International News

By Steve Painter The recently formed third-party Alliance threw a scare into the New Zealand political establishment with a strong performance in the February 15 Tamaki by-election. The Alliance came within 1200 votes of winning the blue ribbon

By Renfrey Clarke MOSCOW — If the buying power of wages in Australia had fallen by 80% in a year, how large would the demonstrations be in Bourke Street or the Sydney Domain? It would have to be more than the 15,000 or so people who marched

By Norm Dixon Moses Havini, Australian representative of the Interim Government of Bougainville, has denied the accusation by the Papua New Guinea government that the Bougainville Revolutionary Army has taken 1000 villagers hostage in central

By Peter Gellert MEXICO CITY — Miguel, a 50-year-old unemployed father of five, is a Mexico City street vendor. He sells corn-on-the-cob from a card table. Miguel works 70 hours a week, and on a normal day brings home $15, only half of which

By José A. de la Osa In 1991, Cuba achieved an infant mortality rate of 10.7 per 1000 live births. This rate, which has been achieved for two consecutive years, is the lowest in the country's entire history. Infant mortality is an

By Kathy Ragless For the villagers around the Sikou Gulf on the Andaman Sea in southern Thailand, destruction of the environment is an urgent problem. A non-government organisation, the Yad Fon Association, has been working with the fishing

By Brian Costner A leak of radioactive water from an aged nuclear weapons plant has delayed the reactor's restart and piqued local concerns about the plant's safety. The leak was discovered on December 24, 11 days after the Department of

By Norm Dixon Criminal charges were laid against Fiji Trade Union Congress (FTUC) general secretary Mahendra Chaudhry on February 7 under the provisions of repressive labour laws that came into force on October 31. Chaudhry was charged with

Cuba is facing its worst economic crisis since the 1959 revolution, as a result of the US blockade and the collapse of economic relations with eastern Europe. MIKE TREVASKIS, who visited in December and January, reports on the measures Cubans hope

By Dan Connell ADI CAIEH, Eritrea — Each afternoon a cold wind howls over the lip of the plateau, some 2500 metres above sea level, sending clouds of thick brown dirt swirling through the empty streets, deserted except for swarms of small,