Melbourne bus racist abuse video puts Australian attitudes on trial
Woman singing in French was told to 'speak English or die' and threatened with stabbing, YouTube footage shows
Police in the Australian city of Melbourne are investigating the racist abuse of a French-speaking woman travelling on a bus in which she was told by a man to "speak English or die". The verbal abuse, captured on video by another passenger, shows a second man threatening to cut the woman with a knife.
"I'll fucking boxcutter you right now, you bitch, if you talk to my missus like that," said the male passenger, who was pushing a baby buggy, during the footage, which sparked national discussion on the level of racism in Australia. To varying degrees all Australian states and territories have laws against racial vilification.
"I'll fucking boxcutter you right now, you bitch, if you talk to my missus like that," said the male passenger, who was pushing a baby buggy, during the footage, which sparked national discussion on the level of racism in Australia. To varying degrees all Australian states and territories have laws against racial vilification.
Rwanda's invading army
The M23 rebels are on the march, capturing a key Congolese city after overrunning UN troops. But who is really backing them?
Rebels widely believed to have links to Rwanda have overrun UN peacekeepers to seize control of the strategically important eastern Congo city of Goma, leading experts to warn that the conflict could spill over into a wider regional war.
After three days of intense fighting, the Congolese army fled the city and UN forces stood aside to let rebels from the M23 group march into Goma.
The rebels, who a UN panel of experts say have been supported by Rwanda and to a lesser extent Uganda, said they will now push further into the Democratic Republic of Congo.
GLOBAL CONFLICTS
North Korean leader offers support to Assad
Kim Jong Un, the leader of North Korea, has sent a message underlining his regime's support for Syria's Bashar Assad. Pyongyang is apparently still defying international sanctions by trying to sell weapons to Syria.
As debate rages over whether the international community should provide weapons to the Syrian rebels attempting to overthrow Bashar al Assad, North Korea has made its position quite clear.
On November 16, a statement by Kim Jong Un carried by the Korean Central News Agency, a mouthpiece for the government in Pyongyang, ignored global condemnation of Assad's brutal efforts to stamp out opposition and was effusive in its praise for the regime.
Weakened But UnbrokenHamas Can Replenish Arsenal -- If Egypt Lets It
Hamas has fired some 1,000 rockets at Israel. Its arsenal includes missiles made in Iran and China as well as the homemade Qassam rockets. Israel says it has destroyed most of them. But as long as fresh supplies keep coming through Egypt, the power of Hamas will be unbroken.
The arsenal of Hamas in the Gaza Strip has been under constant fire recently. For six days the Israeli air force -- which claims to be the best in the world -- has bombed targets in the area until the ceasefire, which is due take effect on Tuesday night. So it's almost astonishing that there are any missiles left that can still be fired at Israel. But in Ashkelon and other Israeli cities near the coastal strip ruled by the Islamists, the air raid sirens sounded again earlier on Tuesday.
It seems that the military power of Hamas has only been weakened, not broken. Some of their rocket positions appear to be so well concealed that the Israeli air force hasn't been able to destroy them. The Israeli government says some 1,000 rockets have been fired from Gaza since last Wednesday. The air force has said it destroyed several times more on the ground, but some -- presumably underground -- rocket launchers were still working on Tuesday.
The Irish Times - Wednesday, November 21, 2012
EU and IMF at odds on Greece
ARTHUR BEESLEY
Euro zone finance ministers embarked on another effort to tame the Greek debt crisis yesterday amid uncertainty as to whether Europe and the International Monetary Fund could settle on a common plan for the country.
Although well-placed EU sources expected a deal in principle last night to release €31 billion in rescue loans to Athens, the need for parliamentary approval in Germany and other countries meant the final sign-off was unlikely before a meeting on December 3rd.
“I’d be more hopeful than I was last week, but there’s no certainty that matters will conclude. There’s a lot of issues outstanding,” said Minister for Finance Michael Noonan as he arrived in Brussels.
Violence against women in Latin America: Is it getting worse?
Across Latin America, women are confronting a rise in brutal attacks – as advocates struggle to sustain the progress that's been made in curbing violence against women.
By Sara Miller Llana, Staff writer, Sibylla Brodzinsky, Correspondent / November 20, 2012
Like the majority of women in Colombia, Viviana Hernandez won't leave her house without makeup. She applies a thick layer of foundation and outlines her slightly deformed lips with red liner. She draws in her eyebrows – she lost her natural ones – and hides the few lashes she has left and her disfigured eyes behind the large dark sunglasses that she's worn day and night since an attacker threw acid on her face five years ago.
Ms. Hernandez has no doubt it was her estranged partner who ordered the attack. Once she came out of intensive care at the hospital, she remembers him calling her cellphone, telling her that no one else would want her now but him.
Hernandez's is but one face of violence against women in Latin America, a worrying trend in a region that has seen enormous advances for women over the past decade. Forty percent of the region is now led by women: There are female heads of state in Brazil,Argentina, Costa Rica, Trinidad and Tobago, andJamaica. Women have reached equal access to education and have increasingly joined the workforce. Awareness has also grown around the issues of violence against women through a spate of legislation aimed at protecting them.
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