A quarter of all land animals, more than a million species, could be extinct by 2050 due to climate change.
The research by an international group of scientists found that 24 percent of species would go extinct using 'middle of the road' predictions on the amount of global warming. Land clearing and the burning of fossil fuels are among the worst contributors to climate change. The governments of the United States and Australia are almost alone in refusing to sign the Kyoto Protocol on reducing greenhouse gases. (Source: The Age) Victoria's childcare system is in crisis, with parents facing waiting lists of up to 1150 children in community and council-run childcare centres. Parents are also facing extra costs for childcare, of up to $1820 per year. The lack of facilities in regional areas means some parents have to travel 100km for childcare. The co-ordinator of one childcare centre said that waiting lists there were between eighteen months and two years. (Source: Herald Sun) Most people now get 500 less hours of sleep per year than they need. A spokesman for the British Sleep Society said that longer working hours were parrtly to blame. "Suddenly we don't have time to ourselves and sleep seems like a luxury" he said. In the past 100 years, average sleeping hours have dropped by a fifth. The health risks of sleep deprivation include obesity, diabetes, stress, and even brain damage; a Canadian study has found that the brains of sleep-deprived people shrink. (Source: MX newspaper) Indonesian paramilitary police have killed at least one protestor while guarding a mine owned by an Australian mining company. Local people are angry about the $100 million gold mining development in eastern Indonesia. They say that profits from the mine are not benefitting local people. They also say the mine was opened in protected forest without government approval. Indonesian Mining Advocacy Network spokesman Igor O'Neill said that neither the Indonesian Parliament or the Department of Forestry had yet decided whether to overturn a ban on open cut mining in forest areas, yet Newcrest went ahead and clear-felled the area anyway. Human rights groups said that another man was shot in the leg during the clash and severely beaten - some reports say he was beaten to death. Australian mining company Newcrest said while "we regret that has occurred", it was not the company's responsibility. (Source: Ninemsn website, Sydney Morning Herald) Families of 17 year olds in adult prisons in Victoria are considering legal action against the State government, saying that juveniles are victimised by other prisoners. Victoria allows 17 year olds to be tried as adults and sentenced to adult prisons. Father Peter Nordern, a former prison chaplain and convenor of the Victorian Criminal Justice Coalition, said that young people were subjected to physical and sexual assault in the prison system. "The only thing that will make the government act quickly on this matter is the loss of a life", he said. "The longer we wait, the more likely it is that that will happen". One 17 year old was remanded to an adult prison despite being delusional and depressed. When released, his body was covered in cigarette burns. Another 17 year old was homeless, and in prison for car theft charges. His only possessions of value were sneakers given to him by a social worker. On his first night in prison he was severely bashed and his sneakers stolen. A third juvenile was arrested for trespass and stealing a bicycle two days after his 17th birthday. Despite being intellectually disabled he was remanded and spent eight days in police cells with adult prisoners. Social workers say his mental state has deteriorated rapidly since his release. (Source: The Age) Nurses in public hospitals face constant violence from staff, according to a new study. in 2003, staff at St Vincents Hospital had approximately 1000 'code grey' and 90 'code black' alerts. Code grey indicates a threat to the safety of staff or other patients. Code black indicates an armed threat. Researcher Marie Gerdtz said that nurses "would be hearing code grey called at least once a shift, and sometimes three or four times". Susan Cowling from St Vincents said that the rising number of violent incidents in hospitals reflected an increasingly aggressive society. Dr Gerdtz said that while most incidents were caused by patients, some were caused by relatives frustrated by long waiting times. The study was conducted by the Victorian Centre for Nursing Practice Research, in conjunction with St Vincents, Royal Melbourne, Alfred, and Ballarat public hospitals. (Source: The Age) The United States army raided a school in Iraq with tanks, assault vehicles and helicopters, in order to arrest a group of 14 to 18 year olds who had thrown stones at US troops. The First Armored Division raided the Adnan Kheiralla Boy's School and surrounded the block. Troops armed with machine guns, tear gas, and what one teacher present called "electric sticks", soldiers and interpreters carrying pictures of the wanted students entered the school and locked the doors. An English teacher at the school said that soldiers opened fire over students' heads "to scare them". Students were tear gassed and beaten. One boy's arm was broken. "Some of them were vomiting, some of them were crying and they were very afraid." As the tanks headed out, boys threw stones at them. Soldiers responded with random overhead gunfire, sending students, residents and journalists scrambling for cover. The arrested boys, estimated ages 14 to 18, were released. An arrested student said the army failed to notify parents of the arrests and that he and others were held in "chicken cages, about two metres by a metre and a half with criss cross wire" for seven to 10 hours. (Source: Yellow Times website) The United States administration in Iraq is refusing to lift a law passed by Saddam Hussein, which bans unions for workers employed at any of Iraq's state-owned assets. U.S. soldiers arrested eight members of the new Iraqi Workers Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU) in a raid of their Baghdad office in December, two weeks after two leaders of the Union of the Unemployed were arrested. All were released the following day. The US administration has begun privatizing Iraq's state-owned assets, excluding the oil industry. Unemployment in Iraq is now approximately 70 percent. "I'll have to fire 1,500 [of 3,000] workers," one oil refinery manager said, referring to the coming privatisation. "In America, when a company lays people off, there's unemployment insurance and they won't die from hunger. If I dismiss employees now, I'm killing them and their families." (Yellow Times website) Quotes of the Week: "An administrative error made by the Parole Board Secretarial staff". New South Wales Justice Minister John Hatzistergos' explanation for why an Aboriginal man died in jail in the John Moroney Correctional Centre, when he should have been released 18 days earlier. "The best guess...is somewhere between 5% and 25%". Dr Ralph Heywood, past scientific director of the Huntingdon Research Centre, on the reliability of medical experiments on animals. Aspirin, for example, causes birth defects in rats, mice, guinea pigs, cats, dogs, and monkeys. Thalidomide, which caused severe birth defects in humans, was marketed as harmless based on years of testing on animals. "The government claimed inflation would rise by no more than 1.9 per cent, yet it reached 6 per cent in two consecutive quarters and was above 5 per cent in four consecutive quarters. They government claimed it would increase growth and boost jobs. Instead it has increased personal bankruptcies and slowed growth while the level of those employed has dropped. The government claimed that [the GST] would reduce the 'black economy', yet early indications suggest it has actually increased it". (Ashley McInnes - from a study of the impact of the GST) All the News that Fits weekly anarchist news service visit us on the web - www.apolitical.info email us ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) to subscribe to our email list. -- Visit the proposed Leftlink web site at http://www.leftlink.net/ -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Sub: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsub: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
