The Buddha, A Life Story and a Source of Inspiration, exhibition at Museum Volkenkunde, Leiden. 12 February to 14 August 2016.
These days, more and more people are meditating. Yoga is hugely popular. We even have what might justifiably be called a ‘mindfulness industry’ in the West. There are some 500 Buddhist centres in the Netherlands alone.
THE BUDDHA, a new major exhibition focusing on one of the most inspiring figures in world history, will open at Museum Volkenkunde on 12 February. What makes the life story of this spiritual leader so intriguing? How do people perceive and experience Buddhism in the early 21st century? The exhibition explores these and other questions. Join us on a journey round the world of Buddhism, discover all kinds of interesting facts, and experience the unifying power of this global religion.
For many Dutch people, a Buddha statue evokes memories of travelling in Asia, where these statues and Buddhist temple complexes are a cultural highlight. To others, the Buddha might be a symbol of calm, a counterbalance to today’s complex, high-speed world. Huge numbers of us meditate. Every large Dutch town has a Buddhist centre. The exhibition reveals what different people hope to find in Buddhism.
Journey
The reports, impressive photographs and interviews in THE BUDDHA take visitors on a journey through the most important Buddhist regions on earth, where this religion was important long ago, and is often still vibrant today. We look at places of pilgrimage and the important festivals celebrated in different countries.
The journey takes us to Thailand, India, Indonesia, China, Myanmar, Japan, Tibet; from the ancient Chinese monasteries and the Buddha’s birthplace in Nepal, to Borobudur in Indonesia. And we will travel round our own country, too. Four brand-new documentaries profile Buddhists and Buddhism in the Netherlands today.
Unique objects
This is the first time that so many Buddha statues from the museum’s collection have been exhibited together. Discover the differences between the statues and the reasons behind them. The exhibition also includes a rare 35-metre Vessantara banner depicting scenes from one of the Buddha’s previous lives.
Combined with loans from institutions like the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, Musée Guimet in Paris, the Berlin Museum of Asian Art and the Asian Civilisations Museum in Singapore, these objects tell the Buddha’s life story. Marvel at the ancient stone Gandara reliefs from Pakistan and the impressive contact relic of the Buddha’s footprint from Thailand.
The exhibition will move to the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam, in September 2016.
Georgina Gomez granted Marie Curie fellowship for research on ‘Monetary spaces and hierarchies in Europe. Impact of complementary currencies.’
Dr Georgina Gómez has been successful in the application for a Marie Sklodowska Curie Individual Fellowship (IF-EF) with researcher Mr Manolis Tzouvelekas, an award of €177,599 for two years.
The research, entitled ‘Monetary spaces and hierarchies in Europe. Impact of complementary currencies’, seeks to measure and analyze the social and economic impact of selected Community Currencies in Europe and their potential role in alleviating the Greek crisis.
Manolis Tzouvelekas ISSManolis Tzouvelekas is an economist with a focus on public administration. He holds a European Masters Degree in Public Administration. He has been a PhD research in Social Finance at Panteion University since June 2013; his thesis is titled ‘Social & Monetary Innovation: Building cooperative structures for a sustainable and resilient economy in Greece’.
Georgina Gómezis Senior Lecturer at ISS. Her research interests centre on the variety of economic organizations, namely of money, markets and enterprises.
For information: www.iss.nl
ISS hosts an International colloquium on Global governance/politics, climate justice & agrarian/social justice: linkages and challenges on 4-5 February 2016.
The convergence of multiple crises: food, energy, environmental, climate change and finance – and its relationship to the rise of important global political economic players: BRICS countries and middle income countries (MICs) – has triggered profound agrarian and environmental transformations in the Global South and North.
Old issues requiring conventional international governance interventions have persisted. New issues requiring different types of governance instruments and principles have also emerged. The character of nation-states and popular claim-making from below by ordinary villagers and grassroots organizations have been transformed.
