World

  • Shell's policy of blood for oil

    Shell's policy of blood for oil By Norm Dixon Ken Saro-Wiwa was executed by Nigeria's brutal military regime on November 10 because he threatened the interests of the Anglo-Dutch oil giant, Shell, and a handful of European and US oil companies.

  • World Bank and women's rights

    By Michel Chossudovsky The World Bank, it seems, has become the defender of women's rights urging national governments to "invest more in women in order to reduce gender inequality and boost economic development". Two WB reports were presented at the

  • Indonesian activists call for military withdrawal

    By Max Lane On November 12, public protest commemorations of the 1991 massacre in Dili were organised for the first time in Jakarta despite threats from General Hartono, the army chief of staff. About 90 people attended a commemoration organised by

  • Poverty in retreat?

    By Shan Ali The success of Grameen Bank in poverty alleviation and slowing the rate of population growth in Bangladesh has led many to believe in the promise offered by the Bank — that poverty can be eliminated from the earth at little or no real

  • Crisis in French universities

    Crisis in French universities By Sam Stratham MONTPELLIER, France — On November 9 students in the town of Montpellier joined more than 16,000 students across France in a national day of action to protest the Chirac government's cuts to education

  • Will the Alliance bury NZ Labour?

    MATT MCCARTEN, secretary of the New Zealand Alliance, recently visited Australia to help launch the New Left Book Club's The Alliance Alternative in Australia. He spoke to Green Left Weekly's DICK NICHOLS about developments in New Zealand, in

  • People pay for US budget crisis

    By Eva Cheng Some 800,000 federal workers were forced to stand down from November 15 after US President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, vetoed two related funding bills passed by the Republican-dominated Congress. The bills were structured to deprive

  • Weapons maker awarded landmine contract in Angola

    By Norm Dixon A lucrative UN contract to clear landmines in Angola has been given to Mechem — a subsidiary of the South African state-owned weapons manufacturer Denel. Angolan authorities, unhappy with the decision, have delayed unloading

  • Russian security forces persecute environmentalists

    By Renfrey Clarke MOSCOW — For anyone puzzled by the inability of the once all-powerful Russian security services to prevent crime, part of the mystery is now explained. To a significant degree, the resources of the Federal Security Service (FSB

  • Guatemalan military steps up harassment

    Guatemalan military steps up harassmentBy Gabriel Torres On November 4, two-year-old Juan Carlos Velasquez Menchu was snatched from his mother's arms by heavily armed men, believed to be from the military, a block a way from peasant leader Rigoberta

  • Delegation expelled from East Timor

    BALI, Indonesia — On November 8, an international ecumenical delegation was expelled from East Timor. The delegation, which included Namibian MP Daniel Botha, Brian Brown of Freedom House, Australian Aboriginal poet Lionel Fogerty, Australian

  • The Mexican murder mysteries - 3

    Four leading members of Mexico's ruling elite have been assassinated over the past two years. Cardinal Juan Jesus Posadas Ocampo of Guadalajara, Jalisco, and six other people died in a gun battle at Guadalajara's Miguel Hidalgo international airport