Monthly Archives: June 2015

Syrian refugees near the Syrian town of Tal Abyad try to grab bottles of water thrown from the Turkish side of the border (AFP Photo)

Almost 60 million people worldwide were forcibly uprooted by conflict and persecution at the end of last year, the highest ever recorded number, the UN refugee agency said on Thursday, while warning that the situation could deteriorate further.

“I believe things will get worse before they eventually start to get better,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said at a news conference in Istanbul. UNHCR said that Syria, where conflict has raged since 2011, was the world’s biggest source of internally displaced people and refugees.

“Even amid such sharp growth in numbers, the global distribution of refugees remains heavily skewed away from wealthier nations and towards the less wealthy,” UNHCR said.

Guterres said the responsibility to protect Syrian refugees should not be lie solely with Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon, and called on the European Union and other parts of the world to open their borders to refugees.

source:hindustantimes.com

Noa Begic said he was arrested after a night out in Surfers Paradise and was assaulted repeatedly. Photo: Glenn Hunt

A Gold Coast police officer who leaked video footage of his colleagues assaulting a handcuffed man could face charges and jail time, civil libertarians say.

Australian Council for Civil Liberties president Terry O’Gorman says the case goes to the heart of the risks whistleblowers take.

He has called on Police Minister Jo-Ann Miller to take a personal interest in the case if charges are laid, and he says all Queenslanders should be watching the case closely.

“Queenslanders will say what sort of a system have we got where a video shows a number of police belting the hell out of a bloke. They don’t get charged, but the officer who leaks the video to the media gets charged,” Mr O’Gorman told the ABC.

He said the assault had cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in a payout to the victim.

The leaked video footage was published by media outlets in early 2012.

It showed a 21-year-old man being slammed face first into a concrete floor before being hit by officers using their knees, elbows and fists.

It showed the man again being punched after being put in the back of a police van, and a senior officer throwing a bucket of water on the concrete to wash away the man’s blood.

At the time, Noa Begic said he was arrested after a night out in Surfers Paradise and was assaulted repeatedly on the drive to the local police station and then later in the basement.

“They were making racist comments about me and then when we ended up in that basement I knew there was more on the way,” he said.

Public nuisance charges against Begic were dropped after then-Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson intervened.

The officers filmed carrying out the assault were subject to an internal police investigation, with two facing disciplinary action.

source:brisbanetimes.com.au

Bill Shorten delivers his victory speech in the seat of Maribyrnong on election night 2007 as former Victorian Upper House whip Cesar Melhem (in red shirt) looks on. Photo: Youtube

Bill Shorten’s union tipped thousands of dollars into his own campaign for the safe seat of Maribyrnong in the federal election of 2007 when he was still the union’s national secretary and preparing to enter Federal Parliament.

The funds contributed to an elaborate campaign dubbed by Labor insiders the “black hole of Maribyrnong” because of the amount of money and resources it absorbed.

A late 2009 filing by the Australian Workers Union national office records a $25,000 payment to ALP-Maribyrnong. Similar donations were also made to campaigns for the seats of Petrie and Stirling. Labor and union sources have also told Fairfax Media that AWU staff worked on Mr Shorten’s campaign.

Fair Work Commission records show Mr Shorten resigned as AWU national secretary on November 26, 2007, two months after the donations, and the same month as the federal election.

Ex-Labor MP and Health Services Union leader Craig Thomson is being sued by his former union for the alleged misuse of union resources on his successful 2007 campaign for the seat of Dobell. The use of union resources on parliamentary election campaigns is a grey legal area and the decision on the Thomson case may set a precedent on its lawfulness.

                        A campaign pamphlet from 2007. Photo: Facebook

While unions tip millions of dollars into the ALP every year, the revelation of the specific outlay on Maribyrnong is likely to be uncomfortable for Mr Shorten, given he was the national secretary at the time, and Maribyrnong was a safe seat which did not need the funds.

It is unclear if the union passed any formal resolution about spending and other support for Maribyrnong or other seats. On Thursday the union’s national office and secretary Ben Davis did not provide comment.

It is expected that the AWU will maintain its support for Mr Shorten, and thus he won’t face any of the problems faced by Mr Thomson.

A spokesman for Mr Shorten said the Opposition Leader would not respond to matters that may be considered by the royal commission until he is able to appear.

It is understood that a proposal to subpoena Mr Shorten and other MPs was raised in pretrial talks by Mr Thomson’s defence team along with the possibility of subpoenaing other MPs. But the subpoenas were not pursued after Mr Thomson, in March this year, walked out of the case telling the Federal Court he was too ill to continue.

