PwC approves ‘misleading’ accounts for SHV, says NRC

DutchNews, February 28, 2017    

Photo: Depositphotos.com

PwC has approved the accounts of a subsidiary of SHV, Holland’s largest privately held trading company, even though the accounting firm admitted internally that the accounts were ‘misleading’, the NRC said on Tuesday. 

The paper bases its claim on its own investigation into the affair based on interviews and confidential documents. 

SHV is a trading company owned by the Fentener van Vlissingen family which has interests in transport, retail, oil, food and financial services worldwide. PwC, the paper says, has approved the accounts of SHV subsidiary Econosto Mideast for years. The unit supplies industrial valves and pipeline connections for oil companies in the Middle East. 

The NRC says Econosto Mideast has always paid buyers for its customers in cash, but has booked these payments as personnel costs, as if they were their own sales staff. 

Misleading

PwC was aware of this and termed the practice ‘misleading’ in internal reports to SHV. It warned the SHV board that these payments were ‘criminal’ and said it had ‘serious misgivings over the legality of the payments’. Nevertheless PwC continued to approve the accounts for years. 

PwC and the individual accountants made no reaction to the NRC investigation. But last weekend, the paper said Econosto Mideast was also involved in shadow accounting and possibly involved in trade with Iran. 

On Monday, Bart Koolstra, a member of the supervisory board of Amsterdam financial markets watchdog AFM abruptly resigned. In his former job as senior partner at PwC he had signed off on the 2009 accounts of the company.

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Accountants behind Oscars snafu will no longer attend show

Outcry as White House bars top US media from briefing

Yahoo – AFP, February 25, 2017

An empty podium is seen at an off-camera briefing held with a small group of
reporters and White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer in the White House
February 24, 2017 (AFP Photo/Brendan Smialowski)

Washington (AFP) - Major US media outlets condemned as "unacceptable" and an "insult to democratic ideals" a decision by President Donald Trump's White House to bar several organizations, including CNN and The New York Times, from a daily press briefing.

In an escalation in the administration's war on the media, the White House Friday excluded some outlets that have provided critical coverage from an off-camera event that replaced the traditional on-camera daily briefing.

Friendly conservative outlets like Fox News, the One America News Network and Breitbart News were allowed to attend, while the BBC, The Los Angeles Times and others were excluded.

Trump on Friday decried the media as the "enemy of the people," a day after his top strategist promised relations with the press will get "worse every day."

A number of news outlets that regularly cover the White House as part of the "pool," including newswires Reuters and Bloomberg, attended the briefing.

The Associated Press boycotted in protest. AFP protested being excluded, despite being in the "pool," and attended the briefing uninvited.

The White House Correspondents Association said it was "protesting strongly" against the White House decision, and promised to bring it up with White House staff.

During the off-camera briefing spokesman Sean Spicer said that the White House has shown an "abundance of accessibility... making ourselves, our team and our briefing room more accessible than probably any previous administration."

It is not uncommon for Republican and Democratic administrations to brief select reporters, but the event was initially billed as a regular briefing open to credentialed media.

CNN anchor Jake Tapper decried the move as "un-American."

"This is an unacceptable development by the Trump White House," CNN's communications department wrote on Twitter.

"Apparently this is how they retaliate when you report facts they don't like. We'll keep reporting regardless."

The New York Times wrote in an editorial that the exclusion was an "unmistakable insult to democratic ideals."

The White House Correspondents Association said it was "protesting strongly" 

against the decision to only allow a small group of reporters being briefed during an 

off camera meeting with Press Secretary Sean Spicer (AFP Photo/Brendan Smialowski)

Several outlets refered to a December interview in which Spicer told Politico that the Trump White House would never ban a news outlet. "Conservative, liberal or otherwise, I think that's what makes a democracy a democracy versus a dictatorship," he said.

"Greatest threat to democracy"

Media organizations were not alone in defending the free press.

"Trump is supposed to be a public servant, and the truth is a public good," said Robert Reich, a UC Berkeley economist, former labor secretary and a prominent Democratic figure.

"But he continues to lie incessantly, and punish media that call him out," Reich wrote on Facebook. "These are the sort of antics we'd expect from a two-bit dictator but not from the President of the United States."

John Dean, the White House counsel for Republican president Richard Nixon in the 1970s, described the Trump media bashing as "more Nixonian than Nixon."

