An indigenous Australian leader yesterday weighed into the debate over the exploitation of the country's lucrative mining deposits in Aboriginal land by unveiling a plan to start his own resources company.
Galarrwuy Yunupingu, former chief of the Northern Land Council and one of the country's most powerful Aboriginal leaders, told a cultural festival in remote northeastern Arnhem Land that he wanted to "cut open the middle man" and open his own mine.
"This is where the Land Rights Act started, but they are still treating me like I'm a piece of shit, you know, and I'm not going to have that," Yunupingu was quoted as saying by the Australian newspaper. "I will make more money by opening up my mining company on my own instead of royalties. Other people running away with our resources is the problem here."
Yunupingu, who is reportedly embroiled in a dispute with family members over the dispersal of mining royalties and grants, gave no details about the mine proposal or how it would be financed.
The sparsely populated Northern Territory, where indigenous people make up 30 percent of the population, holds some of the world's largest mineral deposits.
Uranium, manganese, bauxite, lead, zinc, silver and gold are mined but the territory also holds significant deposits of copper, diamonds, tin and other minerals.
The conservative government of Prime Minister John Howard last week declared the Northern Territory "open for business on uranium mining" after taking control of the future of the region's rich deposits from the territory's Labor government.
The federal government hopes to expand Australian uranium exports to fuel the growing nuclear-power industry around the world, notably China and India.
About 12 companies are currently exploring for uranium in the territory, which is home to some A$12 billion (US$9.2 billion) in known uranium deposits.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of