Global governance has been interpreted in various ways. The same set of international governance principles, e.g. ‘free, prior and informed consent’ (FPIC) can be invoked by fundamentally competing interests: by corporate interests or by poor villagers and their allies. All sectors and actors talk about ‘regulation’ and ‘transparency – but they interpret these in competing and even contradictory ways. Key state/non-state actors try to influence others, and/but in turn are themselves influenced by the process of these multi-actor/multi-level encounters.
Intersection of social justice and global governance/politics
How do we make sense of all these dynamics? What can academic researchers say that is useful to practitioners and activists – and vice versa?
Our interest lies mainly in the intersection of social justice and global governance/politics – in the era of climate change and the continuing global resource rush. That is, if one’s starting point is to seek social justice – partisan, partial and biased in favour of the marginalized social classes and groups in various societies of the world – amidst the changing patterns of social relations partly brought about by the changes in the international political economic and ecological terrain, then where do we locate questions of international or global governance (or politics)? What/which global governance principles, instruments, institutions, and actors can be mobilized to seek, defend, strengthen or extend social justice – and how? What are the contentious debates, and why does it matter for academics, practitioners and activists to take these seriously?.
For information: www.iss.nl
On the picture the first Vice-President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans and President Jean-Claude Juncker.
European Commission presented an Action Plan to strengthen the fight against the financing of terrorism.
The recent terrorist attacks in the European Union and beyond demonstrate the need for a strong coordinated European response to combatting terrorism.
The European Agenda for Security had identified a number of areas to improve the fight against terrorist financing. On 2 February in Strasbourg, a comprehensive Action Plan delivered a strong and swift response to the current challenges, building on existing EU rules and complementing them where necessary.
First Vice-President Frans Timmermans, said: “We have to cut off the resources that terrorists use to carry out their heinous crimes. By detecting and disrupting the financing of terrorist networks, we can reduce their ability to travel, to buy weapons and explosives, to plot attacks and to spread hate and fear online.
In the coming months the Commission will update and develop EU rules and tools through well-designed measures to tackle emerging threats and help national authorities to step up the fight against terrorist financing and cooperate better, in full respect of fundamental rights. It’s crucial that we work together on terrorist financing to deliver results and protect European citizens’ security”
Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis, in charge of the Euro and Social Dialogue, said: “With today’s Action Plan we are moving swiftly to clamp down on terrorist financing, starting with legislative proposals in the coming months. We must cut off-terrorists’ access to funds, enable authorities to better track financial flows to prevent devastating attacks such as those in Paris last year, and ensure that money laundering and terrorist financing is sanctioned in all Member States.
We want to improve the oversight of the many financial means used by terrorists, from cash and cultural artifacts to virtual currencies and anonymous pre-paid cards, while avoiding unnecessary obstacles to the functioning of payments and financial markets for ordinary, law-abiding citizens.”
The Action Plan will focus on two main strands of action:
Tracing terrorists through financial movements and preventing them from moving funds or other assets;
Disrupting the sources of revenue used by terrorist organizations, by targeting their capacity to raise funds.
Preventing the movement of funds and identifying terrorist funding
Terrorists are involved in a variety of both licit and illicit activities to finance terrorist acts. Tracking financial flows can help to identify and pursue terrorist networks. New financial tools and payment modes create new vulnerabilities that need to be addressed. Closing off options for terrorism funding is crucial for security, but measures in this field may also touch on the lives and the economic activity of citizens and companies throughout the EU.
This is why the Commission’s proposals will balance the need to increase security with the need to protect fundamental rights, including data protection, and economic freedoms.
The adoption of the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Package in May 2015 represented a significant step in improving the effectiveness of the EU’s efforts to combat the laundering of money from criminal activities and to counter the financing of terrorist activities. It must now be implemented swiftly by Member States.
The Commission is calling on Member States to commit to do this by the end of 2016. In December 2015, the Commission proposed a Directive on combatting terrorism which criminalises terrorist financing and the funding of recruitment, training and travel for terrorism purposes. The Commission is now proposing further ways to tackle the abuse of the financial system for terrorist financing purposes.
