Reporting on world events from a Bairnsdale Conservative perspective.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Mr Howard has Class youtube update
* Abandoned child's mother might have been found, dead. * Rudd struggles with tax * Lesbian mum won't love * Gore still confused over Kyoto, Sydney treaty * Pol Pot's 2ic arrested
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Pol Pot's No.2 leader arrested from news.com.au TOP Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea has been formally arrested by a UN-backed genocide tribunal, after police seized him from his home in northwest Cambodia.
"Nuon Chea arrived at the court. He was brought before the office of the co-investigating judges ... on execution of an arrest warrant,'' tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath said.
He said Nuon Chea would be informed of the charges being brought against him, but did not say what those charges would be.
The 82-year-old, known as "Brother Number Two'', was Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot's most trusted lieutenant and allegedly a key architect of the regime's horrific execution policies.
Nuon Chea is the first of a small group of former top cadres living freely in Cambodia to be arrested by tribunal authorities, prompting many who lost relatives to wonder why they have been left alone for so many years.
His rank in the communist hierarchy and alleged decision-making role would make him the most significant defendant to be tried for crimes committed under the 1975-79 regime by the tribunal, which was established last year.
Up to two million people died of starvation, disease and overwork, or were executed under the Khmer Rouge.
The regime abolished religion, schools and currency, exiling millions to vast collective farms in a bid to create an agrarian utopia.
Police find body in car outside mother's house from news.com.au THE body of an Asian woman has been found in the boot of a car outside the home of missing Auckland woman Anan Liu, whose daughter, dubbed Pumpkin, was dumped by her father at a Melbourne's Southern Cross railway station.
The woman's body was found in the boot of a car belonging to Ms Lui's husband, Nai Xin Xue, Fairfax reported.
The car had been parked outside the Auckland home for two days before it was moved by police last night.
Police said they had informed Ms Liu's mother in China of the discovery, but added that no formal identification of the body had taken place.
"There's a lot of work to do to ensure we preserve as much forensic evidence pertaining to the woman's death as possible," Senior Sergeant Simon Scott said.
"To that end, we won't be rushed into doing anything and will take the utmost care with a key item in what is now most definitely a homicide investigation.
"We would very much like to speak with Mr Xue, the registered owner of the vehicle who we understand is in the United States."
Ms Liu,also known as Annie Xue, who was last seen around 10 days ago.
Ms Liu's daughter, three-year-old Qian Xun, was abandoned at Southern Cross railway station at the weekend by her husband, who then flew to the United States.
Police said yesterday they held "grave fears" for the safety of Ms Liu.
Fears have grown for Ms Liu after her daughter was dumped and it emerged there was a history of domestic violence in the family.
Police yesterday cordoned off the Xue house in the Auckland suburb of Mt Roskill, shrouding it in plastic sheets as they conducted forensic tests on the property.
Police also were planning to forensically examine Ms Liu's car, which was found at Auckland International Airport.
An international search is now underway for Mr Xue, with Victoria Police working with Interpol and American authorities to locate him.
Mr Xue, a publisher and martial arts expert living in Auckland, was reported to be depressed and plagued by money problems.
New Zealand police also revealed yesterday that before he left for Australia last week, Mr Xue collected his passport and a ceremonial sword from police.
The sword had earlier been seized by police as a result of reported domestic violence within the family.
Rudd finds it all 'too taxing' from news.com.au FEDERAL Treasurer Peter Costello says it is clear Kevin Rudd doesn't understand the current income tax system, after the Opposition Leader slipped up on a question about tax thresholds.
Visiting Queanbeyan today, Mr Rudd was asked by a journalist to name the tax rates and where thresholds kick in.
Mr Rudd replied: "Well, as of July 1, if you went through the four thresholds, I think the high threshold kicks in I think at $175,000, then I think it cascades down the spectrum.''
Mr Costello seized on the blunder, attacking Mr Rudd in parliament and pressing him to release Labor's tax policy.
"He couldn't name a single rate, he couldn't name a single threshold, and the one threshold that he named of $175,000 ... just doesn't exist,'' Mr Costello told parliament.
"Since the Labor Party demands an election to be called on a daily basis, you would think they might have the decency of releasing a policy so that people can know what it is.''
Mr Costello said tax thresholds don't cascade.
"Cascade is a form of beer, it is not a form of tax threshold.
"This would be amusing if it were not serious.''
He said the leader of the opposition did not know what the Australian tax system was.
