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Greek government begins new talks with troika - Business Live
Why social enterprises can help heal Haiti's post-earthquake wounds
Carbon emissions must be cut ‘significantly’ by 2020, says UN report
UK a great place to live and work, says OECD
Ender's Game sequel no longer likely after unspectacular US box office
Starfish wasting disease baffles US scientists
Why is being openly feminist in the boardroom seen as 'damaging'?
Judges can sidestep religion, but they can't avoid morality | Andrew Brown
Opinion poll on Abbott audit: public not happy about possible selloffs
The dark side of psychology in abuse and interrogation | Chris Chambers
South Sudan poised to sign new deal compact with aid donors
Carbon pricing most cost-effective way to reduce carbon emissions, says OECD
Melbourne Cup fashion: five trends from Flemington 2013
Shopping mall in New Jersey evacuated after shots fired
Indonesia-Australia spying row: welcome to full-contact diplomacy | Michael Wesley
Queensland's chief magistrate causes outcry over bikie bail directive
Icac hearing: Eddie Obeid's behaviour described as 'quasi-criminal'
Battle to end anti-gay job discrimination given boost in US Senate
Behind Australia's road toll: one woman’s struggle with grief
Tony Abbott's tip for the Melbourne Cup – video
Tory MP adds to calls for improved oversight of UK intelligence services
Why Australia should celebrate Guy Fawkes night | Mark Fletcher
Best pictures of the day - live
CCSU lockdown lifted: three people taken into custody over gun reports
Norway bus hijacking: three killed

Greek government begins new talks with troika - Business Live

Posted: 05 Nov 2013 01:25 AM PST

Greece's international lenders are back in Athens for another round of meetings on its bailout programme, and the size of its 2014 'fiscal gap'

Graeme Wearden

Why social enterprises can help heal Haiti's post-earthquake wounds

Posted: 05 Nov 2013 01:16 AM PST

'By aligning both economic and social interests, we can leverage consumer habits to help increase prosperity in Haiti'

It's been nearly four years since the Haiti earthquake and despite the billions of dollars that have been pumped into aid relief projects, the country is still recovering.

"Since the earthquake, there has been a lot of short-term aid in Haiti, but creating sustainable and long-term jobs is a different story" explains Rebecca Troxler from 3 Cords, a social enterprise whose workforce includes a number of amputees and members of a local deaf community, who otherwise would likely be unemployed.

Back in August, the Haitian finance minister, Wilson Laleau, told a reporter "we need basic jobs for people without skills", while Georges Sassine, a prominent businessman in the garment industry, said that unskilled factory jobs were "passage obligé" – in other words, a necessary route to better things.

A glut of social enterprises, including 3 Cords, seem to disagree with Laleau and Sassine. They are critical of the commitment to low-end jobs and believe that it's up to socially motivated ventures to develop Haitians' skills and economic potential.

One such enterprise is Industrial Revolution II (IRII), a celebrity-backed venture producing high-end apparel through the creation of jobs that guarantee the minimum wage – a requirement that, according to a report by Better Work, other garment factories in Haiti have previously failed to meet. IRII are committed to providing skills training and donating half of their profits to community and social causes as part of their long-term plan to bring sustainability to the country's industry.

Like IRII, Peanuts4Peanuts (P4P) are supporting high-skilled jobs too, but in peanut-butter factories. They have recently raised over $16,000 through crowdfunding and their plan is that for every jar of peanut butter they produce and sell in the USA, a portion of the profits will go towards supporting children in Haiti.

Kendra Wilkins, one half of P4P, who like her co-founder Lizzie Faust has a background in economics, rubbishes any claim that social enterprises operating in Haiti are more interested in self-promotion than altruism. She's keen to stress that social enterprises can play an active role in bridging the gap between what is currently happening in the country and the public's lack of knowledge of what more could be done to improve the situation.

"Natural disasters only make international news for so long. Once the media loses interest, people don't necessarily remain as informed," explains Wilkins. "By aligning both economic and social interests, we can leverage consumer habits to help increase prosperity in Haiti, by providing job creation and stability through sustainable factory employment."

Wilkins adds: "The [continuing growth and] success of social enterprises indicates the desire of consumers to buy socially conscientious products. We can bring positive purpose to a decision that wouldn't traditionally involve philanthropic considerations."

It's not just jobs that social enterprises are hoping to create either; it's a better education system. This in turn could help more Haitians access economic opportunities in the first place. Camara, an Irish social enterprise, are aiming to do their part to improve education through developing learning skills and digital literacy and by supplying thousands of discarded computers to Haiti.

"Education is the most powerful weapon with which to beat poverty ... without digital literacy, a skill we in the developed world take for granted, job creation and getting a job becomes so much more difficult," says John Fitzsimons, Camara's chief executive. "Organisations like [us] are in Haiti for the long run and are not subject to short-termism."

