Tuesday, April 27, 2004
This site will not be updated for the next couple of weeks while I'm on holiday.
Australian workers are going backwards economically, according to new research which blames inflation and the impact of the GST among other factors.
More than 700,000 people on minimum wages - about $500 a week - now pay $650 more tax each year than when the Howard Government was first elected in 1996.
An average lower middle-income earner on $30,700 a year will pay $5850, or 19 per cent of their income in tax this financial year.
By 2007, that same worker will pay $6522, or almost 21 per cent in tax, because of inflation.
A single person earning $537 a week, or $28,000 a year, pays $59 a year in extra income tax and $515 a year in GST costs. This is about $11 a week more in tax than in 1996.
(Source: Herald Sun)
More than 700,000 people on minimum wages - about $500 a week - now pay $650 more tax each year than when the Howard Government was first elected in 1996.
An average lower middle-income earner on $30,700 a year will pay $5850, or 19 per cent of their income in tax this financial year.
By 2007, that same worker will pay $6522, or almost 21 per cent in tax, because of inflation.
A single person earning $537 a week, or $28,000 a year, pays $59 a year in extra income tax and $515 a year in GST costs. This is about $11 a week more in tax than in 1996.
(Source: Herald Sun)
John Howard has hinted that he may send more Australian troops to Iraq.
During his visit to Iraq, Mr Howard said that while he would not send large numbers of extra troops, "that doesn't mean that if there is a small increase for whatever reason in the number of people deployed that that should be seen as some reversal of that original policy."
Mr Howard also said that the coming budget would fund Australia's existing troops in Iraq until June 2005.
Highlighting conditions in the country, Mr Howard had to cancel a visit to an Australian warship, HMAS Stuart, as it had to go to the aid of Americans injured in attacks on offshore oilrigs. The plane carrying Mr Howard out of Iraq took evasive action after reportedly detecting what may have been a fix on it by a surface-to-air missile. Hours after Mr Howard's visit, the Bulgarian President, who was also visiting Iraq, was fired on by Iraqis.
(Source: Herald Sun)
During his visit to Iraq, Mr Howard said that while he would not send large numbers of extra troops, "that doesn't mean that if there is a small increase for whatever reason in the number of people deployed that that should be seen as some reversal of that original policy."
Mr Howard also said that the coming budget would fund Australia's existing troops in Iraq until June 2005.
Highlighting conditions in the country, Mr Howard had to cancel a visit to an Australian warship, HMAS Stuart, as it had to go to the aid of Americans injured in attacks on offshore oilrigs. The plane carrying Mr Howard out of Iraq took evasive action after reportedly detecting what may have been a fix on it by a surface-to-air missile. Hours after Mr Howard's visit, the Bulgarian President, who was also visiting Iraq, was fired on by Iraqis.
(Source: Herald Sun)
A Melbourne soccer referee has refused to allow a women's club match to go ahead unless of the players who was a Muslim took off her headscarf.
South Melbourne striker Afifa Saad was told she couldn't play unless she removed her headscarf before Sunday's game against Keilor Park.
A Women's Premier League match official eventually cleared Ms Saad to play, but the time delay meant the game has to be replayed later.
Her coach, Alex Alexopoulos said Ms Saad "was devastated, she was crying," he said.
"She turned around to the other players and said, 'play without me'.
"They turned around and said, 'no, you don't play, we don't play'."
Mr Alexopoulos said Ms Saad had broken down cultural barriers within her family and community to play the sport she loved.
"She has already gone through a lot and now this happens," he said.
(Source: Herald Sun)
South Melbourne striker Afifa Saad was told she couldn't play unless she removed her headscarf before Sunday's game against Keilor Park.
A Women's Premier League match official eventually cleared Ms Saad to play, but the time delay meant the game has to be replayed later.
Her coach, Alex Alexopoulos said Ms Saad "was devastated, she was crying," he said.
"She turned around to the other players and said, 'play without me'.
"They turned around and said, 'no, you don't play, we don't play'."
Mr Alexopoulos said Ms Saad had broken down cultural barriers within her family and community to play the sport she loved.
"She has already gone through a lot and now this happens," he said.
(Source: Herald Sun)
Saturday, April 24, 2004
A policeman working in an inner-city Sydney station has been charged with sexually assaulting a prisoner.
Constable Joel Kerde, of Surry Hills police station, is alleged to have taken a prisoner home while on duty on the morning of April 6 and sexually assaulted them.
