Pope Benedict XVI is not the only pope to hand over the Keys of St. Peter to someone else But there seems to be some confusion in the media as to who, exactly, was the last pope to resign. Some say Gregory XII, while others say Celestine V. The truth is that both men gave up the papal tiara, though under radically different circumstances. Here is a look at two of the remarkable figures that made the same dramatic choice as Benedict.

Gregory XII (1406-1415)

Born Angelo Correr around 1326 to a noble family in Venice, Gregory had a reputation as a particularly pious and honest churchman. The Roman Catholic Church was currently mired in the Western Schism, a complex ecclesiastical conflict that had produced the spectacle of multiple ‘popes’ reigning at the same time and hurling excommunications at one another. When the Roman pope Innocent VII died in 1406, the cardinals unanimously elected Correr as pope. Each member of the conclave had sworn an oath that, if elected, he would renounce the papacy if the rival in Avignon, Benedict XIII (who is often referred to as an ‘antipope’) would do the same, thereby bringing the Western Schism to an end.

At first, Gregory seemed willing to adhere to his promise. He entered into negotiations with Benedict, and the two pontiffs agreed to meet in the neutral city of Savona in Liguria. But Gregory’s determination started to waver in the face of opposition from his relatives and King Ladislaus of Naples. He eventually backed out of the meeting, claiming that he was afraid of being captured by Benedict’s supporters.

Gregory’s cardinals were none too pleased at his change of heart, and although he ordered them to remain in the city of Lucca, several of them slipped away and entered into secret negotiations with their counterparts in Benedict’s camp. The two groups of cardinals decided to convene a general council to depose both popes and elect a single successor. The council eventually met in Pisa, but neither Gregory nor Benedict attended. In June 1409, the Council of Pisa duly deposed Gregory and Benedict and elected a successor, who took the title of Alexander V. But Gregory created several new cardinals and convened them in a rival council that condemned both Benedict and Alexander.

Western Christendom was now split between three popes, and although Alexander V died after a very brief reign, he was succeeded by another antipope, John XXIII. Under pressure from secular rulers, John convened another council in the city of Constance. Although convened by an antipope, the council was legitimized when Gregory sent representatives with a bull that retroactively summoned the council and approved its succeeding acts. He also empowered one of his representatives to resign the papacy on his behalf, and he duly fulfilled his commission. In gratitude, the Council made Gregory Cardinal Bishop of Porto and legate to Ancona, where he died shortly thereafter.

Celestine V (1294)

The man who would become Celestine V was born with the name Pietro to humble parents in the Kingdom of Sicily in 1215. He entered the Benedictine Order at the age of seventeen and soon developed a reputation for asceticism. He eventually decided to take up residence in a cavern, first at Mt. Morrone (which is why he eventually became known as ‘Pietro di Morrone’) and then Mt. Maiella. Emulating the example of St. John the Baptist, he tortured his flesh relentlessly, wearing a hair shirt roughened with knots, fasting every day except Sunday, and keeping four Lents throughout the year (during three of which, he only consumed bread and water).

Morrone’s brand of piety proved quite popular, and he founded a religious order that would eventually be named after him. Although it was eventually made part of the Benedictine Order, the Celestines had to endure a much severer way of life. But they became so popular that the order soon boasted 36 monasteries and 600 monks. Morrone ended up handing control of the order to someone else so that he could escape into the solitude of the wilderness.

When Pope Nicholas IV died in 1292, the cardinals gathered at Perugia to elect his successor. Their deliberations dragged on for two years, and Morrone sent them a letter filled with righteous indigation, warning them that God would surely punish them for their dilatory behavior. Desperate for a candidate, the Dean of the College of Cardinals nominated Morrone himself, and the rest of the cardinals readily assented to his election. When Morrone was informed of his election, he at first refused to take up the papacy and contemplated fleeing, but pressure from crowds of believers and the Kings of Naples and Hungary persuaded him to take office.

Morrone took the regnal name Celestine V, his papacy soon got off to a rocky start. He alienated his cardinals by reviving a decree of Gregory X that required cardinals to be isolated from the outside world when electing a pope and imposed strict living conditions on them for the duration of the election. He also proved to be a better ascetic than an administrator, and he resented the fact that the temporal business of the papacy often got in the way of his prayers.

Ultimately, the burden of his office proved to be too much, and Celestine began to contemplate resignation. But a papal resignation was an extremely rare event, and there was considerable uncertainty among church lawyers as to whether or not it was even possible. Celestine used his power as pope to declare that it was in fact possible for a pontiff to resign, and he took advantage of that pronouncement just a short while later. All told, he had reigned for five months.

Unfortunately, Celestine’s successor, Boniface VIII, had him arrested and thrown into a tiny cell in the castle of Fumone. He endured terrible conditions and rude treatment by his guards for nine months before finally dying at the age of 81.

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Pope Benedict XVI has shocked the world by announcing that he will relinquish the papacy at the end of the month.

Benedict made his historic announcement at a consistory that was held to approve the canonization of three new saints. In a faltering voice, he read a statement in Latin to the assembled cardinals.

“After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry,” he said.

Benedict stated that governing the church required one had to be strong in both mind and body. But since he had come to feel increasingly infirm, it was important that he step down and let someone with a stronger constitution take over.

As required by canon law, Benedict announced that he made his resignation with “full freedom.” And in display of German meticulousness, he also declared that he would “renounce the ministry of bishop of Rome, successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a conclave to elect the new supreme pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is.”

Benedict concluded his statement by announcing that he planned to continue serving the church through a life dedicated to prayer.

Although Roman Catholic bishops and archbishops are expected to retire at 75, the pope traditionally holds office for life. Benedict’s predecessor, John Paul II, remained in office despite suffering from a variety of debilitating ailments. But over the centuries, a handful of popes have chosen to step down. Gregory XII resigned in 1415 in order to end the Great Schism, a decades-long ecclesiastical civil war that saw multiple popes in office at the same time. Over a century earlier, Celestine V stepped down after a reign of only five months when he became disillusioned with the nature of the papacy. Hopefully, Benedict’s post-papal life will be more congenial than that of Celestine, who was imprisoned in the castle of Fumone by his successor.

The full text of Benedict’s announcement can be found here.

Image Courtesy : Catholic Church (England and Wales)

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The scandal that has shaken the food industry in Britain has come to a new low. It has recently been discovered that Findus UK Beef Lasagna contained up to 100% horsemeat. Consumers are outraged and the question of how much we actually know about what goes into our foods is on everyone’s mind.

This story first started on January 17 when traces of horse DNA were found by the Food Safety Authority (FSA) of Ireland in beef burgers supplied to supermarkets by subsidiary plants of the ABP Food Group Silvercrest Foods in Ireland and Dalepak Hambleton in Yorkshire. Liffey Meats, a company also based in Ireland, was later discovered providing supermarkets with products that had traces of horse DNA.

In light of this news, ABP Food Group suspended their contract with its Silvercrest plant in Monaghan, Ireland. Tesco, Lidl and Iceland are a few of many stores who reacted by taking ten million suspected burgers and other products off their shelves.

On January 31, Burger King admitted some burgers contaminated with horsemeat had been imported to their store. They also cut their contract with Silvercrest Foods.

On February 4, 75% horse DNA was confirmed by the Irish department of agriculture to be found in raw ingredients supplied by Rangeland Foods.

And in the consecutive days that followed the news became worse and worse.

On February 5, the FSA in Northern Ireland reported that Freeza Meats in North Ireland had around 80% of horsemeat in some of their frozen meat. Asda then withdrew all of their products that had been supplied by this company.

On February 7, Findus UK beef lasagne, produced by Comigel, was revealed to contain up to 100% horsemeat. Ready-made meals made by Comigel were taken off the shelves of Tesco and Aldi stores.

It does not look as if the scandal will go away any time soon.

Many questions are raised in the face of this  disturbing tribulation. Where on the food line is the problem occurring and who is to blame for the contamination of our food?

The chief executive of the FSA, Catherine Brown, told the BBC that “In order to get to the bottom of this, we’re going to requiring every company to test every product line.”

She continued to say that criminal activity was “highly likely” to blame for the contamination of the meat products. The police have launched an inquiry to investigate whether or not this claim may be true.

As of February 7, the government has not denied that horsemeat could have been distributed to schools and hospitals.

Despite the growing number of companies and food suppliers involved in this horsemeat horror, it has been advised to consumers that they should continue eating meat products unless they are told otherwise.

But can customers really be expected to continue eating from these companies when they really do not what they are eating? How long have we been eating contaminated meat? There are still too many questions that need answering. Consumer confidence is broken and a lot needs to be corrected in order to gain it back.

Image Courtesy : J_m_wetherington

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Russia, which is currently at the 4th place in the world ranking of alcohol consumption, has decided to start a war against alcohol by introducing a new law.

According to the Associated Press’ report in January, the Russian government has enacted a new law to change beer’s status from “beverage” to “alcohol” in order to reduce national alcohol consumption.

Under the new law, Russian people will only be allowed to buy beer at restaurants, cafe, or stores with a size of over 50m2. It will be banned for regular stores to sell beer between 11PM and 8AM the following day. Within this time period, people are now allowed to have beer in public spaces, such as parks, beaches, or playgrounds. In addition, the Russian government entirely banned the Russian media from airing alcohol commercials.

So far, Russian people have purchased beer from a small chain of stores on the street called “KIOSK.” However, the sight of people drinking beer on the street will soon be disappearing.

In fact, it is not the first effort to reduce people’s alcohol consumption in Russia. In 2011, Russia’s former president Dmitry Medvedev named Russia’s excessive drinking the “nation’s disaster,” pushing for several regulations in order to curb the alcohol consumption. The Russian government imposed 20 percent increased taxation on beer, and it is planning to further increase the tax by 20 percent this year and then 25 percent more the following year. Russian people’s favorite drink, the vodka, was not exempt from regulatory measures. The price of vodka in Russia has increased by 36 percent this year compared to that of last year.

The excessive alcohol consumption is a deep-rooted problem in Russia. Russian adult men drink between 16-32 liters a year on average, and about 500,000 people die due to alcohol-related problems every year.

According to the World Trade Organization (WTO)’s report last year, the Russians’ alcohol consumption was 15.8L per person on average, which makes the world’s fourth highest consumption level. WTO also added that one out of five men and six percent of the entire Russian women population die because of the excessive alcohol consumption.