Social enterprises may not solve Haiti's problems on their own, but what they do seem to offer is transparency and a strong business case for building a sustainable future.

For more news, opinions and ideas about the social enterprise sector, join our community

Rich McEachran

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Carbon emissions must be cut ‘significantly’ by 2020, says UN report

Posted: 05 Nov 2013 01:01 AM PST

Failure will mean greater costs and risks and pathway to limiting temperature rise to under 2C will close fast

Oliver Milman

UK a great place to live and work, says OECD

Posted: 05 Nov 2013 01:00 AM PST

Thinktank ranks UK above average on jobs, earnings and housing in its Better Life Index - but below average on education, skills and income equality

The UK is one of best places to live and work, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, although income inequality has risen by more than in other countries since the global financial crisis struck in 2007.

The Paris-based thinktank has been seeking to measure wellbeing for the 34 nations of the OECD, based on aspects of life such as incomes, education, housing and security. It says the UK ranks above the OECD country average on environmental quality, personal security, jobs and earnings and housing among other measures. It is close to average for work-life balance, but below in education and skills.

That puts the UK alongside Switzerland, Australia, Nordic European countries, Canada and New Zealand in a clutch of highest-performing countries on the latest work for the OECD's Better Life Index.

The thinktank's "traffic light" system for how countries perform on various elements ranks the US, Ireland, Germany and France as average. Turkey, Brazil, Mexico, Estonia, Hungary, Greece and Chile are among the countries with a relatively low performance.

Overall, the latest part of the OECD's attempt to find new ways to measure well-being beyond simple GDP numbers, paints a picture of substantial pain caused by the financial crisis.

The average British household was only "modestly" affected, said the OECD, but looking across its club of mostly rich nations many people were blighted by higher unemployment, involuntary part-time work, financial insecurity and poverty.

"Life satisfaction and confidence in institutions declined substantially in countries severely hit by the crisis, while people reported soaring stress levels," the "How's Life 2013" report says.

"However, there was little or no change in health outcomes for the population at large."

Looking at the UK, the OECD says that over 2007 to 2011 there was a cumulative increase in real household disposable income of around 1%, while in the euro area, income dropped by 2%.

However, income inequality increased by more than average in the UK over that period.

The report adds: "In the OECD as a whole, the poor employment situation had a major impact on life satisfaction. This trend is not visible in the United Kingdom where, from 2007 to 2012, the percentage of British people declaring being very satisfied with their lives increased from 63% to 64%."

In OECD countries most severly hit by the crisis, people's trust in institutions and in the way democracy works had also declined during the crisis. But the percentage of British people reporting that they trust the government increased from 36% to 47% between 2007 and 2011.

Looking at gender gaps in OECD countries, the research found British women were still less likely than men to have a paid job or be elected to parliament, and more likely to spend many hours performing household tasks.

Katie Allen

Ender's Game sequel no longer likely after unspectacular US box office

Posted: 05 Nov 2013 12:19 AM PST

Industry analysts say decent but not dominant start means momentum for Harrison Ford space thriller is not sufficient for second film

• Orson Scott Card 'won't profit' from Ender's Game film
• Video: Harrison Ford and director Gavin Hood discuss their adaptation of Orson Scott Card's sci-fi novel

A relatively weak $28m box office opening in the US this weekend means controversial science fiction adaptation Ender's Game is unlikely to get a sequel, according to industry experts.

The Hollywood Reporter compiled the views of a number of analysts whose job it is to review the franchise potential of blockbuster wannabes. Most felt Gavin Hood's film, which has been targeted by gay rights activists, would struggle to make back its $110m budget after debuting with a solid but unspectacular $28m in North America.

That figure was enough to put the movie, which stars Asa Butterfield, Harrison Ford, Ben Kingsley, Viola Davis, Hailee Steinfeld and Abigail Breslin, in first place in the US. But with Marvel studios' latest superhero sequel, Thor: The Dark World, arriving at the weekend, it has not built the sort of momentum likely to lead to a long box office run.

"The film did not draw well from young adults, despite the book's popularity," wrote expert Eric Handler of MKM Partners in a note to Hollywood investors on Monday. "Roughly 54 per cent of the audience was over the age of 25. A good but not great CinemaScore of B+ is not likely to hold moviegoer interest, with Thor: The Dark World opening next week."

"Ender's Game has a credible $28m U.S. opening but not a plausible start of a new franchise for Summit Entertainment and OddLot," added Matthew Harrigan of Wunderlich Securities in his own note to investors. Ben Mogil of
Stifel, Nicolaus & Co, said he felt Ender's Game was unlikely to recoup more than $75m of its $110m budget at the box office.

Ender's Game was pitched as the beginning of a potential franchise to ape the success of Lionsgate's other teen-oriented futuristic saga, The Hunger Games. Hood's film explicitly sets up a sequel, but the movie has suffered from negative publicity prior to its opening.

