7 Get Life in Prison for Tunisia’s 2015 Terror Attacks

A lawyer says Tunisian authorities have given seven suspects life in prison and handed out other sentences in the trial over two separate 2015 attacks in Tunisia that killed some 60 people, mainly tourists.

Samir Ben Amor, the lawyer for one of the 44 defendants, said the verdicts were handed down Saturday for the deadly attack against the country’s famous Bardo Museum and a massacre at a popular seaside resort.

He says other defendants received jail terms ranging from 16 years to six months, while the charges against 27 of the suspects were dismissed. No one got the maximum penalty of capital punishment.

Islamic State militants claimed responsibility for the attacks, which, along with an attack on the Imperial Hotel, devastated the country’s vital tourism sector and prompted foreign governments to issue travel warnings for Tunisia.

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US-backed Fighters Launch Final Push to Defeat IS in Syria

U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian forces said Saturday they have launched a final push to defeat the Islamic State group in the last tiny pocket the extremists hold in eastern Syria.

Syrian Democratic Forces spokesman Mustafa Bali tweeted that the offensive began Saturday after more than 20,000 civilians were evacuated from the IS-held area in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour. An SDF statement said the offensive was focused on the village of Baghouz.

The SDF, backed by U.S. air power, has driven IS from large swaths of territory it once controlled in northern and eastern Syria, confining the extremists to a small pocket of land near the border with Iraq.

Scores of IS fighters are now besieged in a small area consisting of two villages, or less than once percent of the self-styled caliphate that once sprawled across large parts of Syria and Iraq. In recent weeks, thousands of civilians, including families of IS fighters, left the area controlled by the extremists.

“The decisive battle began tonight to finish what remains of Daesh terrorists,” Bali said, using an Arabic acronym to refer to IS.

U.S. President Donald Trump predicted Wednesday that IS will have lost all of its territory by next week.

“It should be formally announced sometime, probably next week, that we will have 100 percent of the caliphate,” Trump told representatives of a 79-member, U.S.-led coalition fighting IS.

U.S. officials have said in recent weeks that IS has lost 99.5 percent of its territory and is holding on to fewer than 5 square kilometers in Syria, or less than 2 square miles, in the villages of the Middle Euphrates River Valley, where the bulk of the fighters are concentrated.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that since the SDF began its offensive against IS in the area on Sept. 10, some 1,279 IS gunmen and 678 SDF fighters have been killed. It said 401 civilians, including 144 children and teenagers, have been killed since then.

Earlier Saturday, IS militants attacked SDF fighters near an oil field in the country’s east, triggering airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition.

The Observatory said 12 IS gunmen attacked the SDF and clashed with them for several hours until most of the attackers were killed early Saturday. It said 10 attackers were killed, while two managed to flee.

Other activist collectives, including the Step news agency, reported the attack, saying some of the attackers used motorcycles rigged with explosives.

The fighting was concentrated near al-Omar field, Syria’s largest.

 

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Sudan Says it Will Free Reporters Detained During Protests

Sudan says it will release all the journalists it detained for covering protests in recent weeks calling for the resignation of President Omar al-Bashir.

State media say the reporters will be released Saturday. Activists, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, say the move is intended to defuse public anger over the government’s response to the demonstrations. They say at least 16 journalists are behind bars.

The demonstrations were sparked by an economic crisis but quickly escalated into calls for the overthrow of al-Bashir, who seized power in a 1989 military coup. The doctor’s union, which supports the protests, says at least 57 people have been killed.

Activists and opposition figures have called on parliament to hold an emergency session condemning the government’s use of force.

 

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Sudan Says it Will Free Reporters Detained During Protests

Sudan says it will release all the journalists it detained for covering protests in recent weeks calling for the resignation of President Omar al-Bashir.

State media say the reporters will be released Saturday. Activists, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, say the move is intended to defuse public anger over the government’s response to the demonstrations. They say at least 16 journalists are behind bars.

The demonstrations were sparked by an economic crisis but quickly escalated into calls for the overthrow of al-Bashir, who seized power in a 1989 military coup. The doctor’s union, which supports the protests, says at least 57 people have been killed.

Activists and opposition figures have called on parliament to hold an emergency session condemning the government’s use of force.

