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Ottawa, Ontario, Canada (AHN) – The federal government and the Assembly of First Nations of Canada agreed Thursday to institute major reforms in the education of aborigine children. The move aims to reverse decades of failure.

To pursue the initiative, an expert panel will submit by the middle of 2011 a new plan to be based on standards and to be culturally and regionally appropriate for native youth.

As a result of years of educational neglect, 60 percent of 113,000 native Canadian students in 515 on-reserve schools will likely not complete secondary education. The national high school drop-out average, which has been declining, is 14 percent. Natives who finish a university degree comprise less than 3 percent of the First Nations’ 1 million population.

Indian and Northern Affairs Minister John Duncan announced the initiative at the House of Commons.

In response to the initiative, AFN National Chief Shawn Atleo said in a statement, “Since the 1970s, our people have been leading the way in education policy and innovation that is focused on the success of the student. We know the importance of our language and culture and the critical role of our communities and parents in the success of our children. This is an opportunity to bring forward these ideas and to consider with the government of Canada a fundamental transformation in First Nation education.”

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London, England, United Kingdom (AHN) – British Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone said Thursday that the United Kingdom will initiate positive action to ensure workplace equality.

Among the initiatives the coalition government would make are: to name and shame companies that do not provide equality for women workers, give preference to applicants from under-represented groups such as ethnic minorities, gays and disabled people along with placing more women in the boardroom.

The initiatives are contained in the government Equality Strategy, which the minister recently published.

While labor unions welcomed the strategy to remove workplace discrimination based on gender, business leaders were apprehensive it would lead to lawsuits from job applicants.

Featherstone said the target of the coalition government is that 50 percent of all new appointments to public boardrooms by 2015 would be females.

Even on the domestic front, Britain has a lot of catching up in terms of promoting gender equality at home.

According to the newly released international Fairness in Families Index, U.K. was 18th place among 21 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development nations in the area of equal parenting.

Rob Williams, chief executive of the Fatherhood Institute which released the index, said British families lag in terms of paid paternity leave, time spent caring for children, and men and women’s pay.

Among the measures of family fairness indicators used by the institute were paternity leave, ratio of men’s and women’s time spent caring for children, percent of women in management roles, percent of men in part-time workforce and time spend by men and women performing unpaid domestic work.

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Dublin, Ireland, United Kingdom (AHN) – Ireland’s debt crisis and austerity plan has fueled uncertainty among traders, causing the euro to continue its slide in value against the dollar.

The European Union’s common currency is now down to two-month lows at $1.3314; it has fallen by more than three cents this week alone. News of the proposed bailout had caused the euro to rise in trading on Monday; however, it dropped again in trading on Tuesday and has continued to drop.

Ireland’s four-year austerity plan relies on a combination of spending cuts and tax increases to save $20 billion (15 billion euros) and reduce that nation’s government deficit.

However, currency traders are skeptical, fearing that the Irish government is too optimistic and that the plan will not work. In addition, traders also fear that the debt crisis will spread to other nations within the euro zone that have high government deficits.

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Mogadishu, Somalia (AHN) – At least 5 people have been killed and more than 10 others injured in Mogadishu when militants groups launched hit and run attacks on Somali government and African Union Peacekeepers in parts of the capital.

Local residents said most of the fighting took place in the Hodan, Howlwadag, and Bondhere districts located in the southern most parts of Mogadishu city.

“Our employees have, so far, collected 5 civilian dead bodies around Bakaara market, an area tightly controlled by Al shabaab” Ali Muse Sheikh, head of Mogadishu ambulance service said, adding that more than 10 wounded people were taken to the hospital in the city.

Mohammed Osman Aruus, Hizbul Islam spokesman for its military operations, confirmed that the group had attacked government and AMISOM military positions from different sides.

“We inflicted them many loses and burn battle wagons” Aruus was quoted as saying.

There have been no immediate statements from the government or AMISOM representatives at this time.

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Washington, DC, United States (AHN) – The federal government has asked the Supreme Court to let “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” remain in force and reject a gay advocacy group’s request to reinstate an injunction on the ban against openly gay members in the military.