We will propose a number of targeted amendments to the Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive at the latest by the end of the second quarter of 2016, in the following areas:
Ensuring a high level of safeguards for financial flows from high risk third countries: The Commission will amend the Directive to include a list of all compulsory checks (due diligence measures) that financial institutions should carry out on financial flows from countries having strategic deficiencies in their national anti-money laundering and terrorist financing regimes. Applying the same measures in all Member States will avoid having loopholes in Europe, where terrorists could run operations through countries with lower levels of protection;
Enhancing the powers of EU Financial Intelligence Units and facilitating their cooperation: the scope of information accessible by the Financial Intelligence Units will be widened, in line with the latest international standards;
Centralised national bank and payment account registers or central data retrieval systems in all Member States: the Directive will be amended to give Financial Intelligence Units easier and faster access to information on the holders of bank and payment accounts;
Tackling terrorist financing risks linked to virtual currencies: to prevent their abuse for money laundering and terrorist financing purposes, the Commission proposes to bring virtual currency exchange platforms under the scope of the Anti-Money Laundering Directive, so that these platforms have to apply customer due diligence controls when exchanging virtual for real currencies, ending the anonymity associated with such exchanges;
Tackling risks linked to anonymous pre-paid instruments (e.g. pre-paid cards): the Commission proposes to lower thresholds for identification and widening customer verification requirements. Due account will be taken of proportionality, in particular with regard to the use of these cards by financially vulnerable citizens.
Other measures will include:
Improving the efficiency of the EU’s transposition of UN asset freezing measures and improve the accessibility of UN listings to EU financial institutions and economic operators by the end of 2016. The Commission will also assess the need for a specific EU regime for the freezing of terrorist assets;
Criminalising money laundering: a comprehensive common definition of money laundering offences and sanctions across the EU will avoid obstacles to cross-border judicial and police cooperation to tackle money laundering;
Limiting risks linked to cash payments: through a legislative proposal on illicit cash movements, the Commission will extend the scope of the existing regulation to include cash shipped by freight or post and to allow authorities to act upon lower amounts of cash where there are suspicions of illicit activity;
Assessing additional measures to track terrorism financing: the Commission will explore the need for a complementary EU system for tracking terrorist financing, for example to cover intra-EU payments which are not captured by the EU-US Terrorism Financing Tracking Programme (TFTP).
Disrupting the sources of revenue of terrorist organisations
Illicit trade from occupied areas is currently a primary source of revenue for terrorist organisations, including trade in cultural goods and the illicit wildlife trade. They can also gain from trade in legal goods.
The Commission and the European External Action Service will provide technical assistance to Middle East and North African countries to fight against the trafficking of cultural goods and provide support to third countries to comply with United Nations Security Council Resolutions in this field. Countries in the Middle East, North Africa and South East Asia will also receive support to improve the fight against terrorism financing.
In 2017 the Commission will table a legislative proposal to reinforce the powers of customs authorities to address terrorism financing through trade in goods, for example bytackling illegal gains through dissimulation of trade transactions, misrepresentation of the value of goods and fictitious invoicing.
Another proposal will address the illicit trade in cultural goods to extend the scope of the current legislation to a wider number of countries.
Next steps
The Action Plan lists a number of concrete measures that will be put into practice by the Commission immediately. Others will follow in the months to come. All the actions presented today should be carried out by the end of 2017 (see detailed timeline in factsheet).
Background
The European Agenda on Security underlined the need for measures to address terrorist financing in a more effective and comprehensive manner. Steps taken over the past year include the introduction of criminal sanctions for the financing of terrorism through a proposal for a Directive on combating terrorism, and the European Union’s signature of the Council of Europe Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism.
The conclusions of the Justice and Home Affairs Council on 20 November, the Economic and Financial Affairs Council of 8 December as well as of the European Council of 18 December 2015 stressed the need to further intensify the work in this field. At the same time, the resolution passed by the United Nations Security Council on 17 December 2015, more specifically targeting funding to Da’esh and extending the former “Al Qaeda” sanction regime, showed a deep global consensus to act against terrorist financing.
