Wednesday 26 November 2003

US does deal on Hicks, Habib, The Australian, 26 November, 2003.

US does deal on Hicks, Habib: [3 All-round Metro Edition]

Sophie Morris, Rebecca DiGirolamo, John Stapleton. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 26 Nov 2003: 5.
DAVID Hicks would serve any sentence imposed on him by the US in Australia, under a deal struck by the Howard Government that gives the terror suspect and fellow Australian detainee Mamdouh [Habib] extra legal safeguards before US military tribunals.
Mr Hicks's lawyer, Stephen Kenny, said the Howard Government should fund Mr Hicks's father and brother to travel to Cuba in the event of a US trial. "The problem continues that David Hicks remains in solitary confinement without being charged, and there is no timetable for when he may or may not be charged," Mr Kenny said.

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DAVID Hicks would serve any sentence imposed on him by the US in Australia, under a deal struck by the Howard Government that gives the terror suspect and fellow Australian detainee Mamdouh Habib extra legal safeguards before US military tribunals.
The pair, held without charge in a US military prison in Cuba for the past two years, would also be permitted to see their families and to meet Australian lawyers before a trial, but would have to rely on US military counsel for their defence.
Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said Mr Hicks could face up to 20 years' jail. "In terms of where it is served, it will be served here."
"It is quite possible that (the penalty) will have to be served in Australia," he told the ABC's Lateline last night.
Announcing the deal, Mr Ruddock said the US had promised to speed up the case of Mr Habib, who has not been told whether he will face a military commission. Mr Hicks was one of six foreign detainees listed in July for a military trial, although no date had been set, nor had charges been laid.
"The Government does not want either man to remain in detention without trial any longer than necessary," Mr Ruddock said. "The US has assured the Government that Mr Hicks and Mr Habib will receive no less favourable treatment before a military commission than other non-US detainees."
Under an agreement welcomed by the Law Council of Australia, an independent legal expert approved by Canberra would be able to observe the military commission trials.
The Government will also be able to make submissions to the military review panel that can hear appeals from the trials, although the two Australians themselves will not have this right.
Mr Habib's lawyer, Stephen Hopper, said the guarantees would provide some comfort to his client's family, although a military commission trial "still falls far short of any notion of Western justice".
Mr Hicks's lawyer, Stephen Kenny, said the Howard Government should fund Mr Hicks's father and brother to travel to Cuba in the event of a US trial. "The problem continues that David Hicks remains in solitary confinement without being charged, and there is no timetable for when he may or may not be charged," Mr Kenny said.
Mr Hicks's father, Terry, greeted with scepticism Mr Ruddock's assurance that the US had agreed to work towards transferring his son, if convicted, to Australia to serve any prison sentence.
"He's done nothing wrong under Australian law. So does this mean John Howard has to change Australian laws to fit in with the Americans' promise to return him with a sentence?"
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Tuesday 25 November 2003

Illegal vitamins recalled, The Australian, 25 November, 2003.

Illegal vitamins recalled: [1 All-round Country Edition]

Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 25 Nov 2003: 4.
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She said the vitamins were not registered in Australia and their US manufacturer, Pharmavite LLA, had not been approved by Australian authorities under theGood Manufacturing Practice Program. They were brought into Australia for market research purposes by NW Consulting and then illegally marketed.
THE recall of just 99 bottles of vitamins has been ordered by the Therapeutic Goods Administration after it was discovered they were being sold illegally in pharmacies in NSW and Victoria.
The Government is refusing to name the four pharmacies in Victoria and four in NSW that were selling the illegal vitamins.
All Nature Made vitamin products are being recalled, including Vitamin C with Rose Hip, Vitamin B12 and Vitamin E.
Advertisements alerting consumers to the recall will appear in Victorian and NSW newspapers today.
TGA spokeswoman Kay McNiece said the vitamins were not necessarily unsafe.
She said the vitamins were not registered in Australia and their US manufacturer, Pharmavite LLA, had not been approved by Australian authorities under theGood Manufacturing Practice Program. They were brought into Australia for market research purposes by NW Consulting and then illegally marketed.
`Not only is the product not registered, which means it has not been tested, but we have no good manufacturing arrangements with the company,' she said.
`To market these drugs in Australia is totally illegal.'
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Monday 24 November 2003

Aussie held over links to Saddam, The Australian, 24 November, 2003.

