The latest news from around the world.
Whaling case kicks off in The Hague
LONDON: It’s been a long time coming but finally Australian lawyers will stand before the 16 judges of the International Court of Justice and ask them to ban Japan from harpooning whales in the Southern Ocean.
Australia puts its opening argument in The Hague on Wednesday more than six years after then opposition leader Kevin Rudd pledged that a future Labor government would take legal action against Tokyo.
Rudd was duly elected prime minister in November 2007 but it took another 18 months before Canberra instituted proceedings in mid-2010.
A few months later Rudd was deposed by Julia Gillard but Labor has pushed ahead with its case that Japan’s scientific whaling program is contrary to its international obligations under the whaling convention.
In the meantime clashes between Japan’s whaling fleet and Sea Shepherd activists have become a dramatic staple of the southern hemisphere summer when hard news is often in short supply.
Rudd knew being tough on whaling was popular with the public but he was nervous about damaging diplomatic and trade relations with Tokyo.
Which is why Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus was stressing the long-standing relationship between the two countries this week.
“Australia and Japan are friends,” he said on Sunday.
“It’s absolutely appropriate that that we resolve a dispute between friends in a court.”
Australia is sending a team of legal experts including solicitor-general Justin Gleeson to the hearings which will run over three weeks.
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Dreyfus will head to the Netherlands for the third and final week.
He pointed out on Sunday that Australia’s views are well-known.
“We want commercial whaling to stop and that includes the so-called scientific whaling program that Japan has been carrying on for many years,” he said.
Australia wants the ICJ judges to order Tokyo to stop its JARPA II research program and “revoke any authorisations, permits or licences” to hunt whales in the Antarctic.
Fairfax has reported Japan will also challenge the ICJ’s jurisdiction to hear the case.
Tokyo will reply to Australia’s submission from next Tuesday.
New Zealand, which has been granted permission to intervene, will offer its anti-whaling “observations” the following Monday.
Dreyfus is hopeful of a decision before the end of the year and “optimistic” Canberra will prevail.
States can’t appeal ICJ decisions but the Attorney-General nevertheless pointed out this week that “we’ll abide by the result”. – AAP
Race case murder trial under way in US
SANFORD, FLORIDA: The murder trial has started of a volunteer neighbourhood watchman who shot dead an unarmed black teenager, inflaming racial tensions across the United States.
George Zimmerman, 29, has pleaded not guilty, saying he shot Trayvon Martin, 17, in self-defence on the rainy night of February 26, 2012 after the teen knocked him to the ground and started bashing his head against the footpath.
Martin’s supporters accuse Zimmerman of racial profiling, saying he ignored police advice and pursued Martin, who was unarmed and had no criminal record.
The case ignited widespread protests after police initially declined to charge Zimmerman, and sparked debate over Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” gun law, which allows firing in self-defence even when fleeing is an option.
Prosecutor John Guy sent a jolt through the courtroom with his opening statement on Monday using words he said were uttered by Zimmerman in a call to a police dispatcher as he followed Martin through the gated community.
“F***ing punks,” he said, quoting Zimmerman, telling jurors that the offensive language revealed the watchman’s attitude toward the teen.
“When Zimmerman saw Trayvon, he didn’t see a young man walking home. Instead, he profiled, pursued and killed Trayvon,” he said.
But defence lawyer Don West said the shooting, while tragic, was not murder.
“The evidence will show that there are no monsters here. It is a sad story,” he said.
“George Zimmerman is not guilty of murder … he shot Trayvon Martin in self-defence after being viciously attacked.”
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Homophobia on the rise in Africa: Amnesty
JOHANNESBURG: Homophobia in sub-Saharan Africa has reached “dangerous levels” with more countries passing laws criminalising same-sex relations, Amnesty International reports.
The rights group said homophobic attitudes and attacks on gays were in some cases “fuelled by key politicians and religious leaders who should be using their position to fight discrimination and promote equality”.
In some African countries political leaders target sexual orientation issues to distract attention from their overall human rights record.”
According to the report, Africa’s strict penal codes were initially imposed by colonial rulers, based on Christian moral values.
“African people were encouraged by the colonising power… to view dislike and fear of those expressing normative sexual orientation as a sign of progress and civilisation.”
Homosexuality is illegal in 38 countries in the region, with South Africa the only country that recognises gay rights and allows same-sex marriage.
However, even protection by the country’s liberal laws has not stopped harassment.
Black lesbians in Africa’s largest economy are commonly targeted for attacks known as “corrective rape” by men trying to “cure” their homosexuality.
Meanwhile in Zambia two men Philip Mubiana, 21, and James Mwape, 20, are standing trial for charges of sodomy, a crime that carries a 14-year sentence.
In 2010 Malawi drew worldwide condemnation for the jailing of a gay couple for 14 years with hard labour for sodomy.
During the trial, Malawi’s President Bingu wa Mutharika called homosexuality “evil and very bad before the eyes of God”.
Mutharika later bowed to international pressure and pardoned the men.
The report titled Making Love a Crime says in the last five years South Sudan and Burundi have introduced new laws criminalising same-sex relations, while Uganda, Liberia and Nigeria are pushing bills that would toughen existing penalties.
Between June and November 2012, at least seven people in the region, five of them lesbians, were murdered in hate-motivated crimes, it said. – AFP
Snowden took job to get spying evidence
HONG KONG: Edward Snowden took up a position at a US government defence contractor specifically to gather evidence on Washington’s surveillance programs, he has told the South China Morning Post.
He joined Booz Allen Hamilton to collect proof about the US National Security Agency’s secret programs with the aim of releasing the details to the media, he said in the interview on June 12 which has been published on Tuesday.
The publication of the admission comes after Snowden left Hong Kong for Moscow, with US officials angrily demanding that Russia hand him over for trial, and slamming China for letting him go.
“My position with Booz Allen Hamilton granted me access to lists of machines all over the world the NSA hacked,” he told the Post.
“That is why I accepted that position about three months ago.”
The newspaper said when he was asked if he specifically went to Booz Allen Hamilton to gather evidence of surveillance, he replied: “Correct on Booz.”
The company sacked Snowden after he leaked the details of the US internet and phone data surveillance programs to the press, saying he had violated the company’s code of ethics.
Snowden was employed by Booz Allen Hamilton to help maintain the NSA’s secret computer networks in Hawaii, and left with what he says was a large quantity of classified documents related to its surveillance programs.
The 30-year-old technician fled Hawaii on May 20 and flew to Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous Chinese territory, from where he proceeded to leak details of secret US intelligence programs to international media outlets.
He has asked Ecuador for asylum. – AFP
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