 

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More Violence in Paris as ‘Yellow Vests’ Keep Marching

Thousands of French “yellow vest” demonstrators marched on Saturday for their 13th weekend of action, with scuffles in Paris and a demonstrator’s hand mangled by a small explosive.

 
There was also an overnight arson attack on the Brittany residence of the National Assembly head – though no immediate link was made to the actions against President Emmanuel Macron.

The “yellow vest” demonstrators, named for high-visibility car jackets, began in mid-November over fuel taxes then broadened into a more general revolt against a political class they view as out of touch with common people.

In Paris, several thousand marched on Saturday beside symbols of power such as the National Assembly and Senate. Though mainly peaceful, some protesters threw objects at security forces, a scooter and a police van were set on fire, and some shop windows were smashed.

One participant’s hand was severely injured when he tried to pick up a so-called “sting-ball grenade” used by police to disperse crowds with teargas, a police source told Reuters. Another man had blood streaming down his face in front of a line of riot police.

The Interior Ministry put the total number of protesters around France at 12,000, including 4,000 in Paris. The police source, however, said numbers were higher, with 21,000 demonstrators taking part in rallies outside Paris.

“We’re not children, we’re adults,” said Hugues Salone, a computer engineer from Paris, among the chanting and placard-waving protesters. “We really want to assert our choices, and not the choices of the politicians who do not live up to them.”

Leaders of the “yellow vest” movement have denounced the police for injuring protesters, but have also struggled to contain violence from their own lines.

On some previous weekends, Paris has been a battleground. Politicians from across the political spectrum condemned the arson attack on the home of Richard Ferrand, a close ally of Macron and president of parliament’s lower house.

He published pictures on Twitter of a scorched living room, saying police found materials soaked in fuel. Ferrand said criminal intent was the likely cause, though the perpetrators’ identity was unclear.

“Nothing justifies intimidations and violence towards an elected official of the Republic,” Macron tweeted in relation to the incident.

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More Violence in Paris as ‘Yellow Vests’ Keep Marching

Thousands of French “yellow vest” demonstrators marched on Saturday for their 13th weekend of action, with scuffles in Paris and a demonstrator’s hand mangled by a small explosive.

 
There was also an overnight arson attack on the Brittany residence of the National Assembly head – though no immediate link was made to the actions against President Emmanuel Macron.

The “yellow vest” demonstrators, named for high-visibility car jackets, began in mid-November over fuel taxes then broadened into a more general revolt against a political class they view as out of touch with common people.

In Paris, several thousand marched on Saturday beside symbols of power such as the National Assembly and Senate. Though mainly peaceful, some protesters threw objects at security forces, a scooter and a police van were set on fire, and some shop windows were smashed.

One participant’s hand was severely injured when he tried to pick up a so-called “sting-ball grenade” used by police to disperse crowds with teargas, a police source told Reuters. Another man had blood streaming down his face in front of a line of riot police.

The Interior Ministry put the total number of protesters around France at 12,000, including 4,000 in Paris. The police source, however, said numbers were higher, with 21,000 demonstrators taking part in rallies outside Paris.

“We’re not children, we’re adults,” said Hugues Salone, a computer engineer from Paris, among the chanting and placard-waving protesters. “We really want to assert our choices, and not the choices of the politicians who do not live up to them.”

Leaders of the “yellow vest” movement have denounced the police for injuring protesters, but have also struggled to contain violence from their own lines.

On some previous weekends, Paris has been a battleground. Politicians from across the political spectrum condemned the arson attack on the home of Richard Ferrand, a close ally of Macron and president of parliament’s lower house.

He published pictures on Twitter of a scorched living room, saying police found materials soaked in fuel. Ferrand said criminal intent was the likely cause, though the perpetrators’ identity was unclear.

“Nothing justifies intimidations and violence towards an elected official of the Republic,” Macron tweeted in relation to the incident.

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Top US University Suspends New Research Projects with Chinese Telecom Giant Huawei

One of the world’s top research universities, the U.S.-based University of California, Berkeley, has stopped new research projects with Huawei Technologies, a Chinese telecommunications giant.

The university’s suspension, which took effect on January 30, came after the U.S. Department of Justice filed criminal charges against the corporation and some of its affiliates two days earlier. The department announced a 13-count indictment against Huawei, accusing it of stealing trade secrets, obstruction of justice, violations of economic sanctions and wire fraud.

