Australian aid worker Alexandra Bean held in Libya

AN Australian aid worker has been prevented from leaving Libya after being caught up in a police investigation into a senior official. 

 

Foreign Minister Bob Carr says aid worker Alexandra Bean had been stopped from leaving the country at Tripoli Airport by Libyan authorities wanting to question her over matters unrelated to her.

Senator Carr said Ms Bean had not been arrested and had since been released, but could not leave the country while police conduct their inquiry.

Ms Bean has spoken to consular officials in Cairo, who will continue to assist her as much as is required.

Senator Carr said Ms Bean should have the right to leave the country but Libyan authorities were concerned that if she left the country she may not return.

"We will protect her, in these circumstances, as we protect any Australian in this sort of position," Mr Carr said in New York.

Fairfax Media reported that Ms Bean, 30, may have been embroiled in rumours she had been sexually assaulted by a senior Libyan health official.

In June, Australian lawyer Melinda Taylor and her three International Criminal Court (ICC) colleagues were detained by Libyan officials for allegedly carrying documents for the imprisoned son of Muammar Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam, that were considered a threat to national security.

She was freed after a personal intervention by Senator Carr.

Ms Bean was working in Libya for the International Organisation for Migration, an intergovernmental organisation established in 1951 to facilitate humane and orderly migration.

It provides services and advice to governments and migrants in more than 100 countries.

Senator Carr said Ms Bean would be provided with consular assistance but not legal assistance, in keeping with Australian government practice.

Her brother, James Bean, said his sister had been detained and questioned by men, without a lawyer or other women present, about alleged sexual offences.

She needed help, he said.

"We have a young Australian woman facing some pretty horrible allegations about her," Mr Bean told ABC radio.

"Why doesn't this warrant sending a consular official to provide her with assistance?"

Mr Bean said his sister was now staying with friend in Tripoli and just wanted to get out of Libya to "decompress".

She was stopped at Tripoli airport and had her passport confiscated as she tried to leave the country, after refusing to sign an Arabic document without a translation.

Source  http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/australian-aid-worker-alexandra-bean-held-in-libya/story-fncynkc6-1226482238439

No migration for young hard workers

At a time when thousands of young people are migrating daily in search of work, some youths are learning skills that are proving useful in their own country. Sharing their experiences of earning their living on their own country by working hard, they advice youth not to adopt the migrating pattern and, instead, suggest that they stay back home.

“With a little hard work, it’s possible to earn here as much as one does abroad,” says Gopal Sunar, 31, a resident of Banke, Kohalpur, “Patience and skill is required for this.”

Sunar worked in India for nine years at his elder brother’s behest. His brother lives in Punjab. As soon as Sunar returned home five years ago, he received vocational training and started repairing refrigerators. “There I would earn from around Rs 900 to 3000 per month,” he shares, “Now every month I earn around Rs 15,000 here.”

“Since the earning increased, a year ago I asked my brother to return home,” he says, “Though he is settled there, he is staying here to help me in my work.” Just last week, his brother called his family there to join him in Nepal, he informs. Sunar’s elder brother, Durga Bahadur, says it makes him happy that his family can live and work in their own country. “I called him first,” says Durga, “Then he returned to work here and made me come back too.”

With a similar experience is a motorcycle workshop owner, Eshan Ali. After he failed his SLC examination three years ago, he got himself trained and says that going abroad instead of training and working here is useless.

“As my friends were preparing to go abroad and looking for visas, I started my training,” he states, “After I finished my training, I opened this shop and now I earn Rs 15,000 to 20,000 every month.” He further adds that working in one’s own country not only makes one economically sound but the happiness of being with one’s family is also there.

30-year-old Prem Kumar Bika working in New Rapti Grill Factory, located in, Kolhapur-3 also says that learning the skills and working in Nepal is better than the hassle of working abroad. “Along with education, professional skills are also necessary,” Bika says, “If put into good use, we can earn in Nepal, as much we earn abroad.”

Adopting modern techniques in the traditional family occupation of metal work, Bika has opened his own grill factory. With the support of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Bika was trained through a program called ‘Education for Income Generation’ and has been sharing what he has learnt with others as well. “My income has also increased and I am also providing employment to some other people as well,” he says, adding, ‘My family members are also satisfied with this work.”

