Sydney, July 30 (IANS) Australian police said on Tuesday that reports of human trafficking and slavery reached an all-time high in the 2023-2024 fiscal year, with an annual hike of 12 per cent.

Authorities received 382 reports of modern slavery and human trafficking offences, recording an increase of 12.35 per cent from 340 reports the previous fiscal year, Xinhua news agency reported, citing the latest figures released by the Australian Federal Police (AFP).

Among them, 109 reports were related to human trafficking, with 91 regarding forced marriage. There were also 69 reports of forced labour.

AFP Human Exploitation Commander Helen Schneider noted that the statistics on human trafficking were more than just numbers.

“They represent innocent lives in the community. By raising awareness of the laws in Australia and supporting victims, we can make strides in eradicating this crime,” Schneider said.

“This increase is likely attributed to increased awareness of these crimes in the Australian community,” the commander added.

Tuesday also marked the United Nations (UN) World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, with this year’s theme focusing on “Leave No Child Behind in the Fight Against Human Trafficking.”

Data from the UN suggested that one in three victims of human trafficking globally is a child, and the majority of these trafficked children are girls.

–IANS

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Seoul, July 30 (IANS) The opposition-controlled National Assembly passed the last of four contentious broadcasting bills aimed at reducing the government’s influence over public broadcasters on Tuesday, ending a six-day filibuster by the ruling party.

The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) led the bill’s passage in an 189-0 vote after passing a motion to forcefully end a 24-hour filibuster by the ruling People Power Party (PPP). PPP lawmakers left the Assembly chamber to boycott the vote in protest, Yonhap news agency reported.

The revision to the Korea Educational Broadcasting System Act aims to increase the number of board directors at public broadcaster EBS from the current nine to 21.

With Tuesday’s vote, all four broadcasting bills — amendments to the Broadcasting Act, the Foundation for Broadcast Culture Act, the Korea Educational Broadcasting System Act and the establishment of the Korea Communications Commission — passed through the National Assembly.

The four bills are intended to reform the governance structure of the nation’s public broadcast media by weakening the government and the National Assembly’s power to name board directors.

Since Thursday, the PPP has been staging back-to-back filibusters to block the passage of the bills.

The PPP has claimed that the broadcasting bills will only increase the presence of progressive figures on the boards of public broadcasters, while the DP has said they will prevent political influence in the appointment of the heads of public broadcasters.

Last year, President Yoon Suk Yeol vetoed the three broadcasting bills, excluding the revision to the act on the establishment of the Korea Communications Commission, after they were passed by the opposition-controlled parliament.

The PPP is expected to call on Yoon to exercise his veto rights again over the four broadcasting bills.

–IANS

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Washington, July 30 (IANS) The US federal government’s total public debt has surpassed $35 trillion for the first time, as recorded at the end of last week, according to the latest data released by the Treasury Department.

The total public debt outstanding climbed to $35 trillion on Friday, according to the Daily Treasury Statement released on Monday. The data is updated at the end of each business day with data from the previous business day, Xinhua news agency reported.

Just seven months ago, the US national debt surpassed $34 trillion in late December 2023. Three months before that, the US reached a historic milestone by passing $33 trillion.

“The borrowing just keeps marching along, reckless and unyielding,” said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, in a statement. “Yet despite all the risks and warning signs, these alarm bells seem to be falling on deaf ears.”

“We are going to have to get serious about the debt, and soon. Election years cannot be an exception for trying to prevent completely foreseeable dangers — and the debt is one of the major dangers we are facing,” said MacGuineas.

According to the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, a nonpartisan organisation focused on addressing US long-term fiscal challenges, the national debt of $35.001 trillion translates to $103,945 of debt per person in the US.

“Our deficits are caused mainly by predictable structural factors: our ageing baby-boom generation, rising healthcare costs, and a tax system that does not bring in enough money to pay for what the government has promised its citizens,” the foundation said.

–IANS

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Washington, July 30 (IANS) US President Joe Biden has announced a plan to reform the Supreme Court, saying that he looked forward to working with Congress to prevent the abuse of presidential power and “restore faith” in the nation’s highest court.

“President Biden believes that no one — neither the President nor the Supreme Court — is above the law,” the White House said in a fact sheet.

In the face of this “crisis of confidence” in America’s democratic institutions, Biden was calling for three reforms to “restore trust and accountability”: No immunity for crimes a former president committed in office; Term limits for Supreme Court justices; Binding code of conduct for the Supreme Court, Xinhua news agency reported, citing the fact sheet.