(Source: ABC news website)
Constable Joel Kerde, of Surry Hills police station, is alleged to have taken a prisoner home while on duty on the morning of April 6 and sexually assaulted them.
(Source: ABC news website)
Friday, April 23, 2004
About half of Iraqi security forces recruited by the United States government in the cities of Fallujah and Najaf have either walked off the job or have changed sides, according to the US military.
40% of the Iraqi security forces walked off the job because they didn't want to fight fellow Iraqis, according to Major General Martin Dempsey, commander of the Army's 1st Armored Division.
Another U.S. military commander said 10% of Iraqi security forces "worked against" U.S. forces in the past three weeks of fighting.
(Source: USA Today [US])
40% of the Iraqi security forces walked off the job because they didn't want to fight fellow Iraqis, according to Major General Martin Dempsey, commander of the Army's 1st Armored Division.
Another U.S. military commander said 10% of Iraqi security forces "worked against" U.S. forces in the past three weeks of fighting.
(Source: USA Today [US])
A 24 year old former criminal may be deported to the country he left at the age of six, where he knows no one and doesn't speak the language, despite being rehabilitated.
Rodrigo Herrera came to Australia from Chile at the age of six. Unlike the rest of his family, he did not apply for citizenship because he didn't realise he had to.
He has served a jail sentence, and completed a methadone program to deal with the heroin addiction which landed him in jail. He has said that he would like to learn a trade.
However the government has revoked his permanent residency, and intends to deport him to Chile.
(Source: Sydney Morning Herald)
Rodrigo Herrera came to Australia from Chile at the age of six. Unlike the rest of his family, he did not apply for citizenship because he didn't realise he had to.
He has served a jail sentence, and completed a methadone program to deal with the heroin addiction which landed him in jail. He has said that he would like to learn a trade.
However the government has revoked his permanent residency, and intends to deport him to Chile.
(Source: Sydney Morning Herald)
Thursday, April 22, 2004
Two American soldiers have deserted their units to live in Canada rather than go to war in Iraq - the same option taken by tens of thousands of American men during the Vietnam War.
25 year old Private Hinzman said the "crystallising moment" for his decision to abandon the army was hearing a radio report while in Afghanistan about the sharing out of oil revenue in post-war Iraq.
18 year old Private Hughey said that "this is a war based solely on lies".
The two men will be the first US citizens to apply to become refugees in Canada. They will be helped by Canada's ban on deporting anyone who faces the death penalty.
Their lawyer, Jeffry House, was one of 60,000 US citizens to go to Canada to avoid conscription during the Vietnam War.
(Source: Telegraph [UK])
25 year old Private Hinzman said the "crystallising moment" for his decision to abandon the army was hearing a radio report while in Afghanistan about the sharing out of oil revenue in post-war Iraq.
18 year old Private Hughey said that "this is a war based solely on lies".
The two men will be the first US citizens to apply to become refugees in Canada. They will be helped by Canada's ban on deporting anyone who faces the death penalty.
Their lawyer, Jeffry House, was one of 60,000 US citizens to go to Canada to avoid conscription during the Vietnam War.
(Source: Telegraph [UK])
Wednesday, April 21, 2004
Australian intelligence services are biased towards the Indonesian government, are "unable to identify reality", and tailor their reports to what the government wants to hear, according to the Australian army's top intelligence analyst.
Senior members of the Defence Department accused Collins of leaking confidential material. An inquiry into the allegations has cleared him of any wrongdoing and supported his claims of institutional failures in Australia's intelligence system.
Captain Martin Toohey, who headed the enquiry, said there was a "pro-Jakarta" lobby within the army's principal intelligence office, the Defence Intelligence Organisation, "which distorts intelligence estimates to the extent those estimates are heavily driven by government policy ... in other words, DIO reports what the Government wants to hear."
In a letter to the Prime Minister, Collins said that his superiors in the military tailored their reports to fit government policy, and had failed to respond accurately in the cases of supposed Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, the Willie Brigitte case, the Bali bombing, the fall of Suharto, the situation in the Solomons, the death of an intelligence officer in Washington, the resumption of Indian nuclear testing, and the testing of the sarin nerve agent on an Australian farm by a Japanese religious sect.
