Tuesday, November 15, 2005

People rallied in 300 locations across Australia today to protest the Federal Government’s proposed changes to industrial relations laws, WorkChoices. According to police, around 150,000 people congregated in Melbourne, from where speeches were broadcast throughout the country. In Sydney, thirty thousand gathered in Belmore Park and Martin Place to watch the broadcast before marching to Chifley Square.

Sharan Burrow, President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), said that under the changes many working conditions would be under threat, including “penalty rates, public holidays, overtime pay, control over rostered hours, shift penalties, even 4 weeks annual leave.” The government has claimed, despite various expert assesment to the contrary, and opposition from major Australian religious and charity organisations and some concern from its own backbench, that the IR changes will improve the economy and ultimately benefit workers, and dismissed the protests as having “little effect”.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Leaked diplomatic cables between Australia and the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, have raised controversy in the Australian community. The documents were released by the whistle-blowing website Wikileaks. The cables between the then prime minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd, and the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, revealed that China may need to be forced to integrate into the international community. The secret documents also contained information of a conversation between Clinton and Rudd in Washington. In the interview, Rudd stated that China was “paranoid” about Taiwan and Tibet.

The sensitive documents may place a strain on diplomatic relations between Australia and China. Despite this, Kevin Rudd reassured the public that the “robust” relationship between Australia and China wouldn’t sustain any substantial damage to the relations between the two countries. At this stage, Prime Minister Julia Gillard has provided no further comment on the matter, other than to ensure that the relationship between China and Australia would allow opinions to be expressed without any threat to either side.

At the heart of the leaks is Australian founder, Julian Assange. Wikileaks have now released 821 of their promised 251,287 US diplomatic cables. The cables are being released on a stage-by-stage basis. Earlier this week, Assange was arrested on suspicion of rape in London under a Swedish arrest warrant placed on him from a court in Stockholm on November 18.

Wednesday, February 2, 2005

Eben Moglen, Columbia University Law Professor, will head the newSoftware Freedom Law Center (SFLC). An initial 4 million dollars has been provided by Open Source Development Labs (OSDL) to fund the project.

The law center will provide free legal service for open source projects and developers. In 2004 OSDL established a separate $10 million Linux Legal Defense Fund providing legal support for Linus Torvalds, Linux kernel creator and end user companies subjected to Linux-related litigation by the SCO Group. The new law center will not be affiliated with the OSDL.

“This is about taking care of the goose that laid the golden egg and not letting wolves come in the middle of the night and steal it away,” Moglen said during a press conference. “This is a legal firm not involved so much in litigating and defending as it will be for counseling and advising and nurturing non-profits and to prevent millions of dollars in litigation.”

Moglen will serve as chairman and director-counsel of the non-profit organization. Also on board as directors are: Lawrence Lessig, law professor at Stanford Law School; Daniel Weitzner, director of the World Wide Web Consortium‘s technology and society activities; and Diane Peters, general counsel at the OSDL. Daniel Ravicher, executive director of the Public Patent Foundation, will help manage as legal director.

Moglen, one of the world.s leading experts on copyright law as applied to software, will run the new Law Center from its headquarters in New York City. The Law Center will initially have two full-time intellectual property attorneys on staff and expects to expand to four attorneys later this year. Initial clients for the Law Center include the Free Software Foundation and the Samba Project.

Other services provided by the SFLC include: asset stewardship, to avoid intellectual property claim conflict; license review and compatibility analysis; legal consulting and lawyer training.

Monday, July 30, 2007

The government department responsible for the health of Canadians, Health Canada, issued a warning to Canadians not to use a brand of toothpaste found to contain “unacceptable levels” of diethylene glycol (DEG).

The toothpaste is branded as India Neem Active Toothpaste with Calcium and is manufactured by Calcutta Chemical Co. Ltd. in India. Although the toothpaste is not approved for sale in Canada, it has been found on store shelves in Western and Atlantic Canada. It is also possible, though not confirmed, that the product may be found in stores across Canada.

Toothpastes that have been approved for sale in Canada will have on the packaging either an eight-digit Drug Identification Number (DIN) or a Natural Product Number (NPN).

Consumers have been advised by Health Canada to discontinue use of the suspect toothpaste and ensure that the product remains out of the reach of children. As per Health Canada instructions, consumers are to return the toothpaste to the store from which they purchased it.

Health Canada describes DEG as “a poisonous chemical used in antifreeze and as a solvent. It may cause nausea, abdominal pain, dizziness, urinary problems, kidney failure, breathing problems, lethargy, convulsions, coma and even death when ingested.” DEG has been used by makers of counterfeit products as a cheaper alternative to using common sweeteners.

To date, Health Canada has not been made aware of anyone becoming sick from using India Neem Active Toothpaste with Calcium.

There is an increased concern for DEG-containing toothpaste with respect to its use by children. While most adults do not ingest toothpaste, it is often swallowed by young children. Chronic exposure to DEG, according to Health Canada, “is a particular concern in specific vulnerable populations such as children and consumers with kidney or liver disease.”

This current warning from Health Canada follows a similar recall of 24 brands of toothpaste from China, including some counterfeit Colgate brands, which were found to contain not only DEG, but also high levels of a harmful bacteria from the Enterobacteriaceae family. Information on the specific genus was not provided.

To obtain more information on the recall, consumers are advised to call Health Canada’s public enquiries line at 1-866-225-0709.