On the picture Jordan’s Queen Rania talks to Belgium’s Prime Minister.ByBaron Henri Estramant.After visiting Downing Street and Britain’s Premier David Cameron on Friday, 8 January 2016, to discuss the Syrian refugee crisis, Queen Rania of Jordan continued her whirlwind tour of Europe touching down in Brussels on Tuesday, 12 January 2016. The Jordanian royal (45), first met with the country’s Prime Minister Charles Michel before heading to the Royal Palace for an audience with Queen Mathilde of the Belgians. In the afternoon, Rania made her way to EU meetings at the European Commission headquarters. There she met with Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the EC as well as Commissioner Johannes Hahn, Member of the EC in charge of European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations. Queen Rania of Jordan and Queen Mathilde of the Belgians – Picture by Akamai Technologies.After Brussels, Queen Rania al-Abdullah travelled to Oslo wherein she was received by the Royal Couple as well as the Crown Princely Couple of Norway and the Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg. Queen Rania and Prime Minister Erna Solberg – Picture by Terje Bendiksby, Scanpix.Background for all visits and meetings in the three countries is the upcoming Syria Donor’s Conference, which shall take place on 4 February in London, and is being financially and logistically organised by the UK, Norway, Germany and Kuwait. Queen Rania hopes to receive strong economic aid for Jordan which has welcomed about a million refugees from Syria, Iraq, Palestine and even Afghanistan notwithstanding the limited resources of the Hashemite Kingdom which are being forced to the limit.
Mission of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to the EU and NATO, Embassy to Belgium, Luxembourg and Norway, HE Ambassador Dr.Yousef Bataineh: www.jordanembassy.be
Embassy of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to The Netherlands, Mission to the OPCW, HE Ambassador Ahmad Mufleh: http://www.jordanembassy.nl
Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu, President of Cyprus Nicos Anastasiades and Prime Minister of Greece Alexis Tsipras. First Cyprus-Israel-Greece tripartite meeting in Nicosia On 28 January 2016.
President Nicos Anastasiades, the Prime Minister of Greece Alexis Tsipras and the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu presided over the first Cyprus-Greece-Israel Trilateral Summit in Nicosia.
A joint declaration was adopted forming the foundation of the cooperation between the three countries, including, inter alia, in the fields of energy, tourism, research and technology, the environment, water management, terrorism and migration.
Within the framework of the summit a Memorandum of Understanding for Cooperation in the field of Water Resources Management among the three countries was signed by the three respective ministers of Agriculture.
In remarks to the press after the trilateral meeting, President Anastasiades highlighted that “the objective of the trilateral cooperation is the promotion of peace, stability and security in the Eastern Mediterranean, through the substantive and practical strengthening of our joint ventures in all the fields of cooperation and therefore it was not and it is not possible for this cooperation of ours to be directed against any other country.”The President of the Republic, Mr Nicos Anastasiades, in a tête-à-tête meeting with the Prime Ministers of Greece, Mr Alexis Tsipras, and Israel, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu.
Characterizing the Joint Declaration that was adopted by the three countries a really historic document, the President also remarked that the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding in the field of Water Resources Management, is a tangible and practical example and step of the cooperation between the three countries.
On his part the Israeli Prime Minister pointed out, inter alia, that during the Trilateral Meeting the leaders discussed the issue of natural gas “and we decided to explore this in a very audacious way, to form a trilateral Committee between Greece, Cyprus and Israel to plan the possibility of a pipeline that would take our common resources of gas and export it to Europe via Greece. A pipeline from Israel, Cyprus through Greece to Europe. This goes along side our other plans vis-à-vis the exploitation of the energy recourses. The second thing that we are embarking on is creating an interconnecting underwater cable to connect the electricity grids of Israel, Cyprus and later on Greece.”
Mr Netanyahu concluded that “We can pledge that our trilateral cooperation will help bring the blessings of progress not only to the citizens of our three democracies but also perhaps to the wider region by helping stability, security, prosperity and peace.”