The British newspaper Telegraph reported that vodka has been the most popular alcohol in Russia for many years, but beer has caught up with vodka’s popularity in recent years. The newspaper added a quote by the head of the Russian Beer Brewer Association that the new law will increase the consumption of vodka, and cause more serious problems.

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The British House of Commons voted to legalize gay marriage by an overwhelmingly majority of 400 to 175 despite a major rebellion by Conservative MPs.
Although Britain has allowed same-sex couples to enter into civil partnerships since 2004, Prime Minister David Cameron has long stated his belief that they should be entitled to full equality before the law.

In late January, the government introduced the Marriage (Same-Sex Partners) Bill into Parliament’s lower house. The legislation would allow same-sex couples to marry in religious as well as civil ceremonies, though a much-vaunted “quadruple lock” would ensure that no religious organization would be forced to solemnize same-sex unions. The Church of England was particularly anxious about the bill, fearing that since it is the state church, it could be forced to host gay weddings. However, the bill specifically states that the church can continue to pass legislation that defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman (under the terms of an act passed during the reign of Henry VIII, ecclesiastical laws must always yield to secular law).

But while the move to legalize gay marriage proved popular with his Liberal Democrat coalition partners, it exposed bitter divisions within Cameron’s own party. Last weekend the chairs of 20 local Conservative groups presented Downing Street with a letter urging the Prime Minister to delay the vote, claiming that the government had no mandate to redefine such a key institution.

They also claimed that Cameron’s support for gay marriage would lead to an exodus of local party members, a finding echoed by a recent poll commissioned by opponents of gay marriage that reported that 20 percent of Conservative voters would vote against the party in the next election due to its stance on the issue.

As is typical with matters of this sort, the leaders of all three major parties allowed their MPs to vote according to their consciences. Over the weekend, the British media reported that up to 180 Conservative MPs might ultimately vote against the bill. In the end, 139 voted against and 30 abstained. The dissenters included two Cabinet ministers (Environment Secretary Owen Paterson and Welsh Secretary David Jones), as well as three junior ministers. Defense Secretary Philip Hammond and Attorney-General Dominic Grieve both abstained.

The debate on the bill was often quite emotional. Openly-gay Conservative MP Mike Freer urged his colleagues to support the bill. “I am not asking for special treatment. I am simply asking for equal treatment.

Speaking in opposition to the bill, Conservative MP Sir Roger Gale claimed that the government was entering “Alice in Wonderland territory.” Instead of redefining marriage, he called on ministers to “withdraw the Bill, abolish the Civil Partnership Act 2004, abolish civil marriage and create a civil union Bill that applies to all people, irrespective of their sexuality or relationship. That means that brothers and brothers, sisters and sisters and brothers and sisters would be included as well.”

Meanwhile, his colleague Matthew Offord warned that the bill represented a slippery slope that could lead to the legalization of polygamous relationships. Referring to the law on marriage, he said that “another government can simply change the definition to include as many partners as they want.”

The bill will now receive clause-by-clause scrutiny from a Public Bill Committee, and when it returns to the full House, MPs will have another chance to vote on it. Then it goes on to the House of Lords, where it may face stiffer opposition. While it is highly unlikely that peers would reject the bill outright, they may try to kill it by passing amendments that the Commons are unlikely to accept. If that happens, there could be a lengthy period of ‘ping pong’ as the two houses try to iron out their differences. If agreement cannot be reached, the government may have to reintroduce the bill in the next parliamentary session and use the Parliament Acts 1911 & 1949 to override peers’ objections.

Image Courtesy :  Robyn Ramsay

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Relationships are complex, found everywhere, among the living and allegedly the dead. The gift of existence itself is a relationship, between the creator “God” and the creation “the universe and all living things.” True, death knocks on all doors. But when and how is beyond human control; thus, can individuals decide on when and how to die? Currently, assisted suicide is a taboo topic people tend to avoid in conversations, generally due to cultural or religious views. However, the story of deaf Belgian twins Marc and Eddy Verbessem changed the hearts of many and triggered human rights activists to defend an individual’s right to die.

The Verbessem twins opted to end their lives via legal euthanasia after being informed that they were going blind. The pair were inseparable; they had lived all their lives together as cobblers in the village of Putte near the city of Mechelen. Marc and Eddy told everybody that the thought of not being able to see each other was unbearable. To them, losing their only means of communication was not an option. The twins used a unique sign language understood only by them and immediate family members.

According to The Telegraph, it wasn’t easy to find an institution that would grant them their wish. After doctors at a nearby hospital declined their request for assisted suicide, arguing that the twins weren’t suffering from unbearable pain and therefore did not meet the criteria for legal euthanasia under Belgian law. However, this law had many interpretations and eventually, after two years of searching for an institution that would help them, doctors at Brussels University Hospital in Jette were convinced by the twins argument and laid them to rest via lethal injection on 14 December last year.

This heartfelt story opened doors to many debates and arguments justifying an individual’s “right to die.” Until today, only a few nations permit assisted suicide: Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Switzerland, and the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington. Recently, Marie Fleming, an Irish woman, was denied her “right to die” at Dublin’s high court even after being identified as a terminally ill patient with multiple sclerosis. According to Reuters, Judge Nicholas Kearns said “It would be impossible to ensure the aged, disabled, poor, unwanted, rejected etc would not avail of this option to avoid a sense being a burden on their families and society.”

A similar story is that of Tony Nicklinson, 58, who was paralyzed from the neck down after a stroke in 2005. He also bid to end his life by the assistance of a doctor, but was denied by the court. A week after losing his bid, the father of two died of pneumonie after refusing to eat at his home in Melksham, Wiltshire.

Today, human rights activists are defending an individual’s “right to die,” reported The International. Many argue that the Universal Declaration on Human rights, which states “the right to life, liberty, and security of person,” can have many interpretations, including the right to stop having life. Sadly enough, a person’s decision to end his/her life is always based on the relationships he/she cherishes; for instance, a lot opt for legal euthanasia simply to stop being a burden to their loved ones.

Marc and Eddy feared life more than death. They feared losing each other more than walking into the unknown. Relationships are the foundation of life, and in the case of the Verbessem twins, death too. Marc and Eddy were the first brothers worldwide to undergo double euthanasia. On the day of the procedure, they were peacefully dressed in new shoes and suits with their family around them.

Up till the last minute, their brother Dirk Verbessem tried to convince them out of it. He said, “Together with my parents, I said goodbye. Marc and Eddy waved again at us. ‘Up in the sky,’ they said. ‘Up in the sky,’ we replied. And then it was over.” The Verbessem twins were cremated and buried together in identical urns.

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The British House of Commons has voted in favor of legislation that would allow women to succeed to the throne on equal terms with men.

As the law stands now, a woman can only ascend the throne if she does not have any brothers. However, in 2011, David Cameron announced that the prime ministers of the sixteen Commonwealth Realms where Queen Elizabeth II is Head of State had agreed to let daughters inherit on an equal basis. From henceforth, the Crown would go to the eldest child, regardless of sex.

After lengthy negotiations with the various Commonwealth governments, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg introduced legislation to make the change official. But in addition to doing away with male-preference primogeniture, the Succession to the Crown Bill also makes other adjustments to the law of succession. Notably, members of the Royal Family will no longer be barred from succeeding to the Crown if they marry a Roman Catholic. Also, the requirement to seek the monarch’s consent before marrying will be limited to the first six people in the list of succession. Presently, every descendant of George II is supposed to obtain the sovereign’s permission to marry; if they fail to do so, their marriage is null and void. Under the new law, those who marry without the monarch’s consent will only forfeit their claim to the throne.

Before the Commons began their debate on the general principle behind the bill, MPs expressed frustration at the government’s proposed timetable for the law’s journey through Parliament.

“We spend hours debating the taxation of lorries and other such matters, which get a full day allocated for Second Reading, whereas the succession to the Crown is to be dealt with in a truncated Second Reading debate, a brief Committee stage, and then one day for the remaining stages,” said Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg. “That seems to me to be an insult to the nation, to our sovereign and, indeed, to Parliament.”

Rees-Mogg also argued that the Commons should be able to extend the scope of the bill. He pointed out that if an heir to the throne were to marry a Roman Catholic, he or she would be expected to promise to do everything in their power to see that their children were raised in the Roman Catholic faith. But the sovereign is also Supreme Governor of the Church of England, so they cannot be members of the Roman Catholic church. Rees-Mogg maintained that, if a Roman Catholic ascended the throne, it would be best to allow an Anglican regent to handle ecclesiastical matters.

“That is an entirely logical extension of what is proposed in the Bill and time ought to be allowed to debate it, because when we start these changes and decide that in this modern age we need to be more politically correct and allow Catholics to marry into the throne, we have to consider the consequence.”

But despite the misgivings of a number of MPs, the government’s timetable was ultimately agreed to by a voice vote. Since the opposition Labour Party also backed the timetable, there would be little chance of defeating it.

During the actual debate on the bill itself, the vast majority of speakers declared their support. However, some MPs questioned the government’s decision to require the first six heirs to the throne to obtain the monarch’s consent before marrying. “I simply do not understand why the monarch would want to retain the right to forbid somebody to marry and to declare their marriage null and void because consent was not granted,” said Labour MP Chris Bryant.

“On what basis would they refuse to grant consent—because someone involved was illegitimate, not wealthy enough, a commoner or an actress?” he continued.

But Clegg defended the government’s decision, saying that it was right for the monarch to have a say in the marriages of those who were most likely to inherit the Crown. “Having been in consultation with the royal household over a prolonged period, we feel that that strikes the right balance.”

Conservative MP Ben Wallace expressed concern about the bill’s effect on the Duchy of Lancaster. He claimed that the duchy would continue to be governed by male-preference primogeniture, so a female heir to the throne might not inherit its multi-million pound property portfolio. But Clegg dismissed his concerns, saying that the bill was only concerned with succession to the Crown and Parliament could deal with the issue of other titles later.

Several MPs also voiced concern that, although the bill allowed members of the Royal Family to marry Roman Catholics, Roman Catholics would still be prohibited from ascending the throne. But given the lack of political will to disestablish the Church of England, it seems likely that the religious requirement will remain for the foreseeable future.