Aussie held over links to Saddam: [3 All-round Metro Edition]

John Kerin, John Stapleton, Peter Wilson. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 24 Nov 2003: 9.
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Mr [Alwan]'s teenage son Bilal told The Australian last night that his father was not a [Saddam Hussein] loyalist and had been "in thewrong place at the wrong time". Bilal, 17, said his family, who moved to Australia two years ago, thought of Hussein "like everyone else -- he is a terrorist".
Sources in Umm Qasr also indicated to The Australian that Mr Alwan might have been in the "wrong place at the wrong time". Mr Alwan had given British forces an explanation for being in the house, and the authorities were now investigating.
An Australian terrorism expert warned yesterday that overseas embassies were the most likely Australian targets, along with identifiably Australian organisations. Clive Williams said our citizens were the "target of choice" of terrorists in Southeast Asia.
AN Australian IT worker suspected of being a Saddam Hussein loyalist has been detained by British forces after a dramatic raid in southern Iraq.
The seizure of Nuri Alwan coincided with fresh terrorist violence in Iraq, including a missile attack on a civilian aircraft, and British intelligence warnings of a new plot to carry out a "spectacular" attack in Britain in the wake of the suicide bombings in Turkey.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the 45-year-old Adelaide man was detained after a raid in the southern city of Umm Qasr on a house thought to contain people loyal to the former Iraqi dictator.
Mr Alwan, an Iraqi Australian employed by London-based Intertek, an IT company working for the oil industry in Iraq, left Australia in October to help rebuild his war-ravaged homeland.
"He is now in British custody," Mr Downer said. "His case will be reviewed by the British on Tuesday, with a view to working out what they're going to do with him and what association he had with the Saddam Hussein loyalists while he was in the house."
Mr Downer said it was too early to say if charges would be laid. "It's conceivable he could be released on Tuesday," he said. "It's conceivable they could decide to charge him under the Geneva Conventions as a combatant in a war, if he was seen to be participating with Saddam Hussein elements attacking coalition forces.
"There may be offences under existing Iraqi law as well he could be charged with."
But Mr Alwan's teenage son Bilal told The Australian last night that his father was not a Hussein loyalist and had been "in the wrong place at the wrong time". Bilal, 17, said his family, who moved to Australia two years ago, thought of Hussein "like everyone else -- he is a terrorist".
"We have just heard about it. We are pretty shocked, we didn't expect that."
Sources in Umm Qasr also indicated to The Australian that Mr Alwan might have been in the "wrong place at the wrong time". Mr Alwan had given British forces an explanation for being in the house, and the authorities were now investigating.
A day after two Baghdad hotels and the Oil Ministry were attacked, suicide bombers struck the towns of Khan Bani Saad and Baquba on Saturday. At least 18 people were killed and more than 30 injured, overwhelming hospitals.
Two US soldiers had their throats slit last night while sitting in traffic in the centre of the northern city of Mosul.
Civilian flights into Baghdad were suspended after a DHL cargo jet taking off from Baghdad airport was hit by a SAM-7 surface-to- air missile. The aircraft landed safely.
The developments follow terror alerts from the US, British and Australian governments in the wake of Thursday's twin attacks onthe British consulate and a bank building in Istanbul that left 30 people dead and 450 injured.
Among the dead was a 58-year-old Australian woman, Nazime Erkmen, who worked at the British consulate.
Mr Downer said Erkmen's death would only redouble Australia's resolve to stamp out terrorism.
An Australian terrorism expert warned yesterday that overseas embassies were the most likely Australian targets, along with identifiably Australian organisations. Clive Williams said our citizens were the "target of choice" of terrorists in Southeast Asia.
His warning came as Labor called for security to be tightened at high-profile Australian commercial offices overseas.
The Sunday Times in London reported that up to 10 terrorists from north Africa and Saudi Arabia had mounted surveillance operations on commercial targets in Britain such as big banks and shopping centres. There was intelligence some of the suspects had made "dummy runs" in preparation for possible suicide car-bombings.
The British warning was given to Blair government ministers by MI5 director-general Eliza Manningham-Buller. Britain is on its highest state of terrorist alert since the September 11 attacks in 2001.
Muslims rally behind ASIO `victim' -- Page 10
Worldwide -- Page 23
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Friday 21 November 2003

Old age bugs even the toughest of roaches, The Australian, 21 November, 2003.

