World

MALAYSIA: May Day gathering terrorised by police KUALA LUMPUR — What was to be a peaceful gathering of progressive workers and social justice activists on May 1 at Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC Twin Towers) turned into mayhem when

The Indonesian National Front for Labour Struggles (FNPBI), the militant trade union federation, organised mass actions across the country on May 1. Pro-democracy groups joined the workers' rallies. The workers' demands included legalising

Professor Hans Koechler, the UN secretary-general's observer to Libyan citizen Abdelbaset Ali Mohamed al Megrahi's appeal hearing against his conviction for murder of the 270 people killed in the 1988 Lockerbie air disaster, on March

A strike of public sector workers, launched on April 15 in Quetta, Baluchistan, continues to paralyse life in the city. Led by the militant Baluchistan Civil Secretariat Staff Association (BCSSA), the strike involves paramedics,

RAMALLAH — One month into Israel's all-out assault on the Palestinian people of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Palestinian activists are attempting to address questions that are being more sharply posed than at any time in the

HAVANA — It's every host's nightmare: US President George Bush refuses to come if Cuban President Fidel Castro is there, and there will be the usual pack of terrorists and hired assassins who try to murder Castro whenever

The outrages committed by Israel, not just in recent months, but since its creation in 1948, would not have been possible without the aid and protection of the United States. Although some in the Israeli government have expressed

CHICAGO — People all over Latin America must have let out a hearty laugh when they heard US national security adviser Condoleezza Rice lecture Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez about his post-coup need to "uphold constitutional

Madagascar is best known for its unique wildlife and as a destination for Western tourists, who are keen, according to a recently published tourist guide, for a "taste of the exotic". However, largely ignored by the international

SUVA — Parading as a champion of the poor and landless, Fiji's Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase is backing two parliamentary bills that will transfer government-controlled land to the Native Land Trust Board (NLTB), the authority

General Pervez Musharraf has claimed that 70% of those eligible to vote in Pakistan's April 30 referendum participated, and that 97% endorsed his bid to remain the country's president for a further five years. However, a

LONDON — More than a month ago, I wrote about Venezuela [see GLW #485], pointing out that little had been reported in this country about the achievements of Hugo Chavez and the threat to his reforming government from the usual