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Tuesday 17 December, ABC Radio Australia News
The United States has been criticised at a United Nations conference for its opposition to abortion and contraception.
Critics say the US position is jeopardising an international agreement on population and development, and putting the health of millions of women at risk.
The criticism has come from human rights groups and ministers attending a conference in Bangkok of more than 30 countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
United Nations members have negotiated for much of the past decade towards an international agreement in support of family planning and the promotion of safe sex to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS and to prevent unplanned pregnancies.
Supporters of the agreement say a deal was
ready to be signed until the United States objected to some clauses
that implied support for abortion and contraception that the Bush
administration opposes.
By MEGAN DOHERTY
Canberra will be softer on water cheats than Queanbeyan as the first mandatory water restrictions in 36 years started at midnight last night .
There are already fears that without good rain the restrictions could stay for more than a year, until the end of next summer. Both the ACT Government and Queanbeyan City Council introduced the level one restrictions on the hottest day in almost two years in Canberra.
Tuggeranong reached 36.8 degrees, while
Canberra airport got to 36.7 degrees yesterday. The only hotter
day was January 24, 2001, when the mercury got to 39.9 degrees.
Wednesday, 6 November 2002, Associated Press (USA)
The American State Department said on Wednesday that it reserved the right to decide whether to contribute to World Health Organization research on medication that induces abortions.
Representative Carolyn Maloney, (Democrat-New York), and eight other members of the House wrote last week to Secretary of State Colin Powell complaining that about $3 million for the Human Reproduction Programme had been frozen because of anti- abortion activists' objections.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said spending for WHO had not been frozen. But he also said, "We haven't defined exactly where it (the $3 million) is going to be spent." "It's available to be spent on reproductive health activities that are consistent with U.S. law," Boucher said. WHO has many programmes and the United States is deciding how to spend its money under the law, he said.
The lawmakers told Powell that the department's interpretation of the law "exceeds even the broadest reading" of it. In fact, they said, the State Department had investigated and determined there was no evidence the programme was being used for coerced abortions in China.
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Tuesday 3 Dec 2002 , ABC News Online ALP leader Simon Crean says shadow cabinet''s proposed new asylum seeker policy will speed up claims.
Labor released its long awaited immigration policy, promising a United States-style green card in an effort to crack down on illegal workers.
Opposition Leader Simon Crean also promised shorter periods of mandatory detention for asylum seekers, and said they could be released to live in supervised hostels once they had passed security and health checks.
Mr Crean said Labor would also speed up the processing of asylum seekers, with 90 per cent of claims to be dealt with inside 90 days.
By Mark Metherell and Kelly Burke Friday, December 6 2002, Sydney Morning Herald
Legislation allowing the destruction of human embryos for research purposes was passed by the Senate yesterday.It rejected demands from across the political spectrum to introduce tighter controls.
After a conscience vote debate lasting 46 hours, the Senate voted 45 to 26 to allow the landmark law which would open the way for the use of embryonic stem cells in developing potential treatments for a range of lethal diseases, including diabetes and motor neurone disease.
Opponents of the Research Involving Human Embryos Bill included four government frontbenchers, two of them senior ministers, Nick Minchin and Richard Alston.
The National Party Senate Leader, Ron Boswell, the leader of the Australian Greens, Bob Brown, and eight Labor senators also voted against the bill. Several opponents damned the legislation as leaving the fate of human embryos in the hands of commercial interests and raised the possibility of challenging the legislation in the High Court.
At least 461 women were killed by family members
in Pakistan in 2002, the country's independent Human Rights Commission
says. So-called "honour killings" are up by nearly 25% on last year's reported total of 372, its latest figures show.
The commission urged greater protection for women, and said at least as many had been raped as killed in the last year.
Most honour crimes are carried out by men who believe their actions will defend the reputation of their family. In the southern province of Sindh alone there were more than 300 honour killings, the report said. And some 161 women or girls were killed by relatives in the central province of Punjab.
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