"He doesn't understand it and he should never be put in charge of people's mortgages, their businesses or their jobs.
"Underneath the glib responses, underneath the media stunts ... there is no economic substance. "And now he has been exposed as being naked when it comes to understanding the tax system.
"He is a leader of the Opposition on trainer wheels.''
Lesbian mum 'not able to love' By Melissa Jenkins A LESBIAN mother of twins who was mistakenly implanted with two embryos instead of one during IVF has since lost her capacity to love, her partner told a Canberra court today.
In the first case of its kind in Australia, the lesbian couple is suing prominent Canberra obstetrician Dr Sydney Robert Armellin for more than $400,000 in the ACT Supreme Court for implanting two embryos instead of the requested one.
The procedure, which used sperm from a Danish donor, resulted in the birth of twin baby girls, now aged three.
Their mothers, whose combined income is almost $120,000, want $398,000 to cover the costs of raising one of the girls, including fees for a private Steiner school in Melbourne.
They are also seeking around $15,000 to compensate them for time off work, and an additional amount for medical expenses.
The birth mother's partner told the court today at times she felt their relationship would not survive the stress after learning they were to have twins.
"My observation is that (the twins' birth mother) was one of the most confident and centred people that I have met,'' she said.
She described her partner as being an extremely generous and loving person before she fell pregnant.
"She (the twins' birth mother) always said that she had a big heart filled with love,'' the woman said, weeping.
"I find (now) that she doesn't have the same ability to love that she used to and the same capacity to, I guess, embrace differences and issues as a couple or as a team.''
She said the pair lost their lives functioning as a couple, becoming mired in everyday tasks associated with raising two children.
Dr Armellin's barrister Kim Burke said the pair's loss of their lives as a couple was commonly experienced by parents across Australia.
"I suggest to you you have described the situation nearly every couple in Australia suffers in the circumstances where they are no longer in a single relationship with each other but they've the burden of a child or children.''
The civil hearing before Justice Annabelle Bennett continues.
Gore maintains pressure on PM over Kyoto By Doug Conway AL Gore still has a bone to pick with John Howard for not signing the Kyoto agreement.
The former US vice-president, now a leading climate crusader, again referred to Australia and the US today as the Bonnie and Clyde of the climate crisis, just as he did on a visit Down Under last year when he panned them for being the only advanced nations holding out on the Kyoto process.
Mr Howard, never a supporter of Kyoto, claimed a small but important climate coup at Sydney's recent APEC meeting by bringing together the world's biggest polluters - the US, China and Russia - and gaining their agreement to "aspirational goals'' for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Critics said the so-called Sydney declaration meant nothing because it committed none of the APEC countries, including the big three polluters, to any specific targets.
Mr Gore today repeated his calls for Australia to ratify Kyoto, describing it as the world's effort to come up with rules that applied to everybody.
He suggested action by Australia on Kyoto could force America to follow suit, and although he did not mention Mr Howard by name, his comments will up the ante on the eve of a federal election where climate change has become a key issue.
"I said it in Australia before and I will say it again, if Australia ratifies Kyoto, it is like Australia and the United States are Bonnie and Clyde in the world of environment,'' Mr Gore said in a speech in Sydney.
"And if Clyde is isolated and Bonnie has gone straight, Clyde won't really be able to resist any more.''
Mr Howard has argued that Kyoto is not in Australia's interests, even though Australia has met emission reduction goals set for it by the protocol.
He maintains it is unfair to apply a "one size fits all'' agreement on pollution targets, because countries are so structurally different and at different stages of development, and believes the best chance for progress is to build incrementally on the APEC declaration.
Mr Gore's current visit to Australia underlines how much has changed politically since his previous trip last November.
Back then Mr Howard was saying that Mr Gore's influential documentary movie about impending planetary catastrophe, An Inconvenient Truth, failed to make the earth move for him and smacked of a "peeved politician'' sniping at the Bush administration.
Since then climate change has assumed a steadily more significant place in political debate, and Mr Howard has responded to public concerns about it.
Mr Howard also has had to stare down leadership pressure from within his own party and, according to the opinion polls, still faces a heavy defeat at the looming federal election despite a recent improvement.
Mr Gore also stressed the importance of Kyoto in a second speech today where the audience included NSW Premier Morris Iemma.
"Mr Gore made the point that if Australia moves to ratify Kyoto it would be impossible for the United States to hold out, given our relationship and given Australia's past record in action on climate change and on the environment,'' Mr Iemma said.
