World

More East Timorese killed Many East Timorese people are believed to have been arbitrarily arrested, and up to four people shot, following days of unrest in the Uatulari subdistrict in Viqueque February 7-11. According to the East Timor Human Rights

The Bhopal case seems to portend a bleak future for poor communities. In a "free trade" world order, multinational corporations can do whatever feels good for them, and after they've had their way with a community, they wash their hands and move

Television viewers around the world on February 6 may have thought they had accidentally tuned into a program of archival footage from South Africa's apartheid days: florid, bull-necked cops hidden behind menacing yellow armoured

Doublethink from Clinton and GreenspanEvery year, the president gives a "state of the union" address to Congress. It is held in the House of Representatives. The House members enter first, and then stand to applaud the

Indonesian military admits hundreds killed in West KalimantanRecent reports on the death toll following more than a month of unrest in West Kalimantan suggest that many more have been killed that the authorities first admitted.

Swaziland police have arrested trade union and opposition leaders in an attempt to intimidate the Swaziland Federation of Trade Unions (SFTU) into calling off an indefinite general strike which began on February 3. Police opened fire

Support for the French neo-fascist organisation National Front (FN), headed by Jean-Marie Le Pen, has increased dramatically over the past few years. The election, on February 9, of FN Mayor Catherine Megret in the southern French city of Vitrolles

South Korean President Kim Young-sam justifies the ongoing attacks on the democratic rights of the country's workers on the basis that they must make sacrifices to bolster the "competitiveness" of South Korean products. He suggests

FMLN prepares for Salvadoran electionsOn March 16, Salvadorans go to the polls to elect a new 84-member Legislative Assembly and 262 local councils. The Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN)

Last August, President Abdala Bucaram netted 54% of the vote. In office, the populist president recorded an album and gave concerts, auctioned his moustache in a benefit for the poor and launched a subsidised powdered milk

Indonesian nuclear project stalledMinister of research and technology B.J. Habibie's determination to develop Indonesia's nuclear power industry hit another snag on December 12. Instead of being "rubber-stamped", a bill to give

European EMU under attackIn preparation for the June 1997 Amsterdam summit, at which a treaty will be signed members of the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), the 15 states have begun negotiations on revising the