It is not known whether the campaign by Geeks Out, which called for a boycott of the film due to source novel author Orson Scott Card's highly publicised homophobic views, ultimately effected the film's box office. But Hood and his stars - Ford, who plays a gruff military leader, in particular - were often forced to point out that the movie did not come from the same mean-spirited place. And that cannot have been helpful.

Ender's Game has also benefited from better-than-average reviews and currently holds a 61% "fresh" rating on the review aggregator Rotten Romatoes. The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw said the film, which details the recruitment of a genius teenager to help fight an extra terrestrial threat, was a surprisingly decent effort. " The movie's apocalyptic finale indicates that it's bitten off considerably more than it can chew in terms of ideas," he wrote. "But it looks good, and the story rattles along."

• Orson Scott Card 'won't profit' from Ender's Game film
• Video: Harrison Ford and director Gavin Hood discuss their adaptation of Orson Scott Card's sci-fi novel

Ben Child

Starfish wasting disease baffles US scientists

Posted: 05 Nov 2013 12:06 AM PST

Deadly disease ravages sea creatures in record numbers along west coast of US from south-east Alaska to Orange County

Scientists are struggling to find the trigger for a disease that appears to be ravaging starfish in record numbers along the US west coast, causing the sea creatures to lose their limbs and turn to slime in a matter of days.

Marine biologists and ecologists will launch an extensive survey this week along the coasts of California, Washington state and Oregon to determine the reach and source of the deadly syndrome, known as "star wasting disease".

"It's pretty spooky because we don't have any obvious culprit for the root cause even though we know it's likely caused by a pathogen," said Pete Raimondi, the chairman of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California.

Signs of the syndrome typically begin with white lesions on the arms of the starfish that spread inward, causing the entire animal to disintegrate in less than a week, according to a report by the Pacific Rocky Intertidal Monitoring Program at the University of California.

Starfish have suffered from the syndrome on and off for decades but have usually been reported in small numbers, isolated to southern California and linked to a rise in seawater temperatures, which is not the case this time, Raimondi said.

Since June, wasting starfish have been found in dozens of coastal sites ranging from south-east Alaska to Orange County, California, and the mortality rates have been higher than ever seen before, Raimondi said. In one surveyed tide pool in Santa Cruz during the current outbreak, 90-95% of hundreds of starfish were killed by the disease.

"Their tissue just melts away," said Melissa Miner, a biologist and researcher with the Multi-Agency Rocky Intertidal Network, a group of government agencies, universities and non-profit groups that monitor tidal wildlife and environment along the west coast.

Miner, based in Washington state, has studied wasting starfish locally and in Alaska since June, when only a few cases had been reported. "It has ballooned into a much bigger issue since then," she said.

The syndrome primarily affects the mussel-eating Pisaster ochraceus, a large purple and orange starfish, but Raimondi said that at least 10 species have shown signs of the disease since June.

If the numbers of Pisaster ochraceus begin to decrease, mussels could crowd the ocean, disrupting biodiversity, he said.

In addition to on-site sampling, scientists in the coming months will use an interactive map to spot starfish wasting location patterns and help identify a driver for the disease.

Raimondi said he could not estimate, out of the millions of starfish on the west Coast, how many have been affected or could be in the future.

"We're way at the onset now, so we just don't know how bad it's going to get," he said.

Why is being openly feminist in the boardroom seen as 'damaging'?

Posted: 05 Nov 2013 12:00 AM PST

Why are we afraid to call ourselves feminists at work? Olivia Knight explores the reactions to her decision to use the f-word

It was day one. I'd recruited a small team of women to help me launch my business and during our first lunchtime chat we discovered that we were all proud feminists. So that afternoon I decided on the perfect welcome gift – a gold name necklace with 'feminist' on it.

We wear our necklaces every day and we love the conversations they start with curious commuters, people in the pub and strangers in the street. It's reassuring to know that most people you meet – when you get down to basics – share the simple belief that men and women are equal and should be treated as such.

So what has come as a shock is just how much fear my feminist necklace has stirred up in the boardroom.

We're a startup working out of a small studio. But I've had business acquaintances, PR people and even one of our own investors warn me that "being openly feminist" could be "damaging" to our brand and business.

A bit like I'm admitting I'm a cannibal.

So what's so scary? Surely being a female business leader and a feminist go hand in hand? What's so wrong with using the f-word?

A lot, apparently.

Whilst the media, politics and pop-culture have recently begun to re-explore the meaning and value of feminism today – with campaigners, girl guides and celebrities choosing to embrace the label and the cause – it seems that in business, women are not supposed to bring their beliefs to the table.

We are accepted, and indeed celebrated, as individuals – as long as we are grateful. We can share a collective identity with other women in business, but only if we adopt one of three acceptable identities. These are easy to recognise, because each stereotype has a handy hashtag.

