World

Iranian political prisoners die on hunger strike Iranian political prisoners die on hunger strike The Association of Iranian Political Prisoners in exile reports that four political prisoners who had gone on "dry" hunger strike, along with

South Africans strike against privatisationThousands of workers employed by local government in Johannesburg and Pretoria staged a one-day strike on July 1 to oppose privatisation. The strike was called by the South African

Disgust at Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Sir Julius Chan's plan to use South African mercenaries to crush the people of Bougainville led to his heavy defeat in the general election, held between June 14 and 28. PNG's 2.3 million

Mystery surrounds death of David AlexMystery still surrounds the death of David Alex, deputy chief of staff of the East Timorese armed resistance, Falintil, who was shot and captured in Kaibada, Bacau, on June 25. The

One of America's longest-standing political prisoners was finally released on US$25,000 bail on June 10, when a judge found that his conviction on a murder charge was seriously tainted. The frame-up of Geronimo Pratt was part

MOSCOW — When Russian voters in December 1995 gave Communists and other opponents of the government a majority in the State Duma, there seemed every reason to expect that if President Boris Yeltsin were re-elected in

Figures of fury The extent of the civil unrest in the Six Counties can be garnered from the following statistics, accumulated over 72 hours from 6pm, July 5 to 6pm, July 8, published in the Irish Times. Attacks on security forces —

The Democratic Republic of Congo's new health minister is JEAN BAPTISTE SONDJI, a leader of the Front Patriotique (Patriotic Front, PF), the main radical left party in the Kinshasa-based opposition. Unlike the rest of the Kinshasa opposition, the PF

Rumours have been circulating for several months of a split in the Manila-Rizal Regional Party Committee (MRRPC) of the Communist Party of the Philippines. The split between the underground and legal leaderships of the party

Ecuadoran villagers occupy mining installationsInstallations of the Japanese mining company Bishimetals and the Ecuadoran state mining institution CODIGEM were peacefully occupied on May 12 by 50 people from seven local

PRD activists torturedOn June 26, SiaR magazine reported that two People's Democratic Party (PRD) activists, Coen Husein Pontoh and Mohammad Sholeh, had been tortured following the June 11 riot at the Medaeng prison in

REIDSVILLE, GEORGIA — The trend to privatise state-run prisons, which is resulting in legal slavery, began in the south-eastern US state of Georgia four years ago. At that time, the Georgia legislature decided that