The Log Cabin Republican last week asked the Supreme Court to block DADT while an appeals court considers its lawsuit.

U.S. Solicitor General Neal Katyal, however, argued in a filing on Wednesday that an “orderly” repeal of the law is underway, and can only take place in Congress. He also argued that the law should be considered constitutional until a final decision is reached on the suit.

District Court Judge Virginia Phillips issued an injunction against the law on Oct. 12, ending all investigations and pending discharges. A month before issuing her injunction, Phillips ruled in favor of the Log Cabin Republicans and struck down the law for violating First Amendment rights to free speech and Fifth Amendment rights to due process.

The Justice Department filed an appeal, arguing that President Barack Obama, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, all support ending the law but believe such a process requires more discussion and examination of military readiness, especially at a time of war.

Early this month, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decided to stay Phillip’s injunction until the lawsuit is settled.

“It is unfortunate the Obama Justice Department has forced the Log Cabin Republicans to go to the Supreme Court to halt this failed policy,” R. Clarke Cooper, executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans, said in a statement.

The group, which has been critical of Obama despite the commander-in-chief’s pledge to end the “unjust” law, said that government’s argument for an orderly repeal is “entirely speculative because Congress has not and very well may never repeal DADT.”

The White House has been working with Democratic lawmakers on a bill that would only begin the repeal process after a Pentagon review on the effects of a ending the law on morale and military readiness. The review is scheduled to be completed next month.

The bill is part of a defense authorization measure, and requires certifications before implementation from Obama, Gates and Mullen. The certifications will ensure the repeal process can be achieved according to military effectiveness, unit cohesion, recruiting and retention.

The bill was passed in the House earlier this year, but it failed over the summer in the Senate, where Republicans filibustered the larger defense legislation to which it was attached. Senate Democrats are scheduled to resume their efforts during a lame-duck session on Nov. 15.

The Log Cabin Republicans filed their suit in 2004 in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. The lawsuit is the only one among several efforts to repeal DADT that directly challenges the law; other groups such as the Human Rights Campaign and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force support a repeal through legislative means.

DADT was passed by Congress in 1993 through a defense authorization bill. About 13,000 service members have been discharged under the law.

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Tel Aviv, Israel (TML) – Isaac Herzog, who has declared his bid for leadership of Israel’s Labor Party, said the current political constellation had created a “golden opportunity” for reaching an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement but that Labor won’t remain in the government for long if the government doesn’t act.

Speaking before diplomats and journalists in Jerusalem, Herzog said he saw both Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas as “stronger than they are perceived” in their ability to reach an agreement. But, he warned, Labor won’t remain in the government for long if Netanyahu doesn’t act.

“I’m convinced that there is a golden opportunity now in the region to reach a breakthrough for peace between Israel and the Palestinians,” said Herzog, the welfare and social services minister. “There’s a convergence of interests which is quite rare.”

Labor is the most dovish party inside Netanyahu’s coalition and many of its members have been uneasy with the progress of the peace talks, which began in early September but suspended three weeks later. Labor’s 13 seats in the Knesset would reduce the coalition’s parliamentary majority to just 61 in the 120-seat legislature,.

“We demand to see a peace process moving on, and we made it clear that within a horizon of a couple of weeks we will know where we are at; is there progress or will it lead us to leaving the government,” Herzog said at a briefing held by the Institute for Contemporary Affairs in Jerusalem.

Herzog, who serves on the inner security cabinet responsible for key strategic decisions, defended the party’s continued participation in the coalition government despite the total lack of progress toward peace with the Palestinians.

“My line as well as my party’s line is that we are not willing to waste this opportunity,” Herzog said.

Direct peace talks have stalled over Israel’s refusal to renew restrictions on Jewish settlement construction in areas the Palestinians are claiming for their future state.

“My impression is that he needs to go far and to reach an agreement,” Herzog said. “I cannot say it will be achieved. Right now, we are in this corridor where the weather is foggy. We don’t really see the horizon. Things are being discussed behind the scenes, but my assumption is that there are formulas that are being discussed in order to see how one can resume the talks.”