Vice Chancellor for Research Randy Katz said in a letter addressed to the Chancellor’s cabinet members the campus would continue to honor existing commitments with Huawei that provide funding for current research projects.

Huawei’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, has been under house arrest in Canada since December 1 for allegedly deceiving U.S. banks into clearing funds for a subsidiary that interacted with Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions. Her extradition to the U.S. is pending.

Meng’s arrest has prompted some observers to question whether her detention was an attempt to pressure China in its ongoing trade war with the U.S.  She is the daughter of the corporation’s founder, a relationship that places her among the most influential corporate executives in China.

UC Berkeley and other leading U.S. universities, meanwhile, are getting rid of telecom equipment made by Huawei and other Chinese companies to prevent losing federal funds under a new national security law.

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump alleges Chinese telecom companies are manufacturing equipment that allows the Chinese government to spy on users in other countries, including Western researchers working on innovative technologies.

UC Berkeley has removed a Huawei video-conferencing system, a university official said. The University of California, Irvine is also replacing Chinese-made audio-video equipment. Other schools, such as the University of Wisconsin, are reviewing their telecom suppliers.

The action is in response to a law Trump signed in August. A provision of the National Defense Authorization Act prohibits recipients of federal funding from using telecom and networking equipment made by Hauwei or ZTE.

Universities that fail to comply with the law by August 2020 could lose federal government research grants and other funding.

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Top US University Suspends New Research Projects with Chinese Telecom Giant Huawei

One of the world’s top research universities, the U.S.-based University of California, Berkeley, has stopped new research projects with Huawei Technologies, a Chinese telecommunications giant.

The university’s suspension, which took effect on January 30, came after the U.S. Department of Justice filed criminal charges against the corporation and some of its affiliates two days earlier. The department announced a 13-count indictment against Huawei, accusing it of stealing trade secrets, obstruction of justice, violations of economic sanctions and wire fraud.

Vice Chancellor for Research Randy Katz said in a letter addressed to the Chancellor’s cabinet members the campus would continue to honor existing commitments with Huawei that provide funding for current research projects.

Huawei’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, has been under house arrest in Canada since December 1 for allegedly deceiving U.S. banks into clearing funds for a subsidiary that interacted with Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions. Her extradition to the U.S. is pending.

Meng’s arrest has prompted some observers to question whether her detention was an attempt to pressure China in its ongoing trade war with the U.S.  She is the daughter of the corporation’s founder, a relationship that places her among the most influential corporate executives in China.

UC Berkeley and other leading U.S. universities, meanwhile, are getting rid of telecom equipment made by Huawei and other Chinese companies to prevent losing federal funds under a new national security law.

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump alleges Chinese telecom companies are manufacturing equipment that allows the Chinese government to spy on users in other countries, including Western researchers working on innovative technologies.

UC Berkeley has removed a Huawei video-conferencing system, a university official said. The University of California, Irvine is also replacing Chinese-made audio-video equipment. Other schools, such as the University of Wisconsin, are reviewing their telecom suppliers.

The action is in response to a law Trump signed in August. A provision of the National Defense Authorization Act prohibits recipients of federal funding from using telecom and networking equipment made by Hauwei or ZTE.

Universities that fail to comply with the law by August 2020 could lose federal government research grants and other funding.

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Nearly 70 Killed in Cameroon as Separatists Stop Youth Week Activities

Renewed fighting has killed 69 people in English-speaking regions of Cameroon, where armed separatists have ordered people to stay inside their homes as the country prepares to celebrate its national youth day.

February 11 coincides with the 1961 plebiscite, which separatists identify as the day their English-speaking territory was handed to the French-speaking majority.

Patients writhe and scream on the floor and get little medical attention at Saint Mary Clinic, a private hospital in Cameroon’s English-speaking coastal city of Limbe. Nurse Frederick Mengoli says they were  dumped there on Friday night by the Cameroon military.

“This morning, the military brought 11 wounded patients and we can not take care of them because our staff is not present and we do not have the necessary drugs to take care of them,” said Mengoli. “We are just going to clean their wounds. It is very serious situation.”

