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"May I wish Mr Kevin Andrews a long and excruciatingly painful life" was the response of a letter writer to the Sydney Morning Herald at the federal parliament's passing of a bill by then Liberal Party backbencher Kevin Andrews, which overturned the Northern Territory's voluntary euthanasia legislation in 1997.

Two comrades in my Socialist Alliance branch are heading to New Zealand in December to "get married". One is New Zealand born and the other Australian born.

The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) has condemned Scotland's most senior church leader for inflammatory remarks against the country's Muslims.

On August 18, Richard Lugar, chairperson of the US Senate foreign relations committee, and acting as a special envoy of US President George Bush, oversaw the release by the Polisario Front of Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara of the last remaining Moroccan prisoners of war.

The media are wrong. The people who have come out to Camp Casey to help coordinate the press and events with me are not putting words in my mouth, they are taking words out of my mouth. I have been known for sometime

From October 1, building industry workers are likely to be separated from the main industrial relations legislation that covers other workers.

Refugee-rights activists rallied and marched in cities around the country on August 26-28, to mark the anniversary of the Tampa crisis in 2001. In Melbourne, Chris Peterson reports, around 500 people rallied at the State Library on August 26, and

On August 22, well-known US televangelist Pat Robertson made headlines around the world when he called for the assassination of left-wing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

On August 6, members of the first Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Brigade visited the Barrio 23rd of January. From the time we entered barrio's public housing, located in an old military area that had been taken over by residents, it was clear this was a place of heightened political activity and organisation.

The following "Statement to the Muslims participating at the PM's Summit", signed by 51 Australian Muslim organisations, was issued on August 22.

The Queensland Labor government has suffered its first major electoral setback since its massive win in the February 2004 state election. In by-elections held on August 20, the ALP lost two "safe" seats in the Brisbane region, Chatsworth and Redcliffe, with swings of 13.8% and 10% respectively.

Sam Byrne, the deputy mayor of Marrickville, is standing for the Greens in the Marrickville state by-election. He believes he has a chance of taking the once safe Labor seat on September 17.