Chalis Bahadur Tharu from Banke, Phattepur, who was also earlier in the Maoist People’s Liberation Army (PLA), shares that economical skills have uplifted his lifestyle. “No improvements came out of the war,” he says, “After training and working as a carpenter, my income has increased.” Bika, during his five-years in the Army, destroyed many houses and now is involved, instead, in building processes of the same. “I used to go around bombarding houses with grenades,” he recalls, “But today, hammers and saws are my equipment and I work to build houses.”

According to Regional Program Coordinator Naresh Sing Tharu, 11,500 people from the 15 districts in the Mid-Western region have received various skill-building trainings through the ‘Education for Income Generation’ program of USAID. 

Millions of children at risk of forced recruitment: VP

Almost 13 million Colombian children are at risk of forced recruitment by illegal armed groups, according to a commission chaired by the country's Vice President.

The office of Vice President Angelino Garzon released a statement Wednesday saying that in half of the country's municipalities present a higher risk of forced recruitment to the children living there, and recommended they be a priority for the government to address.

The commission identified the pervasiveness of illegal armed groups, such as guerrilla groups FARC and ELN, as one of twelve risk factors for young Colombians. Earlier this month, authorities claimed that rebels of the FARC's 16th and 44th fronts entered schools in some 23 villages with the intent of recruiting child soldiers.

Other factors of risk in these municipalities included the presence of illicit crops, high rates of violence, child labor, unsatisfied basic needs and forced displacement.

The staggering figure of nearly 13 million children being at risk of forced recruitment into armed gangs corresponds to approximately 28% of Colombia’s total population, and 79% of the child population.

Garzon called attention to the necessity of the government, the international community, civil society and family "to work together in a responsible manner to guarantee the rights of children so that they can enjoy their adolescence and be converted into citizens that help construct the country."

The Vice President created the commission, officially known as the "Intersectoral Commission for the Prevention of Recruitment and Use of Children, Adolescents and Young People by organized groups outside the law" with the aim of guiding state policy on the matter.

The recruitment of children is considered a war crime by International Humanitarian Law and Garzon demanded of "illegal armed groups, including FARC and ELN guerrillas, the respect towards the civil population and the immediate freedom of all children that have been recruited by force."

Source  http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/26089-millions-of-children-at-risk-of-forced-recruitment-vp.html

Domain Services And Direct Access

Guest blogger Terry Lynch gets hands-on advice on making the most of some of Windows Server 2012′s more advanced features. Your domain rollouts may never be the same again.

Where To Begin?

So, after being taught about the new features and improvements in Windows Server 2012 over the last three days at TechEd Australia 2012, the first question most people will have is: “so where do I begin?” Alex Pubanz and Jesse Suna from Microsoft began Friday morning with a session answering just that.

Introducing a Windows Server 2012 domain controller into your domain has been made much easier but the process has changed from previous versions. Gone are the days of running a dcpromo on the server to promote it – in fact, this command doesn’t even exist anymore. If you run dcpromo on a Windows Server 2012 machine you’ll be helpfully told that the role needs to be added through the server manager interface.

After adding the role of Active Directory Domain Services within the server manager you’ll be asked if you wish to promote the server to a Domain Controller and if you’re joining an existing domain or forest. The server manager runs a quick check on your existing infrastructure and determines if your domain or schema needs to be prepped and if they do, this process will automatically run as well. If you prefer to take control back from the wizards and manage this yourself, these processes can both still be run manually.

And that’s all there is to it really; after a reboot your new Windows Server 2012 domain controller is ready to go and your infrastructure is prepared and able for more Windows Server 2012 members to be introduced.

Migrating a file server cluster is also a fairly straightforward process. After building the cluster in Windows Server 2012 you can then use the Clustering Manager interface to pull information over from your existing Window Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2 cluster (sorry, no direct migration support for Windows Server 2003). A maintenance window will be required while the information is transferred but the process does not alter the existing cluster so after this process is complete you’ll hopefully be presented with a report full of green check marks indicating a successful transfer but if for some reason anything fails, your existing cluster remains unchanged and can be rolled back with no issues ready to try again another time.

Everything, Everywhere

DirectAccess was introduced in Windows Server 2008R2 allowing remote users on laptops to connect back into the corporate network for logon credentials or file access without having to dial VPNs or configure any tunneling. This all sounds great in theory but some of the prerequisites for this setup really held back larger enterprises from embracing this feature – who in their right mind would allow a Domain Controller in the DMZ?

Fortunately this has all been rethought and a lot of the requirements around DirectAccess have been removed and simplified with a wizard style interface allowing administrators to configure this within minutes. During a demo we were able to see a complete DirectAccess deployment set up in the space of 10 minutes.

