Mission & Justice

3/10/08

The High Court of Australia has reserved its decision in a case that threatens to undermine the commonwealth’s intervention in Northern Territory indigenous communities. Traditional land owners Reggie Wurridjal and Joy Garlbin are taking on the federal government over its compulsory five-year takeover of their Maningrida township in Arnhem Land. The elders, along with the Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation, say the commonwealth failed to acquire the land on “just terms” as required by the constitution. But lawyers acting for the commonwealth argued the takeover was not an acquisition of property.

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3/10/08

Pope Benedict XVI today reaffirmed the Catholic Church’s condemnation of artificial birth control, a position that has driven millions of people away from the faith. Contraception “means negating the intimate truth of conjugal love, with which the divine gift (of life) is communicated”, the leader of the world’s 1.1 billion Roman Catholics wrote on the 40th anniversary of a papal encyclical on the controversial topic. In reaffirming the position, the Pope rejected an appeal for a retraction by some 60 Catholic groups in July who said the Church’s stance had been “catastrophic” for the world’s poorest and weakest. The letter by dissident Catholic bodies from countries including Britain, Brazil, Canada, France and the United States said the Church’s opposition to birth control endangered women’s lives and exposed millions of people to the risk of contracting AIDS.

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Kim Gouz; 3/10/08

Bombs and warplanes aren’t the only controversial commodities that Russia has been transporting abroad. Just ask Russian newspaper reporter Yaroslava Tankova. Tankova went undercover to expose the work of Russia’s trafficking mafia. She joined a group of women and girls who were promised jobs as waitresses in Israel. Unfortunately, Tankova’s group won’t be found dishing up hummus on Tel Aviv beach. They were trafficked to Israel via Egypt by Bedouins to be sold as sex slaves. “One of the girls nearly died from sunstroke. Another was raped by an Arab guard. He used a plastic bag instead of a condom,” Tankova reports in the video. “We were treated like meat. One man hit me but the other guards intervened. They didn’t want the commodity spoiled before it was sold.”

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3/10/08

Jewish settlers clashed with activists of the Rabbis for Human Rights movement near the West Bank city of Hebron on Friday as they protected Palestinians beginning the annual olive harvest. Israeli police and soldiers grappled with settlers who tried to drive off local Palestinians and international supporters of Palestinian rights in the West Bank. “This is just the beginning of the olive harvest which will be going on for the next two months,” said the executive director of Rabbis for Human Rights, Arik Ascherman. He said activists were going to 40 Palestinian villages to protect olive growers and uphold their right to work the land, and harvest. They would act “as human shields” if necessary. A settler woman screamed “Murderer, murderer” at the rabbi, and settlers angrily shouted down any activists trying to explain their aims to TV reporters.

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3/10/08

Five former Khmer Rouge soldiers have gone on trial in the Cambodian capital, accused of kidnapping and murdering a British mine-clearing expert and his Cambodian colleague 12 years ago. They are accused of killing Christopher Howes and his interpreter, who were kidnapped in March 1996 while clearing mines near Angkor Wat, the 12th century temple complex in the country’s northwest. The five defendants, among them Khem Ngun, a former guerilla leader who joined the Cambodian army in 1988 as a major general, appeared in a Phnom Penh court on Friday. They have been charged with premeditated murder and illegal confinement of persons, and face life imprisonment if found guilty. Witnesses claim Khem Ngun gave the order to kill the men.

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2/10/08; See: http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1&section=0&article=115054&d=2&m=10&y=2008

Authorities in Najran are investigating a case where a man beat his wife until she became brain-dead. The daily Al-Madinah reported yesterday that the man beat his wife one day prior to Eid instead of presenting her with the season’s greetings. During the beating the woman choked on her tongue, which blocked oxygen to her brain. The woman is now in intensive care in a coma. The technical affairs assistant at the Najran Red Crescent, Muhannad Al-Jarallah, said that they received a call the day before yesterday from a child reporting that his mother fell ill in the house and they had to move right away to the location. They performed first aid to the woman and then transferred her to King Khaled Hospital in Najran to receive medical treatment.

3/10/08

A US soldier has been sentenced to eight months in prison for his role in the killings of four blindfolded Iraqi detainees last year. The defendant, Specialist Steven Ribordy, pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact but denied a direct role in the shooting deaths at the start of his court martial. His sentence also included a reduction to the rank of private, forfeiture of all pay and allowances and a dishonourable discharge from the US army. The US military court judge had recommended the soldier be jailed for four years but a plea agreement led to his term being reduced, a spokeswoman for the US 7th Army Joint Multinational Training Command, Denver Makle, said.

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Richard Ackland; 3/10/08

Have you noticed that in his quiet, dogged way Philip Ruddock has embarked on a mission to reshape his legacy? How does he wish to remembered? Nothing less than “the nation builder”. He told a Murdoch newspaper: “Restoring public confidence in immigration enables you to put in place the building blocks, and everything else follows.” Of course, rapid assistance to smooth the visas of a few urgers who have topped up the Liberal Party tin is part of the nation building process, along with Ruddock long denying any impropriety.

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Paul Maley & Paige Taylor; 3/10/08

The first boatload of illegal migrants to be processed on Australian soil since Labor announced an overhaul of the mandatory detention system has arrived on Christmas Island. As the 14 men and women arrived for processing yesterday morning, Immigration Minister Chris Evans was busy hosing down suggestions the group’s arrival heralded the beginning of a fresh wave of unlawful arrivals. Senator Evans said the interception of a boat off Ashmore Reef, off Australia’s northwest coast, on Monday did not mean people smugglers were “testing the waters” following Labor’s changes. The changes were aimed at softening the treatment of detainees and asylum-seekers. “What we know is that there are thousands of people trying to find safe haven in countries around the world,” Senator Evans said. “The reality is we’ve been dealing with this for years.”

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Lindsay Murdoch; 3/10/08

An Arnhem Land community has posted a film on the internet showing ancient ceremonial dancing rarely seen by outsiders. Painted dancers from the Milingimbi community are in the film called Riyawarray, meaning “common ground”, performing ancient customary law rituals for a traditional gathering that is the Yolngu clans’ equivalent of the House of Representatives. Elders of the community on an island 500 kilometres east of Darwin said they decided to show their previously secret ceremony to protest against the federal indigenous intervention, the former Howard government’s response to child sexual abuse allegations revealed in last year’s Little Children Are Sacred report.

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