Nixon blasted the media as "the enemy" behind closed doors, Dean, 78, told the Democracy Now! radio show on Friday.

"The big difference is, Trump is doing this right out" and challenging the US constitution's first amendment that guarantees freedom of speech and of the press. He described it as "very startling and very troubling."

"Nixon failed, and he had a deep reservoir of ill will to draw on when he got himself in real trouble. And I think Trump is creating the same problem for himself."

Trump's hostility towards the press "may be the greatest threat to democracy in my lifetime," said William McRaven, a retired admiral and Navy SEAL who oversaw the raid that killed Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in 2011.

McRaven made the remarks at the college of communication at the University of Texas at Austin, according to the student newspaper. McRaven became head of the UT system after retiring in 2014.

"Flaws and all, I believe the free press is our country’s most important institution," McRaven, who has a degree in journalism, added in a blog post Thursday.

The United States "has the finest press corps in the world, bar none," he wrote. 

Ex-IMF chief Rato handed 4.5 years in jail for embezzlement

Yahoo - AFP, Marianne BARRIAUX, February 23, 2017

Former IMF chief Rodrigo Rato was handed a jail sentence of four years and
six months for misusing funds when he was the boss of two Spanish banks

Former IMF chief Rodrigo Rato was handed a jail sentence of four years and six months Thursday for misusing funds when he was the boss of two Spanish banks.

Spain's National Court, which deals with cases of corruption and financial crime, said Rato had been found guilty of embezzlement when he headed Caja Madrid and Bankia, at a time when both groups were having difficulties.

The case caused an outrage in Spain, where it was uncovered at the height of a severe economic crisis that left many people struggling financially -- made all the worse because Bankia later had to be nationalised.

Rato, who is also a former Spanish economy minister, remains at liberty pending a possible appeal.

He was on trial with 64 other former executives and board members at both banks accused of misusing 12 million euros ($12.7 million) between 2003 and 2012.

They were accused of having paid for personal expenses with credit cards put at their disposal by both Caja Madrid and Bankia, without ever justifying them or declaring them to tax authorities.

These expenses included petrol for their cars, supermarket shopping, pricey holidays, luxury bags or parties in nightclubs.

'Corrupt system'

According to the indictment, Rato maintained the "corrupt system" established by his predecessor Miguel Blesa when he took the reins of Caja Madrid in 2010.

He then replicated the system when he took charge of Bankia, a group born in 2011 out of the merger of Caja Madrid with six other savings banks, prosecutors said.

Blesa was sentenced to six years in jail.

Rato, 67, had always denied any wrongdoing and said the credit cards were for discretionary spending as part of executives' pay deal.

He told court last October that everything "was completely legal".

Rato will not necessarily go directly to jail if he appeals the ruling, just like the Spanish king's brother-in-law Inaki Urdangarin who has been left free without posting bail following his sentence of six years and three months for syphoning off millions of euros.

Urdangarin's temporary reprieve pending his appeal, also announced on Thursday, made waves in Spain where people have long criticised what is perceived as the impunity of the elite.

Spain's National Court said former IMF chief Rodrigo Rato had been found 

guilty of embezzlement when he headed up Caja Madrid and Bankia, at a time 

when both groups were having difficulties

IMF chiefs in the dock

Rato was economy minister and deputy prime minister in the conservative government of Jose Maria Aznar from 1996 to 2004, before going on to head up the International Monetary Fund until 2007.

His subsequent career as a banker in Spain was short-lived -- from 2010 to 2012 -- but apart from the case of the undeclared credit cards, it also led to another banking scandal considered the country's biggest ever.

Thousands of small-scale investors lost their money after they were persuaded to convert their savings to shares ahead of the flotation of Bankia in 2011, with Rato at the reins.

Less than a year later, he resigned as it became known that Bankia was in dire straits.

The state injected billions of euros but faced with the scale of Bankia's losses and trouble in other banks, it asked the European Union for a bailout for the entire banking sector and eventually received 41 billion euros.

Rato and others were put under investigation, accused of misleading small investors in the listing knowing the state of Bankia, which has since paid out 1.2 billion euros in compensation.

He is the third former IMF chief to get into trouble with the law.

His successor Dominique Strauss-Kahn was tried in 2015 on pimping charges in a lurid sex scandal, and was acquitted.

