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FRANCE: Government minister thanks union leader

BY MURRAY SMITH PARIS — As the danger of a general strike against his planned reform of the pension system receded, French social affairs minister Francois Fillon knew who to thank. He paid tribute to the "responsible attitude" of Bernard

Taking to the streets

BY KATHERINE BRADSTREET SYDNEY — "Where were the students?", asked the June 20 Sydney Daily Telegraph, in an article by Rachel Morris bemoaning the small numbers of young people that attended the "welcome home" parade of troops who served in

On the box

Actively Radical TV — Sydney community television's progressive current affairs producers tackle the hard issues from the activist's point of view. Includes the Green Left news. CTS Sydney (UHF 31), every Sunday, 9pm. Phone (02) 9564 1277. Visit

IRAN: Student leaders protest police detentions

BY DOUG LORIMER Student leaders held sit-ins on June 22 in front of the Iranian parliament (Majlis) and inside Tehran University to protest the detention of classmates following violent attacks on student protests the previous week by pro-clerical

SCOTLAND: Socialist youth conference opposes war drive

BY JIM MCILROY GLASGOW — Six weeks after the Scottish Socialist Party increased its representation in the Scottish Parliament from one to six MSPs, the SSP's network for young people — Scottish Socialist Youth (SSY) — held its second

A different approach to sentencing

BY LACHLAN HARRIS After declaring "the circle sentencing pilot in Nowra has been fantastically successful", New South Wales attorney-general Bob Debus has announced plans to roll out circle sentencing across the state. Next month, Dubbo will be the

Victory for Morris McMahon workers

Forty workers at Morris McMahon will return to work on July 1 after almost 16 weeks on strike. They have won union recognition and a registered agreement, a 5% pay rise each year for three years and a 19-day work month. Photo by Celine Brun.

ALP cave-in a dangerous mistake

The federal Labor opposition's cave-in over the federal government's draconian ASIO bill is a dangerous mistake, warned John Van der Velden, a national co-convener of the Socialist Alliance on June 27. "In the name of fighting terrorism, ASIO is

BRITAIN: Anti-war coalition continues campaigning

BY NATASHA IZATT LONDON — A conference of the Stop the War Coalition, held on June 21, has called for a national demonstration on September 27 to demand the end of the occupation of Iraq. The conference, attended by 700 people, heard a range of

CUBA: The uniqueness that can't be bought

BY AUGUSTO ZAMORA R. In 2002, 1060 people were executed in China. In the United States around 400 have been executed since 1990, an average of 35 a year or three a month. Hundreds more executions have taken place in other countries, and that's

'An ordinary Cuban woman' speaks

BY VANNESSA HEARMAN MELBOURNE — Speaking through an interpreter at a press conference on June 27, Aleida Guevara, the eldest daughter of legendary Latin American revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara, said the US government would dearly like to

Basslink cost blow-out

BY ALEX BAINBRIDGE HOBART — A cost blow-out of more than $250 million for the Basslink underwater electricity cable across Bass Strait has been a focus of attention since Greens MPs began questioning Premier Jim Bacon's Labor government about