German social democrat who presides over the European parliament, added: "The new Greek government will be able to count on our constructive cooperation in possible fine-tuning of its reform strategy and economic targets. If Greece sticks to its commitments, the EU can examine what could be done further to solve the crisis."

From Mexico, however, Merkel appeared to dismiss any easing of the Greek conditions. "The new Greek government has to implement the commitments entered into by the country. The programme framework has to be kept."

The eurogroup source said that Samaras was expected to show up in Luxembourg on Thursday for the meeting of eurozone finance ministers which will grapple with Spain and how to respond to the Greek election results.

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Islamist Morsi Wins Egypt Presidential Vote

ABC News, by Maggie Michael, Associated Press, CAIRO June 24, 2012

Egypt's election commission has declared Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood the winner of Egypt's first free elections by a narrow margin over Ahmed Shafiq, the last prime minister under deposed leader Hosni Mubarak.

The commission said Morsi won with 51.7 percent of the vote versus 48.3 for Shafiq.

A huge crowd of Morsi supporters in Cairo's Tahrir Square erupted in cheers and dancing when the result was read out on live television.

FILE - In this Sunday, May 20, 2012 file photo, the Muslim

Brotherhood's  presidential candidate Mohammed Morsi

holds a rally in Cairo, Egypt. (Photo: AP)

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"Healing the Military Energies in our family Tree" – Jun 13, 2011 (Kryon channelled by David Brown)
“ … There’s much violence and anger throughout the world; when we look at the Middle East, we can see that changes are coming there. The West has a lot of power over the Middle East, but that power will begin to dissolve. The Muslim people of this world will begin to have their own power, and their own prosperity, and they will begin to disconnect from the Western World. This disconnection doesn’t have to be violent as violence only happens when somebody hangs onto what doesn’t belong to them....

... What Military Energy means if we use an analogy: it would be like putting grinding paste into the oil of your motor car. Once you release these energies you will begin to feel lighter as you disconnect from this reality, and, you will find it easier and easier to release any other negative emotions. Military Energies are the core of all your problems...."


How eyepatches became a symbol of Egypt's revolution

Graffiti depicting a high ranking army officer with an eye patch 

Photograph: Nasser Nasser/ASSOCIATED PRESS

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