Clipmarks | Apec Clips

Sydney brothels say Pope's visit will give business a leg-up

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 17:14:26 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: They hit the news big time during the APEC conference.

SYDNEY (AFP) — As Sydney prepares for a visit by Pope Benedict XVI and hundreds of thousands of Catholics, the city's brothels are readying themselves for an expected surge in demand for sex.

Any time Australia's biggest city hosts a major event -- from the 2003 Rugby World Cup to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit last year -- it is boomtime for the sex industry, insiders say.

And with 225,000 foreign and Australian pilgrims expected in Sydney for six-days of events celebrating the Catholic faith from July 15-20, they expect World Youth Day to be no different.

Sydney brothel Xclusive is putting on extra workers to provide sexual favours to lonely tourists and Sydneysiders during event.

"We will get a lot of tourists, pilgrims and we will still get the curious," a spokeswoman for the Bondi Junction bordello told AFP.

"The World Council of Churches, when they had their congress in Canberra back in the 1990s, that was the best business period ever.

Tags: man, can, not, live, on

Youth Day laws 'undermine basic rights'

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 08:46:06 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: Seems the Catholics feel more threatened than the APEC mob. "If I were to wear a t-shirt proclaiming that World Youth Day is a waste of public money in a World Youth Day-declared area, and I refuse to remove it when an officer, an authorised officer of the Rural Fire Service asks me to do so, then I'm potentially committing a criminal offence," she said.

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

The New South Wales Bar Association says new regulations for World Youth Day undermine basic rights and are an affront to freedom of speech.

Under the new regulations, people who refuse to stop engaging in conduct that causes annoyance or inconvenience to pilgrims can be arrested and fined up to $5,500.

The same provision did not apply during last year's APEC Summit in Sydney.

The association says the terms are too vague and the penalties are excessive.

It says if existing laws are considered sufficient to regulate conduct at events like the Mardi Gras or the Rugby World Cup, they should be good enough to cover World Youth Day.

The Bar Association has also accused the Government of avoiding public scrutiny by creating a criminal offence by regulation, rather than making it an Act of Parliament.

It says the NSW Government is trying to restrict freedom of speech.

Tags: peace, on, earth, (from a cattletick)

15,000 pilgrims to pump up to $400,000 into economy

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:02:22 GMT

clipped by: greg naylor
clipper's remarks: Mr Joyce, whose parents Don and Brenda Joyce run Wangaratta Coachlines, estimated around $400,000 would be spent in the local community.

"We believe this event will provide a fantastic boost for the local business community as we are spending dollars locally, rather than bringing everything into the town from external locations," he said.

Equipment hire, catering, food and beverage, and fuel is being sourced locally, with several people employed as venue managers, and some 50 to 60 volunteers to be recruited from local parishes, schools and community groups.

Mr Joyce, who has previously worked on the Commonwealth Games, World Swimming Championships and last year’s APEC meeting, said the event, which is expected to draw more than 220,000 pilgrims, has been a big challenge.

Clip Source: nenews.com.au

POPE Benedict XVI will help deliver as much as $400,000 to Wangaratta’s economy next month.

Around 15,000 pilgrims will visit the city as they make their way to Sydney to join his holiness to celebrate their Catholic faith at World Youth Day celebrations from July 15 to 20.

Wangaratta, together with Holbrook and Goulburn, have been chosen as official pilgrim rest areas along the Hume Freeway.

World Youth Day transport program manager, Matthew Joyce, said some 500 buses transporting approximately 15,000 domestic and international pilgrims, from over 80 countries, will spend time in Wangaratta over a 12 day period.

"They’ll briefly rest, purchase food and drink, take part in a pilgrim prayer experience and then continue on their journey," Mr Joyce said.

"Working in conjunction with the Rural City of Wangaratta, we have selected the Wangaratta Racecourse as the location for the rest area.