So you can be a #womanintech – a single, science girl-geek. You can be a #careerwoman – a power-dressing, childless boardroom boss. Or you can be #mumpreneur – a cereal soaked, multi-tasking, mum of three running a business after bedtime.

As a mother of two who has started a new career running a tech business, I've used all three hashtags quite often. They're a useful shortcut to meeting women who share your experience and finding news and stories relevant to you. But of course, like all stereotypes, they also exaggerate our differences and divide us.

I'd like to connect with women not just because we share the same circumstances but because we share the same principles. So I looked up #feministinbusiness on twitter. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it doesn't exist. Maybe, like my necklace in the boardroom, it suggests a double dose of female power that's just too threatening.

Because of course the fear of the feminist in the boardroom is that she'll want to start changing things – not just for herself, but for other women too. She'll not only break the glass ceiling, she'll install a ladder and hold it steady while a load of other women climb up.

As a feminist and a woman in leadership, I believe this should be exactly our ambition.

Women in business have already achieved so much, but there is still vast inequality in the workplace and this needs to change. The business world shouldn't fear this.

As Alice Taylor, founder of Makielab has said: "Business does better when there's diversity in the workforce, and that's statistically proven, a fact." So let's wear our feminism with pride, let's face the fear and embrace the challenge. As Alice says, "Let's go with the facts, and make better businesses".

Olivia Knight is founder of Patchwork Present

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Judges can sidestep religion, but they can't avoid morality | Andrew Brown

Posted: 05 Nov 2013 12:00 AM PST

A speech by Sir James Munby suggests judges should no longer privilege Christian values. But that doesn't mean they're in the business of enforcing morality

Sir James Munby gave a speech last week saying that judges no longer concerned themselves with the promotion of virtue and the discouragement of immorality – and nor should they: Britain is now a secular society, he said, and religion has no special privilege beyond what it is granted by human rights legislation. This was widely reported as claiming that the law no longer has any business enforcing morality. I have now read his speech carefully and I am not at all certain that this is what he said – and if it's what he meant he is clearly wrong and his own speech proves it. Judges, he thinks, are very much in the business of enforcing morality, and so they ought to be. The confusion, and it's a very important one, arises from supposing that morality now means what it meant in respectable circles 100 years ago – a form of 19th-century Protestantism.

Much of his argument is wonderfully clear and, more importantly, right. Within living memory many influential judges did assume that morality was largely concerned with sexuality and the application of biblical standards of patriarchy in so far as this was possible. All this has gone. "Judges are no longer custos morum of the people, and if they are they have to take the people's customs as they find them, not as they or others might wish them to be," said Munby.

"And if they are" – that's where the argument shifts, because, as will become apparent, he does believe judges are the custodians of morality to some extent. I suspect that any other view is incoherent, or at least wicked. The burden of his talk is an attack on religious privilege. It seems odd to suppose that this must also be an attack on morality.

For Munby's claims about what has replaced morality are themselves profoundly moral ones. They have to be. Look at his praise of tolerance.

He wants to live in "a tolerant society, increasingly alive to the need to guard against the tyranny which majority opinion may impose on those who, for whatever reason, comprise a small, weak, unpopular or voiceless minority".

This seems to me an entirely and unavoidably moral desire. What justification is there for not imposing our views on a small, weak, unpopular or voiceless minority? You can't answer the question without using moral concepts. What amoral reason could there be not to impose our views on the minority? Only that we might fail in the attempt and that's not often a serious danger.

Similarly, his argument against privileging religion is not based on the idea that we can sidestep morality, but on the belief that our idea of morality is better and truer than Lord Denning's was in 1957. Munby said that "Reliance upon religious belief, however conscientious the belief and however ancient and respectable the religion, can never of itself immunise the believer from the reach of the secular law." I don't think many people would disagree with this – I certainly wouldn't. But the question then becomes how to draw the line, and the answer most certainly involves moral judgment and reasoning, as he goes on to recognise.

"Where precisely the limits are to be drawn is often a matter of controversy. There is no 'bright-line' test that the law can set. The infinite variety of the human condition precludes arbitrary definition."

Even when Munby has recourse to European human rights law, he remains enmeshed in the problem: he points out that the European Convention on Human Rights "forbids the state to determine the validity of religious beliefs" but that prohibition depends on a very narrow definition of validity and religious beliefs. What he means, clearly, is that the state has no business with the truth claims of religious mythologies: the state should have no opinion on whether Jesus rose from the dead, or if Muhammad really heard the angel Gabriel. But in other respects the convention positively demands that we determine the validity of religious beliefs. Are they, for instance, "worthy of respect in a democratic society"? Are they "compatible with human dignity"? These, again, are moral judgments, which society cannot avoid and should not try to.

Munby's easy acceptance that morality means what Lord Denning thought it did abandons a very necessary battlefield and hands victory there either to religious conservatives who claim that morality must have a supernatural sanction, or to the kind of market fundamentalists who claim that morality is unnecessary or unproblematic. Humanists need to do better than that.

