World

“The maximum gusts of 340 kilometers per hour registered at the Paso Real Meteorological Center, San Diego, Pinar del Rio province, during the passing of Hurricane Gustav, is the highest recorded in Cuba”, a September 3 Granma article reported about the hurricane that hit Cuba’s western region on August 30.

On September 2, nine Australian soldiers were wounded — one left in a critical condition — in an ambush in southern Afghanistan. The Australian Defence Force (ADF) claims the Australian soldiers killed several of the alleged Taliban fighters responsible for the attack.

The August 24 announcment by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to officially launch the social mission April 13, and the decreeing of 26 new and reformed laws on July 29, represent a further push to empower the poor communities.

On September 2, Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej declared a state of emergency in response to the political crisis brought about by ongoing demonstrations and government buildings organised by the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), which has called on Sundaravej to resign.

Reprinted from http://climateandcapitalism.com.

At least 18 people were killed on August 12 and 13 by police and military bullets in the Indian-controlled section of Kashmir. Among them was a senior political leader, Sheikh Abdul Aziz of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC), a coalition of various pro-independence and separatist, but also pro-Pakistani, organisations based in Kashmir.

The landslide victory by opposition People’s Justice Party (PKR) leader Anwar Ibrahim in the August 26 Permatang Pauh by-election is welcomed in this commentary by Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj, the first federal parliamentarian of the Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM). This is reprinted from http://asia-pacific-action.org.

Witness the massive padlock, tightly hugging its doors. That will tell you all you need to know about Hurricane Gustav and the federal US government’s carefully orchestrated response.

“Hey I have been down to their ‘convergence’ centre and they are really organised … specific plans and hand signals etc.”

On the call of the lawyers’ movement — which spearheaded the pro-democracy movement that brought down the dictator Pervez Musharraf — a two-hour long dharna (sit-in) was held at M A Jinnah Road, Karachi on August 28.

There was one good thing about George Bush’s recent visit to New Orleans — if he comes back, it won’t be as president.

“A lady who’s a leader”, gushed the Weekly Standard’s William Kristol. “I would pull that lever”, declared James Dobson of the anti-choice and homophobic group Focus on the Family.