Bush boost was a Bush bust; epidemic of unintended regime change

Sun, 30 Dec 2007 07:56:41 GMT

clipped by: sylviadafox

Clip Source: www.newyorker.com

in early September, Bush decided to drop in on the annual summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group to give his old mate an electoral boost. The event, which officially described itself as “the most significant international gathering of an economic kind that Australia has hosted,” was supposed to be the zenith of Howard’s premiership. It turned out to be the nadir. He was humiliated when Kevin Rudd chatted with the President of China in perfect Mandarin. He was humiliated when a popular TV satire troupe called the Chaser mounted a fake motorcade, flying a Canadian flag and featuring a rented limo with an actor dressed as Osama bin Laden in the back seat, and got within ten yards of Bush’s hotel, making a mockery of an elaborate, war-on-terror-inspired security lockdown that had encased downtown Sydney in a “ring of steel.” Bush, for his part, made a fool of himself (and, by extension, of his host) by calling APEC “OPEC” and Australian troops “Austrian troops.”

BALI: People Power Confronts Climate Change

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 02:28:15 GMT

clipped by: linden_marie
clipper's remarks: more......

The world is used to letting the US have its way, but not this time. The assembled delegations let loose a chorus of boos. Nation after nation took the floor and sounded the chords of outrage. Just like hundreds of thousands of Avaaz members told them to do, our leaders stood firm.

Faced with this united front, the American representative asked to take the floor once more, and said simply, "The United States will join the consensus."

Clip Source: www.avaaz.org

Bali: People Power Confronts Climate Change

Over 300,000 Avaaz Members Mobilize in 72 Hours

THE STAKES - A Year of Campaigns Lead to Bali

January - 'wake up call'

February - Environment Ministers's summit

June - The G8 summit

July - Live Earth

September - APEC Summit

THE PRESSURE - Bringing the Global Voice to Bali

Our mission was simple: Bring the voice of the world's people directly into the summit. This was no easy task, as high level summits like this one are almost designed to be insulated from public opinion. But by the end, few governments if any had not heard our voice.

THE CRISIS - US, Canada, Japan Block Consensus

Then, with just a few days left, three countries -- the US, Canada, and Japan -- moved to block the consensus,

THE RESPONSE - A Global People Power Moment

Avaaz members immediately sprang into action in the countries where rapid pressure was needed the most.

THE RESULT - The Climate Wreckers Back Down

people-powered movement to save our environment is stirring

just the beginning.

Tags: climate change, people power, avaaz, bali

Howard's fault, says Costello

Sat, 01 Dec 2007 11:04:25 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: Don't you love the unselfish way they slaughter each other after an election loss.

Clip Source: www.smh.com.au

THE Liberals were continuing to play the blame game last night as Peter Costello handed John Howard responsibility for the party's massive electoral defeat.

The Treasurer, who aspired to be prime minister, was denied his opportunity after Mr Howard refused to retire despite diminishing support in cabinet.

Mr Costello never challenged for the Liberal leadership and, a day after the Coalition's big election defeat, retired to the back bench, declining to lead the Liberals in opposition.

Mr Costello said on the ABC the Coalition could have "neutered" Kevin Rudd's message of new leadership if Mr Howard had stepped aside. "We could have neutered that appeal of Labor if we had a fresher face, but we didn't," he said.

He also questioned why Mr Howard had asked the outgoing Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, to canvass cabinet ministers about their support for the Prime Minister during the APEC meeting in Sydney.

Tags: politics

World poll tolls death knell for global warming denialists

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 12:46:49 GMT

clipped by: Wadard
clipper's remarks: I really like my BBC climate change news feed I embedded into my Firefox browser. Love it.

For example, coming up for quick air during a hard stint working, I mouseover the feed icon, to catch up on GW headlines of news pieces I may have missed over the last three weeks or so.

Seems I missed a sweet moment of poignancy when Howard was hosting his fascist-fence APEC green-bath with Bush, selling us not just a non-solution to global warming, but an irritant.

How else do you describe "aspirational goals"?

Anyway, it seems the UN was finding out the rest of the world has moved on from the recalcitrance of the fossil-fuel friendly Coalition of the Unwilling:

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Large majorities in many countries now believe human activity is causing global warming, a BBC World Service poll suggests.

