Obama in Isreal...

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Shimon Peres funeral: Leaders hail legacy of former Israeli leader

World leaders have hailed the vision of the late Israeli leader, Shimon Peres, as he was laid to rest days after his death at the age of 93.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described him as "a great man of the world", as he led the eulogies.
US President Barack Obama said the presence of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas at the funeral was a reminder of the "unfinished business of peace".
Mr Abbas was among dozens of foreign dignitaries attending in Jerusalem.
Security was intensified ahead of the ceremony, with several people arrested.
Delivering an emotional address, Mr Netanyahu said that while Israel and the world grieved for Mr Peres there was hope in his legacy.
"Shimon lived a life of purpose," he told thousands gathered at Jerusalem's Mount Herzl cemetery.
"He soared to incredible heights. He swept so many with his vision and his hope. He was a great man of Israel.
"He was a great man of the world."
'One of the giants' Former US President Bill Clinton, who helped negotiate the Oslo peace accords between Israel and the Palestinians in the 1990s, said he was Israel's "biggest dreamer".
"He imagined all the things the rest of us could do. He started life as Israel's brightest student, became its best teacher and ended up its biggest dreamer.''

US President Barack Obama closed the eulogies, comparing Mr Peres to "some of the other giants of the 20th Century that I've had the honour to meet, like Nelson Mandela and Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth".
Mr Peres, he said, believed in equality for Palestinians.
"Even in the face of terrorist attacks, even after repeated disappointments at the negotiation table, he insisted that as human beings Palestinians must be seen as equal in dignity to Jews and must therefore be equal in self determination."



Farewell to founding generation - by Kevin Connolly, BBC News On Mount Herzl where evergreen trees shaded the dusty walkways from the late-summer sunshine, an extraordinary congregation assembled to say goodbye to Shimon Peres.
You could have worked out that it was his funeral from the guest list alone - Prince Charles and Barack Obama, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. It's hard to imagine any other leader being mourned in quite the same way.
Israel said goodbye to the last of its founding generation and global diplomacy mourned a lost star, but the children of Shimon Peres grieved a father and spoke of him with elegance and simplicity.
And Mr Peres remained in command to the end, choosing his own funeral music. It was a setting of an old prayer he remembered his grandfather singing to him in the pre-war Poland of the 1920s.
Elegant and mournful, it played at the end of the old president's long journey, as it had played at the start.

Before the ceremony began, Mr Abbas was seen shaking hands and speaking briefly with Mr Netanyahu. The last substantial public meeting between the two leaders was in 2010, with peace efforts completely suspended since April 2014.
Hamas, the hardline Palestinian group that runs Gaza, condemned Mr Abbas's decision to attend the ceremony.
Jordan and Egypt - the only two Arab countries to have signed peace deals with Israel - both sent official representatives to the ceremony.
Mr Abbas, along with Mr Peres, was one of those who signed the Oslo peace accords in 1993, in the presence of Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin.
Mr Peres, Mr Rabin and Mr Arafat were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 "for their efforts to create peace in the Middle East". All three have now died.

the AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM

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What the "WORLD NEEDS"....

http://www.ibtimes.com/international-day-peace-2016-inspiring-ideas-famous-quotes-celebrate-world-peace-2419423

Destoring the environment is "SouPid"

Pope Francis says destroying the environment is a sin

Pontiff says humans are turning planet into ‘wasteland full of debris, desolation and filth’ in call for urgent action on climate change

Pope Francis has called for urgent action to stop climate change and proposed that caring for the environment be added to traditional Christian works of mercy such as feeding the hungry and visiting the sick.
In a message to mark the Catholic church’s World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation that he launched last year, Francis said the worst impact of global warming was being felt by those who were least responsible for it – refugees and the poor.

