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Officials of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) thanked members of the international observation team on March 16 for their work in limiting electoral fraud committed by the previous ruling right-wing Arena party in the presidential elections on March 15.
The federal ALP government’s Fair Work Bill passed through the Senate on March 20 after intense wheeling and dealing with Family First Senator Steve Fielding and independent Senator Nick Xenophon.
Maintenance workers from Foster’s Carlton and United Brewery have had a partial victory in their dispute with Foster’s over jobs. The workers are covered by the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) and the Electrical Trades Union (ETU).
On March 11, a 185-metre container ship, the Pacific Adventurer was en route from Newcastle to Indonesia via Brisbane when it lost 31 containers in heavy seas about seven nautical miles east of Cape Moreton.
The detail of PM Kevin Rudd’s election promise of an “education revolution” in higher education is finally coming to light: privatisation, deregulation and increased competition between institutions.
“This government is here to protect the people, not the bourgeoisie or the rich”, proclaimed Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on February 28, as he ordered soldiers to take over two rice-processing plants owned by Venezuelan food and drink giant Empresas Polar.
On March 19, record numbers of people took to the streets as part of a general strike against President Nicolas Sarkozy’s anti-worker economic policies, a British Guardian article said the following day.
As the economic recession deepens across the globe, the spectres of economic regulation and nationalism, seemingly slain by the prophets of globalisation and free trade, have risen again.
On the March 16, an Australian soldier, Corporal Matthew Hopkins, died after a fierce battle with Afghan anti-occupation fighters in the Baluchi Valley.
On March 15, the candidate of the left-wing Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), Mauricio Funes, won El Salvador’s presidential elections — despite significant fraud carried out by the right-wing Arena party.
El Salvador’s new president-elect, Mauricio Funes from the left-wing Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), has pledged to restore diplomatic relations with Cuba.
On March 16, federal immigration minister Chris Evans announced that the Rudd government would cut the skilled migration intake for the current financial year by 18,500. This, claimed Evans in a ministerial statement, would “protect local jobs”.