Fighting has been going on since Tuesday, February 5 in the English-speaking southwestern towns of Limbe, Buea, Mutengene, Kumba, Mamfe and Tombel, as well as in the northwestern towns of Bamenda, Kumbo, Ndop, Nkambe, Bafut and Kom. That’s when armed separatists began what they call a 10-day lockdown, banning many activities in the war-torn Anglophone regions through February 14.

They say the ban is intended to disrupt National Youth Day activities to be celebrated on February 11. 

Here in Buea, hundreds of students from the town’s university are shouting as they return home after being forcefully removed from their hostels by the military and locked up for several hours. The military said by staying at home, they were following the separatists instead of obeying government instructions to continue with their activities.

Nineteen-year-old journalism student Edmond Mbella says they cannot continue their studies because their lives are being threatened by the separatists.

“Even the soldiers who are well armed, well trained with sophisticated weapons are being killed, but they [the government] want us to go out. We will not,” said Mbella. “Who will be able to protect us when the soldiers can not protect themselves?”

Some of the students remained in detention. The government says at least six military, 47 armed separatists and 16 civilians have been killed. The separatists say on social media they have killed more troops than the government is reporting.

Deben Tchoffo, governor of the English-speaking northwest region, says troops will continue attacking and killing the armed fighters who disturb the public peace.

“Those that will continue to challenge the state, our security, and furthermore the population, are going to be treated accordingly. Soonest, the situation will come back to normalcy in our region,” said Tchoffo.

Cameroon celebrates youth day every year to encourage young people to renounce violence and other negative behavior.

February 11 was chosen because it coincides with the day in 1961 when the United Nations organized a plebiscite in the southern and northern parts of the British-administered trust territory in Cameroon.

The northern part voted to have independence by joining the Federal Republic of Nigeria, while the southern part, today known as the English-speaking regions of Cameroon, voted to have independence by joining French-speaking Cameroon.

Since then, English-speaking Cameroonians have been complaining the U.N.-sponsored plebiscite did not give them a third option: to have an independent state on its own.

This resulted in an armed insurgency that started in the English-speaking regions in November 2017, after separatists declared the independence of a nation they called “Ambazonia” complaining minority anglophones were being systematically marginalized in the largely French-speaking country.

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Nearly 70 Killed in Cameroon as Separatists Stop Youth Week Activities

Renewed fighting has killed 69 people in English-speaking regions of Cameroon, where armed separatists have ordered people to stay inside their homes as the country prepares to celebrate its national youth day.

February 11 coincides with the 1961 plebiscite, which separatists identify as the day their English-speaking territory was handed to the French-speaking majority.

Patients writhe and scream on the floor and get little medical attention at Saint Mary Clinic, a private hospital in Cameroon’s English-speaking coastal city of Limbe. Nurse Frederick Mengoli says they were  dumped there on Friday night by the Cameroon military.

“This morning, the military brought 11 wounded patients and we can not take care of them because our staff is not present and we do not have the necessary drugs to take care of them,” said Mengoli. “We are just going to clean their wounds. It is very serious situation.”

Fighting has been going on since Tuesday, February 5 in the English-speaking southwestern towns of Limbe, Buea, Mutengene, Kumba, Mamfe and Tombel, as well as in the northwestern towns of Bamenda, Kumbo, Ndop, Nkambe, Bafut and Kom. That’s when armed separatists began what they call a 10-day lockdown, banning many activities in the war-torn Anglophone regions through February 14.

They say the ban is intended to disrupt National Youth Day activities to be celebrated on February 11. 

Here in Buea, hundreds of students from the town’s university are shouting as they return home after being forcefully removed from their hostels by the military and locked up for several hours. The military said by staying at home, they were following the separatists instead of obeying government instructions to continue with their activities.

Nineteen-year-old journalism student Edmond Mbella says they cannot continue their studies because their lives are being threatened by the separatists.

“Even the soldiers who are well armed, well trained with sophisticated weapons are being killed, but they [the government] want us to go out. We will not,” said Mbella. “Who will be able to protect us when the soldiers can not protect themselves?”

Some of the students remained in detention. The government says at least six military, 47 armed separatists and 16 civilians have been killed. The separatists say on social media they have killed more troops than the government is reporting.

Deben Tchoffo, governor of the English-speaking northwest region, says troops will continue attacking and killing the armed fighters who disturb the public peace.

