Australian opposition leader compares sedition proposal to North Korea, Cuba News
Australian opposition leader compares sedition proposal to North Korea, Cuba

[JURIST] Australia's Labor Party leader Kim Beazley [official profile] said Thursday that the controversial sedition provisions [JURIST report] set to be included in Australia's new anti-terror laws lower the country "to the standard[s] of North Korea, Syria and Cuba." On Wednesday, Australian Prime Minister John Howard [official profile] bowed to pressure [JURIST report] from back-benchers and agreed to several amendments [interview transcript] to the proposed anti-terror legislation [text; JURIST report] that will soften several of its provisions but he has refused to fully remove sedition offenses [AAP report] from the bill. Beazley, who claimed the proposals will hurt Australian workers, said he would give like-minded senators every opportunity to vote to separate the sedition elements from the bill, through Labor amendments. The Herald Sun has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase…

ALSO ON JURIST

  Op-ed: Rights at Risk: My Dissent from the Australian Anti-terror Bill [Jon Stanhope, ACT Chief Minister]

THIS DAY @ LAW

Pope Urban II sparks First Crusade

Pope Urban II threw his support behind what would become the First Crusade on November 27, 1095 during the Council of Clairmont. The Pope urged the council's participants to render aid to the Byzantine Empire, which was being attacked by the Seljuks. Pope Urban called for a wide coalition of rich and poor to combat the threat, which eventually resulted in the conquest of much of the Muslim-controlled Levant by the Crusaders and the establishment of the Crusader States. Read Pope Urban's address.  

Catholic Code of Canon Law revised

On November 27, 1983, the revised Code of Canon Law of the Roman Catholic Church went into effect. Learn more about the history of Canon Law from Professor Kenneth Pennington of the Catholic University of America's Columbus School of Law.

Alfred Nobel creates Nobel Prize in his will

On November 27, 1895, Alfred Nobel signed his will, creating the Nobel Prize. Learn more about the history of the Nobel Prize and the Nobel Commission.