Herzog declined to discuss the reports that the U.S. was exploring the possibility that Israel would lease parts of the Jordan Valley, one of the areas the Palestinians claim but which Israel wants to keep as a security corrdior, from a future Palestinian state.

Netanyahu is set to depart for the U.S. next week, where he is expected to meet with Vice President Joseph Biden and address a major gathering of American Jewry in New Orleans. Herzog, who announced recently he intended on challenging Defense Minister Ehud Barak for party leadership, said he was publically supporting Netanyahu, for now.

“I feel that Prime Minister Netanyahu is serious. I cannot envision whether it will bear fruit, whether we will achieve that stage. I think he deserves a chance, but I also tell him as well as my colleagues that there is a very limited time span for an opportunity.”

“I hope that next week we will be able to see a formula that will enable us to move forward,” Herzog said, adding that failure to get talks going again “will have political ramifications.”

“We want to make sure we are not missing a golden opportunity for peace,” Herzog said, explaining why his party was still in the government. “We are not willing to declare the talks over and dead. …Out of a sheer sense of responsibility and since the peace process is in our DNA. We would like to see if it is possible.”

“We pay a price for staying in the government but we would like to give peace a chance.”

In 2009 election, the once-dominant Labor Party slumped under Barak to a record low when it garnered only 13 seats in the 120-member Knesset. Other senior members in the party have also hinted they would be making the move toward party leadership.

One of these is Avishai Braverman, minister for minorities, who also threatened Monday that Labor would pull out of the coalition if Netanyahu didn’t take steps necessary to resume direct talks with the Palestinians.

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London, England, United Kingdom (AHN) – While the British coalition government raised the retirement age in last week’s spending review, ministers say they are also planning to increase the state pension to $210 (140 pounds) a week. The current pension is a maximum of $146.48 (97.65 pounds) for singles and $234.23 (156.15 pounds) for couples.

A major change in state pensions, the plan would result in the system becoming more simplified and an end to means-tested top-ups. The revisions would be contained in a green paper the coalition government will come up with by the end of 2010.

Ministers said by using a single-tier system, they expect to reduce the bureaucracy and save the government $9 billion (6 billion pounds) a year.

The changes appears to be the government’s way of placating citizens who were angered by the removal of the child benefit for Britons earning over $66,000 (44,000 pounds) a year. The change benefits married couples and full-time mothers who stay at home.

In last week’s spending review, Chancellor George Osborne announced the increase of the state pension age to 66 for both genders by 2020. It is six years ahead of an earlier announcement.

An actuary firm identified women born in 1954 as the biggest loser in the announcement because they would have to work for two more years before they could retire at age 66, while women born a year earlier would get their state pensions when they turn 63.

The actuary firm said the loss is not just in extra working years, but in pension income worth more than $22,500 (15,000 pounds).

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Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (AHN) – The recent influx of boat people from poor Asian nations to Canada has Ottawa looking at tightening rules on human smuggling. Among the measures the Tory-led government is planning to put in place are to ban refugees from returning home until they acquire citizenship and prohibit them from sponsoring other immigrants.

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney and Public Safety Minister Vic Toews are slated to announce the changes Thursday.

The stringent measures are being considered because of observations that a number of asylum seekers claim they left their countries because of grave threats to their lives, but upon gaining resident status return home for vacations.

Since Ottawa believes that human smuggling rings are behind the surge of boat people arriving on Canada’s shores, the new measures would provide longer jail terms for those involved in human smuggling. First-time offenders would face a minimum prison sentence of 10 years. A similar term waits those who smuggle more than 50 people into Canada.

The bill, titled “Preventing Human Smugglers from Abusing Canada’s Immigration System Act,” shows that Ottawa will not tolerate abuse of the system by getting ahead of the immigration line, but stresses that the federal government of Canada will continue to welcome legitimate immigrants who could contribute to the country.

In August a boat load of about 500 Tamils arrived in British Columbia. A year earlier, 72 Tamils from Sri Lanka arrived. Both groups have sought refugee status.

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