Tag Archives: Australia

Australian police say blast at Christian group’s HQ not politically motivated

The damaged entrance to the offices of the Australian Christian Lobby Group in Canberra, Australia,

By James Regan

SYDNEY, (Reuters) – Australian police said on Thursday an explosion caused when a van drove into the headquarters of a conservative Christian lobby group in the national capital, Canberra, was not politically or religiously motivated.

The 35-year-old Australian driver of the van, which was carrying gas-filled cylinders, walked into a nearby hospital suffering severe burns and was in critical condition, Australian Capital Territory Police Commander Mark Walters said.

” … As a result of our conversations with the male driver of the vehicle, we have established that the actions of this individual are not politically, religiously or ideologically motivated,” Walters told reporters.

Walters would not elaborate further.

The driver of the truck ignited gas-filled canisters before smashing into the building that acts as headquarters for the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL), which has been an outspoken critic of abortion and same-sex marriage.

ACL managing director Lyle Shelton posted a photograph on Twitter showing the burned-out van in front of the group’s headquarters. He said no staff were injured.

“I don’t know the motivation of last night’s attack, but the context of what I see here is in the context of multiple death threats and threats of violence that my staff have endured over the course of this year,” Shelton told reporters.

(Reporting by James Regan; Editing by Paul Tait)

Australia turns down national vote on same-sex marriage

Gay rights activists hold a rainbow flag during a rally to support same-sex marriage in central Sydney August

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s bid to hold a national vote on whether to legalize same-sex marriage was defeated on Monday in the upper house of parliament, or Senate, potentially delaying legal unions for years.

The proposal to hold the vote, or plebiscite, in February next year was voted down in the Senate by 33 votes to 29.

Australia’s center-right coalition government, led by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, in August voted to take the issue of legalizing same-sex marriage to a national poll.

The bill required the support of some opposition lawmakers because Turnbull’s Liberal-National coalition has only a one-vote majority in the lower house of parliament and does not have a majority in the upper house.

The rejection is a blow to Turnbull, who has seen his popularity wane amid frustration that he has failed to live up to his progressive reputation.

Australian Attorney-General George Brandis had warned that a defeat would result in delaying same sex marriage in Australia for years to come.

In opposing the vote, the opposition Labor Party said it would have resulted in harmful debate against the gay and lesbian community and instead sought a direct vote in Parliament.

“Now that the plebiscite legislation is dead, we again call marriage equality supporters across all political parties to work together to find a pathway,” said Alex Greenwich, co-chair of rights group Australian Marriage Equality.

“It’s time our parliamentarians found a fair and dignified pathway that ensures every Australian is treated equally.”        There have only been three plebiscites in Australian history, two relating to conscription during World War I, and one to choose a national song in 1977.

Same-sex marriage is supported by 61 percent of Australians, a Gallup poll in August found.

Several independent MPs had already ruled out supporting the national plebiscite on same-sex marriage. A rejection by the center-left Labor party, which wants same-sex marriages legalized by parliament, ended any hope the plebiscite bill could pass.    A plebiscite represented an “unnecessary detour … through difficult terrain,” Janet Rice, the Greens Party spokeswoman for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex affairs, told reporters.

“It is at least insensitive to the LGBT community … and at best, it will result in divisive hurtful campaigning with no guarantee of progressing marriage equality,” she added.

(Reporting by James Regan; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

Refugees being driven to suicide on Nauru says Amnesty International

Anna Neistat, Senior Director for Research with Amnesty International, talks to journalists as she holds a copy of a report she co-authored titled 'Island of Despair - Australia's "Processing" of Refugees on Nauru' in Sydney, Australia

By Colin Packham

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Many of the 410 asylum seekers held on a tiny Pacific Island are being driven to attempt suicide to escape the prison-like conditions they face in indefinite detention on behalf of Australia, rights group Amnesty International said on Monday.

Under Australia’s tough immigration policy, asylum seekers intercepted trying to reach the country by boat are sent for processing at a camp in Nauru or to Manus Island in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and are not eligible for resettlement in Australia.

“I met children as young as nine who had already tried to kill themselves and were talking openly about ending their lives,” said Anna Keistat, an Amnesty official, who is one of a handful of international observers to have visited Nauru.

An undated supplied image from Amnesty International claiming to show children playing near a fence at the country's Australian-run detention centre on the Pacific island nation of Nauru

An undated supplied image from Amnesty International claiming to show children playing near a fence at the country’s Australian-run detention centre on the Pacific island nation of Nauru. Amnesty International/Handout via REUTERS

“Their parents were talking about hiding everything, sharp objects, pills, and not allowing them to leave the house, because they were so worried their children would end their lives,” said Keistat, who spent six days in Nauru in August.

