World

The South African Municipal Workers Union "suspended" its week-long strike on August 15 despite the wage dispute between it and South Africa's mainly ANC-controlled local councils remaining unresolved. SAMWU is demanding increases of up to 9%, while

Beyond Chutzpah, the new book by Jewish-American anti-Zionist Norman Finkelstein, on the misuse of anti-Semitism by Zionism, has been blacklisted by a number of bookstores in the US. The book provides a critical analysis of pro-Zionist Harvard law

Doug Lorimer Speaking four days after Iran reactivated its uranium conversion facility at Isfahan, US President George Bush told Israeli state television on August 12 that the US was determined "to make sure that Iran does not have a [nuclear]

Julie Webb-Pullman The Cuban Five, anti-terrorist fighters jailed in the US since 1998, had their convictions reversed on August 9 in an historic and unanimous decision by three judges of the US Court of Appeals Eleventh Circuit in Atlanta.

Charlie Jackson The prequel to the war in Iraq began in the northern summer of 2002 when neo-conservatives within US President George Bush's administration met at his ranch outside Crawford, Texas. The neo-cons argued that Saddam Hussein was like

Kim Bullimore Despite mass rallies, acid attacks on police and troops, and threats of suicide by fanatical right-wing Israeli settlers, Israel began the implementation of its Gaza Strip disengagement plan on August 17, deploying about 20,000 police

Kerryn Smith Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a US soldier killed in Iraq last year, told a conference call on August 16 that a gradual withdrawal of US troops was "not soon enough". According to the August 17 Los Angeles Times, Sheehan urged an

Rohan Pearce The murder in the southern Iraqi city of Basra in early August of Steven Vincent, a US freelance journalist and well-known pro-war blogger, who had reported from Iraq since late 2003, threw the spotlight on the operation of US-backed

On August 1, more than 300 women from Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) and more than 20 men marched in Bulawayo to hand over a letter to the provincial governor for President Robert Mugabe. The letter called for the repeal of unjust laws and the

Scores of South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) members have been arrested during protests around the country since the union launched an indefinite national strike on August 8 in demand of a living wage. The union is calling for wage

On July 27, a 100-strong protest of mostly women textile workers in the south-eastern province of Kerman was brutally attacked by security forces. The workers at the Asia Wool-Spinning Company are owed up to 3 million Tomans (about $3500) in unpaid

Eva Cheng A 2001 World Bank report, China: Air, Land and Water, provides a telling snapshot of the destruction of China's environment. Air In 1999, only one-third of the 338 monitored cities met the nation's air quality standard (with a similar