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According to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, in 1998 there were 21 million people "of concern" — those seeking or already granted refugee status. Amnesty International estimates that a new refugee is created every 21 seconds. One
International news briefs Iranian oil workers' struggle On January 17, 2000 workers from the maintenance section of the Abadan oil refinery in Iran went on strike to oppose a plan to "restructure" the oil industry which could lead to 40,000 of
The Basque Country after the cease-fire By G. Buster On January 21, 53 days after the armed, pro-independence Basque group ETA (Euskadi Ta Askatasura — Basque Homeland and Freedom) announced it was ending its unilateral cease-fire, a bomb was
Gambling health: don't bet on it By Kerry Ridgway "Governments are addicted to gambling", says Michelle Gunner, a PhD student from the University of Western Sydney, Nepean. Once a nurse therapist treating all manner of addictions, Gunner
By Jim Green Pangea Resources, the company that wants to dump 75,000 tonnes of high-level nuclear waste in Australia, is spreading its wings. A new company, Pangea Resources International (PRI), is being set up, and Pangea Resources Australia will
Promises, promises "What we are seeking is public declarations from the CEOs that they will comply." — David Cousins, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's GST commissioner, on preventing companies from profiteering when the GST
By Jonathan Singer BHP's attack on the Pilbara iron ore workers can be beaten. In Australia, while big business pushes for individual contracts, millions of workers continue to want the union organisation and collective work agreements that the
By Graham Matthews BRISBANE — Pauline Hanson was forced to flee from a One Nation meeting in the small town of Oakey, near Toowoomba in Queensland, on January 20. Her pursuers were not enraged leftists, but former colleagues who had left One
ACI extends lockout By Chris Slee MELBOURNE — Locked out workers at the ACI glass mould manufacturing plant in Box Hill have received letters from the company telling them that the lockout will continue until March 4. The lockout, which began
A campaign for an open door for all Timorese By Max Lane Jakarta's long war against East Timor may be (officially) over and may now be less of a "foreign policy issue" in formal Australian-Indonesian relations. But justice is still a long way
By Jim Green SYDNEY — The state Labor government released its proposals for the southern NSW regional forest agreement on January 28. The agreement will allow large-scale logging to continue in NSW's forests. The agreement is to be finalised by
Darwin solidarity group joins ASIET By Sibylle Kaczorek DARWIN — This city's East Timor-Indonesia Solidarity Group (ETISG) decided, at its first meeting for the year on January 26, to join the national solidarity group, Action in Solidarity