Latest news with #treaty
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
On This Day, June 28: Biscayne National Park established in Florida
On this date in history: In 1778, the Continental Army under command of Gen. George Washington defeated the British at Monmouth, N.J. A pair of saddle pistols used by the Marquis de Lafayette during the battle fetched nearly $2 million at a 2002 auction. In 1838, Victoria was crowned queen of England. She would rule for 63 years, 7 months. In 1914, Archduke Ferdinand of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia, an act considered to have ignited World War I. In 1919, World War I officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. In 1969, the clientele of a New York City gay bar, the Stonewall Inn, rioted after it was raided by police. The event is considered the start of the gay liberation movement. In 1971, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the use of public funds for parochial schools was unconstitutional. In 1972, President Richard Nixon announced that no more draftees would be sent to Vietnam unless they volunteered for service in the Asian nation. In 1980, Biscayne National Park, previously a national monument, was established by an act of Congress. The park preserves Biscayne Bay and offshore barrier reefs in South Florida. In 1997, Mike Tyson bit off a piece of one of heavyweight boxing champion Evander Holyfield's ears during a title fight in Las Vegas. In 2007, the American bald eagle was removed from the endangered species list. Officials of the Interior Department said the eagle, which had been declared endangered in 1967, was flourishing and no longer imperiled. In 2009, Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, rousted out of bed in the middle of the night by soldiers, was forced from office and into exile in Costa Rica in the culmination of a bitter power struggle over proposed constitutional changes. He was in exile for more than a year. In 2011, the International Monetary Fund's executive board named Christine Lagarde chairwoman, the first woman to lead the organization. In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the new healthcare law known as the Affordable Care Act. In 2016, militants opened fire and set off explosions at Turkey's Ataturk Airport, killing 45 people and leaving more than 230 injured. Turkish officials blamed the Islamic State. In 2018, five people -- four journalists and a sales assistant -- died after a gunman opened fire at the Annapolis, Md., office of the Capital Gazette newspaper. In 2022, Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison for her role in Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking scheme. In 2023, South Korea scrapped its traditional age-counting system, instantly reducing the age of citizens by one or two years in a move to align with international standards and reduce clerical headaches. In 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that enforcement of camping regulation laws against homeless people does not constitute cruel and unusual punishment banned by the Eighth Amendment.
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Lithuania notifies UN of withdrawal from landmine ban treaty
VILNIUS (Reuters) -Lithuania has notified the United Nations it is leaving the treaty banning anti-personnel landmines, its foreign minister posted on X on Friday. The country will no longer be bound by the treaty six months after the notification. Parliaments of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland and Poland - all NATO and EU members bordering Russia - have approved withdrawal of their countries from the treaty, citing the increased military danger from their neighbour.
Reuters
20 hours ago
- Politics
- Reuters
Lithuania notifies UN of withdrawal from landmine ban treaty
VILNIUS, June 27 (Reuters) - Lithuania has notified the United Nations it is leaving the treaty banning anti-personnel landmines, its foreign minister posted on X on Friday. The country will no longer be bound by the treaty six months after the notification. Parliaments of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland and Poland - all NATO and EU members bordering Russia - have approved withdrawal of their countries from the treaty, citing the increased military danger from their neighbour.
ABC News
18-06-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Yoorrook Justice Commission's historic walk for truth
A momentous day in Victoria as Indigenous Australians hope that they are a step closer to achieving the nation's first long awaited treaty. It comes after a four-year commission looked into the impact of colonisation. Tahnee Jash reports.