A decision is yet to be handed down in the Thomson case by the Federal Court.

Mr Thomson, who was HSU national secretary before entering Parliament, avoided jail in a separate criminal case against him.

Instead he was fined $25,000 for the theft of less than $5000, an amount significantly reduced over time.

Mr Thomson is being sued in a civil case for about $265,000, the vast bulk of which was the alleged misuse of union resources and staff on his successful 2007 bid to win the marginal federal seat of Dobell in NSW.

News of the AWU payments comes as fallout continues from a Fairfax Media investigation detailing large payments from major companies to the AWU, when Mr Shorten ran the union. The payments include nearly $300,000 from Thiess John Holland, the joint venture builder of the $2.5 billion East-Link tollway.

The workplace deal struck by Mr Shorten saved the builder as much as $100 million through a favourable arrangement that allowed the builder to effectively work around the clock by reducing conditions around rostering and weekend work.

Fairfax Media understands that, at the time, Thiess John Holland regarded the payments to the AWU as an acknowledgment of the flexibility of the deal, which was struck by Mr Shorten.

John Holland again declined to comment on Thursday on what the payments were for as did CIMIC Group, formerly Leighton Holdings, which is the owner of Thiess.

The AWU’s Victorian branch have also not commented on the deal.

Internal AWU documents, including bank and accounting records, list some of the payments to Thiess John Holland as being for “training” but several large amounts are listed as “service” with “???” beside the entries. Total payments from the construction company into the AWU’s state branch bank account under Mr Shorten and his successor Cesar Melhem were $282,308. Another $16,500 was paid into the union’s national branch account.

Mr Shorten’s factional ally and former Australian Workers Union Victorian secretary Cesar Melhem also bankrolled Mr Shorten in Maribyrnong ahead of the 2010 federal election through a $2000 donation from the controversial Industry 2020 slush fund.

In 2011 and 2012 a drawcard at two Industry 2020 fundraisers.

The fund raised more than $500,000, mostly from employers, and was used in factional dogfights and branch-stacking that helped the political machine that Mr Shorten heads.

source:smh.com.au

In a combination of public bravado and private consultation, the Prime Minister has satisfied Malcolm Turnbull — the outstanding Liberal critic of the proposal to take Australian citizenship from dual nationals serving as terrorists and stranding them overseas — that his concerns will be addressed in the drafting changes to the bill.

The Prime Minister aggressively dismissed concerns raised by the Communications Minister and others at a cabinet meeting three weeks ago, declaring the cabinet decision “certainly won’t be revisited”.

“The reason why we have made this decision is because we have a very strong view: if you’ve left this country to join a terrorist army in the Middle East, we don’t want you back,” Mr Abbott said.

The bill was expected to go to the National Security Committee of cabinet last night.

Since the leaking of the cabinet dispute over the original proposal, Mr Turnbull has written to the Prime Minister’s office several times, including a submission on how he thought a change could be made to add “armed forces” to legislation — to cover Islamic State terrorists — to limit ministerial discretion and fend off a High Court challenge.

Mr Abbott has now responded to Mr Turnbull and addressed his concerns. Mr Turnbull, who does not sit on the NSC and is not in the leadership group, would be denied an opportunity to speak on the issue unless it returned to the full cabinet.

But Mr Turnbull has now been given advice from the Solicitor-General, which raised some querie­s, and has been consulted by Mr Abbott, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton and Attorney-General George Brandis.

Liberal backbenchers, who overwhelmingly support the stripping of citizenship of terrorists, have become increasingly angry with Mr Turnbull as he has campaigned to have the decision brought back to the full cabinet.

Responding to a report in The Australian yesterday that there was still cabinet dissent over the drafting of the legislation and demands for it to come back to full cabinet for final consideration, Mr Abbott said: “We have made a clear decision. The government has made an absolutely clear decis­ion that we are stripping the citizenship from terrorists who are dual nationals and that’s a decisio­n that’s been made.”

“It was made in the National Security Committee, it was ratif­ied by the cabinet, it’s supported by the partyroom. Now, legislation to give effect to this will be coming into the partyroom next week and it will be going into the parliament next week,” he said.

Mr Turnbull, who raised objections to the proposed legislation in cabinet three weeks ago, continued to campaign publicly yesterday for changes and did not deny suggestions the initial cabinet process had been “botched”.

At the end of last month, at least six ministers — including Mr Turnbull and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop — queried whether the proposed ministerial discretion to strip Australian citizenship from dual nationals involved in terrorism in Syria and Iraq was constitutional and open to a High Court challenge.