“Those that will continue to challenge the state, our security, and furthermore the population, are going to be treated accordingly. Soonest, the situation will come back to normalcy in our region,” said Tchoffo.

Cameroon celebrates youth day every year to encourage young people to renounce violence and other negative behavior.

February 11 was chosen because it coincides with the day in 1961 when the United Nations organized a plebiscite in the southern and northern parts of the British-administered trust territory in Cameroon.

The northern part voted to have independence by joining the Federal Republic of Nigeria, while the southern part, today known as the English-speaking regions of Cameroon, voted to have independence by joining French-speaking Cameroon.

Since then, English-speaking Cameroonians have been complaining the U.N.-sponsored plebiscite did not give them a third option: to have an independent state on its own.

This resulted in an armed insurgency that started in the English-speaking regions in November 2017, after separatists declared the independence of a nation they called “Ambazonia” complaining minority anglophones were being systematically marginalized in the largely French-speaking country.

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Erdogan Attends Funeral, Visits Building Collapse Site

Turkey’s president was among hundreds of mourners who attended the funeral Saturday for nine members of a family killed in the apartment building collapse in Istanbul as the overall death toll increased to 17.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other officials joined the funeral prayers for the Alemdar family following the president’s first visit to the site of Wednesday’s tragedy. Five other members of the Alemdar family, including two children, remain hospitalized.

The cause of Wednesday’s collapse is under investigation but officials have said the top three floors of the eight-story building in the Kartal district were built illegally.

“In this area, we have faced a very serious problem with illegal businesses like this done to make more money,” Erdogan told reporters outside a hospital.

Thirteen people remain hospitalized with seven of them in serious condition.

Erdogan said there were “many lessons to learn,” and the government would take “steps in a determined way” after investigators complete their work. Earlier, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca increased the death toll to 17.

Friends and relatives waited near the wreckage for news of their missing loved ones as emergency teams, aided by sniffer dogs, worked around the clock to reach possible survivors.

Officials haven’t disclosed how many people are still unaccounted for. The building had 14 apartments with 43 registered residents.

 

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Erdogan Attends Funeral, Visits Building Collapse Site

Turkey’s president was among hundreds of mourners who attended the funeral Saturday for nine members of a family killed in the apartment building collapse in Istanbul as the overall death toll increased to 17.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other officials joined the funeral prayers for the Alemdar family following the president’s first visit to the site of Wednesday’s tragedy. Five other members of the Alemdar family, including two children, remain hospitalized.

The cause of Wednesday’s collapse is under investigation but officials have said the top three floors of the eight-story building in the Kartal district were built illegally.

“In this area, we have faced a very serious problem with illegal businesses like this done to make more money,” Erdogan told reporters outside a hospital.

Thirteen people remain hospitalized with seven of them in serious condition.

Erdogan said there were “many lessons to learn,” and the government would take “steps in a determined way” after investigators complete their work. Earlier, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca increased the death toll to 17.

Friends and relatives waited near the wreckage for news of their missing loved ones as emergency teams, aided by sniffer dogs, worked around the clock to reach possible survivors.

Officials haven’t disclosed how many people are still unaccounted for. The building had 14 apartments with 43 registered residents.

 

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Tragic Report Into Aboriginal Suicides Released in Australia

Inter-generational trauma and poverty are being blamed for a series of suicides by young Aboriginal people in Western Australia.  The Kimberley region has one of the highest suicide rates in the world and a coroner has published her report into more than a dozen deaths, including that of a 10 year old girl who took her own life in 2016.

The coroner blamed a cluster of suicides in the Kimberley region of Western Australia on “the crushing effects of intergenerational trauma”. It is the catastrophic and lasting impact of European colonization, as well as the loss of tribal land and culture.  Five of the victims investigated by the inquest were Indigenous children aged between 10 and 13.  They often lived in dysfunctional homes, and were exposed to alcohol abuse and violence.

Western Australian police sergeant Neville Ripp hopes the coroner’s report will help authorities recognize the danger signs.

“It is a wake-up call for everyone to protect your children for us as police officers to pick up on these warning signs,” said Ripp.

The coroner has made 42 recommendations, including restrictions on alcohol sales and screening babies for fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.  Drinking during pregnancy can cause lifelong mental and physical problems, and is thought to have been a factor in the Kimberley suicides.  

