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The city of Juarez, on the Mexican side of the US-Mexico border, provides a telling example of how "free trade" agreements affect the lives of ordinary people. Juarez is in Mexico's "free trade zone", a commercial zone along the northern border
BY BILL MASON BRISBANE — Stoppages and pickets are breaking out in the electricity and building industries around Queensland, as unions campaign for improved enterprise bargaining agreements, focusing on key issues such as wages, job security and
BY JENNY LONG SYDNEY — Twenty activists gathered on July 5 under the banner of Trade Unionists to Defend Workers' Compensation to call on the NSW Labor Council and affiliated unions to relaunch industrial action to defeat the state government's
BY SEAN HEALY Drinking it in a wannabe-hip caf‚ in Newtown or Fitzroy, it smells of modern sophistication; hauling great bags of it down a steep hillside in East Timor or Colombia, it smells of age-old slavery. It's just a little bean, but coffee
In Malawi, 16% of adults are infected with HIV and 31% of women attending ante-natal clinics are HIV-positive. The impact of HIV/AIDS on the economy is already affecting economic growth rates. A study of tea workers shows mortality rates increased
BY GRAHAM MATTHEWS MELBOURNE — The Socialist Alliance's Aston campaign committee decided on June 30 to direct voters to preference the Labor Party's candidate, Kieran Boland, ahead of the Greens' candidate, Mick Kir, in the July 14 by-election in
Debt service payments and reforms attached to debt relief and new loans Reduced government spending and focus on export earning projects Reduced access to and poorer quality of services. Increase migration for employment HIV/AIDS flourishes
BY TYRION PERKINS & STUART MARTIN WOLLONGONG — Council workers have struck for two days here after Wollongong City Council refused to increase its pay offer in negotiations on a new enterprise agreement. Employees originally called for a 15%
Vigil marks death in custody PERTH — Seventy people attended a three-hour vigil outside Wesley Uniting church on June 21 to mark the June 18 death of a young Aboriginal man in the Bunbury regional prison. This was the 18th death in custody
BY GRAHAM MATTHEWS MELBOURNE — There have been few surprises in the Aston by-election — the competition between the major parties is more marked by what they won't talk about than what they will. The seat of Aston, a marginal Liberal seat
BY AARON BENEDEK & ANN DOBINSON TOKYO — Despite international protest, Japan's controversial new junior high school history textbook went on sale in early June. Its high media profile ensured it gained bestseller status immediately and it has
BY REEM HALAWANI While touted as the new solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Mitchell report, tabled in June, is yet another example of the myths and lies peddled about the Palestinian cause since the inception of Israel 53 years