(Source: NineMSN News site)
Senior members of the Defence Department accused Collins of leaking confidential material. An inquiry into the allegations has cleared him of any wrongdoing and supported his claims of institutional failures in Australia's intelligence system.
Captain Martin Toohey, who headed the enquiry, said there was a "pro-Jakarta" lobby within the army's principal intelligence office, the Defence Intelligence Organisation, "which distorts intelligence estimates to the extent those estimates are heavily driven by government policy ... in other words, DIO reports what the Government wants to hear."
In a letter to the Prime Minister, Collins said that his superiors in the military tailored their reports to fit government policy, and had failed to respond accurately in the cases of supposed Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, the Willie Brigitte case, the Bali bombing, the fall of Suharto, the situation in the Solomons, the death of an intelligence officer in Washington, the resumption of Indian nuclear testing, and the testing of the sarin nerve agent on an Australian farm by a Japanese religious sect.
(Source: NineMSN News site)
Monday, April 19, 2004
Police files relating to alleged sexual abuse by men dressed as police are said to have "disappeared" from police records.
A deputy principal who reported a student's claim of the abuse says detectives later told him that Victoria Police computer files on one of the alleged pedophiles were tampered with.
He was also told his initial report to the Department of Human Services under the mandatory reporting system 'disappeared'.
The 13-year-old boy told staff at the school he had been repeatedly sexually abused by a number of men on the Mornington Peninsula. He said some of the men wore police uniforms and warned him that they would know if he reported the abuse because they were policemen. The boy had also been used to produce child pornography later published overseas.
The deputy principal said it was clear from a detailed 12-page statement made by the boy that the abuse was conducted by an organised and "well-connected" pedophile ring.
After the boy made more detailed disclosures and began displaying disturbing behaviour, the school lodged a second mandatory report in December 1995 through the Education Department's regional office. The complaint was taken "very seriously" and police were called.
The deputy principal said police told him there was no record of the original report to community services or his follow-up phone call. A senior child protection manager told him it was not the first time reports had disappeared.
Detectives from a community policing unit said the main alleged offender in the ring was well known to police, the deputy principal said. But the police said a previous case against him had been abandoned after information on police files had disappeared. "I started to pinch myself and think is this real or not? It seemed quite bizarre and I was very frustrated..." he said.
After police dropped the investigation in 1996 the boy "totally clammed up" and staff at the school did not know whether the abuse continued.
(Source: The Age)
A deputy principal who reported a student's claim of the abuse says detectives later told him that Victoria Police computer files on one of the alleged pedophiles were tampered with.
He was also told his initial report to the Department of Human Services under the mandatory reporting system 'disappeared'.
The 13-year-old boy told staff at the school he had been repeatedly sexually abused by a number of men on the Mornington Peninsula. He said some of the men wore police uniforms and warned him that they would know if he reported the abuse because they were policemen. The boy had also been used to produce child pornography later published overseas.
The deputy principal said it was clear from a detailed 12-page statement made by the boy that the abuse was conducted by an organised and "well-connected" pedophile ring.
After the boy made more detailed disclosures and began displaying disturbing behaviour, the school lodged a second mandatory report in December 1995 through the Education Department's regional office. The complaint was taken "very seriously" and police were called.
The deputy principal said police told him there was no record of the original report to community services or his follow-up phone call. A senior child protection manager told him it was not the first time reports had disappeared.
Detectives from a community policing unit said the main alleged offender in the ring was well known to police, the deputy principal said. But the police said a previous case against him had been abandoned after information on police files had disappeared. "I started to pinch myself and think is this real or not? It seemed quite bizarre and I was very frustrated..." he said.
After police dropped the investigation in 1996 the boy "totally clammed up" and staff at the school did not know whether the abuse continued.
(Source: The Age)
Unpredictable earnings and job insecurity have left the rising number of casual workers vulnerable to growing debt, less able to borrow money and unable to plan childcare, according to a new report.
The report also found that one in four Australian workers receive no pay if they are sick or want to take a holiday.
The report, prepared by academics from the universities of Adelaide and Sydney and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, found that the number of poor quality jobs was increasing and people spent many more years employed as casual or part-time staff.
Although casual workers theoretically receive higher pay for trading off rights such as paid leave, the report found that in practice casual workers tend not to get higher pay than permanent workers.
Many casual workers face limited job security, low and/or unpredictable pay, poor career paths, and few leave and other rights.