And Christine Lagarde, who took over from Strauss-Kahn and is the current IMF chief, was found guilty of negligence over a massive state payout to a tycoon when she was French finance minister, though she received no penalty.

Others were also sentenced Thursday in the case involving Rato.

Among them Francisco Baquero Noriega, a unionist once on the board of Caja Madrid who was sentenced to three years and two months in jail.

Rafael Spottorno, the former head of the royal household, was given two years' prison while Francisco Javier Lopez Madrid, a friend of the royals', was handed six months.

Hitler's 'destructive' wartime phone up for auction

Yahoo – AFP, February 17, 2017

This undated image obtained from Alexander Historical Auctions shows a
 phone belonging to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler which will be auctioned by
Alexander Historical Auctions in Chesapeake City, Maryland, on February 19,
2017 (AFP Photo/HO)

Washington (AFP) - Adolf Hitler's personal telephone, which the Fuehrer used to dictate many of his deadly World War II commands, will hit the auction block this weekend, the US house selling it announced.

Originally a black Bakelite phone that was later painted crimson and engraved with Hitler's name, the relic was found in the Nazi leader's Berlin bunker in 1945 following the regime's defeat.

Auction house Alexander Historical Auctions estimates its worth between $200,000 and $300,000.

On Sunday, the company, located in the eastern US coastal state of Maryland, will auction off more than a thousand items -- including the Siemens rotary telephone embossed with a swastika and the eagle symbolic of the Third Reich.

Alexander House dubbed the phone -- which Hitler received from the Wehrmacht, Nazi Germany's armed forces -- as "arguably the most destructive 'weapon' of all time, which sent millions to their deaths."

It said Hitler used it to give most of his orders during the last two years of World War II.

Russian officers gifted the device to British Brigadier Sir Ralph Rayner during a tour of the bunker shortly after Germany's surrender.

Rayner's son inherited the phone and is selling it, its paint now peeling to reveal its original synthetic black resin surface.

Andreas Kornfeld of Alexander House told AFP estimates are set based on a number of factors, including "rarity and uniqueness," with the expectation that sale prices will exceed opening bids.

"It would be impossible to find a more impactful relic than the primary tool used by the most evil man in history," the auction house said in a statement. "This was not a staid office telephone."

"This was Hitler's mobile device of destruction."

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"Wild Cards" (3) - Nov 19 - 20, 2016 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)- (Text version)

Kryon.com, November 19, 2016

This live channelling was given in Wilmington, North Carolina

Lee Carroll

To help the reader, this channelling has been revisited [by Lee and Kryon] to provide even clearer understanding. Sometime information is even added or condensed. Often what happens live has implied energy within it, which carries a kind of communication that the printed page does not. So enjoy this enhanced message given in Wilmington, NC.

Greetings, dear ones, I am Kryon of Magnetic Service.

Today I want to talk about wild cards. I wish to help explain what or who they’ve been over time, but in order for this explanation to be understood and accepted and beautiful to your soul, you’re going to have to do some pretending.

Adjusting Your Attitude

If you were a scientist coming from another planet to observe Human history, you would need to do it without emotion or bias. I can tell the story about wild cards, both for your grandfathers and for you, but there is often emotion and bias involved. Because of this, I will say one thing, and you may hear another. Dear ones, it can’t be that way for you to understand this message.

Warning: What comes next has to be disengaged from what you think you know, or from the emotions of who you think you are, what you think has happened, or even from what you feel is historical. Remember, in his pretending scenario, you’re aliens coming from another planet to learn what has happened. You’re pretending so you will disengage. Pretend history will be told to you about a race you’re not part of. This is so you will have no attachment to anything as you listen. This is the only way you will understand this lesson today. It is the only way you will begin to understand the beauty of a spiritual system that pushes you when you need to be pushed.

Wild Cards Examined

Wild card, as used in spiritual language, is a term that is difficult to define. Wild cards can be events, they can be inventions, they can involve one Human or a few. They can be one of many things or many of one thing, but they follow a timeline that you can look at. We want to talk about some of the wild cards that you’ve had in the past, and some attributes of their occurrence that you might not have thought of.

The basic attribute of any kind of wild card is that it’s a surprise event. It’s often shocking, sometimes revealing, but always a surprise. We’re also going to do some of the numerology as we go, and also take a look at the energies that help define what the energy is around specific wild cards.

