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Volume 17 No.19

04 October 2007


 

  • AUSTRALIA

    Beijing Olympics media freedom sham

    • Dan Read
    • 03 October 2007

    China's commitment to complete media freedom coinciding with the gleaming stadiums and spectacular parades of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, is beginning to ring hollow. Amnesty International has claimed a renewed crackdown on journalists and internet users in the past year.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Smart hospitals need good policy more than clever politics

    • Francis Sullivan
    • 03 October 2007

    Political leaders attribute hospital crises to administrative bungles rather than a lack of political oversight or investment. But they can't continue to put off dealing with the rising public frustration at the inadequacy of the system's capacity to meet the demand of an ageing population.

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  • ENVIRONMENT

    Don't shoot science messengers, they're an endangered species

    • Robyn Williams
    • 03 October 2007
    7 Comments

    Few want to dedicate their professional lives to communicating the often bad news that comes from science researchers. Williams, Swan, Dr Karl, Flannery and Winston represent a fading generation. The real future should belong to fresh voices. Where are they?

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  • RELIGION

    Australia's ageing theological workforce

    • Neil Ormerod
    • 03 October 2007
    9 Comments

    In the past, Australia has produced a number of theologians and biblical scholars of international standing. But the future is bleak, with 37 per cent intending to retire within five years. Structural rationalisation must start now.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Australia needs distance from US Iran attack planning

    • Tony Kevin
    • 03 October 2007
    4 Comments

    The next year will be scary. There can be no guarantee that the war of words but not bombs with Iran will continue until Bush's term ends. Bush and Cheney have a propensity to recklessness, and Australia should keep a safe distance.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Cuban detainees' hope for fair trial

    • Rodrigo Acuña
    • 03 October 2007

    The 'Cuba Five' remain incarcerated in the US on terrorism charges. Since 1959 almost every US administration has seen Cuban civilians as 'fair game' in their efforts to overthrow Castro. Would a Democrat administration take a different approach?

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Israel's pain over Darfur refugees

    • Joel Burstyner
    • 03 October 2007
    8 Comments

    Israel is yet to justify its deportation of 48 Sudanese asylum seekers in August. It appears this action could be part of a blanket closed door policy that precludes the proper assessment of asylum claims according to Israel's legal and ethical obligations.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Everything has its own colour

    • Fitzroy Community School students
    • 03 October 2007
    4 Comments

    A selection poems on the theme of colour, written by five students at the Fitzroy Community School in Melbourne, aged between 5 and 12.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Critics with the measure of a good film

    • Richard Leonard
    • 03 October 2007
    1 Comment

    Accepting a peer award recently, Sydney Morning Herald film critic Paul Byrnes declared serious film criticism to be in trouble. 'Much of the public now believes that a great film can't be great unless the box office makes it great.' He has a point.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Senseless death of Sri Lankan Good Samaritan

    • Danielle Vella
    • 03 October 2007
    4 Comments

    Last week, a local Jesuit Refugee Service coordinator in Sri Lanka was killed when his van was blown up by a mine in rebel-held territory, as he was delivering aid to displaced people and orphans. Typically the army and Tamil Tigers blamed each other for the blast, and we are unlikely to discover the truth.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Magazines must embrace the future

    • James Massola
    • 03 October 2007
    1 Comment

    The digital age has arrived. Some newspapers are struggling with just how much content to replicate online, and how it might be differentiated from print and whether people should pay for it. Magazines face similar, though not identical challenges.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    What provoked Burmese people's fearless stand

    • Carol Ransley & Toe Zaw Latt
    • 03 October 2007
    4 Comments

    Two out of five children in Burma are severely malnourished, and the majority of people live in dire poverty. Then the ruling State Peace and Development Council instructed all Ministry of Energy distribution outlets to raise the prices of fuel.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    The urbane and inclusive vision of Edmund Rice

    • Andrew Hamilton
    • 03 October 2007
    4 Comments

    In a time of perplexity about Catholicism and religion generally, the perspective of Christian Brothers' founder Edmund Rice is strongly anchored in a faith focused on the neediest groups in society. It points us towards recognising the good values and motives of those with whom we differ.

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  • RELIGION

    Ecumenical sensitivity meets church law on women bishops

    • Charles Sherlock
    • 03 October 2007
    2 Comments

    The last pane of the 'stained glass ceiling' was removed last week for most Australian Anglicans. It turns out that a decision made for ecumenical and post-colonial reasons has enabled the change.

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