"No Australian industrial relations body or government set out - at least in a publicly articulated way - to create a labour market where one in four Australians are without annual leave or sick leave, despite extended periods of employment in many cases.
". . . Much casual work in Australia is part-time and much of it is unstable in terms of predictability of earnings, working time, skill, representation, vulnerability to occupational health and safety hazards, predictable work and work type and much of it results in low pay."
The report, Securing Quality Employment, says that "casualisation" remains a problem for more than one-quarter of women over 25 and is growing among young non-student and "prime- and mature-aged" males.
"Casual work is highly feminised," the report says.
"Across Australia, casual workers are concentrated in the two occupations where over half of all women are employed: basic and intermediate clerical, and sales and service workers. Over half of all women in elementary clerical, sales and service jobs identify as casual."
The authors, Barbara Pocock, John Buchanan and Iain Campbell, say that casual workers' morale is often low and many have no protection from unfair dismissal.
"Casual workers cannot easily borrow funds, predictably contribute to households and dependent care, plan childcare, or participate predictably in their communities," they say. "The costs of borrowing and childcare are sometimes increased as a result."
"Twenty-seven per cent of working women aged 25-54 years, when caring responsibilities are most intense, lack any paid leave entitlements, and the proportion who are excluded from even this basic form of leave is rising".
(Source: Sydney Morning Herald)
The report also found that one in four Australian workers receive no pay if they are sick or want to take a holiday.
The report, prepared by academics from the universities of Adelaide and Sydney and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, found that the number of poor quality jobs was increasing and people spent many more years employed as casual or part-time staff.
Although casual workers theoretically receive higher pay for trading off rights such as paid leave, the report found that in practice casual workers tend not to get higher pay than permanent workers.
Many casual workers face limited job security, low and/or unpredictable pay, poor career paths, and few leave and other rights.
"No Australian industrial relations body or government set out - at least in a publicly articulated way - to create a labour market where one in four Australians are without annual leave or sick leave, despite extended periods of employment in many cases.
". . . Much casual work in Australia is part-time and much of it is unstable in terms of predictability of earnings, working time, skill, representation, vulnerability to occupational health and safety hazards, predictable work and work type and much of it results in low pay."
The report, Securing Quality Employment, says that "casualisation" remains a problem for more than one-quarter of women over 25 and is growing among young non-student and "prime- and mature-aged" males.
"Casual work is highly feminised," the report says.
"Across Australia, casual workers are concentrated in the two occupations where over half of all women are employed: basic and intermediate clerical, and sales and service workers. Over half of all women in elementary clerical, sales and service jobs identify as casual."
The authors, Barbara Pocock, John Buchanan and Iain Campbell, say that casual workers' morale is often low and many have no protection from unfair dismissal.
"Casual workers cannot easily borrow funds, predictably contribute to households and dependent care, plan childcare, or participate predictably in their communities," they say. "The costs of borrowing and childcare are sometimes increased as a result."
"Twenty-seven per cent of working women aged 25-54 years, when caring responsibilities are most intense, lack any paid leave entitlements, and the proportion who are excluded from even this basic form of leave is rising".
(Source: Sydney Morning Herald)
Sunday, April 18, 2004
An Australian aid worker in the Iraqi city of Fallujah says that her ambulance was shot at four times by US soldiers while trying to deliver supplies to a clinic.
Donna Mulhearn, from Maitland, was captured by Iraqis who were fighting the US military, but was released unharmed a day later.
Ms Mulhearn said that many families were stuck in the city with few supplies because US soldiers would not allow them to leave.
"Even during a so-called ceasefire, Fallujah was under siege with bombing, missiles and mortar attacks," she said.
"But the worst form of attack was the US snipers hiding on rooftops who kill hundreds of civilians as they tried to move about the city."
"I felt a great deal of shame about how blindly my government follows the lead of the US in terms of foreign policy".
(Source: AAP)
Donna Mulhearn, from Maitland, was captured by Iraqis who were fighting the US military, but was released unharmed a day later.
Ms Mulhearn said that many families were stuck in the city with few supplies because US soldiers would not allow them to leave.
"Even during a so-called ceasefire, Fallujah was under siege with bombing, missiles and mortar attacks," she said.
"But the worst form of attack was the US snipers hiding on rooftops who kill hundreds of civilians as they tried to move about the city."
"I felt a great deal of shame about how blindly my government follows the lead of the US in terms of foreign policy".