Another very interesting and useful feature in the new version of DirectAccess is the ability to provision non domain-joined machines who are out on the internet with no connection to the domain at all. Any Windows 8 Enterprise machine with an internet connection can be sent a package which, when run with administrative rights will rename the machine, join it to your domain, apply all your group policy settings and then allow the user to log in with their domain credentials – all without a VPN or any physical connection to the network. Obviously the package sent to the destination computer should be kept as secure as possible as this could be run on any Windows8 machine and join it to your domain but for provisioning purposes, this function could turn out to be extremely useful.

Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 take DirectAccess to a new level of easy deployment and gives fantastic new functions as described above but these can also be taken advantage of by your existing Windows7 machines although it will take some more configuration around certificates and trust to your domain. DirectAccess is also only compatible with Windows 8 Enterprise so you’ll need to keep this requirement in mind.

What a week!

TechEd 2012 has been a fantastic experience and I can’t wait to get back to the office and start testing and implementing the amazing new features we have been shown. I’ll almost certainly be back again next year and would love to bring more of my team with me to share the workload, there’s been far too many sessions that I wish I was able to attend but just didn’t have the time.

Well done to Microsoft and all the partners who helped make this TechEd so successful and gave all of us a great time. Now we just need to get out there and start making these things happen!

Source  http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2012/09/domain-services-and-direct-access/

Automotive Customer Service Jobs

You see a brand new shiny car on display, it lures you into the store, you go inside and you are greeted with a smile by a person who is clean, neat and well dressed. Just by looking at that person you know that he is going to help you.

You see a brand new shiny car on display, it lures you into the store, you go inside and you are greeted with a smile by a person who is clean, neat and well dressed. Just by looking at that person you know that he is going to help you. More often than not that person is the store manager. This can also be the after-sales customer service manager.

Becoming a manager of an automobile store involves a lot of experience and expertise in the field of Automobiles. She/he is knowledgeable not only about their products but also what their competitors have to offer. They know every single minute detail of their product. They will also be able to answer all your questions whether you are a pro or a layman.

A store manager is not easy in the making. That is what sets them apart from the rest of the employees. To start with they are required to have leadership qualities. These include being a good team player, a team builder and need to encourage their team mates. A motivator, as sales could go down sometimes. Basically a favourite among the staff they work with after all it’s their work that make a store manager successful. For a vehicle repair/maintenance store, ideally this person is a qualified mechanic / vehicle technician.

The Store Manager needs to possess excellent communication skills. They need to be creative, innovative and open to new ideas and feedback, whether it’s from the customer, management or the employees. They need to have an eye for detail. They also need to keep updating themselves with the latest in trend, accessories and care.

When it comes to handling the customer, they need to be patient. They need to be friendly and answer all their questions politely; after all, they would be spending big money. They should be able to provide information about the product, services offered and care instructions. They need to make sure that the buying and subsequent servicing of an automobile is a smooth process for the customer.

Some of the other responsibilities include maintaining the showroom and the staff, handling cash, or banking transactions, making sure the showroom and workshop are neat and clean, ensuring timely delivery of vehicles and ensuring Quality.

An Assistant store manager’s job (aka ASM, Second in Charge or 2IC) is more or less quite similar but with fewer responsibilities, and generally more hands on mechanic technician. They step in during the absence of the Store Manager. They usually carry out directions and day to day tasks assigned to them by the Store Manager / Client Service Manager.

Employers look for candidates who present themselves well, have good communication skills and who are interesting to listen to. For a Store Manager in the automobile industry a mechanical trade background is preferred. A 457 sponsorship Visa may be applicable to work as a Customer Serice Store Manager in Australia.

If you think your name replaces every ‘they’ on this page, you may be the next Store Manager in the making.

Apply online at http://www.konnecting.com/store-manager--automotive/jobs/569/154.

Education, training for asylum seekers

The asylum seekers Australia sends to Nauru for processing will have access to training courses and pastoral care provided by the Salvation Army, and any children will be sent to school.

The first phase of federal Labor's policy to transfer people from Christmas Island off Western Australia to centres on Nauru and Papua New Guinea's Manus Island will be under way by the end of the week.

Immigration minister Chris Bowen on Monday signed documents designating Nauru as a regional processing country under the Migration Act, ahead of introducing special legislation in parliament.

The documents sit alongside an updated memorandum of understanding agreed with PNG on the weekend to reopen Manus Island.