ABC News
18-06-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Long walk for truth and Victoria's plan for treaty
Cheers erupted among the thousands of people gathered on the steps of Victoria Parliament as the Yoorrook Justice Commissioner, Travis Lovett, reached his destination after 508 kilometres and 25 days of walking. "The silence ends here, the time of not knowing, of choosing not to know, is over," Commissioner Lovett told the sea of supporters. "Truth-telling is not a ritual, it's not symbolic. It's a reckoning, it's a commitment to change. Truth-telling is treaty in motion. "The work of truth-telling, of treaty, of transformation, that belongs to us all now." Commissioner Lovett set out on the Walk for Truth on Gunditjmara land, his traditional country in Portland, where first European settlement began in Victoria. His walk is one of the final steps of the state's four-year truth-telling Yoorrook Justice Commission, ahead of a "new chapter" with an official report detailing the impacts of colonisation on Victoria's First Peoples. The findings will also inform Victoria's statewide treaty, currently being negotiated between First Nations people and the government — the first of its kind in the country. "In our culture, [we] listen before we talk," Commissioner Lovett told the ABC. "Before the treaty, we need to have the truth to understand what has happened to our people, and what is continually happening." The walk began with 500 people, swelling to around 3,000 in Melbourne for the final day. Conversations on the road focused on the past and the present. Participants opened their hearts during the walk. Like Stolen Generations survivor Lionel Dukasis, who met cousins for the first time during the journey, an experience that reinforced the power of family for him. "When I'm on the phone to my kids or grandkids I tell them I love them, because I never heard that and as a kid those are the words you want to hear: 'I love you,'" Mr Dukasis said. The commissioner of the country's first truth-telling body stood tall as he handed over a message stick marked with symbols, initials and markings from people along the way — one "he carried for all Victorians". "This message stick comes with expectations that the government will implement Yoorrook's recommendations," Commissioner Lovett said. It was also for the opposition, who withdrew their bipartisan support for treaty soon after Victorians delivered a majority no vote in the Voice referendum. "We are coming in here to give this to you. We as people have expectations on them too … for them to support truth-telling and treaty." Commissioner Lovett had also exchanged message sticks from Country to Country as he walked across the state to meet the Victorian premier today. "When we walk through other people's Country, we have always taken a message stick to let them know our intentions," the proud Kerrupmara Gunditjmara man said. "These message sticks are about truth, they are about expectations, they are about learning from history." The route was mapped out with guidance from local traditional owners of each town. "We began where the first wounds were struck into the earth, where footsteps came ashore not as visitors but as claimants, where the smoke of fires long burning were ignored and where our presence was declared absent," he said to the thousands who gathered on the steps of Parliament House. "A path drawn across Country, never straight, never simple. It bent with memory, with resistance, with the shape of old scars but new hope." Commissioner Lovett said he walked for his children and for other children so they could "dance in celebration". His journey was inspired by activists who stood on the steps with placards, like Wurundjeri leader William Barak who made the trek to Parliament House to fight for change. "Since 1856, parliament has made decisions that have controlled and segregated First Peoples' lives, but it's also the place where we can transform our futures, not just for First Peoples but for all Victorians," Commissioner Lovett told the ABC. It has been an almost month-long journey through torrential rain, pockets of hail, and wintry sunshine. The conversations revisited painful memories of the past but there were also moments of laughter and joy, described by some as a "transformative energy". "We're here to walk together in unity," Commissioner Lovett told hundreds of attendees in Geelong. "We're not blaming everyday Australians for what has happened to our people. "We are asking for the institutions to be accountable for the institutional harm that they've caused, and the current systems that are still informed and embedded by their colonial roots." Walkers would often hear Commissioner Lovett refer to himself as an "emu" — his strides so long and fast that attendees jested it should be a "Run for Truth" not a Walk for Truth. Lionel Dukakis, the First Nations traffic management director, was essential to the success of the walk. Wearing a hi-vis vest directing traffic, he ensured the safety of the particpants. "Walking for all those days or sitting in the truck, protecting the crowd and travel and all that is paramount. But [the highlight was] meeting cousins for the first time at 63 that I'd never met in my life," the Gunditjmara