After giving the bill a second reading, the House immediately resolved itself into a Committee of the Whole House to discuss the bill in detail. Although several backbench MPs moved amendments based on concerns raised during the second reading debate, the only amendment that was actually passed was a minor technical change moved by the government. But MPs will have another opportunity to propose amendments during the bill’s report stage on January 28.

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Diana Vitan is a 32 year-old Romanian public speaker and the owner of Diana Vitan Consulting & Training, a company specializing in personal and business development programs. At the end of 2012, she became the first woman to win the Best Public Speaker Award in Romania, running against an all-men competition made up of experienced speakers.

Click here to view the first part of this interview.

Toonari Post (TP): How do male public speakers react to you?

Diana Vitan (DV): Men react the way anyone does: If they didn’t react, they wouldn’t be men, right? I’m just kidding. Actually, I wouldn’t divide this one up by sexes. There are people who know how to win by losing with grace and people who are willing to lose by winning dirty, it all depends on what you choose.

I chose to take the positive out of each experience and to enjoy each plus. I remember the movie ‘The Pursuit of Happyness‘ when Will Smith’s character told his son, “Don’t ever let anyone tell you what you can’t do. Not even me!”

The first four speakers designated by the online poll were all named public speaking champions, but I would have given this distinction to the entire top fifteen. They’re all strong names that have helped shape Romanian business development, and it’s an honor for me to be the lady in this extraordinary group. We’re all winners.

TP: Are you a trendsetter for Romanian women?

DV: Fortunately, there are many female public speakers in Romania, so I’m not. I may have more experience and I am unique because of the structure of my activity, because I’ve spoken in front of more than 50,000 people and I’ve worked with big names such as Paul Martinelli, Roddy Galbraith and Christian Simpson.

I also stand out by having founded one of the first personal development schools in Romania and by running a program called “Keep your head up!” the first one of its kind in the country. But I wish to support any woman who resonates with me and with my speaking style and, at the same time, I’d like to take part in events organized by other women public speakers in order to learn new things.

TP: Paul Martinelli, one of the most renowned public speakers in the world, became your coach. How did that happen?

DV: Yes, I am Paul’s only apprentice in Europe and I’m proud of it. Furthermore, after two years of apprenticeship, I am his teaching partner in Europe. It first happened when I started leading the personal development school that I mentioned. I teamed up with my colleagues, Milan Menghesi and Sorin Popa and we asked him to participate, and he said yes!

He saw me on the stage and told me he’d like to see me speak in front of a smaller group (20-30 people), speaking on a subject of his choice, which I did. And he told me I was part of the two percent of the native public speakers in the world. For me, this was a huge compliment and a yes after a huge amount of work. What followed was a period of two years of online collaboration five days a week, and me appearing on stage with him for the next six times he came to Romania, as well as working with him on his “Power Principles” in London where I met Roddy Galbraith and Christian Simpson.

TP: Was it easy to be taught by Mr. Martinelli?

DV: I am proud to have learned from a master of this caliber. Paul is an extraordinary friend and a tough teacher, as well as an exceptional motivator. During our “scrambling eggs” sessions, as he called his private coaching, I felt like giving up many times, but I realized it was just his way of making me become more driven. I am certain that no Romanian or European school could have given me the kind of intensity that his teachings gave me.

I learned to discover myself, to be a professional and to educate others. The success of my projects shows that his plan worked. My style, which was neither European nor Balkan, challenged him to “break me” and to teach a student who thought she knew it all, the most important lesson of all: to learn to forget, and then to learn again. After being a tough teacher, Paul has remained a good friend and a role model who is proud of my every accomplishment.

TP: What do you have in store for this year?

DV: For 2013 I have some surprises for the Romanian public! That is all I want to let you in on! Because the Romanian public deserves surprises and because we wouldn’t exist without them, without a public that takes us in, loves us and follows us!

Image Courtesy : Diana Vitan

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Diana Vitan is a 32 year-old Romanian public speaker and the owner of Diana Vitan Consulting & Training, a company specializing in personal and business development programs. At the end of 2012, she became the first woman to win the Best Public Speaker Award in Romania, running against an all-men competition made up of experienced speakers.

Although always on a tight schedule, she managed to squeeze in a little time to talk to Toonari Post about her experience and key moments in becoming Romania’s top public speaker.

Toonari Post (TP): How would you describe public speaking?

Diana Vitan (DV): Like any other aspect of life, I can really say that “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” The art of speaking in public is a general notion, which can translate either into a job, a necessity or a terrible fright – it mainly depends on who you ask. For me it has definitely been a passion turned into a job. I consider public speaking to be the art of delivering a message in the most beautiful, clean and appealing way.

TP: How is this profession evolving nowadays?

DV: In the 21st Century, the era of technology and speed, communication has new meaning, new form and new priorities. People feel more comfortable communicating through email, chatting or socializing online, so one might think that live interaction is more and more scarce.

However, for public speaking, this is actually a step forward. You see, my grandfather taught me that it is not the new that is to blame for the loss of the traditional, but the lack of imagination and persuasion in adapting the traditional to the new. I firmly believe that this century is the time for strong speeches, for concentrated communication, that combines the technical and the emotional in the most efficient way.

You have to be better, more concise and more connected in order to deliver the best message. The best people are those that keep reinventing themselves.

TP: Is there a difference between Europe and the U.S., regarding your area of expertise?

DV: Let me ask you a question in return: Have you noticed the difference between the Academy Awards and the Cannes Festival? The U.S., the land of motivation and positive messages vs. Europe, the Old Continent of theatrical art and artistic detail? Each style has its own pulse and, although I really do appreciate the elegance and reasoning of the European speech, I’ve nurtured myself with American motivational literature and American public speaking role-models.

Lately, I’ve rejoiced at seeing Europe make more and more room for the wave of personal development initiative, that needed to successfully complete the public speaking family – and this trend has swept Romania as well! Here, the transition from sales training, to business coaching, to life coaching, and finally to personal development has happened in a natural and beautiful way.

The Romanian audience is becoming more and more receptive to personal as well as business development through guidance (events, books, consultants) – and this has translated into a market demand and a success story at the same time.

TP: What does your audience look like?

DV: I get to talk in front of students, young entrepreneurs, corporate players, freelancers, people in need of personal and professional development – people who want more.

TP: More of what?

DV: More clear objectives, this before anything else! Because if you start with a wrong “why,” i.e. a wrong motivation, you end up setting wrong objectives that you can either not reach – and that’s when you become frustrated – or reach  only to find yourself dissatisfied and constantly searching for more.

TP: How do you work with your audience?

DV: You start to touch people’s lives the moment you help them discover two magical buttons: : “potential” and “passion” – this is where it all begins. I’ve noticed something strange: While people search for passion, they forget to live passionately. How can that be? Most people are searching for their area of genius, of excellence, for their way. Unhappy for not getting there soon enough, they become dissatisfied and frustrated.

When I ask them “What is your passion?” I can see it in the eyes of many that they’re confused and sometimes downright angry for not having found it – and I ask them this: “How can you discover your great passion if you’re not doing everything you do with great passion?” If you’re a telephone switch operator – be the best telephone switch operator in the world and you’re not going to be stuck there for much longer.

TP: You’re the first woman to win the Best Public Speaker Award in Romania!

DV: This is true! But this is also the first Romanian contest of its kind, organized at a national level within the Business Days circuit of events by Laszlo Pacso, the president of the Online Communication Solution Developers Association (ADESCO). There were more than one hundred Romanian speakers talking in front of more than one thousand participants in a two-day event that toured the major cities in the country.

The feedback from the public helped trim the number of the speakers to a top fifteen, and these top speeches were posted on YouTube, where a voting poll decided the winners. I came up on top after the online poll, but I don’t believe that it necessarily means I am the absolute best speaker. I have a lot of respect for all the other speakers, some of whom have a lot more experience than me.

The best speaker is the one that resonates with a specific audience and the one that adapts the fastest and in the best way. I intend to continuously work and improve myself for the people that choose the hear me.

Click here to read the second part of this interview.

Image Courtesy : Diana Vitan

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The relationship between the European Union and Ukraine was for a long period of time mostly shaped by the European Neighborhood Policy. Between 2009 and 2011, an Association agreement was negotiated. This agreement aims at economic integration, including a deep free trade area, but it will not be ratified until Ukraine deals with concerns over a “stark deterioration of democracy.”

At the same time, on the Eastern front, Kyiv is also having consultations on the subject of the removal of trade barriers. Ukraine is taking a closer look at the possible benefits of Kyiv joining a Russia-led Customs Union (CU). However, since the establishment of the CU, the share of trade turnover of all participating countries has not changed. Figures remain unchanged from 2005 claims a study conducted for 3.2 million rubles that was ordered by the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia. Moreover, according to provided data, the dynamics of the main indicators of the CU and Ukraine in 2009-2011 show that the integration effect is maximal for Russia and minimal for the Ukraine.

Nevertheless, according to the Russian Ministry, the technical regulation system of the Customs Union could improve trade not only with the member states of the CU, but also greatly simplify harmonization with the European Union. This is a very controversial statement, especially taking into account multiple assertions by western diplomats, that it would not be possible.

One of the critics is the current Chairman of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs, Elmar Brok, who stressed that Ukraine should decide whether to join the Customs Union or the European Union. “The position of European institutions is clear. Ukraine cannot have a free trade zone with the Customs Union and the EU simultaneously,” he said.

The European Union thinks that Ukraine is just bluffing about their intentions of joining the CU. A full membership in the union would require a change to the Constitution, which is impossible without the support of the opposition. So the “bluffing” part may indeed be true, but only to a certain extent.

Unfortunately, the Ukrainian government lacks the strategic view of the country’s development that has been clearly shown many times by now. Even though Yanukovych, the President of Ukraine, is reluctant to join the Customs Union and make Ukraine a Russian vassal once more, the unfavorable economic situation and increasing Moscow pressure may tip the scales. Which path to take has yet to be decided, but it is equally true for the European Union.

Image Courtesy : World Economic Forum

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Justin Welby, Bishop of Durham, is one step closer to the Archbishopric of Canterbury after the College of Canons of his new cathedral formally elected him in a ceremony that dates from the Middle Ages.

