Pablo Stefanoni, La Paz A Quechuan indigenous woman, Silvia Lazarte, will become the president of Bolivia's new Constituent Assembly after gaining the blessing of Bolivian President Evo Morales and the support of the campesino (peasant)
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Doug Lorimer A top Pentagon official conducted unauthorised investigations of reconstruction contracts in Iraq and used the results to push for lucrative contracts for friends and their business clients, the July 7 Los Angeles Times reported.
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On July 24, 20,000 people rallied to mark President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's annual State of the Nation address to the Philippines Congress. Arroyo has survived a deep political crisis that resulted from revelations of widespread cheating during the
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On August 3, 26 striking power-loom workers in Gojra were arrested, including union chairperson Mian Abdul Qayum. Cases were also registered against 30 other activists, including Farooq Tariq, general secretary of the Labour Party Pakistan and
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Stuart Munckton According to a July 23 VHeadline.com report, campesino [peasant] leader Braulio Alvarez escaped with minor injuries after the car he was driving "came under a hail of bullets". Alvarez is a deputy in the National Assembly (AN) for
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Sherdan Bircan& Simon Cunich Clashes between the Turkish army and People's Defence Force (HPG) guerrillas — the armed wing of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a long battle for Kurdish self-determination — have reached a
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On December 1, police crushed a World Aids Day march in Harare, arresting several of the organisers, including activists from the International Socialist Organisation and Women Aids Support Network. Hundreds of people joined the march, demanding
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BHP Billiton was forced to close down its Escondida copper mine — which supplies some 8% of the world's copper — on August 18 due to strike action by workers over wages and conditions. The company also ended negotiations with the workers' union.
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Lee Yu Kyung, Pusan The cost of accommodation for each leader attending the APEC summit was US$4000 per day. US President George Bush occupied the whole of Western Chosun Hotel. Some 1000 official participants swallowed $1.5 million at the
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Pat Denny On August 22, the Pentagon announced that it had issued an involuntary call-up of Marine reservists. Those affected by what has been described as a "backdoor draft" are members of the Individual Ready Reserve — reservists who for the
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Eva Cheng The gap between the rich and poor in China, which started to widen when Beijing embarked on the pro-market reforms in the late 1970s, has now widened to an unprecedented level. According to a recent study by China's National Development
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Doug Lorimer A claim by US intelligence officials that they possess "strong circumstantial" evidence that Iran has a secret nuclear weapons program were dismissed on November 14 by US nuclear weapons expert David Albright. According to the