Numerology is an ancient system that helps define an energy around something. For instance, an event may seem to be one thing, but the numerology will tell a story around it that may be more explanatory. When you see what we will call synchronized numerology – the same numbers repeated around a wild card – it’s very telling, for there are no accidents.

Dear Kryon, you might ask, “Does spirit create wild cards for the planet?” Answer: No, you do. Your consciousness at a certain point in time gives an allowance for a wild card. Sprit is ready to enhance some wild card scenarios and not others. But the energy and consciousness of humanity allows for their occurrence.

A wild card can be a person, an invention, a thing, an event, a new system or a new paradigm that changes the planet. It is unexpected, sometimes startling and often dramatic in its influence. If it’s an invention, it has to be outside of the purview of what would normally have occurred through the evolution of science or the timing of expected scientific evolution. It is often a paradigm shifter, and it’s usually from one person. When you see that, you will know there it’s a wild card. It isn’t always an individual invention, and sometimes it’s collective. But, dear one, you can tell because every single wild card takes everybody by surprise.

Wild Cards in History

You’ve had a number of them, and I’ll list a few so you get the idea. You’ll also get to see a system of singularity that comes to inventors. You’ll see this as I go.

Tesla was a wild card. His ideas were unexpected, controversial and advanced to a degree that even to this day those in electronic engineering shake their heads. They will take a look at what he invented and will comment, “How is it possible for any one person to have seen that? If you study alternating current, it’s a conundrum. Phase relationships of alternating current are brilliant beyond brilliant.” This was Tesla.

However, what you know about him is only what he brought to you. Now, a brilliant mind like that would have other things, don’t you think? Indeed, he did, so you might ask, “Well, where are those other things?” The answer is that those other things were stopped cold – all of them. He only was able to promote the one thing that you needed for the planet. The brilliance of his mind had many other profound ideas, but he was unable to proceed. He saw ways to alter mass in his workshops, but couldn’t. He was frustrated that he didn’t have the elaborate tools to be precise enough to make it work on a regular basis. That’s just one. Transmission of electricity without wires through the ground was the other. However, it would not have been correct at the time for those things to have been presented to humanity. You weren’t ready, but you were ready for alternating current, one of the most needed inventions for the time. Tesla died frustrated, poor, in a small room and alone. He came to do one thing, and was stopped from anything else, then he passed. If you have analyzed the people who were wild cards in your history, there is a pattern.

Other wild card inventors have come into the planet just because the earth was ready for a specific invention. Remember, Spirit does not give the information, but allows for it to be released, often all at once, all over the earth. Let me give you some examples.

Another wild card is the Wright brothers. Isn’t it odd to you that it wasn’t that long ago that you got powered flight? It was just yesterday! Some of your relatives were alive when flight was discovered! Dear ones, the Chinese have been flying kites for thousands of years. Don’t you think that they knew the dynamics of a bird? Do you think that century after century after century occurred and nobody figured out how to sustain flight with any kind of power source? Two bicycle makers figured it out!

That’s odd enough, but the fact that they only beat the French by two weeks is something worth looking at. That’s odd! It’s almost like this profound invention was ready to be given to the planet simultaneously, all over the earth, at the same time. Whoever got to it first would be the ones who got the credit. The real oddity is the timing. It’s not logical that it was so hidden, then suddenly so many were working on it all at once.

The Wright brothers were here to show it to you, then stop. All they did was what you saw at Kitty Hawk. They never went past basic wing warping, and did not have first intuitive thought about ailerons, or the basics of flight control today. For them, it stopped there. Dear ones, there was great frustration, and perhaps even health issues from it, from having others take the basics and develop flight so fast beyond them. Dysfunction and sorrow followed them both, and they died without ever being able to participate fully beyond the initial invention. One died far earlier than the other, creating sorrow for the one left behind. They came to do what they did and move on. This is more common than you know with wild cards, especially when it comes to inventions that change this planet.

Who invented the radio? Was is the Italian Guglielmo Marconi, or our frustrated wild card Tesla? Marconi got the credit, but the invention was everywhere, ready to be claimed. The earth was ripe and ready for it, and it was delivered to the consciousness of the planet at the right time. But both men got it at the same time, apart from each other. I’m giving you things to think about.