There have been several official reports into Indigenous self-harm in Western Australia in the past two decades, but little has changed.  

Rob McPhee from the Kimberley Aboriginal Medical Service hopes that communities will have a greater say in how these tragedies can be prevented.

“I think the coroner this time has taken a much broader approach in terms of looking at things like self-determination and empowerment.  They are things that are hard to do and they are things that governments struggle with because it is about shifting control and power back to community and governments really have a lot of trouble doing that,” McPhee said.

Community leaders, however, doubt that this new report will save lives.

Benedicta Pindan is an elder in the township of Looma, where a ten-year old girl took her own life.

“It is just someone coming out to tick the boxes to say I have been to Looma to speak to them about suicide, mental issues,” Pindan said. “I am telling you that is what we call them tick the box people’.”

The Western Australian government said these are “complex issues that would not be solved overnight.” It insists alcohol is devastating Aboriginal communities and that tougher regulations are urgently needed.

Indigenous Australians make up about 3 per cent of the population.  They suffer high rates of poverty, ill-health and imprisonment.

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Tragic Report Into Aboriginal Suicides Released in Australia

Inter-generational trauma and poverty are being blamed for a series of suicides by young Aboriginal people in Western Australia.  The Kimberley region has one of the highest suicide rates in the world and a coroner has published her report into more than a dozen deaths, including that of a 10 year old girl who took her own life in 2016.

The coroner blamed a cluster of suicides in the Kimberley region of Western Australia on “the crushing effects of intergenerational trauma”. It is the catastrophic and lasting impact of European colonization, as well as the loss of tribal land and culture.  Five of the victims investigated by the inquest were Indigenous children aged between 10 and 13.  They often lived in dysfunctional homes, and were exposed to alcohol abuse and violence.

Western Australian police sergeant Neville Ripp hopes the coroner’s report will help authorities recognize the danger signs.

“It is a wake-up call for everyone to protect your children for us as police officers to pick up on these warning signs,” said Ripp.

The coroner has made 42 recommendations, including restrictions on alcohol sales and screening babies for fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.  Drinking during pregnancy can cause lifelong mental and physical problems, and is thought to have been a factor in the Kimberley suicides.  

There have been several official reports into Indigenous self-harm in Western Australia in the past two decades, but little has changed.  

Rob McPhee from the Kimberley Aboriginal Medical Service hopes that communities will have a greater say in how these tragedies can be prevented.

“I think the coroner this time has taken a much broader approach in terms of looking at things like self-determination and empowerment.  They are things that are hard to do and they are things that governments struggle with because it is about shifting control and power back to community and governments really have a lot of trouble doing that,” McPhee said.

Community leaders, however, doubt that this new report will save lives.

Benedicta Pindan is an elder in the township of Looma, where a ten-year old girl took her own life.

“It is just someone coming out to tick the boxes to say I have been to Looma to speak to them about suicide, mental issues,” Pindan said. “I am telling you that is what we call them tick the box people’.”

The Western Australian government said these are “complex issues that would not be solved overnight.” It insists alcohol is devastating Aboriginal communities and that tougher regulations are urgently needed.

Indigenous Australians make up about 3 per cent of the population.  They suffer high rates of poverty, ill-health and imprisonment.

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Former Vatican Doctrine Chief Pens Conservative Manifesto

The Vatican’s former doctrine chief has penned a “manifesto of faith” to remind Catholics of basic tenets of belief amid what he says is “growing confusion” in the church today.

Cardinal Gerhard Mueller didn’t name Pope Francis in his four-page manifesto, released late Friday. But the document was nevertheless a clear manifestation of conservative criticism of Francis’ emphasis on mercy and accompaniment versus a focus on repeating Catholic morals and doctrine during the previous two papacies.

Mueller wrote that a pastor’s failure to teach Catholic truths was the greatest deception — “It is the fraud of the anti-Christ.”

Francis sacked Mueller as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 2017, denying the German a second five-year term.

​‘Truth of revelation’

In the document, which was published by conservative Catholic media that have been critical of Francis, Mueller repeats basic Catholic teaching that Catholics must be free from sin before receiving Communion. He mentions divorced and remarried faithful, in a clear reference to Francis’ opening to letting these Catholics receive Communion on a case-by-case basis after a process of accompaniment and discernment with their pastors.