Mr Turnbull, a leading barrister before entering politics, has publicly expressed his concerns since and argued that cabinet should be given the Solicitor-General’s advice before making a final decision.

Yesterday he said there needed to be a lot of input into such a decision.

When asked if the process had been botched, Mr Turnbull replied: “People will always make comments about process — that’s your job, not mine. I just say, as I said yesterday, the only thing that matters is the shape of the bill when it emerges and is presented in the parliament.’’

Some Liberal backbenchers have also been angry because the internal dissent deflected political attention from the Labor Party and the opposition’s changing position on the issue.

Mr Abbott yesterday attacked the suggestion by Labor’s legal affairs spokesman Mark Dreyfus that terrorists should be brought back for trial and face a conviction in court as “rolling out the red carpet” for terrorists, like it “rolled out the red carpet for people-smugglers when it was in government”.

Mr Dreyfus said it “should not make any difference at all” whether a suspected terrorist was in Australia or overseas.

source:theaustralian.com.au

Brazil’s Neymar was shown a red card after the final whistle at the Copa America as his side were beaten by Colombia for the first time since 1991.

The Barcelona forward kicked a ball at Pablo Armero in frustration, before Colombia’s Carlos Bacca was also sent off for a retaliatory shove.

Defender Jeison Murillo had got the only goal with a close-range finish in a packed goalmouth after 36 minutes.

Brazil toiled hard, but struggled to carve out clear chances.

Neymar Neymar kicked the ball at Colombia’s Pablo Armero after the final whistle

Colombia play Peru in their final Group C game, with Brazil taking on Venezuela. Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela are level at the top of the table with three points each.

It was the teams’ first competitive meeting since Brazil’s 2-1 victory in the World Cup quarter-finals last summer and the match began with the same pace and physicality that marked that encounter.

After Colombia’s Teofile Gutierrez had been booked for a heavy challenge on Dani Alves, he was himself on the receiving end of a body-check that saw Fernandinho yellow-carded.

Colombia’s defeat in their opening game of the tournament against Venezuela meant their need for points was greater and they created more opportunities in the first half.

Aston Villa’s Carlos Sanchez saw a shot deflected wide, before Murillo pounced as the ball pinballed around the box to score his first international goal.

Striker Radamel Falcao – who had a disappointing spell on loan at Manchester United last season – looked no closer to rediscovering his best form and remained a peripheral figure for Colombia.

But his side did not look in need of another goal as they stubbornly held Brazil at bay for the most part.

Jeison Murillo The win is Colombia’s first over Brazil in 24 years

Indeed they could have extended their lead with Chelsea’s Juan Cuadrado sending a swerving shot just wide after cutting in off the right and James Rodriguez shaving the post in the final few minutes.

Their one major scare came early in the second half when Murillo’s under-cooked backpass put goalkeeper David Ospina in trouble but Roberto Firmino lofted his shot over the bar as the ball broke to him 12 yards out.

Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho – introduced at the interval – occasionally sparked into life but failed to wrestle the match Brazil’s way.

source:bbc.com

Consequently, huge sections of the population are using up groundwater without knowing when it will run out, researchers said in findings that will appear in the journal Water Resources Research and were posted online Tuesday.

“Available physical and chemical measurements are simply insufficient,” University of California Irvine professor and principal investigator Jay Famiglietti said in a statement.

“Given how quickly we are consuming the world’s groundwater reserves, we need a coordinated global effort to determine how much is left,” added Famiglietti, who is also the senior water scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Scientists used data from special NASA satellites to measure groundwater losses. In the first paper, they looked at 37 of Earth’s biggest aquifers between 2003 and 2013. Eight of these were classified as “overstressed,” meaning they were being sucked dry with almost no natural replenishment to offset the usage.

A rice field in North Korea, where the worst drought in a century has resulted in extensive damage to agriculture. Source: AP

Five other aquifers were determined to be “extremely or highly stressed.” Scientists warned the situation would only worsen with climate change and population growth. The most overburdened aquifers are in the world’s driest places, where there is little natural replenishment.

“What happens when a highly stressed aquifer is located in a region with socio-economic or political tensions that can’t supplement declining water supplies fast enough?” said Alexandra Richey, the lead author on both studies.

“We’re trying to raise red flags now to pinpoint where active management today could protect future lives and livelihoods.” Researchers found that the Arabian Aquifer System, providing water for more than 60 million people, is the world’s most overstressed source.