We have told you that there are wild card inventions coming in the future. One in particular is ready, but you will not receive it until the time is right. It’s almost like there’s a thinking ceiling on what you can do. We even gave you some of the attributes of the coming invention, but not the one who will bring it. We’re not even concerned that you’ll do it in advance, because we know the wild card is coming. An invention is coming. It is an invention that will rewrite physics as you know it. You’d see the patterns in quantum fields, and there would be the big aha! It would be like reinventing the wheel.

“Kryon, why can’t we have it now? What’s stopping it?” We told you, it’s too easy to weaponize. When you reach the point where you won’t weaponize it, it’s yours. All this is coming. It’s natural, and it will come when it’s time just like the Wright brothers, just like Tesla, just like Einstein.

Einstein was a genuine wild card. He was not a quantum thinker at all, but what he presented is still alive and well today and they’re still looking inside the atom for the concepts he gave you. So I will make this statement: Einstein isn’t finished yet, because the very concepts that continue to be received from his work are going to be applied to the invention of the century. So the Einsteinean principles, even though they are not quantum, will be very much involved in what is coming. You might say he was a wild card and continues to be one. The joke is that his concepts last and last, outside of time, yet his main ideas were with time. If you asked Einstein if he was happy with what he brought to the planet, he would tell you no. He was frustrated that he didn’t get to do what he really wanted. Like Tesla, he felt that something was just “out of reach” and he didn’t get to do it.

Then there was World War II. Dear ones, pretend you are an alien scientist. Disengage your emotion. You’ve come in from another planet to look at this.

World War II (WWII) was not a wild card, but the man who created and enhanced it was. This planet was teetering on the edge of ultimate dark energy and destruction. Nobody expected it. The most despicable old energy card played itself out exactly as it should have, with the consciousness of this planet going to where it had brought itself. You had just finished World War I (WWI), yet WWII ignited and continued. So WWII was simply an extension of WWI. You did it again, only this time the weapons were getting bigger and more able to destroy all of humanity. Remember the prophecy of your scripture? You were headed for mass destruction. WWII would become World War III, and by the year 2000, you would be almost gone.

As I mentioned, WWII wasn’t the wild card, rather it was the man who led the lowest consciousness in recent history who was. He was the wild card, and you know of whom I speak. This wild card killed millions of people who were not even participants in the military portion of the war. Genocide had begun, a race war had begun, and many were following his lead. It showed the darkest side of humanity – more than you had ever seen before, and it almost targeted the demise of civilization if he had won.

It was a horror wild card, and the planet had created it. However, when it was over, the entire world took a breath and for a moment, just for a moment, there was a glimmer of realization: “This cannot go on, for we will do it again.” Many things took place due to this realization. Without the wild card, you would not have the European Union, you would not have the United Nations or any attempt at unity on Earth. Disengage from your logic and emotion, dear ones. These things were not created from Spirit, but rather from the depth of lower humanity. This is the dark side at its worst, showing itself with almost free reign, but the world objected to it and started to climb out of it. It was the beginning over half a century ago of what you’re starting to see now in the shift.

The amazing shift that you’re in right now is something that goes slow. It didn’t happen all at once. The Cold War was a natural occurrence out of the consciousness that was part of the end of WWII. But, dear ones, you could never have the shift if that Cold War had continued the way it was. Enter another wild card: The Soviet system fell over.

The Cold War could not continue, and it was stopped in the form it was in. Dear ones, for those reading now, that was one of the biggest wild cards of all. The consciousness of earth said “no” and it ended. That was a huge wild card. It changed everything; it wasn’t expected; nobody saw it coming, and it changed everything. It may not have changed things immediately to the way you want it right away, but it created that which you needed at that time.

Then there was Steve Jobs. He was a wild card. What he did had little to do with technology, for that would have happened anyway soon enough. Instead, it had to do with the paradigm of the business of music on Earth. He freed it, and the paradigm of how music is obtained and heard will never be the same. However, Steve Jobs did basically one thing for all of you, and then he died. Do you see any kind of connecting of the dots to some of the inventors who come and give you the one thing, then leave? If he had lived, would there be more? Yes, but you’re not ready for it. Consciousness has to support what happens.

Yes, it would seem we have left some things out – the invention of DNA, the atomic bomb, etc. However, these were not wild cards. These are your civilization, within a normal evolution of science. Wild cards are very unexpected things, and there are more coming your way.