In his own remarks, the Greek Prime Minister said that “we had today a very substantive discussion: we agreed on the opportunities and the possibilities for a close cooperation; we identified fields of common interest where we can implement joint programs in order to have immediate, practical results; we agreed on the formation of a tripartite joint working and coordinating group with regard to the critical field of energy; we agreed to press on with energy networks that will strengthen the energy security of our countries, but also that of the broader region.”Photography by the Press and Information Office – Republic of Cyprus.
On the picture Crowne Plaza Team.Second Annual Diplomat New Year Reception at Crowne Plaza
The second Diplomat Magazine New Year’s event was again an outstanding success. With relaxing life jazz tunes, tasty appetizers and an intimate atmosphere, the many attendees were able to meet, network, and catch up with one another.
Guests included the Ambassadors of Brazil, Kosovo, Vatican, Malaysia, Lebanon, Mexico, Thailand, Tunisia and Ukraine along with many other diplomats from Russia, El Salvador, Palestine,Georgia, Indonesia, Slovenia, Sudan, Cuba, Colombia, Italy,Morocco, USA, as well as judges from the International Criminal Court ICC and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia ICTY.Video by Diplomat Video Productions.
For additional Henry Arvidsson pictures, please open the following link: http://www.diplomatphoto.com/event-gallery/Roy Lie, Menno de la Vienne, Willem Post and Mark Verheul. Diplomat Magazine New Years party 2016. Crowne Plaza hotel, The hague, Netherlands.Boudewijn Martens, Crowne Plaza’s General Manager, praised the great cooperation between Crowne Plaza Den Haag Promenade and Diplomat Magazine. He wished everyone a happy new year, and thanked Reli Felix from Jaguar,Marloes Mos from Hanos and Manolis Arvanitis and Ellen Heijligers from Diplomatic Card for their sponsorship.
Ms. Abir Ali, Chargé d’affairs Embassy of Lebanon and Ms Sonia Getas, ICC. Diplomat Magazine New Years party 2016. Crowne Plaza hotel, The Hague, Netherlands.
The evening was a successful beginning to an exciting new year and the start of an important annual event on the social calendar.
On the picture HE Ambassador Manjeev Singh Puri with Russian Head of Mission to the EU, Ambassador Vladimir Chizhov.To fête the final adoption of India’s republican and democratic constitutional system on 26 January 1950, the Head of Mission of India to the EU, HE Ambassador Manjeev Singh Puri, Ambassador to Belgium and non-resident to Luxembourg, and his consort Mrs Namrita Puri hosted a reception in the premises of the Indian mission in Brussels. Bhutanese Chargé d’affaires, Minister-Counsellor Tenzin Rondel Wangchuk, Ambassador Manjeev Singh Puri and Mrs Puri.In New Delhi, Republic Day is celebrated with a large military parade hosted by the Indian President at Rajpath (King’s Way). This year President Pranab Kumar Mukherjee received French president François Hollande as “Chief Guest”, that is, the annual main foreign dignitary invited who is always a foreign head of state or government. Montenegrin Ambassador (Benelux countries, non-resident head of mission to India and Thailand), Vladimir Radulović.For more information:Mission of India to the EU, Embassy to Belgium and Luxembourg : www.indembassy.be——————-Pictures by Mission of India to the EU, Embassy to Belgium and Luxembourg.
Ambassador Yang Yanyi welcoming MEP István Ujhelyi.
In celebration of the Chinese New Year, the Mission of the PRC to the EU hosted the dance performance “The Silk Road on the Sea” on January 26 at Brussels National Theatre.
HE Ambassador Yang Yangyi welcomed high-level guests from the European Commission as well as the European Parliament who attended to celebrate the revival of the Silk Road.
For a photo album on “The Silk Road on the Sea” performance:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/129701717@N05/sets/72157661715632534
Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani – Picture by Aljazeera.
His Highness The Amir of the State of Qatar issued a decree on January 27, appointing HE Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani as new foreign minister. Incumbent Khalid Al Attiyah, the outgoing foreign minister, will become state minister for defence affairs though the actual ministry is controlled by the Amir.