The 35-member body met under the presidency of the Dean of Canterbury Cathedral, the Very Rev. Robert Willis. But the outcome of the election was never in doubt since there was just one name on the ballot.

Although it is commonly said that the Queen appoints Church of England bishops, this is not strictly true. Instead, she causes a document known as a ‘conge d’elire’ to pass under the Great Seal of the Realm, which acts as a formal license empowering the College of Canons of the relevant cathedral to elect a new archbishop or bishop.

But there is a catch: the conge d’elire is always accompanied by ‘Letters Missive’ signed by the Queen recommending a candidate for election. Under legislation passed during the reign of Henry VIII, the College of Canons is obligated to elect the Crown’s nominee. If they failed to do so for whatever reason, the Queen would then go ahead and appoint her candidate directly. At one time the College of Canons would also have faced serious legal consequences, but those were abolished in 1967. It was a moot point, however, since the Crown’s preferred candidate has never been rejected (though there have been a number of cases where individual canons have lodged protest votes against the royal nominee).

The process of having representatives of the cathedral community elect the bishop was once a highly-controversial issue. At first, English monarchs insisted on investing bishops directly, but in 1107, St. Anselm convinced Henry I to allow cathedral chapters to elect their bishop. However, the monarch still dominated the process. The chapter was required to hold the election in the royal chapel with the king’s permission and in the presence of his ecclesiastical advisers. And after the election, the new bishop had to do homage to the king in exchange for the property of the diocese. A little more than a century later, King John established the procedure that is currently in use.

Now Bishop Welby’s election must be confirmed by a special commission consisting of the Archbishop of York and several senior bishops from the province of Canterbury. That ceremony is scheduled for February 4 in St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. Once those legal proceedings are over, he will finally be Archbishop of Canterbury, though his public ministry will not begin until after his formal enthronement on March 21.

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When Lord Hill of Oareford takes up his new role as Leader of the House of Lords, he will also take up the historic office of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. But what is the Duchy of Lancaster, and why is its chancellor a member of the Cabinet?

The Duchy of Lancaster is essentially a source of private income for the British monarch. Its origins date from the 14th century when King Edward III conferred the title ‘Duke of Lancaster’ on Henry of Grosmont as a reward for his service in the Hundred Years’ War. At the same time, Lancaster became a county palatine, which meant that its duke would enjoy considerable autonomy within the kingdom. When Henry died without a male heir, the title was conferred on his son-in-law, John of Gaunt, who happened to be the younger son of Edward III.

John’s son, Henry of Bolingbroke, inherited the title upon his father’s death. When he eventually took the throne of England, the Duchy of Lancaster merged with the Crown. The new king decreed that the duchy would always remain separate from the rest of the Crown’s holdings. In 1760, George III agreed to let Parliament have the revenues from Crown lands in exchange for a fixed payment called the Civil List. But the Duchy of Lancaster was not part of the deal, and it remained the monarch’s private property.

The chancellor is the duchy’s chief administrative officer, though much of the day-to-day business of running the duchy is delegated to the Duchy Council. The chancellor does, however, advise the Queen on a number of appointments within the duchy, including High Sheriffs and certain ecclesiastical positions. Although the Queen appoints the chancellor on the recommendation of the Prime Minister, the chancellor is accountable to her, and not Parliament, regarding the duchy’s affairs. The uniquely personal nature of the relationship is reflected in the fact that, unlike the rest of the Cabinet, the chancellor receives the seals of office during a private audience with the Sovereign.

Since the chancellorship itself has few duties, its occupant is free to act as a sort of Minister without Portfolio. The three most recent chancellors, however, have combined the job with the leadership of the House of Lords. Because the position of Leader of the House of Lords has no statutory basis, its occupant is not actually entitled to a salary. Therefore, in order to pay the leader, they must be given another office that actually draws a salary. Fortunately, the Ministerial and Other Salaries Act 1975 provides salaries for a number of sinecure offices (including that of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster) for that very purpose.

Of course the Leader of the House of Lords is not the only one in this predicament. The Government Chief Whip in the Lords also holds the office of ‘Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms,’ while junior Government Whips in the Commons are appointed to an assortment of positions in the Royal Household. Even the Prime Minister ultimately derives his authority (and his salary!) from the sinecure office of ‘First Lord of the Treasury!’

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Lord Strathclyde has resigned as Leader of the House of Lords, ending a 25-year career on the front bench.

In his resignation letter to David Cameron, Lord Strathclyde wrote that “when I was invited to join the government by Margaret Thatcher in 1988, I never believed it was a career for life. I didn’t expect it would consume me for as long as it has or that I would one day lead the Lords and sit in a Cabinet.”

“The Lords is an extraordinary and vigorous place, but recently I’ve been considering a change of direction,” he continued. “I started my working life in the private sector and at some stage always hoped to return, I would now like to do so. While I have the highest respect for the privilege and duty of public service, I do not see a political career as the cap of everything and would like, while there is still time, to take up other threads of my life and other interests.”

Lord Strathclyde has been the Tory leader in the House of Lords since 1998 when his predecessor, Viscount Cranborne, was sacked for entering into secret negotiations with the Labour government over their proposals to expel the hereditary peers. When the Tories entered into a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats in 2010, Lord Strathclyde retained the leadership and received the sinecure office of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in order to let him sit in the Cabinet.

Lord Strathclyde’s time in government has not been particularly easy. The Lords have defeated the government on more than 50 occasions since 2010, and the House’s burgeoning size has led to frayed tempers. Thanks to an influx of newly-created peers when the coalition took power, there are now 775 members of the House of Lords, putting its longstanding tradition of self-regulation under increasing strain.

To thank Lord Strathclyde for his lengthy service, Cameron has asked the Queen to appoint the peer to the Order of the Companions of Honour. The same honor was given to Sir George Young, Lord Strathclyde’s counterpart in the Commons, after he briefly stepped down from government last year.

Downing Street also announced that Lord Hill of Oareford will succeed Lord Strathclyde as Leader of the House of Lords and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Lord Hill is a relative newcomer to the Lords, having only entered the chamber in May 2010. Since then, he has served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Schools in the Department of Education. According to reports in the British media, Lord Hill tried to resign during last summer’s reshuffle, but Cameron was not paying attention and simply told him to “keep up the good work”!

Image Courtesy : UK Parliament

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Martin McGuinness, the Sinn Fein politician, has decided to step down as MP for Mid-Ulster despite never actually taking his seat in Westminster. There is just one problem: members of Britain’s House of Commons are not allowed to resign their seats.

The prohibition against voluntary resignation is based on a resolution that the Commons passed in 1624. Back then, parliamentary service was often seen as more of a burden than an honor. MPs did not receive a salary, and traveling to Westminster was no easy task. And since Parliament was still more of an event than an institution, MPs would rarely be expected to sit for more than a few weeks anyway.

Several decades later in 1680, the Commons passed a resolution forbidding MPs from accepting offices or ‘places of profit’ under the Crown. Anyone who contravened the resolution forfeited his seat. At the time, MPs feared that having colleagues on the Crown’s payroll would undermine Parliament’s independence.

Similarly, because government ministers were technically servants of the Crown, they had to resign from the Commons and seek re-election upon taking ministerial office. The practice of forcing ministers to seek re-election was not done away with until 1926.

In the eighteenth century, Crown stewardships became a legal fiction that allowed MPs to resign from the Commons. Although there were originally a number of these minor offices, the House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975 whittled the list down to two: the Crown Steward and Bailiff of the three Chiltern Hundreds of Stoke, Desborough and Burnham and the Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead. However, these offices now exist only on paper, and their holders do not receive any sort of salary.

So now when an MP wishes to resign, he or she must write to the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Britain’s finance minister), who then signs a warrant appointing the person to one of the two stewardships. The ex-MP will hold their new ‘office’ until it is needed to allow someone else to resign. In some cases, the tenure can be quite brief: on December 17, 1985, fifteen MPs resigned at once!

Given that Martin McGuinness is a staunch republican, it is ironic that he is now technically one of the Queen’s servants. A spokesman for Sinn Fein was typically dismissive of his new appointment: “as Irish republicans we gave no time for antiquated and ridiculous titles of the British parliamentary system.”

Image Courtesy : UK Parliament

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Finland is an attractive country for asylum seekers and refugees because of its reputed human rights records and its wealth, which is similar to other northern European countries such as Norway and Sweden. While most of the asylum seekers in Portugal are transferred due to Dublin II regulations, it’s not as attractive to asylum seekers in the current economic situation. Dublin II regulation is a signed regulation among Schengen agreement countries to identify as quickly as possible the Member State responsible for examining an asylum application, and to prevent abuse of asylum procedures.

Schengen space includes all European Union countries (excluding the UK and Ireland), Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland. The main article in the Schengen agreement is to abolish the borders between the signed countries and strengthen the outer borders with nonmember countries.

In Finland, the asylum seekers stay in a reception center managed by the Finnish Red Cross after submitting the asylum application in the police station or to the border police. Usually the police check the asylum seeker’s luggage, mobile phone, computer and wallet. The main reason for checking it is to try to find the route that was used by the asylum seeker to reach the country.

Most of the asylum seekers hide their passports and money and destroy any receipts that would show that they’ve bought anything from Schengen space. This is to avoid being deported to the first country that they passed into within the Schengen area according to Dublin II regulations.

All these attempts to hide information would not work if they had finger prints for visa applications or for any other reason within Schengen space. Also, Dublin II regulation states that if the applicant has a visa or residency permit from any Schengen country, that country would be responsible for his asylum application if he had not been there.  In most of the Schengen countries’ embassies around the world, the applicant of tourism or business visa must do finger printing at the embassy itself. Also, in most European Airports, sometimes the immigration officer decides to take the fingerprints, especially if passengers are from countries that have a large number of refugees.

If the asylum seeker gives his passport to authorities in Finland, they will hold it while studying his asylum application. While in Portugal, the passport will remain with him.

While checking the bags the police would take the initial feedback from the asylum seeker and they will search in the Eurodac system, which is a European computer system created to double check if the asylum seeker applied in other Schengen and if he had committed any crime in Europe. The finger printing in Finland is fully computerized, while in Portugal they still use ink fingerprinting for the application and ID preparation.

