Month: January 2018

Aid loses out to military spending IN 2003 the combined world military budget hit $US956 billion, with the US accounting for 47 per cent, or $US449 billion. However the US gave only $US17.7 billion in aid in 2003, less than 4 per cent of the US military budget. George Bush initially promised a $US15 million aid package to tsunami-affected countries. This was shortly upped to $US35 million after many condemned the tiny contribution, including US senator Patrick J Leahy, who said: “We spend $US35 million before breakfast in Iraq.” Bush eventually announced the US would deliver $US350 million in aid. […]

JACK THOMAS, a 31 year old Melbourne father, has become the latest victim of the Howard government’s draconian terror laws. Thomas has been charged with receiving financial support from al-Qaida, providing al-Qaida with resources or support to help them carry out a terrorist act and having a false passport. He has been denied bail despite having a job and a family in Werribee, in Melbourne’s outer south-western suburbs. The evidence against him largely depends on interrogations carried out by Pakistani security agents using torture techniques. His lawyer, Rob Stary, told the ABC: “He had been interviewed by a number of […]