(Source: AAP)
Wednesday, April 14, 2004
Local people drank water drank water from a tap that should have been shut off after last month's leak of 150,000 litres of uranium-contaminated water at the controversial Ranger mine.
The mine also left machinery contaminated with uranium in a local yard.
The incidents came only days after government regulators allowed the ERA mining company to resume full operations at the mine, 230 kilometres east of Darwin.
The switch of processing water into fresh water supplies forced the mine's closure last month and intensified pressure on the Federal Government to tighten regulations on uranium mining.
ERA has since confirmed that 24 workers have reported symptoms of ill-health after the incident, including three contractors who have suffered aches, lethargy, headaches and diarrhoea.
No doctor can tell them what the long-term effects of drinking several litres of water containing 400 times the legal limit of uranium because no one else in the world has consumed anywhere near that amount.
Andy Ralph from the Mirrar community said local people were concerned that the focus of ERA's attention in the days after the leak was on the drinking water contamination at the mine instead of areas off the mine site.
(Source: The Age)
The mine also left machinery contaminated with uranium in a local yard.
The incidents came only days after government regulators allowed the ERA mining company to resume full operations at the mine, 230 kilometres east of Darwin.
The switch of processing water into fresh water supplies forced the mine's closure last month and intensified pressure on the Federal Government to tighten regulations on uranium mining.
ERA has since confirmed that 24 workers have reported symptoms of ill-health after the incident, including three contractors who have suffered aches, lethargy, headaches and diarrhoea.
No doctor can tell them what the long-term effects of drinking several litres of water containing 400 times the legal limit of uranium because no one else in the world has consumed anywhere near that amount.
Andy Ralph from the Mirrar community said local people were concerned that the focus of ERA's attention in the days after the leak was on the drinking water contamination at the mine instead of areas off the mine site.
(Source: The Age)
Tuesday, April 13, 2004
People working in child protection are experiencing high levels of violence, threats and intimidation, usually without any training to deal with it and often without support from management.
Research by the Australian Institute of Criminology found that 90% of child protection professionals had experienced intimidating behaviour, 72% had experienced threats of violence, 41% had experienced ongoing harassment and 24% had experienced actual physical assault.
Almost three-quarters of respondents that nothing in their training had prepared them for exposure to threats and violence in the workplace.
74% of the people surveyed reported emotional and/or health effects as a result of experiencing abusive behaviours. Over two thirds of respondents reported feeling burnt out by their work.
The study also found that a number of workers felt unsupported by management and/or work colleagues, and in some cases they had been stigmatised and bullied.
The study, published by the AIC and funded by the Criminology Research Council, involved 589 child protection professionals in a range of occupations in the health, education, social welfare and justice sectors across Australia.
(Source: Australian Institute of Criminology)
Research by the Australian Institute of Criminology found that 90% of child protection professionals had experienced intimidating behaviour, 72% had experienced threats of violence, 41% had experienced ongoing harassment and 24% had experienced actual physical assault.
Almost three-quarters of respondents that nothing in their training had prepared them for exposure to threats and violence in the workplace.
74% of the people surveyed reported emotional and/or health effects as a result of experiencing abusive behaviours. Over two thirds of respondents reported feeling burnt out by their work.
The study also found that a number of workers felt unsupported by management and/or work colleagues, and in some cases they had been stigmatised and bullied.
The study, published by the AIC and funded by the Criminology Research Council, involved 589 child protection professionals in a range of occupations in the health, education, social welfare and justice sectors across Australia.
(Source: Australian Institute of Criminology)
Teachers in public schools feel pressured to go to work even when they're sick, according to principals and their union.
Education Department figures show that teachers, on average, used barely more than half of their 10 sick days per year.
Australian Education Union state president Andrew Gohl said he was not surprised. "I think, particularly under local management, many staff feel under great pressure to work even when they're probably feeling like they should be at home recovering," he said.
"That's because taking sick leave has an impact on the school budget.
"There's a huge workload attached to taking leave. Teachers have to prepare lessons for the relief teacher when they're away.
"Many of them would say it's just as easy to go to work."
SA Secondary Principals Association president Bob Heath agreed that "it's very common for teachers to come to school when they're not in the best of health".
(Source: Adelaide Advertiser)
Education Department figures show that teachers, on average, used barely more than half of their 10 sick days per year.