Also, the police count the money that might be with the asylum seeker so the Finnish Red Cross constants can count the reception allowance for every asylum seeker per month. This allowance is given to the asylum seeker to cover his food, transportation and other essential things for living.

In Finland the allowance is 10 euros per day, and they don’t give one penny to the asylum seeker, even for medication, before confirming that the money with him is accounted for. The payment is given monthly.

In Portugal they follow the same procedure, except for money and baggage, mobile, computer and mobile checking. The allowance is 150 euros per month with some support of food; also, they cover all medical expenses. The allowance is paid on the first Thursday of each month by the dedicated social assistance workers.

The reception center in Portugal is managed by the Conselho Português para os Refugiados (CPR), or Portuguese Refugee Council, which is a Non-government organization (NGO) that is exclusively NGO dedicated to the support of refugees and asylum-seekers in Portugal.

Some of the food that is given by CPR to the asylum seekers and refugees is either expired or about to expire in a few days; most of the food is donated either by the nearby supermarket to the CPR or some other Non-government organizations. When Toonari Post asked one of the members of the CPR social assistance program [her name is reserved] about the reason for providing expired food, the answer was that everyone is able to decide whether the food is suitable to consume or not. Nevertheless, some asylum seekers are not educated enough to read the expiration date on the food.

Another strange procedure in CPR is that they don’t give an independent room to any person without hassle. For example, on the eve of December 29, 2012, one vigilant employee switched off the internet from the main router without informing the person who was talking to his family online. When the resident asked him to keep it for personal reasons, the employee refused to follow his request. The resident decided to watch television in the living room to civilly protest the aggressive Vigilant. After some minutes, three policemen came to the CPR and spoke in Portuguese. When the resident asked them either to speak in English or to bring an interpreter they assaulted the resident using their hands and the police stick. They took him to the police station to continue to beat him for three hours, then returned him to the CPR to sleep in his room. The resident went to the hospital the next day to take the proper treatment and to make a report so he could press charges against the policemen and the original employee. Other employees tried to convince him to withdraw the case from the court and promised the independent room. He took the room but refused to withdraw the case.

The majority of the asylum seekers are, in both countries, coming from Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Macedonia and Iran. Some of them come from other countries. The political and the humanitarian are among the top reasons for applying for asylum while some others are coming for economic or family reasons.

This compression is done according to the personal experience of one Toonari Post writer who applied for asylum in Finland, then was transferred to Portugal due to Dublin II regulation.

Image Courtesy : Northfoto / Shutterstock.com

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A team of scientists has shed light on one of the most abiding mysteries of ancient Egypt: what happened to Pharaoh Ramesses III?

Ramesses, who reigned from approximately 1186 BCE-1155 BCE, is regarded by Egyptologists as Egypt’s last great monarch. But the later years of his reign appear to have been a time of disarray. The increasingly penurious state found itself unable to pay the workmen who built the royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings, which resulted in the first recorded strike in history.

Amidst this general turmoil, members of his court planned a coup to replace him with one of his sons, Prince Pentaweret. The details of the conspirators’ trial are preserved in three documents, the Judicial Papyrus of Turin, the Rollins Papyrus, and the Lee Papyrus. Thanks to these records, we know that the accused included a wide range of individuals, from royal women to palace officials. At some point during the course of the trial, some of the women seem to have tried to seduce the judges, who suffered the loss of their noses and ears as punishment for consorting with the accused. As for the hapless Prince Pentaweret, he was said to have committed suicide (probably in lieu of execution). We do not know what became of his mother, Queen Tiye, who appears to have been the driving force behind the plot.

But the biggest mystery of the whole affair is what happened to Ramesses III himself. The official records are silent as to his fate, though they imply that he died during the course of the trial. This led many scholars to wonder if the coup failed, or if it merely took a while for the king to die.

Now, thanks to the recent CT scans of the king’s mummy, we have the answer: his throat was slit. The wound was so severe that it went all the way down to the spine, severing the trachea, esophagus, and major blood vessels. The result would have been almost instantaneous death. Until now, the wound was overlooked because the neck retained its original bandaging. Interestingly, the CT scan also revealed that the embalmers placed an Eye of Horus amulet in the wound, perhaps to ensure that it healed in the afterlife.

“[The cut] might have been made by the embalmers but this is very unlikely,” said Dr. Albert Zink, a paleopathologist at the Institute for Mummies and the Iceman in Italy who took part in the investigation. “I’m not aware of any other examples of this.”

The researchers also made another surprising discovery: an unidentified male mummy found in an unmarked coffin is probably Prince Pentaweret. The body had not undergone the usual mummification process, and was found wrapped in a goat skin, which was considered ritually impure by the ancient Egyptians. Marks on his neck suggest that he might have been strangled, though the lack of fractures to the laryngeal skeleton make it impossible to say so with certainty.

Furthermore, genetic analysis indicated that Unknown Man E and Ramesses III were closely related. ”From our genetic analysis we could really prove the two were closely related. They share the same Y chromosome and 50% of their genetic material, which is typical of a father-son relationship,” said Dr. Zink.

Although the genetic data does not prove that Unknown Man E is in fact Pentaweret, his dishonorable burial would seem to be consistent with that of a condemned criminal. Burying him in an unmarked coffin without the usual mummification process was probably intended to deny him a posthumous existence in the afterlife.

A full report of the team’s findings can be found on the website of the British Medical Journal.

Image Courtesy : G. Elliot Smith [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

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Munich, Germany – For the ninth time, Hubert Burda Media brings together pioneers of the digital age in Munich. ”Patterns That Connect” is the theme of Burda’s international DLD innovation conference in Munich from January 20 to 22, 2013. At DLD, creative minds, digital entrepreneurs as well as leading scientists, data scientist and artists discuss the most pertinent issues of today and tomorrow, and explore new (business) opportunities. Key DLD13 topics are e-commerce, digital security/privacy, education/social issues, and the future of entertainment.

Key agenda items include the future of e-commerce and the hot topic of digital security/privacy. Other sessions will focus on the changes in the educational sector. How and, even more importantly, what will we learn in the future? What are the strategic and logistical challenges in online retail? How are new mobile devices changing the behavior of consumers and media users? Will a customization of content be required in the future? Which technological innovations will change our society in the years to come? DLD13 speakers and attendees will discuss these and other questions from a variety of perspectives.

Speakers at previous DLD events included digital entrepreneur Marc Zuckerberg, Eric Schmidt, Sean Parker, Marissa Mayer; but also Lady Gaga, Nobel Laureates Martti Ahtisaari and Dan Kahneman, Scientists as Craig Venter as well as Deepak Chopra, Paulo Coelho and architects Zaha Hadid, Norman Foster and Rem Koolhaas. At the upcoming event in January 2013, Stephanie Czerny will once again bring together influential creative minds and pioneers from the global digital industry, the media, politics, business, finance, science, society, art and design in Munich. Confirmed speakers include:

E-Commerce

• Jack Dorsey, Co-Founder & CEO Square
• Tony Hsieh, CEO Zappos
• David Marcus, CEO Paypal
• René Schuster, CEO Telefónica Deutschland
• Peter Thiel, Partner at Founders Fund

Security/Privacy

• Eugene Kaspersky, security expert
• Sunil Madhu, Founder & CEO Socure
• Sanghvi Ruchi, CTO Dropbox
• Carson Sweet, Co-Founder & CEO Cloud Passage

Entertainment

• DJ Patil, data scientist
• Scott Belsky, Founder Behance and author of “Making Ideas Happen”
• Ben Horowitz, Partner at Andreessen Horowitz/Investor of “RapGenius”
• Aaron Koblin, Creative Director Data Arts Team Google
• Ynon Kreitz, CEO Maker Studios

Education/Social Issues

• John Maeda, computer scientist
• Zach Sims, Co-Founder Code Academy

DLD13 is themed “Patterns that Connect”, and this alludes to a wide range of topics: from binary codes as the basis for processing digital information; patterns in human behavior; algorithms that, as programming instructions, stipulate actions; to data visualization that shows patterns in data flows. Patterns break up complexities, make big data tangible and applicable through the identification of patterns, and are the link to structured design. DLD regards itself as a “pattern recognizer” of structures that will become important in the future. However, it also breaks up patterns to piece them back together in a new context.

‘Data brings us closer to the complex patterns of everything we do; it changes our perspective on our life, societies and values. DLD identifies and brings together the most important drivers in these various fields to discuss future opportunities,’ says DLD founder and director Steffi Czerny.

This year, the chairmen of the event, publisher Dr. Hubert Burda and investor Dr. Yossi Vardi, will welcome around 800 international attendees to the agenda setting at Munich’s HVB-Forum. Top-notch events during the conference include the Chairmen & Speaker Dinner at the Jewish Community Center on January 20, the DLD StarNight on January 21, and the presentation of the “Aenne Burda Awards for Creative Leadership”. Past award recipients were Arianna Huffington (Huffington Post), Marissa Mayer(former Google), and Mitchell Baker (Mozilla Firefox). The traditional closing event of the DLD Conference is once again the DLD FOCUS Nightcap at the World Economic Forum in Davos on January 23.

For the second time, DLD Campus together with the Internet Business Cluster (IBC) will host the meeting of a digital pioneer and students: Peter Thiel, one of the initial Facebook investors, is scheduled to give a public lecture at the University of Munich (LMU).

The sessions are aired on live-stream by DLD Media. DLD is a “by invitation only” event. There are still a limited number of tickets available, so if you are interested in attending DLD13, please apply here.

Image Courtesy : Hubert Burda Media

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After a twelve-year legislative battle, the General Synod of the Church of England has rejected a move to consecrate women bishops.

In order to pass, the legislation required a 2/3 majority in all three Houses of Synod. Although there was enough support in the House of Bishops and the House of Clergy to pass the measure, the House of Laity was just a few votes shy of the required majority. The final tally was as follows:

House of Bishops: 44 in favor, 2 against

House of Clergy: 148 in favor, 45 against

House of Laity: 132 in favor, 74 against

Earlier in the day, the Archbishop of Canterbury-designate and current Bishop of Durham, the Rt. Rev. Justin Welby, urged the Synod to support the measure. He said that the church needed to show that it could “Manage diversity of view without division – diversity in amity, not diversity in enmity.”

“We cannot get trapped into believing this is a zero sum decision where one person’s gain must be another’s loss.”