Andrew Brown

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Opinion poll on Abbott audit: public not happy about possible selloffs

Posted: 04 Nov 2013 11:47 PM PST

63% oppose Australia Post sale, 59% oppose privatisation of Hecs debt, 60% oppose cutting welfare benefits

Katharine Murphy

The dark side of psychology in abuse and interrogation | Chris Chambers

Posted: 04 Nov 2013 11:00 PM PST

Chris Chambers: A new report reveals the role of US psychologists in the torture of prisoners

Chris Chambers

South Sudan poised to sign new deal compact with aid donors

Posted: 04 Nov 2013 11:00 PM PST

Western officials praise 'focused' consultations, which listed protection of civilians among the fragile state's priorities

South Sudan is poised to become the latest "fragile state" to sign a new deal compact with aid donors, setting out benchmarks for peace and statebuilding.

Western aid officials say they have been impressed by the level of consultations from the South Sudanese government since the broad agreement on a compact in April. Consultations have taken place in all 10 states, from which 10 benchmarks for the government have emerged and five for donors.

"It has been quite focused. In other fragile states, there is a long list of priorities meaning nothing is a priority, so bringing it down to 10 is quite a positive achievement," said Stephan Messing, lead adviser on fragile states for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris.

Endorsed at an aid effectiveness conference in Busan, South Korea, in 2011, the new deal is an initiative put forward by the g7+ group of 19 conflict-affected countries, including Timor-Leste, Somalia and Afghanistan.

At its heart is the notion that developing countries should be in the driving seat on development strategy, with the focus on five state-building goals: legitimate and inclusive politics; security; justice; economic foundations (jobs); and revenues and services (managing revenue and delivering accountable and fair services). The thinking behind the new deal is that unless aid focuses on peace and security in fragile states, money will go to waste.

Somalia is fleshing out its new deal and installing the institutions needed to deliver it. Last month, a Somalia Development and Reconstruction Facility (SDRF) was established to bring together Somali officials and international organisations to co-ordinate and implement financing of its new deal compact. An SDRF joint-steering committee will decide where and how aid money will be spent after pledges of €1.8bn in Brussels in September.

South Sudan is expected to sign its compact in early December. The priorities that have emerged from the consultations include national reconciliation, infrastructure and roads, access to justice and protection of civilians and human rights. For donors, better aid flows and results reporting, increased use of government systems and more predictable aid commitments are among the priorities.

South Sudan, which gained its independence two years ago after years of conflict with Sudan, experiences extreme poverty, weak and corrupt institutions, internal conflict, large numbers of internally displaced people, recurrent natural disasters and simmering tension with Sudan over the oil-rich border region of Abyei, which brought the two countries to the edge of war.

Recently, South Sudan has been hit by floods, which have affected more than 150,000 people. Unity, Upper Nile and Jonglei states were reportedly worst hit. Apart from natural disasters, South Sudan has been plagued by inter-ethnic conflict in Jonglei. Dinka Bor, Lou Nuer and Murle ethnic groups have been carrying out violent cattle-rustling attacks for years. Conflict between the groups has been exacerbated by a rebellion from ethnic Murle rebels from the South Sudan Democratic Movement/Army (SSDM/A).

During the long civil war preceding South Sudan's independence, Khartoum armed southern ethnic militias to fight against southern rebels. A Murle militia was one of several absorbed into the South Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA). However, South Sudan accuses Sudan of supplying weapons to rebel groups in Jonglei, including the SSDM/A.

Human Rights Watch has said that since December 2012, the SPLA has committed serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, notably the unlawful killing of at least 96 people, mostly civilians, from the Murle.

"The potential for further grave violations and violence is very high, in part because the SPLA – an army still in transition – faces significant command and control and discipline challenges but also because ethnic tensions are so high in Jonglei especially anti-Murle sentiment," a recent Human Rights Watch report said.

Tens of thousands of Murle are displaced, including most of the civilians from all six main population centres in Pibor county in Jonglei; many are too frightened to return. Murle rebels have also been accused of human rights abuses, killing and abducting civilians, and destroying facilities belonging to providers of emergency healthcare and food aid. The high level of tension in Jonglei is just one of the major hurdles for South Sudan's nation-building efforts under the new deal.

Somalia faces its own security problems as al-Shabaab, the radical Islamists, shows signs of regrouping after recent military gains by Amisom, the African Union force. Officials admit that, after forcing al-Shabaab out of the capital, Mogadishu, in 2011, and Kismayo in 2012, the campaign against it has lost momentum and stalled, at a time when Somalia seeks to rebuild after decades of war.

"Al-Shabaab is a major concern," said Massing. "Even in Mogadishu, security is very challenging. Second is the political challenge – the relationship between the federal government and the regions. That has to be worked out. The South Sudan consultation was a very good process, whereas the Somali compact endorsed in Brussels was based on more limited consultations with the regions.

