Newswire

Germans protested against transportation of highly radioactive waste at 120 different locations across the country Today (Sat 23 Oct).

Organisers claim a turnout of 10,000 to 20,000 people.

The protests were along three railway routes where socalled CASTOR containers are to run within weeks.

Each CASTOR is claimed to contain eight times as much radiation as was released by the Hiroshima atom bomb or 1.6 times as much as released by the Chernobyl meltdown in 1986.

BACK DOOR Newsletter on Timor-Leste:
http://members.pcug.org.au/~wildwood/Index.htm

Australian PM's proposal for Asylum-seeker Processing in Timor-Leste:
http://members.pcug.org.au/~wildwood/asylum.html

Sentru Prosesamentu ba Refujiadu iha Timor-Leste ka lae?:
http://members.pcug.org.au/~wildwood/tetunasylum.html

Um Centro de Processamento de Refugiados em Timor-Leste?:
http://members.pcug.org.au/~wildwood/portasylum.html

23 October 2010

By Minister Ellis' press secretary: Jamila Rizvi 0438 644 603

The federal minister for the status of women, Kate Ellis, has launched a new telephone counselling service for Australians who have experienced or are at risk of physical or sexual violence

1800 RESPECT is a confidential service that is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week over the phone. Australians can access the line by calling 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732).

An access road to the desalination project power and pipe line constuction works near Wonthaggi was blockaded on from 5 am on 20-10-10 to protest the following abuses of public rights by the Brumby Government -

Disturbing and graphic footage of two tribal Papuan men being tortured, allegedly by Indonesian soldiers, has led to widespread demands for an independent inquiry. One of the victims is an elderly man.

The incident is believed to have been filmed on the mobile phone of one of the soldiers as a ‘trophy’. Analysis of the footage suggests it was taken in May this year in the highland region of West Papua, where a military operation has been taking place.

The URANIUM FILM FESTIVAL wants to inform especially the Brazilian and Latin American societies and stimulate the production of independent documentaries and movies about the whole nuclear fuel cycle, about the dangers of radioactivity and especially about the environmental and health risks of uranium exploration, mining and processing.The URANIUM FILM FESTIVAL will be held from May 21th to 28th 2011 in the city of Rio de Janeiro and from June 2nd to 9th in the city of São Paulo.

Seven protestors have been arrested after blocking an access road to the Wonthaggi Desalination Plant construction site with a caravan. The protesters were demanding that secret files on demonstrators gathered by police and given to Aquasure, the private consortium who owns the site. The protestors also demanded the Brumby Government release a full costing of the desalination plant and how it will affect the price of water. It has been estimated the desal plant, the largest private public partnership in the world, will cost Victorian taxpayers twenty-four billion dollars!

Extreme Drought and aridity is likely to increase within decades across much of Africa, Australia, North and South America, South west Asia, and around the Mediterranean Sea according to a new study by National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) scientist Aiguo Dai.

Earlier research published in 2005 by Aiguo Dai and scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in the USA found that Global Warming is a major factor in Drought increasing globally.

The French workers and students have taken to the streets in a wave of militant demonstrations and strikes to try to halt the passing of a bill in the French Parliament to cut pensions. Three million workers have marched and struck in protest, but since oil workers and truck drivers joined the strike the crisis has escalated. Much of France is now running short on fuel. Inspiringly tens of thousands of high school students have joined the protests blockading and shutting their own schools and clashing violently with police.