A cornerstone
of the legal system, the universal right to a solicitor upon arrest, could be jettisoned in favour of means-testing under controversial plans drawn up by the Ministry of Justice.
Legal experts including Lord Ken Macdonald QC, a former director of public prosecutions, have expressed alarm at the proposal and questioned how it would work in practice — via redwolf.newsvine.com
The five-cent coin should be scrapped because it is too expensive to make and a nuisance, the Royal Australian Mint says. And the federal government is considering dumping it — via The Sydney Morning Herald
Major corporate members of the Employers and Manufacturers Association are piling on pressure for embattled chief executive Alasdair Thompson to be sacked at an emergency board meeting on Monday.
Mr Thompson yesterday sparked outrage by suggesting once-a-month sick problems
were a factor that affected women’s productivity.
He later started a fiery confrontation with Campbell Live reporter Mihingarangi Forbes when she questioned him on his statements — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Pavel Vrublevsky, the embattled co-founder of ChronoPay — Russia’s largest online payments processor — has reportedly fled the country after the arrest of a suspect who confessed that he was hired by Vrublevsky to launch a debilitating cyber attack against a top ChronoPay competitor — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Police and politicians have been forced back to the drawing board in their fight against serious gang-related crime after a single Hells Angels member succeeded in having NSW’s tough anti-bikie laws scrapped.
In a remarkable legal challenge which could have national ramifications, Derek Wainohu, a Sydney Hells Angels member, asked the High Court to declare the Crimes (Criminal Organisations Control) Act invalid — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Indonesia is to stop allowing its citizens to work as domestic servants in Saudi Arabia after the execution of a maid for murder last week.
Officials said the moratorium would begin on 1 August and last until the countries could agree on a policy of fair treatment for migrant workers.
Ruyati binti Sapubi, 54, was beheaded on Saturday after confessing to killing her employer, saying he had abused her.
Saudi Arabia apologised for not telling Indonesia, Jakarta said — via redwolf.newsvine.com
A schoolboy murdered a former girlfriend by battering her with a rock after he was promised a free breakfast if he carried out the killing, a jury heard.
The alleged killer, aged 16, lured Rebecca Aylward, 15, to woods near Bridgend in south Wales where he attacked her, Swansea crown court heard. To divert suspicion, he told her to tell friends she was meeting someone else. But she did not follow his directions and revealed his identity to her mother, the jury heard on Tuesday.
The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denies murdering Rebecca in October last year and blames his best friend — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Yet if we seek another model, one that emphasizes universal health care and educational opportunity, one that seeks to curb income inequality, we don’t have to turn to Sweden. Rather, look to the United States military.
You see, when our armed forces are not firing missiles, they live by an astonishingly liberal ethos — and it works. The military helped lead the way in racial desegregation, and even today it does more to provide equal opportunity to working-class families — especially to blacks — than just about any social program. It has been an escalator of social mobility in American society because it invests in soldiers and gives them skills and opportunities.
The United States armed forces knit together whites, blacks, Asians and Hispanics from diverse backgrounds, invests in their education and training, provides them with excellent health care and child care. And it does all this with minimal income gaps: A senior general earns about 10 times what a private makes, while, by my calculation, CEO’s at major companies earn about 300 times as much as those cleaning their offices. That’s right: the military ethos can sound pretty lefty — via redwolf.newsvine.com
The Victorian Government has promised to fix the heating at a secondary school in Melbourne’s north, after students were forced to bring blankets to school to keep warm — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Canadians will be packing more plastic in their wallets with the launch of new polymer bills that replace paper-cotton notes.
The Canadian dollar has traded above parity with the US greenback for months, and gets technologically tougher with the new plastic money designed to thwart counterfeiters.
The polypropylene substrate lasts 2.5 times longer and makes it harder to copy than the existing paper-cotton money, according to the Bank of Canada. It marks the first full-scale use of a substrate other than paper for Canada’s currency — via redwolf.newsvine.com
In another first, the store will have a 24/7 zone for customers to pick up parcels, vending machines where customers can buy stamps and packaging products as well as weigh and send parcels at any time that suits them — via redwolf.newsvine.com
The founder of Advanced Medical Institute (AMI), Jacov Jack
Vaisman, has bought back the infamous erectile dysfunction clinic from administrators for as little as $900,000 cash, according to a Fairfax media report — via redwolf.newsvine.com
A western Sydney man has been charged after he allegedly sold underage girls for sex for at least a decade.
He was arrested yesterday after police raided his Granville unit, where officers say they discovered a large quantity of pornography and other evidence.
The 53-year-old faces charges including aggravated sexual assault of a child, causing and benefiting from child prostitution and operating a premises where a child participates in prostitution — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Every time paramedic Jan Erceg thinks about Kevin McClain, she gets goose bumps. Of the thousands of patients she’s seen in more than three decades on the job, she says McClain is one she’ll never forget.
His story will be burned in her memory because of the bond the dying man shared with his dog, Yurt, a connection Erceg said defies explanation
— via redwolf.newsvine.com
One of the world’s biggest collections of historic books, pamphlets and periodicals is to be made available on the internet for the first ailable on the internet for the first time.
The British Library has reached a deal with search engine Google about texts dating back to the 18th Century.
It will allow readers to view, search and copy the out-of-copyright works at no charge. Google will also make the books available on its site — via redwolf.newsvine.com
African governments are turning to more sophisticated techniques to block internet sites and bloggers who they perceive to be a threat.
That is the conclusion of The Committee for the Protection of Journalists, who together with the internet giant Google SA, have gathered African journalists together in Johannesburg’s financial hub Sandton to take stock in the wake of the North African uprising — via redwolf.newsvine.com
The monument to the Soviet army in central Sofia is no stranger to graffiti, which pops right back up as soon as the monument is washed every spring.
But on the morning of 18 June 2011, passers-by were treated to more than just the usual graffiti tags and anti-communist slogans. The sculpture composition at the base of the monument was painted overnight to turn the metal soldiers into well-known pop culture icons; the inscription below the composition proclaimed it to be in step with the times
.
Comic book characters led the way, with The Mask, Batman’s nemesis the Joker, Wolverine of X-Men fame, Superman and Captain America all featured, joined by Santa Claus and Ronald McDonald, among others. The flag held by the soldiers was painted in the stars and stripes of the US flag; — via redwolf.newsvine.com
It took Ben Hosken 1½ days to create an application about Sydney Buses that people wanted to use. It took the government two weeks to close it down — via redwolf.newsvine.com
Proposed industrial action by staff at several Federal Government departments could shut down airports and seaports, and leave Australia’s borders unsecured.
The work agreements of about 150,000 Commonwealth public servants are due to expire on 30 June, but no replacement has been agreed on.
Enterprise bargaining negotiations with the Australian Public Service Commission (APSC) have stalled, and staff at several agencies are a step closer to taking industrial action.
The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) will today apply to allow Immigration and Customs staff to take protected industrial action from 1 July — via redwolf.newsvine.com
A new group is hoping to energise Jewish support for same-sex marriage following a statement supporting marriage equality by Progressive rabbis.
We, the members of the Moetzah, the Rabbinic Council of Progressive Rabbis of Australia, Asia and New Zealand, support marriage equality under Australian law,
the Council wrote in May, writing that Progressive Judaism believes all people are created in God’s image and are therefore entitled to full equality — via redwolf.newsvine.com
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