Australian NSW leader resigns

16 April 2014 Last updated at 06:17 Mr O'Farrell says he has accepted the consequences of his "massive memory fail" The leader of Australia's most populous state has announced his resignation after failing to declare a gift of A$3,000 ($2,800; £1,680) wine.

New South Wales Premier Barry O'Farrell admitted to a "massive memory fail" after telling a corruption inquiry that he never received the wine.

Mr O'Farrell said he could not remember calling businessman Nick Di Girolamo, who sent him the gift in 2011.

He acted after investigators unveiled a handwritten thank you note from him.

'No recollection'

Mr O'Farrell, leader of the New South Wales Liberal Party, announced his resignation at a press conference in Sydney on Wednesday.

He told reporters that he "did not seek to mislead" the inquiry.

"I do accept there is a thank you note signed by me and as someone who believes in accountability, I accept the consequences of my action," he said.

He added that a new premier would be elected at a parliamentary meeting next week.

"I still cannot explain either the arrival of a gift that I have no recollection of, or its absence which I certainly still cannot fathom. But I accept the consequences in an orderly way."

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who leads the Liberal-National coalition, said Mr O'Farrell's resignation was a sign of integrity, not corruption.

"Obviously, as we now know, he innocently and inadvertently misled ICAC yesterday and has taken the utterly honourable step of resigning as premier," he said.

Opposition politician John Kaye said there was a broader lesson in Mr O'Farrell's announcement.

"This is not about Barry O'Farrell, it is about the culture of politics in New South Wales," he said.

"Barry O'Farrell was clearly inundated with gifts and donations with lobbyists but he just lost track of what was going on."

Mr O'Farrell received the bottle of 1959 Penfolds Grange Hermitage from businessman Nick Di Girolamo, whose company, Australia Water Holdings, is being investigated by the New South Wales corruption body.

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NC worker death row: PDP leader Bajwa demands Omar Abdullah's resignation

Stating that the current Jammu and Kashmir Government is steeped in corruption, senior People's Democratic Party (PDP) leader Trilochan Singh Bajwa on Friday demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah so as to facilitate an impartial probe into the custodial death of National Conference (NC) worker Syed Muhammad Yusuf Shah.

October 7, 2011 - Srinagar

Stating that the current Jammu and Kashmir Government is steeped in corruption, senior People's Democratic Party (PDP) leader Trilochan Singh Bajwa on Friday demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah so as to facilitate an impartial probe into the custodial death of National Conference (NC) worker Syed Muhammad Yusuf Shah.

The PDP supporters staged a protest here against the ruling National Conference Government over the custodial death row. The protestors were, however, later baton charged by the police, when they tried to block the road during their protest.

"We were carrying a peaceful protest today and police beat up Shyam Lal, who is a resident of my village, and just now we have got to know that his condition is very serious and we are going there. And today's demonstration was peaceful. We had informed to everyone that we had to do a peaceful protest," said Bajwa.

"And the current Jammu and Kashmir government is steeped in corruption. We want the incident that took place in Chief Minister's residence, there should an impartial inquiry into it," he added.

Further sharpening the attack on Omar Abdullah over the issue, Bajwa said : "You all know that the Chief Minister heads a state and till the time he is in power, an unbiased inquiry cannot take place. So that is why we are saying that if an impartial inquiry can only take place once he steps down and leaves his position."

Union New and Renewable Energy Minister Farooq Abdullah had earlier on Thursday defended his son Omar, and hitting out at the opposition PDP termed the whole controversy as a political stunt.

"We have nothing to hide. It is a political stunt. They (PDP) want power that is why they are leveling charges against us. They don't want the NC-Congress Government to stay. They want the National Conference to disappear. We are running a coalition government in the state, but the attack has only been on our party, not the Congress," said Abdullah.

"It was Omar, who on his own, ordered a judicial inquiry. Truth will come out in the judicial inquiry," he added, while defending his son Omar.

Omar is facing a political storm over the death of National Conference (NC) worker Syed Mohammad Yousuf, who died allegedly in police custody after two fellow party workers had accused him of taking Rs 1.18 crore from them for getting them berths in the Legislative Council.

According to the government version, the accused was summoned to the camp office of the chief minister where he was confronted with the allegation about taking money.

