Newswire

German police have been told they can continue to single out black train passengers on the basis of their colour to check their papers, prompting allegations of institutionalised racism.

"If this is true, it is essentially illegal," Tahir Della of the Initiative of Black People in Germany (ISD) told The Local. "The authorities have always said the police do not do racial profiling."

"Marriage is founded on the wonderful fact of sexual difference and its potential for new life. Without this there would be no human beings and no future."1

That's what Catholics across the country are being told this weekend, in a letter calling on parishioners to campaign against same-sex marriage.

The death in custody of Roberto Curti at the hands of 6 NSW police officers early on Sunday 18 March 2012 is one that cannot be allowed to pass without a strong response.

Having watched the video of a part of the chase it is quite clear that the alleged “biscuits thief”, as he was described at the time of the chase, was running away from the 6 police officers and thus is proven to have not caused any danger to those officers. One officer is seen to be smashing his head against the frame of the shop window. There is no logical conclusion why he was then tasered in his back, THREE TIMES, as he staggered away. Also, it has been said that the victim had already been sprayed with capsicum spray and probably his eyes were burning, so he was running to get away from being sprayed again.
Sign the online petition calling for Justice for Roberto -- Solidarity Rally at the Brazilian Consulate Sydney April 2nd
Related:Footage of Tasering

PM's staffer did not act alone: report
Canberra Times
Lisa Martin, AAP
February 1, 2012 .

A federal government source has contradicted Prime Minister Julia Gillard's statement that a former staffer acted alone when he passed on information to a third party that led to a security scare at an Australia Day event, an indigenous newspaper says.

Efforts to re-direct the Omo River for irrigation are
drying up a key water source for tribes. © Survival

Alabama death row prisoner Thomas Arthur

Rebekah Skelton reports on a case where an Alabama man's life is at stake.

March 28, 2012

THOMAS ARTHUR has been on Alabama's death row for 30 years. He was convicted of killing Troy Wicker in 1982, but has always maintained his innocence. Recently, a federal appeals court stayed Arthur's March 29 execution date over an issue about lethal injection, though that stay could be lifted at any time.

Hashizume Bun, 80-year-old author of “The Day the Sun Fell - I Was 14 Years Old in Hiroshima”, poses in front of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial on March 25, 2011. Bun, who has spoken in 70 countries about her ordeal, was less than 1.5 kilometres from the hypocentre of the explosion over Hiroshima at the end of WWII.

In the lead up to the Queensland State Election on March 24, a group of Brisbane Anarchists launched an anti-election campaign. In the week prior to the election, anarchists began pasting up a couple of thousand anti politician and anti voting posters all throughout the city. Political party placards erected throughout Brisbane were torn down or defaced with anarchist and anti politician messages. Anti-voting and anarchist graffiti was scrawled and sprayed across walls, billboards, electricity boxes and telephone booths.

Gerry Georgatos
The Warrup forest blockade by Forest Rescue Australia (FRA) has broken a long standing record in Western Australia - the blockade is eleven weeks long. It is the longest anti-logging action in 14 years, said Simon Peterffy, FRA convenor.

"For us, we have to save the largest numbat colony in WA and which is under threat of extinction, we have to save the trees, we have to protect the environment - if someone doesn't stand up then they're gone and the damage is done," said Mr Peterffy.