Australian Education Union state president Andrew Gohl said he was not surprised. "I think, particularly under local management, many staff feel under great pressure to work even when they're probably feeling like they should be at home recovering," he said.
"That's because taking sick leave has an impact on the school budget.
"There's a huge workload attached to taking leave. Teachers have to prepare lessons for the relief teacher when they're away.
"Many of them would say it's just as easy to go to work."
SA Secondary Principals Association president Bob Heath agreed that "it's very common for teachers to come to school when they're not in the best of health".
(Source: Adelaide Advertiser)
Monday, April 12, 2004
A Defence adviser has sacked, for refusing to write media briefings that claimed that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.
Engineer and analyst Jane Errey was an adviser to former Chief Defence Scientist Dr Ian Chessell and wrote briefings for Defence Minister Robert Hill.
Ms Errey says that on the day before the Iraq war started, she was asked to write an inaccurate briefing about Iraq's capabilities.
The next day she went on holiday rather than write a misleading briefing.
She was sacked last Monday, after more than nine years at Defence.
"I felt like I was part of the propaganda machine. As a public servant I shouldn't be expected to write propaganda," she said.
"Anything that I was doing with respect to the war was making me uncomfortable," Ms Errey said. "Then to have to brief the minister and fundamentally give him - even though I didn't write it - lines of propaganda that I didn't believe with respect to the war was beyond what I was prepared to do. I wouldn't lie or mislead the public."
When she applied for leave, Dr Chessel told her that if she disagreed with the government's view on the war, she should 'consider whether working for Defence was the right job for me'.
(Source: Herald Sun)
Engineer and analyst Jane Errey was an adviser to former Chief Defence Scientist Dr Ian Chessell and wrote briefings for Defence Minister Robert Hill.
Ms Errey says that on the day before the Iraq war started, she was asked to write an inaccurate briefing about Iraq's capabilities.
The next day she went on holiday rather than write a misleading briefing.
She was sacked last Monday, after more than nine years at Defence.
"I felt like I was part of the propaganda machine. As a public servant I shouldn't be expected to write propaganda," she said.
"Anything that I was doing with respect to the war was making me uncomfortable," Ms Errey said. "Then to have to brief the minister and fundamentally give him - even though I didn't write it - lines of propaganda that I didn't believe with respect to the war was beyond what I was prepared to do. I wouldn't lie or mislead the public."
When she applied for leave, Dr Chessel told her that if she disagreed with the government's view on the war, she should 'consider whether working for Defence was the right job for me'.
(Source: Herald Sun)
Wednesday, April 07, 2004
At least 25 Iraqis were killed in an attack that destroyed a house in Falluja, witnesses and doctors said on Wednesday, and locals blamed U.S. forces who have launched a major crackdown in the town.
Witnesses said the house in the town, 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad, was hit by rockets fired by a U.S. helicopter on Tuesday night. A U.S. military spokeswoman in Baghdad said she had no information on the incident.
The house was reduced to rubble in the attack. Locals said four families had been sheltering there and that some victims were still buried in the debris.
Hospital officials said at least 30 Iraqis had been killed in Falluja on Tuesday, including those in the destroyed house.
U.S. Marines who occupied the cities of Falluja and Ramadi last month have begun "Operation Vigiliant Resolve", which follows the killing of four U.S. private security guards in Falluja a week ago. After they were killed, a crowd of Iraqis set the bodies ablaze, mutilated them and hanged two of them from a bridge.
In Ramadi, around a dozen Marines were killed in fighting on Tuesday, U.S. officials said. Five Marines were killed in al-Anbar province that includes Ramadi and Falluja, on Monday.
The population of the two cities are mostly Sunni Muslims. Shi'ite Muslims in the south of Iraq have launched their own revolt, which has claimed 130 lives in three days.
(Source: Reuters)
Witnesses said the house in the town, 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad, was hit by rockets fired by a U.S. helicopter on Tuesday night. A U.S. military spokeswoman in Baghdad said she had no information on the incident.
The house was reduced to rubble in the attack. Locals said four families had been sheltering there and that some victims were still buried in the debris.
Hospital officials said at least 30 Iraqis had been killed in Falluja on Tuesday, including those in the destroyed house.
U.S. Marines who occupied the cities of Falluja and Ramadi last month have begun "Operation Vigiliant Resolve", which follows the killing of four U.S. private security guards in Falluja a week ago. After they were killed, a crowd of Iraqis set the bodies ablaze, mutilated them and hanged two of them from a bridge.