Amnesty said that 58 detainees, or about 15 percent of the total on Nauru, to whom it spoke for its report, had either attempted suicide or have had thoughts about harming themselves.

A spokesman for Australia’s immigration minister did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report.

Many of the 410 men, women and children Australian figures show to have been in detention on Nauru by August 31 have been confirmed as refugees and have been there for several years.

Despite the refugee status, they continue to be confined to poor accommodation with little access to medical care, Amnesty said, adding that children, who make up little more than a tenth of the number of detainees, suffer disproportionately.

Amnesty joins a chorus of criticism of Australia’s immigration policy from human rights groups, and comes just weeks after the United Nations said Nauru was failing to protect children.

International condemnation of Australia was stoked after more than 2,000 incidents, including sexual abuse, assault and attempted self-harm, were reported in about two years at an Australian detention center in Nauru, more than half involving children, the Guardian said.

Australia seeks to organize resettlement of the asylum seekers, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said. But with Australia unable to convince a third party to take them, the future of the detainees remains in question.

Australia’s detention center in Papua New Guinea (PNG) faces greater pressure, after PNG’s Supreme Court in April ordered its closure. The 823 men held on Manus Island have been given limited freedom, but they remain detained.

(Reporting by Colin Packham; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

Australia’s wheat crop threatened as La Nina climate indicator rises

A dirt road cuts through a wheat crop in a farm near Condobolin, 285 miles (489 km) west of Sydney in this file photo

By Colin Packham and Naveen Thukral

SYDNEY (Reuters) – The quality of Australia’s near-record wheat crop will likely be hit, as a sudden spike in a climate indicator shows there is a high chance of crop-damaging rains linked to a La Nina weather event over the next few months, analysts and traders said.

The La Nina – which brings cooler, wetter weather for much of Australia’s key wheat growing region on the east coast – had in 2010 decimated the region’s crop and downgraded the quality of the grain to animal feed.

As of now, Australia, the world’s fourth-largest exporter of wheat, is expected to harvest its second-largest crop on record during the 2016/17 season after near-perfect conditions across much of the country, the country’s chief commodity forecaster confirmed this week.

But with the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) – that measures sea level pressure differences and is one of a number of indicators of a La Nina – rising to its highest level in two months, analysts and traders say the outlook for Australia’s silo-bursting supplies remains in doubt.

“The SOI after remaining in neutral range has risen above seven, a threshold for La Nina. Today it is at 11.8 which means there are higher chances of La Nina developing in the near future,” Rajesh Singla, head of agriculture research at Societe Generale, said on Friday.

“If there are excessive rains from La Nina in October and November, it could hit the quality of Australian wheat crop.”

Australia needs dry weather in October to ensure good quality and to get the crop ready before the harvest at the end of the year.

Lower export supplies from Australia could support global wheat prices, which are mired near 10-year lows in a world market that is flush with supplies following a bumper output in the northern hemisphere.

However, Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said the SOI reflects more unseasonably warm waters around Australia’s north rather than an imminent La Nina.

Wet conditions are likely, but not in the same intensity as five years ago, the BOM added.

(Reporting by Colin Packham; Editing by Himani Sarkar)

Malaysia confirms debris found in Tanzania is from MH370

Australian and Malaysian officials examine aircraft debris at the Australian Transport Safety Bureau headquarters in Canberra, Australia, after it was found on Pemba Island, located near Tanzania, in late June.

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysia said on Thursday that a large piece of aircraft debris discovered on the island of Pemba, off the coast of Tanzania, in June, was from the missing Malaysia Airlines jet MH370.

A search of more than two years has turned up few traces of the Boeing 777 aircraft that disappeared in March 2014, with 239 passengers and crew on board, soon after taking off from Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital, bound for Beijing.

Ministry of Transport Malaysian Senior Accident investigator Aslam Basha Kham inspects a wing suspected to be a part of missing Malaysia Airlines j

Ministry of Transport Malaysian Senior Accident investigator Aslam Basha Kham (C) talks to other officials inspecting a wing suspected to be a part of missing Malaysia Airlines jet MH370 discovered on the island of Pemba, off the coast of Tanzania, in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania July 15, 2016. REUTERS/Stringer

The debris, an outboard flap, will be examined further to see if it can yield any insight into the circumstances around the missing plane, Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said in a statement.

