World

  • BRITAIN: Asylum seekers left destitute

    On January 8, the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act came into effect in Britain. Its impact on asylum seekers will be severe, withdrawing entitlements to living allowance and accommodation from those who do not claim asylum

  • AFGHANISTAN: US official: torture is 'just and necessary'

    A report in the December 26 Washington Post has revealed that US forces are torturing Taliban and al Qaeda prisoners at its Bagram air base in Afghanistan. According to the report, "Those who refuse to cooperate inside this secret

  • IRAQ: US, Britain escalate 'secret' war

    LONDON — The US and British attack on Iraq has already begun. While the British Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair continues to claim in parliament that "no final decision has been taken", Royal Air Force (RAF) and US fighter bombers

  • AFGHANISTAN: Rights group slams US cluster bomb use

    US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has issued a report on the controversial use of cluster bombs in the war on Afghanistan. The report, Fatally Flawed: Cluster Bombs and Their Use by the United States in Afghanistan, reveals that the

  • CHINA: Workers' leaders could be executed

    In late December, two leaders who took part in organising a 17,000-strong workers' protest last March in Liaoyang, Liaoning province, and have been in detention ever since, were charged with "subversion". They could be executed if

  • SOUTH KOREA: Anti-US protests mark New Year's Eve

    Around 30,000 people staged a candlelight rally at Gwanghwa Gate, Seoul, on New Year's Eve to protest the killing of two high school students, Shin Hyo-Soon and Shim Mi-Sun (inset), by US soldiers driving an armoured vehicle in June. The

  • VENEZUELA: The other war for oil

    Reading the mainstream press over the last month, one could be forgiven for believing that Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez has become so unpopular that his government is facing a revolt by the country's workers. However, at

  • IRAQ: Inspections expose US, British lies

    "Well, the problem with guns that are hidden is that you can't see their smoke", White House spokesperson Ari Fleischer told journalists at a January 9 press briefing. Fleischer was responding to the interim report delivered to the

  • SOUTH AFRICA: Whose interests does the ANC serve?

    JOHANNESBURG — In the words of South African President Thabo Mbeki, "the question cannot be avoided for too long", especially in light of the recently concluded 51st national congress of the ruling African National Congress

  • IRAQ: UN: war will cause 'humanitarian disaster'

    In a December 27 BBC radio interview, Ruud Lubbers, UN high commissioner for refugees, said that a war on Iraq "will be a disaster from a humanitarian perspective". This is confirmed by confidential draft UN report obtained by the

  • ARGENTINA: 'All of them must go!'

    BUENOS AIRES — The anniversary of the Argentinazo, the popular uprising which resulted in the fall of five successive presidents in two weeks in December 2001, was marked by a massive demonstration here on December

  • LEBANON: Palestinian refugees call for support

    Green Left Weekly's SARAH STEPHEN spoke to OLFAT MAHMOUD, executive director of the Women's Humanitarian Organisation, when she visited Australia in November. WHO provides humanitarian assistance to some 350,000 Palestinian refugees in