World

  • BRITAIN: Summer of discontent

    LONDON &#151 On July 17, 750,000 local government workers across England, Wales and Northern Ireland went on strike in support of a pay increase. Between 70% and 80% of union members participated. Teachers aides, caretakers,

  • SOUTH AFRICA: The SACP-ANC political merry-go-round

    BY DALE T. McKINLEY JOHANNESBURG — "SACP in clash with ANC" and "ANC warned not to follow path of ZANU-PF" were some of the headlines that have graced the pages of South African newspapers following the latest political spat between the ruling

  • UNITED STATES: Laser beam may blind people

    According to a report published in the July 27 New Scientist, US defence contractors are developing a laser weapon for fighter aircraft that may be powerful enough to blind people on the ground, even if they are relatively far from

  • INDONESIA: Dissident parties work together

    JAKARTA — On July 22, several political parties organised a seminar to discuss the contemporary implications of the July 27, 1996, attack by pro-Suharto thugs on the headquarters of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI). During

  • ECUADOR: Blood on the bananas

    SAN FRANCISCO — Bonita, the word for beautiful in Spanish, is not a bad description for the nearly flawless bananas available from fruit and vegetable markets across the United States. It is also the name printed on stickers

  • NICARAGUA: Sandinistas back to red and black

    MANAGUA — The Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) returned to its anti-imperialist symbols and messages at the celebration of the 1979 revolution here on July 19. Pink and yellow, which had been the FSLN's colours in

  • AFGHANISTAN: More evidence of US crimes

    Since the war on Afghanistan began, the US military has had a number of standard replies to accusations that it has massacred civilians: there were al Qaeda or Taliban leaders in the area; they fired first; it was a military

  • ACEH: Activists arrested for 'insulting' president

    Seven activists from the Acehnese Democratic Women's Organisation (ORPAD), including a high school student, were arrested while staging a peaceful protest on July 16 in the territory's capital Banda Aceh. They were demanding

  • What is ExxonMobil afraid of?

    The right to freedom of expression on the internet was dealt a blow on July 9 when a Paris judge ordered Greenpeace to stop using a parody of the Esso logo in its Stop Esso campaign in France, pending a full hearing. Oil giant ExxonMobil, which

  • AFGHANISTAN:'Unsafe for refugees to return'

    The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) should reverse its newly announced policy of promoting the voluntary repatriation of refugees to Afghanistan, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on July 23. The

  • SOUTH AFRICA: Municipal workers win bitter strike

    A bitter strike by the 120,000-strong South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) has ended in victory. The strikers returned to work on July 22. SAMWU members had endured sustained police violence and state repression. One worker

  • PALESTINE: 700,000 people under house arrest

    RAMALLAH — The Israeli F-16 airstrike early on July 23 that killed Hamas leader Salah Shehada and 15 Palestinian civilians in a crowded Gaza neighbourhood suddenly put the roiling Israeli-Palestinian conflict back in the Western