If a special legislative instrument gets past the Senate on Wednesday as expected, the first asylum seekers will be on their way to Nauru by Friday.

"The governments of Australia and Nauru have been working towards a transfer to occur in the latter part of this week," Mr Bowen told reporters in Canberra.

The federal opposition immediately proposed amendments in the lower house, calling on Labor to adopt its policy of immediately reintroducing temporary protection visas for refugees and turning back asylum seeker boats where it's safe to do so.

The Greens again called on the government to limit processing periods on the islands to a year.

As of 6pm (AEST) on Monday, the amendments were defeated and the motion supporting the legislative instrument has proceeded to the Senate.

Meanwhile, details of the arrangements with Nauru show children and unaccompanied minors will either go to local schools or receive schooling from education contractors.

Training courses will be offered to adults and Nauruans by the Salvation Army, which will also have responsibility for asylum seeker support services, including counselling, pastoral care and recreation programs.

Mr Bowen said the Christian church group would not be there to "proselytise" and there would be provisions for worship for asylum seekers, many of whom are Muslim.

"I have full confidence in the Salvation Army's ability to provide services without fear or favour to religious background," the minister said.

While the Salvos remain concerned about the potential impact of offshore processing on the wellbeing and mental health of asylum seekers, they said the primary focus was to provide the best care.

The church already offers housing and chaplaincy support services to asylum seekers at detention centres in Australia.

About 2000 potential refugees have arrived in Australia by boat since Labor announced in mid-August plans to reopen the processing centres.

The government wants to deter asylum seekers from making dangerous sea journeys to Australia, following a serious of boat sinkings and drownings.

It hopes to fly 500 asylum seekers to the Pacific Island nation of Nauru by the end of September.

Under the act, immigration department officials are obliged to move offshore anyone who arrives by boat unless instructed otherwise by the minister or his delegate on "public interest grounds".

But Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said from today "any person who turns up on a boat must go to Nauru - no exceptions".

Mr Bowen did not say whether women and children could be included in the first transfers.

Meanwhile, the government is taking a "step-by-step" approach to reopening Manus Island and 30 defence personnel and two immigration officials will head there in coming days.

Source  http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/education-training-for-asylum-seekers-20120910-25mz1.html

Asylum seekers to arrive in Nauru by end of the week

Asylum seekers will be transferred to Nauru by the end of this week, Immigration Minister Chris Bowen announced today.

Mr Bowen told reporters in Canberra that asylum seekers would be transferred to the island nation by plane in the ''latter part of this week''.

As the federal government moves to revive offshore processing, Mr Bowen this morning signed the legislative instrument designating Nauru as a regional processing country under the Migration Act.

The Immigration Minister will move a motion in the House of Representatives after question time today to ''officially authorise'' the designation.

This will pave the away for up to 500 people to be processed on the island. Mr Bowen said it was an ''Immigration [Department] decision'' as to who would be transferred to Nauru.

He would not comment on who would be in the first transfer.

Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison welcomed the development but said the government had taken too long to get Nauru up and working.

"The Coalition has been calling on this for several weeks," he told reporters in Canberra.

Mr Morrison said the Coalition would support the designation but said he looked forward to seeing government MPs  - who had denounced Nauru for the past decade -  admit they got it "horrifically wrong" when Labor shut down offshore processing in 2008.

Mr Morrison said that there would now effectively be an "asylum lottery" to decide who went to Nauru but insisted that any asylum seekers who arrived in Australian waters from this point "must got to Nauru".

Transfield Services has been contracted to provide cleaning, catering and security on Nauru and International Health and Medical Services will provide medical support.

Mr Bowen said the Salvation Army would also be contracted to work on community liaison, case management and community activities.

He said there were already 10 Salvation Army personnel on the island and others would follow, but he said they would not be ''proselytising''.

Mr Bowen said he had ''full confidence'' the Salvation Army would provide their services without ''fear or favour''.

Work is also continuing to reopen offshore processing on Manus Island.

At the weekend, Prime Minister Julia Gillard struck a new written agreement with Papua New Guinea to allow processing on Manus Island.

Mr Bowen said the next step would be for 30 Australian Defence Force personnel to be deployed to PNG in the coming days along with two Immigration Department staff.

This developments come as two Australian navy patrol boats rescued 80 asylum seekers from a boat that was in distress off the coast of Java yesterday.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority said it was unable to confirm media reports of a second incident involving the Indonesian search and rescue agency Basarnas.

