From ABC News Online:

Acting Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Crean says there is no evidence that Indian students are being singled out in racially motivated attacks.

Anger is growing in India over the stabbing death of 21-year-old university graduate Nitin Garg, who was killed on his way to his part-time job at a Melbourne fast food restaurant on Saturday night.

And this morning New South Wales Police confirmed that a partially burned body found by a road last week in the south of the state belonged to another Indian national.

Victoria Police are also investigating the assault of an Indian man at a fast food outlet in Melbourne on the same night that Mr Garg died.

The 29-year-old man was working outside the restaurant at Hampton Park when a carload of men pulled up and bashed him.

Anger over the spate of attacks is continuing in the Indian media but Mr Crean says there is still no evidence that Indians are being specifically targeted.

"I think it's important to note that the police themselves have said that there is no evidence that this was racially motivated," he said.

"The question of simply Indians being targeted ... hasn't been borne out by the facts.

"It's true that a number have been involved, but if one looks at the overall crime - and there's certainly large numbers of Indian students that are here - according to the authorities, it is not out of the ordinary in terms of that proportionality.

"It's also true that including over this Christmas period there have been a spate of stabbings in and around Melbourne."

Federation of Indian Students of Australia spokesman Gautam Gupta says the Federal Government is in denial and students are fearful.

"There is extreme shock and fear and anger and a lot of frustration at the inaction of various levels of government," he said.

"It's amazing. People are being attacked here and the government just wants to blame the victims."

The Opposition's Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop says if the police can establish a racial motive for the attacks, a public information campaign should be developed to help protect Indian students.

"To educate the people about some of the dangers that can occur, for example walking home late at night alone, these sorts of things. Australia is a relatively safe place, but there are still steps that can be taken to enhance personal safety," she said.

Mr Crean defended the Government's role in notifying Indian authorities about the death of Mr Garg over the weekend.

His family in India say Australian authorities were very slow to notify them of his death.

But Mr Crean says Indian officials were contacted on Sunday morning, and they in turn then contacted the family.

"My sympathies go to the family, apologies not only for the shocking circumstances but if there's been any added grief for the delay they [the apologies] too are made," he said.

"But we genuinely have tried to follow appropriate protocols and we are trying to repatriate the body as quickly as possible."

At age 7, Emmanual Jal was taken into the Sudanes rebel army as a child soldier. He finally escaped with 400 others, of whom only 16 survived.  Emmanual tells the story of his childhood, his escape from the rebel army, and the dark days that followed, with music.  Take a look:  http://www.ted.com/talks/emmanuel_jal_the_music_of_a_war_child.html

Asylum seekers coming to Australia are generally forced to stay in Detention Centres while they await visas and clearing.  The length of stay in these centres varies, and has been the topic of some scrutiny in the past, particularly under the Howard Government.  Once they were released from these Detention Centres, they could be forgiven for thinking that they were now free Australians. However, an Australian law resulted in asylum seekers actually being hit with a bill for their 'accomodation' in detention! The amounts of their bill could vary from $40,000 to $250,000.  Obviously, asylum seekers are in no position to be paying anything like that after they have fled their home countries with nothing but the clothes on their backs.  This law was discrimatory and shameful.  Yesterday, Australian Senators listened to the voices of campaigners like GetUp.org.au and other advocates, and voted Yes on a Bill to scrap that law.  There were even cases of conservative Senators crossing the floor to stand up for human rights.  Read more about those senators here:http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/08/2679939.htm

This is an amazing achievement, and opens the door for more changes in the rights of asylum seekers.  For more information on the whole campaign to scrap Detention Debt, go to http://www.getup.org.au

Aboriginal leader Professor Patrick Dodson says modern challenges such as climate change could provide a way for Australians to learn from Indigenous knowledge and values.

Professor Dodson says the conversation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians is dysfunctional and he wants to engage all Australians in a dialogue about how to improve relations.

He is embarking on this journey as the founding director of the new Indigenous Policy and Dialogue Research Unit at the University of New South Wales.

"I think we don't fully understand how we affect each other in what we do in terms of including or excluding matters of importance to Indigenous peoples and matters of importance to non-Indigenous people," Professor Dodson said.

"So we often don't have a serious dialogue around those issues.

"You can suggest, let's have a discussion about the flag or Australia Day or those sorts of things, and immediately the shutters all go up.

"What the dialogue centre will do is seek to work out ways and investigate why it is that we behave like that and how can we then work out better ways of understanding and communicating with each other."

Professor Dodson says one of the drivers to engage Australia in a proper dialogue is the challenge of climate change and the new economies that will emerge.

"There's a whole basis for us to look at how over the last 200 years we have either included or excluded the Indigenous peoples' perspective on much of that, and how then might they be more included in the decision-making and the negotiations about how best to use some of those resources," he said.

"The globe is itself under a lot of pressure. There are issues that relate to the sustainability of Indigenous cultures, that we really seriously have to look at how best to support rather than how to destroy."

While the academic world often moves slowly, Professor Dodson says the process of dialogue should be undertaken to better prepare Australians for future challenges.

"If we don't engage in constructing a new framework, then we will find ourselves unprepared for dealing with complex, difficult, challenging issues," he said.

"As a nation of well-educated people in the main, we've got to use that intellect to find ways to build the future basis and co-exist and co-design.

"But [they must be] based on some clear principles and understandings that we all agree upon, so that no one feels left out of our nation."

From the Australian Online

Nina Jablonski says that differing skin colors are simply our bodies' adaptation to varied climates and levels of UV exposure. Charles Darwin disagreed with this theory, but she explains, that's because he did not have access to NASA.  This talk is presented by TED (www.ted.com)

http://www.ted.com/talks/nina_jablonski_breaks_the_illusion_of_skin_color.html