ANI

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Weekly Diaspora: Justice for Brisenia as Minutemen leader convicted of murders

Days after Arizona Governor Jan Brewer and Attorney General Tom Horne filed suit against the federal government for allegedly failing to protect the state from a Mexican "invasion," the high-profile murder conviction of a Minutemen border vigilante underscores the state's misguided border priorities.

Earlier this week, a jury found Shawna Forde -- leader of the Minutemen American Defense (MAD) -- guilty of murdering 8-year-old Brisenia Flores and her father, Raul Flores, Jr. during a racially motivated home invasion in 2009. Forde faces the death penalty for orchestrating the robbery and murders.

ColorLines' Julianne Hing reports that Forde had planned a number of elaborate home invasions to raise funds for her border patrol activities -- targeting individuals whom she (erroneously) believed to be drug dealers. Though no drugs were found in the Flores home, Forde -- who, incidentally, has close ties to both the Tea Party and the conservative think-tank Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) -- nevertheless justified Brisenia's murder on the grounds that "people shouldn't deal drugs if they have kids." After watching Forde's accomplices shoot her mother and kill her father, Brisenia was shot twice in the face.

While Latino advocacy groups have characterized the Flores murders as hate crimes provoked -- at least in part -- by state leaders' incendiary anti-immigrant rhetoric, many regard Forde's conviction as one of many indicators that the tables are turning on anti-immigrant politicos like Brewer who have curried political support through fear-mongering and misinformation.

Less tolerance for border vigilantes

As Valeria Fernandez reports at New America Media, the verdict comes just weeks after another Arizona court upheld a decision against rancher Roger Barnett who, in an act of unwarranted border vigilantism, assaulted a group of migrants traveling across his property. Barnett was fined $80,000. While the Forde and Barnett cases are only two incidents of a nationwide rash of anti-Latino crime, their convictions are particularly significant in Arizona, where state leaders have long tolerated and even encouraged border vigilantism as a necessary response to purported border-related violence.

A year ago, state politicians -- including Brewer -- fomented a national anti-immigrant mania (which handily ushered in SB 1070) by promoting false reports of border violence. As Valeria Fernandez reported at Feet in 2 Worlds last March, lawmakers were quick to attribute the shooting of Arizona rancher Robert Krentz to an unidentified, undocumented Mexican immigrant -- though the sheriff in charge of the case later told the press that the prime suspect was not actually Mexican.

Brewer, for her part, gained national notoriety after fabricating tales of beheadings in the Arizona desert -- which, as I wrote for Campus Progress at the time -- generated support for her anti-immigrant political agenda while diverting public attention away from the reality that  most of Arizona's border violence is directed at immigrants, rather than perpetrated by them.

Arizona's countersuit against the federal government

Brewer's recent countersuit against the federal government -- which alleges that Arizona is under invasion from the south and that the feds have failed to protect the state accordingly -- similarly conjures nativist fantasies of immigrant-fueled border violence. But, as Scott Lemieux posits at TAPPED, the suit idly and transparently villainizes immigrants:

It is (to put it mildly) a stretch to argue that Arizona is undergoing an "invasion." Illegal immigration does not constitute a military threat or an attempt to overthrow the state government; anti-immigration metaphors are not a sound basis for constitutional interpretation.

Like those propagated by state lawmakers during Arizona's nativist heyday last spring, this new offensive belies the reality that, while anti-Latino hate crimes have risen by 52 per cent nationally in recent years, border crime has been on the decline for quite some time -- a fact noted by Alternet's Julianne Escobedo Shepherd in her coverage of the countersuit.

Yet, in an effort to further their extreme, anti-immigrant agenda, Arizona's nativist lawmakers determinedly maintain the myth that Latin American immigration somehow generates a groundswell of violent crime -- even when doing so requires the hasty revision of a rancher's death, and the callous disregard of an innocent child's murder.

This post features links to the best independent, progressive reporting about immigration by members of The Media Consortium. It is free to reprint. Visit the Diaspora for a complete list of articles on immigration issues, or follow us on Twitter. And for the best progressive reporting on critical economy, environment, and health care issues, check out The Audit, The Mulch, and The Pulse. This is a project of The Media Consortium, a network of leading independent media outlets.

