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Rika Ninomiya

Beyond them and us - 0 views

  • how do we foster a sense of community for international students in the short time they are here? And in turn, how do we bridge the often unintentional divide that underpins their experiences?
  • High-density housing is deliberately geared towards the international student market, at the expense of a broader mix. Orientation programs for international students and local students often run at different times. International students pay the full cost for transport, while domestic students get half-price concessions. And at some institutions, separate queues and counters even exist.
  • With their proximity to Melbourne and RMIT, they give students few opportunities to venture out of their comfort zone, explore the rest of the city, and perhaps build new connections. Some have few communal spaces - not exactly conducive to interacting with life beyond the campus zone.
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  • "We need to understand different cultures and perspectives as part of how we do business and relate," says Mr Campbell. "So there's actually a public good in all of this."
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    Interesting article discussing how international students experience or not experience Melbourne fully during their stay here in Melbourne.
Rika Ninomiya

NZ undoes $1m whale case against Japan | The Australian - 0 views

  • AUSTRALIA is likely to abandon its $1 million attempt to take Japan to the international court over whaling after New Zealand gave up its plans to use legal action to stop the annual cull.
  • using aircraft and ships to gather evidence against Japanese whalers in the Southern Ocean.
  • But the New Zealand Government has since discovered "significant difficulties" with taking Japan to the international court and has abandoned the tactic.
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  • The hunt for evidence against Japan in its "scientific hunt" for whales became highly contentious when the crew of the environmental crusader ship Sea Shepherd was accused of piracy and violence after activists threw bottles of "acid" and boarded a Japanese whaling ship.
  • Tokyo wants to ensure Mr Rudd's first trip to Japan as Prime Minister is positive and concentrates on climate change and potential joint regional aid projects rather than whaling and the perceived snub in his failure to include Japan on last month's 17-day world trip, which included four days in China.
  • In December, Australia issued a demarche, or formal diplomatic protest, on behalf of numerous nations over Japan's plans to cull about 900 minke whales and 50 fin whales.
  • It is estimated that Australia's "evidence gathering" to form a case against Japanese whalers in an international court, which included the voyage of the Oceanic Viking and aerial surveillance, cost taxpayers more than $1 million. The Rudd Government has been "considering" the evidence for three months and has still not made a decision.
  • pro-Chinese to the point of being anti-Japanese.
  • "agree to disagree on whaling".
  • The Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister have signalled they want an end to the diplomatic row with Japan although they still vigorously oppose whaling.
  • Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Andrew Robb said yesterday Mr Rudd had to calm relations between Australian and Japan. Mr Robb said Mr Rudd's perceived "China bias" had caused concerns in Indonesia, Japan and India.
  • Mr Robb said the Prime Minister had sent a "gun boat" after Japanese whaling ships without picking up the phone to Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda.
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    Very very interesting article on the relationship between Japan and Australia. Especially, after reading an article I posted previously on Okasa and Melbourne being Sister Cities. Apparently Australian government is against whaling done by Japanese and trying to gather evidence, spending over $1million, to bring Japan to an international court. And the article also mentioned how Mr Rudd is seen as Pro-China but Anti-Japan, Indonesia and India, making these countries worry.
glen donnar

Politics comes before lights and camera - Opinion - theage.com.au - 0 views

  • THE Melbourne International Film Festival has it all: dramas involving officials from foreign governments, larger than life characters sticking to matters of principles whatever the consequences and the struggles for liberation.
  • documentary about Rebiya Kadeer
  • subsequently three Chinese films were withdrawn.
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  • Loach's
  • The role of political actors, and the nation state in particular, in the film industry is enormous.
  • the film appears as the product of an individual visionary. This view of filmmaking is about as realistic as the standard Hollywood happy ending. The reality is that films are rarely, if ever, the personal, unadulterated vision of a director. They are influenced or, depending on your point of view, compromised from the start by those who bankroll the films.
  • In some respects, the most surprising thing about these kerfuffles is not that they have happened, but that they don't happen more often. While most of us think of film festivals as cultural events, the truth is that they are also deeply political events.
  • what gets far less attention is the extensive role played by political actors in the filmmaking process.
  • most films would not be made were it not for generous state subsidies.
  • And in spite of nice-sounding claims about facilitating cultural dialogue, nation states don't fund films because they love a good story. They do so because film can be a highly effective means of spreading influence. Since they're footing the bill, it's understandable that they want a say in the content of the film and how it is positioned.
  • films and film festivals are the continuation of politics by other means. It shouldn't be imagined that this applies only to authoritarian states such as China or political organisations with clear political objectives. Nearly every Australian film is made with some public money, and so filmmakers are subject to similar, if far more sophisticated and subtle, forms of state influence.
  • China has miscalculated the extent of its reach and, in the process, provided both the Kadeer documentary and the film festival an avalanche of publicity. And Ken Loach, in remarkably poor political judgment, has effectively silenced himself by withdrawing his film.
glen donnar