In Ramadi, around a dozen Marines were killed in fighting on Tuesday, U.S. officials said. Five Marines were killed in al-Anbar province that includes Ramadi and Falluja, on Monday.
The population of the two cities are mostly Sunni Muslims. Shi'ite Muslims in the south of Iraq have launched their own revolt, which has claimed 130 lives in three days.
(Source: Reuters)
A gun used as a murder weapon in Melbourne's criminal feud was provided by a police officer, according to an informant.
Housam Zayat was ambushed in a paddock on Melbourne's southwest outskirts on September 11 - one of nine related murders in the past year.
The detective has been charged with separate corruption offences, and is suspended.
The feud has claimed 23 lives since 1998.
(Source: Herald Sun)
Housam Zayat was ambushed in a paddock on Melbourne's southwest outskirts on September 11 - one of nine related murders in the past year.
The detective has been charged with separate corruption offences, and is suspended.
The feud has claimed 23 lives since 1998.
(Source: Herald Sun)
An innocent man who spent two months in jail due to police incompetence has been refused compensation, despite witnessing a murder and a rape, being bashed four times, and developing post-traumatic stress disorder.
John Cran was arrested for having stickers allegedly laced with LSD. In fact they were ordinary paper.
He was refused bail and sent to Silverwater Jail. The magistrate ordered a drug analysis be completed by April 16, but the police forgot to fill out a form that would have made the test happen more quickly.
When it was not ready the case was adjourned. Mr Cran was given bail provided he came up with $1000 of his own and another $500 from an "acceptable person". He was unable to find anyone to stand bail for him and so was sent back to jail.
Almost two months after his arrest, police told the drug laboratory the analysis was required urgently. The results were available four days later and he was released, having spent 64 days in jail.
The NSW Court of Appeal has ruled that his claim for compensation should fail, because police have no duty of care towards the people they investigated.
Justice Santow said he could offer no relief to Mr Cran, because of the implications of allowing police to be answerable for harm caused during investigations.
(Source: Sydney Morning Herald)
John Cran was arrested for having stickers allegedly laced with LSD. In fact they were ordinary paper.
He was refused bail and sent to Silverwater Jail. The magistrate ordered a drug analysis be completed by April 16, but the police forgot to fill out a form that would have made the test happen more quickly.
When it was not ready the case was adjourned. Mr Cran was given bail provided he came up with $1000 of his own and another $500 from an "acceptable person". He was unable to find anyone to stand bail for him and so was sent back to jail.
Almost two months after his arrest, police told the drug laboratory the analysis was required urgently. The results were available four days later and he was released, having spent 64 days in jail.
The NSW Court of Appeal has ruled that his claim for compensation should fail, because police have no duty of care towards the people they investigated.
Justice Santow said he could offer no relief to Mr Cran, because of the implications of allowing police to be answerable for harm caused during investigations.
(Source: Sydney Morning Herald)
American soldiers have returned from Iraq contaminated with radiation probably caused by depleted uranium, as a report on its dangers has come to light after being blocked from publication.
Four soldiers from the New York national guard "almost certainly" inhaled radioactive dust from exploded American shells made with depleted uranium while serving in the Iraqi town of Samawa, according to a nuclear medicine expert who examined and tested them.
Several members of the same company returned home feeling constantly sick with headaches, numbness and rashes.
A report on depleted uranium, completed after the first war against Iraq in 2001, warned that children and adults could contract cancer after breathing in dust containing the radioactive and chemically toxic substance, used in British and American weapons.
Radiation expert Dr Keith Baverstock says that it was deliberately suppressed by the World Health Organisation, who commissioned him to prepare the report.
Dr Baverstock also believes that if the study had been published, there would have been more pressure on the US and UK to limit their use of depleted uranium weapons in last year's war, and to clean up afterwards.
Hundreds of thousands of depleted uranium shells were fired by coalition tanks and planes during the conflict, and there has been no comprehensive decontamination. Experts from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) have not been allowed into Iraq to assess the pollution.
(Source: The Guardian [UK] and Sunday Herald [UK])
Four soldiers from the New York national guard "almost certainly" inhaled radioactive dust from exploded American shells made with depleted uranium while serving in the Iraqi town of Samawa, according to a nuclear medicine expert who examined and tested them.
Several members of the same company returned home feeling constantly sick with headaches, numbness and rashes.
