London, UK (New Statesman): Detention often puts older children in the position of emotionally "carrying" their parents, who may be experiencing extreme distress, depression and detachment from their parenting role as a result of their situation. In practice, many children are used informally as interpreters between the administration and their parents, when they accompany a parent to the health centre, for example. For more information, please visit: http://www.newstatesman.com/law-and-reform/2008/09/children-detention-immigration

Sydney, Australia (Australian): Dr Dot Goulding, a sociologist from Murdoch University's Restorative Justice Research Unit, said incarceration of Aboriginal people was headed for "shameful levels" in a wealthy state. […] WA lacked a state-wide interpreting service for indigenous offenders, he said, "despite interpreters being available for most other cultural groups". And Aboriginal women were still being jailed for unpaid fines. The rate of imprisonment of Aboriginal people in WA was almost double that of the Northern Territory. For more information, please visit: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24295284-5013172,00.html

Washington, USA (PRNewswire-USNewswire): The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, along with several other federal agencies, held a national conference today on providing services to individuals with limited English skills. Approximately 450 representatives from federal, state and local agencies, along with community organizations and interpreters and translators from around the country gathered today to promote and share ideas to ensure that limited English proficient (LEP) individuals have meaningful access to programs and activities as required by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Executive Order 13166. For more information, please visit: http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20080903/pl_usnw/justice_department_hosts_conference_on_increasing_access_to_services_by_limited_english_proficient_individuals

New York, USA (UTNE): A new, English-language translation of the Quran by Dr. Laleh Bakhtiar is causing controversy in some Muslim communities. The Sublime Qur’an (Kazi Publications, 2007) is the first English-language translation of the Islam's holy text by an American woman. Muneer Fareed, the Canadian secretary general of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), said he would consider banning it. For more information, please visit: http://www.utne.com/2008-09-03/Spirituality/A-More-Inclusive-and-Controversial-Quran.aspx

Beijing, China (Independent): An official guide for Olympic volunteers had to be rewritten after it characterised the disabled as "stubborn and controlling" and "unsocial and introspective". The shocking references were attributed to a translation error, and the Beijing organisers were deeply embarrassed by the way the media launched a broadside over the story, although the Chinese version was pretty similar For more information, please visit: http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/news-and-features/prejudice--the-paralympics-919543.html

Washington, USA (Washington Post): A new law that permits up to 5,000 Iraqis who previously worked for the U.S. government or its contractors to resettle in the United States annually over the next five years "is at high risk for fraud and abuse", according to consular officials interviewed by the State Department inspector general. That opinion is contained in a report by the inspector general's Middle East regional office, which investigated an earlier program that in 2007 and 2008 provided special immigrant visas to 500 Iraq and Afghan translators and interpreters who had worked for U.S. government agencies. For more information, please visit: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/04/AR2008090403251.html

Kabul, Afghanistan (RFERL): When U.S. or NATO soldiers need to communicate with Afghan villagers, they rely on translators provided by private contractors. But for various reasons -- regional dialects, cultural misunderstandings, or even ethnic animosities -- translators in Afghanistan often don't relate everything they hear. And what is lost in translation can hurt efforts by NATO and the U.S.-led coalition to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan people. In the worst cases, innocent civilians can be arrested or wrongly targeted as Taliban fighters. For more information, please visit: http://www.rferl.org/content/Mistakes_By_Translators_Hamper_Afghan_Antiterrorism_Campaign/1195783.html

Lagos, Nigeria (FSRN): Award-winning documentary film maker Andrew Berends and his Nigerian interpreter were arrested last Sunday while filming in the Niger Delta region. Nigerian authorities confiscated Berends' equipment and passport during his arrest. The Paris-based group, Reporters Without Borders alleged that Berends and his interpreter were given no food and very little water, and were subjected to repeated interrogation that prevented them from sleeping. Both men could potentially face charges of spying, an offense that carries the death penalty in Nigeria. For more information, please visit: http://www.fsrn.org/content/headlines-package-september-3,-2008/3190