Withdrawals lead to program rethink - Film - Entertainment - theage.com.au - 0 views

  • The screening of the documentary The 10 Conditions of Love, about exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer, has been the cause of controversy ever since the Chinese Government demanded that the film be withdrawn.
  • MIFF refused to withdraw The 10 Conditions of Love. In response, films from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan were pulled from the festival, and the MIFF website was hacked.
  • including a short from leading director Jia Zhangke and a film produced by Wong Kar-wai’s Jet Tone company.
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  • The controversy brought a wave of local and international publicity. MIFF has been a fixture in the news pages and on the radio. The overseas coverage included mentions in The New Yorker, a live interview with CNN and coverage on the BBC. The attention, Mr Moore hopes, might have a flow-on effect, a reminder to people that this is an important festival. The festival had already become the subject of news stories when director Ken Loach withdrew his feature film, Looking for Eric, because of MIFF sponsorship by the Israeli Government.
glen donnar

Chinese hackers circulate email on how to sabotage film website - Film - 0 views

  • Instructions educating Chinese citizens on how to sabotage the Melbourne International Film Festival are being circulated around the world, organisers say.
  • Hackers replaced festival information with the Chinese flag and anti-Kadeer slogans soon after the launch of the 2009 festival.
  • Six Chinese-language movies have also been pulled out of the festival, leaving organisers with a logistical headache and the fear that Chinese film-makers will boycott the festival in future.
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  • "It's a very, very concerted and pointed attack," Mr Moore said. "Everyone's watching this - it's totally global." The email provides instructions for loading tickets into "shopping carts" from the festival's website, and Chinese are being urged to teach others how to "purchase" MIFF tickets online.
glen donnar

China steps up film festival row - 0 views

  • A DIPLOMATIC row between Australia and China
  • with Australia’s ambassador called to a dressing-down by China’s Foreign Ministry.
  • Vice-Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun told Mr Raby that Australia must ‘‘immediately correct its wrongdoings’’ and cancel Ms Kadeer’s visa
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  • the documentary The 10 Conditions of Love, about Ms Kadeer
  • Ms Kadeer will take part in the screening of the documentary next Saturday.She will also meet members of Australia’s 2000-strong Uighur community.
  • Her involvement in the festival led to seven Chinese-language films — from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan — being withdrawn.
  • ‘‘This latest attack is just extraordinary,’’ the festival director said. ‘‘What’s happened is that this has become a question of Chinese nationalism where it has almost become people’s official duty to register a protest.’’
sayaka uchida

Indian student 'flees Australia' after fatal crash - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting ... - 0 views

  • Australia and India agreed to an extradition treaty in June last year, but the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, it is not yet in force.
  • "Once the extradition treaty enters into force, Indian authorities would be bound to uphold and process the extradition request, and to seek to lodge an arrest warrant within India to seek out and detain this individual."
  • "In 2008 in addition to the extradition treaty, Australia also concluded a mutual assistance treaty dealing with matters of criminal interest between the two countries, and since then of course we've had the terrorist events in Bombay and no doubt the Australian Federal Police have got interests in matters that are occurring in India,"
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    International co-operation in relation to law. We would have "world police coorperation" thingie in the future...or we have it already?
Rika Ninomiya

City of Melbourne - International relations - Osaka - 0 views

  • The sister city relationship with Osaka was the first that Melbourne established.
  • A strong and beneficial sister port relationship already existed (established in 1974) between the Port of Osaka and the Port of Melbourne.
  • However, the sister city relationship was not formally established until 24 April 1978 at a ceremony in Osaka attended by the Lord Mayor. The stated aim at the time was to establish 'a people-to-people relationship with the aim of developing mutual friendships and a lasting and understanding relationship'.
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    It's not an official or new article but I actually just found out about this and thought this is pretty cool. They even have a logo of Melbourne and Osaka Sister Cities.
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