This week's stories:
Only one in five year 12 students who go to university next year will receive the Federal Government's youth allowance, forcing many to forgo the opportunity, a new report reveals. Using previously unpublished Centrelink figures, the Centre for Population and Urban Research at Monash University found that in 2001 only 21 per cent of full-time students under the age of 19 received the youth allowance, down from 33 per cent in 1998. The centre's director, Bob Birrell, said yesterday they were the most recent figures available, but it was likely "that the situation was getting worse". The situation could worsen if the Federal Government went ahead with reported plans to allow universities to set higher fees as part of its restructure of the higher education sector. In some countries where fees have been deregulated student costs have spiralled - in some cases by 14 times the rate of inflation. (The Age, May 7). George Bush's surprise announcement of $15 billion in funds over the next five years may have been misleading, and intended to extend America's policy of withholding aid from countries that have liberal policies on abortion. Director of the Africa Action aid agency, Salih Booker, told the Nation magazine that the package was a triumph of "Arthur Andersen-style accounting". On Mr Bush's first day in office, he reinstated the "global gag rule", which forbids any foreign recipient of family planning funds from even using the word 'abortion', regardless of the law on abortion in that country and even when they use their own money. A message in early 2003 sent to USAID fund managers worldwide regarding AIDS prevention emphasised abstinence and directs that, "All operating units should review their own websites and any websites fully or partially funded by USAID to ensure the appropriateness of the material." In the US, the National Cancer Institute put out a fact sheet that referred to a rumour, believed to have been deliberately started by anti-abortion groups, that abortion increases the risk of breast cancer. The original version of the fact sheet said that there was no evidence, a revised version said that research was inconclusive. A television commercial funded by a local government shows a dad telling his son to use condoms followed by a voiceover warning, "Condoms will not protect people from many sexually transmitted diseases, and you could be spreading lies to your children." Counselors and teachers say that some teenagers, including one who was an active intravenous drug user, said they no longer bothered using condoms because they'd heard on TV they didn't work. Teachers are being directed to adhere to the Federal Definition of Abstinence-Only Education, which requires that a program teach, among other things, that "a mutually faithful monogamous relationship in the context of marriage is the expected standard of human sexual activity" and that any other sexual activity "is likely to have harmful psychological and physical effects." By law, teachers cannot "promote or endorse" condoms or show adolescents how to use them, nor can they recognize any relationship outside of heterosexual marriage. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) fact sheet on condoms was removed from the website in July 2001 and replaced with a new version in December 2002. Pre-Bush, the fact sheet had pointed out that "the primary reason that condoms sometimes fail," read the original fact sheet, "is incorrect or inconsistent use, not failure of the condoms itself." The factsheet had a guide on using condoms, which has been removed. Also removed was a summary of several large studies of teenagers that found no increase or hastening of sexual activity among those who were taught about condoms. A study has found unprecedented rates of mental illness among young asylum seekers. The study of 10 families found that just one child out of a total of 22 children and 14 adults was not suffering a major depression. Some were suicidal, and had harmed themselves. Some were also suffering from post traumatic stress disorders, which started, or worsened, during their detention. "There isn't a cohort of children as distressed as this group that we have been able to find anywhere in the medical literature in the world," said clinical pyshologist Zachary Steel. A spokeswoman for the Immigration Department said that as of May 8, there were still 108 children in immigration detention centres in Australia, and 111 in detention on Nauru. Researchers were unable to interview detainees face-to-face but conducted interviews by telephone from last September to February this year. While in detention the group reported having seen riots, fighting, fire, suicide attempts and incidences of self-harm, the report said. "Every adult was diagnosed with a major depressive disorder, and the majority were also diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorders," said Mr Steel. Almost all of the adults had thought of killing themselves, the report said, five had hurt themselves and two had evidence of psychotic disorders. The children had displayed little evidence of psychiatric illness before their arrival in Australia, said Mr Steel. After two years in detention however, all children interviewed were assessed to have at least one psychiatric disorder and most were diagnosed with multiple disorders, he said. "The symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder experienced by the children were almost exclusively related to experiences of trauma in detention," Mr Steel said. "Children described nightmares about being hit by officers and five of the children had also self-harmed, either by slashing their wrists or banging their heads against walls," he said. Mr Steel said that it was unlikely that detainees had plotted to give false information, because they were held in different compounds in an (un-named) detention centre, and because each family had been interviewed seperately, and given consistent information. (The Age, May 13). Quote of the week: "Australia has no obligation to take into account the safety of the country, when it comes to returning refugees." Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock. anarchist news service write to James, PO Box 503, Newtown NSW 2042 or email [EMAIL PROTECTED] contact us to get ATNTF emailed directly to you. If you like All the News That Fits, forward it on to people or lists who might be interested in it, or post it on your local Indymedia http://www.indymedia.org. Some other Australian anarchist contacts: Love and Rage is an anarchist, non-profit record label. Our CD is available by mail order. 20 songs for $10 within Australia, $15 in New Zealand, $10 in the USA, $10 in Canada, 5 pounds in Britain, or 10 euros in the rest of Europe. Other countries, or enquiries from shops and distroes, email us and ask. Address for orders is PO Box 1191, Richmond North VIC 3121 (Australia). Please make cheques or money orders out to J. Hutchings. http://www.loveandrage.rocks.it http://www.angry.at/thegovernment - anarchist website with fliers for download, contacts etc. http://www.angry.at/racists - Anarchist/anti-racist music site with free mp3s, Real Audio, Real Video, internet radio, band interviews etc. Also includes the text of 'Escape', an anarchist novel - http://www.geocities.com/skipnewborn/novel.doc http://www.dolearmy.org - information for unemployed people. http://www.activate.8m.com - anarchist magazine aimed at teenagers. All the News That Fits appears in the Anarchist Age Weekly Review (http://www.vicnet.net.au/~anarch - PO Box 20 Parkville VIC 3052) and The Ham (http://www.theham.cat.org.au). Media outlets mentioned in All the News That Fits are sources - items are not direct quotes from news media. Background information may have been gathered from sources in addition to media outlets cited. 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