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INDONESIA: Australian company culpable in toxic mud flows

Vannessa Hearman Australian company Santos is a shareholder in an energy concession in East Java that has been the source of hot toxic mud flows following a well-head accident in May. The accident occurred near Porong, a small town close to the

UNITED STATES: CIA announces new mission in Venezuela and Cuba

Eva Golinger, Caracas John Negroponte, director of national intelligence for the United States, announced on August 18 the creation of a new special CIA mission to oversee intelligence activities in Venezuela and Cuba. Negroponte, who coordinates

Ipswich print plant to close

Andrew Martin, Brisbane On August 16, Australian Provincial Newspapers (APN), Australia's largest regional newspaper publisher, announced that it will close the Queensland Times print facility in Ipswich and move the printing of the daily to Yandina

Amnesty: 'Israel committed war crimes'

Doug Lorimer On August 23, human rights group Amnesty International accused Israel of committing war crimes. Amnesty said that the pattern and scope of Israel's bombing campaign in Lebanon, statements by Israeli officials and the scale of damage

Justice for Lebanon and Palestine rally

MELBOURNE — On August 19, 200 people attended a Justice for Lebanon and Palestine rally organised by the Melbourne Palestine Solidarity Network. Speakers at the rally included Palestinian-Australian activist Nasser Mashani, Aber Chandab from the

Israel's shame and Lebanon's misery

Pip Hinman Keysar Trad, who was instrumental in organising the two Sydney rallies against Israel's bombing of Lebanon and Gaza, thinks the current ceasefire is a farce. "Israel ignores it at will", he told Green Left Weekly. On whether the United

Doubtful justice in Lodhi sentencing

Colin Mitchell On August 23, Sydney architect Faheem Lodhi was sentenced in the NSW Supreme Court to 20 years for preparing to commit a terrorist act. After Jack Thomas had his terrorism charges quashed on August 18 by the Court of Appeals on the

Election campaign launched at Victoria's 'Guantanamo'

Selena Black, Melbourne Three Socialist Alliance candidates in the upcoming Victorian election joined s protest outside Barwon prison on August 20. "We now have our very own Guantanamo-style prison camp", said Vannessa Hearman, the candidate for

Forums discuss victims of 'war on terror'

SYDNEY — Speaking at a public meeting on August 25, Rob Stary (pictured), the defence lawyer for Jack Thomas (who was convicted on terrorism charges, but released on appeal on August 13), argued that the federal government has still not provided

Solidarity in the campaign for a just peace

Lisa Macdonald "In these bleak times of war, terror and hate-mongering, the sight of thousands of Muslim and Middle Eastern-background Australians marching side by side with non-Muslims against Israel's brutal attacks on the people of Lebanon and

Write On: Letters to the Editor

Tommy Sheridan In reply to my article on the Scottish Socialist Party crisis (GLW #679), Chris Edwards (GLW #680) accuses Alan McCombes and his supporters in the SSP of adopting a "phony moralistic stance" on Tommy Sheridan's sexual activities.

Concern for human rights

SYDNEY — On August 24, around 80 people attended a UNSW Law Society forum to hear John von Doussa QC, president of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission. HREOC is concerned about the consequences for human rights of the "anti-terror"