Also speaking in favor of the change, the Bishop of Liverpool, the Rt. Rev. James Jones, said that he had changed his mind on the issue. “I now believe that for the mission of God to the people of England it is right for women to take up their place in this House of Bishops sitting before you now.”

Canon Rosie Harper told the Synod that rejecting the measure would have dire consequences. “Firstly, as a Church for the whole country we will be seen to have failed to do what is right and honourable; a Church with lower moral standards than the rest of society risks its right to comment on other issues.”

“Secondly, it will inevitably be seen as the act of a dying Church more wedded to the past than committed to hope for the future.”

However, one of the Anglo-Catholic members of Synod, Canon Simon Killwick, claimed that the measure should be rejected because “it has united against it the whole spectrum of traditionalists.”

The Church of England has allowed women to become priests since 1994, but a vocal minority of Anglicans remains opposed to women in the ministry. ‘High Church’ Anglicans claim that the ordination of women flies in the face of two millennia of Catholic practice, while ‘Low Church’ Anglicans point to Bible verses that they say prohibit women from having authority over men.

When the first women were ordained, a host of measures were put in place to mollify traditionalists. Parishes that opposed the ordination of women could ban female priests from their pulpits, and they could even opt-out of their local bishop’s authority if he supported the ordination of women.

But the prospect of women bishops threatened to be even more problematic for traditionalists. Because they believe that it is theologically impossible for a woman to be a bishop, they would be unable to accept priests ordained by female bishops, even if the priests were male. And although traditionalist parishes would have been able to ask a female bishop to delegate her pastoral responsibilities to a male colleague, many were unhappy with that proposal because they believed that a female bishop would not have any authority to begin with.

In a last-minute bid to reassure traditionalists, the House of Bishops amended the proposal to include a clause stating that, not only could parishes request alternative episcopal oversight from a male bishop, that bishop would have to share their views on the ordination of women. In other words, alternative episcopal oversight could only be provided by a bishop who had not ordained women and had been ordained by a woman himself.

But this eleventh-hour compromise angered many liberals, who claimed it was tantamount to gender-based apartheid. A number of prominent liberal Synod members announced that they would vote against the entire package, claiming that it was better to delay the admission of women to the episcopate rather than admit them as second-class citizens.

Now that the measure has been defeated, supporters of female bishops will have to start the legislative process all over again. The current measure was first introduced in 2009, so it is likely that the General Synod will not be able to revisit the matter until 2015 at the earliest.

Image Courtesy : Scottgunn

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Downing Street has announced that the Bishop of Durham, the Rt. Rev. Justin Welby, is to succeed the Most Rev. and Rt. Hon. Dr. Rowan Williams as Archbishop of Canterbury when the latter steps down at the end of this year.

“To be nominated to this post is both astonishing and exciting,” said Bishop Welby. “It is something I never expected, and the last few weeks have been a very strange experience. It is exciting because we are at one of those rare points where the tide of events is turning, and the church nationally, including the Church of England has great opportunities to match its very great but often hidden strengths,” he continued.

Educated at Eton and Trinity College Cambridge, Bishop Welby spent eleven years working in the oil industry. By the late 80s, he had become an executive at Enterprise Oil Plc and was earning a six-figure salary. But in 1987, he decided to leave the corporate world and become an Anglican priest.

After receiving a degree in theology from Cranmer Hall in Durham, he served as a curate (assistant parish priest) at All Saints Chilvers Coton with St Mary the Virgin Astley, in Nuneaton from 1992 to 1995. In 1995, he received his own parish, St. James, Southam, and in 1996 he was also given the neighboring parish of St. Michael and All Angels, Ufton.

In 2002, he became a Canon Residentiary at Coventry Cathedral and was extensively involved in reconciliation work in Africa and the Middle East. Much of his international work focused on Nigeria, where he attempted to diffuse the conflict in the Niger Delta.

Bishop Welby left the Diocese of Coventry in 2007 in order to become Dean of Liverpool Cathedral. During his time in Liverpool, he worked tirelessly to strengthen the cathedral’s ties to the local community.

Four years later, Bishop Welby was promoted to the Bishopric of Durham. Durham is one of the preeminent dioceses in the Church of England, and its bishop is automatically entitled to a seat in the House of Lords. Although Bishop Welby has been in Durham for less than a year, he gained recognition for his contributions in Parliament, and he was appointed to the Joint Select Commission on Banking Standards. In the church’s General Synod, he worked to prevent a schism over the admission of women to the episcopate.

Bishop Welby is commonly regarded as a member of the evangelical wing of the Church of England, which tends to stress traditional interpretation of the Bible. However, at a press conference held to announce his appointment, he lent his support to the ordination of female bishops. “I will be voting in favor and join my voice to many others in urging the Synod to go forward with this change,” he said.

As one might expect given his evangelical sympathies, Bishop Welby opposes the government’s plans to legalize gay marriage, calling it a complicated issue “and not one to be handled today, off the cuff.” At the same time, he has roundly condemned prejudice and discrimination against LGBT people.

“We must have no truck with any form of homophobia in any part of the Church,” he said. “I am always averse to the language of exclusion, when what we are called to is to love in the same way as Jesus Christ loves us. Above all in the Church we need to create safe spaces for these issues to be discussed in honesty and in love.”

Bishop Welby was chosen by the Crown Nominations Commission, a church body made up of bishops, clergy, and lay people. The selection process is highly secretive, and the commission’s deliberations are not made public. Ultimately, the commission presents two candidates to the Prime Minister, who then makes a formal recommendation to the Queen. Since 2007, Downing Street has always submitted the commission’s first choice to the monarch.

The process of installing Bishop Welby in office will be complex and arcane. Once the Archbishopric of Canterbury is vacant, the Queen will order the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury Cathedral to elect a new archbishop. At the same time, she will also recommend that they elect Bishop Welby. By law, the Dean and Chapter must elect the Crown’s nominee. That election will then have to be confirmed by a commission of senior bishops appointed by the Queen. From that point on, Bishop Welby will legally be Archbishop of Canterbury.

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David Cameron flew to the middle east on November 5 for a three day trip, aiming to promote British businesses. The prime minister visited the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia to try and showcase the NHS, boost British defence exports to the area and also discuss the unrest to the region Iran is causing.

The most talked about aspect of the trip, however, was his aim to sell weapons to both countries. If successful, his trip could provide a vital boost to the UK’s economy and defence industry, which is worth 5.4 billion in annual exports.

Last year, exports to the Gulf Coast were up by 18% and the government is attempting to continue this trend. Mr Cameron is hoping to sell as many as 100 Typhoon jets during his trip, according to the Daily Telegraph, and this deal could be exactly what BAE need after their failed merger with EADS.

However, the visit has caused concern with human rights groups. Amnesty International said David Cameron shouldn’t be attempting to sell weapons to any countries with such questionable human rights. Amnesty are also doubtful that any assurance either country give to the UK is credible saying “assurances often don’t amount to much.” To prove how likely it is that these weapons will be used to commit human rights abuses, Amnesty highlighted the Saudi Arabian air force operations in North Yemen in 2009, where they killed hundreds/thousands of civilians. Despite calls from Amnesty International, no proper investigation took place into the events. It is likely to have been the UK supplied weaponry that were used in these attacks.

The Human Rights Watch, in their world report 2011, said how “Human rights conditions remain poor in Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah has not fulfilled several specific reform promises.” The European parliament is also critical, releasing a resolution concerning the human rights situation in the United Arab Emirates. In the resolution the European Parliament say how it “expresses great concern about assaults, repression and intimidation against human rights defenders, political activists and civil society actors” and goes on to say “the evidence indicates that national security is the pretext for a crackdown on peaceful activism designed to stifle calls for constitutional reform and reform on human rights issues”

In the face of such evidence, detailing the lack of human rights in both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates one has to wonder why the UK are still attempting to sell weapons and jets to both countries.

The gorvernment claims that it is reducing the risk of arms exports being used for human rights abuses. It is an advocate of the Arms Trade Treaty, that would ensure that no trade in weapons would be allowed if there was any risk they would be used in violations of international human rights.

Its actions belie this though. The Foreign and Commonwealth office lists Saudi Arabia as a cause for concern in its 2011 report. The UK trade & Investment website meanwhile makes no mention of human rights abuses instead mentioning how Saudi Arabia has been “Designated a ‘High Growth Market’ by UK Trade & Investment”

If the UK was truly committed to protecting human rights, if it was committed to creating and following an international Arms Trade Treaty as it says it is, then it would not sell weapons to countries with poor human rights and a history of using UK weapons to repress or kill citizens. Instead it seems to be focusing more on reducing unrest in the middle east and boosting its economy.

Image Courtesy : The Prime Minister’s Office

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The American multinational corporation Apple, has posted a written apology on several British papers saying, “Samsung Electronics did not copy the design of Apple’s product.”

The written apology by Apple was posted on Financial Times on November 1 and on the Daily Mail and the Guardian on November 2. A British court made the decision that Galaxy Tab, Samsung’s tablet PC, did not infringe the patent of the design of Apple’s iPad.

In the papers, Apple introduced the sentencing by a British court and said, “A British court has reached a verdict that Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1, Tab 8.9, and Tab 7.7 did not infringe the patent of the design of Apple’s iPad, and the decision will be applied to all EU nations as well.”

The British courts already made this decision last July, ordering Apple to release official statement in the British papers to let people know the court’s decision.

Therefore, Apple posted an official statement on its British website on October 25, saying that Samsung did not infringe the patent of Apple. However, its official statement included controversial sentences such as, “The design of Galaxy Tab is not cool enough to differentiate it from iPad,” or “Some nations like Germany or the United States has admitted Samsung’s infringement.”

After Apple’s official statement was released, the British court ordered Apple to delete its statement in 24 hours and to release new statement by November 3, saying that Apple’s official statement was “not true and not correct.”

Over the court’s decision, Apple said that it would take at least two weeks to release a new statement, but the court did not admit Apple’s compliant.

The court also added, “The size of font should be 11 when Apple releases a new statement.” Apple’s original statement on its British website was too small to read and located down on the left.

