Australian PM tours flood disaster zone

Associated press

AFP/POOL/File – Flood waters surround a supermarket in the Queensland town of Emerald. Australia has started forced evacuations …

– Thu Dec 30, 7:51 pm ET

BUNDABERG, Australia (AFP) – Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Friday toured towns hit by one of Australia's worst ever flood disasters, which has displaced thousands of residents and left thousands more homes at risk.

Gillard flew to Bundaberg, which has been cut in two by the post-cyclone inundation, before moving on to Rockhampton, a major regional centre where 4,000 residences are under threat.

Vast swathes of the northeastern farming and coal-mining belt near Brisbane are already submerged as waters continue to rise, with flood peaks expected in the coming days.

Officials have voiced concerns over disease outbreaks and food shortages in 22 towns inundated or isolated by the floods -- in some places the worst on record -- which have also paralysed coal production at several mines.

Gillard was greeted by good news in Bundaberg, where scores of residents are sheltering in evacuation centres, after the nearby river peaked and waters slowly started to recede.

"It's good news that it's going down quicker than anticipated," she said, before heading into a meeting with emergency services.

The prime minister was also expected to visit Emerald, population 11,000, where the muddy tide could deluge some 80 percent of the town. About 1,200 residents have already evacuated, officials said.

Queensland premier Anna Bligh, who has called it the huge state's "toughest hour", said the floods and severed transport links had affected 200,000 people across an area the size of France and Germany combined.

Some areas may remain flooded for another 10 days, with relief and clean-up operations expected to last weeks. Bligh said the disaster's cost may amount to several billion dollars (several billion US).

Australia floods larger than France strand 200,000

Associated Press

AP – A wallaby stands on a large round hay bail trapped by rising flood waters outside the town of Dalby in …

BRISBANE, Australia – Military aircraft dropped supplies to towns cut off by floods in northeastern Australia as the prime minister promised new assistance Friday to the 200,000 people affected by waters covering an area larger than France and Germany combined.

Residents were stocking up on food or evacuating their homes as rising rivers inundated or isolated 22 towns in the state of Queensland.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard toured an evacuation center in the flood-stricken town of Bundaberg on Friday and announced that families whose homes had been flooded or damaged would be eligible for disaster relief payments of $1,000 per adult and $400 per child.

"My concern is for the people in these very difficult times," Gillard said.

A day earlier, she pledged $1 million Australian dollars (about $1 million) in federal aid to match a relief fund already set up by the state government.

Bundaberg resident Sandy Kiddle told Gillard she lost cherished items after floodwaters surged through her house. She said may not be able to return home for a week.

"It was just a sea of water, and I thought the beach would never come to our house," she told Gillard, who gave her a hug.

Officials say half of Queensland's 715,305 square miles (1,852,642 square kilometers) is affected by the relentless flooding, which began last week after days of pounding rain caused swollen rivers to overflow. The flood zone covers an area larger than France and Germany combined and bigger than the state of Texas.

While the rain has stopped, the rivers are still surging to new heights and overflowing into low-lying towns as the water makes its way toward the sea.

The muddy water inundating thousands of homes and businesses has led to a shortage of drinking water and raised fears of mosquito-borne disease.

"This is without a doubt a tragedy on an unprecedented scale," Queensland Premier Anna Bligh told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

Bligh warned that drenched communities could be stuck underwater for more than a week, and cleanup efforts were expected to cost billions of dollars.

The Department of Community Safety said supplies of food and bedding were delivered by road and by military aircraft Friday to the towns of Rockhampton, Emerald, Springsure and Blackwater in central-east Queensland.

Northeastern Australia often sees heavy rains and flooding during the Southern Hemisphere summer, but the scope of the damage from the recent downpours is unusual.

The entire population of two towns has already been forced to evacuate as water swamped their communities, cutting off roads and devastating crops. The next city in the water's path — Rockhampton, near the coast — is bracing for flood levels forecast at 31 feet (9.4 meters) by Monday or Tuesday.

