World

Kim Bullimore, West Bank As you pass through the West Bank, you can't help but notice the illegal Israeli settlements dotted high up on the hills. They are easily identifiable: red tiled roofs, Western-style houses, barbed wire, checkpoints and

Doug Lorimer On July 31, Iranian UN ambassador Javad Zarif denounced as illegal a resolution adopted by the UN Security Council demanding that his country suspend its research into the production of nuclear power-plant fuel (low-enriched uranium) by

Doug Lorimer On April 20, as the death toll of US troops in Iraq passed the 700 mark, US President George Bush nominated John Negroponte, currently Washington's ambassador to the UN, to replace Paul Bremer as US ambassador to Iraq. If his

Norm Dixon On September 16, at least 800,000 government workers, including 300,000 teachers, took part in what the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) described as the "largest strike in South Africa's history". Members of eight public

On August 7 a candlelight vigil in Port Louis, Mauritius' capital, expressed solidarity with the people of Lebanon and Palestine. The protest called for a UN resolution to end Israel's war, as well as for a boycott of Israeli products and for the

Eva Cheng On April 11, more than 20,000 people marched to China's central government liaison office in Hong Kong. They were protesting Beijing's backtrack from a promise, made before the 1997 handover of Hong Kong's sovereignty to China, that the

Rohan Pearce & Alison Dellit The appalling end to the hostage crisis in Beslan, Russia on September 4, which left more than 300 dead, had people all over the world horrified. The killing of so many children helped neither the Chechens fighting the

Chris Slee The Tamil National Alliance will contest the April 2 Sri Lankan parliamentary elections on a platform calling for the creation of an interim self-governing authority for the north-eastern part of the island. The TNA, an alliance of four

Jonah Gindin & Robin Nieto Despite rumours that Venezuela's right-wing opposition would boycott the regional elections scheduled for October, on August 24, at a meeting of labour leaders belonging to the social-democratic Accion Democratica,

Alex Miller On August 10 the British government's home secretary, John Reid, announced that a major terrorist plot involving the bombing of multiple transatlantic airline flights had been discovered by security services. Reid placed the country's

Eva Cheng After achieving an average annual GDP growth of about 8% over the last decade under Beijing's push to restore capitalism, the Chinese economy grew at an even more back-breaking pace of 9.1% last year. But during the March 5-14 annual

Omar Karmi, Ramallah "My daughter has only seen her father twice in her life", said one woman. "It's been two months since I last saw my husband." A young boy, in a faltering voice, then recited a poem he had written to his father, also a prisoner,