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The pontiff used the occasion to revive many of the powerful issues he highlighted a year ago in his provocative encyclical on the environment, Laudato si’, and his latest message seems certain to rankle conservatives.
Francis described man’s destruction of the environment as a sin and accused mankind of turning the planet into a “polluted wasteland full of debris, desolation and filth”.
“Global warming continues,” the pope said. “2015 was the warmest year on record, and 2016 will likely be warmer still. This is leading to ever more severe droughts, floods, fires and extreme weather events.
“Climate change is also contributing to the heart-rending refugee crisis. The world’s poor, though least responsible for climate change, are most vulnerable and already suffering its impact. ”
The pope said the faithful should use the Holy Year of Mercy throughout 2016 to ask forgiveness for sins committed against the environment and our “selfish” system motivated by “profit at any price”.
He called for care for the environment to be added to the seven spiritual works of mercy outlined in the Gospel that the faithful are asked to perform throughout the pope’s year of mercy in 2016.
“We must not be indifferent or resigned to the loss of biodiversity and the destruction of ecosystems, often caused by our irresponsible and selfish behaviour,” he said. “Because of us, thousands of species will no longer give glory to God by their very existence … We have no such right.”
The pope asked people to reflect on a society that lacked concern for social exclusion or the destruction of nature. He called for consumers to modify their modern lifestyle by reducing waste, planting trees, separating rubbish and making more use of car pooling.
“The resolve to live differently should affect our various contributions to shaping the culture and society in which we live,” he said.
Francis urged political and business leaders to stop thinking of short-term gains and work for the common good while taking steps to resolve the “ecological debt” between the global north and south.
“Repaying it would require treating the environments of poorer nations with care and providing the financial resources and technical assistance needed to help them deal with climate change and promote sustainable development,” he said.
Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the Vatican’s council for peace and justice, said: “The first step is to humbly acknowledge the harm we are doing to the Earth through pollution, the scandalous destruction of ecosystems and loss of biodiversity, and the spectre of climate change.
“And to realise that when we hurt the Earth, we also hurt the poor.”
The Ghanaian cardinal, who helped draft the original encyclical, has just been appointed to head a new Vatican dicastery that will be responsible for the environment, migration, justice and healthcare. He told a Vatican media conference it was possible to create change and arrest environmental destruction.
“We should not think that our efforts – even our small gestures – don’t matter,” he said. “Virtue, including ecological virtue, can be infectious.”

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Georgetown to offer slave descendants preferential admission status

by Kathryn Vasel   @KathrynVasel September 1, 2016: 1:39 PM ET

In an effort to acknowledge its ties to slavery, Georgetown University will offer the descendants of nearly 300 slaves preferential treatment in its admissions process.

In 1838, the school sold 272 slaves who were working on plantations in southern Maryland to pay down its debts.

Now, the school said it will give the descendants of those slaves "the same consideration we give members of the Georgetown community" when they apply. That means that the applicants will "receive an extra look" and that their relationship to the university will be considered.

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"I believe the most appropriate ways for us to redress the participation of our predecessors in the institution of slavery is to address the manifestations of the legacy of slavery in our time," Georgetown President John DeGioia wrote in a letter to students and faculty Thursday.
Last September, DeGioia created a 16-member Working Group of Slavery, Memory, and Reconciliation consisting of students, staff and alumni to make recommendations on how the school can amend its historical ties to slavery.
To help find and connect with the descendents, The Group created The Georgetown Slavery Archive, which provides genealogical information and other materials about slavery at the university. It also has documents that show the names, ages and relationships of the 272 slaves sold in 1838.
Some descendents have reached out to the school and have provided additional information, according to Adam Rothman, a history professor at Georgetown who is also a member of the working group.
He said having such a detailed list of the sale has helped the school connect with descendents.
Along with the admissions treatment, the school will create a memorial to honor the 272 enslaved people and also rename two buildings that were named after the presidents who facilitated the 1838 sale.
DeGioia will make an announcement about the school's efforts at 4:00pm ET.
Related: Slavery and the national anthem: The surprising history behind Colin Kaepernick's protest
Georgetown has a complicated and steep history with slavery, Rothman explained.
"It was part of this broader Jesuit religious economy, which was connected by plantations manned by slaves in Maryland. It was a pretty complicated network Georgetown was part of."
Slavery ties are prevalent in many higher education institutions.
"Before the American Revolution, there were nine colleges established in the British Colonies, and all of them have direct ties to slavery and slave trade," said Craig Steven Wilder, a history professor at MIT.
He added that all of the Ivy League Schools, with the exception of Cornell, also have ties to the slave trade.
Other schools have also taken steps to rectify their past ties with slave labor.
In 2003, Brown University launched a three-year study of its relationship to the trans-Atlantic slave trade. In response to the study's findings, the school created an on-campus Slavery Memorial that recognizes the schools link to the slave trade.
Having Georgetown acknowledge its history is important to the school's community, Rothman said.
"It's a diverse community, there are a lot of African American students, staff and faculty, and to have African Americans contributions to the history of the university recognized ... it's really important for bringing the whole university together."