6 November 2013 Last updated at 08:58 GMT
The former Guantánamo Bay detainee and his lawyers say there is a legal precedent for having his terrorism conviction quashed
Politicians in Canberra are among the wealthiest citizens. Their self-endowment is legendary. Last year, the then minister for indigenous affairs, Jenny Macklin, refurbished her office at a cost to the taxpayer of $331,144.
Macklin recently claimed that, in government, she had made a "huge difference". This is true. During her tenure, the number of Aboriginal people living in slums increased by almost a third, and more than half the money spent on indigenous housing was pocketed by white contractors and a bureaucracy for which she was largely responsible. A typical, dilapidated house in an outback indigenous community must accommodate as many as 25 people. Families, the elderly and the disabled wait years for sanitation that works.
Blasts at China regional Communist Party office kill one
A series of small blasts have killed at least one person outside a provincial office of the ruling Communist Party in northern China, state media report.
The blasts in Taiyuan in Shanxi province appeared to have been caused by home-made bombs, Xinhua reported.
It said eight people had been injured and two cars damaged.
Photos posted on social media showed smoke and several fire engines at the scene of the incident, which happened around 07:40 local time (23:40 GMT).
No immediate explanation has been given for the incident. There have been occasions in the past where disgruntled citizens have targeted local government institutions.
Tensions are also high in the wake of last week's incident in Beijing. A car ploughed into a crowd in Tiananmen Square in what the authorities said was a terrorist attack incited by extremists from the western region of Xinjiang.
David Hicks not confident appeal will succeed but 'wrongs must be righted
The former Guantánamo Bay detainee and his lawyers say there is a legal precedent for having his terrorism conviction quashed
David Hicks and his legal team do not expect success in their appeal against Hicks's terrorism-related conviction in front of a US military court, but say it is "a first step" to a declaration of innocence.
Hicks lodged an appeal with the US court of military commission review on Tuesday night against his conviction for a crime which he and his legal team say does not exist – that of providing material support for terrorism.
His team also argue that his guilty plea was given under duress after an "inexcusable" six years in Guantánamo Bay. Recently overturned convictions in similar cases, including that of Osama bin Laden's driver Salim Hamdan, provide the precedence on which the team will argue.
Bavarian police criticised for silence on Munich art find
Investigators have no contact with elderly man who hoarded 1,400 priceless art works for decades
Derek Scally
His yellow face half in shadow, a long cigarette smoking from its red tip, Otto Dix rose from the dead yesterday after 44 years in the grave.
A previously unknown self-portrait of the modernist master was revealed yesterday in Germany, one of more than 1,400 works recovered from a squalid Munich apartment.
Art history was rewritten at dizzying speed at a press conference in the Bavarian city of Augsburg yesterday as low-resolution slides of paintings – some considered lost, others unknown – flashed by.
The hoard focuses on early 20th-century European art dubbed “degenerate” and either looted by the Nazis or sold at knockdown prices. It includes the striking Melancholic Girl by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner; a Matisse portrait of a woman in a veil and flowery blouse with a fan; blue, curved colts by Franz Marc; horseback riders on a beach byMax Beckmann; and a spacey scene by Marc Chagall.
DRC rebels surrender
Rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo's powder-keg east surrendered yesterday after a crushing UN-backed offensive ended their 18-month insurgency.
The government army, emboldened by its victory, said it would keep up the momentum to go after Rwandan Hutu militia also active in the region.
A statement by M23 that it would "end its rebellion" and pursue its goals "through purely political means" came after about 200 rebels were rousted from their hilltop positions overnight.
"It's victory for the DRC," said government spokesman Lambert Mende, adding that the routed rebels had fled to neighbouring Rwanda.
Lights out in western Mexico: Attacks lead to loss of electricity, political confidence.
Following a criminal attack on gas and power stations in the Mexican state of Michoacan, some have asked if the federal government could take over the local government.
A series of violent confrontations and seemingly indiscriminate attacks on local infrastructure has provoked questions about the governability of the western Mexican state of Michoacan, and has some politicians calling for extreme measures.
On Oct. 27, a group of assailants attacked at least three gas stations and ten power plants with firearms and Molotov cocktails. The attacks killed no one, but they left thousands of residents in some of the principal cities, including the capital of Morelia, without power. Authorities have since alleged that the Knights Templar, currently the state’s most powerful criminal group and an offshoot of the Familia Michoacana that emerged in 2011, were behind the attack.
World
Nov 6, '13
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Australia's nasty Utopia
By John Pilger
The town of Wilcannia, in New South Wales, is twice distinguished. It is a winner of a national Tidy Town award and its indigenous people have one of the lowest recorded life expectancies. They are usually dead by the age of 35. The Cuban government runs a literacy programme for them, as they do among the poorest of Africa. According to the Credit Suisse Global Wealth report, Australia is the richest place on earth. By John Pilger
Politicians in Canberra are among the wealthiest citizens. Their self-endowment is legendary. Last year, the then minister for indigenous affairs, Jenny Macklin, refurbished her office at a cost to the taxpayer of $331,144.
Macklin recently claimed that, in government, she had made a "huge difference". This is true. During her tenure, the number of Aboriginal people living in slums increased by almost a third, and more than half the money spent on indigenous housing was pocketed by white contractors and a bureaucracy for which she was largely responsible. A typical, dilapidated house in an outback indigenous community must accommodate as many as 25 people. Families, the elderly and the disabled wait years for sanitation that works.
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