Showing posts with label Sydney. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sydney. Show all posts
Friday, June 27, 2014
First UK Consulate Gay Marriage Takes Place In Sydney
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Almost Two Sydney Women a Week Are Converting to Islam
Such radicalism was highlighted by the death last week in Syria of former Queensland Anglican schoolgirl turned Muslim jihadist Amira Karroum, 22, who is believed to have been killed by rebel fighters in Aleppo alongside her US-born husband Yusuf Ali.
Ms Karroum had adopted an extremist form of the faith, praising terrorist Osama bin Laden and supporting the violent Muslim riots in Sydney in 2012.
The pair were based in Granville before travelling to Syria to fight in December.
Another Granville man, Caner Temel, 22, has been named as the latest Australian victim of the civil war in Syria.
The Australian New Muslim Association estimates two-thirds of the converts they see each year are female, with more than 60 per cent converting because of their husbands or partners.
Julia Moukhallalati was just 18 when she swapped her Orthodox Christian upbringing for the mosques of western Sydney. » | Ben McClellan | Saturday, January 18, 2014
Wednesday, March 06, 2013
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Thursday, April 21, 2011
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Angry and desperate asylum-seekers have torched an immigration detention centre in Sydney, burning nine buildings to the ground after Australian authorities denied some of their requests for refugee status.During a night of rioting, security guards were attacked with fire extinguishers and pelted with roof tiles and timber in one of the most serious eruptions of violence among asylum-seekers in Australia, where the government's policy of indefinite detention is a sensitive political issue.
Riot police had to be called in to quell the protest after the centre's unarmed guards were forced to retreat in the face of the attacks.
About 100 asylum-seekers at the Villawood immigration detention centre, which houses many people whose requests for refuge have been rejected and are pending deportation, climbed onto roofs late at night and began setting fire to buildings.
By daybreak, the fires had been extinguished and the smouldering remains of buildings housing a laundry, kitchen and medical centre could be seen, but the authorities were still struggling to contain the situation within the centre. Police were trying to coax seven asylum seekers from the roof of one building. The group had erected a sign reading "we need help".
The protestors want a meeting with immigration officials, but a spokesman for the department said that would not happen.
Police have warned that the men who took part in the riot could face charges of criminal damage that could further dent their chances of being granted asylum.
But refugee rights groups have said the violence was an act of desperation by people who had been detained for almost two years. » | Bonnie Malkin in Sydney | Thursday, April 21, 2011
Monday, March 01, 2010
THE GUARDIAN: Lie down, heads up, stop smiling' ... photographer Spencer Tunick directs one of his largest ever groups of volunteers for a nude shot on the steps of Sydney Opera House Watch Guardian video >>> | Monday, March 01, 2010
Thursday, October 22, 2009
THE TELEGRAPH: A self-styled Muslim cleric is facing up to 14 years in jail after he was accused of sending hate mail to the families of Australian soldiers killed fighting in Afghanistan.
Police charged a 45-year-old man from Sydney, named in local press as Sheikh Haron, with sending "harassing and offensive letters to family members of soldiers killed whilst serving in Afghanistan."
One letter was reportedly delivered to a grieving widow at her husband's funeral. Another, allegedly written to the family of a commando killed in January, read: "I feel bad that you have lost your son but I don't feel bad that a murderer of innocent civilians has lost his life."
Mr Haron is accused of sending letters to the families of seven soldiers who died in Afghanistan, calling them "criminals", "murderers" and "killers" who were fighting a war of invasion.
He described one of the deceased soldiers, a Jewish man, as a "1,000 times worse" than a pig and a "murderer of innocents."
"Some people don't eat the meat of a pig but they are dirtier than (a) pig," Mr Haron wrote of Private Greg Sher, according to The Australian newspaper.
"What's the point if some people don't eat pork while their behaviour is worse than dirty animals? Why should we call a pig a hero?" he allegedly wrote.
Felix Sher, Greg's father, said the letter deeply shocked his family.
"Anti-semitism isn't something that is strange to us," Mr Sher said.
"However, what really affected us was when we found out it went to people like Breanna Till, and people like that - that's what hurts more. Why would these people be subject to such abuse?" >>> Bonnie Malkin in Sydney | Thursday, October 22, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: The eerie red glare that covered Sydney's sky this morning is a sign of things to come.
As British science fiction writer John Wyndham might have said, when people in Sydney wake up to a sky from Mars, something is seriously wrong somewhere.
All future climate predictions point to a warmer, drier inland and an increase in the unusually strong winds that carried the dust storm from the South Australian border to the east coast.
However, this does not necessarily mean that today's dust storm is a direct product of climate change.