The court warned that it can send some Apple’s executives such as Tim Cook, a CEO of Apple, Jonathan Ive, a chief designer at Apple, or Al Gore, the former U.S. vice president and a current member of board of directors at Apple, to jail, or it can confiscate their properties if Apple does not follow the decision of court properly this time. The court added that Apple is not allowed to appeal over this issue, and Apple should bear all costs that Samsung has spent for the legal dispute with Apple.

Meanwhile, it is expected that Apple will post more written apologies on other British media such as Mobile Magazine or T3 Magazine.

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David Cameron gave a speech in London November 23, in which he said that he will be “tough but intelligent” on crime. He said crime should not be viewed in terms of black and white, either lock them all up or let them go. Cameron instead called for rehabilitation and tougher sentences for those who continually re-offend and do not reform.

Currently only those who are in prison for a year or longer are offered rehabilitation while in prison. However in his speech, Cameron said that he wants rehabilitation to be offered to all those who are in jail, in order to target those who are consistently serving short sentences and then re-offending. He said, “Prevention is the cheapest and most effective way to deal with crime.”

This speech by Cameron on rehabilitation for criminals comes a week after the UK Drug Policy Commission published a report titled: “A Fresh Approach to Drugs.” One of the recommendations of this report is to “… make the criminal justice system more focused on recovery.” The report also says, “sending to drug users to prison without appropriate support either inside or on their release may lead to a a higher risk of death” or “reduced risk of recovery because their treatment is disrupted.” It stresses the need for proper rehabilitation to stop criminals from re-offending.

Cameron then went on to say he wants to see payment by results spread right across rehabilitation and that “… with payment by results your money will go into what works.” This is similar to another of the recommendations within the UKDPC’s report. The report highlights the fact that there are many drug treatment programs that simply do not work and says they should no longer be supported. With Cameron’s payment by results scheme, those rehabilitation programs that do not work will receive no money, therefore cutting off the support that these defective programs receive. However, this could lead to companies ignoring those deemed to be too hard to reform, and instead lead them to focus on reforming the criminals who are easy to rehabilitate, in order to make more profit.

What Cameron also failed to mention in his speech was just how he plans to afford to pay for those programs which have promising results. At the moment, with a lack of details about when it will happen or where the money will come from, this approach to crime that he has outlined appears to be more of a wish list for how he would like to deal with crime than what he actually plans to do.

However if he was to follow a few more of the recommendations outlined in the UKDPC’s report, such as reduced sanctions for possession of drugs by making it a civil rather than criminal offense, then the money to make this a reality could become available. Making possession a civil problem means anyone found guilty would be fined or sent to drug awareness sessions rather than be sent to jail. The report says changing this “could potentially result in less demand on police and criminal justice time and resources,” thus helping to reduce the 3 billion pounds currently spent fighting drugs each year.

If they were to make the possession of drugs a civil offense, then the lesser strain on police time and resources could potentially save billions, thus freeing up money to be spent on Mr. Cameron’s payment by results plan. Not sending criminals to jail for possession could also result in prisons having more spaces available, which could be used to house those re offenders which Cameron say should be given longer prison sentences.

Image Courtesy of The CBI

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London, England — On October 24, Rising Media and WebMediaBrands, producers of the AllFacebook Marketing Conference, announced that Vincent Sider, Vice President of Social Media for the BBC, will open this year’s London conference as the keynote speaker.

Sider will address how the BBC harnesses social technologies and explores opportunities for enhancing engagement and monetisation across a variety of social media platforms, including Facebook. In his role, Sider creates and delivers social media strategies to support the broadcast company’s global brands.

A full-day event designed for professionals who are interested in leveraging Facebook to grow their businesses and extend the social reach of their brands. The conference is packed with case studies, practical advice, and concrete examples of how to monetise content through this social media platform.

Sider’s presentation marks an exceptional opportunity to learn how one of the world’s largest broadcasters is successfully leveraging social media. Attendees will walk away with advice and actionable tips to apply to their own social media strategies.

“Being responsible for the BBC’s social media strategy is a mammoth task in a corporation which has so many worldwide brands,” said CEO of Rising Media, Matthew Finlay. In his opening presentation, Sider will outline why Facebook, as well as other social media platforms, are fundamental to the BBC’s marketing plans and reveal just how they leverage the multitude of opportunities this presents.”

Additional conference speakers include professionals from Kred, Yorkshire Tea and Taylors Coffee, salesforce.com, Syncapse, Spruce Media, and more.

AllFacebook Marketing Conference is being held on 19 November at 200 Aldersgate, London.

Click here to register for the conference.

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London, England – According to new research from Holiday Inn, almost one in 10 Brits are more likely to be scared of waking up to the sound of The X Factor’s Rylan this Halloween than that of a cackling witch or the theme tune from ‘The Omen’. Worryingly for his mentor Nicole Scherzinger, the same number of Brits said that being woken by the sound of their mother-in-law’s voice would also terrify them on the spookiest day of the year.

The frights don’t end there, with nails on a chalkboard coming out as the top ultimate scary noise in the poll. And as we turn back the clocks for an extra hour in bed, a nation of sleep-deprived Brits also confess that they wish they could hide under the covers from the cold, with two-thirds of us wishing they could stay in bed for an average 17 minutes a day longer during the winter months, and over half admitting to hitting the snooze button at least once in an attempt for extra shut-eye.

We find it so hard as a nation to wake up that one in five of us admit to putting our alarms on the other side of the room in order to force ourselves out of bed in the morning to turn it off – with 20% of men saying they need more than one alarm going off to rouse them. The survey also found that the preferred wake up calls included being woken gently by their partner (12%) or the smell of bacon (14%), and that the mobile phone has overtaken the traditional alarm clock, with over a third now saying they set their iPhones or Blackberry to wake them up.

Tamara Strauss from Holiday Inn said: “Everybody feels less inclined to wake up in the winter months, and it’s harder than ever to drag ourselves out of the warmth and into the cold. Fortunately all of our guests can look forward to a restful and nightmare-free stay over Halloween without the need for shocking wake-up calls to get them out of bed. It’s clear from this research that should Rylan make it another week in The X Factor he has to go down as the ultimate scary trick for Brits on what’s already the spookiest night of the year.”

For more information, visit http://www.tophoteloffers.co.uk/Halloween.

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London, U.K. – NTT Europe, a wholly owned subsidiary of NTT Communications and the number one Fortune Global 500 telecommunications group, has been nominated for Best Central & Eastern European Wholesale Carrier at the Capacity Awards 2012.

In its 8th consecutive year, these prestigious awards recognize innovation, excellence and vision throughout the global wholesale telecoms marketplace and focusses on the contributions that have excelled in the use, development and deployment of carrier services over the last 12 months.

NTT Europe is committed to developing the CEE IP Transit market. In the last 12 months alone, NTT Europe has extended its Global IP network into the Balkans with PoPs in Hungary, Romania andBulgaria, and has added further connectivity in Brussels, Milan and Munich. By working with existing market leaders, NTT Europe aims to enhance the market by adding new competition and choice to consumers in this region. In a market as dynamic and fast-growing as CEE, NTT Europe supports the established local operators in delivering a high quality and commercially competitive products.

Masaaki Moribayashi, Managing Director at NTT Europe comments, “We are dedicated to improving the quality of services and direct connectivity throughout Europe. Over the past 12 months, we’ve been aggressively building PoPs in locations across Europe to not only where our customers need to be, but also working with existing leaders in these regions to enhance the choice in the market. NTT Europe is pleased to be recognized for this achievement.”

Along with NTT Europe’s nomination for Best Central & Eastern European Wholesale Carrier, NTT Communications is also nominated for Best Global Wholesale Carrier and Best Asian Wholesale Carrier. Winners of the Capacity Awards 2012 will be announced at the Awards Ceremony and Gala Dinner on Tuesday November 13, at the Okura Hotel in Amsterdam.

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Kyiv, Ukraine – ”There is a complete freedom of self-expression and no censorship in Ukraine,” stated the Head of the Delegation of the EU to Ukraine Jan Tombinski. At the same time, he said, there was an issue regarding the ability of citizens to express their views through the media.

Tombinski mentioned that the Ukrainian media were focused on influencing voters instead of educating them. It is only after the election that it would be possible to see to what extent access to the media or its absence influenced the results of the vote, he added. Many international and local activists, including the international NGO CANADEM, indicate that media freedom has been an important factor for Ukrainian voters while making an informed choice at the October 28 parliamentary elections.

While the media in Ukraine is widely criticized for placing paid publications and spreading biased information regarding both the opposition and the ruling party, Freedom House gave free Internet freedom status to Ukraine in the organization’s September 2012 report. Ukraine received 27 points out of 100 (maximum points indicate the least free environment) – the best Internet freedom result among the researched CIS countries.

“Ukraine has relatively liberal legislation governing the Internet and access to information,” reads the report. The document states that access to broadband Internet in Ukraine is fairly affordable, Internet penetration in Ukraine has been growing steadily, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, WordPress and LiveJournal are freely available. The authors note that the backbone connection of UA-IX to the international Internet is not centralized.

Notably, in September 2012, Ukraine hosted the 64th World Newspaper Congress and 19 World Editors Forum. Almost 1,000 representatives of the world-leading media from more than 90 countries attended the event in Ukraine, receiving first-hand experience in the state of the media environment in the Eastern European country. International media CEOs had a chance to meet Ukrainian government officials and reflect on the issues of freedom of press and speech in Ukraine.

The issue of media freedom is particularly important on the eve of the parliamentary elections in Ukraine, which will take place on October 28, 2012.

Image Courtesy of  Alexander Kalina / Shutterstock.com

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On Sunday, October 14, Felix Baumgartner, a skydiver keen on extreme sports, successfully jumped from the edge of space. He made a long-awaited jump from a height of 39 kilometer and landed near a military base situated in Roswell, New Mexico.

He took off in a pressurized capsule carried by a 55-story ultra-thin helium balloon. As he exited his capsule from the scheduled height, he flashed a thumbs-up sign, aware that his feat was being shown on a live-stream via the Internet. He lifted his arms in victory shortly after landing, sending off loud cheers from onlookers and friends inside the mission’s control center in Roswell. It has been estimated that eight million people from all over the world watched the breath-taking jump. The leap became more than just entertainment – Sunday’s launch coincided with the 65th anniversary of American pilot Chuck Yeager breaking the sound barrier, and set the record for parachute jumps in altitude.

