World

President Suharto is refusing to declare West Papua a disaster area despite calls from within his own government to do so. More than 400 people have died from the drought, mainly in the Jayawijaya highlands district, adjacent to

Voluntary student unionism push in NZIn an attempt to weaken student opposition to the privatisation of higher education, sections of the New Zealand government are making a renewed push to legislate for voluntary student

On October 29, Iraq's Revolutionary Command Council announced that US citizens and aircraft working for the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) on Iraq would be banned. However, the Iraqi leadership's hope of forcing a

ATHENS — Seven thousand workers marched through the streets of Athens during the October 23 general strike called by the General Union of Greek Workers (GSEE). In many areas, 60-70% of the work force participated in the

MOSCOW — For several months from mid-1997, the message in the mainstream Russian press was unanimous: the bad times were ending. The collapse that had almost halved the size of the country's economy since 1990 had bottomed out.

Israeli house demolitions punish innocent PalestiniansRAMALLAH — The Israeli military has ordered the demolition of the homes of four alleged suicide bombers in the West Bank village of Asira. The order is based on the Emergency

Ontario teachers strike for jobsMore than 126,000 teachers in Ontario, Canada have launched an indefinite strike. The teachers, from both public and private schools, walked out of school on October 27. Negotiations

Problems with herbicide-tolerant cotton in US According to a report by the Center for Ethics and Toxics, farmers throughout the mid-south region of the US began experiencing problems with Roundup Ready cotton in August 1997 as cotton bolls began

Can East Timor win freedom?On October 11, 1996, Jose Ramos Horta and Bishop Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of their efforts to win freedom for the people of East Timor. The Nobel

OH JONG-SAE, president of the organisation committee of the Korean Federation of Hyundai Group Workers Union, was interviewed for Green Left Weekly by JAMES VASSILOPOULOS about the implications for Korean workers of the crash in Asian currencies, and

Asia's export growth plunged across the board last year, hitting also the so-called "tiger" economies. Advocates of the "Asian miracle" theory claimed the causes were short term, and played down any structural problems. Then, early in

VARANASI — Waving red flags, chanting slogans and singing revolutionary songs, 50,000 peasants and workers assembled for an inspiring rally to conclude the sixth congress of the Communist Party of India Marxist-Leninist