The Indus Basin aquifer of north-western India and Pakistan is the second-most overstressed, and the Murzuk-Djado Basin in northern Africa is third, scientists said.

In drought-stricken California, the Central Valley aquifer was labelled as “highly stressed.” The second paper concludes that the total remaining volume of the world’s usable groundwater is poorly known and huge discrepancies exist in estimated “time to depletion.” “We don’t actually know how much is stored in each of these aquifers. Estimates of remaining storage might vary from decades to millennia,” Richey said.

“In a water-scarce society, we can no longer tolerate this level of uncertainty, especially since groundwater is disappearing so rapidly.”

source:news.com.au

Πηγή:madata.gr

The euro will not fall if Greece quits the single currency area, German central bank chief Jens Weidmann said in a newspaper interview published on Thursday.

“The continued existence of the euro is not tied to the development in Greece. But certain contagion effects cannot be ruled out because the character of monetary union would be altered by a ‘Grexit’,” Bundesbank president Weidmann told French daily Les Echos.

The interview was also published in the Spanish and Italian dailies El Mundo and La Stampa.

A so-called Grexit would be an exit by Greece from the euro area.

“The character of monetary union would also change if individual countries do not fulfil their responsibilities for a stable currency and turn monetary union into a transfer union which their populations never voted for,” Weidmann continued.

“That is also a contagion effect, the negative consequences of which should not be underestimated.”

He insisted that “the responsibility over whether Greece stays in the eurozone lies with the Greek government.”

“The last few days have shown that there isn’t much time left to reach an agreement,” Weidmann continued.

Eurozone finance ministers were set to hold crunch talks over Greece in Luxembourg Thursday, after a barrage of warnings that the country risks a damaging exit from the EU if it fails to strike a deal with its creditors.

As negotiations between Athens, the EU, ECB and IMF over the last 7.2 billion euro ($8.1 billion) tranche of Greeces massive international bailout grew increasingly acrimonious this week, officials started openly discussing the prospect of Greece crashing out of the euro.

“The ball is definitely in the court of the Greek government in which direction they want to take their country,” Weidmann said.

“Despite the risks from a state default and possible contagion effects, we have to ensure that the foundations of monetary union as a stability union are not undermined. Aid and solidarity are part of that, but agreements must be adhered to,” he said.

“A revocation of the agreements and a halting of repayments to the partners who have provided aid, or to the European Central Bank, would certainly have consequences for Greece which would be difficult to keep under control,” Weidmann warned.

source: ekathimerini.com

The “blind insistence” on cutting Greek pensions will only worsen the country’s already dire financial crisis, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras wrote in a German newspaper commentary on Thursday.

In a guest column for Der Tagesspiegel newspaper in Berlin, Tsipras also rejected the “myth” that German taxpayers are paying Greek pensions and wages. He said Greeks, contrary to the widespread belief in Germany, work longer than Germans.

“The blind insistence of cuts (in pensions) in a country with a 25 percent unemployment rate and where half of all the young people are unemployed will only cause a further worsening of the already dramatic social situation,” Tsipras wrote.

He said that pensions are the only source of income for countless families in Greece. In Athens on Wednesday he also rejected pension cuts that creditors are seeking to unlock aid.

Tsipras also wrote that the state’s expenditures for pensions and social spending were cut by 50 percent between 2010 and 2014. “That makes further cutbacks in this sensitive area impossible.”

Tsipras also challenged perceptions among Germans, a majority of whom now want Greece to leave the eurozone, about who is paying for Greek wages and pensions: “Anyone who claims that German taxpayers are coming up for the wages and pensions for Greeks is lying,” he wrote. “I’m not denying there are problems…But I’m speaking out here to show why the ‘cuts offensive’ of the past years has led nowhere.”

Tsipras’s leftist government has faced dire warnings that it risks being forced out of the eurozone and left without support if it fails to strike a aid-for-reforms deal with creditors.

Hopes of a breakthrough on Thursday at a meeting of European finance ministers, once seen as a final chance for an agreement, are looking increasingly dim.

Athens must find a way out of the impasse by the end of June, when it faces a 1.6 billion euro ($1.8 billion) repayment due to the International Monetary Fund, potentially leaving it bankrupt and on the verge of exiting the eurozone.

Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble maintained his hard line against Greece, telling Bild newspaper the question was whether “Greece fulfils its commitments from the existing programme.”

Schaeuble stressed the IMF must continue to take part in the rescue programme: “Without its important contribution, it (the programme) doesn’t work.

source:ekathimerini.com