News from Down Under

Maxine McKew claims victory in Bennelong

Law will recognise gay unions: "...Labor is unlikely to block a proposal by the ACT to legally recognise same-sex couples - a plan that was repeatedly stymied by the Howard Government."

UN report points finger at Australia: "If every person on Earth created as much pollution as the average Australian, we would need another six planets to cope, a United Nations' report says."

Greenhouse gases: we are among worst polluters: "New research shows our power stations are the world's highest per capita producers of carbon dioxide."

But! It's hard being green and lean: "The average household won't have a lot of trouble making adjustments to their homes, by insulating them and switching to renewable energy sources, such as gas or solar hot water. But people on low incomes will. They can't take advantage of government grants, for solar hot water systems for example, because the capital expenditure that's required is still beyond their capacity."

Randomness

Christ On A Bike

Via qthewetsprocket: Battle of the Planets sounds better in Geordie. No, seriously, it does.

legionseagle has Top Ten Hints For Stopping An Awkward Situation Turning Into an Multi-Part Farce. Has to be read to be believed, really.

Hothead Paisan calendar!!! SQUEE!!!

(no subject)

What does it mean when God doesn't look like you?

Qatif rape case

From abcnews.go.com: Saudi Rape Victim Tells Her Story: "The criminals started talking about it [the rape] in my neighborhood. They thought my husband would divorce me. They wanted to ruin my reputation. Slowly my husband started to know what had happened. Four months later, we started a case. My family heard about the case. My brother hit me and tried to kill me."

From www.nytimes.com, Saudi Rape Case Spurs Calls for Reform. The female victim and her lawyer have denied the Justice Ministry's claims that she and the male victim were having sex in his car when the rapists attacked them.

From Human Rights Watch, Saudi Arabia: Ministry of Justice should Stop Targeting Rape Victim: "First, they attempted to silence this young woman, and now they’re trying to demonize her in the eyes of the Saudi public." HRW calls for the removal of an appeals judge who told a newspaper he would have sentenced her to death.

Summary of the case from the Crossroads Arabia blog.

Commentary from the Improvisations: Arab Woman Progressive Voice blog: Happy Kingdom Rape Case Update: "In other words, the court doesn't distinguish between voluntary sex and forced sex. A woman (and theoretically a man) who chooses to have sex outside marriage is as much of a criminal as the men who raped her, if not more so."

More generally, from www.turkishdailynews.com.tr: Saudi women stifled by stringent restrictions

Add your name to UNIFEM's campaign against violence against women worldwide.