"I don't think there was a person in that room ... who would have disagreed.''
Mr Gore is on a speaking tour to Sydney and Melbourne.
5 comments:
Pol Pot's No.2 leader arrested
from news.com.au
TOP Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea has been formally arrested by a UN-backed genocide tribunal, after police seized him from his home in northwest Cambodia.
"Nuon Chea arrived at the court. He was brought before the office of the co-investigating judges ... on execution of an arrest warrant,'' tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath said.
He said Nuon Chea would be informed of the charges being brought against him, but did not say what those charges would be.
The 82-year-old, known as "Brother Number Two'', was Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot's most trusted lieutenant and allegedly a key architect of the regime's horrific execution policies.
Nuon Chea is the first of a small group of former top cadres living freely in Cambodia to be arrested by tribunal authorities, prompting many who lost relatives to wonder why they have been left alone for so many years.
His rank in the communist hierarchy and alleged decision-making role would make him the most significant defendant to be tried for crimes committed under the 1975-79 regime by the tribunal, which was established last year.
Up to two million people died of starvation, disease and overwork, or were executed under the Khmer Rouge.
The regime abolished religion, schools and currency, exiling millions to vast collective farms in a bid to create an agrarian utopia.
Police find body in car outside mother's house
from news.com.au
THE body of an Asian woman has been found in the boot of a car outside the home of missing Auckland woman Anan Liu, whose daughter, dubbed Pumpkin, was dumped by her father at a Melbourne's Southern Cross railway station.
The woman's body was found in the boot of a car belonging to Ms Lui's husband, Nai Xin Xue, Fairfax reported.
The car had been parked outside the Auckland home for two days before it was moved by police last night.
Police said they had informed Ms Liu's mother in China of the discovery, but added that no formal identification of the body had taken place.
"There's a lot of work to do to ensure we preserve as much forensic evidence pertaining to the woman's death as possible," Senior Sergeant Simon Scott said.
"To that end, we won't be rushed into doing anything and will take the utmost care with a key item in what is now most definitely a homicide investigation.
"We would very much like to speak with Mr Xue, the registered owner of the vehicle who we understand is in the United States."
Ms Liu,also known as Annie Xue, who was last seen around 10 days ago.
Ms Liu's daughter, three-year-old Qian Xun, was abandoned at Southern Cross railway station at the weekend by her husband, who then flew to the United States.
Police said yesterday they held "grave fears" for the safety of Ms Liu.
Fears have grown for Ms Liu after her daughter was dumped and it emerged there was a history of domestic violence in the family.
Police yesterday cordoned off the Xue house in the Auckland suburb of Mt Roskill, shrouding it in plastic sheets as they conducted forensic tests on the property.
Police also were planning to forensically examine Ms Liu's car, which was found at Auckland International Airport.
An international search is now underway for Mr Xue, with Victoria Police working with Interpol and American authorities to locate him.
Mr Xue, a publisher and martial arts expert living in Auckland, was reported to be depressed and plagued by money problems.
New Zealand police also revealed yesterday that before he left for Australia last week, Mr Xue collected his passport and a ceremonial sword from police.
The sword had earlier been seized by police as a result of reported domestic violence within the family.
Rudd finds it all 'too taxing'
from news.com.au
FEDERAL Treasurer Peter Costello says it is clear Kevin Rudd doesn't understand the current income tax system, after the Opposition Leader slipped up on a question about tax thresholds.
Visiting Queanbeyan today, Mr Rudd was asked by a journalist to name the tax rates and where thresholds kick in.
Mr Rudd replied: "Well, as of July 1, if you went through the four thresholds, I think the high threshold kicks in I think at $175,000, then I think it cascades down the spectrum.''
Mr Costello seized on the blunder, attacking Mr Rudd in parliament and pressing him to release Labor's tax policy.
"He couldn't name a single rate, he couldn't name a single threshold, and the one threshold that he named of $175,000 ... just doesn't exist,'' Mr Costello told parliament.
"Since the Labor Party demands an election to be called on a daily basis, you would think they might have the decency of releasing a policy so that people can know what it is.''
Mr Costello said tax thresholds don't cascade.
"Cascade is a form of beer, it is not a form of tax threshold.
"This would be amusing if it were not serious.''
He said the leader of the opposition did not know what the Australian tax system was.
"He doesn't understand it and he should never be put in charge of people's mortgages, their businesses or their jobs.
"Underneath the glib responses, underneath the media stunts ... there is no economic substance.
