Aboriginal elders are calling on Environment minister Peter Garrett to halt his approval of a uranium mining expansion in South Australia.
The traditional owners say that the proposal is in breach of Aboriginal heritage laws.
South Australian Aboriginal Affairs Minister Jay Weatherill has committed to an independent investigation in light of repeated concerns raised by the elders.
The federal government has signed an agreement with North and West Queensland Primary Health Care to establish a $2.5 million super clinic in Mt Isa.
Federal Health and Ageing minister Nicola Roxon says that the clinic “will implement new models of health care, provide education and training opportunities for future health professionals and conduct high quality research.”
The Mt Isa clinic is one of 31 super clinics to be established around Australia.
A summary of indigenous students’ performance has found that education initiatives have had little effect.
Indigenous students remain over represented in the lowest proficiency levels and underrepresented at the top.
Students were tested using the Programme for International Student Assessment.
Russian human rights activist Natalia Estemirova has been found murdered while investigating human rights abuses in Chechnya.
She was abducted after leaving her house in the North Caucuses and later found dead with multiple bullet wounds to the head and chest.
The organisation she was working with, Memorial, believes that the government backed militias which she was investigating were being her murder.
The UK has rolled out an ambitious plan to allow for 30% renewable power in the country by 2020.
The plan involves household incentives, manufacturing efficiency upgrades and the creation of thousands of wind turbines.
22 Israeli solidiers have spoken out against the gratuitous use of a force by the IDF in the recent Gaza strip offensive.
They have claimed that they were instructed to “not give civilians the benefit of the doubt” and “not to risk ones life to aid a civilian”.
The soldiers also alleged that civilians were used as human shields in the conflict and that soldiers often destroyed property simply because they were “bored”.
Human rights lobby groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are calling on the Papua New Guinean government not to reintroduce the death penalty.
Representatives of both organisations say that restarting executions would damage the country’s credibility.
The last execution in Papua New Guinea occurred in 1954, despite the death penalty being in place for wilful murder since 1991.
Events
2009 Queensland Music Festival
WHO:Indigenous band Black Arm Band
WHAT: Hidden Republic – launch of QMF
WHEN: Friday July 17, 6pm
WHERE:Thursday Island Primary School Oval, and webcast live in Brisbane Square
More info here