"The federal government now has to reach out and build support for the compact. As for the donors, they have to live up to the principles of the new deal. It's not easy but it is necessary. It is not an answer for donors to work through parallel systems, as that can undermine the national government."

Mark Tran

Carbon pricing most cost-effective way to reduce carbon emissions, says OECD

Posted: 04 Nov 2013 09:23 PM PST

Study finds cost of alternatives such as feed-in tariffs, industry regulation and subsidies can be ‘substantially higher’

Oliver Milman

Melbourne Cup fashion: five trends from Flemington 2013

Posted: 04 Nov 2013 09:03 PM PST

Ladylike shapes, bold colours and chunky block heels on show at the Melbourne Cup – alongside regal headpieces and fabulous hats

Natasha Silva-Jelly

Shopping mall in New Jersey evacuated after shots fired

Posted: 04 Nov 2013 08:15 PM PST

Police descend on Garden State Plaza Mall in Paramus after person walked in and began firing, including at security cameras

Indonesia-Australia spying row: welcome to full-contact diplomacy | Michael Wesley

Posted: 04 Nov 2013 07:37 PM PST

Michael Wesley: Jakarta is, of course, well aware that Australia can eavesdrop on Indonesia. Current protestations by the Indonesian foreign minister Marty Natelagawa should be taken with a pinch of salt

Michael Wesley

Queensland's chief magistrate causes outcry over bikie bail directive

Posted: 04 Nov 2013 06:59 PM PST

Lawyers and campaigners rail against Tim Carmody's decision to personally deal with all contested bail cases

Queensland's chief magistrate has ignited a row with lawyers and civil rights campaigners by putting himself in charge of all disputed bail applications by accused bikies.

Chief magistrate Tim Carmody has issued a directive that all contested applications for bail be reserved for him and that he will hear no more than two a day.

The Queensland government and judiciary have been warring over a number of bikie cases after parliament passed new laws with a presumption against bail for criminal gang members.

However, bail has been granted to several bikies after police failed to convince magistrates they were gang members.

Carmody's directive has been criticised by the Queensland Bar Association.

President Roger Traves has urged him to reconsider, saying cases of a particular type should not be heard by one person.

"The principles of fairness and equality before the law are best served by the court as a whole dealing with these applications, not a designated judicial officer," he said.

Queensland Council for Civil Liberties president Michael Cope says the unprecedented edict may be unlawful.

"It is clearly going to lead to people being held in custody for a long period of time, in breach of the obligation in the law that they be brought before a magistrate forthwith and their case for bail heard," he said.

Carmody, who is a former policeman, was appointed chief magistrate in September.

The post is appointed by the state governor on the advice of cabinet.

Carmody's directive, dated 4 November, says it applies to any contested bail application not yet set down for hearing.

It says the main objective is to ensure all applications proceed without delay but also says the move should cut costs for the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and ensure "security for all".

Attorney general Jarrod Bleijie has declined to comment.

Queensland University of Technology senior law lecturer Dr Nigel Stobbs says Carmody's direction could give the impression he lacked faith in Queensland's magistrates.

He said that holding people in custody while waiting for a bail hearing was unjust.

"People have the right under our system to immediate or early access to justice," he told ABC radio. "To imprison them without just cause just goes against the grain of everything we hold to be just in our system."

Icac hearing: Eddie Obeid's behaviour described as 'quasi-criminal'

Posted: 04 Nov 2013 06:25 PM PST

But former NSW ports minister Carl Scully tells inquiry he does not hate Obeid for thwarting his bid to be premier

Battle to end anti-gay job discrimination given boost in US Senate

Posted: 04 Nov 2013 05:15 PM PST

Procedural vote to move to debate viewed as a key test of support for bill, which passed the Senate by 61 votes to 30

A landmark bill that would ban workplace discrimination against gay, lesbian and transgender people passed a key vote in the US Senate on Monday, relying on support from a few initially reluctant Republicans.

The procedural vote to move to a Senate debate on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (Enda), viewed as a key test of support for the bill, passed the Senate by 61 votes to 30, one more than required.

But the prospects of the bill eventually becoming law were dealt a blow when the Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, John Boehner, said he did not support it. "The Speaker believes this legislation will increase frivolous litigation and cost American jobs, especially small business jobs," Boehner's spokesman, Michael Steel, said.

Boehner had previously avoided committing to a position on the legislation, and his opposition was a setback for supporters of the bill.

Barack Obama strongly supports Enda, and, in an op-ed piece published by the Huffington Post yesterday, said millions of LGBT Americans currently went to work fearful of losing their jobs.

"It's offensive. It's wrong. And it needs to stop because, in the United States of America, who you are and who you love should never be a fire-able offence," the president wrote.