"And now he has been exposed as being naked when it comes to understanding the tax system.
"He is a leader of the Opposition on trainer wheels.''
Lesbian mum 'not able to love'
By Melissa Jenkins
A LESBIAN mother of twins who was mistakenly implanted with two embryos instead of one during IVF has since lost her capacity to love, her partner told a Canberra court today.
In the first case of its kind in Australia, the lesbian couple is suing prominent Canberra obstetrician Dr Sydney Robert Armellin for more than $400,000 in the ACT Supreme Court for implanting two embryos instead of the requested one.
The procedure, which used sperm from a Danish donor, resulted in the birth of twin baby girls, now aged three.
Their mothers, whose combined income is almost $120,000, want $398,000 to cover the costs of raising one of the girls, including fees for a private Steiner school in Melbourne.
They are also seeking around $15,000 to compensate them for time off work, and an additional amount for medical expenses.
The birth mother's partner told the court today at times she felt their relationship would not survive the stress after learning they were to have twins.
"My observation is that (the twins' birth mother) was one of the most confident and centred people that I have met,'' she said.
She described her partner as being an extremely generous and loving person before she fell pregnant.
"She (the twins' birth mother) always said that she had a big heart filled with love,'' the woman said, weeping.
"I find (now) that she doesn't have the same ability to love that she used to and the same capacity to, I guess, embrace differences and issues as a couple or as a team.''
She said the pair lost their lives functioning as a couple, becoming mired in everyday tasks associated with raising two children.
Dr Armellin's barrister Kim Burke said the pair's loss of their lives as a couple was commonly experienced by parents across Australia.
"I suggest to you you have described the situation nearly every couple in Australia suffers in the circumstances where they are no longer in a single relationship with each other but they've the burden of a child or children.''
The civil hearing before Justice Annabelle Bennett continues.
Gore maintains pressure on PM over Kyoto
By Doug Conway
AL Gore still has a bone to pick with John Howard for not signing the Kyoto agreement.
The former US vice-president, now a leading climate crusader, again referred to Australia and the US today as the Bonnie and Clyde of the climate crisis, just as he did on a visit Down Under last year when he panned them for being the only advanced nations holding out on the Kyoto process.
Mr Howard, never a supporter of Kyoto, claimed a small but important climate coup at Sydney's recent APEC meeting by bringing together the world's biggest polluters - the US, China and Russia - and gaining their agreement to "aspirational goals'' for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Critics said the so-called Sydney declaration meant nothing because it committed none of the APEC countries, including the big three polluters, to any specific targets.
Mr Gore today repeated his calls for Australia to ratify Kyoto, describing it as the world's effort to come up with rules that applied to everybody.
He suggested action by Australia on Kyoto could force America to follow suit, and although he did not mention Mr Howard by name, his comments will up the ante on the eve of a federal election where climate change has become a key issue.
"I said it in Australia before and I will say it again, if Australia ratifies Kyoto, it is like Australia and the United States are Bonnie and Clyde in the world of environment,'' Mr Gore said in a speech in Sydney.
"And if Clyde is isolated and Bonnie has gone straight, Clyde won't really be able to resist any more.''
Mr Howard has argued that Kyoto is not in Australia's interests, even though Australia has met emission reduction goals set for it by the protocol.
He maintains it is unfair to apply a "one size fits all'' agreement on pollution targets, because countries are so structurally different and at different stages of development, and believes the best chance for progress is to build incrementally on the APEC declaration.
Mr Gore's current visit to Australia underlines how much has changed politically since his previous trip last November.
Back then Mr Howard was saying that Mr Gore's influential documentary movie about impending planetary catastrophe, An Inconvenient Truth, failed to make the earth move for him and smacked of a "peeved politician'' sniping at the Bush administration.
Since then climate change has assumed a steadily more significant place in political debate, and Mr Howard has responded to public concerns about it.
Mr Howard also has had to stare down leadership pressure from within his own party and, according to the opinion polls, still faces a heavy defeat at the looming federal election despite a recent improvement.
Mr Gore also stressed the importance of Kyoto in a second speech today where the audience included NSW Premier Morris Iemma.
"Mr Gore made the point that if Australia moves to ratify Kyoto it would be impossible for the United States to hold out, given our relationship and given Australia's past record in action on climate change and on the environment,'' Mr Iemma said.
"I don't think there was a person in that room ... who would have disagreed.''
Mr Gore is on a speaking tour to Sydney and Melbourne.
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