Mueller also repeats that women cannot be ordained priests and that priests must be celibate. Francis has reaffirmed the ban on ordination for women but has commissioned a study on women deacons in the early church. Francis has also reaffirmed priestly celibacy but has made the case for exceptions where “pastoral necessity” might justify ordaining married men of proven virtue.

“In the face of growing confusion about the doctrine of the faith, many bishops, priests, religious and lay people of the Catholic Church have requested that I make a public testimony about the truth of revelation,” Mueller wrote. “It is the shepherd’s very own task to guide those entrusted to them on the path of salvation.”

Nostalgic for Benedict XVI 

The manifesto was the latest jab at Francis from the conservative wing of the church. Already, four other cardinals have called on the Jesuit pope to clarify his outreach to divorced and civilly remarried Catholics.

And the Vatican’s former ambassador to the U.S. has demanded Francis resign over what he claimed was the pope’s 2013 rehabilitation of ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick despite knowing the high-ranking American slept with adult seminarians. McCarrick is likely to be defrocked in the coming days after he was more recently accused of sexually abusing minors.

Mueller’s manifesto carries the date of Feb. 10, the eve of the sixth anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI’s historic announcement that he would resign. Many conservatives are nostalgic for the doctrinal clarity and certainty of Benedict’s reign.

It was published after Francis penned a joint declaration of “fraternity” with a prominent Muslim imam during his recent trip to the United Arab Emirates. Some conservatives say the document’s claim that the pluralism of religions is “willed by God” muddies Catholic belief about the centrality of Christ. Francis has defended the document as doctrinally sound.

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Former Vatican Doctrine Chief Pens Conservative Manifesto

The Vatican’s former doctrine chief has penned a “manifesto of faith” to remind Catholics of basic tenets of belief amid what he says is “growing confusion” in the church today.

Cardinal Gerhard Mueller didn’t name Pope Francis in his four-page manifesto, released late Friday. But the document was nevertheless a clear manifestation of conservative criticism of Francis’ emphasis on mercy and accompaniment versus a focus on repeating Catholic morals and doctrine during the previous two papacies.

Mueller wrote that a pastor’s failure to teach Catholic truths was the greatest deception — “It is the fraud of the anti-Christ.”

Francis sacked Mueller as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 2017, denying the German a second five-year term.

​‘Truth of revelation’

In the document, which was published by conservative Catholic media that have been critical of Francis, Mueller repeats basic Catholic teaching that Catholics must be free from sin before receiving Communion. He mentions divorced and remarried faithful, in a clear reference to Francis’ opening to letting these Catholics receive Communion on a case-by-case basis after a process of accompaniment and discernment with their pastors.

Mueller also repeats that women cannot be ordained priests and that priests must be celibate. Francis has reaffirmed the ban on ordination for women but has commissioned a study on women deacons in the early church. Francis has also reaffirmed priestly celibacy but has made the case for exceptions where “pastoral necessity” might justify ordaining married men of proven virtue.

“In the face of growing confusion about the doctrine of the faith, many bishops, priests, religious and lay people of the Catholic Church have requested that I make a public testimony about the truth of revelation,” Mueller wrote. “It is the shepherd’s very own task to guide those entrusted to them on the path of salvation.”

Nostalgic for Benedict XVI 

The manifesto was the latest jab at Francis from the conservative wing of the church. Already, four other cardinals have called on the Jesuit pope to clarify his outreach to divorced and civilly remarried Catholics.

And the Vatican’s former ambassador to the U.S. has demanded Francis resign over what he claimed was the pope’s 2013 rehabilitation of ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick despite knowing the high-ranking American slept with adult seminarians. McCarrick is likely to be defrocked in the coming days after he was more recently accused of sexually abusing minors.

Mueller’s manifesto carries the date of Feb. 10, the eve of the sixth anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI’s historic announcement that he would resign. Many conservatives are nostalgic for the doctrinal clarity and certainty of Benedict’s reign.

It was published after Francis penned a joint declaration of “fraternity” with a prominent Muslim imam during his recent trip to the United Arab Emirates. Some conservatives say the document’s claim that the pluralism of religions is “willed by God” muddies Catholic belief about the centrality of Christ. Francis has defended the document as doctrinally sound.

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