A report on depleted uranium, completed after the first war against Iraq in 2001, warned that children and adults could contract cancer after breathing in dust containing the radioactive and chemically toxic substance, used in British and American weapons.
Radiation expert Dr Keith Baverstock says that it was deliberately suppressed by the World Health Organisation, who commissioned him to prepare the report.
Dr Baverstock also believes that if the study had been published, there would have been more pressure on the US and UK to limit their use of depleted uranium weapons in last year's war, and to clean up afterwards.
Hundreds of thousands of depleted uranium shells were fired by coalition tanks and planes during the conflict, and there has been no comprehensive decontamination. Experts from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) have not been allowed into Iraq to assess the pollution.
(Source: The Guardian [UK] and Sunday Herald [UK])
Tuesday, April 06, 2004
Public money will pay for about half of a $12,000 internet bill, run up by a Moreland councillor's son.
Cr Stella Kariofyllidis's son spent hours downloading music and movies on the laptop computer provided to her for council business.
In one month he accounted for about half the council's broadband use.
Despite breaching council policy on the personal use of laptops, Cr Kariofyllidis has been ordered to repay just $6784 of the $12,711 total.
Moreland chief executive Peter Brown yesterday said the council (that is, ratepayers) would cover the remaining $5927 - because it should have discovered the misuse sooner.
(Source: Herald Sun)
Cr Stella Kariofyllidis's son spent hours downloading music and movies on the laptop computer provided to her for council business.
In one month he accounted for about half the council's broadband use.
Despite breaching council policy on the personal use of laptops, Cr Kariofyllidis has been ordered to repay just $6784 of the $12,711 total.
Moreland chief executive Peter Brown yesterday said the council (that is, ratepayers) would cover the remaining $5927 - because it should have discovered the misuse sooner.
(Source: Herald Sun)
Sunday, April 04, 2004
The St Vincent de Paul Society says that John Howard was wrong when he claimed that Australia's poor are not getting poorer.
Society spokesman Terry McCarthy said Mr Howard's claim would be disputed by the 3.6 million Australians living in households with a weekly income of $400 or less, and the additional million who lived on less than $500.
Mr McCarthy said that the poorer 50 per cent of households had only 7 per cent of the wealth. On current trends this would fall to 4.9 per cent by 2030. 64 percent of the wealth is in the hands of the richest one fifth of the people, and this would rise to 70 percent by 2030.
(Source: The Age)
Society spokesman Terry McCarthy said Mr Howard's claim would be disputed by the 3.6 million Australians living in households with a weekly income of $400 or less, and the additional million who lived on less than $500.
Mr McCarthy said that the poorer 50 per cent of households had only 7 per cent of the wealth. On current trends this would fall to 4.9 per cent by 2030. 64 percent of the wealth is in the hands of the richest one fifth of the people, and this would rise to 70 percent by 2030.
(Source: The Age)
Quote of the Moment:
"They wrote in the old days that it is sweet and fitting to die for one's country. But in modern war, there is nothing sweet nor
fitting in your dying. You will die like a dog for no good reason".
Ernest Hemingway
"They wrote in the old days that it is sweet and fitting to die for one's country. But in modern war, there is nothing sweet nor
fitting in your dying. You will die like a dog for no good reason".
Ernest Hemingway
A former cancer sufferer, whose surgery for breast removal has been cancelled twice, described the delay as "totally devastating".
The 59 year old women, identified only as Carol, does not have cancer but does have multiple cysts growing in her left breast. She has been treated for breast cancer twice and has already had a partial mastectomy.
She said that she has "dropped from 71kg to 54 in the past few months because of worry".
"It's a traumatic decision for any woman to make - to have your breasts removed - and then to have the operation cancelled is devastating".
Carol said that she blames lack of government funding, rather than the hospital.
"It just seems there aren't enough beds" she said.
(Source: Herald Sun)
The 59 year old women, identified only as Carol, does not have cancer but does have multiple cysts growing in her left breast. She has been treated for breast cancer twice and has already had a partial mastectomy.
She said that she has "dropped from 71kg to 54 in the past few months because of worry".
"It's a traumatic decision for any woman to make - to have your breasts removed - and then to have the operation cancelled is devastating".
Carol said that she blames lack of government funding, rather than the hospital.
"It just seems there aren't enough beds" she said.
(Source: Herald Sun)
