World

Despite the April 27 death of Lance Corporal Jason Marks, the fifth Australian soldier killed in Afghanistan since the 2001 US-led invasion, and subsequent allegations of the mistreatment of Afghan prisoners of war by Australian troops, the there are no plans to withdraw any of the 1000 Australian troops from Afghanistan.

A pile of bags and clothing on an old shopfront verandah on Cuff Road in Singapore’s Little India is “home” to a group of about 50 migrant workers who have been spat out by an economy that relies heavily on so-called “guest workers”.

According to a May 19 report by Latin American TV station Telesur, Venezuela’s defence minister Gustavo Rangel Briceno, denounced the fact that a US fighter jet violated Venezuelan airspace — around the La Orchila island, which houses a Venezuelan military base — two days earlier.

Cuban officials have produced letters that demonstrate “irrefutable evidence” of the channelling of funds from a convicted anti-Cuban terrorist to Cubans the US has termed “dissidents” and “independent journalists”.

Crispin Beltran, died on May 20 from an accident in Manila, Philippines. He was 75.

The report below is based on accounts posted to the blog of the Indonesian National Liberation Party of Unity (Papernas). Visit http://papernas-international.blogspot.com.

Silicon Valley janitors, mostly immigrants from Central America, walked out of Cisco Systems and Yahoo buildings in the first day of a Bay Area-wide strike intended to force building service contractors to sign a new agreement with their union,

Below is an abridged statement released on May 15 by participants in the People’s Social Summit in Lima, denouncing the decision of ETI and Telecom Italia to demand that the New York State Court freeze the accounts of the National Telecommunications Company (ENTEL). This action is part of a strategy of aggression against the government of Bolivia, which has nationalised ENTEL. Visit http://boliviarising.blogspot.com for the full statement with signatures.

According to the World Health Organisation, 50% of the drugs sold online are fakes.

In an unexpected ruling, the California Supreme Court overturned a state law banning same-sex marriage on May 15, opening the door to marriage equality for gays and lesbians in the biggest US state.

A May 19 statement by the International Trade Union Confederation reported that Zimbabwe’s High Court had granted Z$20 billion bail to Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions president Lovemore Matombo and ZCTU general secretary Wellington Chibebe. The two were are facing charges of “inciting the public to rise against the government and communicating falsehoods”. As part of the bail conditions, the two were being barred to “address any political gathering until this matter is finalised” and ordered to reside at their given home addresses. The ZCTU leaders were charged after they told workers gathered at Dzivaresekwa Stadium on May 1 that people were being killed during the current wave of political violence in the country.

Below is an abridged sign-on statement initiated by the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador, http://cispes.org. To add you organisation, please email [email protected] The context for the violence is the increasing likelihood of a victory in the elections for early next year of the left-wing Farabundo Marti Liberation Front.