AP: Australia to send Sri Lankan asylum seekers to remote island

[ellisonz]

Australia to send Sri Lankan asylum seekers to remote island
11 minutes ago
SYDNEY (AFP) - Australia will send 83 Sri Lankan asylum seekers to the Pacific island of Nauru, the government said Thursday, in an extension of the controversial "Pacific Solution" for unwanted migrants.

The move against the boatpeople intercepted off Australia's Christmas Island last month would send a strong message to prospective illegal immigrants and people smugglers, Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews told reporters.

"The government is committed to a strong border protection policy and we are also committed to sending the strongest possible message of deterrence to people who would engage in the dangerous and unlawful activity of people smuggling," he said.

"Our message to them and anyone else who would consider doing this is that we will process them in a way which doesn't involve entry into mainland Australia."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070315/wl_asia_afp/australiasrilankaimmigration;_ylt=Ah.EnwzwCWentaOGKrn7t24Bxg8F

They should just build a "Pacific Wall."

[evlbstrd]

1. If it was good enough for the Aussies,

it's good enough for the new undesirables.

[truthisfreedom]

2. More info about Nauru

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nauru

[ellisonz]

3. I give you President Ludwig Scotty.

[rodeodance]

4. hey---looks like my sun glasses (think they got sat on)

[Up2Late]

5. OMG! Nauru Sucks! It's something like 1000 miles from everything!

The Chicago Public Radio show "This American Life" did a show which included Nauru called:

"The Middle of Nowhere"

(12/5/03, Episode 253)

Stories from far away, hard-to-get-to places, where all rules are off,
and nefarious things happen because no one's looking, and there's no one to appeal to.

Prologue. Ira talks with sailor and researcher Captain Charles Moore about
a gigantic area in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, as far away from land as
you can get, that's filling with plastic trash. There are five spots like
this on the world's oceans. For more, check out Captain Moore's website. (3 minutes)

Act One. No Island Is An Island. Nauru is a tiny island, population 12,000,
a third of the size of Manhattan, far from anywhere, yet at the center
of several of the decade's biggest global events. Jack Hitt tells the
untold story of this dot in the middle of the Pacific and its involvement
in the bankrupting of the Russian economy, global terrorism, North Korean
defectors, the end of the world, and the late 80's theatrical flop of a
London musical based on the life of Leonardo da Vinci,
called Leonardo, A Portrait of Love. (30 minutes)

Act Two. On Hold, No One Can Hear You Scream. This American Life Senior
Producer Julie Snyder found herself in a ten-month battle with her phone
company (MCI Worldcom), which had overcharged her $946.36. She spent hours
on hold, in a bureaucratic nowhere. No one seemed able to fix her problem,
and there was no way she could make the company pay her back for all her
lost time and aggravation. Finally, she enlists the aid of the national media.
Specifically, This American Life host Ira Glass. You can register a
complaint about the phone company at the Better Business Bureau or at the FCC.
To reach Jim Myers, the MCI executive interviewed in the story,
email him at [e-mail]. (22 minutes)
Song: The Platters, "Washed Ashore (On a Lonely Island in the Sea)"


Btw, the rest of this show is excellent too.

Here's the link to the Real Audio stream:

<http://www.thislife.org/pages/descriptions/03/253.html>

We stranded a bunch of refugees from Afghanistan there back in 2002, they were suicidal in only weeks. Plus, they just made the news for having the highest percentage of Obese people too! (94%) <http://www.javno.com/en/lifestyle/clanak.php?id=23277>