More than 22,000 people were surveyed in 21 countries and the results show a great deal of agreement on the issue.

An average of 79% of respondents to the BBC survey agreed that "human activity, including industry and transportation, is a significant cause of climate change".

If we do not act now, the impact of climate change will be devastating

Ban Ki-moon
UN Secretary General

UN chief urges climate action

Mapping climate change

SEE THE FULL REPORT

Climate change: global poll [1.02MB]

VIEWS ON CLIMATE CHANGE

Major action needed: 65%

Modest action later: 25%

No action needed: 6%

Source: BBC World Service poll

Q&A: Climate change

However, US President George W Bush was not present. Instead, he is hosting a meeting of 16 "major emitter" countries in Washington on Thursday and Friday.

Tags: global warming denialism

The Gentlemen's Club

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 11:15:03 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: A clip from Manic Times, which is a new Australian site. May appeal to Onion readers and those who have had enough onions.

Clip Source: www.manictimes.com.au

You wouldn’t want to piss off John Coatsworth in the playground. Coatsworth, Acting Dean for the School of International and Public Affairs at New York’s Columbia University, has managed to incite controversy this week by allowing the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to speak at the Ivy League institution.

With most Americans in uproar about Ahmadinejad’s ideas – he has declared the Holocaust a “myth” and that Israel should be “wiped off the map” - it strikes us here at the Village Idiot as rather big words from a little man. And little men usually get their comeuppance. You hear me, Tom Cruise?

On the plus side, arrangements for Ahmadinejad are less stringent than what Sydney had to endure during APEC. Idiot assumes the Americans have figured that one dangerous world leader isn’t worth the hassle that twenty-two were.

Tags: political satire

Peace by Debate and not Western Military Intervention, thank you...

Sun, 30 Sep 2007 10:09:45 GMT

clipped by: suzikoh
clipper's remarks: This makes sense... if the final objective is peace....
No call for for the cowboy bull-dozer army or other belligerent nations in need of a gymnasium for thier youth to let off steam..... Let them work off their excess energy and weight doing social work and cleaning up their own nation's messes...

Clip Source: publish.indymedia.org

Prepare to Celebrate Peace

Paul Sayers 30 Sep 2007 05:51 GMT

At the recent APEC conference the South Korean President gave voice to a sentiment all who live in the Far East understand. The issue of the two Koreas is a local concern. The path to a formal signing of the peace between the DPRK and the United Nations has been boldly bulldozed through. Regional powers will cooperate and contain any regional threat to stability, in cooperation with the global community of nations.

The issue of nuclear proliferation can be contained without inducing meltdown in North Korea. Destabilising North Korea to the point of collapse or a hoped for but greatly over estimated wishful thought for regime change will lead to a regional refugee catastrophe of biblical proportions that will have severe knock-on effects through the entire global economy.

Tags: debate, neighborhood interests

Australia-Japan-US alliance worries Russia

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 04:09:53 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: Both Russia and America become totally paranoid when they sense the other getting an upper hand

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

A senior Russian official has expressed concern about growing military cooperation between Australia, Japan and the United States.

Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov says the strengthening of ties between Australia, Japan and the US has got Russia's attention. He says it is a narrow alliance and as such is a worry.

The three countries held their first tri-lateral meeting on the sidelines of the APEC summit earlier this month.

Among the issues discussed were the Middle East and cooperation on defence.

The security dialogue set off fears that it would be seen as a move to contain China. That suggestion was dismissed by the Prime Minister John Howard.

Russia says it is not hiding its concerns about the talks and has discussed the matter with officials from Australia and the United States.

Tags: politics, russia

Consensus or cover: Asia-Pacific leaders gamble on climate change

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 13:55:03 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie

Clip Source: www.iht.com

The modest, and critics say flawed, agreement approved over the weekend contained two initiatives for improving energy efficiency and planting more trees. It put aside targets for cutting carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions

China, which if not already the biggest polluter will be soon, agreed to a goal that also applies to rich countries.