man said. At just 18 months old, Mr Dukakis was forcibly removed from his family under the power of government policies at the time. He would spend his life between institutions and a foster family. It's an experience almost too difficult to talk about. "I'd have to tell you personally it was hell on Earth for us, the way we're treated," he reflected. He has turned his adversity into success running a business and raising a big, loving family. "Being part of history is really what it is about for me and a legacy that my grandchildren and great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren will read about in years to come," he said from his truck. Lionel was one of the 9,000 First Nations people who engaged with the Yoorrook Commission. Victoria has the highest rates of Aboriginal child removal in the country, and it is one of the issues that the commissioners raised in their 46 urgent interim recommendations two years ago — to give decision-making power and resources back to First Peoples, negotiated through a treaty. The government accepted 30 recommendations to varying degrees, six in full, with a further 13 under consideration. Commissioners were "beyond disappointed at the lack of action", condemning the government's decision to toughen bail laws and backflip on a commitment to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14. The Yoorrook Commission has heard from 229 witnesses, including the Victorian premier eliciting 16 government apologies, notably from the Victorian police commissioner. Another 100 recommendations will be laid out in the final report that will be tabled in parliament by the end of this month. It will be reviewed before the government's official response. "Our people as First Peoples get to write the full history of what's happened," Commissioner Lovett said. The Yoorrook Justice Commision report will bring a statewide treaty closer to reality. In Parliament House, traditional owners handed over message sticks directly to Premier Jacinta Allan. "Truth does not end today, rather truth marks a beginning," Ms Allan told politicians and First Nations leaders who had gathered. "We know the important work of the commission will inform negotiations on treaty now and into the future. "Negotiations on treaty that will ultimately lead us back to this place Naarm. "So to the members of parliament who are here today, it will come back to this place and present us with that historic transformative opportunity to create a foundation on which justice is built and on which healing can begin and where real lasting change can take route." Ngarra Murray, a Wamba Wamba, Yorta Yorta, Dja Dja Wurrung and Dhudhuroa woman, is in the room negotiating with the Victorian government as the co-chair of the First People's Assembly, established with a mandate to negotiate treaty. "That call was really strong from our community, that we can't have treaty without truth," Ms Murray said. "We know that treaty is the pathway to a better future for our people … whether it's child protection, the criminal justice system, whether it is health, housing or education." Ms Murrays great-grandfather was Pastor Sir Doug Nicholls, an activist who was part of the Day of Mourning calling for rights for Aboriginal people in 1938. "We come from strong blood," she said. "It's a responsibility that we have, and it has been a lot of contributions of our old people to get us to where we are today." The government says they hope to sign a treaty ahead of the state election next year. "We're working really hard across the parliament and the political sphere to bring people on this journey with us," Ms Murray said. Victoria has embarked on a "hybrid" approach in which statewide treaties will be negotiated alongside local treaties with traditional owner groups. "The expectations are really high. It's the very first treaty and there's only so much we can achieve in the first one. That is why there will be many treaties," she said. At the local level, Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation (DJAARA) recently became the first group to register to start treaty negotiations with the Victorian government. Gunditjmara man Reuben Berg, also co-chair of the First Peoples' Assembly, explained that this treaty will be groundbreaking. "It's not intended that this first treaty will resolve all those matters, but it's going to set a framework so that we can continue to have those conversations and wherever possible, place decision making in the hands of First Peoples," he said. A key aspiration for the First Peoples' Assembly is to be an ongoing representative body for shared decision-making, such as keeping the government to account on Closing the Gap targets. "My hope [is] for a First Peoples' Assembly that can make decisions about First Peoples' business," Mr Berg told the crowd in Melbourne. He invited everyone to continue to walk with them as the end of Yoorrook drew to a close and their work continues to negotiate the first statewide treaty. "At the moment [we're] a democratically elected body of First Peoples solely focused on treaty," Mr Berg said. "We want to see that body evolve into a much stronger body that can actually talk directly to parliament." 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