World

  • CUBA: Chavez wins Jose Marti award

    HAVANA — On February 3, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation awarded Venezuela's socialist president Hugo Chavez the Jose Marti International Award, for his contribution to Latin American and Caribbean unity and the

  • IRAQ: Rebels deal new blows to occupation forces

    Doug Lorimer On August 30, rebel Shiite leader Moqtada al Sadr instructed his Mahdi Army militia to suspend attacks on US-led occupation troops and their puppet Iraqi security forces. The decision followed a three-week US-led assault on the Iraqi

  • AFGHANISTAN: 750 US air strikes in May

    Associated Press reported on June 7 that in May, the US Air Force carried out 750 air strikes against the Taliban and other insurgent groups in Afghanistan. This information was supplied to AP by General Gary North, the commander of US air operations

  • VENEZUELA: 1200 buildings face expropriation

    Jim McIlroy & Coral Wynter, Caracas Around 2000 Caracas tenants met in the Teresa Carreno complex on August 26 to demand the full implementation of the Law on Expropriations, which promises to convert a million renters into owners of their

  • ACEH: Military tightens grip in run-up to elections

    James Balowski, Jakarta The government of Megawati Sukarnoputri declared martial law in Indonesia's northern-most province of Aceh last May. It launched an "integrated operation" to smash the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and restore "law and order".

  • UNITED STATES: US votes yes to homophobia in the UN

    The US-based Human Rights Watch has criticised the US government for aligning itself with Iran and Zimbabwe in an anti-gay vote in the United Nations. The US and other countries voted to deny UN consultative status at a meeting in late January to any

  • ARGENTINA: Who's afraid of the piqueteros?

    Raul Bassi & Federico Fuentes On June 29, under the headline "US concerned by piqueteros advance", Argentina's main daily newspaper, Clarin, quoted an anonymous "high level source from the US state department" voicing "concern" over the

  • BOLIVIA: Morales's 'agrarian revolution'

    Pablo Stefanoni, La Paz The arrows being fired between President Evo Morales and sectors of the Bolivian business elite found a new setting on June 2: the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. The heart of this rich area, which has embarked on an

  • CANADA: First soldier refuses to serve in Afghanistan

    Jeff Shantz The Canadian government, under both Liberal and Conservative parties, has moved quickly over the last two years to prosecute on immigration charges, and to seek deportations of, several US soldiers who fled to Canada as war resisters.

  • UNITED STATES: Re-emergence of twin deficits sparks alarm

    Eva Cheng The re-emergence of concurrent deficits in the external current account and the federal budget of the United States — dubbed the "twin deficits" — and the likelihood of them continuing to grow for a long time, has reignited a debate

  • EL SALVADOR: Historic FMLN leader dies

    The following message, titled "Shafik Handal lives in the hearts and the struggles of the Salvadorean People!", was issued by the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front on January 24. A long-time left activist and leader of the FMLN, Handal was

  • GREECE: 'Celebrating humanity' or worshipping mammon?

    James Vassilopoulos Is this the way to "celebrate humanity": to evict Roma families from where they have been living for 30 years in order to build car parks? To allow poor safety to claim the lives of 13 workers? To launch a major attack on civil