The Wild Card of 2016

Remember: No emotion now. You have come from another planet and you’re looking at the end of 2016 – and there is the election. Understand without bias.

So for 2016, let’s do the numerology. You add the numbers and get nine. Nine is completion in simple numerology, and when you see a nine it often means the completion of something. Often it is of a time cycle, an energy or the completion of a paradigm. But it’s very strong.

The nines are stronger than many of the other numerological aspects and you feel them. The president-elect (at this writing) is a strong wild card. He is scheduled to become the 45th president. What a coincidence! Forty-five is a nine. A nine and a nine together are more than significant. They tell a story about what is happening. I will tell you something else. This story is not finished yet and there is more coming. You don’t know what you don’t know, so don’t make up your mind in advance about any outcomes. You’re from another planet, remember? There’s no emotion, no bias, no politics and nothing to judge. Look at it for what it is.

A big stick has just been inserted into what is normal and it’s going to be turned. As the big stick turns, other things will respond that never would have responded otherwise. I wish to tell you, dear one, old soul, relax with upcoming wild cards. They do what they do on purpose so that you will have a better civilization in the future. Sometimes they show you what won’t work, and sometimes they change paradigms that would have never changed otherwise. But what you have now is a profound wild card. That is the message.

It’s so common for you to respond certain ways when you are invested in the process. The knee-jerk reaction is expected or you wouldn’t be a Human. However, for this lesson, you’re from another planet and you’re looking down and you’re seeing it. Pretend.

Isn’t that interesting about a nine and a nine together? It means that truly the end of something is here. Perhaps it’s the end of the old way things were done? Perhaps it’s a shake-up of the system so it can correct itself? Don’t dare make up your mind where it’s going, because it’s not finished yet. However, wait a moment. Did you also realize that 2017 is a “one” year? Not only is the energy one of completion with a double nine, but it moves into “a new beginning” (the definition of a one in numerology).

I have more to tell you about numerology, and also something that will be clearer about this whole situation. I will give this to you in the next channelling.

Can you relax in the face of uncertainty when it’s your own country? Can you relax in the face of not knowing what’s next? When you’re so involved, can you disengage from either side of the fray? That is the test of a Lightworker.

There’s something else coming. Dear ones, this is beautiful. No matter what you think and no matter what your reaction is to this channelling, what is happening is correct for your time and needed for your immediate future. I will speak of this later. The beauty is when you step away and see how grand it is, that Spirit cares enough that it would allow a big stick to occur that would stir your complacency at this time. The real reason? The shift is here.

How do you feel? I want you to relax and smile at what the shift has brought you. For those of you who felt all the “shift talk” was nonsense, this may be your wake-up call. It’s real. Here it comes.

This is the message of the day. I am Kryon, in love with humanity, and for good reason.

And so it is.

KRYON

Thousands of Montenegro women protest welfare cuts

Yahoo – AFP, February 16, 2017

Women gather for a protest on February 16, 2017 in Podgorica over social benefits
 cuts affecting mothers with three or more children, introduced as the country is
facing growing public finances problems (AFP Photo/SAVO PRELEVIC)

Podgorica (Montenegro) (AFP) - Several thousand women demonstrated in Montenegro's capital Podgorica on Thursday to protest cuts in subsidies for mothers with three or more children.

The protesters came from across Montenegro to gather in front of the main government offices, demanding to meet with Prime Minister Dusko Markovic.

At one point they broke through a metal fence to approach the heavily guarded entrance. The women later vowed to spend the night outside the offices.

"We do not want riots, we want to wait peacefully... that someone from the government addresses us," said Zeljka Savkovic, one of the demonstrators.

The government introduced the lifetime subsidies last October, but as of January 1 they have been cut by about 25 percent as Montenegro grapples with worsening public finances.

Women scuffle with police during a protest on February 16, 2017 in Podgorica 

over social benefits cuts affecting mothers with three or more children, introduced as

the country is facing growing public finances problems (AFP Photo/SAVO PRELEVIC)

About 18,500 women are eligible for the monthly payments, which are expected to cost the government some 67 million euros ($71 million) a year.

The reductions drew widespread criticism and the payments now range from 144 to 264 euros a month, in a country where the average monthly salary is 500 euros.

