World

Jorge Jorquera Over the next year, the people of Venezuela will once again go to the polls on at least two occasions — in December 2005 for parliamentary elections and December 2006 for presidential elections. If Hugo Chavez and the Bolivarian

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

Kim Bullimore On June 13, the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) organisation called on Israel to launch an immediate, independent investigation into the explosion on June 9 that killed seven Palestinian civilians picnicking on a northern Gaza

Margarita Windisch & Susan Price, Caracas One thousand delegates crammed into the Teatro Teresa Careno to hear President Hugo Chavez open the first Latin American Conference of Enterprises Recovered and Controlled by Workers, held on October

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

Michael Karadjis Beginning late last year, tens of thousands of Vietnamese workers downed tools at dozens of foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) in southern industrial zones around Ho Chi Minh City, demanding implementation of a 40-48% wage rise

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

Robyn Marshall & Bill Mason On May 27, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the country's main revolutionary guerrilla movement, marked 42 years of struggle. Speaking from a jungle camp, Raul Reyes, secretary for international

Pablo Stefanoni, La Paz Bolivia is once again on the path of political uncertainty, after the Constitutional Tribunal (CT) on September 22 ordered the Congress to modify the electoral law (used to convoke the December 4 general elections) to

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

The National Institute for Women (INAMUJER) aims to fight for equal opportunity and equality before the law for Venezuelan women. Green Left Weekly's Rachel Evans and Coral Wynter spoke to Corina Fumero, INAMUJER's assistant for international