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Friday, January 27, 2006

West Papuan asylum seekers, who arrived in Australia last week, were forced to make a 4000 kilometre journey to Christmas Island despite suspicions they had tuberculosis. The West Papuans were flown to Christmas Island on an RAAF Hercules last week.

Two of the group, a man and his child, have now been flown the 2,600 kilometres to Perth, Western Australia from the remote Indian Ocean island. Air force personnel had initially refused to fly them, concerned that the flight crew’s health would be at risk.

“It’s a complete farce, absurd” said one health official. “It has not only posed an unnecessary health risk, it has been hideously expensive.”

The West Papuans were among a group of 43 refugees found last week on the far north-west coast of Cape York in Queensland. They had made a five-day journey from the Indonesian province in an outrigger canoe. They arrived with banners accusing Indonesia’s military in the province ruled by Jakarta of genocide and intimidation. Their 25m traditional boat was fitted with an outboard motor and was flying the outlawed West Papuan flag.

Amid media scrutiny and the disapproval of the Indonesian government, the boat people underwent health checks before being sent to Christmas Island. X-rays and other medical examinations strongly indicated that at least one man had tuberculosis, yet the group were flown to Australia’s Christmas Island Immigration Detention Centre.

Upon landing at the Island, health officials recommended the patients be transferred to Perth. However, the crew of the RAAF Hercules refused to take them, saying they were not “adequately equipped”.

A Department of Immigration spokesman (DIMIA) said an alternative flight was arranged. “At this stage there has been no positive diagnosis for tuberculosis,” the spokesman said.

The removal of the asylum seekers to Christmas Island has been met with fierce criticism from many refugee rights groups and opposition parties, who say it was impractical, potentially traumatising and hugely expensive. The Immigration Department says it has interviewed most of the asylum seekers but won’t say if they have made formal asylum claims.

File:West-Papua-Rally Darwin2.jpg

Rallies in Sydney, Melbourne, Darwin, Canberra and Brisbane were held this week, in support of the West Papuan asylum seekers. Refugee rights advocates protested the forced transfer to the remote Christmas Island facility.

Melbourne auxiliary bishop Hilton Deakin told about 130 people demonstrating outside DIMIA headquarters in Melbourne that, “we know that already the Indonesian authorities, in Canberra and beyond, are trying to get to them.”

Yet the he Indonesian embassy in Canberra denied making any approach, saying: “I can guarantee that there has been no contact whatsoever, it hadn’t been requested, it was never even sought.”

But the Immigration Department has confirmed that “a junior delegation” from the embassy went to Weipa last Thursday seeking access to the asylum seekers. A spokesman for the Immigration Department said the Indonesians arrived in Weipa on Thursday but by then the Papuans had already been put on a plane for Christmas Island. The West Papuans were told they had a right to Indonesian consular assistance if they choose. “Not one has chosen to do so,” the spokesman said.

“The majority of these 43 people are leaders for free expression and self-determination and possible independence because of the oppression from which they suffer,” Bishop Deakin said. “Massacres, rapes and all the rest of it have gone on in that country for almost 30 years.”

He called on the Australian Government to cancel its training program with the Indonesian military.

Democrats leader Lyn Allison said the Australian Government had “got it wrong on this issue”. The 43 asylum seekers had been “whisked off” before they could tell their story, she said.

Greens Senator Kerry Nettle has called on the government to grant access to Papuan asylum seekers. The senator says they should not be in detention and they certainly should be allowed to communicate with the outside world.

Senator Nettle will go to Christmas Island this weekend to meet the imprisoned West Papuans. She said the immigration department is obligated under the Migration Act to allow her to meet them.

Meanwhile New Zealand Greens have offered to take the asylum seekers. “New Zealand can show the Howard government how to be compassionate, as we did back in 2001 when we took some Afghan asylum seekers from the Tampa,” the New Zealand Green Party Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Keith Locke says.