Roads and railway lines were expected to be cut off by Saturday, and the city's airport planned to shut down over the weekend.

"This is a very serious situation," said Rockhampton Mayor Brad Carter, saying that level would affect up to 40 percent of the city. "Police are ordering people in affected areas to leave their homes."

Officials were evacuating residents on Friday, starting with the elderly and those living in low-lying areas.

There were concerns over food supplies in the city, with many stores already sold out of bread, milk and fresh meat, Carter said.

Gary Boyer, regional manager of supermarket chain Woolworths, said the company was sending 43 trucks full of supplies into Rockhampton on Friday.

Thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes this week. In the central Queensland town of Emerald, about 1,000 people were evacuated in the last 24 hours.

The town was facing food shortages, power outages and sewage-contaminated floodwaters, county mayor Peter Maguire said. Three evacuation centers have been set up to help displaced residents.

Vatican sets up watchdog to combat money laundering

30 December 2010 Last updated at 12:34 GMT
The new rules bring the Vatican in line with international regulations

The Vatican has set up a new financial authority to fight money laundering and make its financial operations more transparent.

The Pope has signed into law new rules to bring the Vatican's banking regulations in line with international efforts to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism.

The move comes ahead of an EU deadline.

It follows accusations the Vatican had been contravening international rules on money laundering.

In September, Rome prosecutors formally put the director of the Vatican Bank, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, and his deputy under criminal investigation after receiving a tip-off from the Bank of Italy about possible money laundering.

The Italian justice authorities seized 23m euros ($30m; £19m) which the Vatican had deposited at a branch of an Italian commercial bank near Saint Peter's Square, allegedly without properly identifying either the depositor or the recipient.

The Vatican said there had been a misunderstanding and there had been no wrongdoing by their bank or its employees.

Vatican Bank

• Set up by Pope Pius XII in 1942
• Based in Vatican City, has no other branches, operates as offshore institution outside EU rules
• Headed by professional banker overseen by commission of cardinals
• No shareholders, no policy-making functions
• All profits set aside for charitable or religious works

On Thursday, Pope Benedict XVI signed the documents, saying the Vatican wanted to join other countries in cracking down on legal loopholes that have allowed criminals to exploit the financial sector.

The Vatican is acting ahead of a 31 December deadline to create a compliance authority to oversee all its financial operations, which is required by the EU and other international organisations.

The Vatican's centuries-old secrecy over the way it handles its money will no longer be an excuse to avoid its obligations under international and Italian criminal law to combat money-laundering operations by third parties, says the BBC's David Willey in Rome.

Exempt

The Vatican Bank - known officially as the Institute for Works of Religion - has hitherto exempted itself from international banking regulations on the grounds that it is not a real bank in the normal sense of the word, our correspondent says.

It handles accounts for the Pope, his cardinals and religious orders, and has only one branch inside the apostolic palace in Rome.

The new laws are due to come into effect by 1 April, after the new authority is set up and its members chosen, the Vatican said.

It will take some time, however, for the Vatican to be put on the so-called "white list" of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, our correspondent adds. The list identifies countries that have agreed to share tax information and crack down on tax havens.

Source: BBC News (www.bbc.com)

US aid worker Paul Waggoner freed from Haitian prison

Paul Waggoner was arrested after a Haitian man accused him of kidnapping his son from a hospital

A US aid worker has been freed from a prison in Haiti after a judge declined to charge him over claims he kidnapped a baby from a hospital where he worked.

A Haitian man had accused Paul Waggoner of kidnapping his 15-month-old son in February from the Haitian Community Hospital in Petionville.

The aid worker spent 18 days in the notoriously overcrowded National Penitentiary in Port-au-Prince.

The court was shown evidence that the baby in question had died in hospital.

Mr Waggoner received medical treatment on Wednesday, according to the Materials Management Relief Corps, the aid group which Mr Waggoner co-founded after the 12 January earthquake in the country.

Supporters had previously expressed concerns Mr Waggoner could contract cholera or other illnesses in the prison, which has been widely criticised by human rights groups as providing inhumane conditions.

