World

  • Burma: Political prisoner released but thousands remain

    On September 23, one of Burma’s longest-serving political prisoners, 78-year-old progressive journalist U Win Tin, was released from Insein Prison after more than 19 years. He was one of six political prisoners included in an amnesty of 9002 prisoners declared by the military junta.

  • After the surge in Iraq: has the US won?

    “The surge has succeeded in ways that nobody anticipated”, US Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama told Fox News on September 4. Obama’s claim echoed Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain. Both candidates claim that the surge, which involved sending more than 20,000 extra US troops into Iraq, has reduced violence and “stabilised” Iraq, rescuing the occupation from the indigenous resistance.

  • UN undemocratic, says General Assembly president

    Former foreign minister in Nicaragua’s revolutionary Sandinista government of 1979-1990, Miguel D’Escoto Brockmann, gave the United Nations Security Council a blast in his opening address to the new annual session of the UN General Assembly on September 16.

  • Venezuela: Truth suffers in Human Rights Watch report

    On September 18, Human Rights Watch released a report titled “Venezuela: Rights Suffer Under Chavez”. The report contains biases and inaccuracies, and wrongly purports that human rights guarantees are lacking or not properly enforced in Venezuela.

  • Bolivia: 'This is a fight between rich and poor'

    Speaking from within the belly of the beast, Bolivia’s indigenous President Evo Morales announced at the 63rd United Nations General Assembly that the world today is paying witness to a “fight between rich and poor, between socialism and capitalism”.

  • Disaster assistance urgently needed in Haiti

    Haiti has been devastated in recent weeks by Hurricanes Fay, Gustav and Ike, and tropical storm Hanna. Fay was the first to hit, on August 15, and Ike was the last, on September 7.

  • Colombia: Political prisoner speaks out

    In an “open letter to the national and international community” written from prison, Colombian trade union and human rights activist Liliana Obando denounced the government’s unprecedented “new witch-hunt against the political opposition in Colombia”.

  • Pakistan: USA's next war zone

    Washington’s next war is already on the go. “Classified orders”, according to the September 11 New York Times, were passed by US President George Bush in July. And the target is not “axis of evil”-famed Iran. It is Washington’s close ally in the “war on terror”, Pakistan.

  • Venezuela: growing evidence of new coup plot

    Four retired and one active Venezuelan military officials have been arrested, a further 33 questioned and the US ambassador expelled in the wake of the September 10 revelation of a planned coup and assassination attempt against President Hugo Chavez.

  • Zimbabwe: Deal 'no cause for celebration'

    While many Movement for Democratic Change activists are confident that the power sharing agreement between the ruling ZANU-PF and the MDC is a step forward, there are widespread concerns about the deal.

  • Peter Miguel Camejo — 1939-2008

    Supporters of social justice around the world were devastated to receive the news that renowned US socialist and fighter for a better world Peter Camejo had succumbed to cancer and passed away on September 13.