Australia will increase immigration and introduce other reforms to help relieve skilled labour shortages in country areas partly caused by the mining boom, the government said yesterday.
The government will increase permanent migration visas from 180,000 in 2010 to 185,000 in 2011-12 after several years of cutting back on numbers, Immigration Minister Chris Bowen said.
A scheme announced in the national budget also aims to deliver some 16,000 skilled foreigners to regional areas in 2011-12, filling vacancies which employers cannot fill from the local labour force. (AFP)
Chemical castration
President Dmitry Medvedev yesterday proposed voluntary chemical castration for child molesters amid mounting concern over sex crimes against minors in Russia.
“The punishment should be as strict as possible,” MrMedvedev said at a government meeting, the first time a top Russian leader backed the controversial measure.
“I suggest discussing these measures, including medical procedures on such persons, including injections that block hormonal activity,” he said in comments released by the Kremlin.
“Considering the frightening crimes committed, I think our duty is to at least discuss this issue,” Mr Medvedev said. (AFP)
Naples fires
Firefighters in Naples struggled to put out dozens of piles of rubbish set ablaze overnight yesterday as Italian soldiers began cleaning up an estimated 3,000 tons of waste on the streets.
Troops from the Garibaldi brigade began cleaning in the Gianturco neighbourhood, an eastern suburb of the southern Italian city, after being deployed in the area on Monday on orders from Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
Six removal vehicles and 18 soldiers could be seen working in the area.
The Italian government has sent a total of 160 soldiers to Naples to deal with the emergency, which has been caused by the poor functioning of the region’s waste disposal network and a lack of incinerators.
“The problem won’t be resolved by the army. Their intervention is not decisive and the impact will be limited,” Paolo Giacomelli, a sanitary official for the local administration in Naples, told reporters. (AFP)
Free women
Ancient privileges reserved for the freemen of the City of Durham have been granted to women for the first time.
The privileges, which were until now the preserve of male members of Durham’s ancient trade guilds, include the right to graze livestock within the city.
Barriers, which excluded women from the guilds for nearly 700 years, were lifted following a lengthy legal wrangle. (PA)
Vatican reshuffle
Pope Benedict XVI yesterday reshuffled his Vatican administration yesterday, appointing a new Interior Minister and a new head of the influential Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples.
The new Interior Minister is Mgr Giovanni Angelo Becciu and the head of the congregation, also known by its Latin name of Propaganda Fide, will be Mgr Fernando Filoni, a 65-year-old known for his wide diplomatic experience.
Mgr Filoni has worked in Brazil, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, the Philippines and Sri Lanka. Mgr Filoni has also had a leading role in trying to reconcile the state-sanctioned Catholic Church in China and the underground church. (AFP)
Dedicated delegate
A delegate to a union annual conference is cycling 840 miles to the meeting to raise money for charity as well as campaigning against job losses. Mark Chapman is getting on his bike to travel from Peterhead in Scotland to Brighton, where the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) will hold its national gathering on May 18.
Mr Chapman aims to raise money for the union’s hardship fund, the MS Society and a charity set up in memory of a friend who died of cancer. (PA)
Scrabble slang
Street slang including thang, innit and grrl along with words from the internet such as Wiki and Myspace have been added to an “official” reference for Scrabble players.
The Collins Official Scrabble Words also now includes, from Indian cookery, keema, alu, or aloo, and gobi among nearly 3,000 new additions to those allowed in the game. (PA)
Heading home
The mummified and tattooed head of a Maori is being returned to New Zealand after 136 years in a French museum. Curators hope the gesture will restore dignity to the first of 16 such human heads once displayed as exotic curiosities.
For years, New Zealand has sought the return of Maori heads kept in collections abroad, many of which were obtained by Westerners in exchange for weapons and other goods. (PA)
Google music
Google yesterday launched an invitation-only test version of an online music service.
“When you add your music to the new service, you can listen to it on the web on any compatible device,” Google product manager Paul Joyce said while announcing the new service.
Google was getting around having to cut deals with music labels by crafting a service that lets people store digital versions of songs they own in an online “locker” they can access using gadgets linked to the internet.
As many as 20,000 songs could be stored at Google Music, Joyce said at the internet giant’s annual developers conference in San Francisco. (AFP)