Although weather conditions today are extremely rare, such storms have occasionally hit the east coast before, and any single weather event can be attributed to random factors that could occur with or without the effect of human-induced climate change.
In the nation's interior, dust storms are a daily event.
It is the natural consequence of a very long drought, and the probable onset of another El Nino effect. The storm today is unusual in that particles were carried as far as the coast.
What seems certain is that future dust storms will get more frequent and probably bigger, as the climate warms. Along with other firmly grounded projections such as an increase in bushfires and a drop in rainfall, we can expect more dust storms in the coming decades as a consequence of climate change. >>> Ben Cubby | Wednesday, September 23, 2009
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD:
Photos of Sydney cloaked in red haze: Dust storm swallows Sydney: A dust storm turns Sydney a dramatic red before mellowing to an impermeable golden haze unlike anything ever seen before. Arjun Ramachandran speaks to the Bureau of Meteorology's Barry Hanstrum about the phenomenon and the University of Sydney's Clinical Professor Christine Jenkins about the health risks right now and over the next few days. >>>
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: SYDNEY -- The exiled Uighur activist Beijing blames for inciting recent ethnic violence in China accused the Chinese government on Tuesday of forcing her imprisoned children to say she was responsible for the unrest.
China released a letter Monday it says was penned by close relatives of Rebiya Kadeer -- including two of her children -- blaming her for last month's deadly riots by minority Uighur Muslims in her native Xinjiang, which the government says left 197 people dead and more than 1,700 injured.
But the 62-year-old U.S.-based activist, who arrived in Australia on Tuesday, told reporters in Sydney that the Chinese government forced two of her children to speak against her. They are both in prison in China, where one was convicted of tax evasion and the other of subversion.
"If they .. refused to cooperate with the Chinese government, then their lives would be jeopardized," she said through an interpreter. "In order to live in China, you have to lie."
Ms. Kadeer, who lives in the U.S. state of Virginia, is in Australia to attend the Melbourne International Film Festival, which will feature a documentary about her life. >>> Associated Press | Tuesday, August 04, 2009
TIMES ONLINE: An Australian man has been charged with planning a terrorist act after police today foiled a plot by Islamic extremists to launch a suicide attack on army bases in Sydney and Melbourne.
Three other men are under arrest and a fifth is being questioned after a series of counter-terrorism raids across Melbourne shortly before dawn local time.
Around 400 police officers and members of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) swooped on 19 properties detaining several men, all Australian citizens of Somali and Lebanese background.
Authorities believe the group was at an advanced stage of preparing to storm an Army barracks in retaliation for Australia’s military involvement in Muslim countries. Members of the group had been observed carrying out surveillance on Holsworthy Barracks in Western Sydney and on other Army bases in Victoria.
Electronic surveillance also picked up discussions about how to obtain weapons to carry out what would have been the worst terror attack on Australian soil.
“The men’s intention was to get into the army barracks and kill as many as they could,” Tony Negus, Australian Federal Police acting commissioner said. They were “planning to carry out a suicide terror attack . . . a sustained attack on military personnel until they themselves were killed,” he said.
"This operation has disrupted an alleged terrorist attack that could have claimed many lives," he said. >>> Anne Barrowclough in Sydney | Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
THE TELEGRAPH: A Muslim woman has accused a Sydney bus driver of racism after he told her to take off her headscarf because it was against the law to wear it on board.
Khadijah Ouararhni-Grech was wearing a pink, floral niqab, which covers her hair and lower face, when she tried to board a bus in Greystanes, an outer suburb of the Astralian [sic] city.
"As I was stepping onto the bus the driver said 'You can't get on the bus wearing your mask'," she told the Sydney Daily Telegraph newspaper.
When she explained it was religious dress, the woman said the driver responded: "Sorry, it's the law."
"I told him it wasn't the law and he said 'You have to show me your face,'" she said.
"I said to him, 'There's no difference between me and that lady sitting there who chooses to not wear what I'm wearing'." >>> Bonnie Malkin in Sydney | Friday, July 24, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: ONE of the biggest Islamic schools in Australia will be built in south-western Sydney after Bankstown City Council lost an appeal in the Land and Environment Court.
The decision will allow construction of a 1200-student primary and secondary school in Bass Hill, which has been fought by residents since the land was bought in 2006.
It is one of several applications for Islamic schools that have divided communities in NSW, leading to allegations that residents are using town planning arguments such as traffic to cloak racist sentiment.
Bankstown council first knocked back the proposal in 2007 after residents launched a campaign opposing the project.
The group behind the school, Al Amanah College, appealed against this decision. Last December, Senior Commissioner John Roseth of the court approved the plan to build the school on a 18,000 square metre site at Johnston Road. A child-care centre is also proposed.