Firstly, Biden called for a constitutional amendment that makes clear no president is above the law or immune from prosecution for crimes committed while in office.

This came in response to the court’s July 1 ruling, which determined that presidents cannot be prosecuted for “official acts” performed while in office, a decision related to a case involving former President Donald Trump, who was indicted by a federal grand jury for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Secondly, Biden supported a system in which the president would appoint a Justice every two years to spend 18 years in active service on the Supreme Court. Currently, Supreme Court Justices serve lifetime appointments on the court.

During his tenure, Trump nominated three conservative justices, shifting the balance of the Supreme Court from a 5-4 to a 6-3 conservative majority, thereby strengthening the conservative advantage. Biden has become more vocal in his criticism of the Supreme Court and its decisions.

“In recent years, the Supreme Court has overturned long-established legal precedents protecting fundamental rights. This Court has gutted civil rights protections, taken away a woman’s right to choose, and now granted Presidents broad immunity from prosecution for crimes they commit in office,” the White House said.

Thirdly, Biden believed that Congress should pass binding, enforceable conduct and ethics rules that require Justices to disclose gifts, refrain from public political activity, and recuse themselves from cases in which they or their spouses have financial or other conflicts of interest.

“Recent ethics scandals involving some Justices have caused the public to question the fairness and independence that are essential for the Court to faithfully carry out its mission to deliver justice for all Americans,” according to the fact sheet.

Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito have faced scrutiny for their personal conduct. Thomas did not disclose receiving extravagant travel from wealthy Republican donors. Alito’s wife displayed flags outside their homes associated with the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot and efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

“President Biden and Vice President (Kamala) Harris look forward to working with Congress and empowering the American people to prevent the abuse of Presidential power, restore faith in the Supreme Court, and strengthen the guardrails of democracy,” the White House said.

In a statement released Monday, Harris, who has become the Democrats’ likely White House nominee, said that “there is a clear crisis of confidence facing the Supreme Court as its fairness has been called into question after numerous ethics scandals and decision after decision overturning long-standing precedent.”

Implementing term limits and an ethics code for the Supreme Court would likely necessitate new legislation, which means the currently divided Congress is not anticipated to address this issue before the yearend. The House is controlled by Republicans, while Democrats have a slim majority in the Senate.

Furthermore, even if Democrats gain control of both chambers following the election in November, they are unlikely to achieve the 60 Senate seats required to overcome a filibuster. A constitutional amendment would face even greater challenges.

–IANS

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Prague, July 30 (IANS) The Slovak refinery Slovnaft will suspend the supplies of diesel to Ukraine if the transit of Russian oil via Ukraine to Slovakia is not resumed soon, Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico has said.

Ukraine recently stopped the transit of oil from the Russian company Lukoil through the Druzhba pipeline to Slovakia and Hungary, having placed the company on its sanctions list in June. Slovakia’s economy ministry said earlier this month that oil deliveries from Lukoil to Slovakia via Ukraine had already dried up.

In a video message published on Facebook on Monday, Fico said that “further implementation of this senseless sanction” would only harm Ukraine, Slovakia and Hungary, Xinhua news agency reported.

“If the transit of Russian oil via Ukraine isn’t resumed in the short term, Slovnaft, which covers one-tenth of Ukrainian consumption, will discontinue the supplies of diesel to Ukraine,” he said.

In a telephone conversation on Friday, Fico proposed a technical solution to his Ukrainian counterpart Denys Shmyhal to resolve the dispute, which his office said would require the participation of several countries, including Slovakia.

“On behalf of Slovakia, I repeat that we are ready. I welcome reports which confirm that relevant commercial companies are already considering how to implement this technical solution in the shortest possible time,” he said in Monday’s video message.

Also on Monday, Slovakia’s Foreign and European Affairs Minister Juraj Blanar said after a meeting with Hungarian Ambassador to Slovakia Csaba Balogh that the two countries have jointly called for “immediate action” from the European Commission concerning the interrupted oil supplies.

Last week, Blanar and his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto submitted a similar appeal to the European Commission, claiming that Ukraine’s decision to stop Lukoil transit to Slovakia and Hungary violated the provisions of the Association Agreement concluded between the European Union and Ukraine.

According to the Slovak minister, the European Commission has requested additional information from the relevant parties. “The Commission is postponing the issue, but the people of Slovakia and Hungary cannot wait until there is a shortage of oil and therefore fuel. It will be too late then,” he was quoted as saying by the News Agency of the Slovak Republic.

–IANS

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