News: Rinehart family emails released

Rinehart family emails released as court secrecy lifts

It was the day billionaire mining magnate Gina Rinehart fought against but in the end she couldn’t keep the details of a family rift from becoming public. Three of Rinehart’s own children took their mother to court to have her removed as the head of the family trust – which controls a large portion of the family’s vast wealth – because she attempted to have herself kept on, and in control, long into the future. Mrs Rinehart, who is worth $17.1 billion, emailed her son and three daughters just days before the trust was to vest, warning they each faced a potential capital gains tax liability of $100 million. But she refused – and still does – to show them the tax advice documents.

A statement from Rinehart’s solicitor read:

“The plaintiff children have seen fit not to follow sound advice from family friends that if they are not happy they should go out and earn for themselves.

“The children have enjoyed very privileged lives, all have enjoyed private schooling, private tutors, private summer schools, extensive holidays overseas, designer clothes, private health care, expensive jewellery and (or) watches.

“Additionally the plaintiffs have each chosen multi million homes with water views and swimming pools to enjoy.”

Iranian women pose nude to protest sex oppression

It’s the least expected form of protest but these Iranian women, living in exile from a brutal regime, have posed nude to protest the massive gender inequality in their home country. The women posed naked for photos and a video with slogans like ‘I believe in the equality of women and men’ and ‘my thoughts, my body, my choice’. The women said they were motivated to make some noise for all those who could not while still living within Iranian borders for fear of reprisals.

Maryam Namazie, who produced the calendar, said nudity was an important weapon in the fight against oppression.

‘Islamism and the religious right are obsessed with women’s bodies,’ she told The International Business Times.

‘They demand that we be veiled, bound, and gagged. In the face of this assault, nudity breaks taboos and is an important form of resistance.’

The regime, headed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, routinely arrests, beats, tortures and kills those who dare speak out or act against its extreme conservatism.

Woman turns to social media to find a stem cell donor.

Twenty-six-year-old Pamela Bou Sejean has an aggressive form of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. She’s had extensive chemotherapy and radiation therapy and now her only option to survive is a stem cell transplant. In a last ditch bid to find a donor – the Victorian woman has turned to Facebook. Her older brother created a page, How You Can Help Cure Pamela, to get the message out to as many people as possible and hopefully find a match. They’re urging people to go to a donor centre and ask to be put on the Australian Bone Marrow registry.

If you want to help, call the donor centre on 13 14 95. And you can find more information on the Facebook page.

A while ago, Mamamia publisher Mia Freedman did an interview with Maureen Astbury, Donor Coordinator from the Australian Bone Marrow Donor Registry:

Lingerie football almost in Australia

You might have remembered the article Mamamia wrote when we first heard the Lingerie Football League (LFL) was heading to Australia. Well, the American organisation has announced – the day before International Women’s Day, no less – the first Australian trial match will be played this June. It is exactly as it sounds. A professional football match played by female athletes. In their lingerie. Well, maybe the lingerie is actually really useful from a safety perspective? Or maybe it’s really useful from a marketing point of view where sex sells, because, as professional sportspeople these women make great sex objects.

“We could have never imagined the incredible response of Australia to LFL Football,” said Mitchell S. Mortaza, Chairman, Lingerie Football League.

“This is truly a significant moment in the short history of the league as we take our first step toward introducing Aussies to LFL Football and the eventual premiere of LFL Australia in 2013.”

Curious? Here’s a trailer:

Government Indigenous intervention draws more criticism

Former Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser has accused the Gillard government of ‘paternalism’ as it draws up and passes more legislation for its slightly different Indigenous intervention called Stronger Futures. He says the consultations with Indigenous people have been a fraud. ”Aboriginals were not involved in the process and have not been involved in the development of policy outcomes,” Mr Fraser said. As Fairfax reported, his views matched that of a 144-page report. Listening but not Hearing, which was prepared by the Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning at the University of Technology Sydney, and whose authors include academic Larissa Behrendt and activist Eva Cox, claims the consultation process denied genuine engagement, in breach of the UN declaration on the rights of indigenous people.

It was the shocking levels of child abuse that eventually triggered an emergency intervention in Northern Territory Aboriginal communities in 2007. The ‘Little Children are Sacred’ report was released in January 2007. It might not have said anything particularly new, but it declared the situation as one that needed to be acted on immediately.

It said, however: “It is critical that both governments commit to genuine consultation with Aboriginal people in designing initiatives for Aboriginal communities.”

Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin yesterday rejected the findings, insisting the consultation process was ”thorough and fair”.

”Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory have been clear with me that having their kids go to school and get a decent education, having jobs for local people and tackling alcohol abuse are the priority issues for them in building a stronger future,” she said.

Model fired for large hips wins court case

Dutch model and winner of Holland’s Next Top Model has won a court case against her employer for breach of contract because she was fired when they realised her hips were too big.

The Amsterdam District Court ruled on Wednesday that Ananda Marchildon, now 25, was entitled to the main prize she won in the 2008 production of the show, a three-year contract worth 75,000 euro ($93,500).

Marchildon argued she was dismissed after only 10,000 euro worth of work because she didn’t lose enough weight to please the agency. The judge ruled the model had gained weight since winning, but her hip size had been 92cm when she won (the minimum size required by the agency) and should not have been expected to drop to 90cm.  While not modelling, she had been working as a carpenter.

This is how Mamamia originally reported the story.

Ananda and more in the Week in Pics:

Vegans want better food guidelines

Vegan lobby group Vegan Australia says it is disappointed the revision of Australia’s official food and dietary guidelines – due for release in the second half of 2012 – won’t consider alternative sources of protein outside of livestock and animals.

“We reject the assumption that meat be the default option for sourcing protein,” the group said in a joint submission with the Vegan Society of NSW to the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) review of the draft guidelines.

“We strongly believe that the guidelines, in their current format, are woefully inadequate as they do not consider the way a food is sourced or its method of production.” The organisation wants the lean meats, fish and poultry category (which also includes legumes, eggs, nuts and seeds) to be renamed ‘protein’. Vegan Australia said it was discriminated against because the guidelines would not seek to ‘promote compassion and put an end to the unnecessary suffering and killing of animals for food consumption’.

– Speaking of which, what is your animal / food line?