Indonesian authorities rescued 54 asylum seekers, including a women and a baby girl, from a sinking boat near Sulawesi overnight, according to the ABC.

Four other boats carrying about 240 people have arrived in Australian waters since last Friday.

Almost 2000 people have arrived since the Gillard government announced it would revive offshore processing on August 13.

Greens deputy leader Adam Bandt said it was extraordinary that the parliament was being asked to approve sending refugees to another country to be locked up indefinitely.

''We know the government wants to, and has, adopted John Howard's migration services policy. Are they now going to be responsible for the enormous amount of suffering that people will incur when they are detained indefinitely?'' Mr Bandt said.

He said it was worrying that the government was outsourcing the facility to a private company.

The Greens have urged the federal government to set up an independent expert panel to protect the mental and physical well-being of asylum seekers sent to Nauru and Manus Island.

The party will table a bill in the Senate today, urging it be dealt with immediately.

Greens immigration spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young said the expert panel would have open access to detention facilities and would report directly to the Parliament every six months.

It would be made up of health professionals, including psychiatric and childcare experts, and ensure asylum seekers were treated humanely.

''In the years that refugees were detained on Manus Island and Nauru, there were many individuals left without assistance,'' Senator Hanson-Young told reporters in Canberra

''At the very least, let's put back some humanity back into this policy.''

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/asylum-seekers-to-arrive-in-nauru-by-end-of-the-week-20120910-25nf7.html#ixzz262CD17Wl

Changes to Australian visa service delivery in China

New Australian Visa Application Centres (AVACs) in Beijing and Shanghai will improve service delivery for Chinese visitors, skilled migrants, migration services and business representatives travelling to Australia.

As part of the Department of Immigration and Citizenship’s (DIAC) commitment to client service excellence, the department is expanding its network of AVACs to the People’s Republic of China.

“AVACs will be located in Beijing and Shanghai to provide more convenient access to immigration and citizenship services for clients in these regions,” a departmental spokesman said today.

“The introduction of the AVACs is part of a number of migration recruitment services delivery improvements across the region.”

In addition to the AVACs becoming operational in early September 2012, considerations are under way for possible AVACs to be opened in Guangzhou and Chengdu in 2013.

The AVACs will provide a range of services including extended operating hours with phone lines operating until 5pm weekdays and internet kiosks with an online application tracking facility that enables clients to view the status of their applications.

Optional services provided by the AVAC for an additional service fee include courier services, photocopying, passport photos, SMS notification, translation services, and a premium business lounge providing access to dedicated staff, photocopy and fax facilities, and refreshments.

“All applications will continue to be assessed and decided by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship,” the spokesman said.

“Staff at the AVAC will have no involvement in the decision-making process or have any knowledge of the application outcome.”

The introduction of AVACs will also bring changes to where certain visa applications are processed. The Australian Consulates in Shanghai and Guangzhou will be consolidated as visa processing centres for Northern and Southern China respectively.

The Australian Embassy in Beijing will be primarily responsible for liaising with Chinese Government stakeholders. They will retain a range of visa processing functions relating to travel by Chinese officials and process temporary residence (non-business) visa applications for all of China.

Clients in the Beijing and Shanghai catchment areas applying in person for an Australian visa will lodge their application at their local AVAC.

Clients submitting their visa application by post or courier will be required to send their visa application directly to the AVAC in the location of the relevant processing office. Exceptions to this are adoption (subclass 102) visa and resident return (subclass 155/157) visa applications, which should be submitted directly to the Australian visa office at the Australian Consulate Guangzhou.

Clients in the Guangzhou catchment area applying for an Australian visa will continue to submit their application directly with the Australian Visa Office at the Australian Consulate in Guangzhou. The exception to this is clients lodging a visa application for a temporary residence (non-business) visa by mail or courier which should be submitted directly to the AVAC in Beijing.

There will be no change to the current lodgement and processing arrangements for government officials applying via the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) or their local Foreign Affairs Office (FAO). These applications should continue to be submitted directly with the nearest Australian Visa Office. Diplomatic visa applications should be lodged with the Australian Embassy in Beijing.

A service fee of 175 RMB will be charged by the AVAC for each application, in addition to the standard visa application charge (and any applicable associated charges) required by DIAC. The AVAC service fee is in line with the current average service delivery partner fee applied globally for the department’s clients.

Further specific details about visa lodgement and processing arrangements will be provided on the DIAC website in the coming weeks.

Source  http://www.investinaustralia.com/news/changes-australian-visa-service-delivery-china-12c3