789

New laws have been passed in the NSW parliament that allow police to conduct secret searches of people’s homes, including the examination of computers. The new laws build on anti-terrorism legislation, but the new powers are for crimes as minor as growing a few cannabis plants.
More than 6000 people rallied against the Sri Lankan government’s war on the Tamil people in Sydney on March 28.
One hundred people gathered on March 17 at the Wollongong City Diggers Club to celebrate the life of NSW Public Service Association (PSA) activist Anne Meehan who passed away on March 12 after a long illness.
In one of her last acts as US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice had Nelson Mandela’s name removed from the US terrorist watch list.
Canada’s Conservative government has extended its attacks on the right to free speech.
The article below is an abridged statement released by War Without Witness on a new report prepared by WWW on innocent Tamil civilians killed by the Sri Lankan Army’s military offensive between January 1 and March 23. To read the report, visit http://www.warwithoutwitness.com.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics has announced plans on March 20 to cut 180 jobs over the next 18 months. Meanwhile GeoScience Australia management have told 150 staff, about 20% of the agency’s workforce, that their contracts will not be renewed when they expire in June this year.
A new student group, backed by the National Union of Students (NUS), that promises to eradicate racism and hatred has been hailed by those that promote ideas based on both racism and hatred.
“For us in the FMLN [Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front], the victory in the presidential elections is a demonstration that our people are in a state of constant revolution, and understand the necessity for real change”, Rigoberto Diaz, assistant secretary of the FMLN international relations commission, told Green Left Weekly.
President Hugo Chavez announced on March 21 the takeover of all national and international seaports and airports, returning them to the direct control of the national government.
“Fat cats in terror after anti-capitalists attack Fred the Shred’s home”, was the headline on the right-wing British Daily Mail’s March 26 report that the luxurious Edinburgh mansion of former Royal Bank of Scotland CEO Sir Fred Goodwin had been vandalised by a group calling themselves “Bank Bosses Are Criminals”.
PERTH: One hundred students rallied on March 25 outside Perth’s Wesley church to call on the Rudd government to give fair income support for university students, to end voluntary student unionism and to stop the planned deregulation of university funding.