Australia

Guardians of the Land and Sea Meet in Darwin

“Are you a park ranger?” IPS asked. “No, I am one of the owners of the territory,” Ángel Durán responded in a firm voice. The Bolivian indigenous leader is in this northern Australian city along with 1,200 other native delegates from over 50 countries for the World Indigenous Network (WIN) conference.

Australian Retailers Feel Heat of Bangladesh Tragedy

Australia’s largest textile workers’ union and activist groups are up in arms that the country’s leading retail chains, who source most of their fashion labels from Bangladesh, are refusing to sign a legally binding accord that will help to improve labour and safety standards in Bangladeshi garment factories.

Sacrificing the Reef for Industrial Development

Mining and port development coupled with decreasing water quality along Australia’s north-eastern coast are threatening the continent’s World Heritage-listed tourist drawcard, the Great Barrier Reef.

Foreigners Take Centre Stage in Election Race

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s comments about foreigners taking Australian jobs in a speech made last week in Rooty Hill, the working-class heartland of Sydney’s western suburbs, has brought issues of immigration, asylum and race back into election campaigning.

MKhor

The Emerging Global Crisis of Investment Agreements

A growing number of international lawsuits has highlighted an emerging global crisis: the nature and effects of investment treaties signed between governments, which are allowing private companies and investors to sue countries for millions or even billions of dollars.

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef on Brink of Collapse

Australia's iconic Great Barrier Reef is dying, and little will be left less than 10 years. More than half of the coral in the 2,300 km long reef has died over the past 27 years, according to a scientific survey released Monday.

Australian Detention Centres Risk Violating Human Rights

Australia's recent decision to move asylum seekers to offshore detention facilities has alarmed human rights organisations.

Indian Ocean Rim Countries Battered by Disasters – Part 2

The heat wave in the Indian state of Orissa, which saw a 10-degree Celsius increase in summer temperatures last month, claimed 21 lives, according to government sources; unofficial estimates counted 87 deaths.

Young Asylum Seekers Arrive to ‘Nightmare’ Detention

When Hussain Akhlaqi (17) arrived on Australian shores 11 months ago from Indonesia, on a boat carrying over 100 other asylum seekers, he was immediately placed in the Christmas Island immigration detention centre. Ali Mohammadi (17) from Afghanistan, and Mujtaba Ahmadi (18) from Iran, also endured a risky journey by sea only to meet the same fate.

Malaysians Fight Radioactive Waste From Oz

Malaysians protesting against an Australian-owned rare earth refinery, that will generate radioactive waste,  are determined to agitate until the project is abandoned.

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