“It is shocking that the West Papuan refugees, having survived 450 kilometres of open water in a flimsy craft, are now bundled off to a Christmas Island detention camp – well out of range of those Australians who wish to help them,” he said.

“Under refugee law these Papuans deserve special consideration, having come directly from their claimed country of persecution, Indonesia, not via a third country, as is the case with most asylum seekers in this part of the world.

“The Papuans certain have a good prima facie case. I know from my own visit to West Papua last April that there is substantial and ongoing harassment of the local people, particularly those who assert their right to political self-determination,” said Mr Locke.

On Friday last week Indonesian security forces shot dead one Papuan protester, and wounded two others, in the Paniai district, where the 43 asylum seekers originate.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

London, Ontario is the latest in a string of Canadian cities to have acted on increasing public demand to ban bottled water. On Monday, the decision to eliminate bottled water sales in city-run facilities was passed by London’s city council with a vote of 15-3 in favour. The move was driven by a desire to reduce waste and shipping, have a lower impact on the environment and promote tap water as a cheap and safe alternative.

London’s new restrictions will be implemented over the next several months in buildings that are already equipped with water fountains. Bottled water will still be permitted at many city-run events, such as upcoming summer festivals. Privately-owned retailers will not be affected by the ban.

Other cities, such as Vancouver, Ottawa and Kitchener, that are already engaged in debate on the issue, may now be watching London carefully for how the ban plays out. Other areas have already begun to phone London with questions on the details of its new regulations. Toronto has begun taking a look at bottled water packaging as part of its waste diversion strategy, and its public school board is looking into the possibility of a total restriction on bottled water sales.

In recent years, an awareness of the energy that is required to manufacture, transport and recycle the product has spread nation-wide. Proponents of the ban point to the fact that it can produce as much as 150 times the volume of greenhouse gas when producing bottled water as compared to supplying the same volume of tap water. They also point out that the water that goes into bottled water products is not inspected as frequently as tap water in Canadian cities.

Some have taken this cause to heart more than others, such as British Environment Minister Phil Woolas, who called the use of bottled water “morally unacceptable.” Restaurant critic Giles Coren of The Times of London criticizes those who use the product as “the new smokers.”

Canada’s beverage industry has come down with criticism on the increasing opposition to bottled water. Spokesman Scott Tabachnick for Coca-Cola Co., which produces Dasani brand bottled water, commented on the convenience of the product: “It’s hard to bring your kitchen sink with you.”

Vancouver City Councillor Tim Stevenson thinks that bottled water’s time has come and gone: “Bottled water companies have had a fabulous ride on an unnecessary fad.” Vancouver officials are still determining how bottled water restrictions, which have been voted for by the City Council, can be phased in.

Next month, the city is planning to initiate a marketing campaign encouraging Vancouver residents to choose tap water and to remember to carry reusable drinking containers whenever possible.

Renowned environmental activist Dr. David Suzuki has praised London’s decision, saying that it represents a turning point for people’s perceptions on the issue: “I’m really delighted that London has done this because it really makes us focus on some fundamental issues.” He hopes that someday people will “look at anyone who hauls out a bottle of water and say, ‘What the hell’s wrong with you?'”

Thursday, October 22, 2020

2020 Melbourne Lord Mayor candidate Wayne Tseng answered some questions about his campaign for the upcoming election from Wikinews. The Lord Mayor election in the Australian city is scheduled to take place this week.

Tseng runs a firm called eTranslate, which helps software developers to make the software available to the users. In the candidate’s questionnaire, Tseng said eTranslate had led to him working with all three tiers of the government. He previously belonged to the Australian Liberal Party, but has left since then, to run for mayorship as an independent candidate.

Tseng is of Chinese descent, having moved to Australia with his parents from Vietnam. Graduated in Brisbane, Tseng received his PhD in Melbourne and has been living in the city, he told Wikinews. Tseng also formed Chinese Precinct Chamber of Commerce, an organisation responsible for many “community bond building initiatives”, the Lord Mayor candidate told Wikinews.