China, Indonesia and other poorer APEC members like Kyoto because it holds richer countries to this higher standard and exempts developing countries from emissions targets.

Tags: environment, i-climate change, i-policy, i-agreement

APEC (OPEC?) Magic

Mon, 10 Sep 2007 01:47:42 GMT

clipped by: billarming
clipper's remarks: Another "magician's misdirection"

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

"The Sydney declaration with its emphasis on aspirational targets will not avoid dangerous climate change," he said.

"Worse, by muddying the waters, by creating the appearance that there's some alternative to the extension and strengthening of the Kyoto protocol, the Sydney declaration is actually an unhelpful development in international affairs.

"And that why we have called it the 'Sydney distraction'."

Greenpeace spokesman Ben Pearson says binding targets are required.

Tags: politics

Protest asks Apec spouses to withhold sex

Sun, 09 Sep 2007 23:45:14 GMT

clipped by: kkcapricorn
clipper's remarks: Whatever works.

Clip Source: www.stuff.co.nz

Spouses of world leaders attending the Apec summit in Sydney have been urged to withhold sex from their partners until they commit to stopping the war in Iraq and reaching an agreement on greenhouse targets.

As nine Apec spouses enjoyed lunch at the Bondi Icebergs Club today, NSW Greens Disability Spokesperson and keen surfer Ian Cohen paddled out off Bondi Beach in his own protest on the sidelines of the summit.

His surfboard had the word "Lysistrata" - an ancient Greek play about sex strikes - painted on it.

"Aristophanes wrote this tale (Lysistrata) about women who had grown weary of war," Mr Cohen said.

"Led by Lysistrata (the play's heroine), they succeeded where other aspirational strategies had failed.

"My goal was to place firmly in the minds of the political partners this ancient Greek play which features the women of Greece going on a sex strike to prevent their husbands going to war.

"It worked in ancient Greece, it can work today

Tags: protest, war, greek plays, sex

Commissioner defends APEC arrest of 52yo dad

Sun, 09 Sep 2007 11:19:57 GMT

clipped by: tabsey

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

New South Wales Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione has defended officers who arrested a 52-year-old man after he walked in front of an APEC motorcade on Friday.

The Commissioner says accountant Greg McLeay was arrested after he allegedly assaulted a police officer.

But Mr McLeay has told the Sun Herald he was taking his 11-year-old son to lunch in the city and a police officer began yelling at him as he crossed the street to avoid a security cordon.

"I was pushed up against the wall and then I was thrown to the ground and they kept telling me to put my hands behind my back. There must have been four of them pinning me to the ground.

"I was frogmarched down to the hotel's underground car park and then they tried to put another pair of cuffs on me. I was just crossing the road. Never have I felt so mortified, embarrassed and invaded. I feel violated."

In television footage aired last night, a police officer is seen repeatedly punching a protester.

Tags: apec, politics, police brutality

APEC leaders agree to 'non binding' climate change pact

Sat, 08 Sep 2007 21:26:04 GMT

clipped by: Togo
clipper's remarks: These are modest goals to curb global warming.

According to Greenpeace energy campaigner Catherine Fitzpatrick."If the APEC statement is the platform for future action on climate change, then the world is in trouble."

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

activists dismissed as ineffective the program adopted by the presidents of the United States, China, Russia and leaders of other Asia-Pacific economies

But it sets a precedent because it applies to all of the group's mix of rich and developing members, and could influence upcoming U.N. negotiations on climate change.

to devise a successor to the U.N.-backed Kyoto Protocol when it expires in 2012.

a goal to reduce "energy intensity" — the amount of energy needed to produce a dollar of gross domestic product — 25 percent by 2030.

The only other concrete goal was to increase forest cover in the region by at least 50 million acres by 2020 — enough to absorb about 11 percent of the greenhouse gases the world emitted in 2004

The energy intensity target sets a rate that most economies are naturally meeting as they get richer and shift out of power-intensive manufacturing

At APEC, developing countries got richer members to reaffirm that they should bear most of the costs in solving global warming.

Tags: world politics, environment, climate change