He was imprisoned after being arrested earlier this month.

Extortion claims

Judge Lionel Dimanche freed Mr Waggoner after the aid worker's legal team submitted the infant's death certificate to the judge, lawyer Gary Lisade told the Associated Press news agency.

An affidavit from the American doctor who treated the 15-month-old boy in hospital was also presented to the court.

Mr Waggoner said earlier this month the infant's father had brought his son to the hospital in February and was trying to extort money from him after refusing to believe the boy had died and his body been cremated.

"It went from kidnapping to selling him to selling him into the United States for adoption to a priest saying that he was still alive," the aid worker told the CNN news network upon his release.

A justice official in Haiti said that although Mr Waggoner had been released, the investigation was still ongoing.

Source: BBC World (www.bbc.com)

Sister's Kidney Donation Condition Of Mississippi Parole

by The Associated Press

December 30, 2010

For 16 years, sisters Jamie and Gladys Scott have shared a life behind bars for their part in an $11 armed robbery. To share freedom, they must also share a kidney.

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour suspended the sisters' life sentences on Wednesday, but 36-year-old Gladys Scott's release is contingent on her giving a kidney to Jamie, her 38-year-old sister, who requires daily dialysis.

The sisters were convicted in 1994 of leading two men into an ambush in central Mississippi the year before. Three teenagers hit each man in the head with a shotgun and took their wallets - making off with only $11, court records said.

Jamie and Gladys Scott were each convicted of two counts of armed robbery and sentenced to two life sentences.

"I think it's a victory," said the sisters' attorney, Chokwe Lumumba. "I talked to Gladys and she's elated about the news. I'm sure Jamie is, too."

Civil rights advocates have for years called for their release, saying the sentences were excessive. Those demands gained traction when Barbour asked the Mississippi Parole Board to take another look at the case.

The Scott sisters are eligible for parole in 2014, but Barbour said prison officials no longer think they are a threat to society and Jamie's medical condition is costing the state a lot of money.

Lumumba said he has no problem with the governor requiring Gladys to offer up her organ because "Gladys actually volunteered that as part of her petition."

Lumumba said it's not clear what caused the kidney failure, but it's likely a combination of different illnesses over the years.

Barbour spokesman Dan Turner told The Associated Press that Jamie Scott was released because she needs the transplant. He said Gladys Scott will be released if she agrees to donate her kidney because of the significant risk and recovery time.

"She wanted to do it," Turner said. "That wasn't something we introduced."

Barbour is a Republican in his second term who has been mentioned as a possible presidential contender in 2012. He said the parole board agreed with the indefinite suspension of their sentences, which is different from a pardon or commutation because it comes with conditions.

An "indefinite suspension of sentence" can be reversed if the conditions are not followed, but those requirements are usually things like meeting with a parole officer.

The Scott sisters have received significant public support from advocacy groups, including the NAACP, which called for their release. Hundreds of people marched through downtown Jackson from the state capital to the governor's mansion in September, chanting in unison that the women should be freed.

Still, their release won't be immediate.

Mississippi Department of Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps said late Wednesday that he had not received the order. He also said the women want to live with relatives in Florida, which requires approval from officials in that state.

In general, that process takes 45 days.

Mississippi NAACP President Derrick Johnson said the Scott sisters' release will be "a great victory for the state of Mississippi for two individuals who received an excessive sentence" and he has no problem with the kidney donation requirement because Gladys Scott volunteered.

"I think it's encouraging that she's willing to share a kidney so her sister can have a better quality life," Johnson said.

National NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd Jealous said the suspension of the sentences represents the good that can come with the power of governors.

"It's again proof that when people get engaged, keep the faith, we can win," Jealous said.

Barbour has used his power sparingly to free prisoners over the years, but some of his decisions have created a backlash.

Barbour outraged the family and friends of Jean Elizabeth Gillies, a University of Mississippi student who was raped, sodomized and strangled in 1986, when he granted a suspended sentence for her killer, Douglas Hodgkin.