Tseng discussed his plans for leading Melbourne, recovering from COVID-19, and “Democracy 2.0” to ensure concerns of minorities in the city were also heard. Tseng also focused on the importance of the multi-culture aspect and talked about making Melbourne the capital of the aboriginals. Tseng also explained why he thinks Melbourne is poised to be a world city by 2030.

Tseng’s deputy Lord Mayor candidate Gricol Yang is a Commercial Banker and works for ANZ Banking Group.

Currently, Sally Capp is the Lord Mayor of Melbourne, the Victorian capital. Capp was elected as an interim Lord Mayor in mid-2018 after the former Lord Mayor Robert Doyle resigned from his position after sexual assault allegations. Doyle served as the Lord Mayor of Melbourne for almost a decade since 2008.

Wednesday, November 9, 2005

The Dover, Pennsylvania school board became the first to mandate inclusion of Intelligent Design in a public school biology curriculum. For this year’s November 8 election, Republicans fielded a pro-Intelligent Design slate of candidates including some returning candidates who had previously voted to include a statement about Intelligent Design in the biology curriculum. A mixed slate of Democrat and Republican candidates came forward as an alternative group of school board candidates, the Dover CARES coalition. They proposed to remove Intelligent Design from the biology curriculum but allow discussion of Intelligent Design in courses dealing with philosophy and comparative religion.

All eight open school board seats were won by Dover CARES coalition candidates. Two candidates who had previously voted as school board members to include intelligent design in the public school science curriculum received the fewest votes in Tuesday’s election. One of the newly elected board members is Bryan Rehm, a parent of a Dover school student. Rehm, along with ten other parents, initiated a law suit against the school board for its decision to insert Intelligent Design into the science curriculum.

In October 2004, the Dover school board decided that Intelligent Design is a scientific theory that should be mentioned in biology classes that include discussion of biological evolution as part of the course content. The board mandated that a statement should be read in those classes stating “Intelligent Design is an explanation of the origin of life,” and “The school leaves the discussion of the Origins of Life to individual students and their families.”

The school board’s statement on Intelligent Design directs students to the book Of Pandas and People as a source of information “for students who might be interested in gaining an understanding of what Intelligent Design actually involves.” This book is published by the Foundation for Thought and Ethics, a non-profit organization founded for the purpose of “promoting and publishing textbooks presenting a Christian perspective.”

Parents of some Dover public school students filed a lawsuit against the school board, charging that including the school board’s statement on Intelligent Design was an attempt to introduce religion into the science curriculum. The book Of Pandas and People says, “Intelligent design means that various forms of life began abruptly through an intelligent agency.” The original complaint in the law suit against the school board claimed that “Intelligent design is a non-scientific argument or assertion.”

The US District Court Judge John Jones, who heard the non-jury case, hopes to make his ruling by the end of the year. The evidence phase of the trial ended on November 4, 2005.

A local Dover newspaper, the York Daily Record, editorialized that Dover voters should take trial testimony into account during the general election when they could cast votes for school board members along with other elective offices.

Biology teachers in the Dover schools have refused to read the school board’s statement on Intelligent Design to students because the Pennsylvania state code for education states that “The professional educator may not knowingly and intentionally misrepresent subject matter.” In a letter to their administrator, the teachers stated their view that “Intelligent design is not science.” School administrators have been reading the school board’s Intelligent Design statement to students in Dover public schools.

Friday, November 24, 2006

Anita O’Day, best known for her sassy rendition of “Sweet Georgia Brown” and “Honeysuckle Rose” died in her sleep early Thanksgiving Day, November 23, 2006. She was 87.

Known as the “Jezebel of Jazz,” she was one of America’s most respected jazz vocalists whose vocal contemporaries included Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan.