During the first part of Baumgartner’s free fall, anxious onlookers at the command center held their breath as he appeared to spin uncontrollably.

“When I was spinning first 10, 20 seconds, I never thought I was going to lose my life but I was disappointed because I’m going to lose my record. I put seven years of my life into this,” he said. “In that situation, when you spin around, it’s like hell and you don’t know if you can get out of that spin or not. Of course, it was terrifying. I was fighting all the way down because I knew that there must be a moment where I can handle it,” he added.

“When you stand there on top of the world, you do not think about breaking records anymore, you do not think about gaining scientific data. The only thing you want is to come back alive,” Baumgartner said after the jump.

The jump was made with the help of the Red Bull Stratos program. The aim of this program is to make new skydive record the edge of the earth’s atmosphere.

Felix Baumgartner made three new world records on Sunday. The first record is the highest stratospheric balloon flight, the second is the most altitudinal parachute jump, and the third is the fastest free fall. The speed of Baumgartner’s free fall reached 1713 kilometers per hour and the time of his free flight was four minutes and twenty seconds.

Felix Baumgartner’s life story

Felix Baumgartner, a former military skydiver, comes from Austria and has more than 2500 leaps from different monuments, skyscrapers, planes and helicopters behind. This year in July he jumped from the height of 29 kilometer, making the speed of 862 kilometers per hour during the free fall. After this he also successfully landed in New Mexico.

“Sometimes we have to get really high to see how small we are,” Baumgartner told reporters outside mission control, shortly after the jump. ”Honestly, I want to inspire the next generation. I would love to be here in four years and there a young guy sitting next to me because he wants to break my record,” he said.

Joseph William Kittinger: the master

Joseph William Kittinger II, a U.S. air force officer, was born in 1928, on July 27. He is most famous for his participation in Project Manhigh and Project Excelsior. Kittinger made the third peak leap on August 16 in 1960 within the framework of the Project Excelsior from a height of 31,3 kilometer. Kittinger’s free fall lasted for 4 minutes and 36 seconds, reaching a speed of 988 kilometer per hour. He was also the first man to make a solo crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in a gas balloon.

Kittinger held the previous world record for the jump that Baumgartner broke this weekend.

Image Courtesy of  Felix Baumgartner

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Letters between the Prince of Wales and the British government will remain secret after the Attorney General intervened to block a court order mandating their release.

Last month, a panel of judges ruled that seven government departments had to disclose correspondence they had received from Prince Charles. But Section 53 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 gives ministers a veto over such decisions. In a ten-page document that accompanied his decision , Dominic Grieve MP said that he was taking action to protect the political neutrality of the Crown.

One of the fundamental principles of Britain’s constitutional monarchy is that the sovereign must be politically neutral. By longstanding convention, the Queen only acts on the advice of the government of the day. However, she must be kept informed about the business of government, and she is free to share her views privately with ministers. The need to preserve the Crown’s neutrality is seen as so important that communications between the royal family and the government are treated as strictly confidential, although the Freedom of Information Act 2000 originally allowed certain documents to be disclosed if it was deemed to be in the public interest.

Throughout her sixty-year reign, Queen Elizabeth II has shown herself to be a model of political circumspection. She does not give interviews, and on the few occasions when she does not speak on ministerial advice, her remarks are scrupulously apolitical. There was a brief furor in 1986 when the Sunday Times claimed that some of Margaret Thatcher’s policies were causing the Queen ‘dismay,’ but the assertion was swiftly rubbished by the Palace.

Prince Charles, on the other hand, has gained a reputation for being rather more outspoken than his mother. He has not shied away from public comment on topics such as architecture and organic farming, and he is known to share his views with ministers from time to time. While his critics claim that he is exerting undue influence on the government, his defenders argue that, as the future king, he is entitled to discuss his views with ministers.

The present tussle started back in 2005 when Rob Evans, a journalist from the left-leaning Guardian newspaper, sought to use the Freedom of Information Act to force the disclosure of Prince Charles’ correspondence with several government departments. His request was opposed by the government, and he ended up having to fight it all the way to the Upper Tribunal of the Administrative Appeals Chamber.

Last month, the Tribunal ruled that the disclosure of the documents was in the public interest. In their ruling, the judges sought to draw a distinction between correspondence that allows Prince Charles to prepare himself for kingship and correspondence that advocates certain positions. While the former should remain confidential, the latter could be disclosed to the public.

But the Attorney General disagreed. “In my view, it is of very considerable practical benefit to the Prince of Wales’ preparations for kingship that he should engage in correspondence and engage in dialogue with ministers about matters falling within the business of their departments, because such correspondence will assist him in fulfilling his duties…as king,” Grieve said.

Grieve also pointed out that, although the letters could be “frank,” they did not cross the lines of constitutional propriety. But at the same time, their disclosure could make it harder for people to accept his political neutrality when he becomes king.

“The ability of the monarch to engage with the government of the day, whatever its political colour, and maintain political neutrality is a cornerstone of the UK’s constitutional framework,” Grieve concluded.

Rob Evans, the journalist who originally asked for the letters to be disclosed, condemned the Attorney General’s decision, claiming that “the public has a right to see these letters” in order to gauge Prince Charles’ influence on government policy.

The anti-monarchy group Republic chimed in as well. “The Attorney General’s decision is all about protecting Charles and the Royal family from scrutiny, putting his demands above the rights of the British people,” said Graham Smith, the group’s chief executive.

“Dominic Grieve has made it clear today that no citizen should ever bother trying to find out what the royals are doing behind closed doors: the government will never let the light in.”

In the future, it will be impossible to use the Freedom of Information Act to sneak a peek at royal correspondence. Under changes to the law that took effect last year, the Queen, Prince Charles, and the Duke of Cambridge now enjoy a blanket exemption from the act.

Image Courtesy of   The Great Photographicon

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London, U.K. – Just days after the ferocity of an international rugby match on the hallowed grass of England’s most recognised rugby field, GDS International’s iStrategy Digital Marketing Conference will bring its own interpretation of drama and intensity, bringing together a collision of ideas and opinions shared by the world’s most regarded digital and social media marketers.

On hand to entertain, educate and inspire the high-level 500-strong digital marketers in attendance will be the best speakers from each corner of the globe, all with their very own unique stories to tell. With this in mind, who better to open the conference then Ken Segall, the man behind Apple’s Think Different campaign and the creator of the brand name iMac. Learning from Apple’s example, Ken’s keynote will walk the attendees through the importance of simplicity in an over-crowded world.

Also speaking on day one will be Sonia Carter, the Head of Digital at Kraft. As Head of Digital, Sonia is responsible for Kraft’s brands such as Crème Egg, Wispa, Toblerone and Dairy Milk chocolate and is charged with helping these brands meet their business objectives by reaching, engaging and servicing more consumers through the digital channel.

Kicking off day two will be Mari Smith, a renowned author and speaker on social media, who will deliver a keynote detailing the ways brand can utilise their Facebook presence with real results. A global social media figure, Mari has been featured in the New York Times, Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company and Fortune and is the author of the best seller: Facebook Marketing, an hour a day.

Bookmarking the conference on day two will be former MTV Chairman Bill Roedy. Having spearheaded MTV’s growth, as Chairman and CEO, into the largest international entertainment network in existence, Bill has recently released the best-selling book: What Makes Business Rock, a book that outlines how executives can build and manage a business in an ever-evolving business environment.

Other great speakers include: Chris Schaumann, Director of Advocacy, Nokia; Jeff Henry, CEO, Filmflex; Alain Heureux, President and CEO, IAB Europe; Jon Block, Head of Commercial Innovation, ITV; VP and Head of Online Publications, Credit Suisse.

Richard Stirk, GDS International’s VP of Conferences is excited at the prospect of what he believes will be the best line up of talent that iStrategy has ever featured. “At iStrategy, we pride ourselves on exciting thinkers in the digital and business space who can marry their content with clear, actionable takeaways.

“Of course, as well as our pioneering speakers, iStrategy offers ample networking opportunities and we hope to give the 500 plus attendees the most compelling, engaging and relevant conference in the digital industry.”

To confirm your two day ticket at Europe’s premiere Digital and Social Media Marketing event, follow the link: http://www.istrategyconference.com/events/london/.

Image Courtesy of  iStrategy

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Bidzina Ivanishvili, a 56-year-old computer salesman who became a billionaire and later gained popularity by constantly donating, was recently elected the Prime Minster of Georgia on October 2.

The former Soviet Republic of Georgia is suffering from  unemployment, poverty, and political unrest. Ivanishvili led the opposition Georgia’s Dream Party, and became the nation’s new Prime Mister last week.

According to the Agency French Press (AFP), Ivanishvili, whose father worked in a manganese factory, started his career as a steel mill worker. He got a chance to make a lot of money in the 1990’s by selling U.S. computers. Once he got money, he did not let go of it. He made even more money by running various businesses in areas such as real estate, farming, and the mining business. Forbes Magazine listed him as the 153rd richest person in the world in 2012. His 6.5-billion-dollars fortune is almost half of Georgia’s GDP (14 billion dollars).

Ivanishvili became popular in Georgia thanks to his hobby of collecting unique animals and art pieces. Many people, however, started to idolize the successful businessman after he donated large amounts of money to the nation of Georgia. His money was used for rebuilding Georgia’s historical sites, building museums, schools, cinemas and churches in the nation. Many art and science studies also benefited from his money. His money was even used to change the uniforms of the army and police, to help their motivation. Lawmakers’ incomes were raised in the period to prevent political corruption.

Even though he became popular through his donations, he did not want to be seen in public.

It was reported that Ivanishvili was doing the charitable work in order to help his friend Mikheil Saakashili, who is leading Georgia’s former ruling party. Saakashili has tried to solve Georgia’s rampant problems, such as the economic recession, and the high unemployment rate. However, his efforts have not yielded visible results for a long time. In 2008, when Georgia had to deal with the damages of the territorial dispute with Russia, Saakashili and his party seemed to lose most of their public support.

As the ruling party of Georgia became less popular, the Georgian people saw Ivanishvili as an alternative who could save Georgia from the crisis.

Ivanishvili has participated in politics since October of last year, and thanks to public support, it only took one year for him to become the Prime Minster.

Image Courtesy of  milkybarkid78

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