Obama compared the battle over Enda to efforts to end discrimination against women and religious and racial minorities. "Passing Enda would build on the progress we've made in recent years," he added. "When Congress passes it, I will sign it into law, and our nation will be fairer and stronger for generations to come."

The procedural move in the Senate required 60 votes to ensure that conservative Republicans could not block it. In total, seven Republicans joined all the members of the Democratic majority, including three who appeared to hesitate.

The vote was delayed as Republican senators Kelly Ayotte, Pat Toomey and Rob Portman met in the Republican cloak room, just off the Senate floor, where they were lobbied by the legislation's backers.

Those involved in the a last-minute attempt to persuade the Republican trio included Harry Reid, the Democratic majority leader, and his deputy, Chuck Schumer.

All three Republicans eventually voted for the measure, ensuring it scraped through, after apparently negotiating future amendments in exchange for their support.

The fact the vote received the backing of moderate Republicans, as well as Democrats from conservative states who in previous years might have felt obliged to vote no, revealed that social attitudes in the US are changing, though slowly.

Another wavering Republican Senator, Dean Heller, had announced earlier in the day that he would back the bill, which would make it illegal for a firm in any US state to sack an individual because of their gender identity or sexual orientation.

Heller, a senator from Nevada – which is one of 22 states to have banned workplace discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation – described his decision to support the bill as "the right thing to do". He added: "This legislation raises the federal standards to match what we have come to expect in Nevada, which is that discrimination must not be tolerated under any circumstance." The Senate last voted on Enda in 1996, when it failed by one vote.

The proposed legislation has become a touchstone issue, revealing the fissure between the moderate and more conservative wings of the GOP.

Gay and transgender advocacy groups consider the bill a critical step towards equal rights in the US. They have had the support of Susan Collins, the Republican senator from Maine who has tried to lobby colleagues to back the bill.

However, conservative Republicans have expressed discomfort with a bill that would afford new federal rights to gay and transgender people, claiming that, if enacted, the law would enable unwarranted lawsuits. A recent study by the Government Accountability Office – the audit, evaluation and investigative arm of Congress – found the existing state-level anti-discrimination laws had led to "relatively few" legal actions.

Paul Lewis

Behind Australia's road toll: one woman’s struggle with grief

Posted: 04 Nov 2013 05:14 PM PST

Last year 1,310 people died on our roads – we see a fleeting mention at the time of a crash, but who sees the aftermath?

Gabrielle Chan

Tony Abbott's tip for the Melbourne Cup – video

Posted: 04 Nov 2013 04:59 PM PST

Despite claiming to be not much of a tipster, the Australian prime minister, Tony Abbott, is backing Fiorente

Tory MP adds to calls for improved oversight of UK intelligence services

Posted: 04 Nov 2013 04:57 PM PST

Rory Stewart says intelligence and security committee should always be chaired by member of opposition

Parliament's intelligence and security committee (ISC) should always be chaired by a member of the opposition to ensure its independence and be freely elected by MPs, the Conservative MP Rory Stewart said on Monday night at a debate aimed at fostering public discussion about mass surveillance.

"You are never going to have a government backbencher chairing a committee that is going to criticise the government properly," Stewart said.

His remarks come days before his Tory colleague Sir Malcolm Rifkind chairs an ISC hearing at which the heads of Britain's intelligence services will give evidence as part of an inquiry into oversight of the UK spying agencies, following concern about the scale of mass surveillance.

Stewart, a member of the foreign affairs committee, was among a number of MPs, campaigners and media professionals taking part in Monday night's debate, Mass Surveillance, which was conceived by another Conservative backbencher, David Davis, and the journalist Henry Porter with the added aim of supporting the Guardian at a time when the paper has come under pressure over its reporting of leaks by whistleblower Edward Snowden.

Davis expressed strong support for the role played by Snowden, the computer analyst behind the leaked National Security Agency documents that led to revelations about US surveillance on phone and internet communications. He was also supportive of the possibility the American could swap asylum in Russia for a new refuge in western Europe.

"The only protection for us all in this sort of area is actually whistleblowers," said Davis. "It's the only thing that makes these sorts of organisations behave properly. If whistleblowers can look forward to a life in Germany rather than a life in Moscow, I think that would improve things for everybody."

The idea was backed by other speakers, including a German Greenparty MP, Konstantin Von Notz, and Wolfgang Büchner, editor-in-chief of Der Spiegel, who also said that he was shocked by a recent intervention from David Cameron in which the prime minister singled out the Guardian and said that it would be "very difficult" not to take action against newspapers that continue to publish "damaging" security leaks.

Büchner added: "I could not believe it. As a German citizen, if you look over at these things you really are puzzled that this is possible in the United Kingdom. I am certainly not here to tell you about democracy, but it was Germany that imported those values, freedom of speech, of opinion, from you, the US and from France. And now we look at the prime minister of a country, a motherland of democracy, who is threatening a newspaper."