A Chicago native, she gained national recognition while touring with Jazz legends Gene Krupa and Stan Kenton. Her first national hit was on “Let Me Off Uptown” with Gene Krupa’s orchestra, which became a million dollar seller. Downbeat magazine named her “New Star of the Year” in 1942. After touring with Stan Kenton and his Orchestra, and recording “And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine,” her talent shown as a solo star. Her style became a foundational influence upon modern jazz recordings.

Her innovative scat style singing and lyrical ballads were recorded on Verve Records in the 1950s. Her colorfully innovative vocal style was evidenced in motion pictures “The Gene Krupa Story” and “Jazz On A Summer’s Day.”

Having a close brush with death from heroin addiction in 1967, she also survived alcohol addiction. She completed her autobiography “High Times, Hard Times” in 1981 and is the subject of a full-length documentary “Anita O’Day – the Life of A Jazz Singer,” which has yet to be released. Her last album, which she recorded at age 85, “Indestructable Anita O’Day,” on the Kayo Sterophonics/MRI label, was released last year.

Robbie Cavolina, her manager, said she was recovering from pneumonia at a Los Angeles convalescent hospital. And recollected that “On Tuesday night, she said to me, ‘get me out of here.’ But it didn’t happen.”

Referring to her renewed musical activity, he said that “She got to see how many people really loved her at the shows we did, in New York, in London. She had come back after all of this time. She really lived a very full and exciting life.”

Born Anita Belle Colton O’Day, October 18, 1919, she escaped from a broken home at age 14, and began contesting with touring walk-a-thons popular at the time, and was occasionally asked to sing. Upon her return to Chicago, she landed her first legitimate singing job at Planet Mars, a Chicago nightclub. Carl Cons, Down Beat magazine’s then-editor, was so impressed with her performance that he invited her to open his new jazz club.

As a showcase for promising jazz talent, The Off-Beat was frequented by such musicians as drummer Gene Krupa, and others. During one of her performances there in 1941, Krupa recruited her to join his orchestra.

In 1943, Anita left Krupa’s band and married professional golfer Carl Hoff. She later briefly joined clarinetist Woody Herman’s band, then reluctantly Stan Kenton’s. Thinking her style wasn’t compatible with hers, she was surprised when in 1944 the tune “And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine” became a national hit.

Anita’s fierce love of swing beats, conflicted however with Kenton’s infatuation with strident rhythms and novelty tunes, and a year later, left over artistic differences.

Her improvisational style, and love of bebop lured her toward those with whom she could hone her talent, and by the late 1940s began her career as a solo jazz vocal artist.

She invited John Poole, a drummer whom she met at the Club Starlite in Los Angeles, to join her. She once said of John, “If the drummer is no good, I can’t make it. That’s why I like John Poole. He’s my favorite drummer.” Their musical affiliation lasted 32 years.

In 1955, Norman Granz signed Anita to his company, Verve records, and her debut album “This is Anita” was the label’s first LP. Though she rarely sang ballads, her interpretation of “A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square,” was considered so enthralling and fascinating that rocketed her career to new levels.

Her performances with jazz greats Louis Armstrong, Dinah Washington, Thelonious Monk, George Shearling and others were renown. She became an international star after her performance of “Jazz on a Summer’s Day” at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival, which later became a documentary film.

Anita recorded 16 albums between 1957 and 1963 with a variety of groups, ranging from small ensembles, big bands to large orchestras. Her performances’ ranged from vibraphonist Cal Tjader to The 3 Sounds, a hard bop trio. Her first Japanese tour in 1964 was received with acclaim while stateside, the popularity of jazz was decreasing.

Her nonconventional, self-initiated cold-turkey recovery from heroin addiction at a Hawaiian retreat was successful, and she later returned to work. Her last public performance was at Hollywood, California‘s Cinegrill Cabaret Lounge at age 83.