Old age bugs even the toughest of roaches: [1 All-round Country Edition]

Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 21 Nov 2003: 3.
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In the first detailed study on insect ageing, researcher Angela Ridgel and her colleagues at the Case Western Reserve University in Ohio noticed that when cockroaches reach old age they spend about 40 per cent less time moving around.
THEY may be able to survive a nuclear blast, they pre-date the dinosaurs and have flourished for 500 million years, but cockroaches suffer some of the same frailties as humans.
According to this week's edition of New Scientist, cockroaches that survive into old age become decidedly doddery.
The magazine reports that "their joints seize up, causing them to slow down, and the insects have trouble walking up hills".
In the first detailed study on insect ageing, researcher Angela Ridgel and her colleagues at the Case Western Reserve University in Ohio noticed that when cockroaches reach old age they spend about 40 per cent less time moving around. The research team found that when they put the insects on a mini treadmill adults that had reached the ripe old age of 60 weeks, old for a cockroach, took about half as many steps per second as individuals of only a week old.
New Scientist reports that "many of the old-timers develop a stumbling gait as their front foot catches on their second leg. The constant tripping happens because their joints are not as flexible, and by 65 weeks old, over 80 per cent of the insects were tripping over themselves".
Ms Ridgel said the tripping up happened every couple of steps and definitely slowed them down.
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Wednesday 19 November 2003

Shots hit house, The Australian, 19 November, 2003.



Shots hit house: [1 All-round Country Edition]

Stapleton, John. The Australian; Canberra, A.C.T. [Canberra, A.C.T] 19 Nov 2003: 3.
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SHOTS were fired into a house at Busby near Sydney's Liverpool late on Monday night, the latest in a series of drive-by shootings in the city's southwest.
SHOTS were fired into a house at Busby near Sydney's Liverpool late on Monday night, the latest in a series of drive-by shootings in the city's southwest. A family of five who were home at the time were unharmed, police said. The incident occurred just before midnight. A small white car was seen driving nearby shortly afterwards.
New laws passed in NSW earlier this month created a specific new offence of drive-by shooting, backed by a maximum 14-year jail term.
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Thursday 13 November 2003

Freeze on zoo killings, The Australian, 13 November, 2003.

Freeze on zoo killings: [3 All-round Metro Edition]

Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 13 Nov 2003: 5.
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A NORTHERN Territory court today granted an injunction to prevent the shooting of thousands of rare and exotic animals at a private zoo once owned by property developer Warren Anderson.
The territory Supreme Court granted the injunction after an application by Local Government Minister John Ah Kit, following claims that Mr Anderson intended to shoot the animals.
A NORTHERN Territory court today granted an injunction to prevent the shooting of thousands of rare and exotic animals at a private zoo once owned by property developer Warren Anderson.
The territory Supreme Court granted the injunction after an application by Local Government Minister John Ah Kit, following claims that Mr Anderson intended to shoot the animals.
The territory Government said earlier this week it had been forced to step in and help feed the animals after the sanctuary's manager said food supplies had run out.
The animals include giraffes, zebras, white rhinoceros and hippopotamuses.
They are at Tipperary Station, 200km south of Darwin. The property's new owners had given Mr Anderson two years to remove the animals as part of the sale deal.
Once a high-profile businessman who made his fortune in shopping and office block development, Mr Anderson was a close friend of the former prime minister Paul Keating, who stayed at Tipperary more than once.
Anderson dreamed of becoming the giant of the cattle export trade, using Tipperary, which he bought in 1985, as his base, He spent tens of millions of dollars upgrading it, including creating the private zoo.
At Darwin airport yesterday, Mr Anderson was asked whether he intended to shoot the animals. He replied angrily: "So what, they belong to me."
But he denied the animals were starving.
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