WTF with Russia?

Russia has banned transgender, and possibly gay and lesbian people, from driving.

It's ruled that people with what its government is calling "sex disorders" can no longer get licences, something it thinks will cut traffic accidents, though there is no explanation of how or why this might work.

The decree says people with "gender identity disorders, disorders of sexual preference and psychological and behavioural disorders associated with sexual development and orientation," can no longer drive.

Others who are to be banned are people shorter than 150cm, amputees pathological gamblers and compulsive thieves.

Chairwoman of the Association of Russian Lawyers for Human Rights Maria Bast has called the legislation a "flagrant violation of human rights made by the government involving itself in the private lives of its citizens".

The group will file a complaint with the Presidential Council on Human Rights and the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation.

Russia already bans 'gay propaganda' and has banned gay and single people in nations with marriage equality, such as New Zealand, from adopting Russian children.

Source: http://www.gaynz.com/articles/publish/3/article_16273.php

Israel rocked as Hawking joins boycott

Isabel Kershner
Published: May 9, 2013 - 8:43AM

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JERUSALEM: Stephen Hawking has pulled out of a high-profile conference to be held in Jerusalem in June to support an academic boycott of Israel, conference organisers and the university said on Wednesday.

The academic and cultural boycott, organised by international activists to protest against Israel's policies toward the Palestinians, is a heated and contentious issue; having the renowned physicist and cosmologist join it is likely to help the anti-Israel campaigners significantly.

"Never has a scientist of this stature boycotted Israel," said Yigal Palmor, the spokesman for Israel's Foreign Ministry.

Organisers of the fifth annual Israeli Presidential Conference, held under the auspices of President Shimon Peres, said they had received a letter over the weekend from Professor Hawking announcing his decision.

Cambridge University issued a statement indicating that Professor Hawking had told the Israelis he would not be attending "based on advice from Palestinian academics that he should respect the boycott", Associated Press reported.

http://www.smh.com.au/world/israel-rocked-as-hawking-joins-boycott-20130509-2j8wa.html

Earlier, the university's director of communications, Tim Holt, said by telephone that Professor Hawking, 71, had withdrawn from the Israel trip for health reasons. The university later said it had been told otherwise by Professor Hawking's office.

The chairman of the conference, Israel Maimon, strongly criticised the professor's decision, saying in a statement: "The academic boycott of Israel is in our view outrageous and improper, certainly for someone for whom the spirit of liberty lies at the basis of his human and academic mission."

Mr Maimon, a lawyer and a former Israeli government cabinet secretary, said: "Israel is a democracy in which all individuals are free to express their opinions, whatever they may be. The imposition of a boycott is incompatible with open, democratic dialogue."

There was no immediate comment from Mr Peres' office.

Britain's Guardian newspaper first reported Professor Hawking's change of mind and cited a statement by the British Committee for the Universities of Palestine, which The Guardian said was published with Professor Hawking's approval. It described the cancellation as "his independent decision to respect the boycott, based upon his knowledge of Palestine, and on the unanimous advice of his own academic contacts there".

Professor Hawking last visited Israel and the Palestinian territories in 2006 at the invitation of the British Embassy in Tel Aviv.

I'm back!

In The Land of the Chosen Ones...

Former Israeli president guilty of rape

December 31, 2010 - SMH

TEL AVIV: The former Israeli president Moshe Katsav faces at least eight years' jail after he was convicted of two counts of rape for assaulting a former employee, in what the Prime Minister called ''a sad day for Israel''.

The verdict, which also found Katsav guilty of sexually harassing a second employee, caps a four-year process in which the former president resigned his post and spurned a plea deal that would have cleared him of the rape charges.

As the presiding judge, George Kara, read the verdict, he said Katsav had ''engaged in a campaign of vilification against the plaintiffs''.

He told Katsav that his decision to nullify a plea deal ''was a grave mistake''.

''We believe the plaintiff [who accused Katsav of rape] because her testimony is supported by elements of evidence and she told the truth,'' the judge said.

As the verdict was read before a packed courtroom, Katsav, 65, stood visibly distraught and muttered: ''No, no.'' His sons in the courtroom yelled, ''It's not true, it's not true''.

The rape charges each carry a sentence of between four and 16 years in prison.

In addition to them Katsav faced accusations of sexual harassment, indecent acts, harassing witnesses and obstructing justice. The sentence will be announced at a later date.

The Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said in a text message: ''The court today delivered two clear messages, one being that everyone is equal in the eyes of the law and the second the right of every woman to be in control of her own body.''

Katsav was elected to the Knesset in 1977 as a member of the Likud party and served as an MP until he became president in 2000. He stepped down as president, a mainly ceremonial position, in January 2007 after the then attorney-general, Menachem Mazuz, first said that there was evidence for an indictment. Katsav was replaced by Shimon Peres.

Katsav was the second Israeli president in a row to leave office prematurely. Ezer Weizman stepped down in 2000 following revelations that he received money from business associates without reporting it to the authorities.

Since 2008 Israeli courts have indicted the former prime minister Ehud Olmert for fraud, sentenced theformer finance minister Avraham Hirschson to five years' jail for theft and money laundering, and convicted the former health minister Shlomo Benizri of taking bribes.

Agence France-Presse, Bloomberg

Israel kills more than 10 people in raid on boat convoy bound for Gaza: reports

Source: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/israel-kills-10-in-raid-on-boat-convoy-bound-for-gaza-reports/story-e6frg6so-1225873609367

A new Government led by the Leader of the Australian Labor Party, the Hon Kevin Rudd MP, was sworn in by the Governor-General on 3 December 2007.

Don't Ask. Don't Tell.

"I believe homosexual acts between two individuals are immoral and that we should not condone immoral acts... I do not believe the United States is well served by a policy that says it is OK to be immoral in any way."

US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff's General Peter Pace quoted in the Chicago Tribune