The debate, at the Royal Institute of British Architects in London, also heard from Alan Rusbridger, editor of the Guardian, who said that those who suggested the Snowden leaks was the biggest disaster to hit western intelligence services in the last 100 years were correct. "But what stopped it from being a catastrophe was that Edward Snowden didn't do what he might have done, which is to act as a spy or to put it straight on to the internet," he added.

"The good luck of the security services is that he gave it to a newspaper. No one in Westminster or Congress has really asked how this happened, how was it that GCHQ agreed to these arrangements by which 850,000 people could peer into the 'wiki-sight' of GCHQ, so that a 29-year-old who didn't even work for the government, living in Hawaii, could have access to that. Who has resigned over that? Who has been asked a single question? Will the ISC ask that on Thursday when they have the security chiefs in front of them?" Julian Huppert, a Liberal Democrat MP, said that the intelligence services should welcome a debate about what their rules are, but added that there were major problems surrounding how informed members of the public and parliament were.

"Most members of parliament simply do not understand what the issues are – what is data versus metadata for example. People don't realise, for example, how important it is for our financial stability. If you start breaking encryption and putting backdoors in then that means that any financial transaction online could be suspect or could be hacked. That is incredibly dangerous."

The event also heard a message of support from Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, who said: "This is a time of great danger for the freedom of the press in the UK. It is therefore more important than ever for everyone to stand up and say that the right of a news organization to publish is a fundamental and basic human right."

He suggested a new law on press regulation, in which "parliament shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances".

Jo Glanville, the chief executive officer of English PEN, said that keeping the country safe does not entitle the government or the intelligence services to act without regard to our human rights.

"They are not mutually exclusive. It is possible to conduct targeted surveillance with effective oversight while according respect to all our rights.

"National security should not be a blanket term for anything that might be embarrassing for the state. We have a very broad definition of national security in this country – that goes way beyond the international definition of the term. Our courts have described it as 'protean' – and this means that our intelligence services have an undefined remit to intercept communications – it doesn't even have to be a crime."

Nick Pickles, the director of the civil liberties and privacy campaign group, Big Brother Watch, listed a number of things which he said were still secret: the budget of the ISC, the number of warrants read by the Interception of Communications Commissioner, and the number of [surveillance] warrants requested by MI5.

"Would any of these numbers point to massive vulnerabilities in Britain's national security," he asked.

"No, they would inform the public about what is going on. We cannot allow this secret to continue. Thursday could be an enlightened moment of rigorous oversight, or it could be proof of the football maxim that attack is the best form of defence and we may well see the three intelligence heads trying to attack Edward Snowden and the Guardian rather than having to defend their own actions."

Ben Quinn

Why Australia should celebrate Guy Fawkes night | Mark Fletcher

Posted: 04 Nov 2013 04:25 PM PST

Mark Fletcher: I'm a young conservative who is generally in favour of greater state powers, but I'm nonetheless worried about the erosion of our civil liberties. Celebrating Guy Fawkes night would be timely

Mark Fletcher

Best pictures of the day - live

Posted: 04 Nov 2013 03:58 PM PST

The Guardian's photo team brings you a daily round-up from the world of photography

Jo Blason

Mee-Lai Stone

CCSU lockdown lifted: three people taken into custody over gun reports

Posted: 04 Nov 2013 03:37 PM PST

Police said there was no threat to campus as the scare may have been set off by someone dressed in a Halloween costume

Norway bus hijacking: three killed

Posted: 04 Nov 2013 03:23 PM PST

Norwegian police arrest suspect after three killed including driver when knife-wielding man hijacked bus

A knife-wielding man hijacked a bus on Monday in rural Norway and killed the driver and two passengers before he was detained by authorities, officials said.

Police in Sogn and Fjordane county in western Norway gave few details about the suspect, but described him as a local resident originally from South Sudan. Police attorney Trine Erdal said the suspect was in his early 30s, not in his 50s as police had earlier reported.

The motive for the killings was not immediately clear.

The victims were two men in their 50s – the Norwegian bus driver and a Swedish passenger – and a 19-year-old Norwegian woman, Erdal said. All had been stabbed. There were no other passengers on the bus, she added.

The suspect was initially apprehended by rescuers from the fire department who were the first to arrive on what they thought was an accident scene, police said. The suspect was later arrested by police and taken to a hospital for treatment of cuts but was not seriously injured, Norwegian news agency NTB reported.

Oslo police said they called off the deployment of an anti-terror unit after receiving reports that the suspect had been arrested.

The same bus route was attacked in 2003 when an Ethiopian man stabbed to death a bus driver, NTB said. He had earlier that day killed a Congolese asylum seeker at a refugee centre.

Multiple killings are rare in Norway, though the country was shocked by its worst peacetime massacre two years ago when Anders Behring Breivik, a Norwegian rightwing extremist, killed 77 people in a bomb and gun rampage.