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Step aside, leader coming through

I like cheap cars, and I cannot lie. Not that I mind testing $70,000 luxo-sedans or $98,000 sports cars, but reviewing entry-level, bottom-of-the-line cars is my true passion. Let's face it: Anyone can build a nice car to sell for fifty grand, but providing good value for $15,000 or less -- especially considering all the safety equipment now mandated by the Fed -- well, that's no easy feat.

The 2011 version of my cheapest cars list once again highlights the 20 least expensive cars in the US market, telling you which ones are best buys and which ones are best left on the dealer's lot. Compared to last year's list, there are two new additions: The $13,995 Ford Fiesta takes the #8 spot and the $14,795 Mazda2 premieres at #11, knocking the Toyota Corolla and the Scion xB off the bottom of the list. Another last-minute addition is the all-new 2011 Hyundai Elantra. After seeing the car at the Los Angeles Auto Show, I expected it to be priced right off the list, but surprise, surprise! The new Elantra is only $685 more than last year's model, and so it stays on, down just one spot to #12.

At this point, the list is a work in progress; Smart has yet to announce exact pricing for the mildly-redesigned 2011 ForTwo, and the same goes for the Honda Fit. Scion is also holding out on its new iQ minicar, but it's sure to wind up on the list. Chrysler has announced pricing for the Fiat 500 -- $15,500 -- and assuming the destination fee is the same as other Chrysler models ($750), it'll be taking up residence on Page Two once it goes on sale.

I'm starting to ramble (see, I told you I love cheap cars!), so if you want to get the skinny, check out the list: Cheapest cars of 2011. -- Aaron Gold

Photo ? Mazda

Greetings from Arizona! We decided to get a jump on the Thanksgiving holiday traffic by heading out to my folks a little early. I see every road trip as a potential for experimentation, and this time I decided to try a four-cylinder SUV. Read more...

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday! Tonight at 10 pm (9 pm central, and goodness knows when in Arizona) on the History Channel, Top Gear USA will finally hit the airwaves (or, I suppose, the cable-waves). I've been waiting a long, long time for this -- and I don't just mean the last few months of making the show. I mean, like, years.

I'm really happy with the way the show came out, and I'm not just saying that as a staffer -- I'm saying that as a true Top Gear fanatic. Amazing cars, fantastic cinematography, lots of idiocy, and plenty of tire-smoking antics courtesy of Tanner. Episode One is pretty darn good, and the show will get even better in the coming weeks. Check it out tonight and be sure to let me know what you think. -- Aaron Gold

The Los Angeles Auto Show is now open to the public. So how is this year's show? It's good...but a bit quiet.

One thing that was missing was the pessimistic attitude that hung over -- well, pretty much every major auto show for the last couple of years. Still, the show is a little short on flourish but pretty solid on substance. Rather than hold a press conference for the nifty little Urban Luxury Concept, for example, Cadillac simply put the car on display with little fanfare. World premieres were few and far between, though they did include some notable cars such as the Nissan Quest and Mazda5 minivans, as well as the Porsche Cayman R and Nissan's whimsical (and production-ready) Murano SUV convertible.

Not that everything was quiet. Ford probably has the best booth of the show -- not only are they showing the all-new 2012 Focus, but they have a slot-car track modeled after the Laguna Seca raceway (complete with elevation changes!) and will be doing real-live dynamometer runs with a real-live Mustang Boss 302.

By far, my favorite vehicle at the show was the Jaguar C-X75 concept. Not only is it breathtakingly beautiful, but it's got the niftiest powertrain I've ever seen. It's a range-extended EV, with a plug-in battery pack that powers four electric motors (one for each wheel) for up to 67 miles. When the battery runs out -- or when extra power is needed for high speed -- the C-X75 has on-board generators driven by a pair of miniature jet engines. No, I am not making this up. Sadly, Jaguar will not be doing any demonstration runs of the car -- I'm sure the car's exhaust temperature (680 degrees F) wouldn't sit well with the fire marshal...

Anyway, you can check out all the new and notable cars in my Los Angeles Auto Show photo gallery. If you're thinking about visiting, my LA Show Visitor's Guide will tell you when to go and how to get there. Special thanks to Dwane Ferry for helping out with the photos. -- Aaron Gold

Photo ? Aaron Gold

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