Banners at the rally included slogans such as "We demand responsiblity" and "Mothers for their children, for future, for justice".

Montenegro, which is seeking to join NATO and is a candidate for EU membership, is under pressure to improve its finances, with public debt standing at 62 percent of GDP. It is struggling with more than 20 percent unemployment.

Top Trump aide Flynn resigns over Russia contacts

Yahoo – AFP, Paul HANDLEY, Andrew BEATTY,  February 14, 2017

The resignation of US National Security Advisor Mike Flynn so early in an
American administration is unprecedented, and comes after details of his calls
with a Russian diplomat were made public (AFP Photo/NICHOLAS KAMM)

Washington (AFP) - Donald Trump's national security advisor Michael Flynn resigned after it was revealed he misled top officials over his contacts with Russia, an unprecedented departure so early into a US president's administration.

The White House late Monday said Trump had accepted Flynn's resignation amid allegations the retired three star general discussed US sanctions strategy with Russia's ambassador Sergey Kislyak before taking office.

Flynn -- who once headed US military intelligence -- insisted he was honored to have served the American people in such a "distinguished" manner, despite the Trump presidency being less than a month old.

Flynn admitted that he "inadvertently briefed" the now Vice President Mike Pence with "incomplete information" about his calls with Kislyak.

Pence had publicly defended Flynn, saying he did not discuss sanctions, putting his own credibility into question.

"Regarding my phone calls with the Russian Ambassador. I have sincerely apologized to the President and the Vice President, and they have accepted my apology," read Flynn's letter, a copy of which was released by the White House.

Flynn's resignation came after details of the telephone calls were made public -- increasing pressure on Trump to take action.

Michael Flynn was in the Oval Office when US President Donald Trump spoke to 

his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on January 28 (AFP Photo/MANDEL NGAN)

Blackmail?

Several US media outlets reported Monday that top Trump advisors were warned about Flynn's contacts with the Russians early this year, reopening questions about who knew about the calls and why Trump did not move earlier to replace Flynn.

The resignation will also fuel calls for an independent investigation into Russia's influence during the 2016 US presidential election and throws into doubt the fledgling effort from Trump to establish ties with President Vladimir Putin.

The Kremlin on Tuesday said Flynn's resignation was "not our business".

"This is the internal business of the Americans, it is the internal business of President Trump's administration," spokesman Dmitry Peskov told

journalists in Moscow.

On Monday, White House spokesman Sean Spicer insisted Trump was not consulted about Flynn, a former head of defense intelligence, discussing sanctions, nor did he task the retired general to do so.

The Justice Department had warned the White House that Flynn had misled senior administration officials about the contents of his talks with Kislyak, and that it could make him vulnerable to Russian blackmail, US media reported.

The message was delivered in the last days of Barack Obama's administration by then-acting attorney general Sally Yates -- who Trump sacked after she instructed government lawyers not to defend the new president's controversial travel ban.

CNN said then director of national intelligence James Clapper and then CIA chief John Brennan agreed the White House should be told about the concerns.

Until quitting, Flynn had been instrumental in Trump's inner circle.

He was an early supporter of Trump's improbable bid for the presidency and had encouraged tougher policies on Iran and a softer policy on Russia.

That was a sharp break from the Obama administration, which introduced sanctions over Moscow's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea, support for separatists in eastern Ukraine, and what US intelligence says were its attempts to sway last year's election in Trump's favor.

Washington and Moscow had also clashed over alleged war crimes in Syria, where Russia is accused of aiding the bombing of hospitals and other civilian targets. Despite this, Flynn had argued for rapprochement.

Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak (AFP Photo/PHILIPPE 

DESMAZES)

Successor talk

Several Republicans had joined their Democratic foes in urging Flynn to resign over a situation that had become an embarrassment for the ruling party.

Flynn's resignation came just days before Trump's first official talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, discussions in which the president's national security advisor would normally have a key role.

The Justice Department and Congress are both investigating possible links between Trump campaign advisors and Moscow. US intelligence has concluded that Putin personally directed an operation to interfere in the election.

On December 29, the Obama administration sanctioned four Russian individuals and five entities, and expelled 35 Russian diplomats in retaliation. Although the Russian foreign ministry prepared a response, Putin ruled it out.

After Flynn quit, the White House said Trump had named retired lieutenant general Joseph Kellogg, a decorated Vietnam war veteran who was serving as a director on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to be interim national security advisor.