Investigators have previously confirmed a piece of plane debris found on the French island of Reunion in July 2015 as being part of MH370. They are examining several other pieces of debris found in Mozambique, South Africa and Rodrigues Island, a territory of Mauritius.

(Reporting by Praveen Menon; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

Australia suspends World Vision aid over Hamas funding accusations

The logo of U.S.-based Christian charity World Vision is seen on a car parked outside their offices in Jerusalem

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia said on Friday it was suspending funding for relief group World Vision’s operations in the Palestinian Territories after allegations its Gaza representative funneled millions of dollars to the Islamist militant group Hamas.

Mohammad El Halabi, World Vision’s manager of operations in Gaza, was arrested by Israel on June 15 while crossing the border into the enclave, which is under the de facto rule of Hamas, a group on Israeli and U.S. terrorism blacklists.

A senior Israeli security official on Thursday said Halabi, who has run the group’s Gaza operations since 2010, had been under extended surveillance and had confessed to siphoning off some $7.2 million a year to Hamas.

World Vision said it was shocked by the claims, and a Hamas spokesman said the group had no connection with Halabi.

Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) called the allegations “deeply troubling” and said in a statement that it was “urgently seeking more information from World Vision and the Israeli authorities.”

“We are suspending the provision of further funding to World Vision for programs in the Palestinian Territories until the investigation is complete,” it said.

Israel welcomed the decision and said it has passed on details of the case to a number of countries from where money is being sent to Gaza.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry said it “calls on the organization and others dealing in aid to the Gaza Strip to examine themselves and their local partners.”

Australia has paid World Vision approximately $4.35 million over the past three financial years for the provision of aid in the Palestinian Territories, a DFAT spokesman said.

(Editing by Michael Perry)

Australia prison abuse on aboriginal children investigated

Barbed wire fences surround the Don Dale Youth Detention Centre located near Darwin in the Northern Territory, Australia,

By Matt Siegel

SYDNEY (Reuters) – The use of hoods, restraints and teargas on Australian aboriginal children in youth detention centers by police, as shown in footage released this week, could violate the U.N. treaty barring torture, a top U.N. official said on Thursday.

Australia’ Northern Territory on Wednesday suspended the use of hoods and restraints on children after the broadcasting of CCTV footage showing guards at a juvenile detention center teargassing aboriginal inmates and strapping a half-naked, hooded boy to a chair.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has ordered a Royal Commission in the treatment of children in the detention center, the most powerful inquiry in the country, rejecting calls for a national inquiry.

U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture, Juan Mendez, told Australia’s Radio National on Thursday that the video suggested that torture may have taken place and welcomed the inquiry but warned against limiting its scope.

“It’s hard to tell only from the video or the press coverage but I do think that it’s a very worrisome development that can amount to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment under any circumstance…,” he said.

He said that there was no question that very severe pain and suffering had occurred and that the perpetrators seem to be representatives of the state. If others knew and did nothing, they too could be punished alongside those who actually committed the violence, he said.

The footage, showing six aboriginal boys being stripped naked, strapped to a chair with a hood, thrown by the neck into a cell and held for long periods in solitary confinement, was shot between 2010 and 2014 at the Don Dale Youth Detention Centre near Darwin in the Northern Territory.

A report into some of the incidents by the Northern Territory Children’s Commissioner in 2015 found fault with the guards’ behavior, but the findings were disputed by the then head of prisons and not acted upon, said Australian Broadcasting Corp, who aired the footage.

The Northern Territory’s corrections minister was sacked on Tuesday, just hours after the broadcast.

The case highlights concern about the disproportionate numbers of aboriginal youth in custody, with indigenous leaders calling for politicians to deal with the wider issue of the treatment of Aborigines in Australia.

Aborigines comprise just three percent of Australia’s population but make up 27 percent of those in prison and represent 94 percent of the Northern Territory’s juvenile inmates.

Australia’s roughly 700,000 indigenous citizens track near the bottom of almost every economic and social indicator for the country’s 23 million people.

(Editing by Michael Perry)

Australian police arrest man over apparent bid to attack police station

A bomb disposal expert wearing protective gear walks past emergency services personnel outside a police station in the western Sydney suburb of Merrylands, Australia

YDNEY (Reuters) – Australian police on Thursday arrested a man for an apparent attack on a Sydney police station, after he set himself alight and drove a car into its underground carpark.