Finding for the school, the senior commissioner addressed concerns raised by the council, including traffic flow, noise, ecology, the scale and design of the buildings and its social impact.
The judgement also referred to "the elephant in the courtroom" or "whether the council would have raised quite as many contentions as it did if the application had been for an Anglican school". >>> Elicia Murray | Friday, May 15, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: AN ANCIENT religious enmity is at the centre of a new conflict in the Sydney bikie scene, with a new gang comprised mainly of Sunni Muslims warring with a group of bikies with a Shiite Muslim background. >>> Dylan Welch, Police Reporter | Monday, February 16, 2009
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – Australia) >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback – Australia) >>>
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: Conservative MP Fred Nile says he wants topless bathing banned in NSW to protect Sydney's Muslim and Asian communities.
The Reverend Nile has rejected allegations that prudishness is behind a bill he has prepared to ban nudity, including topless sunbathing, on the state's most popular beaches.
Australia's reputation as a conservative but culturally inclusive sociery [ssic] was at risk of erosion by more liberal overseas visitors, he said.
"Our beaches should be a place where no one is offended, whether it's their religious or cultural views," he said.
"If they've come from a Middle Eastern or Asian country where women never go topless - in fact they usually wear a lot of clothing - I think it's important to respect all the different cultures that make up Australia."
The practice was at risk of raising the ire of Muslim men in particular, Mr Nile said.
"I don't want to have any provocations or disturbances on our public beaches," he said. Topless Ban to Protect Muslims and Asians: Nile >>> Georgina Robinson | Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Hat tip: Dhimmi Watch
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – Australia) >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback – Australia) >>>
Monday, September 22, 2008
JEWISH TELEGRAPHIC AGENCY: A same-sex commitment ceremony was held in a synagogue in Sydney, an Australian first.
Scott Whitmont, 47, and Christopher Whitmont-Stein, 38, stood under a chupah at the Emanuel Synagogue Sunday in front of about 75 guests.
The pair, who had a secular commitment ceremony six years ago, exchanged rings, smashed a glass and walked around each other 3 1/2 times.
The celebration follows a decision in May 2007 by the Council of Progressive Rabbis of Asia, Australia and New Zealand to allow its rabbis to officiate at same-sex commitment ceremonies.
Whitmont-Stein, a registered nurse, converted at Emanuel Synagogue in 2002 under the guidance of Rabbi Jeffery Kamins, who also officiated at Sunday’s ceremony.
“We wanted to be recognized by our community and officiated by our rabbi -- that was important to us,” he told the Sydney Star Observer, a gay newspaper. “We didn’t set out to be poster boys for gay Jewish marriage.”
In a recent letter to congregants, Kamins defended his decision.
“Contemporary knowledge from biology, psychology and other fields has led to a far deeper understanding of human sexuality," he wrote. "Gay or lesbian relationships are not ‘deviant,’ but part of human behavior.”
Kamins noted that Orthodox Judaism would not endorse the violation of Shabbat, “but neither would it shun a person who drove on Shabbat."
Dayenu, a gay and lesbian Jewish group, held a Shabbat dinner Friday night in honor of the couple.
It is still illegal for homosexual couples to marry under Australian law. [Source: JTA] | September 21, 2008
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – Australia) >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback – Australia) >>>
Thursday, April 10, 2008
SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: A SENIOR minister of a Sydney Anglican parish has made an extraordinary attack on the High Court judge Michael Kirby, warning he would face the wrath of God if he remained unrepentant as a gay man.
The rector of St Stephen's Church in Bellevue Hill, the Reverend Richard Lane, denounced the judge for calling himself a Christian Anglican while living in an openly gay relationship and warned as a "messenger, watchman and steward of the Lord in the Anglican Church of Australia", he faced God's judgment.
To call himself a Christian Anglican was a "perversion of truth" and to continue to do so without changing his lifestyle would brand him, like Herod, a "coward, a liar, a deceiver" and a "lawless one".
"I appeal to you to cast yourself on the mercy of Jesus … That is admit your sin, confess your wrongdoing and turn in humble repentance to the Lord Jesus, who alone can forgive you," Mr Lane said. Admit Your Sins to the Lord, Priest Tells Gay Judge >>> By Linda Morris, Religious Affairs Writer | April 10, 2008
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback)
Thursday, November 15, 2007
SYDNEY (AFP) - Santas in Australia's largest city have been told not to use Father Christmas's traditional "ho ho ho" greeting because it may be offensive to women, it was reported Thursday.
Sydney's Santa Clauses have instead been instructed to say "ha ha ha" instead, the Daily Telegraph reported. Santas warned 'ho ho ho' offensive to women (more)
Mark Alexander
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