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

A National Academy of Sciences report (.pdf) last year said that while the milk and meat from cloned animals would not likely make anyone sick, more research should be performed. Now, a new US-Japan study published in the April 11 online issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences says that milk and meat from cloned cattle does indeed appear to meet industry standards and appears to be safe for human consumption.

As BBC News reports, the scientists, led by Professor Jerry Yang from the University of Connecticut, compared the produce from two beef and four dairy clones, all derived from a single Holstein dairy cow and a single Japanese black bull, with the produce from normal animals of similar age and breed.

The meat was analysed against more than 100 physiological, tissue and cellular components, while the milk was analysed for protein, fat and other variables. No significant differences between the produce of cloned and normal cattle were found. Higher levels of fat and fatty acids were found in the cloned cow meat, but they still fell within beef industry standards.

While the study showed the cloned produce to be within the range approved for human consumption, the scientists stressed that the research was still in its early stages. Their findings, they said, provide “guidelines” for further research with larger numbers of clones from different genetic backgrounds.

Cloning livestock may one day increase yields by copying those animals that are especially productive and especially resistant to disease.

“The milking production levels in the US are three to four times higher than levels in China; maybe even five times or more compared to cows in India and some other countries,” Professor Jerry Yang told BBC News. “Therefore cloning could offer technology for duplicating superior farm animals. However, all the products from these cloned animals must be safe for human consumption. …and it is a major issue for scientists to provide a scientific basis for the data and information to address this question.”

As USA Today reports, there is currently no law governing the sale of meat or milk from the estimated 1,000 to 2,000 cloned farm animals in the USA. But since 2003, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has asked producers to voluntarily keep the meat and milk of these animals, and that of their offspring, out of the food supply.

Wired News reports that companies like ViaGen and Cyagra, which offer livestock-cloning services, have also been waiting for several years for a final say from the FDA.

“For the United States agricultural industry, (cloning) can reduce the number of cows necessary for milking,” said Jerry Yang “They can have a pleasant environment and produce even more milk.” He also said that cloning cattle from the United States, where genetic breeding is more advanced, could save developing countries 50 years of breeding.

The idea of cloning animals for human consumption is not without its critics. First, there are the welfare concerns, as most cloned animals do not make it to term before being born, and many of those that do are born deformed or prone to illness. The Humane Society of the United States has asked for a ban on milk and meat from clones for just this reason. Second, there is still the concern that healthy clones may have subtle defects that could make their food products unsafe to eat.

As the Washington Post reports, some critics are asking why it is necessary to clone cows that produce huge amounts of milk when surpluses, rather than shortages, are the main problem facing the U.S. dairy industry today.

Friday, January 21, 2022

The American Museum of Natural History in New York City removed a statue of the 26th President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, on Thursday following over a year of controversy. The statue, officially the “Equestrian Statue of Theodore Roosevelt,” depicts Roosevelt riding a horse flanked by a Native American and an African American at either side on foot.

The statue had stood at the steps of the museum since 1940 as a tribute to the former president who the museum notes “as a devoted naturalist and author of works on natural history”.

The museum requested the statue be removed in June 2020 following global protests over the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The museum said: “the statue itself communicates a racial hierarchy that the Museum and members of the public have long found disturbing.”

The request for removal was supported by former New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, Roosevelt’s great-grandson Theodore Roosevelt IV and the New York City Public Design Commission (NYCPDC). The NYCPDC resolved to remove and temporarily store the statue.

The New York Young Republican Club has defended the statue. Club leader Gavin Wax told Fox News in 2020: “this was about a cultural revolution engulfing our nation. We need to stand up, we have history on our side.” In November, it was announced that the statue would be moved to the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, North Dakota.

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Former Deputy President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, has appeared in a Durban court to face corruption charges. Mr Zuma was dismissed by the President, Thabo Mbeki, earlier in the year, following the conviction on fraud charges of his financial advisor, Schabir Shaik.