Police said they had no reason to believe it was a terrorist attack or that the man, in his 60s, was connected to any terrorist organization.

Media reported the man’s car contained gas canisters while New South Wales state assistant police commissioner Dennis Clifford said there appeared to have been some kind of fire accelerant in it.

“Until we do some background investigation, we’re just uncertain about the motive,” Clifford told reporters.

“There’s nothing to indicate this is in any way related to terrorism.”

A staunch U.S. ally, Australia has been on heightened alert for attacks by home-grown militants since 2014, having suffered several “lone wolf” assaults, including a cafe siege in Sydney in which two hostages and the gunman were killed.

Clifford said officers spotted the man sitting in his car outside the station, and when they approached him he set the inside of the car alight.

The man then tried to drive into the front of the police station before driving it into a roller door under the station. Police put out the fire, and the man was taken to hospital with severe burns, Clifford said.

Media reported that the man was known to police and was believed to have a mental illness.

Clifford declined to comment on those reports but said the man was in a critical condition in hospital.

Police earlier cordoned off the station in Merrylands, in Sydney’s west, while officers from the Rescue and Bomb Disposal Unit searched the vehicle.

No members of the public or police officers were injured during the incident, police said.

(Reporting by Jane Wardell and Byron Kaye; Editing by Clarence Fernandez, Robert Birsel)

West operating secretly with Assad against militants

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad (C) joins Syrian army soldiers for Iftar in the farms of Marj al-Sultan village, eastern Ghouta in Damascus, Syria, in this handout picture provided by SANA on June 26, 2016.

AMMAN (Reuters) – Syrian President Bashar al Assad said in an interview to be broadcast on Friday that Western countries had sent security officials to help his government covertly in fighting Islamist militants involved in Syria’s war.

Assad, in remarks to Australia’s SBS News channel that were carried by Syrian state media, said Western states – who are strongly opposed to his rule but also face the threat of Islamist attacks at home – were secretly cooperating with his government in counter-terrorism operations.

“They attack us politically and then they send officials to deal with us under the table, especially the security, including your [the Australian] government,” Assad was quoted as saying.

“They don’t want to upset the United States. Actually most of the Western officials, they only repeat what the United States want them to say. This is the reality,” he said.

There was no immediate comment from Western governments.

Western powers have supported rebels fighting to overthrow Assad in a civil war now in its sixth year, and have called for him to step down to ease a future democratic transition. He has refused, vowing to fight on until Damascus regains control of all of Syria. His main allies have been Russia and Iran.

Among Assad’s foes in the conflict are Islamist militant groups with which radicalized European Muslims have trained and taken part in fighting before, in some cases, returning to Europe to carry out attacks.

(Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

China says U.S.-Philippines base deal raises questions over South China Sea

BEIJING (Reuters) – China said on Monday agreements like the one reached last week by the United States and the Philippines allowing for a U.S. military presence at five Philippine bases raised questions about militarization in the South China Sea.

The United States is keen to boost the military capabilities of East Asian countries and its own regional presence in the face of China’s assertive pursuit of territorial claims in the South China Sea, one of the world’s busiest trade routes.

The United States and its regional allies have expressed concern that China is militarizing the South China Sea with moves to build airfields and other military facilities on the islands it occupies.

Asked about the base deal, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said that U.S.-Philippine cooperation should not be targeted at any third party nor harm other nations’ sovereignty or security interests.

“I also want to point out that recently the U.S. military likes to talk about the so-called militarization of the South China Sea,” Hua told a daily news conference.

“Can they then explain, isn’t this kind of continued strengthening of military deployments in the South China Sea and areas surrounding it considered militarization?”

China claims most of the energy-rich waters through which about $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. Neighbors Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims.

The United States says it takes no sides in the disputes but wants to ensure free navigation through the sea. It has said it will increase what it calls freedom-of-navigation operations by its navy ships through the waters.

U.S. allies Malaysia and Australia both reiterated on Monday calls for freedom of navigation through the South China Sea.

“We’ve been extremely consistent in saying that our activities will continue, that we will send our ships and our planes to that part of the world as we require, as it is necessary in accordance to international law,” Australian Defense Minister Marise Payne said after meeting her counterpart in Malaysia.

Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said that free movement in the air and waters should continue.

China has never interfered with freedom of navigation and has stressed that some of the equipment it is installing on small islands and reefs will facilitate navigation.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard, addtional reporting by Rozanna Latiff in Kuala Lumpur; Editing by Nick Macfie, Robert Birsel)