The Associated Press reports that Israel intends to deport the German partner of an Israeli killed in the 2009 shooting at a community center in Tel Aviv, an announcement that has prompted appeals from gay community leaders and an Israeli legislator to let him stay. 27 year old Thomas Schmidt started the bureaucratic process of registering himself as the partner of an Israeli citizen in 2008, but less than a year later, a masked gunman opened fire at a meeting of gay and lesbian youth, killing two Israelis, including Schmidt’s partner, 26 year old Nir Katz. The incident was the single worst attack against the Israeli gay community, and police continue to search for the assailant. Schmidt, who has lived in Israel since 2004, wants to remain in the country, said Nirit Moskovich of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, representing Schmidt. He has grown close to the family of his slain Israeli partner and does not maintain contact with his family in Germany, Moskovich said. Sabine Hadad, a spokesperson for Israel's Interior Ministry, said Schmidt's case was brought last year before a special humanitarian committee, which ruled that he could extend his stay in Israel for nine months only. However, when Schmidt arrived at the Interior Ministry this week, he was told his visa had expired and would not be renewed. Schmidt says he was never informed of the nine month restriction, Moskovich said. Nitzan Horowitz, Israel's only openly gay lawmaker wrote Israel's interior minister that "there would be no damage to the state of Israel if such a positive person as Thomas Schmidt, in light of the difficult and extraordinary circumstances, would stay with us here." Yonatan Gher, head of a Jerusalem gay community organization, harshly criticized the decision to expel Schmidt, saying that "while one lone person committed the hate crime" in Tel Aviv in 2009, "today the country is committing a hate crime."
In Australia, health authorities have launched an urgent investigation after more than 50 patients at a private radiology clinic were given blood tests using a needle-stick device meant for single-patient use, potentially exposing them to hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and HIV, reports the Australian. All 53 patients require testing for the viruses, and again in three months, before they get the all-clear. The clinic on the NSW central coast, PRP Diagnostic Imaging, said Tuesday it had written to affected patients to apologize for the mistake, discovered two weeks ago. The error occurred after the clinic began blood glucose checks in December using the Accu-Chek Multiclix device, which fires a spring-loaded needle into a finger to produce a drop of blood.
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