The Washington Post, citing unnamed White House sources, reported that Vice Admiral Robert Harward, a former deputy commander of the US Central Command - in charge of US-led wars in the Middle East and Afghanistan - and a friend of Defense Secretary James Mattis, is the frontrunner to replace Flynn.

Other media said that retired general David Petraeus, the ex-CIA director and Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran, is also possible, along with Kellogg.

Petraeus resigned in disgrace from the CIA over an extramarital affair, and pleaded guilty and agreed to serve two years probation and pay a fine for sharing classified information with his lover. His probation ends in April.

Related Article:

Flynn talked sanctions with Russians before Trump in office: reports

Ex-chief of Spain's central bank charged over banking scandal

Yahoo – AFP, 13 February 2017

Spain central bank ex-chief charged over banking scandal

The former head of Spain's central bank was charged Monday for allegedly allowing the troubled Bankia bank to list on the stock exchange in 2011 "despite repeated warnings... that the group was unviable."

Miguel Angel Fernandez Ordonez, in charge of the central bank from 2006 to 2012, was charged over the failed listing, which saw small investors lose millions of euros in investment, as was the former president of Spain's CNMV market regulator Julio Segura, a court order revealed.

Bankia was bailed out in May 2012 less than a year after its listing, and is accused of misrepresenting its accounts ahead of the flotation.

Rodrigo Rato, a former economy minister and ex-IMF chief who headed up Bankia at the time of its listing, has also been charged over the scandal.

On Monday, Spain's top-level National Court said it had ordered the investigating magistrate to charge Fernandez Ordonez, Segura and six other central bank and CNMV officials at the time -- an order it insisted was final and could not be appealed.

Former justice minister Fred Teeven set to join Council of State

Dutchnews, February 11, 2017

Fred Teeven, the former junior justice minister who resigned over a deal made with a drugs baron, has been nominated to join the Council of State – the government’s most important advisory body, the NRC said at the weekend. 

Teeven, who currently represents the VVD in parliament, was nominated for the job by the home affairs and justice ministers, the NRC said. The appointment still has to be approved by the full cabinet. Teeven has already said he does not wish to serve a further term as an MP. 

Teeven and justice minister Ivo Optelten stood down in March 2015 in the wake of a row over the repayment of 4.7 million guilders to a convicted drugs baron while Teeven was a public prosecutor. 

Opstelten quit after it emerged he had consistently misinformed parliament about the size of the payment. Teeven, who had signed off on the deal, said at the time his credibility had been damaged by the situation and that he could no longer carry on in the job without Opstelten. 

Nevertheless ‘there was nothing wrong with the deal,’ Teeven said. ‘It was done for folk and fatherland.’ 

Legislation

The scandal also brought down Opstelten’s successor Ard van der Steur, who resigned in January 2017 after failing to convince MPs he did had not misled parliament about the agreement. 

According to the NRC, Teeven will take up the position in April. His job will be to advise the government on legislation and governance. 

News of the pending appointment was greeted by disbelief on social media websites. 

Jobs for the boys 

‘This is jobs for the boys,’ said one commentator on the NRC website. ‘It is hardly surprising people are losing faith in the political elites,’ said another. ‘This is all grist to the populists’ mill.’ 

Others asked if April 1 had come early this year. 

The Council of State’s role involves advising ministers on new legislation and treaties. It also operates the country’s highest administrative court.

Opstelten and Teeven during their press conferences. Photos: Nos

Related Articles:

Another justice minister resigns over agreement with drugs dealer
Dutch justice minister, deputy resign over drugs dealer cash deal

"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“…5 - Integrity That May Surprise…

The Unthinkable… Politics, A Review

Humans will begin to search for integrity and fairness and it's going to happen in the places you never expect. I said this last week, so this is a review. There'll come a time when you will demand this of your politics - fairness and integrity. So when the candidates start calling each other names, you will turn your back on them and they won't get any votes. They're going to get the point real fast, don't you think? How about that?

Let me give you another potential. This country that I sit in right now [USA] will set the mold for that particular attribute. I have no clock. Watch for the youngsters to set this in motion, and they will, for they are the voters of tomorrow and they do not want the energy of today. To some of them, it's so abominable they won't even register to vote in this energy. You're going to see this soon. That was number five.. ..."